Melbourne is set to take over Hawthorn’s old Waverley Park home base in the coming weeks.
SEN’s Tom Morris reports the Demons will relocate to Mulgrave shortly and base all staff at the old VFL Park facility on an interim basis.
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The Demons are desperate for a larger, dedicated training base and are currently split between Gosch’s Paddock at AAMI Park – which they share with the NRL’s Storm and A-League’s Victory – and Casey Fields, which is distant and too small to house the whole club.
They are intending to build a new base at Caulfield Racecourse by the end of the decade though the deal is yet to be finalised.
The AFL bought Waverley Park from the Hawks last June, after they relocated to Dingley.
“It’s one of the last challenges for the football club to call itself one of the premier football clubs in the competition,” Melbourne CEO Paul Guerra said on SEN’s Whateley on Tuesday.
“We are the only one who doesn’t have a home. Even Tasmania won’t start until they get their home.
“While we are really happy with what we’ve got at Casey – and it’s a great facility down there – it can’t house the whole club.
“Where we are at the MCG, we can’t house the whole club. Where we are at AAMI we can’t house the whole club.
“We don’t have our own gym at AAMI. We share with Melbourne Storm and Melbourne Victory. We don’t have our own space where the whole club can come together. Ultimately, we need an environment where football and the business side can come together.
“We are close to what we ever have been before (with Caulfield) but still not close enough to announce. But when we can, that will become the new home for Melbourne Football Club.
“We always look at alternates. Once we’ve announced Caulfield – the negotiations are at a delicate stage – we can then start to look at how long is it going to take us to move into Caulfield by the time we get approvals and then build. Then what might be available in the interim.”
Waverley Park hosted 732 V/AFL matches, including the 1991 Grand Final, but after the construction of Marvel Stadium was no longer used.
The Hawks took over the suburban facility as their training and administration base in 2006 with the enormous carpark around it turned into a housing estate. Both the grandstand and oval are heritage-listed.
BLUES BAN EX-CAPTAIN AS COACH FIRES BACK
Carlton has reportedly taken a stand against Sam Docherty after he unleashed a scathing attack on the club following its Opening Round loss.
Former captain Docherty, 32, labelled Carlton a “f***king s***tshow” in an expletive-laden tirade about the club’s game-style after the Blues’ 63-point fade-out loss to Sydney last Thursday night.
Outspoken content creator Daniel Gorringe aired Docherty’s voice message on his podcast, Dan Does Footy, without the retired gun’s knowledge — with Docherty later apologising for his profanity but standing by his footy take.
“Exactly what happened again (on Thursday night) is the same s**t that happens in every other game,” Docherty said in the now-viral message.
“When the game’s hot and contested and pressurised, Carlton is good in that environment. But as soon as some team can do somewhat good in the contest, the rest of the game just f***ing falls to pieces.
“They start losing contests, they get under pressure, they can’t get a hold of the ball, and they’re just an absolute f***ing s***tshow.
“Essentially, because the game gets somewhat slower and there’s more open brand footy, that’s when Carlton is f***ing horrible … Basically, you smack our mids again this year, and we’ll be f***ed, going off (Thursday night).”
Now, Carlton has moved to scrap Docherty from a club function he was due to appear at this Thursday night ahead of its Round 2 bout with Richmond.
“He has been contacted by the club and told he will not be appearing at that particular function,” Nine’s Damian Barrett told Footy Classified on Monday night.
“It’s certainly a temporary cooling-off between the two parties – he will be included in future club functions, but it is a direct result of the comments made on that podcast.”
In a statement to Footy Classified on Monday, Blues CEO Graham Wright said: “We made a decision based off supporting our own people internally.”
SEN’s Sam Edmund has since reported on Tuesday moring that by extension, Docherty “won’t be involved in any official capacity” until the Blues’ Round 6 clash with Collingwood.
The long-time rivalry between the Magpies and Carlton sees the two teams play for the Peter Mac Cup; a trophy named after the Peter Mac Charity, which Docherty sits on the board of.
Speaking to media at Princes Park on Tuesday morning, head coach Michael Voss doubled down on his previous comments before making a stance on the importance of “the old and the new” at Carlton.
“I didn’t give it a hell of a lot of thought,” Voss said.
“Only probably because people keep asking me about last year’s best and fairest speech and culturally we defeat ourselves, I just felt that was an example of that.
“For us to have a productive conversation, I think we all need to know we’re not going to get mixed between the old and the new. We’re new and that’s the way we’re going forward.”
Voss said he wouldn’t reach out to Docherty to avoid the risk of any further distraction.
“I’ll move forward with the team I’ve got because a lot of the stuff becomes he-said-she-said and I could spend a lot of time talking about that here,” he added.
Originally published as Victorian club set for shock mid-season relocation