Melbourne president Kate Roffey says she can see the Demons have been building something special by the way the players play not for themselves but “for the club”.
The Demons are into their first Grand Final since 2000 and are bidding to break the longest premiership drought still alive in the AFL of 57 years by beating the Bulldogs on September 25.
Roffey admitted the club had a tough finish to 2021, but didn’t let that influence her belief in the team.
“I knew we had under-delivered last year,” she told the Don't Shoot The Messenger podcast.
“It was a very tough series of road trips we took at the end of last year and we missed out (on finals).
“I thought we didn’t perform as well as we probably should have last year, but I had great confidence … you need that cultural thing to work for the team to get there.”
She believes the club had its culture right under coach Simon Goodwin, but saw it come to hand in the first few rounds in 2021.
“In January I hadn’t seen that because I wasn’t seeing them play, by the first two or three games I thought, ‘yep, this is a year when we’re going to go deep into the finals’,” she said.
“I could see every single one of those players not playing for themselves, not even playing for each other but they’re playing for this club, more than anything they want their supporters to feel success and that’s what’s driving them.
“Every time I speak to the players they say, ‘fantastic, I’m an All-Australian, fantastic, I won the coaches award, but I’d give it all up for a premiership’.
“That’s what Goody (Goodwin) was seeing and sensing, and culturally, that’s what we’ve driven really hard this year.”
She also had a message to long-time supporters of the club, distancing themselves from the past failings.
“This is a different team … this is a new era, a new culture and we’ve got a really different focus about us now,” Roffey said.
The Demons will start favourites on Grand Final day against the Bulldogs, as Roffey looks to win the club its first flag in near six decades in her first year as President.