When do we play the Swans?

And where?

We had our first Sydney based game in something like 5 or 6 seasons, against the Swans at the SCG last year... so we probably won't get another for another few years. The addition of GWS hasn't really helped our plight much either, as last year our game against them was in the ACT (great for DeeOldFart and others) and that will no doubt happen again... this year we got them at Skoda, but had no Swans game.

This is why I can't really have too much sympathy for those complaining about losing a couple of home games to Darwin and the Alice... we pay full membership but get one game to attend, IF we are lucky. The game against GWS in the ACT meant a three hour drive and a night's accommodation. Any game attended in Melbourne means an airfare and at least one night's (probably two) accommodation... all on top of the cost of a membership!

1. Beggars cant be choosers
2. Hawthorn is a good example
3. A chance to increase memberships

Also Etihad isn't the issue - it's the 16,000 game attendances at the G which hurt us more.

Exactly seconded

You have my vote PJ

1. Beggars cant be choosers
2. Hawthorn is a good example
3. A chance to increase memberships

Also Etihad isn't the issue - it's the 16,000 game attendances at the G which hurt us more.

please show me/us how its ACTUALLY increased any membership in any real meaningful way. many outside of Melbourne who barrack for the Dees will do so irregardless. By all accounts there are 5 men 3 dogs and a croc in attendance at Darwin games invariable for free tickets etc. Bet the membership tent cranks up for

those days ??

Hawthorn tapped into a REAL market thats not half a day away and plays in moderate climes. Our efforts are extreme ...and extreme. Total fail. Does hawthorn suffer the dreaded 'week afters' having played in tassie ? I dont think so.

This idea /argument by those who are interstate members whilst of relevance to them isnt a real one. No ne who lives in say Adelaide or Sydney would have any real expectation of a Melbourne game other than maybe one a year and then only because they are actually playing a team in the comp that actually resides in that local. its a totally different scenario to whereby 3 games suddenly go north to where NO AFL team exists and cuts from the Melbourne itenaries and of the vast majority who follow Melbourne and reside in its proximity.

Yeah lets play in Alice... ..what next...in a cave in Coober Pedy ffs

The club has to do what it needs to for $$$$$$$ at this stage.

It also gives the supporters in that part of the country an opportunity to c the boys play which is a good thing for them.

I am based in Brisbane and totally understand what fork is talking about.

Once we start to win we can pick and choose where to play but until then we need to suck it up and deal with it.

please show me/us how its ACTUALLY increased any membership in any real meaningful way. many outside of Melbourne who barrack for the Dees will do so irregardless. By all accounts there are 5 men 3 dogs and a croc in attendance at Darwin games invariable for free tickets etc. Bet the membership tent cranks up for

those days ??

Hawthorn tapped into a REAL market thats not half a day away and plays in moderate climes. Our efforts are extreme ...and extreme. Total fail. Does hawthorn suffer the dreaded 'week afters' having played in tassie ? I dont think so.

This idea /argument by those who are interstate members whilst of relevance to them isnt a real one. No ne who lives in say Adelaide or Sydney would have any real expectation of a Melbourne game other than maybe one a year and then only because they are actually playing a team in the comp that actually resides in that local. its a totally different scenario to whereby 3 games suddenly go north to where NO AFL team exists and cuts from the Melbourne itenaries and of the vast majority who follow Melbourne and reside in its proximity.

Yeah lets play in Alice... ..what next...in a cave in Coober Pedy ffs

It's as simple as this; do you want the AFL bailout and Paul Roos?

Round 11 this year was the Queens Birthday Fixture.

What a laugh if that event was transferred to Alice "NOT"

I am OK with it so long as one of the games includes our previously scheduled home game at Ethiad, I hate that place.

Would be great if one of the matches preceeded a bye to reduce the impact on the following week.

If we start winning, this will be the least of our worries.

It's as simple as this; do you want the AFL bailout and Paul Roos?

you make a big assumption one is inextricably connected to the other.

I really look forward to the day we are stable enough to not have to sell home games. Especially to locations that are so difficult to recover from. Surely the AFL will be able to accommodate at least one of the byes to be after a NT match.

Still got to keep the $$$ rolling in.

please show me/us how its ACTUALLY increased any membership in any real meaningful way. many outside of Melbourne who barrack for the Dees will do so irregardless. By all accounts there are 5 men 3 dogs and a croc in attendance at Darwin games invariable for free tickets etc. Bet the membership tent cranks up for

those days ??

