Just wanted to note that I went around the site earlier in the week, saw where the team's facilities will be located and have seen the plans -- this complex will be immense and there is not doubt that MFC have made a good decision in terms of what will be available to them.

Not sure about the money side of things, but I am very very impressed.

It won't be finished for a while though, but that's not unexpected.

Thats great!!! An inner city training facility we have been waiting....how does it affect the Casey situation...do they train at bubble 1 night a week and the rest at Casey??

My understanding was that the rectangular stadium arrangement were a problem because it could not accommodate our small number of staff. Has this been rectified or will there be two locations (including the MCG)?

the staff have been working from casey fields.

My understanding was that the rectangular stadium arrangement were a problem because it could not accommodate our small number of staff. Has this been rectified or will there be two locations (including the MCG)?

That was my understanding on this topic last year. My understanding also was that there was an agreement in place - pre Stynes, the club realised that it could not accomodate all staff. Also that the move is considered 'expensive' (ie the lease or annual rent), which is why they wanted to re-consider the agreement, because they want all of the club to be under one roof. Ie. Offices at MCG & state of the art facilities under new plans within the Southern Stand of MCG. The AFL weighed in to help the Mfc, but with the agreement already in place the Bubbledome, it will be the offices home until such time as things are worked out. Pretty much still a work in progress.

So we've got a base (or Campus ) at Casey, Offices to be at Bubbledome (only for a certain number of staff); Junction Oval; Offices at G; I think there was some mention of training at Gosch's paddock - someone could confirm this.

There was also some talk of new plans near Docklands somewhere - I don't know much more about this initiative, think it was something to do with Melbourne City Council.

Maybe some can correct me on the above, as it's all off the top of my head and I'm not sure if it's all 100% correct.

My understanding was that the rectangular stadium arrangement were a problem because it could not accommodate our small number of staff. Has this been rectified or will there be two locations (including the MCG)?

Can't say.

I vaguely remember last thing I heard from the club was that they'd be training at Gosch's paddock throughout the season, with gym, medical services, pool and recovery over at MRS along with some of the admin as it can't all fit there, some of the admin still at the MCG.

This perplexes me though, because from the plans MFC have quite a bit more room allocated for them than either the Storm or the Victory. I can only assume they have quite a lot more staff. Which is a good sign I guess.

There's room allocated for Rugby too from what I can see. Not sure if that's pending on a new union franchise in melb or not.

PreSeason of course out at Casey, no change there.

The separation thing, I think, will be of minimal impact. Where the offices are located they face the G and its really just walking straight out the door, crossing the road and barely 2 mins to the G.

Not ideal, but hardly a trek to the Junction Oval or worse.

The separation thing, I think, will be of minimal impact. Where the offices are located they face the G and its really just walking straight out the door, crossing the road and barely 2 mins to the G.

Not ideal, but hardly a trek to the Junction Oval or worse.

Tell that to the precious Pies. They very dubiously were given full use of Olympic Park precint (ie.The Olympic Park ground and Lexus Centre), shunting Atheltics Austraia and Vic Institute of Sport out to somewhere else because It was too far for them to walk 350 metres from Goschs Paddock to the Lexus Centre

The story is here, I may have emoted and fuzzed the facts slightly, but you'll get the drift of it:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/collingw...90811-egz0.html

Just wanted to note that I went around the site earlier in the week, saw where the team's facilities will be located and have seen the plans -- this complex will be immense and there is not doubt that MFC have made a good decision in terms of what will be available to them.

Not sure about the money side of things, but I am very very impressed.

It won't be finished for a while though, but that's not unexpected.

"I went around the site earlier in the week"

Has the fitout started yet, the stud walls & plasterwork for any of the offices, etc??

Dees have committed to Bubbledome on a rolling 5 year basis so if something better comes up (e.g. Docklands) then we will be able to get out quickly. Learned this at a Mates of Melbourne/Future Fund function earlier this year.

