MELBOURNE CEO Gary Pert has reiterated the importance of red and blue supporters making the switch to become a member in 2019.

Speaking at the Annual General Meeting on Monday night, Pert addressed the attending members for the first time in his new role, reinforcing the club’s ambitions to grow its membership base.

“Every experience that I’ve had since I’ve been chatting to people in the role has been positive,” Pert told the MCG Members Dining Room.

“Melbourne supporters are saying they love the club, they’re so excited [and] they’re so proud at the moment.

“But I still find it so surprising how many Melbourne supporters aren't members.”

The Demons welcomed over one million fans to their games in 2018 – a feat that positioned them fourth best in the league for match attendance.

They also broke their membership tally for the third consecutive year, welcoming 2,944 new members to the year prior, and recording a total of 45,177.

But the club is calling on those close to home to increase this figure even further.

“Of the 23,000 MCC members, only half actually acknowledge being a Melbourne supporter,” Pert said.

“If we just get the MCC [members] to become Melbourne members as well, that’s over one million dollars a year [towards the club].

“If they had been doing that even for the last five years, we don’t carry any debt [and] we’ve got extra money in the bank to put into our footy department, our membership services, our club – we’re a different team.”

In conjunction with the MCC, Melbourne offers two dual membership options for its affiliated supporters, boasting a range of additional benefits.

But the recruitment of these prospects isn’t the only focus for the red and blue.

“We’ve lost a generation of kids,” Pert said.

“We haven’t been playing in finals and we haven’t won a Grand Final, so a lot of generational supporters [have been lost].

“But they’re the members of the future… so we need to engage the kids coming back.”

Pert also alluded to a significant number of lapsed members over the past 10 years, seeing further opportunity to welcome them back on board.

“We’ve all got to play a role in actually talking to Melbourne supporters to say, ‘now is the time’,” he said.

“Supporters that become members feel more connected, more proud, more involved, come to more games, get more satisfaction when we win – emotionally, it’s a much better experience.

“I can’t think of a more exciting time to be a Melbourne member, so I just encourage you to have that conversation.”