Melbourne Demons CEO Gary Pert is stepping down as the tumultuous 2021 AFL premiership season continues.

Melbourne chief executive Gary Pert has resigned and will leave the embattled AFL club by the end of the year.

The former Collingwood Perth CEO, who joined the Demons at the end of 2018, follows former president Kate Roffey, who stepped down in September.

This follows an ongoing period of turbulence in Melbourne.

The Demons are expected to confirm his resignation on Thursday, with Perth remaining solely as a consultant on Melbourne’s bid to build a new training and administrative base at Caulfield.

Perth’s departure comes as the Demons prepare to unveil the results of their operations in two separate reviews.

President Brad Green is reviewing the club’s board and Melbourne has brought in former All Blacks manager Darren Shand to review their football department.

Melbourne has been in turmoil almost since their breakthrough 2021 premiership.

Loading…

They haven’t won a single final since, coming out of the finals in 2022 and 2023 with zero sets, and this year they didn’t make the top eight at all and finished in 14th place.

Questions about their off-field culture have been raised again and again, and were not quelled by Perth’s extraordinary announcement late last year that the club’s culture was the best it had seen in 40 years.

Clayton Oliver’s off-field problems and disgruntled star midfielder Christian Petracchi’s desire to leave the club after suffering a horrific injury in the King’s Birthday match were among the headlines.

Joel Smith’s long-running anti-doping case, which was made public last year, has also cast a shadow over the club, with coach Simon Goodwin saying in March that the Demons had no drug culture.

Perth’s name was back in the headlines earlier this month when he reportedly contacted several clubs to gauge interest in a potential swap for Oliver.

This led to Oliver considering a move to Geelong before the Demons eventually ruled out trading the midfielder.

On August 31, Petracca also joined the Demons for at least 2025.

AARP