Chief executive Cameron Schwab talks about the club’s first day and its move to AAMI Park.

It was an interesting first day for the club at AAMI Park on Monday.
CS: Yes, the first day and we’ve had a lockdown (due to an incident in the sporting precinct).

What does this move mean for the club?
CS: It’s a big step and it was probably always going to be a bigger step than most people imagined, because of what the club’s had to deal with over a long period of time. Fundamentally, our previous arrangements restricted us from ever having the elite programs we needed to have.

What do you see improving from the move?

CS: One of the critical elements that relates to this is having excellent time management, facilities and people feeling as though they operate in an elite environment. The quality of our facilities now matches the quality of our staff. These are the facilities that these guys deserve and now it’s up to those guys to make sure we get the very best from them.

What has been the immediate response from the people at the club?

CS: It’s a bit like a new car. I wandered over [from the MCG] and had 15 minutes with Dean Bailey, which previously would’ve taken five phone calls and a couple of trips up Punt Road to organise. Even from an overall club management view, the guys at the MCG want to feel as though they’re operating in a football club and this gives them that opportunity. The benefits will not only be a great gym, pool or nice clean offices, it’ll have a good feel about coming to work.

How important is it to bring the administration and football department closer?

CS: Very, because you can now look over the road and see the MCG. You’ll have your usual teething issues as we come to a different environment, because there was a certain familiarity about the Junction Oval.

What will happen to Junction Oval?

CS: At the moment, it’s probably still full of the old furniture, which hasn’t been brought here. We deliberately did that. But the Junction Oval will play an important role for someone in sport - as it should have. There are still certain aspects, which are quite romantic.

What will the move mean for the players?

CS: I think it’s a great thing that some of the players that have been drafted over the past three years have at least had an opportunity to train at the Junction. They know what James McDonald’s had to deal with and what David Neitz had to over his whole career. So at least they have that empathy and point of reference. It’s a very tangible sign of development.

The club’s sharing the facility with Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Storm. How does that impact the Demons?

CS: We’ll have to manage the facility well, because we’re sharing it. But the fact that we’re sharing means that we’ve been able to get something bigger and better, because you’ve got three lots of resources and the economy of scale and scope come into it. I don’t think it does our players any harm to mix with other elite athletes. You’ve only got to walk into the gym and there is one dumbbell the size of Jamie Bennell, so that shows you how powerful some of these guys are. We’ve really worked hard to have a heritage feel as well, with the blue and red colours. We’re doing a lot of work with images and creed. We’ll get those contributions over the next few months and I think they’ll be very proud of their contributions.

You’ve experienced plenty in your three stints at Melbourne. How significant is this move in your time at the club?

CS: It’s been talked about for the best part of 30 years. Really, it started in 1965 when Melbourne shared the MCG with Richmond for the first time. Up until that point, the MCG was the Melbourne footy club’s. We trained, played, socialised and administered in and around the MCG and it became more and more challenging as time went on. It reached its peak in 1985, when we could no longer train on the ground. There were concerns over the quality of the surface and the amount of traffic the ground was having. We then moved down to the Junction Oval, which had only been vacated by Fitzroy. From that point onwards, the club was separated. Initially, the club just trained there. Then the football department was located there and we’ve had that separated ever since. So I was actually part of the club through those three phases - from 1985 when we went down to train, through to the 90s when the football administration was based there. I was based there for a time when I was football manager. We also had offices at Jolimont Terrace and now here we are. So this has been 30 years through a lot of effort and it was challenging to find the outcome, but this is a very good one.

Overall, how do you encapsulate the move to AAMI Park?

CS: For the players, it’s like a first day of school feeling. I read Nathan Jones’ tweet and he said it was ‘sick’. That covers it and I understand that as a parent of teenagers! We’re going from clearly the worst to arguably the best, from a pure athlete and club development perspective.