Melbourne Demons coaches and players savaged in text messages between Kate Roffey and Glen Bartlett

Kate Roffey slammed Demons players and coaches in a series of savage texts to then-Melbourne president Glen Bartlett. READ THE TEXTS

Demons president Kate Roffey lampooned Melbourne’s coaches and players in a series of brutal text messages fired off during a 2020 form slump.

The SMS conversations between then-director Roffey and then-president Glen Bartlett shed new light on the inner turmoil plaguing the club in the months prior to its march to last year’s premiership.

Texts reveal Roffey accusing the coaches of being too soft and having no idea, saying “feathers need to be ruffled and … some of them probably plucked”, as well as questioning whether the players were too “immature” and couldn’t cope with “critical feedback”.

The emergence of the texts comes just weeks after Bartlett launched defamation action against several AFL journalists from The Age and Nine Entertainment.

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The legal showdown is expected to have serious ramifications for the Dees, with a defamation trial likely to reveal what was happening behind the scenes at the club.

The view peddled in the aftermath of Bartlett’s exit as president was that he had lost the support of the football department and most directors after he had publicly lambasted the team in mid-2020.

But the Herald Sun revealed in February that from late 2020 until his departure as president in April last year, there had been a major disagreement between Bartlett and other senior club figures, including CEO Gary Pert, regarding concerns about alleged bullying and behavioural issues involving coach Simon Goodwin.

Demons president Glen Bartlett and ex president Kate Roffey have had their texts leaked

In February 2021, the board even considered standing down Goodwin, amid a major investigation.

AFL chiefs Gillon McLachlan and Richard Goyder met with Bartlett and then vice-president Mohan Jesudason to discuss the crisis.

Now, texts sent by Roffey to Bartlett, who she replaced as president, reveal she had been unrelenting in her criticism of the players in mid-2020.

Despite presenting herself as a unifying figure at the club, the messages expose Roffey also being highly critical of the coaching team, even encouraging Bartlett to remove people within the football department.

At 5.57am on the morning after a heavy loss to Port Adelaide in Brisbane in July, Roffey texted: “Absolutely appalling and no excuse. Something is seriously not working right across the whole system. Time for a reality check I think.”

Bartlett replied: “Agree, what would you do if you’re me?”

That afternoon, Roffey said: “Have been thinking about club/team issues for a while, so happy to have a chat to share some thoughts … we need some tough conversations.”

Roffey said it shouldn’t just be up to Bartlett to deliver harsh truths, but said given he was the president, it did “fall” on him.

Two days later, she said: “Personally I don’t think anyone has been tough enough … A lot of feathers need to be ruffled and in my opinion some of them probably plucked as well.”

That afternoon, Roffey turned her ire on Demons people and culture manager Jim Plunkett, saying: “they are so reliant on him for some reason. Boot him off.”

To stress her point, Roffey added an emoji of a boot.

Ahead of the following weekend’s match, Roffey told Bartlett: “Looking for a better performance tonight”.

She continued: “I picked up a few references to things Paps (Colonel John Papalitsas) said in Goody’s press conference yesterday so here’s hoping it sank in a bit”.

Papalitsas, a decorated military figure, had addressed the club’s board and coaches about driving standards earlier that week.

Then Melbourne president Kate Roffey and CEO Gary Pert

Bartlett had bonded with the former soldier around values based leadership and organised his involvement with the Demons. His presence was one of several key initiatives Bartlett introduced at the time in an attempt to foster a stronger club culture.

But as the next match against Adelaide unfolded, Roffey was on the attack again.

“Undisciplined. Sloppy. Confused. They just look like they have no structure and no idea how to create any,” she said in one text.

“I can’t work out the umpiring – it’s pretty bad – but so are we. Not sure the coaching team have the right answers either,” Roffey said in another.

In another critical reference to the players, Roffey questioned whether they were “an immature team who can’t take critical feedback”.

In a report printed in the lead up to last year’s grand final, a Demons insider claimed that Bartlett “broke the trust” with the club, leading to the boardroom coup, with his infamous “Weeties” outburst after the Port Adelaide loss.

The Herald Sun has since published information casting serious doubt on the accuracy of this claim.

Talking to the Herald Sun after the game, Bartlett had said: “It was disgraceful. When you pull on a Melbourne jumper we don’t give them out in Weeties packets.”

In an interview in the week before Melbourne’s grand final triumph, Roffey said of the “Weeties” outburst: “It’s not what I would have done. He was the president, that was his call, but would I do it like that, personally, as a female? Probably not, but that’s just me.”

But the mid-2020 texts between Roffey and Bartlett reveal she was supportive of his rant and was urging him to go further.

The text messages were obtained by the Herald Sun as part of a dispute which has been resolved, with the Herald Sun acknowledging Bartlett should have had the opportunity to comment at the time on Roffey’s assertions concerning his criticisms of the team and exit as president when they were published by the paper last September.

Melbourne club legend Ron Barassi and then president Kate Roffey

Bartlett also received backing for his “Weeties” comments from Pert, senior footy official Alan Richardson and the senior coach himself.

In her interview with theHerald Sun last September, Roffey insisted that Bartlett’s exit as president was planned.

“We talk about succession planning all the time. It’s always difficult. We love these clubs and you always want to be a part of them, but we all have to step off at some time. These conversations take place over months,” she said.

However, it has since emerged that only weeks earlier Bartlett had been endorsed to stay on as president for another 12 months, and as a board member for a further three years.

The Herald Sun has revealed that Bartlett and Pert had a major disagreement in late 2020 and early 2021 over concerns that the club was not being proactive enough on its drug and alcohol policy and over the sacking of long-time club doctor Zeeshan Arain.

Bartlett strongly backed Dr Arain over his allegations of bullying by Goodwin, was critical of the medico’s sacking which resulted in Melbourne having to pay a secret six-figure sum, and believed the club investigation into Goodwin’s alleged behavioural issues was being undermined.

Roffey has repeatedly backed Goodwin over allegations of bullying, off-field behavioural issues and gambling.

“I look forward to Simon continuing to evolve as a coach and leader at the Melbourne Football Club for many more years to come,” Roffey said when the allegations first surfaced.

Originally published as Melbourne Demons coaches and players savaged in text messages between Kate Roffey and Glen Bartlett