Melbourne board member Geoff Freeman meets AFL

NEW Melbourne board member Geoff Freeman has met with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou as the club embarks on a total makeover.

NEW Melbourne board member Geoff Freeman has met with AFL boss Andrew Demetriou as the club embarks on a total makeover.

Freeman spent an hour with Demetriou at AFL headquarters last week and is firming as the man to replace Don McLardy as Demons president.
A number of potential new directors are also being lobbied by the board. Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett is not among them.

The rebuilding of Melbourne will step up on Friday when chief executive Peter Jackson presents the AFL Commission with a case for emergency funding.

Melbourne, also in the market for a new head of football, is comparing its plight to Port Adelaide last year and Geelong a decade ago.

Dees still a dream for Stretch


It believes the restructure can restore the club to on and off-field competitiveness.
Freeman, 65, an insurance industry heavyweight and neighbour of AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, joined the board last month.

Kennett yesterday told the Herald Sun  his group of potential challengers was serious about a move.

"I've had some further discussions with a number of people - nothing's changed,'' Kennett said.

"We've just been evaluating what was being said and done. I think most of them agree at this stage that let's wait and see what happens on Friday when the Melbourne Football Club go to the AFL and beg for another $3 million or something.

"Out of deference to Peter Jackson and the AFL they're waiting to see where that leads to, which is understandable.

Kennett said at least two members of the rival ticket attended Melbourne's president's lunch at the MCG on Monday and were "not impressed" by McLardy's speech that included a barb that there was a good reason Kennett lost his job as Victorian premier.

"I know he (McLardy) is under a lot of pressure, but I don't think it ever helps to get personal," Kennett said.

"I've got a lot of time for Don McLardy but that doesn't excuse the reality that however talented these individual members may be on the board, and they are talented and successful in their own right, they haven't been able to manage the business of the Melbourne Football Club.

"Before you start correcting the football department, you've actually got to heal yourself and get a board that is functional, that can address the issues and change the culture.

"You can't do it if you have a dysfunctional board that has a history of failure."