I just read the following and was shocked to see we had again not taken advantage of what Darwin offers in terms of rehab, not to mention the team bonding component of a week away.

I was already shocked and disappointed when our club hierarchy tried to make out we were getting out and conducting training sessions in Alice Springs in late May. In actual fact all bar Dion Johnstone, Declan Keilty and I think one other attended an outback community clinic - the rest spent just one night in Alice Springs.

That was somewhat understandable - Alice Springs is very much a backwater and has poor recovery facilities.  So getting Virgin Airlines to agree to a late night Saturday return flight to Melbourne can be viewed as highly practical ... even clever.

But this is different.

We are now in the middle of winter and have already seen a spate of soft-tissue injuries. And Darwin is not a backwater - it has genuinely good facilities and a sporting precinct.

It is a perfect place for our players to get away and put in a solid week of preparation without having to don tights and fear sprinting full pelt. It could have been a godsend for the likes of Nathan Jones, Wattsy, Salem and Dom to get some decent speed sessions in as they attempt to overcome their injuries. But more importantly it was a rare chance for someone like Jack Trengove, who is deemed to be too slow, to get in some serious sprint work - without having to fear whether they had sufficently warmed up enough bracing Melbourne's cold.

It was also the chance for our players to really embrace the NT community - to conduct special clinics with the talented locals and really spruik our brand in the region.

To me, we have come a really long way under Jacko.

But we continue to pay NT lip service and just take the money and run.

Are we really that poor still that we cannot afford to spend a week's accom in Darwin on our team?

Or is there something more sinister at brew - we are about to ditch the NT program outright?    

Anyone with inside information feel free to comment. 

 http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-13/no-darwin-trip-for-injured-demon-duo

7 minutes ago, Deespicable said:

 

Anyone with inside information feel free to comment. 

 http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-13/no-darwin-trip-for-injured-demon-duo

So going by your last sentence here you are basing most of your post on assumption?

I'll leave it to the club to make these decisions based around recovery.  If they feel that they are better suited to the conditions at home then I'll go with that.  None of us are really in a position to argue or criticise as we have no idea what is going on.

Deespicable I like what you say in theory (except Trengove speed, it is what it is) However, without in depth knowledge of the reasons behind a shorter stay it is hard to agree with you.

We seem to be getting a lot right at the moment. Doubt we win this week but we are building for finals. Whatever is for the greater good.

I would have thought the time that would have been spent on the plane and going to and from airports - 9-10 hours would be better spent in rehab or resting... but what do I know?

How is Darwin better for sprint work than melbourne?  just asking, I have no idea

I don't see any big advantage to going up there for a week aside from the mental break and to get some sunshine. The club might think being in our great facilities and keeping routine right now is the best way to go.  and we also dont want to have our injured players for a plane for 8 hours.

Hopefully the Darwin/Alice thing will finish soon and we can act like a proper club that wants to use every advantage to win games

27 minutes ago, Deespicable said:

I just read the following and was shocked to see we had again not taken advantage of what Darwin offers in terms of rehab, not to mention the team bonding component of a week away.

There are a number of issues here not least the cost of accommodating 40 or more people in Darwin for the period you want.  The AFL fund a certain amount for each interstate trip but it's up to the Club how to spend it.  It would only be based on one nights accommodation, or at least it was.

Also I think you might be overestimating the benefits of a warm climate.

22 minutes ago, Deespicable said:

 

Or is there something more sinister at brew - we are about to ditch the NT program outright?    

 

I Hope so.

If we come out flat next week V's Port and lose badly, then that's the final straw for me.

Let's take a look at the results the week after all our Darwin trips:

2010 - Carlton 41 points loss

2011 - Hawthorn 54 point loss

2012 - North 54 point loss

2013 - North 122 point loss (LOL!)

2014 - Geelong 66 point loss

2015 - Essendon 9 point loss (after Essendon copped a 110 point loss the week before amidst the Hird crisis)

2016  - St Kilda 36 point loss (completely ran out of gas in the last qtr)

 

I have read the OP three times.

Lost.

3 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I Hope so.

If we come out flat next week V's Port and lose badly, then that's the final straw for me.

Let's take a look at the results the week after all our Darwin trips:

2010 - Carlton 41 points loss

2011 - Hawthorn 54 point loss

2012 - North 54 point loss

2013 - North 122 point loss (LOL!)

2014 - Geelong 66 point loss

2015 - Essendon 9 point loss (after Essendon copped a 110 point loss the week before amidst the Hird crisis)

2016  - St Kilda 36 point loss (completely ran out of gas in the last qtr)

 

It is ludicrous that we play there. Out of all the places in Australia, we choose a tropical sauna at the other end of the country in the middle of the damn season.

