Western Dee's Dinner in Perth

[jackie_moon 0]

Anyone else heading along to the dinner tonight?

I look forward to this every year and the fact Ron Barassi and Robbo will be there this year have got me bouncing round like a kid in a candy shop.

Big round of applause to Joan and the rest of the Western Demons for putting on such a great night every year.

Only downside is that I cant get a new guernsey to be signed by the boys:(

[dreamin' man 0]

I envy you benny. Wish I didn't have to work tonight. & what is the Italian Club like as a venue?

[darkhorse72 1,759]

Hey all,

Once again we have had almost yearly dinner with the players last night with also the pleasure of the great man Ron Barassi joining us for the trip to the west.

All the players and support staff were in attendance and had dinner with about 160 supporters in the Perth Italian club.

Like last year players were spread around the room with one ot two on the tables to chat with the supporters with them moving about during the night between courses.

On our table we had Neville Jetta and assistant coach Sean Wellman. Unlike past years however, I didn't get to catch to as many players but got to talk to Ron a bit was great and he signed my old 1982 jumper for a bit of memorabilia and a photo as well. He was sitting with a few of his previous teammates who he played with. One chap I spoke to and for the life of me I can't remember his name. His dad played in the 26 premiership team, his brother in the 48 draw and win against the Dons and he played in the fifties for 3 flags.

We had a good chat to Jetta and he is enjoying things but doesn't think he will play tomorrow (he's an emergency) from what he has been told which is a bit sad since he's almost playing at home. Jamie Bennell will play according to Wellman?

Wellman is very happy with our the backline is starting to come together this year and he's enjoying moulding the young guys. He said they still really lack that confidence to really run with the ball like Geelong but its coming. The most pleasing thing is unlike last year they can get the ball out of our defensive zone much more efficiently this year and have been really working on that aspect. I also asked him if they had put some goal posts up at training this week and he said they have had more shots at goal than he cares to remember so hopefully the kicking will be a bit straighter this week..

---

I had some quick conversations with the following:

Robbo, - stoked about playing last week and while a bit body sore after the game last week as to be expected, fighting fit

Brock McLean - no hangup from his ankle injury and getting his match fitness back slowly, but mentioned he's can tell he's getting his match touch back as well in regards to kicking, handballing and playing at the required speed. That has been obvious in the last few weeks with a few games under his belt.

Nathan Jones - only a quick chat didn't seem too chatty by the time I go to him, but happ to have help in the midfield I congratulated on his improvement this year with his kicking as its been much more purposeful.

Jared Rivers - very happy to be back in the team and be player, Junior was stirring him up about being a future captain as I was talking to both of them at the same time.

Junior - going well, congratulated him on being made captain, as its a great honour, hinted it would be great if held it for another year but got the diplomatic answer He has a great memory as he remembered talking to me last year and even where we were sitting which was surprising.

Ricky Petterd - just happy to be playing and is enjoying the forward line.

Brent Moloney - nice chap, not not having seen the players the guy has huge shoulders, looks super-fit, and did I say huge shoudlders I'm talking a couple of axe handles....

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Spoke only briefly with Dean Bailey for a bit at the end of the night

- he's very happy with Frawley and how he has developed physically this year, he also mentioned him in his speech.

- about the speed of players and our Blease was the fastest in the club by far and happy was unhappy about the break last week ad hopes he keeps is speed after he recovers. He indicated he needed more speed in the team. He mentioned Jack Watts was right up there with Davey, bennell and blease in terms of speed with was amazing for a big fella.

- Jack Watts: the standard line, 2nd half of year, has put on 6 kg and grown 1 cm.

- a bit about Shane Valenti, basically he's a footballer not an athlete but has been working on his running and speed a lot this year, stll considers him young and time to developed which is interesting being an older recruit.

- Liam Jurrah is a long way off, same with most of the rookies but all have great potential

- I asked about Jack Grimes and was told he had traveled with the team, but I didn't manage to catch up with him as I didn't realise he was there till they left.

About this time they had to leave..

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Spoke with Cameron Schwab for a bit about the off field side of the club and asked his perspective on the members numbers vs actual revenue from members in terms of membership classes and how much we get. My personal view is more members even if they pay $40 a year like MCC members.

He said the problem is the general perception of a club is more members the healthier it is to the general public, regardless of what time of members they are. "marketing is perception" he went on to add that the first 10,000 dockers members financial contribute more to the fremantle club than 30,000 Melbourne members, due to the economics from the stadiums they play at. Dockers season tickets are much more expensive than the Dee's from dockers members I have spoken too. One of his challenges is to raise this per captia income for our club. Obviously he says part of the relatioship with the MCC is the additional funds they have always put into the club.

We talked about the the re-joining the MCC and he says its a great thing, but we also spoke about the plit and he said it was very badly done and one of the reasons was when the club left. it was given nothing, he said given the history and wealth it bought to the MCC it should have been sent away with a share of the wealth they built up, say with $10m in the bank to set it up. It was split and given nothing, not 1 cent, it had to start from scratch.

