Dear Member,

As has been clearly evident this week, our season may have finished but the action hasn't stopped!

Over the past 12 months we've spoken often about the journey we are on. We created a new vision of Bringing People Together to Achieve Great Things with very clear goals and supported by powerful values and standards which we relied upon when driving performance, making difficult decisions and in dealing with unimaginable tragedy. We fell short last weekend and that hurt. But it was also a learning experience and provided a benchmark to which to hold ourselves accountable.

Tonight our Club Champion event marks the end of what has been the most remarkable of years. It is an opportunity to celebrate, pause and reflect. But the journey then continues as we brush ourselves off and continue the deliberate and relentless march forward. Onwards and upwards.

In the face of a series of unprecedented and rare events, together with the significant change implemented across the Club, we are proud to have achieved record levels across nearly every part of our operations, including membership, sponsorship, hospitality, merchandise, community engagement and all aspects of our growing digital platform. These results rank us amongst the top echelon of sporting clubs in the country. None of this would be possible without your unwavering support. Both professionally and personally, I found it inspiring. You are the spine of this Club, you underpin our growth and healthy position and I thank you.

On field, we made progress in returning to the finals for the first time since 2012. Everyone played their part and should be proud but I would like to particularly call out our coaches who stepped up in the most trying of circumstances - in particular Scott Camporeale who led our team with purpose and poise. I fully understand his reasoning for not pursuing the full-time role but am thrilled he has signed on for a further two years as our Senior Assistant Coach.

Of course, it is the players who have to get the job done on game day and like me, I am sure you are very proud of Tex and the entire playing group. The effort, drive and focus was amazing, the resilience, courage and intestinal fortitude difficult to fathom. There was plenty of emotion post match last weekend in the change-room. Perhaps not at a level seen since our first game against West Coast in Perth in July this year, the first match played following the death of Phil Walsh. The boys had held it together for 10 weeks, driven by a team-first approach, elite standards and get the job done mentality.

We all thought back to July 3. Our Club’s saddest, most shocking day. Phil only coached the Crows in 12 premiership games. But his impact on the Club, the people in it and those who support it was extraordinary and will be forever remembered. There is a legacy that will strongly guide us. He would have been immensely proud of his boys. We fell short of the ultimate September prize but as a Club we should all be proud of what has been achieved.

Now it is post season, the reality of ruthless industry in which we operate is in our face again. The high performance nature of what we do dictates that people will come and go. We will continue to challenge each other strongly and look for ways to improve and make our Club better. Every decision is hard but they have to be made.

Some of these relate to players. As you are all aware, Patrick Dangerfield has told us he wants to exercise his rights under Free Agency to return home to Victoria. Whilst extremely disappointed, we understand his decision is based solely on personal reasons with he and fiancée Mardi wishing to be near their large families as they enter a new stage in their lives. We wish them all the best in their own personal journey. However, as I have made clear over the last few days, we will now make every decision or take whatever action necessary to deliver what is in best interests of the Club to make us better in 2016 and beyond.

There is much debate in the media and wider football community regarding what constitutes fair and reasonable compensation (thanks for the emails and tweets!). We have a clear view of what that looks like and will do our very best to achieve it. I know you are probably thinking tell me more - and that brings me to an important point - a strategy discussed publicly invariably is weakened.

We always strive to be as transparent as possible but at times it is simply not appropriate nor in the best interests of the Club to discuss every strategy, thought process or private conversation in the public forum. I hope that you can appreciate this.

The most recent of these related to Patrick - we reached agreement that he would tell us when he had made a decision on his future on the grounds the information would be kept confidential and known by only a select few. Our aim was to ensure that we had sufficient time to make educated and considered list management decisions to help plot our course forward, as well as avoid any disruption to our finals campaign that was gathering momentum. The fact is that if we hadn't have provided that guarantee then it is unlikely we would have been given the early heads up and the valuable few additional weeks to make important decisions and plan with greater certainty. The players were intent on delivering on the team goals set by Phil and the Club in October and we didn't want this to get in the way. It was a very difficult and unique situation but I do genuinely appreciate your understanding.

Finally, we are moving closer to naming our next Senior Coach with the search panel, comprising Mark Ricciuto, David Noble, Alan Stewart and myself, having already held several discussions with our preferred candidates. We are in a very healthy position and know that our next leader will build upon what is already in place and deliver on our goal of creating the industry's leading football program. We remain on track to make a final decision in the next fortnight or so and look forward to sharing both the decision and our rationale with you then.

As I mentioned earlier, our 2015 season will officially close tonight at the Club Champion Awards where we will recognise some wonderful Club and personal achievements as well as reflect on what has been the most remarkable of years.

Next weekend we will then sit back and watch the AFL Grand Final and appreciate the levels to which we must consistently deliver if we are to achieve our goals and meet your expectations.

We have made great progress in the past 12 months but there is much more to do and I can’t thank you enough for your ongoing support.

The journey is well underway and it may feel like it has been a long road walked, but we have done it together. We Fly As One!

Cheers
Andrew.