Dear members and supporters,

Following that wonderful win against Gold Coast, Nick Larkey spoke about how grateful the entire playing group is for your loyalty and passion, and how driven they are to play a brand of footy that makes our people proud. 

I think, for the most part of the season so far, our AFL players have been doing exactly that. 

Ahead of Round 1, I spoke about moving past the language of a ‘rebuild' because the foundations are well and truly laid. Now, we are focused on the build itself and on being better every single week.

Across this year, we’ve been able to see and feel that progress. For the most part, even when the four points haven't gone our way, we have shown a standard that is genuinely exciting.

We are seeing growth right across the board. We are watching Finn O’Sullivan and Cooper Trembath take their games to an entirely new level in their second seasons. The sheer consistency of the likes of Luke Davies-Uniacke and Harry Sheezel provides the elite standard we are constructing this team around. 

Veterans Luke Parker and Jy Simpkin have taken on new and selfless roles to make our team better. And importantly, we’ve watched Nick Larkey take over the captaincy seamlessly, and Charlie Comben, Cam Zurhaar and Tristan Xerri supporting Nick and Harry and Luke with strong leadership on and off the field.

Off-field, we remain stable, united, and commercially strong. Our membership tally continues to climb, we’re attracting new sponsors, our partners are leaning in, and the football world is noticing (which is exactly why we are finally returning to Friday night football in Melbourne).

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, there is so much to be excited about, not least that we still have seven games to come in Melbourne, including four crucial home games at Marvel. 

This is your call to action. If you haven’t signed up yet, now is the time to become a member and be a part of this journey. George Wardlaw and Paul Curtis have done so in recent days. They join so many of our players who will drive the future success of our club to commit for the long term, and we will have more to come. 

If you are already a member, we need you at our games. Keep turning up, keep bringing the noise, keep driving this young group forward.

As we look to the future, we also draw on the strength and lessons from our past. A few weeks ago, we celebrated the 30-year reunion of our 1996 Premiership - a win that was the culmination of years of hard work, starting with Denis Pagan’s appointment in 1993.

Later this year, we will gather for our first Hall of Fame night in a decade, celebrating club greats who knew just as much about the grit and determination of the hard yards as they did about the ultimate joy of a win.

Denis and Malcom Blight will be elevated as Legends in our Hall of Fame - along with six new Hall of Fame inductees - at our ceremony to be held on Friday, July 17 at the MCG.  It promises to be an unmissable night.

Again, we know there’s a lot more work to do, but we are building something real, sustainable, and something we can all be proud of.

Finally, welcome back to the AFLW team whose pre-season officially began earlier this month and congratulations to Darren Crocker for being appointed coach of the Australia AFLW team.

Thank you for your unwavering support in the first half of the year. Let’s get to work for the second.

See you at the footy.

Go Roos!

Sonja