I’ve got many thoughts on the fascinating interview with Melbourne CEO Gary Pert and coach Simon Goodwin. Firstly, well done to the two gentlemen for turning up. We are critical when clubs shut down and do not speak, so credit to them both.
But that's about all the praise they will get from me. We’ve all heard the saying fake it until you make it. Well, Melbourne, according to them, is flawless.
To be authentic and vulnerable is admirable and Melbourne fans would accept that when you're managing 44 18 to 35-year-olds, who have disposable income, 20 weeks of holiday a year and a level of fame, that there will be mistakes. No club is perfect.
It’s a shame Pert is trying really hard to convince us that Melbourne is.
Like Garry Lyon, I'm not buying it.
Never mind the lack of discipline in big games, the insult from a senior player to another because he didn’t play in the Grand Final, the scuffle that ensued after, the same player telling us all at this year’s best and fairest that they were the best team and should’ve won the flag, even though they are 0-4 in the last four finals, Clayton Oliver, who we now know has had issues for nearly the entirety of his time at Melbourne, and Joel Smith.
Those incidents do not reflect Melbourne’s culture; they are – and get ready for the phrase of the day – only “isolated incidents”.
Pert suggested repeated isolated incidents are okay. Provided the club addresses them.
One thing we don’t have any further clarity on is the nature of Clayton Oliver's complex issues and I can understand the personal and private nature of it.
A burning question I've got, and I tweeted this last night is: If Oliver has had significant problems for years, why did the club reward him with one of the longest and richest contracts given to any player in its history?
Yet we’ll reward him with a 7-year contract extension… https://t.co/rqR0wj4mUs pic.twitter.com/3yp4R9KnG1
— Kane Cornes (@kanecornes) October 30, 2023
Now, with seven years left, they are asking him to be meeting the minimum standards.
You don’t give eight-year, multimillion-dollar deals to players, and then ask them to only meet the minimum standards.
They aren’t the first and they certainly won’t be the last club to butcher a long-term contract, but this could be catastrophic.
Marquee players, on contracts like that, need to go completely above and beyond minimum standards and be leading the way. First in, last to leave, full professionals.
Particularly when Melbourne, and here's the other phrase of the day, tells us they have a ‘high-performance culture.'
And then there's Joel Smith. I’m okay with Goodwin being angry, I would be too.
But as a coach, I would have liked to have spoken to him, mainly to find out who he was with on the night and whether any of the other Melbourne players were present… That would be very important information the club needs to find out.
So many burning questions remain. If all else fails, fake it until you make it.