Naughtsie dissects the news of Gary Pert stepping down as the CEO, the various changes happening at the footy club and the return of favourite son, Nathan Jones as an assistant coach.
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The DeeBrief
EMERGENCY PODCAST: Pert steps down, Jonesy returns
get a day very faithful it's nazi here on a friday early am getting back behind the microphone because there's been a little bit going on at the Melbourne football club to say the very least now i want to talk about Gary Pert stepping down as CEO of the football club Nathan Jones has returned the prodigal son so to speak it's very exciting and there's a few other changes that are happening at the moment and of course the external review the findings will be out in probably a week's time after that communication from president Brad Green we'll start with Gary Pert six years at the club i just wanted to hone in on some of the decisions that he made now i know a lot of people wanted to see the back of him let's be frank about that i don't enjoy the idea of dancing on someone's grave i've seen a lot of that happening on the socials people needed a scapegoat but it's safe to say it hasn't been a good 12 to 18 months for Gary in that respect he does step down as CEO but he will continue in a consultancy role for the core field home base which i actually think is a good thing and i'll get to that in a few moments time but six years the membership when we came in we're sitting around 44 000 at the back end of 2018 when he assumes the role in October of that year yes it was a successful year elimination final win against your long semi final win against hawthorn and then the membership goes up around 8 000 9 000 members up to 52 000 in 2019 so you can't really attribute a lot of that to Gary coming in because naturally and organically we were always going to get a spike in membership but hey he gets it to the 70k region that was amazing he wanted 75k at the end of 2023 but that strategic four-year plan didn't happen got pretty close do you give it a tick well you can't give it a tick because we didn't get to 75k and that was what was at the time a bold plan but i'm a little bit disappointed that we weren't able to tick off that pillar but the fact that we went from 52 to 70 it's pretty good going i'm a firm believer that outside of the big five so to speak west coast collingwood richmen Carlton Esonin these clubs that melbourne have the capacity and the potential to nestle themselves into that sixth seventh eighth spot in the land you know the likes of hawthorn jalong Adelaide and melbourne buying for anywhere between six to nine in terms of size of club we're not really there yet and we've got a lot of work to do and we need to get back to winning games of football competing contending for the big prize and give ourselves a chance to actually get into that say top third of clubs in the leg so that was the plan that was set out by gary pert hey if we pinched a flag in 2022 or 2023 then we probably be having a very different conversation and gary perts legacy would probably be held in a completely different regard but the reality is he oversaw a flag in 2021 you've got to tip your hat there was a lot of pressure on goodie at the time early in 2021 if you remember i think a lot of the meteor articles coming out saying that goodie was going to be the first one to get sacked that year he's under the most pressure of any coach so with that in mind he stuck by him when a lot of others maybe even board members and other big hitters down at the melton football club probably wanted to see the back of him well it paid off in the end didn't it because we went on and we won a premiership in that year and it's something we'll never ever forget as melbourne supporters some of the other things that i thought were good he got rid of josh mani josh mani a bit of a problem not doing his job by all reports i thought it was a good move you move him on it made sense adam moose came in at the back end of 2020 again an integral appointment darren birches who came in another integral vital appointment who helped us clench a flag so those two appointments in particular were massive for us and and gary was a part of that so again you got to say well done fair play in that regard aflw premiership as well it'd be remissive it's not to speak about that first in the club's history that was amazing unbelievable the girls have put so much hard work and toil into securing that flag and mixed in here he's phenomenal just quietly i absolutely love the inside melbourne footage seeing what he's like in the dressing rooms and addressing the girls he's an absolute ripper and i hope he stays around for a very very long time so that's just a bit of a love-in for mik there but look i can understand gary wasn't everyone's cup of tea that's for sure and it hasn't been a great 12 to 18 months the the scn interview that he did with goody oh it was bad it was really really bad it was so poor it didn't cast the melton football club in a great light because it just looked like we were sweeping our problems our supposed problems under the carpet and they all came out in you know the preceding 12 months didn't they and the quote that will probably live with everyone forever and it's become a bit of a gimmick out out there and aflw land with all the opposition supporters and it's the one where gary spoke about it's the best culture that he'd seen in 40 years in his time in australian rurals footy so it's definitely one that's come back to haunt him there's absolutely no doubt about it and i think that interview in itself it's probably the start of maybe the demise of gary in his role and look six years it is what it is any person that works it works in an organization under the guidance of a boss things can just get a little bit stale so i think in terms of freshening it up it makes absolute sense i mean the financials have been really good since he was there the benley club sale we've reaped 24 mil out of that