It's all falling apart for the Dees

[GVGjr]

From Code Sports

It takes balls of steel to stare down the AFL establishment.

James Hird did it. Dean Bailey tried.

Richard Colless told them to go forth and multiply.

Now you can add former Melbourne president Glen Bartlett to the list.

Repeated attempts to discredit Bartlett by senior Demons chiefs (and some suits at AFL HQ) during a bitter and costly three-year legal war did not break him.

Instead, Bartlett walks away with a bag of money and a belated acknowledgment that the game has failed him.

Melbourne fans who endured the boardroom fiasco are right in asking why it took so long for common sense to prevail.

Even attempts by footy powerbrokers Peter Gordon and Eddie McGuire to help resolve the dispute earlier this year failed to break the deadlock. Self-interest ruled the day at Demonland until recently, which is why some key figures have left the club.

Interim president Brad Green has made the right calls since taking charge and will soon be the last man standing from a 2021 board that got it so horribly wrong in removing Bartlett and then waging war against him.

AFL boss Andrew Dillon can be indecisive and should have intervened sooner, but deserves credit for his role in this week’s resolution as does former Demons vice-president Geoff Freeman.


The boardroom saga is finally over, but as Freeman said yesterday “it’s a matter that should never have taken this long to settle”.

“For all involved and all Melbourne supporters it’s time we put this unfortunate distraction behind us and concentrate on football,” he said.

[jeemak]

Yeah, James Hird really stuck it to the game and its establishment, didn't he.