There's nothing short term about a push into China. It would have to be an AFL-wide approach which we could put our hand up to be band leaders in if it suited, but we're not going to make in roads into China off the back of one struggling club.

China doesn't need AFL and has very little to gain from it. You'd be better off pushing it towards a country with people that would actually want to come to Australia to play a localised Australian sport. It'd be a like a struggling Canadian Lacrosse team pushing for members in Sydney.

We have far more to gain from a push into the NT. As a Tasmanian who's been living out of the state for the last 8 years, it's easy to see the cultural shift down there each time I get back. Hawthorn is every person's second team, and people buy memberships because they love what the Hawks have brought to the state. You've got to give something to get something and Hawthorn brought regular AFL games to Tassie and so people are happy to buy in to support them. Over time (probably shorter than you think), the same thing will happen in the NT, whether we're winning games or not.

i agree. What worries me is the fact that only 160 members have been signed in all the time we have been up there.

I am shocked if that number is correct.

Do you know the number of Tassie Kangaroo members at this point?

3803 in 2012, up from 1383 in 2011.

3803 in 2012, up from 1383 in 2011.

and we have 160. That's why i am concerned...

1383 was the number of members the Roos had a year before they started the push into Tassie. Would be interested to know how many the Dees have down there at the moment.

I've never been to the NT but I imagine it's a very different cultural landscape that we're pushing into.

and we have 160. That's why i am concerned...

North also invested heavily in the area trying to promote growth. I believe they have a full time office down there. What have we done/doing in Darwin to attract members? A few kick to kicks with the kids is great but it isn't amounting to members.

These figures are appalling.

i agree. What worries me is the fact that only 160 members have been signed in all the time we have been up there.

I am shocked if that number is correct.

Do you know the number of Tassie Kangaroo members at this point?

WYL.Are you comparing the potential of Membership growth between Tassie and China?

We will be eating dumplings at the Flower Drum one day ,over a morning martini ,post flag .

I will raise the subject and the fact that we have 7000 loyal Air China staff supporting our games "with glee'.

You will get with the program.

You will believe in the China Demons.

We will find a way to control our enemies.

We will defeat "Air Emirates" and their flunkies .

It is inevitable.

WYL.Are you comparing the potential of Membership growth between Tassie and China?

We will be eating dumplings at the Flower Drum one day ,over a morning martini ,post flag .

I will raise the subject and the fact that we have 7000 loyal Air China staff supporting our games "with glee'.

You will get with the program.

You will believe in the China Demons.

We will find a way to control our enemies.

We will defeat "Air Emirates" and their flunkies .

It is inevitable.

no i was comparing what we have done compared to the Kangas on the same timeframe.

China is something we should never give up on.

These figures are appalling.

So is your cholesterol .

Thanks for the effort HG.

You have opened my eyes to the weekend of the 20th July

I've booked flights for friday.

Then by accident I found out the Derby was on the Saturday. this then followed by Footy on Sat night.

I then get picked up at 6:30 am for a 3 day trip to Kakadu.

all I need is the Derby winner and a Dees win.

Absolute Top End heaven.

Jose i am not disagreeing with what you say above.

But 160 members in 4 years is not good, that is what should be signed up in one game at a VFL level.

We are dealing with other clubs who have 50-75,000 members.

The strategy is not working is my point.

That is a cold hard fact if the membership figure is correct.

I agree with you wyl. lets not try to varnish this turd. that is a very poor effort for that period of time. I feel its more to do with our on field performances than the clubs efforts however. It would be easier selling knives and forks in china than melbourne memberships to footy fans these days. what neutral footy fan would choose to support the dees? we have stunk. intil that changes we will continue to be an irrelevant entity.

PS - i believe change is in the air but its a long road back. the club has lost 2 generations of potential supporters.

lets not kid ourselves. even 2 premierships will not repair the damage that 50 years of shocking performances has done. multi-decade sustained and continual success is the what is required to save this club from joining fitzroy i believe.