deal so that was really good for cash reserves and he's overseen some really strong operating profits as well so 2021 is 2.1 million 2022 is 3.5 million 2023 is 3.1 million who knows what it's going to be this year the report will probably come out in a month's time you'd expect it to be a lot lower maybe in the 1.5 vicinity is is my guess but what i set off the top he comes in as a consultant and he agrees to that role to ensure that we get the corefield home base over the line and just can't stress how important that is that is everything absolutely everything to this football club the plans look fantastic the headquarters look fantastic just get it done so if melbourne thought keeping gary on was a bright idea because we didn't want to potentially scupper that deal he's so immersed in the detail by all reports it makes sense to keep him on and i guess you can't say he doesn't have the club's best interest at heart when it comes to corefield and understanding that getting that done is one of the more important things that will ever go down in this club's history over the next 10 20 30 years it's everything so he could have easily have walked away so fair play to gary for that he'll see it through and will be forever thankful if we can get that ticked off but i think it's definitely time as i said i use the word stale you flip it on its head and you think about fresh ideas and getting new blood into the football club and people that are invested potentially people that are melbourne football club people that have played for the club that have spent time in and around the club it's not you know a knock on gary but at the end of the day he was a collingwood person i'm all about the idea of bringing in people that are number one credentialed and good enough for the the roles that they assume but just the idea of getting people in that absolutely bleed red and blue is very for me so the search for the next ceo it's going to be intriguing super intriguing i think it'll capture the intrigue of the entire league to be honest it'll be fascinating there'll be so many people interested because the word culture has been thrown around willy nearly it fucking annoys me to be honest um like what is it we can't really smell it breathe it we're not inside the four walls as supporters but just given the fact that there has been all this hohar melbourne's culture a clubbing crisis all of that innuendo that dramatization from the media i think there are a lot of people not just melbourne people but opposition supporters uh journalists and just people who are involved in the the game of afoul that will be really intrigued to see what we do with the search for this next ceo so i'm not going to go into any detail about who i think that should be or could be i think no doubt what will end up happening is you'll see a short list that comes out in the media and different people that are frontrunners for the job and once that happens and we learn a little bit more about the direction that melbourne want to take and what the board want to do who they want to seek out to be the next ceo then i might jump on this podcast and do a bit of a profile of all all of those particular people just some of the changes at the club as well so as we know particular players one in particular who's been overseas training you might be able to guess who it is he wanted change there's absolutely no doubt about it and changes have happened so Kate ruffie she has departed she did a great job as well i thought the way that they handled that the best and fairest was really beautiful i think i spoke about that on a podcast with kaden a few weeks ago she's gone out brad green's come in and brad's been awesome brad's been fantastic he's been rousing he's been passionate is he credentialed enough for the presidency role maybe not but the fact is i think he's doing a really good job as a temporary person in that position who will eventually and most likely hand over to steven smith who of course is the 203 gamer the 1981 best and fairest winner for the football club by all reports talking to some of the older folk uh very good player as well back in the day but someone that clearly loves this club and it looks like judging by harold son article that's just come out in the past 24 hours he'll nominate for the board he will hopefully get on the board in the next couple of months once that once that goes down and then at the back end of next year so probably 12 months or so away leading into that 2026 season he could well be the president of the football club and i haven't heard many people say a bad word about him he's super credentialed he's a melton director at the club between 1990 and 1992 big part of the mcc people calling it a decorated stint between 1998 and 2019 so that's a very very long time and uh one of his proudest achievements and you love this as a victorian is the fact that he was able to secure the mcc rights to hold the grand final until 2057 so that was a landmark deal back in 2018 and of course that pisses all of the interstate clubs and supporters off to no end but we love it here in victoria so he sounds like he's going to be the big kahuna that moves in if all the different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fall into place and i think that can only be a good thing he's uh he's a lawyer a very successful lawyer at that and someone that i just think doesn't take any bullshit someone who could be potentially a little bit ruthless and that's probably what we need to straighten up the football club so i'm into it it sounds like a good idea to me um just some other things and some other changes so greg staff had of course uh forwards coach he goes out so we're still looking for that forwards coach it'll be really interesting again to see who that is Andrew McQuilter he was our midfield coach i'll speak about jonesy in a moment but jonesy comes in and shrooms that role our clearance game was so bad so bad so i'm quite excited about the possibility of nathan coming