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Hey all, i'm an American footy fan, and last year, I decided to support the Demons. Partially because I am a fan of Hamish and Andy, and heard Hamish was a Dees supporter, but more so, because of the rich history of the club, Jim Stynes, and a few players I really liked. I was so pumped to watch my first game as a Dees fan, I woke up at 3 AM to watch Melbourne get thumped by West Coast, haha not a very good start to me being a Demons fan. So at the time I became a fan, I sent an email to the Demons, asking a question about something related to the club. Anyway, I never heard back from them, till earlier this month. I got an email back from a representative of the club, who thanked me for my support of the club, and said that to make up for a slow reply, they sent me this. Got here today, and I'm way excited. It made me love the club even more. I honestly didn't even expect to hear back from them, let alone have them offer to send me something. Sorry if this post was kind of stupid, I just wanted to share my excitement with someone, and i'm the only AFL fan I know in my state haha.

Well this was semi Royal, Jack Watts was holding court with a group of "Senior Women" who were hanging off his every word and taking every opportunity to have their photo taken with him. Jack looked in his element. The night was in two parts with the first part in a room that contained alcoves where the sponsors were displaying their wares and you could ask questions and watch demonstrations. There was one supported by New Balance and they had next year's Footy Jumpers that look pretty good. They contain holograms and I didn’t quite get what they were but they looked quite good. Another had technology used by the club and the players used it to have ultra sounds done, Ricky P had his ankle looked at and Rory Taggert had his abdominal done. They had a couple of rooms down back and they had 10 minute sessions showing how the players are debriefed after a game and how they make the players aware of any mistakes they are making. They now have a camera at Casey behind the goals giving them a view of the entire ground and the can see how the players move around the ground and if they are going to the right areas. There are already cameras behind the goals at AFL matches. At one point they showed how Fitzy took the centre tap and then just ambled off after the play without any urgency and another where he was playing FF and stayed in the goal square when the ball was up the other end. They showed him that and suggested that he do more than amble and that he should have moved up the ground and not sat on his bum at the other end. The result was immediate and he played much better kicking 5 goals the following week. After that we went in to the main room where there were speeches by Trish Silvers, Don McLardy, G Lyon, Mark Neels and the two Captains both of whom are very impressive and spoke very well. There was a meal and drinks served and we were on tables of ten. I was sitting next to Tim Harrington and had a long and good chat with him. Each of the tables had either a player or two or club officials or club directors. There was a silent auction and a fair bit of money was raised through that. Finally there was the donation time with both Don and Garry asking the fans to chip in both said they weren’t very good at that and it was Jimmy who was the man but I think they did all right. Then the evening closed.

Absolutely Tim. I'm all for accountability and scrutiny, whether it be on the field or off the field, but on a thread that was designed to discuss the goings on at a great and successful night for the club I find it a little distasteful that it became sidetracked by those more interested in being critical of its handling, not withstanding the merits of their concerns. The fact that $750K was raised and that a group that started at 140 is now 400 almost seems an irrelevance to some. Hijacking this thread is awful judgment and poor timing in my view. If you want a thread on fiscal management start a thread called "The club's current fiscal management and implementation policies" and knock yourselves out.

- from Mitch Clark on twitter.

The last known image of Mackay:

FFS some people will find anything to have a whinge about, anyone would think you're a pack of Poms! Getting back on topic, can anyone else give a run down of the night? It might have been stated but I probably missed it through all the petty mud-slinging. Congrats and thanks to the club and those who donated - I wish I had the coin to be a Foundation Hero but alas I think that is still a while off yet.

Nicholson and Jamar in the not good enough section?? Lol...what are you smoking?

Couldn't play any worse than what Cloke is playing at the moment & he is asking for 8 times the amount of coin.

Is it compulsorary for newbies to 'Land to start a thread that goes through our list in the most obvious way possible? If so, I missed my turn. Drats!