The total population of Darwin is about 130,000 of which 50% would be of aboriginal who could not afford to buy a membership of any kind any where.

Then divide that by 3 ( the number in a family) and you have a population of about 20,000 who might buy a ticket if they weren't into soccer, RL, fishing or some other sport. And let's not forget that Darwin has a high percentage of people on the dole, and a lot of other countries ex citizens who couldn't give two hoots about AFL. I would say that Darwin would have about 1000 people who might entertain the thought of buying a membership of an AFL team.

So I would think that the MFC has done pretty a good job so far to get a 15% of the available market.

If you have never lived in Darwin you are not qualified to comment on these figures or the ones provided by Hells Gates.

The total population of Darwin is about 130,000 of which 50% would be of aboriginal who could not afford to buy a membership of any kind any where.

Then divide that by 3 ( the number in a family) and you have a population of about 20,000 who might buy a ticket if they weren't into soccer, RL, fishing or some other sport. And let's not forget that Darwin has a high percentage of people on the dole, and a lot of other countries ex citizens who couldn't give two hoots about AFL. I would say that Darwin would have about 1000 people who might entertain the thought of buying a membership of an AFL team.

So I would think that the MFC has done pretty a good job so far to get a 15% of the available market.

If you have never lived in Darwin you are not qualified to comment on these figures or the ones provided by Hells Gates.

so what are the long term benefits of being up there if there is only a potential of +-1000 members to tap into apart from an NT Government pay out?

Fighting for such a small market share seems a little strange.

Let face it, until we start wining game our supporter base in NT will be low.

When that day comes and become a top 4 team again all this hard work will pay off.

In 2006 a Roy Morgan AFL supporters research indicated we had 248,000.

I've always thought that we're one club that really does get supporters out of the woodwork when we start having success. More so than other clubs. I appreciate that it's an older base, which needs replenishing.

http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2006/473/

I tend to agree with this. There are alot of non-football obsessed MFC supporters. You only here they support the club once the wins start flowing or on Queens Birthday for their annual trip to the G.

160 members in Darwin...woohoo.

What happened to the China initiative.

This club thinks small and will remain so.

Gawn's Yawn saw to that

Thanks for sharing HG.

I'm all for the Friday night Darwin games - an extra day of recovery can only be a good thing for the players.

160 NT members is appalling for an AFL club no matter how you look at it, especially given the games we've played up there. Our brand of footy however has been just as appalling so if we can become "fashionable" on the park then we could make some inroads.

What is an NT member paying for?

An overpriced ticket to one game?

Get real people. Tassie members have 3 or 4 games at least to go to for NM and Haw and they are The Spirit away from Melbourne.

If you think we will ever get close to those numbers of members up there you are kidding yourself.

3803 in 2012, up from 1383 in 2011.

Thats why there going to thrive and were withering, Tassies 45 mins away, Darwins on the other side of planet, this club has no idea.

Thats why there going to thrive and were withering, Tassies 45 mins away, Darwins on the other side of planet, this club has no idea.

That's why we are in Casey.

And you don't even have to go over water...

Thats why there going to thrive and were withering, Tassies 45 mins away, Darwins on the other side of planet, this club has no idea.

Ok genius, any alternative plans?

Maybe we should try to get into tassie too?

FMD.

That's why we are in Casey.

And you don't even have to go over water...

How much do we earn a game at Casey?

Ok genius, any alternative plans?

Maybe we should try to get into tassie too?

FMD.

The truth hurts genius, the Kangas have 3800 members in tassie , they pulled the correct reign, its as simple as that, FMD these guys play a game in Darwin and lose 6kgs, how do you back up the following week genius?

How much do we earn a game at Casey?

We were talking about members, were we not?

And I didn't know you loved to see 3-5 home games sold interstate...

And I believe with 2 games played up in Darwin in a few years time it will mean over $1m annually.