Melbourne to ditch Alice Springs game from next year?

[daisycutter 29,382]

31 minutes ago, Grapeviney said:

I know I'm in the minority here but I don't agree that the AFL should be obliged to schedule a bye for us post-NT.

Sure, it'd be nice, but it's our choice to play there and I don't think we deserve favourable treatment because of it. 

The clubs that play us there - Port, Freo et al - have a much stronger case for it, as they are forced to make the trip because of us. 

It'd be a different story if we were playing there at the behest of the AFL, but we're not. 

not quite true

the clubs that play us there are not forced to. it's generally a pre-arranged deal with clubs that have a nt connection of sorts, plus they get to play an away game at a neutral venue

we are playing there at least partly at the behest of the afl who are trying to promote the game in the nt. we are not forced to though. the afl are well involved in the negotiations

 

[Dr. Gonzo 23,807]

1 hour ago, Grapeviney said:

I know I'm in the minority here but I don't agree that the AFL should be obliged to schedule a bye for us post-NT.

Sure, it'd be nice, but it's our choice to play there and I don't think we deserve favourable treatment because of it. 

The clubs that play us there - Port, Freo et al - have a much stronger case for it, as they are forced to make the trip because of us. 

It'd be a different story if we were playing there at the behest of the AFL, but we're not. 

Ordinarily I'd agree but with the amount of manipulation the AFL does with the fixture you'd think requesting to have the bye following the Darwin game wouldn't be such a tough ask.

[3Dee 1,153]

I hope they replace it with a Brisbane game.

[DeeZee 7,318]

If we are to play interstate home games,it should be in a place where we can get extra memberships.

North have an extra 5000 members in Tassie.

[old dee 23,506]

29 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

If we are to play interstate home games,it should be in a place where we can get extra memberships.

North have an extra 5000 members in Tassie.

It has got to do with winning or not as the case is with the MFC.

It may have slipped your notice but North have been playing finals and sit on the top of the ladder while we have been winning 3 -4 a year.

[DeeZee 7,318]

53 minutes ago, old dee said:

It has got to do with winning or not as the case is with the MFC.

It may have slipped your notice but North have been playing finals and sit on the top of the ladder while we have been winning 3 -4 a year.

When North made the decision to start playing in Tassie they weren't on top of the ladder mate.

[old dee 23,506]

3 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

When North made the decision to start playing in Tassie they weren't on top of the ladder mate.

No but they were about ten spots higher than last

 

[DeeZee 7,318]

14 minutes ago, old dee said:

No but they were about ten spots higher than last

 

We are not last, we are currently knocking on the door of the eight

[beelzebub 23,206]

How about we just don't play interstate unnecessarily .  There's this little ol' town called Melbourne. Reckon we should make it home and concentrate on winning here.

Let others be nomads . There's thousands of potential members in this town without shopping  elsewhere. 

Let's just kill of this fiasco once and for all my

Let the whoring end.

[titan_uranus 24,793]

12 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

If I could say one thing to PJ, it would be to ditch one of these games from next year. It's far too taxing on the players. Surely the $500K we forgo won't kill us financially.

We have a brutal schedule in July because of the Darwin game and it will probably kill off our finals chances if we're still in the mix by then.

Sun July 3 - V's Adelaide - MCG

Sat July 9 - V's Freo - Darwin (we don't even have bye before the game let alone after!)

Sun July 17 - V's St Kilda Etihad

Sat July 23 - V's West Coast - Subiaco

Sun July 31 - V's Gold Coast - MCG

The 6 day break before the Darwin game isn't so bad.

Playing at Etihad the week after the Darwin game is a near certain loss though.

We'd most likely lose to West Coast in Perth any week of the year.

Win the Fremantle and GC games and, maybe, steal the Adelaide or St Kilda games (both unlikely IMO) and that's a good 5 weeks.

[Dr. Gonzo 23,807]

1 hour ago, beelzebub said:

How about we just don't play interstate unnecessarily .  There's this little ol' town called Melbourne. Reckon we should make it home and concentrate on winning here.

Let others be nomads . There's thousands of potential members in this town without shopping  elsewhere. 

Let's just kill of this fiasco once and for all my

Let the whoring end.

Ideally? Yes

Realistically? No

It's easy to say "let others be nomads" but we have one of the lowest membership and supporter bases in the league. Success is built on dollars in footy and if we can help our bottom line by a million by selling 2 home games then we may have to continue doing so.

[titan_uranus 24,793]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Ideally? Yes

Realistically? No

It's easy to say "let others be nomads" but we have one of the lowest membership and supporter bases in the league. Success is built on dollars in footy and if we can help our bottom line by a million by selling 2 home games then we may have to continue doing so.