I think i've got an odd thing about picking favorite teams, that tend to not be overly successful. My favorite NFL team hasn't won an NFL championship (they did win one championship in a now defunct league though!) My favorite soccer team is Tottenham Hotspur who i've supported for 13 years now and haven't seen them win anything. My favorite baseball team hasn't won anything since the year after I was born...I'm accustomed to pain.

It really was funny, that my first game as a fan was the drubbing to WC. But staying with the club through the bad times, will make the eventual good times all the better.

stuie stuie stuie... it hasn't clicked for him because he didn't listern to what he was told. stubbon and thought his ego would get away with it. as i stated earlier on was told to trim down yet didn't listern and now it has caught up with him. what kind of attitude is that when your coach says you need to trim down for my game plan and yet walks away in one ear out the other. now i was told by a certain rehabilitaion person at the club about the him needing to trim down. was also told that he lost his [censored] when he was told he wasn't in the leadership group by neeldy. apperently a few home truths were given to beamer and didn't cop it on the chin and go away and work on it. sulked around the club and straight away went to his manager and said shop me around asap! I will bet my left nut Neeldy will be glad to see the back of beamer when he walks out. its his own doing that he is now where he is and i have no symphathy for him. didn't wanna listern to the coach so good riddence from him. i was once a beamer fan but after listerning to all this i was pretty disappointed in him and now he is showing it out on the field and we need to clean that kinda trash out of our footy club!

Exactly Robbie-My old man saw the Greatest team of all time and he is 72.My son is a Demon for life at 3 but he has a lifetime of suport to give! If he wishes to eat and receive shelter that is .

I am listening to Lloydy online on AW. Filthy he is...Gold.

Welcome aboard American Demon . A few unwritten rules ... 1 - Learn to snow ski 2 - Drink Chardonnay 3 - Get yourself a Range Rover 4 - Practice phrases such as "Who's that big chap in the no.9 geurnsey ? 5 - Talk about 'Our Window of Opportunity' . It's currently 2015 . Next year it will be 2016 . 6 - If you have any sport(s) jackets , gets some leather patches on the elbows . Cheers

You will not get an argument from me cfh I have been complaining for a number of years that the Players union agreement is misplaced. Why should the MFC being paying similar to Hawthorn. The Dees should be paying 80% next year until players perform at the 100% level. It won't happen of course but the current system is IMO wrong. If you couple this to the fact there are at least two teams too many in the competition then there at least 80 players in the AFl getting paid serious money who are not AFL standard. Now I will wait for RR to fall upon me.

Cart before the horse no cluey, we were $5m in debt then, in case it slipped your mind(?) and he wanted to offer him $1m per year which was money we didn't have and couldn't afford.

Why? I would have thought the timing was almost perfect. It means he can do a full pre-season and then, assuming he gets off with a fine or even better, with all charges dropped, he may not miss a game... he would even be available for most pre-season comp games (unless we made the final).

This must be why people on here think we are better than we are: they don't take an interest in the competition in general and there is no point of reference...

Bloody awful timing: may spell the death knoll, unless we can get some Ramanaskas type rookie deal or provisional listing of some sort from the AFL.

Never heard of him!

Steady there Robbie - Tynan is a good West Gippy boy - we are all dressed by op shops in West Gippy.

The Los Angeles Dodgers. There was an old song written about the Dodgers back in the day with the line "They may be bums, but they're my bums." That's how I feel about the current Demons team. They're not doing too good, but dammit I love em.

Just as a side note Ive put my team together for round 1 - I would request an away game against Collingwood we would get a f'ing sellout and be knocking back sponsors with sticks. You know do the right thing by those poor blokes at Westpac centre FF Jurrah Clark Viney HF Blease Cloke Howe C Trengove © Jones Toumpas/Mayes/ O'Rouke (Just the 1 we recruit with pick 4) Hb Watts Frawley Goddard FB Garland McDonald Nicho Rucks Jamar Ruck Rover Grimes © Rover Slyvia Interchange (3) - Caddy, McKenzie, Tapscott Subs (2) - Jetta & 2nd Ruckman ie (Gawn, Spencer) Emergencies Dunn, Magner, Sellar New leadership group in - Grimes, Trengove, Jones, Clark, Goddard, Frawley & Cloke Back where we belong a force in AFL football and not a annoying pimple on the Boss's backside. Ps Casey Players - Gawn, Evans, Macdonald, Cook, Gysberts, Bail, Morton, Strauss, Taggert, Tynon, 17YO plus balance of un-traded & 2012draft picks. Rookie Crouch, Magner, Sheahan, Williams

If Jamar played in the Devlopment league and sat in the square I think he would be a chance to kick 2.9!

