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I reckon the supporters are the only ones in limbo. I am sure that the club and the player know exactly what is going on.

We have to all promise to act surprised when they announce the deal in January.

Just on this point, pretty sure fan following is a huge priority. In the article I linked it talks about the community programs and the large spike of MFC memberships in the the region.

Not to mention the woman concerned?

Very good points, VP. Most other clubs have received or are getting substantial government grants to upgrade ovals. Now that Casey is being used for VFL, VFLW and AFLW maybe its about time we put our hand out for some of those grants and put in the improvements you suggest. And while they are at it upgrade access to/from the ground and car parks.

Article on each club's latest membership http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-29/on-the-campaign-trail-your-clubs-membership-drive I've extracted a summary and added comparisons to roughly the same time in 2017'. I hadn't realised the Crows had so many members! Almost twice the capacity of Adelaide Oval. Our slogan 'Be a part of our journey' doesn't sound too inspiring nor aspirational! It sounds like we are just plodding along - the story of the last 10 years. Would have preferred something like 'Come Watch us Raise Hell' or 'Join our March Upward' or 'Bleed Red and Blue with Us'. Or anything that aspires to where we are going or reflects our passion! Clubs set to beat prior records are: Crows, Tigers, Bombers, Cats, Blues and maybe the Bulldogs. Mostly the so called big Vic clubs. Pies keep their numbers to themselves so hard to tell where they are at. We are on track to achieve last years total of 42,233. But it will be really disappointing if we cannot convert last year's bumper crowds to members, especially given the level of talent in the team. Based on those crowds, our talent and 2017 improvement, 45,000 would be a realistic 2018 ie a 6.5% increase. I suspect a lot of people haven't forgiven or aren't yet convinced.

http://melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-28/inside-casey-taking-it-to-next-level Good write up about where the Club and alignment is headed, everything looks great and from what I hear it's only going to get better over the next 5+ years for anyone wanting to give VFL a crack, Casey is gonna be where players want to go.

I wonder whether 'Old Dog' and 'Old Tiger' said something similar in 2016 and 2017 respectively. While you may well be right, why risk it? 2018 may well be our year.

Merry Xmas to all of you people this year and God willing we'll all be here for the next. Everyone contributed and no hard feelings to anyone from me. Amazing how wins help your health compared to losses. Thanks Team and thanks MCC from my five sons for something they waited so long for, as did i....... 2018 awaits

the club flick-passed it to the afl. if there is a follow up it should first come from the afl. it could be that all parties plus the afl and club feel that the matter is closed and no ongoing publicity (i.e. communication) is the best solution in the circumstances and the media has agreed..........there again...........................

Yes I know of several people who became members in the second half of the season as low membership guaranteed you a GF ticket

Looks like they go back to training on Monday the 8th so you can go on the 8th, 10th and 12th. Thank you for your service in advance.

This is the direct result of losing in Round 23 last season. Supporters have had enough. Slogans won’t save us. Winning big and small games will. Cut the crap Demons

Interesting figures for GWS membership. It shows a membership of over 20k for 2017 but I cannot remember them attracting crowds of much more than 13k for any of their home games not to mention their 15k for the final against West Coast. Must be some arbitrage system on GF tickets at play methinks.

The case for substantial investment in Casey Fields is made by the fast growing population and use by mens and womens teams.

I went to about 6 VFL games this year featuring Casey but did not venture out to the Casey ground itself. Really enjoyed the experience but based on the attendances it is hard to see a case being made for substantial investment unless the various grounds can be turned into multi use facilities. Not sure what the future is for VFL but it certainly needs some changes if it is not going to die a slow death.

Remember when climate alarmists got stuck in ice at the Antarctic ? Four years ago today.

I'm pleased that the organization of the Casey Football Club is now becoming a professional and well regarded organization but I believe that the location of the Casey ground and the conditions that the players play under is to the significant detriment of the MFC. The ground is poorly located in terms of weather. Cranbourne has a significantly higher rainfall than Melbourne meaning the ground is often wetter than AFL players play on. The ground has little if any meaningful protection from the wind and those that have attended on a regular basis will celebrate when a game is played in conditions where the wind is not a significant factor. Moreover, in recent years we have played a number of games at night where dew makes conditions slippery and difficult. These poor conditions result in poor skills and turn games into stoppage and tackle events. There is little chance to practice game plan ideas as chains of possessions are all too infrequent. Players like Weideman get little chance to practice their craft and the opportunity for others is also limited. This of course wouldn't be a problem if AFL football was played in similar conditions but it isn't. I recognize that not all other AFL clubs play in perfect conditions but Casey is as bad as I've seen except perhaps for North Ballarat. It seems we are at Casey for the long haul and I hope we see some genuine attempt to improve the situation of the ground with the planting of appropriate trees and other wind protection if possible. It would be nice if they could do something for spectators too, a decent grandstand that allowed you to get a good view of the game would be welcome but I understand that is probably well down the priority list. Frankly viewing is so bad and the ground location so poor I'm surprised anyone can be bothered going. I gave up a few years ago.

