1 hour ago, waynewussell said:

My preference for a permanent home for MFC is Caulfield. Having said that, I feel that the development of Casey Fields is being undervalued. Travel time is used as a reason for ditching our arrangement with Casey, as if our entire playing list live near the MCG! Here is a list of some other options when it comes to travel times...

Mt Eliza to Casey Fields: 30 minutes

Western Port Bay (Tooradin): 15 minutes

Mt Martha to Casey Fields: 40 minutes

... Even Portsea is within 65 minutes!

Except for 2 or 3, that’s not where our players live though? Most are based around Carnegie / Malvern and Bayside, it’s a terrible drive, and I’m sure part of the reason we struggle to attract good talent from other clubs. Young people in their 20’s with money don’t want to move to Tooradin or Mt Martha just to be close to Casey Fields

It’s 2026 and the embarrassing state of affairs re training base for our whole club to be under one roof isn’t resolved!

1 minute ago, Demonsone said:

It’s 2026 and the embarrassing state of affairs re training base for our whole club to be under one roof isn’t resolved!

Hope you haven't just realised this Demonsone. I'm mean, its not like it hasn't been talked about, much. Hopefully you won't need to say the same words in 2027.

2 hours ago, Mickey said:

Sorry, is the travel time not a result of the split?

No, it’s a result of Casey being Cranbourne lol

46 minutes ago, Greg Schneider said:

Except for 2 or 3, that’s not where our players live though? Most are based around Carnegie / Malvern and Bayside, it’s a terrible drive, and I’m sure part of the reason we struggle to attract good talent from other clubs. Young people in their 20’s with money don’t want to move to Tooradin or Mt Martha just to be close to Casey Fields

PR offensive recently on how the amazing Tasmanian stadium is the jewel in the pitch to player agents.

Blows my mind that people question if 20-30 y/o top level players want to work in the most desirable and highest quality facilities. It’s a top 3 issue and that certainly includes location.

Caulfield will get done. Because it must.

First time I’ve entered this discussion.

I certainly hope Caulfield goes ahead, but if for some reason Casey is the chosen venue, I wonder what current staff working at the Melbourne cricket ground and AAMI Stadium will think about it. It certainly would be a big move for many of them to travel every day from maybe north of the city to way down south.

I’m sure a number of workers would have to reconsider their positions at the club and find work elsewhere. There are a number of very talented people working for the Melbourne football club who’s expertise and know how would be sorely missed.

Remember it isn’t just about the players where ever the club moves; be it to Caulfield or elsewhere.

5 hours ago, george_on_the_outer said:

Brilliant!!

We could have a whole stable available for use by the players. There are even existing stables there. And I’m sure @Redleg would be happy to provide some of his steeds when not racing?

At least my horses would travel slowly.

3 hours ago, Greg Schneider said:

Except for 2 or 3, that’s not where our players live though? Most are based around Carnegie / Malvern and Bayside, it’s a terrible drive, and I’m sure part of the reason we struggle to attract good talent from other clubs. Young people in their 20’s with money don’t want to move to Tooradin or Mt Martha just to be close to Casey Fields

Carnegie, Malvern and Bayside are all around 40 minutes from Casey Fields. If you are still working full-time, how long does it take you to get to work? Most people regard themselves lucky if they take less than that to commute. I worked 35 minutes from home for many years and regarded that as a stroke of good luck in a city of over 5.5 million residents. My point is this, the discomfort experienced by our playing list to make their way to Casey Fields is exaggerated here.

5 hours ago, AshMac said:

The sooking over the location of Casey has been one of the most telling things about the culture of this footy club than anything that's happened over the last however long.

It's so precious and short sighted. Dingley is not exactly in the heart of Melbourne. If you're leaving at 7:30am getting to Hawthorn's new facility from Brighton it'll take you half an hour; from Hawthorn will take over 35 minutes; and if you're a little hipster player living in Fitzroy it'll be a 50-odd minute drive to get there.

If you're an Essendon player training at the Hangar and living in Fitzroy it'll take you over half an hour at 7:30am; 35+ minutes from Hawthorn, over 45 from Brighton.

Moggs Creek is about an hour from GMHBA and I've never once heard Patrick Dangerfield complain, nor anyone suggest that Geelong's location is anything other than a huge asset and benefit.

Casey should've been bought into years ago, developed into a world class facility (likely with the backing of the state and federal governments), and become the envy of the league.

NFL and EPL clubs don't train anywhere near their home stadiums, Brisbane's new facility in Springfield is miles from the inner city suburbs like New Farm that players would be living. That we allow this absurd narrative of players not liking driving to training is one of the most embarrassing things about this club.

You seriously underestimate the additional distance that has to be travelled to get to Casey as compared to those other places.

With no traffic, right now at 10pm, it is a 40 minute drive from Hawthorn or Glen Iris to Casey. That’s an additional 15-17 minutes more than it would take to get to Dingley. Again, that’s with no traffic. Dingley’s one suburb over from Moorabbin. It’s not central, sure, but it’s not in the same ballpark as Casey. Casey’s roughly double the distance from the city as Dingley is.

At the end of the day if Casey is all we’ve got, then so be it, and yes there will simply have to be adjustments for our staff and players, but it’ll be the least attractive option of the 9 Melbourne-based clubs.

