As you are aware, we have made significant structural changes to our playing list, all aligned to a clear set of expectations and standards, as defined by our Senior Coach Mark Neeld, and executed by General Manager of List Management Tim Harrington, and our Recruiting Department, headed by Todd Viney.
The outcomes achieved were the result of meticulous planning leading into this important period. I would like to congratulate our football department on their efforts.
I’d like to make special mention of Todd Viney. He showed great professionalism handling his recruiting responsibilities, with the added pressure of his son being drafted. I am sure you will all agree it was a great day for us when Jack Viney’s name was finally read out confirming he was a formally a Demon.
We will continue to seek opportunities to further strengthen our list in the upcoming rookie draft.
This is a new-look playing list with many new Demons, and like you, I am very excited about the season ahead.
Today I am also very pleased to advise we will announce our financial results for 2012, which will show a small profit. We believe our result is very creditable, given the extremely competitive environment we work in and the extraordinarily difficult year we have had. Our poor on field performance was a major negative factor, but this was exacerbated by a series of unfortunate events including the loss of a major sponsor and of course the tragic passing of our President.
The result is a credit to our CEO Cameron Schwab and his team, in particular COO Matt Green, and also several of our experienced Board Members who assisted in steering us through an extremely difficult first part of the year. We were able to take prudent steps in our financial management at that time, although challenging as it was, the actions taken meant that we could maintain a sound financial base and manage our cash flows effectively despite the critical issues we faced.
Also absolutely critical was the contribution of our members - again 35,000+ signed-up - and of course our Foundation Heroes, who have proven to be a tower of strength for our club for four years.
Our new sponsors, in particular Webjet, Opel, and Hertz also deserve great recognition for stepping in when things were tough - they deserve your continued and ongoing support. They are great organisations to work with.
Finally, the AFL investigation continues. As I have stated previously, we will not comment until the investigation is complete, but I can assure you we will use every resource available to us to defend the integrity of the Melbourne Football Club in the strongest possible way.
Whilst only early days, the feedback from our coaching group in relation to the attitude and condition of our playing group during this critical pre-season period has been very encouraging. Once again, the standards and expectations are crystal clear. The players and coaches head to Darwin later this week for a training camp that will test their mettle, both physically and mentally. This is an important investment in this group made possible by the improved financial position of the club.
As I stated in my last update, we will not take short cuts, we will continue to make hard decisions and we will continue to have high performance expectations of everyone associated with the Melbourne football club. In time this will translate into a club you will be proud to be associated with.
Thank you for your continued support - and go Demons!