Agree, but in a promising sign we pulled 39,921 to our Sunday 3.20pm home game against the Bulldogs. That's more than went to Richmond v Sydney the night before, and occurred on the same day Carlton played Port at Etihad (i.e. two games in Melbourne on one day).

If we can keep building the momentum, winning games, and presenting like we're a real AFL club, the membership will rise, the crowds will lift, and the money will flow. Then (and only then) will we be able to stop selling home games. 

Edit: further interesting statistic: our average home crowd this year is 38,914. That's the sixth largest in the AFL (behind Collingwood, Adelaide, Richmond, Port and Essendon). Whilst we had the ANZAC eve game, we've only otherwise had home games against GWS, the Dogs (on a Sunday) and St Kilda (at Etihad), so not like we've been gifted big-drawing games to date.

Edited May 20, 2016 by titan_uranus

[Dr. Gonzo 23,807]

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

Agree, but in a promising sign we pulled 39,921 to our Sunday 3.20pm home game against the Bulldogs. That's more than went to Richmond v Sydney the night before, and occurred on the same day Carlton played Port at Etihad (i.e. two games in Melbourne on one day).

If we can keep building the momentum, winning games, and presenting like we're a real AFL club, the membership will rise, the crowds will lift, and the money will flow. Then (and only then) will we be able to stop selling home games. 

Yep especially if we can score some prime time games and home games against the Bombers and Blues more than once a decade. Our fixtures have been horrible for a long time always playing all bar 1 or maybe 2 of the non-Vic clubs as home games - is it any wonder we need to sell a couple of these to help the bottom line, especially with the decade of horror we've had.

[Biffen 12,873]

20 hours ago, Spirit of 26 said:

Why the preoccupation with China? The national sport of China? Table tennis. 

Why not Japan. Well within our timezone. Proven acceptance of introduce game - baseball. They are obsessed with baseball. Rugby is also popular as is soccer. And they love to see big blokes wearing minimal clothing slapping the [censored] out of each other too.

Promote it with some sort of warrior analogy to tie into their samurai culture and Bob's your uncle.

Maybe China V Japan.

Spotless catering would have to go.

Which would be good for everyone.

[Moonshadow 17,564]

Demons closing in on new NT deal

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,447]

1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

Demons closing in on new NT deal

I still reckon just the one game would suffice.

unless we start using the venue as a genuine home advantage  like Hawks and north do in Tas, then we're wasting our time. We're on a 6 game losing streak in the NT.

[stuie 7,374]

1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

Demons closing in on new NT deal

Geez Pierek is useless. There is no information in that other than what was already reported more than a month ago.

 

[radar 1,865]

GWS/BEARS/Suns can showcase the game elsewhere. No one cares about them. 

Probably get better attendances than a home Derby. 

[Jack Clarry 1]

...Coming back from NT always tires them out... and we have Hawthorn the week after... not a good mix... although that could still go any way...

[Copuchas 758]

21 minutes ago, Jack Clarry said:

...Coming back from NT always tires them out... and we have Hawthorn the week after... not a good mix... although that could still go any way...

Part of the key to managing the next two weeks is the Casey fixture - they played on Saturday (night) so any players called up for Alice Springs will have had a 7 day break.  Equally for the Hawthorn game, Casey has a bye this weekend.  Pederson and Tyson falling "ill" at an opportune time adds to the stocks of fresh in form players.  As Roos has telegraphed, expect quite a few changes this week (and next), irrespective of team performance.

[Jack Clarry 1]

22 minutes ago, Copuchas said:

Part of the key to managing the next two weeks is the Casey fixture - they played on Saturday (night) so any players called up for Alice Springs will have had a 7 day break.  Equally for the Hawthorn game, Casey has a bye this weekend.  Pederson and Tyson falling "ill" at an opportune time adds to the stocks of fresh in form players.  As Roos has telegraphed, expect quite a few changes this week (and next), irrespective of team performance.

This is very true! Fingers crossed this can provide the right players with an oppourtunity to play and the following week can be a positive one for the club. 

[daisycutter 29,382]

50 minutes ago, Jack Clarry said:

...Coming back from NT always tires them out... and we have Hawthorn the week after... not a good mix... although that could still go any way...

Alice Springs is 1500 km from Darwin. It's not much further away than Brisbane from Melbourne, and is closer than Perth

Melb to Perth is 2,700km, Melb to Alice Springs is 2,300km, Melb to Darwin is 3,800km, Melb to Brisbane is 1,800km

[The Stigga 1,083]

 

This arrangement has to end.

 

[Middymalt 244]

Have we ever won in Alice springs to many players not touching the ball the games gone we played the lions last week won by 10 goals and got 26 odd thousand doesn't make sense.

[Jaded No More 68,266]

We are giving up 4 points for cash. Time to stop this arrangement now that we actually care about winning and making finals. 

Play this at the G and we win.