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Yep but we have been skipping that class for thepast 7 yrs.....

I like the idea. I am one of those who on a yearly basis buy a media polo, jacket/jumper a new jumper when there are new sponsors and now my wardrobe is overflowing with years of awesome red and blue gear. This i see as another way to support. I am willing to part with some hard earned per win. IN NO WAY will i ever wish the MFC to lose. If you cant afford to pledge then simply don’t. When we win i don’t see me paying $10/$20 for it a big issue. I am on a tight budget as most of us are but remember we only play once a week. Most of us get paid for doing some sort of work. I am sure some, as i have done, can put aside a small amount to go to the club to celebrate a good weekend when the red and blue bring home the goodies. I doubt anyone is willing to pledge more then they could afford per week. I hope we go through the season undefeated and i can look back and go that it was a awesome year. I don’t understand how there is so much backlash over a scheme that was designed to help our club raise extra funds that they didn’t have before. I know that we as supporters have put our hands in our pockets over and over again and we haven’t seen the results on the field. Its simple, if you want to partake in the pledge per win scheme then do.. if you don’t then don’t. Its not a competition as to how much money you give etc it is just another way you can support the club if you can afford to. I know that i wall have this criticized by those who have time to crawl through my post but honestly i don’t care. i have always supported the MFC and i always will. I put my money into the club through membership and buying supporter gear and i attend as many games as i can. I have seen the good years and i have seen the bad years. I know what it feels like to loose a GF and i know what it feels like to finish dead last. What i want is to know what it feels like to win a GF and if my small pledge this year can somehow help the boys get me there then i know it was worth it.

Isn't this footy 101?

We have started. Here is a bit from a PJ article on our website. "He has no problem with the AFL's objective to maximise attendances, TV ratings and revenues through the fixture but says its important to recognise it remains a huge factor in the ability of clubs to increase their revenue. For that reason, Jackson argues that the conversation on revenue sharing should focus on identifying the total revenue earned from each match − gate, membership (discounted entry), catering, reserved seating – and how that might be shared among clubs, given each club plays a part in maximising the overall revenue."

That is it in a nutshell. I think that the disadvantaged clubs should go on the offensive not against the AFL who are an ally in this, but rather against the advantaged cartel. I personally don't give a rat's clacker about what Eddie says on this, but the interesting point is he is saying plenty. His is one of the most advantaged clubs by the draw. It should be made clear to the whole AFL public that this is about the unfairness in the "fixedture" that leads to huge advantage in financial terms for some and huge disadvantages for others. The way Eddie portrays it, is a tax, being charity for the weak, taken from the well managed and given to the poorly managed. I would come out and say we don't want charity, we want a fair go in an equal draw. Give us the good draw and forget about equalisation. That would shut Eddie and his mates up. Of course it won't happen, as the AFL is primarily about income and about football, somewhere way down the importance ladder. Eddie and his mates are clearly winning the PR war as they are on the front foot.

His job is to yell: 2nd conditioning guy: 'what are your legs?' Mitch Clark: 'Springs, steel springs' 2nd conditioning guy: 'What are they gonna do?' Mitch Clark:'They're going to hurl me down the track.' 2nd conditioning guy: 'How fast can you run?' Mitch Clark: 'As fast as a leopard'

The Doctor turned a blind eye to what was going on. His failure to pursue his concerns or resign on the club's refusal to address is IMO professionally negligent. He has been asleep at the wheel. Appalling.

I just don't see how any amount of money can make up for the lack of exposure created by the fixture. I see PJ doesn't mind the unbalanced fixture as long as we are compensated. I don't agree with that. I say fix the root cause of the inequity and go from there.

Signed up two members today. One new. One a renewal. Both sons of mates. Parents will find out within the week. One mate a Crows supporter. The other follows Carlton. Hoping the kids will thank me one day. I'm assembling a little under three's Demons supporter rat pack in this convict town. As an aside, my boy's only 10 months old but he starting to show some really good development in two areas: 1. Growing teeth; and 2. Handballing the fluffy Demons mock AFL ball. Early days I know, but I reckon he's got 300 in him.