We are playing plenty of blokes playing with a ? above their heads. And not playing talented kids who are fit and looking for confidence and deserve a spot is not the answer. Dunn, MacDonald, Bail, Spencer, Sellar, Jetta, and Couch played last week. And Strauss is OOC and has hardly played...

ARRRGGHHH. All you guys with MFCSS or whatever chill out or start your own thread. I AM SICK OF WHINING WILLOWS AND DOUBTING THOMASES spoiling good threads. There is not one thread which you will leave alone. Start a new thread if you have the guts and stop jumping in where you are not wanted. Either that or go post on Demonology; which you still can.

Good enough to be part of a really good AFL team (that can play and compete well in finals) Jones, Frawley, Trengove, Clark, Grimes, Howe Might soon be good enough... but need to develop Watts, McKenzie, Blease, McDonald, Nicholson, Tapscott, Jetta Not Good enough ... Bate, Bennell, Morton, Petterd, Green, Cook, Davey, Lawrence, Couch Not sure if they're good enough ... because I haven't seen enough of them Gysberts, Strauss, Evans, Gawn, Davis, Taggert, Tynan, Fitzpatrick, Sheehan, Williams Role players Bartram, Sylvia, Dunn, Garland, Moloney, Rivers, Macdonald, Sellar, Martin, Jamar, Spencer, Bail, Magner * Jurrah would be in the first category if not for fitness/personal issues.

The issue is that the club says it hasn't got enough money to pay 100% of the TPP unless it receives a significant cash injection. I say that is the wrong allocation of resources and is a management issue and not a promotion issue. The message I got is despite paying off $5 million (a saving of significance), despite receiving extra money from the AFL, despite an increase in membership, despite a better stadium deal and despite what would appear to be increased sponsorship we still can't find the money to pay what a club has to pay to win a flag - 100% of the TPP. One way or another that's not good. What I'd love is the club to come out and say "we are dead serious about winning a flag. We will pay 100% of the TPP but in doing so we need contributions to assist in the development and recruitment of the best players. Please help". That tells me that they have allocated resources right and I'd feel as though I was giving our players the best possible chance to reach their full potential. That's the way I see it. In the interest of sanity I won't now give a full critique on Daniher as coach, Gardner as a Chairman and Richard Griffith as a recruiting manager.

I'll take a wild stab in the dark. He's doing a good job ?

Hey Bluey , How can you knock someone for giving to the Club FFS? You might find other causes more worthy but dont knock other "patrons" that have kept the ship afloat (paricularly in the last 30 years). Besides-some of our members cant help it that they are filthy rich - they were born that way! and those that made thier own money and gave it away-Thank you as well .

now i know what the moniker Fan means - Fanatic

If, as I have been told, he was behind the rapid rise of Pendlebury, then hopefully we'll see the same with the Gys. A full pre-season and an injury free run will tell us a lot.

I, too, have been informed that he was told to trim down and didn't. My problem with him (and I have liked him as a player for a long time) is that he is a bit of a one trick pony, and that trick doesn't work too well any more. I have become ambivalent about him, so que sera sera.

I agree, i'm a fan. The Gys will be a really good test of Neeld ability to develop younger players i reckon. Of course Gys will have to do the work but finding a way to motivate young players to do the work is part of the job of a coach - and it is worth noting that Neelds ability to develop players was one of the strengths the club highlighted (and presumably a key reason for his appointment).

