7 minutes ago, Dannyz said:

It definitely aligns to what Guerra said on SEN when he had every opportunity to announce the Waverley move and didn't.

It appears Morris is wrong, or at least premature in his reporting. He normally got his leaks from The Brand.

I think Waverley will happen and I've been told that some players have been engaged for their insights into how we make it a home but only once Caulfield can be solidly announced which is edging closer.

Not what Steven Smith said last night

Just now, Salems Lot said:

Not what Steven Smith said last night

Could you please elaborate on what he said?

This situation is so strange.

Are we worried about Smith’s faculties if he’s making these comments at the Mental Demons function?

… joking of course 😅

13 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

Not what Steven Smith said last night

Where was Steven Smith? Is this a radio/tv interview?

Ignore!

You know what? I have NFI what the status of our new home, and our possible temporary home, is. Conflicting reports leave all of us trying to figure out who is correct. And it's doing my head in. So i'm not going to give it another second of thought until an official announcement is made.

51 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

SS said that they (the media) went a bit early . He also confirmed that they deliberately leaked the Kossie situation to Garry Lyon to get on the front foot.

Haha Lyon breaking the story of all people made it pretty obvious the club wanted it out there.

4 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

You know what? I have NFI what the status of our new home, and our possible temporary home, is. Conflicting reports leave all of us trying to figure out who is correct. And it's doing my head in. So i'm not going to give it another second of thought until an official announcement is made.

See you tomorrow.

Out of curiosity and more so because I am too lazy to research.

But did Garry Lyon and Steven Smith ever cross over where they became teammates at some stage?

2 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Out of curiosity and more so because I am too lazy to research.

But did Garry Lyon and Steven Smith ever cross over where they became teammates at some stage?

Smith ended in 1985 and Garry started 1986

2 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Out of curiosity and more so because I am too lazy to research.

But did Garry Lyon and Steven Smith ever cross over where they became teammates at some stage?

Looks like Smith finished up in 85 and Garry started in 86.

But you'dthink he would have been around as a recently retired player

43 minutes ago, Red and Blue Flame said:

Where was Steven Smith? Is this a radio/tv interview?

See my previous posts. Mental Demons is a group of Dee supporters formed by Russell Howcroft and Don Mclardy. They met last night at Max's bar. Present were Steven Smith, Max Gawn and Nathan Jones. THey spoke about the club in general as well as the forthcoming season. A very casual but interesting gathering.

13 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

Can anyone explain Melbourne Storm’s success, given they are also stuck in the dysfunctional AAMI facility. They train on the horrible surface that we used to use under Bailey.

2 hours ago, praha said:

Because in the NRL context the AAMI facilities albeit shared with other clubs is amongst the best in the league. They also benefit from being out of the NSW and QLD bubble which is arguably more intense for NRL than Victoria is for AFL. The Sydney media market is massive and while AFL dominates airwaves here, in Sydney the NRL is another level. It's also a better "TV" sport so people are glued to their screens more for it. The Storm benefit from flying under the radar and doing their own thing. Melbourne has to compete with 9 other Victorian clubs including Collingwood and Richmond on either side along with a divided club, small fan base and inconsistent management.

2 hours ago, rjay said:

Along with a good club board/management.

2 hours ago, biggestred said:

Craig Bellamy.

All of the above, and NRL doesn't require facilities of any great measure. Just a gym with the biggest weights possible ( when we first moved into AAMI, I was told the AFL players don't use the biggest barbells, but Storm do).

If you have ever seen a NRL side train, it is nothing more than a throw the ball around session, which can be done on a basketball court.

2 hours ago, Bowserpower said:

A debt of $160 billion projected to be $187 billion in 2 years. A downgraded credit rating yet again. A public service that keeps expanding for little to no reason and on top of that youre suggesting to buy back a toll road which turns over $13 billion a year?

Ok...

Credit ratings are neoliberal facades.

As Phillip Lowe said during COVID, "triple A credit ratings have more politiclal symbolism that economic importance".

Again, if the political will for the community is there, this is a solid, low cost project to create a vibrant Caulfield hub around the racecourse and the school, which will be good for local business as it increases traffic to the area.

Demons’ footy boss bounced over Caulfield 

Melbourne Football Club’s public stance they are moving closer to a deal to train at Caulfield has been described as ‘’fanciful’’.

Betsy recently wrote about how a deal between the Melbourne Football Club, the Melbourne Racing Club and the Caulfield Trust who manages the racecourse precinct is in trouble.

The football club wants a $100m training complex built on the site.

There are many issues that threaten to scupper the deal – the main being the football club’s insistence a tunnel is built underneath the racetrack [which would shut racing down for at least a year], not to mention an unwillingness to share an administration facility.