Now that we project to have 45k+ members next season, I fully expect PJ to tear up the deal after this weekends game is done.

Edited July 13, 20178 yr by Petraccattack

As I have posted many times the Darwin saga is terrible from so many angles.

If we must include the NT let's do two games in Alice Springs where the winter conditions are suitable for football at an AFL standard.

 

22 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I Hope so.

If we come out flat next week V's Port and lose badly, then that's the final straw for me.

Let's take a look at the results the week after all our Darwin trips:

2010 - Carlton 41 points loss

2011 - Hawthorn 54 point loss

2012 - North 54 point loss

2013 - North 122 point loss (LOL!)

2014 - Geelong 66 point loss

2015 - Essendon 9 point loss (after Essendon copped a 110 point loss the week before amidst the Hird crisis)

2016  - St Kilda 36 point loss (completely ran out of gas in the last qtr)

 

Highly selective stats used there, as you'd get a similar picture listing games played after playing out West, in Adelaide, in Geelong,... well anywhere in fact.

Good teams win on the road, and win after they've been on the road... whining about the NT windfall, a windfall that has basically generated our entire profit for the past three years is not only defeatist, but ungracious.

Oh look, just for a change that hardy perennial Darwin

5 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Oh look, just for a change that hardy perennial Darwin

Do you have a Demonland 'Bat Phone', Saty?  Every time something critical comes up you come out of the woodwork to post about it.

I get where the OP is coming from in our first few seasons I noticed the playing group went up around Wednesday and would do a couple of clinics and have a run around at training but in recent years I haven't seen the same, maybe the response from the locals wasn't worthwhile and the club thought what's the point...

Also to go from freezing temps in Melbourne to spending a few extra days in boiling hot Darwin sounds good for a holiday but in reality could be taxing and the players might be cooked (litreally) before the first bounce

Edited July 13, 20178 yr by JV7

If nothing else the notion of Darwin/or not makes for the most interesting of bedfellows  ( in a Dland sense ) 

43 minutes ago, PaulRB said:

Highly selective stats used there

 

How is this so? His argument is we lose (often badly) the week after a Darwin game and has provided precise evidence in chronological order. 

23 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Oh look, just for a change that hardy perennial Darwin

More than a perennial Saty....an evergreen 

I saw the headline and thought damn those [censored] and their surprise attacks!

Get up there. Do the clinics. Play the game. Stay the night. Get the first plane home.

31 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Do you have a Demonland 'Bat Phone', Saty?  Every time something critical comes up you come out of the woodwork to post about it.

Called a forum. People offer opinions. Some right. Some wrong. Some in between.

 

I expect the anti bat phone to be ringing now

Who says they haven't been up there already this week doing a clinic or 2?  I haven't read anything to say they aren't already up there. Or when they are coming back.

 

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I Hope so.

If we come out flat next week V's Port and lose badly, then that's the final straw for me.

Let's take a look at the results the week after all our Darwin trips:

2010 - Carlton 41 points loss

2011 - Hawthorn 54 point loss

2012 - North 54 point loss

2013 - North 122 point loss (LOL!)

2014 - Geelong 66 point loss

2015 - Essendon 9 point loss (after Essendon copped a 110 point loss the week before amidst the Hird crisis)

2016  - St Kilda 36 point loss (completely ran out of gas in the last qtr)

 

Is that in the 'records we need to break' thread? If not, it probably should be.

Save the 'Clinic' for Saturday night

69 point turn-around against the crows last time comes to mind

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I Hope so.

If we come out flat next week V's Port and lose badly, then that's the final straw for me.

Let's take a look at the results the week after all our Darwin trips:

2010 - Carlton 41 points loss

2011 - Hawthorn 54 point loss

2012 - North 54 point loss

2013 - North 122 point loss (LOL!)

2014 - Geelong 66 point loss

2015 - Essendon 9 point loss (after Essendon copped a 110 point loss the week before amidst the Hird crisis)

2016  - St Kilda 36 point loss (completely ran out of gas in the last qtr)

 

All these losses were normal for the pathetic demons over those years. Wouldn't have mattered if the team was returning from a game in Africa. MFC were [censored] and couldn't win anything.

Now the club is turning a corner the result might change.

1 hour ago, PaulRB said:

Highly selective stats used there, as you'd get a similar picture listing games played after playing out West, in Adelaide, in Geelong,... well anywhere in fact.

Good teams win on the road, and win after they've been on the road... whining about the NT windfall, a windfall that has basically generated our entire profit for the past three years is not only defeatist, but ungracious.

Spot on Jack.

when you look at the years mentioned with the exception of last year we could not win a game anywhere. That chart means nothing. Good teams win anywhere bad teams lose most of the time irrespective of the location. Why did we lose at Ethiad for a decade? Because we had the worst team in the league.