Irrespective of anything else I do agree Casey is a bit of a bugger. Fine if you're somewhere within cooee.

I live on the Bass Coast these days and regularly travel to Frankston as well as use the dreaded Monash ( quite often ) I have a pretty good understanding of the area and roads.

Tbh... if I were living where I suspect many players are then I would not relish that trip to Casey. That said its often only once or twice a week at present but if it were closer to a daily grind id seriously start resenting it.

Casey imho is ONLY suited to the occasional alternative training day.

We are the oldest Footy club going.. F m d ..can't we sort out a decent home ??

I can see the attraction of Caulfield. It ticks a lot of boxes unfortunately it seems to be ticking off some others..... TBH I can't see how a facility on the OTHER side of the racecourse can really be problematic... well..until you understand a lot of people who move in those circles are terribly precious and wholly up themselves.

Got time for 'workers, riders and trainers' .. my old dad enjoyed the nags. We even had some at Epson... but the hoi poloi dont want anyone 'ruining' their turf ( literally and figuratively ) . I hope Red is right but I fear Old might get the choccies.

I'd be a little more inclined to believe that the location of Casey is not an issue to players if about the first thing Goodwin said when sacked was to express relief he didn't have to travel there any more.

8 minutes ago, beelzebub said:

.until you understand a lot of people who move in those circles are terribly precious and wholly up themselves.

😂😂

23 minutes ago, sue said:

I'd be a little more inclined to believe that the location of Casey is not an issue to players if about the first thing Goodwin said when sacked was to express relief he didn't have to travel there any more.

claz and christian too, unbelievable how people don’t think this is an issue

If Casey was the answer we’d already have moved there full time. It’s becoming pretty clear that it’s not overly popular distance wise and I understand that. Traffic was one of the reasons I fled the city.

If you don’t think facilities matter, read the Herald article on Carlton’s new facilities.

17 hours ago, AshMac said:

The sooking over the location of Casey has been one of the most telling things about the culture of this footy club than anything that's happened over the last however long.

It's so precious and short sighted. Dingley is not exactly in the heart of Melbourne. If you're leaving at 7:30am getting to Hawthorn's new facility from Brighton it'll take you half an hour; from Hawthorn will take over 35 minutes; and if you're a little hipster player living in Fitzroy it'll be a 50-odd minute drive to get there.

If you're an Essendon player training at the Hangar and living in Fitzroy it'll take you over half an hour at 7:30am; 35+ minutes from Hawthorn, over 45 from Brighton.

Moggs Creek is about an hour from GMHBA and I've never once heard Patrick Dangerfield complain, nor anyone suggest that Geelong's location is anything other than a huge asset and benefit.

Casey should've been bought into years ago, developed into a world class facility (likely with the backing of the state and federal governments), and become the envy of the league.

NFL and EPL clubs don't train anywhere near their home stadiums, Brisbane's new facility in Springfield is miles from the inner city suburbs like New Farm that players would be living. That we allow this absurd narrative of players not liking driving to training is one of the most embarrassing things about this club.

I cannot understand why Casey wasn’t pushed as a boutique stadium when we first went there. The only difference is that Geelong is a marginal seat and gets continuously funded? I think it’s the old Melbourne must be in Melbourne people with influence that has held us back since 64. Unfortunately the train line that ran through Cranbourne to Casey fields has only just been removed in the last couple of years. Now it will just be another what could have been scenario. Massive opportunity for new members in a massive growth corridor, the green space is already there with no need to share the oval with anyone else either.

We surely have to get this debacle sorted out this year... I hope... Maybe...

The issue with Casey and Waverly is the lack of effective public transport.

It isn't just players and coaches.

Currently we would have lots of admin staff and FD staff that don't need to go to training (but sometimes do) who live on all sides of the CBD/MCG. We risk losing them located at sites lacking public transport to attend 5 days per week. And we would find it harder to attract new staff to those locations.

Caulfield works because it is very well served with trains and trams directly from Flinders St and Richmond stations.

TBH I am a tad disappointed that there has been no official response from the club after the Betsy article.

Anyone else constantly checking on here when there's a new post, expecting something to have actually happened?

😄😩

While I'm here, though, if 'Dorkley' is deemed such a winner, there is large, apparently unused, open space about a kilometre towards the city from it, to the west of Spring Valley Golf Club. Does anyone know its ownership/availability/condition?

5 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Anyone else constantly checking on here when there's a new post, expecting something to have actually happened?

😄😩

While I'm here, though, if 'Dorkley' is deemed such a winner, there is large, apparently unused, open space about a kilometre towards the city from it, to the west of Spring Valley Golf Club. Does anyone know its ownership/availability/condition?

Not constantly, only 20 times a day...

1 hour ago, Fritta and Turner said:

TBH I am a tad disappointed that there has been no official response from the club after the Betsy article.

Thank goodness for the Betsy article. Most information we have had about Caulfield in eons. Some sort of statement from the club is not an unreasonable expectation.

2 hours ago, WildDogDee said:

I cannot understand why Casey wasn’t pushed as a boutique stadium when we first went there.

And thank god they didn't.

Just imagine. Leaving the carpark there would be worse than Kardinia and VFL park combined