Hawthorn tapped into a REAL market thats not half a day away and plays in moderate climes. Our efforts are extreme ...and extreme. Total fail. Does hawthorn suffer the dreaded 'week afters' having played in tassie ? I dont think so.

This idea /argument by those who are interstate members whilst of relevance to them isnt a real one. No ne who lives in say Adelaide or Sydney would have any real expectation of a Melbourne game other than maybe one a year and then only because they are actually playing a team in the comp that actually resides in that local. its a totally different scenario to whereby 3 games suddenly go north to where NO AFL team exists and cuts from the Melbourne itenaries and of the vast majority who follow Melbourne and reside in its proximity.

Yeah lets play in Alice... ..what next...in a cave in Coober Pedy ffs

Well you mob down there are doing a wonderful job turning up to games.

Answer this simple question (which you continue to ignore): How do you suggest we pay for Paul Roos if not by selling home games interstate?

Well you mob down there are doing a wonderful job turning up to games.

Answer this simple question (which you continue to ignore): How do you suggest we pay for Paul Roos if not by selling home games interstate?

Paul Roos will have paid for himself with the growing membership.

Your assertions are baseless in that regard.

Yours is a straw argument. The real concern that is there is we arent an overly profitable outfit currently. But hey given the number of poor decisions over the last few years creating unfortunate payouts lets all make it about something else.

Paul Roos will have paid for himself with the growing membership.

Your assertions are baseless in that regard.

Yours is a straw argument. The real concern that is there is we arent an overly profitable outfit currently. But hey given the number of poor decisions over the last few years creating unfortunate payouts lets all make it about something else.

Pathetic. Is that the absolute best you can come back with? Straw argument?

You are contradicting yourself. You admit we're not 'overly' profitable, you admit we are suffering from poor decision making, you admit we are struggling with payouts but you still wont concede that selling home games is a part of our solution.

Look at the evidence. Why is Hawthorn flying? Anything to do with selling home games to Tassie? Any reason why North, Richmond and St Kilda are all selling home games?

Hard to see the downside of the Alice Springs game in winter. It won't be hot and it's a shorter round trip than Melbourne-Perth. The argument that travelling is somehow a problem is a fallacy. West Coast and Fremantle have been coping with it since their inception.

Pathetic. Is that the absolute best you can come back with? Straw argument?

You are contradicting yourself. You admit we're not 'overly' profitable, you admit we are suffering from poor decision making, you admit we are struggling with payouts but you still wont concede that selling home games is a part of our solution.

Look at the evidence. Why is Hawthorn flying? Anything to do with selling home games to Tassie? Any reason why North, Richmond and St Kilda are all selling home games?

Why can you not understand the essence of the angst is about it being in Darwin. its not even like we have a good track record there. its not like its a gimme the money and we'll take the 4 points. You do remember this competition is about points. You do understand we physically suffer afterwards.

You canvas the notion its all about Roos, but when shown it isnt you continue the were poor so lets sell to darwin line or it would seem anywhere the back of Bourke.

By all means play out of season games there. lets the circus generate some money but the competition proper ought to be about improving our competitiveness and position on the ladder. That will drive far more resources than the NT solution.

You do touch upon the real problem and thats money. The solution isnt up nth its down south. Getting bums back on seats and memberships up and sponsorship in, not being the patsy for holiday campaign.

Let's be honest here. The reason we are still playing games in the NT and infact increased the amount for 2014 is because the PREVIOUS CEO & Board completely balls up the MFC.

Membership up there must be at least 60 by now.

Just makes Roosy's job that much harder.

..but the competition proper ought to be about improving our competitiveness and position on the ladder. That will drive far more resources than the NT solution.

If we can't win on the road, then we are not going to be competitive, as more and more finals are played interstate... more time spent playing on the road is not necessarily a bad thing; it certainly hasn't hurt any of the interstate teams.

Bub, I've never taken you for a fool, but you are one. Carry on.

The Round 11 match will be in the cool of an Alice Springs Saturday night in June. Then there'd be a 9-day break before the Collingwood game on QB.

We'd be complete sooks if we couldn't handle that.

Monday the 9th of June is QB

kindly suggest the June Sat that is 9 days prior ?

The Round 11 match will be in the cool of an Alice Springs Saturday night in June. Then there'd be a 9-day break before the Collingwood game on QB.

We'd be complete sooks if we couldn't handle that.

Quite right.

The nights get down to about 6 degrees at that time of year.