Not hard to imagine what they'll say about Dawes - 'look if it was a home and away game he'd play but he had a bit of tightness in his calf after the intra game, no real issue but we figured no point putting him in a plane and sending him to Central Australia for practice match. He'll do full training on (insert day the non Geelong game players do training) and his normal running, the camp in Leongatha and be right to go for the praccy match against the Hawks down at Casey. So yeah perhaps a little frustrating for Dawsey as he was keen to have a game and perhaps we are being a bit conservative but look there are no probs and he'll play next week'

I realized last night listening to the Essendrug game on radio just how much i am going to despise this team forever more....

But they don't do it for the broadcast deal. We only get a small amount of compensation for our bad commercial fixture. Which in any one year would be fine but after consecutive years of bad fixtures it will never catch up. Right now Port and North are the best of the poorer clubs whilst St Kilda, WB and us are down the bottom. That alone should tell you something is wrong. But I bet you Port and North don't get any great rewards with fixturing this year. When the saints were good they got a few Friday nights and a lot of Saturday nights but they hardly went close to what Collingwood or Essendon got who were lesser sides.

Bleasy, Byrnesy, Maxy, Matty, Kenty, Georgy, Wattsy. Classic Roosy. By the way he's mentioned 3 times in the first 20 seconds I do get the feeling Blease is a massive pet project of Roos. If he can fix Blease he can coach just about anyone.

Never seen so much 'woe is our team selection' for a NAB Cup game in this history of this board. Rather than be pleased to see Hogan, Fitzy and Watts back we are too busy being negative about who isn't playing. We looked darn good last week, the least we can do is be pleased that we have added more talent to the team and that hopefully we can back it up as best we can.

And to have a chat

Meanwhile back at the Tan...Mitch just felt like running!

I think Doc Reid's substantiates that good doctor was fully aware of the serious ramifications of observed practices. Allegedly the good doctors letter got to Essendon CEO Ian Robson. Robson was sacked because all this happened on his watch. And the good doctor.....? Reid had tough choices... Escalate serious issue or resign. He squibbed on both fronts.

I have no regrets that we let the players go that we did, I think they were all pretty much disruptive influences and we are, in the long term, better off without them. It may have hurt the club in the short term to lose the experienced players but long term we have now replaced them with players who appear to have much better character and work ethic. The coach is in charge again not a handful of overinflated egos.

I wish I could be there, I hate watching it on television but unfortunately circumstances won't allow. I'm not nervous though I think we will acquit ourselves well, it's a practice game and I doubt they will be going flat out, I don't think we will either. Win this and we will sell an extra 1,000 memberships, ex members will start to think that maybe there's something there.

The thing is that often those "B" games end up being better from a neutral perspective than the ones involving the "blockbuster" clubs. However Channel 7/the AFL go the "safe" option and fixture the bigger clubs in prime time/FTA slots as they have the larger supporter bases and due to the fixture being finalised in October it is impossible to say which matches will be the best ones the following year. The other issue is that the ratings figures do not seem to support the notion that Carl/Coll/Ess games in prime time/FTA draw bigger ratings but what it does give these clubs is exposure on a much larger scale to be able to grow/reinforce their supporter base and sell sponsorship at a much higher cost. The AFL needs to put in the effort to provide Channel 7 with the evidence that scheduling the same clubs each week does nothing to improve their ratings and may actually hinder them in the long run as 1) neutral supporters get "blockbuster fatigue" and sick of watching the same teams each week and 2) it is in their best interests to promote a healthy competition and the "Any Given Sunday" mentality of the NFL so that viewers will want to watch games regardless of who is playing due to the nature of the contest. They should also be told none-too-subtly that no-one gives a stuff about which players girlfriend is dating which other player, who the WAGs in the stands are and the contrived puns of the commentary team and would prefer genuine commentary and analysis. They are clearly doing this to appeal to the female demographic but it just makes them sound stupid and out of touch and the majority of females I know watch the footy for the game and not for all the other rubbish. The other issue in regards to this equalisation strategy is that it is not "tax" as the rich clubs would prefer to frame it but rather "compensation" due to years of getting shafted by league decisions.

The interesting thing is Pendlebury got hit outside a club a few years back and Eddie fell right out of his tree. The pies were even part of an AFL program about this sort of thing and how bad it was. Wow The H word comes immediately to mind.