in and then with the external review there's potentially more changes that might be coming and i don't want to speculate too much and i nearly did on the podcast with caden but i expect a couple of more heads to roll from big positions in that football department and you know jimmy bartell's been sounded out who knows what role that could be for him but there's a few other people in and around um you know the reckoning of potentially getting into the football club but again i want to be respectful i want to wait until the external review findings come out and then we'll see who's potentially going to get replaced and uh there's so many changes that good changes the supporters have been crying out for change certain players have been crying out for change and uh i'm really happy for max gorn i'm really pleased for him because he has had to bear the brunt of all the crap that's been going down in the past 12 to 18 months all the things that have been playing out in the media it's been incredibly tiring like i just sit here behind a microphone and do a podcast i'm a supporter i'm like you i can't imagine what it would be like for max um he's herculean he's just he's amazing he's put the club on his back he's had to deal with so much bullshit um he would be so drained and he looked visibly drained in some of those interviews on triple m so it's funny i think about all these changes that i've just run through and i think it's a great thing and it gets people up and about it gets people optimistic for 2025 but i can't not help um i can't not think rather about max and what he must be feeling at the moment it surely is relieving for him to see what appears to be some really positive change of the football club so hopefully the big fellas feeling good about himself and um he's feeling reinvigorated and ready to go in 2025 and doesn't have to deal with uh all the crap and all the questions and all the bullshit because there's absolutely no doubt it would have really waned on him and i think it definitely has so 2025 before i speak about nathan and wrap up uh super excited like i've been texting and speaking to quite a few Melbourne supporters in the past 24 hours and there's a spring in the step again i haven't said that for a while and i think it's awesome like it's good to say that people feel like the football club can turn it around quite quickly in 2025 and the longer pre-season will probably help as well i know max actually spoke about that i'm broden kelly's podcast the footy and max said that he felt like 2021 22 23 was an amalgamation of three seasons it just felt like one big season it just never felt like the the boys had a decent break so i think we need to capitalize up on that as a footy club um we'll have a competitive advantage no doubt over some of those clubs that were in the finals that went pretty deep in finals um and you've got to eke out every single advantage you can in what is the most unforgiving competition probably in world sport given the salary cap we'll speak about nathan jones nathan so it's a tricky one for me from a morale perspective absolutely ticks every box this is a 302 gamer three-time best and fairest winner captain of the footy club just fucking loves club loves club and it's really good to see that bridges have been mended which is awesome because it was a really bitter pill to swallow the way it all went down with jonesy get him to the 300 games the nzakave night special special night everyone involved what a game what a win it felt like rich member passing on the baton to melbourne that night when you look back and we go on and win the premiership and we get him there and then we make him sub the next week against north melbourne and he struggles to get back into the team and doesn't get back into the team for finals he goes home for the birth of his twins and that's beautiful and we love that but he misses out on playing in the grand finals so super super tough crazy tough decision for Simon Goodwin the coaching staff to make that call and it's a bit of a void i guess for some of the supporters because we'd been on that journey with nathan and it was a fuck it was a horrible journey such a horrible journey it's one that you want to expunge from your memory you don't want to everything back to 2008 to 2013 although if you're one of those people and i certainly was in 2018 after beating jalon and hawth on just having conversations over a few beers is you head into that prelemed and you're like it's all worth it it's all worth it all that blood sweat and tears all of those times rucking up on sunday 12 000 people at the j a bit of a laughing stock no one really thinking and caring about you in the same way that people probably think about north melbourne now and again that's no disrespect to north melbourne it's just the way that it's played out for them and that's where we were so jonesy wrote that with us and i'm just really thankful that the club and nathan have obviously got together and the the broken bread and not only have they broken bread they've given him a role so he's back at the football club as an assistant coach taking over the midfield it's a big role it's a big role so for all the things around morale and culture fantastic but is he credentialed enough does he know what he's doing you could flippantly just say well yeah he played 300 games of afl footy and he was a captain and he was a best and fairest winner and he was well respected around the league like plays would talk about nathan jones and they would talk about his loyalty to his football club but they would just talk about him as a really good footy player so on one hand you're like well yeah of course he's been in and around the system he knows how to play he's a frickin midfielder for god's sake and that's the role that he's assuming then on the other hand it's you know being in the trenches the modern game it moves so quickly you know the last three or four years it has moved rapidly there is a different brand so what are all the little