Dear members and supporters,

With both our AFL and AFLW seasons now concluded, I wanted to take the opportunity to close out our seasons, and once again thank you for your support of our Club.  

While the finishes to both our men’s and women’s seasons were frustrating for us all (with none more disappointed than our playing groups themselves), I want to reiterate how proud I am of both our men’s and women’s programs. Over the course of the home and away seasons, our teams competed and performed in a way which again put us in position to challenge in finals. Unfortunately, the ultimate success was not to be this year, but we are on a journey as a Club, and we take both our losses and successes as lessons to adapt and drive us forward in our pursuit of premiership success in 2024 and beyond.

On Monday night myself and team captains Max Gawn and Kate Hore had the honour of accepting the McClelland Trophy on behalf of the Club. 2023 is the first time the McClelland Trophy, in its revamped format, was awarded to the Club with the best combined on-field performances by both its AFL and AFLW programs throughout the home and away seasons.

While the $1 million prize money is welcomed, the real value to us in winning the trophy is that it recognises the extraordinary commitment it takes across the entire Club to field and support two extremely high performing teams each weekend.

Already we are looking forward to 2024. Our men’s campaign officially kicked off this week, with our younger players returning to the Club for the start of pre-season, before our senior players return next week. A number of new faces appeared out on the park as Jack Billlings, Shane McAdam and Tom Fullarton, along with draftees Caleb Windsor and Koltyn Tholstrup, joined the Demons.

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of our list management team as always for their forward thinking and planning, and particularly for the strong position they were able to put us in on draft night with picks 7 and 13. I would also like to welcome Kynan Brown to our rookie list, where he joins familiar and much-loved names in Jake Melksham and Marty Hore.

Each year, every Club starts out on their journey from base camp up the mountain and pre-season is where it all begins. In speaking to our coaches and players there is certainly a sense of optimism and anticipation around the Club. Anyone who has seen our players out in the park or on the beach running in groups and working on skills will know that they have been training extremely hard over the off-season.

To our players, coaches, support staff and their families, I would like to express my deep gratitude for everything you have put into 2023. We are a unified and resilient Club and our determination to continue to improve will, I am sure, see both our men’s and women’s programs challenging strongly again next year. 

Of course, our work as a Club is not confined to on-field performance only, and I am pleased to note that off the field our performance has gone from strength to strength and continues to set us up for long-term sustained success.

Last week, we announced another strong financial result, returning an operating profit of $2.2million for the 2022/23 financial year. 

Delivering profits each year is our financial goal, and achieving this on an ongoing basis reflects the strong management and leadership we have at the Club, and the tireless work of many people.

I would like to acknowledge and thank my fellow board members who give their time and expertise to guide and support the Club every year, CEO Gary Pert and our executive team. Together, we strive to provide the strong and stable leadership which is critically important to maintaining the momentum of our performance both on and off the field. I would also, in particular, like to note the work of our people behind the scenes who are not often seen, but who make an incredible contribution. Thank you!

We will provide more information on the Club’s financial position and other off-field management matters at the Annual General Meeting which will be held at 6.30pm on 19 December 2023 at the MCG.

Regarding the AGM, voting is now open for the Director Elections which will take place via an online voting process until Thursday 14 December. You will have received information regarding the election from CorpVote, who manage the election process on our behalf.

I also take this opportunity to clarify why, as a Board, we endorse candidates from amongst those who seek election.

A key part of good governance is to ensure wherever possible we have on our Board a group of people who have expertise in specifically identified critical skill sets that align to the Club’s strategic priorities. As part of our clear succession planning practice, we have in place a rigorous process to identify potential candidates who have expertise in those prioritised skill sets.

This year, the critically required skills sets identified were investment expertise to continue to drive the growth of our Future Fund, and expertise in the area of property development and commercial contracting, given our focus on our new training and administration facility.  

We have previously advised that following an EOI process, Sarah Robinson, an investment finance specialist, and Geoff Porz, who has extensive experience in facility development, were appointed due to their expertise in filling the identified skill needs.

Both Sarah and Geoff are long-term Demons members and will stand for election this year, along with Brad Green, who is standing for re-election at the end of his current three-year term. If re-elected, Brad will continue to bring specific football experience and expertise to the Board table. On the basis of experience, character and skills set analysis, and to maintain the momentum and stability we have built over recent years, Brad, Sarah and Geoff are our endorsed candidates for the upcoming election.  

The outcome of the Director elections will be notified at the upcoming AGM.

Finally, to you – our members and supporters. None of our success would have been achieved without you.

This year you drove our Club to its highest ever cumulative match day crowd numbers and an all-time Club membership record of 71,388. I often speak to many of you who have been there supporting your team with unfaltering passion through the ups and downs, and I look forward to sharing our journey forward with you. I can’t promise that it will be an easy climb up the mountain again – it never is; but already we are tracking ahead of this time last year in terms of membership sign-ups - and that is a great start to season 2024.

On behalf of our players and staff - thank you all for your die-hard support of the Melbourne Football Club. Together, we will ensure the Demon Spirit continues to shine brightly.  

Go Demons

Kate