AFL 2021: When the cracks began to appear in Glenn Bartlett’s reign

The club might be 4-0 but behind the scenes, things had become decidedly unstable at Melbourne. This is why Glen Bartlett pulled the pin.

Glen Bartlett amd Simon Goodwin after defeating the Giants in Round 23 of 2018. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

On face value it seemed an odd time to suddenly pull the pin.

The Demons are flying on the field and all the talk about Simon Goodwin being the most under pressure man in the game has all but disappeared one month into the new season.

So why, for all the current excitement and optimism around the Demons’ top-four hopes, did the Melbourne president announce his departure?

It is true that Glen Bartlett has brought stability to the club since he joined in 2013.

He oversaw Peter Jackson’s move to get Paul Roos, got out of the pokies game and beefed up the balance sheet.

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Glenn Bartlett is no longer Melbourne’s president despite the club’s on-field success in 2021. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images

But behind the scenes in recent months things had become decidedly unstable in a political sense as Bartlett had lost major support in his own boardroom and from other key Demons people over the past 12 months.

In what could have been a very messy turn for the club, it had become clear Bartlett was no certainty to be re-elected at the end of the year.

So, instead, the Demons ensured Bartlett jumped first at a time when things were going beautifully on the field, ensuring a smooth-ish transition. It was clever manoeuvring from those reading the play around Bartlett.

In his farewell speech on Sunday, Bartlett said he no longer had the energy for the job.

“To be frank about it, I’m totally cooked and you can’t be,” Bartlett said.

“If I look tired it is because I am and I need to hand the baton and let my successor and a refreshed board build on the stability, the values, the various initiatives in play.
“And I have to have a proper break.”

The cracks started to appear mid last year, and in particular, from the moment Bartlett intensified the focus on coach Simon Goodwin and his football department after a 51-point loss to Port Adelaide in Round 9.

New Melbourne president Kate Roffey. Picture: Nathan Dyer

Goodwin didn’t know the spray was coming on the back page of the Herald Sun until it was already out.

And while the senior coach would have preferred that sort of blast furnace response to be made in private first before the president went public, Goodwin graciously accepted the stinging criticism from the top and the lashing it helped fuel from the fans.

But were things ever going to be the same for the president and coach? On Sunday Goodwin said he didn’t know Bartlett was stepping away until the internal email was sent around on Saturday night.

Perhaps it shows you how close and connected they were. Or weren’t. But maybe the same could be said of the entire football department and player group, too.

If Goodwin ever felt truly unsafe as senior coach over the past year, things seem more secure now. As he should be at 4-0.

Certainly the forward pressure, the forward conversion, the ruthless defence and the connection and cohesion in the midfield has been a strength of the Demons this year.

Chief executive Gary Pert oversaw the review at the end of last year which looked to provide Goodwin with all the resources he needed to make the jump back into the eight after two years out. So far, so good.

Simon Goodwin’s security has improved. Picture: Michael Klein

Off the field, the club’s inability to lock in a new facility has been a stone in its shoe.

Bartlett had an ambitious plan to build a new oval and administration base in Yarra Park and above the train line, but when that plan was sunk it was a considerable blow.

Since then, things have clearly stalled.

This is where the new president, the highly-respected and popular Kate Roffey, will play a key hand helping select a new site and secure funding for the new home.

Roffey is the director of deals, investment and major projects at Wyndham City, and at Tennis Australia she helped oversee the redevelopment of the Melbourne Park complex.

The new president seems perfectly equipped to ramp up the search for a new training base that would bring together the football department and administration under the same roof.

Her relationships with key people at the club and in Government are a considerable strength when things were becoming decidedly more difficult for her predecessor.