7 hours ago, MyFavouriteMartian said:

OK, losses only if you wish.?

Don't be so contrite, it's  not if I wish it's reality get in the reality.the whole Melbourne business plan was have more tendencies at games make profit,the AFL have demand at all clubs say 1million dollars from their football departments.

Time to start looking to 2021

1 minute ago, one_demon said:

Time to start looking to 2021

not meaning to be a pessimist here but what makes you think this is over and done with in a year? we’re heading into brand new global territory which could well also bring on the mother of all financial collapses. On top of the  climate changes arriving it’s getting hard to make firm predictions about what 2021 will look like!  hope i’m wrong on that but i get the feeling there is much to play out over the next year and we may not completely recognise ourselves at the end of it.

12 hours ago, Marty said:

WC supporters have booed the decision of the AFL to lock them out of Domain stadium for round 1. In fact they threatening to boo all week and turn up and surround Domain stadium...booing. If they don’t win the free kick count, they plan on booing well into the foreseeable future.

Exactly why The Coodabeens call Perth the ‘Boo-factory’. Nothing to stop the Dees now! 

Legend has it you will still hear a low hum of boos from the Perth suburbs for 3 hours next Sunday arvo

I’m tipping AFL crowd lockouts and even postponements until July.

China has been locked down since the end of January and is expected to resume normal services at the end of April. Some critical industries are set to resume ASAP.

Hopefully all this will blow over by July and we can get back to normality.
 

 Pickett to break record. Assuming Marlion Pickett is selected to play in his second AFL game for Richmond he is almost certain to break the record for biggest crowd drop between a first and second game with the AFL announcing a crowd lockout for Round 1. Pickett played in front of over 100,000 on debut in the AFL grand final and it will be only support staff and necessary personnel on Thursday in the seasons opener. Carlton’s Paddy Dow holds the current record debuting in Round 1 2018 in front of 90151 before a Round 2 match against Gold Coast in front of 28025. A drop of 62126.

It's Dean Margetts I feel sorry for. When every free you've ever given based on advice from West Coast supporters, how are you now expected to umpire a game?

So weird I won't be gearing up the go watch the Mighty Demons in 2 weeks making the journey to my second home at the MCG....barely missed a game in 25+ years like a lot of us on here...its only just sunk in this morning....

Edited March 14, 20205 yr by sisso

6 hours ago, Pates said:

I honestly can’t see how you could possibly see that conclusion. Ok perhaps we’ve performed well there with hostile crowds before, but to ignore the obvious that the crowd influences not only the WC players but the umpires is baffling. 

The eagles are usually good for at least 3-4 goals from direct umpire intervention that comes from the hostile crowd. As for the players being flat, we have to trust that the coaching staff will give them the right motivation to get them in game in bizarre circumstances.  

I'm not ignoring the umpiring bias Pates but I think it's being overstated on here (at least where it concerns us). Our last outing there we won the free kick count, which doesn't mean much but it's what a lot of people point to - and I even recall us getting the rub in that crucial late-season win in 2018. Much prefer the uniform bias out west than the seemingly personal with Nicholls. 

What I think is being wildly understated however is the crowd influence on the players, whether it's boos or cheering. Levels of alertness and adrenaline for elite performers simply require that noise. We all know that rush in ourselves when the crowd roars, and even as just a spectator I'm expecting to be bored witless watching the game for three hours with no cheering.

So my conclusion was based on both teams being rather flat - contesting in a glorified training run. They are presently the better team, don't have to travel across a continent, and I presume get to train at that ground or at least know it far better than us. I believe these are the deciding factors with the hype of the crowd taken out of the equation - the hype which I think is especially important for us.   

So in my opinion the lack of crowd favours them, even when factoring for the ordinary crowd/umpiring advantage. I wouldn't back us to travel over there and win a pre-season game (see 2017?), and this is exactly what it will feel like if not worse. Also of further note: many believe the West Coast bias stems from the umpires being mates with the players as much as the crowd influence. 

 

 

11 minutes ago, sisso said:

So weird I won't be gearing up the go watch the Mighty Demons in 2 weeks making the journey to my second home at the MCG....barely missed a game in 25+ years like a lot of us on here...its only just sunk in this morning....

Me too. I share the exact same feelings you do. 

I don't know if this has been bought up before in the thread, but I can see Foxtel being a potential winner out of this, particularly for satellite subscriptions.  Have a feeling that the combination of the Netflix and possibly overwhelmed Kayo sport servers crashing net based viewing.

4 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

I don't know if this has been bought up before in the thread, but I can see Foxtel being a potential winner out of this, particularly for satellite subscriptions.  Have a feeling that the combination of the Netflix and possibly overwhelmed Kayo sport servers crashing net based viewing.

Possibly but the incremental increase in viewing numbers (equal to ground viewing numbers) wouldn't be that great. If anything the neutral viewing numbers may go down.

Probably mentioned already, but I’m quite looking forward to hearing just the player’s voices out there. Will be quite insightful. 

11 minutes ago, Mel Bourne said:

Probably mentioned already, but I’m quite looking forward to hearing just the player’s voices out there. Will be quite insightful. 

100% - would love that to be an option in every game...

It's great to take the home ground advantage away from the Methies. I hope it helps us get closer.

5 hours ago, don't make me angry said:

Don't be so contrite, it's  not if I wish it's reality get in the reality.the whole Melbourne business plan was have more tendencies at games make profit,the AFL have demand at all clubs say 1million dollars from their football departments.

contritre?  If you wish to see things thru a half empty glass,  I look for the positives in things, or I try to. simple really

In isolation, a match at Optus without Eagles' fans is great, but from a wider perspective it would butcher the clubs' bank balances. 

1 hour ago, sisso said:

So weird I won't be gearing up the go watch the Mighty Demons in 2 weeks making the journey to my second home at the MCG....barely missed a game in 25+ years like a lot of us on here...its only just sunk in this morning....

100% spot on.

Round 2, Saturday arvo at the G on a beautiful sunny autumn day, and we can’t see our boys play - is when this thing really is going to sink in.

49 minutes ago, Mel Bourne said:

Probably mentioned already, but I’m quite looking forward to hearing just the player’s voices out there. Will be quite insightful. 

They swear like drunken sailors out there if they make a blue or are ignored by a teammate.

Kids are going to learn some wonderful new words through the TV!

My concern is that the AFL have said that the bottom line losses are for the Clubs to absorb. They sit on millions of dollars in their Future Fund and the Clubs have to absorb huge losses which will impact the smaller Clubs already facing huge debts. Will the banks cover back up funding. Richmond, West Coast etc who sit on massive reserves  will be able to ride this out virtually unscathed. In my conspiracy AFL world, the Suns and GWS will not suffer but have the advantage of  increased funding due to their "special" development needs.

Grand final at an empty MCG

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Possibly but the incremental increase in viewing numbers (equal to ground viewing numbers) wouldn't be that great. If anything the neutral viewing numbers may go down.

So long as everyone else watching Netfilix etc during isolation lockdown because there isn't anything else to do don't also chew up all the bandwidth as well.  I recall the soccer world cup on Optus internet viewing completely died a few years back and I can envisage similar scenario's happening again.

5 minutes ago, one_demon said:

Grand final at an empty MCG

F@#% that.  We should be past peek COVID by then surely.  I'd absolutely spew if we one a premiership and I wasn't able to be there at the ground.

5 minutes ago, one_demon said:

Grand final at an empty MCG

By September it'll be either business as usual or there will be enough people who have already had the virus to then go along and fill the crowd. ?