Caroline Wilson was on 3AW last night and her segment opened with discussion on some of the difficulties the MFC is encountering in trying to resolve matters relating to the location of its new home. It's all highly political and involves the MCC, the AFL and the State Government. It's all a hard slog for the club but with resolution there will be a way ahead.

I taped the segment and will follow up with more details later.

Caroline Wilson was on 3AW last night and her segment opened with discussion on some of the difficulties the MFC is encountering in trying to resolve matters relating to the location of its new home. It's all highly political and involves the MCC, the AFL and the State Government. It's all a hard slog for the club but with resolution there will be a way ahead.

I taped the segment and will follow up with more details later.

cheers mate

did u tape it on the computer? could you upload the interview do u think?

It will Happen i am sure. I hope it is being given no. 1 priority because if it is resolved in our favour then so many other things will Fall into line because of it. Fingers crossed it is done soon.

Caroline Wilson was on 3AW last night and her segment opened with discussion on some of the difficulties the MFC is encountering in trying to resolve matters relating to the location of its new home. It's all highly political and involves the MCC, the AFL and the State Government. It's all a hard slog for the club but with resolution there will be a way ahead.

I taped the segment and will follow up with more details later.

Cheers alpha, look forward to it.

Taped the old fashion way for home use only. Here's the transcript:

CARO ON 3AW

Gerard Healy: There's plenty to talk about tonight but let's address what you wrote about in the Age this morning and that is the Demons. Reading your article and just listening and reading between the lines among various little snippets I've picked up it would appear as if the Demons are a pawn in a very big game at the present time involving the State Government, the MCC and the AFL.

Caroline Wilson: I think that's right and they're trying to create their own destiny but of course it's difficult when you're waiting on money from the AFL and I think there was a meeting yesterday morning between Melbourne and the AFL. Well, I know there was. I don’t think it was a particularly pleasant meeting and a lot of that goes back to what previous Melbourne administrations did in the AFL’s eyes and the Commission's eyes with the money they were given but Melbourne need to know what they're getting next year from the AFL and I think they’ll know that … they won't know next week when the Commission meets. There’ll be other stuff discussed next week, Ben Cousins and the Gold Coast primarily but before Christmas they will know. I think they've asked for about $2m next year and I think in the short term they need it.

In the long term this new board and this new chief executive Cameron Schwab, there is no doubt in my mind they see the MCG as their home. They want to set up a training base there, even if they move in part terms to the rectangular stadium which is also going to house Melbourne Storm and Melbourne Victory I believe it will only be in part terms …

Gerard Healy: Surely they'll outgrow that. If Melbourne are successful they’ll outgrow that office in a very short period of time if they go to the rectangular stadium.

Caroline Wilson: They already have. There's room in that design for 45 people, already Melbourne’s staff is 50. The West Coast equivalent that they're going to build hopefully if the government allows it under this new political party in Subiaco has room for 150. It's ridiculous.

Gerard Healy: So tell me the forces that are weighing on the Melbourne situation.

Caroline Wilson: It's a bureaucratic thicket as we wrote today but I mean what you’ve got is an AFL trying to curry favour with the state government because the AFL needs the state government to put pressure on the MCG so it can get a better stadium better stadium built for Melbourne and Richmond and Collingwood and Hawthorn and all the clubs that play there. You’ve also got a situation where the state government wants an AFL team in that rectangular stadium spending all this money.

Gerard Healy: At what about $800,000.00 rent a year?

Caroline Wilson: It's too much. It's far too much. Melbourne wants subsidised rent at the rectangular stadium, they want the AFL to subsidise it and what the government and what the Melbourne Olympic Park Trust is saying to Melbourne that if you want to train at Gosch's Paddock or at one of these training areas out of Olympic Park we want you in the new rectangular stadium. Melbourne are saying, "we were born out of the MCG, we don't have a suburb to hang our hat on and they have a blueprint for the future and it is very definitely saying bring the boys back home and home is the MCG. Keep Casey. Always go out to Casey. They are training there at the moment three times a week, they're very happy there but that is very much a community enterprise in the manner that a lot of clubs are doing. I think Richmond is trying to do the same one at Craigieburn

Gerard Healy: Isn't it a time though that Melbourne got a home? And one home?