Just think Gys has HEAPS of talent and really think the things Neeld brings to MFC could/should turn him into an absolute gun.

at this point he has a highlight reel that is pound-for-pound with Modra, who is a way overlooked star of the past. If you've forgotten, just check this out: giant leap, sticky hands, perfect timing and the ability to read the fall of the ball.. genuine muscle/presence is the only criteria of contested marking that he doesn't have in spades, but who needs that when you have those other abilities

If you want to judge his skills by the ability to sell an almost unsellable product, Cam is just about a genius

So I was right, you've got nothing just a big whining mouth.

Lucky we have a coach that should be in a good place to make a judgement.

Exactly, I just wonder why there are so many that are blind to what's happening. We are trying to build a club both on and off the field and as Mclardy said the other night, Cameron Schwab has got us in to a wonderful position off the field and he should be congratulated. He also thanked the previous boards for AAMI Stadium and Casey to ensure that credit was given where due; I just wish some of the haters on here could or would do the same. Truth is half those that criticise, have never met Schwab, and/or have absolutely no grasp on what he's done over the last few years. I'd like ADC to state what it is that Schwab has done to hinder the growth of the club; some specific instances where he has first hand knowledge Not what he has gleaned from the HUN.

Great and underrated point. There'd be Gardner sympathisers posting on this website who would readily acknowledge that they thought there was no way the current board would get rid of the debt, but not only have they got rid of the debt (and massive interest payments) they're still raking in huge coin from dedicated and united supporters who share a common goal in moving this club forward. McLardy needs to learn to sell it better, I acknowledge that, but gee, some of Gardner's love children who get their knickers in a knot over the terms of reference of huge money coming in never said a bad word about the last board even though we had $5mil debt. I'm no accountant, but that doesn't add up to me.

One of the problems with Schwab may be, and I know nothing of the man obviously, is that he may well manage "up" very well but not so much "down" I see this a lot in corporates, the underlings scratch their heads and cannot for the life of them work out why some guy keeps his position year after year after year when he is pretty terrible at managing them and their interests. In this day and age a CEO of a footy club has to act more like a CEO and less like a footy player with half a brain and some management smarts. They wouldn't have kept him on if he was not meeting his KPI's, I don't reckon the club is that irresponsible, in this day and age if they were we'd be a helluva lot worse off than we are now.. We got good member numbers, we're in the black, we've got sponsors, we just need to start winning some bloody games and that is down to the players, not the CEO

So which 1 will we win? Against a top 2 team, who need to win to secure a home final? Or against a team who needs to win to make finals, at their home ground, where we haven't won in years? Good luck with that!

it would be such an 'us' thing to do though, play like shizen for 19 out of 20 games and then rip out some surprise form right at the death, in order to screw ourselves over

We are zero chance to win the next 2 games. Not just because it would not be beneficial for us in the long term, but also because we suck.

Look into my eyes... "There is no tanking in the AFL."

Sorry didnt realise it was a spelling contest

Right, so you have faith in a coach who has been around a few months but want to wack our (albeit out of form) current BnF who has been around 8 years? Weak thread even by your standards. Beamer has been bashed enough on this site, for now.

Yeah, not sure I agree with that. If Schwab could see we were going in the wrong direction and interfered in trying to right the ship, I'm not sure I have a problem with that. In fact, I commend it. It's his role to have the right people in place to do the job, and if he sense they aren't doing it right, he needs to take action. Maybe the action taken wasnt the best course, but these things are never clean and agreeable. By now it is obvious Bailey wasn't heading in the right direction. And what damage? Maybe damage to the perception of him from the outside. It's obviously not damaged his ability to perform his role, judging by his recent results. And what wounds? Who is wounded? The players? Suck it up & play. Don't worry about the CEO - the tail does not wag the dog. And I doubt they care, as long as he is not interfering with the football dept. The coaching staff? There's barely anyone left! Anyway, you've answered the question yourself. I suggest if any senior players have an issue with him, it's in their best interests to concentrate on their own performance instead, or else they'll soon be on the scrap heap. The board? They reappointed him!