Lastly I asked him if the chap from the gruen transfer is the one on the board and he is. Say's he agreat and very smart bloke. Cameron says the state and culture of the club is nothing like it was last time round, 90's when he was in charge. He says its amazing the improvements that have been bought about since Jimmy took over and the new board in place. He says one of the best thing is that they "know when they don't know something " and spend time finding out the right answer. Not pretending they understand and then make a decision on half a guess. Which is great news and he feels when we look back in 10yrs + it will be a watershed moment for the club (for the better), that's the spirit now working inside. I couldn't be happier to get that sort of information. He is also says he spent a lot of time retaining good staff and mentioned that he is on the lookout for more quality staff. i suggested with the current crisis some very smart people might become available and he said the dockers just let 9 people from their admin go, maybe he knows a couple of them that would be good for us. Who knows.

I think that about wraps it up, one special mention is for Michael Pinches who dug out of storage a "Ron Barrasi" banner last shown in public in 1964, and Ron signed it for him.. a good news story.

A good night pity we only see them once or twice a year

Cheers

Kane

[Carn dees 108]

Thanks Kane nice report.

[1858 238]

Cheers for sharing that, I can't help but be excited whenever I hear about the positivity and focus the club is taking.

[Longsufferingnomore 1,489]

Great PR by the club. Like the legal eagle dinner its good to hear information from the horse's mouth so to speak. MCC has a lot to answer for.

[Dreamin' Demon 10]

Lastly I asked him if the chap from the gruen transfer is the one on the board and he is. Say's he agreat and very smart bloke...

Which bloke is that? Wil Anderson?

[e25 5]

Which bloke is that? Wil Anderson?

No. Russel Howcroft. Advertising / Marketing guru from George Patterson Y&R.

We have an extremely valuable asset in him as a board member. Surely the driving force behind the club's attempts to appear as inclusive as possible.

[darkhorse72 1,759]

Russel Howcroft, yep that's the guy. Apparentely bloody funny too

[e25 5]

Russel Howcroft, yep that's the guy. Apparentely bloody funny too

On The Gruen Transfer Todd Sampson referred to Russell as the type of guy "who thinks TV programs get in the way of the advertisements"; he is a man who knows marketing and will ensure MFC does it right.

Another reason for great optimism and sustained support -- we are going places.

[Goodvibes 3,596]

Great stuff Kane, cheers for the report.

[Whispering_Jack 28,091]

Thanks for the report Kane. I hope you and all the other loyal Demon fans over there in Perth are rewarded with a win tomorrow!

[Bobby McKenzie 2,204]

Kane, I was at the night too and it was a wonderful evening indeed. We had Paul Johnson at our table. He's a big boy when you are sitting next to him! Later, we had Bater who was a friendly, but quiet lad. Spoke to Aaron Davey and Brock as well as a few others. Aaron was very happy with his form and condition and is hoping for an injury free season. Brock is a nice guy, very relaxed and friendly.

Kane, the ex player you couldn't remember was, I think, Mike Collins. His brother who played in the late 40's and the 50's was the late Geoff Collins who made the 150 Heroes list. The other old players at Ron's table were Ken Melville (B&F 1953) and Trevor Johnson, both 150 Heroes men.

Naturally had a chat with Ronald Dale. He was easy to talk to and even asked me if I reckon he hit Richmond's Roger Dean. (Barass got 4 weeks for the incident and missed all the finals that year). I was a bit vague with my answer so Ron quickly changed the topic. Looked like he was still trying to clear his name! We had a pleasant chat about the old days. Congratulations to Joan Lawson of the Western Demons for the fantastic evening. Now to bed so that I can be fresh to cheer the Dees on at Subi tomorrow.

[darkhorse72 1,759]

Thats the chap, very nice. MIke Collins it is.

[jackie_moon 0]

great write up....

what a great night!!!

moloney was on our table to start followed by robbo which caused my mum, sisters and missus to all lose their sh*t simultaneously haha. he stayed at our table for the rest of the night which was awesome.

Cale Morton came over for a chat as he is good friends with my sister. We were teasing him about his shaved head and he told us about the fines system at the club and how the system works. If you are fined you have to roll a dice. roll a 1 and you shave your head, 3 you have to drive the bunky car the boys all put in and bought for a week and 5 you have to sport the dorothy the dinosaur backpack complete with talking barbie doll macca has at the moment. anytime a player calls he has to answer the phone by playing the doll haha. classic.

The vibe in the room compared to last year was great. The boys were buzzing and were really confident of knocking over the eagles. I had a great chat with maric. the kids a top bloke and he was saying how disappointed he was with his game last week but how pumped he was for sunday. Backed that up pretty well.

Really impressed with all the boys who, even though you could see they were wrecked after there flight, did a great job mingling with fans young and old.

Top marks Joan and co.