Caroline Wilson: Gerard. It's the MCG.

Gerard Healy: If they go to the MCG they’ll still be in bits and pieces. They’ll be out at Casey; they’ll be in at the MCG …

Caroline Wilson: No they want to have, short term, move into those two largely unused training rooms in the Southern Stand.

Dwayne Russell: They're not allowed to train on the MCG. They’ll never be able to do that …

Caroline Wilson: No. Gosch’s Paddock is a short walk. Collingwood are doing it at the moment, they’re doing the same. They’re walking from their training ground at Lexus and keep the community facility in the outer suburbs, which is what a lot of clubs are trying to do now, Dwayne. They want the MCG to be their home and in the long term, in the next ten years, when the AFL, the state government and the MCG develop the Great Southern Stand there'll be this huge elite training facility. Brunton Avenue will probably be underground and over it be Melbourne hope will be the Melbourne Football Club and I think it's a very worth strategy, I really do.

Caroline Wilson's article in the Age: Demons plan to turn MCG into elite facility

good on ya alpha

i really appreciate this

and just having read that, i am nervous and also confident with this aspect of our future

however, i do not want there to be a 50/50 situation with olympic park/mcg

all or nothing in either place and i am happy

thanks for all that A33.. great effort.

Talk about football...political footy that is.. !!

So bascially the State Gov has f**ked up again and wants some bunny to pay for all its failures.. Hopefully we can navigate around all that

Given that the redevelopment by Collingwood of other area of that precinct wrent even on the agenda when all this started I think the State Gov and Olympic park trustees need to realise many bets are off..

Alph you are a legend for that post, thanks

Dare I say Caro's words had a bit of... um... positive in them? We have lost a lot of battles lately but this is a big one we must win

GO DEES

Thanks Alph

As always, love your work Caro

good on ya alpha

i really appreciate this

+1

however, i do not want there to be a 50/50 situation with olympic park/mcg

all or nothing in either place and i am happy

You read the comments regarding (lack of) office space in the rectangular stadium, right?

cheers alpha, good man.

Looks like we'd be crazy to take up residence at the Rectangle Stadium...

[

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call real, actual journalism. Caroline Wilson is, by an absolute mile, the best football writer currently in the business.

Please join the Caroline Wilson Fan Club, founders 45hotgod (without his permission) and yours truly.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call real, actual journalism. Caroline Wilson is, by an absolute mile, the best football writer currently in the business.

Please join the Caroline Wilson Fan Club, founders 45hotgod (without his permission) and yours truly.

yeah, i gotta say after really disliking her in the past, over the last 6 months i've become a convert.

Go on, sign me up. Do we have to pay a membership fee?

I think one of the biggest pieces of news here was the fact that we are seeking 2 million clams from the AFL as compensation for the shyzenhausen fixture they allocated to us. We've been thrown on the scrapheap to enable Collingwood and Carlton to get dream fixtures that attract the big crowds and the sponsors with lots of money. As a constituent member of the AFL we're rightly entitled to a fair share of the cake if they're going to treat us like shyte with their loaded draws and the like. IMO 2 million is not enough.

Caroline Wilson is, by an absolute mile, the best football writer currently in the business.

She's the best 'political' football writer in the business.

It's a shame she actually has no idea about what happens on the field...

Do we have to pay a membership fee?

Nope. Only the cost of a copy of The Age.

She's the best 'political' football writer in the business.

It's a shame she actually has no idea about what happens on the field...