Dees have committed to Bubbledome on a rolling 5 year basis so if something better comes up (e.g. Docklands) then we will be able to get out quickly. Learned this at a Mates of Melbourne/Future Fund function earlier this year.

That was said by Director Leoncelli in Redlegs Room a couple of weeks ago - 4 terms of 5 years lease - I have a problem re Docklands - we have tried to get everything back to MCG precinct ( plus Casey in summer ) and appear to have achieved that, but then the possibility of Dockland creates a red herring. I think Docklands ( in principle ) would be a bad move.

In summary for those that are confused (thanks Enforcer):

-Preseason training (exclusively?) at Casey

-Training in-season at Gosch's paddock, with 1 session per week/fortnight at Casey

-Football Dept, medical, gym? and majority of admin facilities at Bubbledome

-Remainder of admin at 'G.

Has the fitout started yet, the stud walls & plasterwork for any of the offices, etc??

Fitout has started partially, but there's still a hell of lot to go.

Only very early stages.

think the trouble with Bubbledome is that we came to this in a different frame of mindunder differing circumstances when adressing the needs of the club. Back when all this began there was the hullaballoo about wonderful Team_Melbourne and and all the warm and fuzzines of shared facilities and even to a point resources.This has now changed markedly. There is no real alliance of anysorts worth worrying about. We arent sharing any admin facilites etc , we now have Casey and all it offers, we now have kissed and made up with the MCC and we have a different vision courtesy of our ilustrious leader and his trusted team.

When it was first mooted I thought being part of Bubbledome wa a sound idea, now its some sort of marraige of inconvenience. It wont realy provide 100% of anything we need/want. The sooner we can have some more facilities at the G the better and we can jettison Bubbledome entirely. With the 15th RU team likely to want somewhere to play and train you would have to think BD's value is even further diminished. EOTD..it makes littel sense to have any AFL team asociated with a small rectangular stadium.... does it !!

this from schwabby should clear up any questions

I thought I would touch base in relation to what has become a somewhat confusing communication in relation to our club’s facilities, an issue which has challenged many generations of MFC administrators.

I am a regular reader of Demonland and Demonology and enjoy the discussions. I have encouraged our staff to read the sites as we can learn a lot from what our supporters are saying about our club.

Now that life has settled down a little, I will try and make a contribution from time to time.

In relation to our facilities, the key points are as follows:

The MCG is our home. A key component of our realignment with the MCC is to give the club a stronger presence at the ground (visually and spiritually) and a number of concepts are being discussed, with enthusiasm and understanding. We cannot underestimate the importance of the realignment, but at the most fundamental level it relates to the Melbourne Football Club and its ‘sense of place’. As I like to say, “if the MCG is the paddock that grew, it is the Melbourne Football Club who cultivated it”. Simply, we are no longer a tenant, we are home.

The MCC have been tremendous, we could not have asked for more.

Unfortunately, the MCG cannot be our training venue. It can however be our administrative base, at least in the foreseeable future, or until a better option presents. Anyone who has visited our offices would know we need to upgrade our facilities which are tired and we are fragmented over three levels. Our retail outlet is also problematic.

For anyone who has experienced the Junction Oval in recent years, our football team is being severely compromised in relation to quality and access (summer). Our club has also suffered from the dislocation of the organisation into two parts (ie MCG and Junction Oval).

The club also needs to establish a community base as a key part of our growth strategy.

The likely next phase for the club is as follows:

The club has signed a 30 year agreement with the City of Casey which will go before Council in the near future – hopefully for final approval. Once approved, this will be formally announced, in the meantime keep it amongst ourselves! We have built excellent goodwill with the City of Casey and they have been great to deal with. It promises to be a very strong relationship.

