I'm confused. If as you suggest the MFC were to field a standalone VFL side playing out of Casey, why would the good people of Casey bother to support a club that they have no attachment too. As for the Bentleigh suggestion why would the club locate in old established suburb with little or no real chance of expanding it's supporter base. This would solve absolutely nothing and cost a mint. This is the exact same reason Hawthorn moved out of Glenferrie and engaged the people of the outer eastern suburbs to great success.

It's very very simple OS 50.

It's central to our supporterbase, where families dyed in the red & blue pass on the baton.

The locality is such that it's got easy access to 2 train lines which both straddle our strong hold of members.

If we setup a Social Hub with pokies & drink, At the Hotel mentioned, & right across the road is a struggling Bowls club which it's boundaries border with Both the Golf Course & the Amateurs footy ground.

We could setup a partnership with the Ammo's re the ground, and have a Fantastic central facility, close to our supporters with all necessary public transport (crucial) so us supporters who could go and watch Thursday training, with some bevy's & sausage, or a sitdown meal & watch training & the announcement of the team.

Some club Functions could be held there & the whole Idea would be to bring the club back to the supporter base. Not further away to the West.

You seem to be thinking we going to move our social base to Casey. I don't think so. But we could have another out there for our VFL arm.

What I'm talking about is the inner suburban Member Folk.. I wouldn't travel to Docklands/Nth Melb to see the training, & certainly not to go drinking. Or to functions there.

It's just the end of the earth IMO for Melbourne supporters.

Build a facility close to where we are, with all the public transport Infrastructure, & the members will come. As will others who climb onboard.

Put it the other side of the CBD & you may kill the club.

When the old VFA was morphed into the new VFL competition at the turn of this century, Melbourne embraced Sandringham and the alignment was certainly a successful one from the Zebra point of view (regular finals appearances and four premierships in less than a decade). From an MFC perspective, it helped cut costs but there was some criticism and debate as to whether it enhanced our playing group and, in the end, I think the result in that area would probably be neutral.

The move to Casey is a worthwhile experiment because it has the capacity to put the club in touch with a young and growing community but, at the same time, I don't think the local connection is going to help much if our AFL team is achieving such miserable results as it is this year. To hell with "culture" (whatever that means), we need to be associated with on field success if we're ever going to appeal to young fans in these growth areas.

On the playing side, I think things are going well this year under Brett Lovett. Since the Melbourne-Casey alignment started, the Scorpions have finished mainly top four but have not won a single finals match. That is substantially due to the annual injury curse among the Demons' list that sees a minimal number of AFL listed players available come finals time to the point where Casey falls into an embarrassing heap every year right when it's on centre stage. You can see this happening already with Casey likely to field about half as many MFC players today as the Northern Blues will have Carlton players. Despite the respective ladder positions of the two teams and the home ground advantage, I can see Casey struggling today without four of five Demons who were in their best players last week in the game against Frankston.

To his great credit, Lovett has done a great job this year bringing in a number of local youngsters who are thriving at this level. You have to remember that the Scorpions lost a number of their mainstay VFL listed players (and Fev) at the end of last year and have been without their three best players (Matthews, Nicholls and Lees) for most of the season through injury. He has rotated some of his better players through the reserves (development league) and brought in the young kids. It seems to me that he is almost preparing the team for a situation in which he knows he will have very few AFL listed players at his disposal when the crunch comes and in that respect, the Casey Scorpions may well be a virtual stand alone club come finals time.

It's central to our supporterbase, where families dyed in the red & blue pass on the baton.

The locality is such that it's got easy access to 2 train lines which both straddle our strong hold of members.

Put it the other side of the CBD & you may kill the club.

I'm a bit confused about this 'strong hold' that we apparently have. Is this part of the same strong hold that got 13,000 in to see the Freo match?

You're kidding yourself if you think that there is any growth for the club in Bentleigh. It's why Hawthorn moved to Waverly.

We went to Casey because their is population growth there and we need growth to survive. Shoring up Bentleigh is like Geelong shoring up Colac - a nice idea for the 10,000 that live there but a horrible business decision with no room for expansion.

I'm a bit confused about this 'strong hold' that we apparently have. Is this part of the same strong hold that got 13,000 in to see the Freo match?

You're kidding yourself if you think that there is any growth for the club in Bentleigh. It's why Hawthorn moved to Waverly.

We went to Casey because their is population growth there and we need growth to survive. Shoring up Bentleigh is like Geelong shoring up Colac - a nice idea for the 10,000 that live there but a horrible business decision with no room for expansion.

Growth in the Bentleigh area, I didn't say Bentleigh as our stronghold but the whole region around Oakleigh Caulfield Malvern Ripponlea Bentleigh Moorabbin would be the areas I'd imagine as our strongest region.

My Idea isn't to move to Docklands,,, whereby we'd lose the "Patch" we already have but have neglected due to poor returns onfield & a lack of members being intouch with the players.

Here is a map which can be widened or focused to show the reguion or to show the infrastructure. i know it's obvious.

http://maps.google.c...ed=0CNABEPwSMAA

You mentioned the docklands, that our base wouldn't go there..

Thankyou, thats what I'm trying to say, & you think we'll go further West for training???????? No Way!!!

The South-East @ Casey is the right way & WE Should be trying to bolster our original members areas.

These inner suburbs are constantly seeing houses bought & sold, with people moving in & out of the suburbs.

We need to fortify our traditional areas by giving members/supporters access to the players at training days/nights,,,, & a place where supporters can gather to watch the training, see the team announced, See first gamers get the Jumper, gather & chat with fellow supporters, have Meals, play the pokies for some, etc, etc...

Elsternwick offers a convenient easy access location for people to Venture to on the way home from work, or on weekends to visit for for other activities around the club, or for Golf or Bowls, or just Dining Out at the Hotel...

# Edit: IMO one of the obvious limits on supporters going out regularly to a MFC Social Hub is the fact of drinking & the Big Issue re driving/getting home.

Not many people like to, or can afford regular Taxi fares. It feels like a waste.

The trams & trains near Elsternwick would be an attractive option to me, if I was living in the Burbs again.

I think we should Bump this thread to keep the original thoughts of people up in the VFL discussions.

Growth in the Bentleigh area, I didn't say Bentleigh as our stronghold but the whole region around Oakleigh Caulfield Malvern Ripponlea Bentleigh Moorabbin would be the areas I'd imagine as our strongest region.

It's not what I've been told and I'm not sure the club has it right.

Please could we merge these VFL threads?

It's not what I've been told and I'm not sure the club has it right.

Has what right, rjay?