I would disagree with that. While it is true that she may not have played nearly as many AFL games as Sam Newman, I'd say she's watched a fair bit of the game, and thus knows a lot about it. You don't have to have done something well in order to write well about it, although I won't say it doesn't help.

hundy should cover it!

The club needs to make an official announcement about this soon. Unless they have and I missed it.

I understand that it is all up in the air but we must at least have an idea about what we are aiming for, and I feel like as a member I deserve to know our direction on the issue.

The club needs to make an official announcement about this soon. Unless they have and I missed it.

I understand that it is all up in the air but we must at least have an idea about what we are aiming for, and I feel like as a member I deserve to know our direction on the issue.

We do know the Club is seeking as a priority to finalise its office and administration base and also formalising both winter and summer training venues. The media have also advised that both Casey and the Bubbledome have issues that need to be be settled before finalisation of these matters. The media have also advised the negotiations are close to final.

I'd rather the Club get it right and do the best deal and not possibly compromise negotiations by making premature announcements bowing to members deemed "right to know".

Nope. Only the cost of a copy of The Age.

I would disagree with that. While it is true that she may not have played nearly as many AFL games as Sam Newman, I'd say she's watched a fair bit of the game, and thus knows a lot about it. You don't have to have done something well in order to write well about it, although I won't say it doesn't help.

I dont find AFL games a faultless barometer of football knowledge. Doug Hawkins played 350 games of AFL footballer and comes across as a boofhead on football analysis. No career in coaching for the "Hawk".

cheers alpha, good man.

Looks like we'd be crazy to take up residence at the Rectangle Stadium...

Ditto, good work alpha, and good article caro, as usual

[

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you call real, actual journalism. Caroline Wilson is, by an absolute mile, the best football writer currently in the business.

Please join the Caroline Wilson Fan Club, founders 45hotgod (without his permission) and yours truly.

Caro would have picked up all those facts about the club by listening to Jimmy on SEN the previous evening. And even to the point of using the same words he used in her article.

real journalism...please.

I'd rather the Club get it right and do the best deal and not possibly compromise negotiations by making premature announcements bowing to members deemed "right to know".

Amen to that RR, this is not a sprint, is huge in the context of our future and needs to be done right......

And as to the Caro debate, I think a lot of the softening around here on her is because she has written a few Demon-sympathetic pieces in recent times, but if she rips into us again, for whatever reason, there will always be those that will again think that she is some kind of ill equipped hack masquerading as a journalist. Personally I have always liked reading her work, I don't always agree with her, but that doesn't make her poor at what she does, she knows football and she does seem to have a particularly good handle on the politics behind the game.

Amen to that RR, this is not a sprint, is huge in the context of our future and needs to be done right......

And as to the Caro debate, I think a lot of the softening around here on her is because she has written a few Demon-sympathetic pieces in recent times, but if she rips into us again, for whatever reason, there will always be those that will again think that she is some kind of ill equipped hack masquerading as a journalist. Personally I have always liked reading her work, I don't always agree with her, but that doesn't make her poor at what she does, she knows football and she does seem to have a particularly good handle on the politics behind the game.

Caro is the mouthpiece of Demetriou and has been for some time. They use each other to get their respective messages across, in which case I'd suggest the AFL is giving Caro some reason to feel optimistic about the future home of our great club. Or perhaps it's just blind optimism on my part.

Either way, Rome wasnt built in a day, so let's be patient.

I would disagree with that. While it is true that she may not have played nearly as many AFL games as Sam Newman, I'd say she's watched a fair bit of the game, and thus knows a lot about it. You don't have to have done something well in order to write well about it, although I won't say it doesn't help.

she rarely writes an article about an actual game of football... it's always about the behind the scenes issues when it comes to Caro... boardroom spills, players taking drugs, coaches getting sacked, anything off field she's all over it and does a good job... but she rarely comments about what actually happens on the field...

i'd be interested if you could find me an article written by her that's about a game of football...