This is an integrated agreement, very focused on community. The club will have access to the outstanding facilities in Casey, including Casey Fields as well as the Recreation and Aquatic Centre. An AFL quality facility will be built at Casey Fields for the MFC as part of an overall upgrade, to include gym, change-rooms etc - to be completed early next year.

Community will be at the heart of what we are calling our ‘growth imperative’.

Casey Fields will be utilised extensively by the club, particularly in the summer months, but also during the season where it is likely that we will spend at least one day integrating training and community activities. It will be known as our Casey Campus.

As you would also be aware, we are a long way down the track in relation to finalising the establishment of an elite training centre at Olympic Park, within the new rectangular stadium, training at Gosch’s Paddock.

Our Olympic Park Campus will be a shared facility, with Melbourne Storm and Melbourne Victory, and will house our football operations as well as the flexibility to co-locate some of our MCG based staff. Whilst still separated over two venues, we are only a few minutes walk across the footbridge and the facilities promise to be excellent. If all goes to plan, we will be in a position to move into the facilities in the first half of next year. In the meantime, we will operate between the Junction Oval and Casey as we did (quite successfully) this year.

The Docklands’ opportunity is interesting, but it is only at a very early concept stage. We will explore the opportunity, as it could present a Hawthorn/Waverley Park option where it puts the entire organisation in one facility immediately adjacent to a training ground in the traditional AFL club model, rather than a shared facility within a soccer/rugby stadium with a non-exclusive training ground down the road. It would complement our Casey arrangement whilst not compromising our MCG heritage, where we would seek to maintain a strong presence. Given that it is a ‘green-field’ site, it presents many opportunities to integrate with local community and business in the heart of the ‘new’ Melbourne. It is an interesting concept, but that is as far as it has developed thus far.

Hope this clears up a few things, and I look forward to seeing you all at the footy tomorrow.

Schwabby.

Thanks for that Nugget.

Gotta love Schwabby, he's a class act.

I am a regular reader of Demonland and Demonology and enjoy the discussions. I have encouraged our staff to read the sites as we can learn a lot from what our supporters are saying about our club.

No wonder we're last!

Thanks for that Nugget Jones and HT. More importantly thankyou Schwabby!

With Casey and the Bubbledome we will have access to state-of-the-art gym & medical facilities which is what excites me the most. It's a shame we can't have all our admin in the one place. It doesn't seem a very efficient way of running things.

I have heard that we are getting our own ( exclusive ) stadium and admin block as part of the covering of the Jolimont train tracks - there has been a slight delay though as the engineers solve the possible problem of water from our swimming pool dripping on to the overhead train power lines .

Signed - pben 1 April, 2010.

I have heard that we are getting our own ( exclusive ) stadium and admin block as part of the covering of the Jolimont train tracks - there has been a slight delay though as the engineers solve the possible problem of water from our swimming pool dripping on to the overhead train power lines .

Signed - pben 1 April, 2010.

Excuse me, are you from the future?

I have heard that we are getting our own ( exclusive ) stadium and admin block as part of the covering of the Jolimont train tracks - there has been a slight delay though as the engineers solve the possible problem of water from our swimming pool dripping on to the overhead train power lines .

Signed - pben 1 April, 2010.

Phew..I thought the tunnel underneath might be the problem.....

'Exclusive stadium', what planet ARE YOU on?

I have heard that we are getting our own ( exclusive ) stadium and admin block as part of the covering of the Jolimont train tracks - there has been a slight delay though as the engineers solve the possible problem of water from our swimming pool dripping on to the overhead train power lines .

Signed - pben 1 April, 2010.

last time I looked rain didnt stop a train sealing a pool isnt rocket science.

whatis your source for this development ? I understood the gov was still calling in expressions of interest for the redevelopment /covering of the yards

Signed APRIL 1..... April fools....

Signed APRIL 1..... April fools....

Well then, he's the fool. B)

No wonder we're last!

Haha

In all seriousness, it's a great way for the MFC to get an idea of what the supporter sentiment is.