The likelyhood as I interpret what little has been offered as insight to next year is round 11 will be the weekend Fri 30th May etc

it may well be we play that friday night giving us the longest recovery til QB ( round 12)

Why can you not understand the essence of the angst is about it being in Darwin. its not even like we have a good track record there. its not like its a gimme the money and we'll take the 4 points. You do remember this competition is about points. You do understand we physically suffer afterwards.

You canvas the notion its all about Roos, but when shown it isnt you continue the were poor so lets sell to darwin line or it would seem anywhere the back of Bourke.

By all means play out of season games there. lets the circus generate some money but the competition proper ought to be about improving our competitiveness and position on the ladder. That will drive far more resources than the NT solution.

You do touch upon the real problem and thats money. The solution isnt up nth its down south. Getting bums back on seats and memberships up and sponsorship in, not being the patsy for holiday campaign.

This is a complete about face from your previous complaint:

mate with all due respect its beholding upon the AFL to promote the code in Alice, not us. We"re Melbourne, from Melbourne. We ought to represent...umm let me think...oh yeah Melbourne. Every game in the home and away is precious if youre serious about it. Obviously we arent .Something we havent got right yet.

We take the money because we're prostituting ourselves. Dont think for a moment we ought to like it.

Maybe the AFl ought to get a team hapening up there if its such a winner

You originally were carrying on about us playing a single home game outside of Melbourne. Now you're saying the 'essence of the angst' is that we're playing in Darwin. What is it you're upset about, bub?

You're just like WYL in that you have nostalgic, historic notions of what Melbourne has been, and could be, but you don't want to contemplate the reality. The reality is that we don't draw big crowds to MCG games. The reality is that we're in debt. The reality is that we are incurring increased costs (e.g. Paul Roos) on top of this debt. As such, the reality is that we have no choice but to sell off home games to make money.

Your solution is 'down south', getting bums on seats here. That is classic WYL think. Being a Melbourne powerhouse is the long-term goal we all want. Short-term, that is simply unrealistic. We're not going to magically start attracting Collingwood-like attendance figures to our MCG games. That's going to take time. In the meantime, we need to pay off our costs and our debts.

If you want to call us selling home games as 'prostituting' ourselves, then you have to apply that term to Hawthorn, who are doing mightily well from their Tasmanian deal.

please show me/us how its ACTUALLY increased any membership in any real meaningful way. many outside of Melbourne who barrack for the Dees will do so irregardless. By all accounts there are 5 men 3 dogs and a croc in attendance at Darwin games invariable for free tickets etc. Bet the membership tent cranks up for

those days ??

Hawthorn tapped into a REAL market thats not half a day away and plays in moderate climes. Our efforts are extreme ...and extreme. Total fail. Does hawthorn suffer the dreaded 'week afters' having played in tassie ? I dont think so.

This idea /argument by those who are interstate members whilst of relevance to them isnt a real one. No ne who lives in say Adelaide or Sydney would have any real expectation of a Melbourne game other than maybe one a year and then only because they are actually playing a team in the comp that actually resides in that local. its a totally different scenario to whereby 3 games suddenly go north to where NO AFL team exists and cuts from the Melbourne itenaries and of the vast majority who follow Melbourne and reside in its proximity.

Yeah lets play in Alice... ..what next...in a cave in Coober Pedy ffs

Hey chap, ever been to a Darwin game, I have, 3 of them, (not this year unfortunately life and a daughters wedding took priority), last time I was up there went to a local shop, we stay out of the city centre and shopkeeper (who was Asian, and yes he was going to the game) chatted happily to me about the footy, knew quite a bit about the Dees.....so sorry you are wrong.......by the way, I travel to quite a few games, and if you are talking proximity, how about living on the corner of Vic Parade and Hoddle St, is that close enough to the G.

Melbourne play in the AFL, much to WYL's disgust, changed the name from VFL a few years ago

I , like everybody else, want the Club to succeed and get on a solid footing both on and off the field, so to quote Jim Stynes "whatever it takes"

Im not suggesting we will be powerhouse..nor get the 80-90 k attendances. . That's possibly others arguments, assertions or your ambit insertion

just getting 10k extra to games would be a big impact on the bottom line, for us. And that doesnt mean 10000 more Dees fans, just 10000 more ppl of any persausion going to our games and buying a seat.

i would probably care less if these were away games and we had to travel anyway, But they arent.

The comparison to the hawks is in my view irelevant. Their deal is quite different in terms of money , proximity and effect.. They have actually increased membership out of Tassie quite significantly Im informed.... There are positives for them besides the contra money. There are NONE for us.. Still we might be able to give away all those jumpers no one wants hey !!