Maybe because as Roos has stately continuously he's not a fan of throwing the first year guys in. Salem doesn't have AFL level endurance or strength. He's had a set back in preseason with a thyroid condition. He's only done part of sessions in training. And he's only played parts of two pretty modest intraclubs. He sure impressed in the first but then in the second just did well nothing too exceptional. Time to adapt to the Roos way of thinking. It's likely for the hawks game that we decrease the squad from the current 26 per game back to something like 22. I highly doubt we will see Salem.

Casey will be devastated!

No need to be such a condescending [censored] about it. You're worse than Ben Hur these days. I'm 'emotionally attached' to the guy after seeing him in tears when he was told he was leaving us for a spot on the full list at Freo. I felt for the big guy and have wished him well since.

What would be even easier than taxing some clubs, is to divvy up the TV rights money differently.

From MFC website "...Jackson argues that the conversation on revenue sharing should focus on identifying the total revenue earned from each match − gate, membership (discounted entry), catering, reserved seating – and how that might be shared among clubs, given each club plays a part in maximising the overall revenue. He suggested revenue earned through merchandising, fundraising and sponsorship should not be shared..." These are the most sensible comments I've heard from anyone in AFL or Clubs: Share 'match-day' revenue but let clubs keep what they have worked really hard to earn from their own initiatives/from their own members. Great way to get some equality but to not kill off creativity and motivation to maximise revenues out in clubland!

Because people make emotional attachments to players they think the club should draft, even when they are not drafted.

Pedo did his left hamstring (grade 1) and shouldn't play Friday. Hogan right low-back-buttock soreness, but continued on modified. Good drills...learnt a bit today. Lot of "v-leading" near the boundary. Lot of half and full ground running drills. They also share the ball, but not to the point of inefficiency. They look for the handball receiver on the move. The defenders are often asked to close down space as well. Stafford did a bit with the rucks for the whole time; boundary throw-ins, and contested stuff deep near forward 30. Roos just in encouraging mode. Clapping effort...even after clangers.

All this garbage about Max Gawn 'not coming on as he should have', and being vulnerable because he's had both knees reconstructed. He's the second tallest person on the entire AFL list. He's just turned 22. He's only now starting to get a man's physique, and endurance capacity, which will take another 3 to 4 years to be consistent through a game and season. There's a lack of insight into the long term development of the big guys on here. They only become valuable at around 25, and have a 5 to 6 year career span. The contrast being the Brent Harvey/Nathan Jones type midfielder. As to the knee recons.....ACL reconstructions are no indication of general vulnerability. Nor is the incidence of re-rupture is any greater than would be the case for a non-reconstructed knee. All of which speaks to the fact that impatience and frustration leads us to make ignorant and poor judgements on players who are either too young to be judged against 150+ gamers, or just plain unlucky with injuries. Given his age and injury history to this point, and what he has shown in the matches he's played, I reckon the MFC coaches would be very VERY excited about the future of Max Gawn, but I'm equally sur they'd tell us to temper that excitement for another 3 years or so.

Agreed. Too many are being overly precious.

Don't get sidetracked by that extra $118k for Geelong's vets. Everyone has had that option - designed to keep players in the game. The real crux of this equalisation matter is, as Ryan eloquently wrote: This is where we should not allow Eddie to have his way - if he wants all the Friday night games (and so does Seven) then fine, but the money made on that night goes into a general pool that is equally distributed amongst the clubs. Collingwood can keep the money its makes off merch and sponsorships, just not on the money they get from their favourable draw.

And you spend the rest of your post pontificating about how we shouldn't be so easily offended.

I assume we've hired a conditioning guy for each leg. Thats how valuable he is to us. if one is better at his job than the other, then Mitch may end up running in circles.

I reckon that comment about 16 year old girls is offensive. Given the rest of your post it is rather hypocritical too! I'd also suggest that the vast majority of Caroline Wilson's stuff is spot on and good journalism. I know many here don't like her because she reported on the tanking fiasco but she was front and centre with what was happening and a reliable source. That we didn't like her opinion is neither here or there. Her piece in this mornings Age is a good read and very informative and she often provides information and insights others don't. I also reckon that people should toughen up and stop taking offence at every little dig at us. You reap what you sow and until we perform I can hardly blame journo's for painting us in a poor light.

Mitch has moved up to GoPro and is capturing real life so he can vine himself for everyone to see his life in snippets.

