A partial reason is the MCC. Not saying it's the main reason, but because there is a 25 year waiting list, and 25 years ago the MCG was predominantly used by the Dees, a lot of MCC members are Dee supporters who don't buy Dee memberships.

Then you have the whole locality thing. I support Hawthorn mainly because me and my family all grew up around the area. Melbourne however, refers to the city itself. Nobody really "comes from" Melbourne. It's just the city so it doesn't garner the same loyalty as suburban clubs.

Melbourne's facilities are dated and far away. A major reason Brock McLean left for Carlton a few years ago was because the commute to training from the city was tiring him out too much to train on a field which didn't even have goal posts. Meanwhile the Hawks are lapping up Waverley and the Pies have the Lexus centre. You just can't compete with that when your guys are in woop woop with nothing to shoot for. So what do they do? They're lucky they didn't go into administration, let alone have the cash to build a swish new training facility.

In any case, the Dees cannot keep having bailouts. Jim Stynes is gone. They need to create a financially stable club, and that is hard when you've been shit for years and show no signs of improvement. GWS and the Suns look like they'll snap up anyone remotely good in the draft for years to come.

Where does that leave the Dees? Up shit creek in my opinion.