Running the football club’s process is Racing Victoria board member Paul Guerra, who is also the Melbourne Football Cub CEO.

There are serious fractures emerging on the racing side of the deal – many at the MRC have dwindling interest in sharing the site with the football club.

Which is why comments from Guerra on SEN on Tuesday caught the interest of many within racing.

“We are close to what we ever have been before (with Caulfield) but still not close enough to announce. But when we can, that will become the new home for Melbourne Football Club,’’ he told SEN.

“We always look at alternates. Once we’ve announced Caulfield – the negotiations are at a delicate stage – we can then start to look at how long is it going to take us to move into Caulfield by the time we get approvals and then build. Then what might be available in the interim.”

Close? Closer to dead than happening, is how one insider described the situation. The definitive nature of Guerra’s remarks caught a few by surprise. While a few in the footy world may see it as a given, many in government and racing do not.

Those who we spoke to yesterday described the comments as ‘’desperate’’, another described the remarks as ‘’fanciful’’. Racing powerbrokers remain unconvinced football should come to Caulfield.

There haven’t been any discussions since Betsy revealed how far apart the parties are.

But while the football club’s feasibility study may be close to release, the reality is that there is little chance of any Sherrin’s being kicked at Caulfield in the medium term.

Very amusing that Tom Morris has maybe bolted too early...he's not usually that far off the mark but this would be funny if he was.

Funnier still if Melbourne leaked him bogus info on purpose haha doubt they'd do that though.

Betsy is very biased in their reporting, given they represent horse racing. Furthermore, MRC have no control over whether we get approval for the site or not, as that lies with CRRT. A tunnel wouldn’t take a whole year out of the racing schedule, not even half that. But if that’s the sticking point, just install openable running rails next to the training buildings - if horses constantly run on the track that is long and lush with grass, some foot traffic ain’t going to damage it.

Just a bunch of people drunk on their own power being petulant that they’re not getting everything their way.

You could also equally say the same about Guerra and Smith. The reality no doubt lies somewhere in the middle.

20 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Waverley is a better option than the utter backward stuff we have at the moment.

Shared facilities with 2 other sporting codes at AAMI, training on a public oval, or 1 hours drive to the outer fringes, where the ovals are great, but the facilities are still below par.

And our current arrangements have the admin in broom closets located in multiple locations in the MCG, far away from the football department.

So tick for Waverley, as it is superior to what we have at the moment.

But it cannot be a long term solution. 1 ground with time and lighting restrictions due to housing build arround it, right up to the edges.

The facility is the old grand-stand, it was never designed to house a football club, with gyms, pools and admin sectors. It is cobbled together, and that is why Hawthorn moved out. It is simply not fit for purpose for 2026. It might have been OK 10 years ago.

But Hawthorn have had the foresight to realise that and did something.

Caulfield better go ahead.

Training on a public oval doesn't hurt Collingwood.

15 hours ago, KozzyCan said:

Got some pretty bad memories at the MCG too

What about the highest defeat ever at that ground.

Waverely and Casey isn't so bad in the interim. It aligns us further to Gippsland. The transition for Gippsland Power players is Casey. Back in the day Gippsland was in Hawthorns catchment zone, and Waverely was their home ground. Ideally we would like to be in the city, however, an added bonus of Waverely/Casey, might be that we find a few players down Gippsland way. I think Caulfield will happen. These race clubs cannot survive in isolation. They bleed money, we see that happening with Rosehill, who nearly needed to sell, and probably should've.

1 hour ago, Adam The God said:

Credit ratings are neoliberal facades.

As Phillip Lowe said during COVID, "triple A credit ratings have more politiclal symbolism that economic importance".

Again, if the political will for the community is there, this is a solid, low cost project to create a vibrant Caulfield hub around the racecourse and the school, which will be good for local business as it increases traffic to the area.

Facade or not they are good indicators of the massive debt the state is in which has grown by over 400% in the last decade.

If you think the government has a license to print license to print money then that is wrong.

Waverley will be a better option than Caulfield anyway. Dingley, Tullamarine and Casey are all terrible training facilities due to the wind and Caulfield will be the same because it is so open.

AFL players need to train in good conditions because they play in protected stadiums and a lot of what they are training is ball movement and team defence, which requires learned running patterns.

Having the whole club together is not essential. Admin is a very seperate job to playing. The AFLW is at a different time of year (and they all have jobs). And the VFL is semi-professional as well.

If we're saying there'll be no racing at Caulfield for 12 months due to construction etc, how does the Moonee Valley situation impact the whole deal? With MV out of action, if Caulfield is as well it leaves Flemington and the rarely used Sandown as the only Vic-metro options? I can't see how that would work TBH. I don't think anything could happen at Caulfield until MV is fully back in action, which at this point is August 2027.

This is dizzy stuff folks..