things that he needs to learn on the fly that will get him up to speed to be a great coach i don't know i've never been in a football club at that elite environment but i've just i'm feeling pretty bullish about this i just think a guy like him who played at a high level who was a very consistent performer i think he'll just he'll figure it out he'll understand the craft and the other reason why i think it makes sense and he'll get up to speed super quickly he played with these guys he mentored the likes of Clayton Oliver who spoke about it on the Unlaced podcast and what Nathan Jones means to him and the way that he ironed him out in one of the first training sessions was a great little story actually and i think just given the fact that those players respect him like Clayton and we know the troubles that he's gone through and he's getting himself back on the right track and he's working his arse off which is awesome to see i think this is huge for him i think it's also huge for christian petracker as well i think christian's been disillusioned with the football club there's no doubt i still feel like there's a bit of angst and a bit of tension from christian's perspective if you look at the interview that he did with channel nine just last night he just seems a little bit uneasy with the melton football club and i think it'll take time for him to get back in and get to work with the boys but get to work with Nathan Jones someone that i've no doubt that he respects highly so the respect fact is there Nathan is played with these guys he's mentored these guys it'll be great for max gone as well from a clearance perspective again someone that has worked in tandem with Nathan so it's not an unfamiliar setting for him there are still a lot of players that Nathan played with in and around the football club and particularly even though that they were young pups at the time the likes of Clayton Oliver and christian petracker i think will rally she opportunity of working with him again and jack viney it's a bit of a no-brainer like jack will be in there and he's an absolute jet and trent rivers will come in there and play a little bit more time and assume a new role and again that's exciting for jonesy to get to work with him not from a defensive perspective anymore from a midfield perspective so i think that's really cool but yeah i can understand the people out there if you look at the other side of the coin those ones that are like yeah i don't know it feels a little bit trigger happy it feels a little bit like melbourne haven't done their due diligence of just throwing a bone to an old legend uh who maybe doesn't have the the minutes maybe doesn't have the badges yet but i think you'll earn those badges on the fly just purely because he understands the environment he knows the players he's worked with them before and he was a great player in his own right so i'm going to back it in i think it's a good decision from the football club now before i do wrap up jack davy um yeah it's hard very very hard to speak about um as a father or two boys uh it's really hit home to everyone in the melbourne community so jack davy uh losing his life tragically earlier this week car went through a fence into a playground at albin south primary school and yeah it's tough it's tough it's hard hard to you know see stories like this and see his dad so brave Mike getting in front of the cameras and and talking about it and he was a massive melbourne sport at this kid so the photo that came out of him decked out in his melbourne gear and i know the footy club have reached out and they've said some nice words online and yeah i really hope they do something nice for for the family leading into 2025 um because i just can't just can't fathom it to be honest and um yeah it just just really hurts hurts to see this an 11 year old kid i've you know i've finally got a toddler who's coming up to three but starting to interact and communicate with him and it's amazing just building that chemistry and rapport with the young man and you know he's so curious about everything and i just can't imagine um what it would be like as a parent to lose a child so my heart's go out to jacks family and friends um just truly truly tragic and i really really hope they can find some soulless from wherever they get it because it just doesn't get any worse than uh worse than this it hits home and lets let's really hope that the football club can rally behind the family and do some nice things for them moving forward and we can honor his life potentially in that first-time game and it might even write to the club and just say um you know here to learn support in whatever way possible with the platform um yeah it's just absolutely devastating so he's a little demon r.o.p. jack and um yeah just hold your close ones tight particularly those you know if you've got even if you don't have kids if you've got nieces and nephews just yeah get around them and enjoy every single moment that you can with them or wrap it up there um thank you thank you for listening a bit of an emergency pod and um yeah just starting to feel like the wheel is turning for our football club that's all we can ask and the number one thing that we need and i've said this many times before quiet off-season productive but quiet just uh big good boys don't do anything silly and don't put yourself in the public eye that's exactly what we need as a football club i'll be back on the airways with probably Ben and Lee because he's a bit of a draft uh wouldn't call him a guru or an expert but he certainly enjoys the draft and uh we will go through that with pick five and pick nine and we will pick it apart and uh again that's something really really exciting and something to look forward to as a Melbourne supporter enjoy spring the sun's out for all the Victorians and Melbourneians it's starting to become quite nice in this city after we go through all those wintry and uh dull months and um yeah keep your close ones tight i'll I'll see you soon.