That can't be right... yesterday was not an official training session and I am lead to believe by Demonland posters in the know, that Mitch is out and about with his camera at every opportunity... why on earth would he be running laps? Or... is it possible that I have been misinformed and that Mitch really does take his football seriously?

*BLAM*

Not Jack Viney. He served it up to Freo last year when we were getting monstered by 100 points. That kid doesn't need VFL. What he does need is protecting his body by plenty of time forward or on a wing and maybe still a week off or some part in the subs (on or off) at some stage. Toumpas might need VFL it's just a matter of how well he's tracking in the AFL. He looks set to play high half forward a lot under Roos probably with only brief stints in the midfield. If he's playing well enough and improving I don't see any need for him to go back to Casey. But at the same time if Kent, Blease and Salem are dominating Casey and can play the same role in the team it might be best to share the games.

In other words , you have caught some contagious virus and are no longer allowed to use the computer. I must advise you to keep away from the Russian sites,and also the St Kilda girls for a while. There is some new strain of geriatric communicable sexual disease that I suspect has come from Burwood.

I suggest you take an interest in one or two other clubs. They are all the same. I have mates who support the Pies, Dogs, Hawks and Carlton. All have the same complaint. It always mystify's me this game they all play. I struggle to see where telling pork pies on fitness etc gains an advantage.

Good lord the softness on this site. One rule for one set, one for another. How about banning the incessant infighting and thread derailing. Bring on the footy for all our sakes.

Problem is that your account was used either by your wife or yourself to publish information that is "knowingly false or misleading" (a breach of the COC) and given your prior record, I think it might be appropriate to give you and your wife a chance to kiss and make up and perhaps even take up CBDees' suggestion.See you in a week's time. Cheers

I hope that you guys aren't planning on breeding!

dr is in clear (at the moment) afl did not want this to end up in open court and EFC would not have wanted Danks questioned in court either.the answer to a lot of the questions is Dank who has less than been forthcoming . IF this story comes to fruition than watch this space Sports scientist Stephen Dank may face court grilling in legal case brought by ex Cronulla Sharks NRL players If Dank has to give evidence under oath the truth should come out in Cronulla situation. Perjury in legal matters can lead to jail (see marcus enfield who went to jail for giving a false stat dec,nominated a dead american as a driver to avoid a speeding fine,) A civil case by a former Essendon player who sees a successful win by an ex Cronulla player and getting Dank on the stand would blow this matter wide open.

With a better than average chance of making it through the four quarters as well.

There's certainly a few more NGE's on our list than most but that doesn't concern me too much because we should keep the numbers down to a minimum in the team each week. I think it will be the top end of our list where we still have problems. - We don't have one of the superstar top 15 mids of the comp as I think Jones' best is still below the best level of a real star. - We don't have a reliable gun big forward (although we could have 3 if Clark, Dawes and Hogan get it together). - We don't have a dangerous small forward (we're all pumping up JKH but he's not going to be Betts/Garlett/Walters/Wingard/Motlop/Bruest in his first year) - We don't have the complete AA level half back flanker (although we aren't alone there) - We are yet to develop a consistent deep level of talent across the midfield. We need the 4 we brought in (Vince, Cross, Tyson, Michie) plus rejuvenated Trengove and Watts plus time in Salem, Viney and Toumpas plus continued improvement in Matt Jones, Evans and McKenzie on top of Nath Jones that only makes 13 mids. Considering you need at least 10 playing each week we really don't have a lot of room for guys to be under performing. A lot of those can be fixed over time with good development we have the pieces on paper. But I don't see any coach coming in with the list we've assembled (which definitely is a lot more ready in the midfield) could produce a Port like season.

You do realize the MFC helped finance the building of Victoria Park back in the day. It was built on a slag pit. Fitting i always thought.

I once took an american visitor there (had a friend's two spare memberships - yes I have a friend who's a member of the floreat pica whatever) and took him into their members' stand. A group of kindly looking elderly women told me if I opened my mouth again I'd get a knitting needle in the eye - and so would the 'septic'. And that was during the reserves. True story.

Life Long hater BBOI realize i am getting older when i read younger Demons "don't mind Collingwood & enjoy watching them play" These kids never had to endure a day at Victoria Park. If Young Demon supporters Hate the Filth when i am ready to shuffle off i will be sated

i will reserve judgement of sylvia until freo plays richmond