You've not provided any logic in this thread and admit you're a climate dummy who "trusts the science". No problem. But I will supply evidence of why CO2 is not warming the planet "dangerously" or at all. And I've done so in over 100 posts in this thread. There are tens of thousands of scientists who refute the climate scare and plenty of organisations too. Naturally, they're labelled deniers, misinformers, etc. But you can do your own research on that.

Thanks Macca, Dan is running on Saturday. https://www.racenet.com.au/racing-form-guide/sandown-20171230/ladbrokes-info-hub-handicap-race-6 Michael Dee to ride, he's had success on the horse previously and comes in at 54kg. Juicy odds at the moment.

Hahaha, gold! I read that post like 10 times to try and make sense of it - it hurts to read.

Sorry if this is reported elsewhere, Mitch White will line up for Casey next year. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-27/mitch-to-make-most-of-new-opportunity It sounds like the pressure of being an AFL player got to him but at 21 he has every chance to get back to AFL as a mature age recruit. Casey will be the better for having him in the side next year.

Last year the Casey jumper and name was changed to Demons. Now, we have significantly beefed up the Casey staffing. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-26/exciting-times-at-casey-maynard This is a far cry from the pre Roos days. He recruited Plapp to start integrating Casey and Demons. Looking at MFC website the Casey staff are fully integrated into the MFC structure. It is no coincidence that most of the recent AFL premiers have very successful and integrated VFL teams. Bodes well for the future of both teams.

The MFC website is your friend FD Currently no training sessions due to Christmas and New Year break. Players will be returing Monday 8th Janurary, please keep an eye on this page for all open training times We look forward to seeing you all next year! GO MELBOURNE!

Price, while important, is a consideration. But as good as AFL is on TV (and in my view it is one of the best sports for TV viewing), it's still not as good as being at the ground. Emotional investment increases when actually at the game and you can also see much more tactically than the limitations of TV can allow.

Will be back in Phuket with the brother in early April. Will probably make the trip to Phi Phi to visit the resting place, as we did last time we were there. Hoping the site is better cared for than it was back then. R.I.P Troy. Although the comments get fewer each year, you are still remembered, even if some of us don't say anything. I hope Troys family are ok at this time, and remember the good times.

DemonlAN Zephyr has been nominated for a race this Saturday at Sandown. Im unsure yet if they will accept but this is his last chance to salute for the first/only time in 2017.

"The Lexus, flexes, from Long Beach to Texas" - Noted wordsmith and Demons fan, Snoop Dogg

The site is taking every precaution to ensure it doesn't get itself into trouble, regardless of whether it's facts or not. I don't see any problem with that. If you don't like it, then go and start your own forum and you can talk about it with yourself.

If all goes well on the injury and form front then we could be playing finals in both AFL and VFL.

Will Stephenson from the 2017 Gippsland Power team is onboard at Casey for VFL 2018. Young midfielder/small forward. I was told he was disappointed not to get a rookie spot but excited to get a chance at Casey.

I was in the interesting and unusual position of meeting a current player & some of his family. Really lovely and polite people and feeling quite comfortable with them I asked him about the “boot camp”situation. His response was quick and direct. In his words ... “ an absolute “media beat up” ..... players and coaches sat down and had a frank discussion about the camp. A joint decision was made to abort the camp. If the coaches had wanted us to do the camp ...we would have done it. The media are just trying to intimate there is a division between “ players & coaches” and it is not the case. That was pretty much his exact words. His family was a bit more direct and Danny Frawley had less than complimentary statements made about him. This is a 5yr player and I thought he was very honest and forthright. There will of course be the usual cynics out there who will decry this info but I am quite content and happy with this explanation and express the same sentiments as his family who are “hanging out for the season” and so excited. Go Dees !!

I hear you, but don't necessarily agree with all of this. No-one said they need to be knocking down the door at Dreamhack, but a local Melbourne team that competes nationally wouldn't cost much at all but would provide enough exposure to younger generations for a positive ROI in my opinion. A byproduct of this exposure is of course membership. I see this as a viable longer term strategy to expanding our membership base, not a way for us to make millions in the next few years. Our biggest problem is securing long term major sponsers (no answers for that from me other than getting a better draw from the AFL). Consider this idea a side project at the most.

Danny Frawley on the radio changed his tune this morning. Said this would be a moment that galvanised the playing group and that we'd make finals.

The look on Moloney’s face is priceless.

you'd probably achieve more personally by resisting putting prejudicial, simplistic labels on other people

I have chap, most are lifting more metal than ever before and we have had some improvement in the 2k times And a couple of the youngsters now have a man's body, King, Weed Also Mr Gawn is in exceptional nick, his running has gone to another level

Nineteen pages on this? Seriously? A journalist wrote an article about something that a guy who is paid to generate discussion on the radio said. Neither of them has spoken to anyone at the club. Neither of them have any idea of what actually happened or who it was in the playing group who raised the issue. It's basically a journalist trying to quote a professional gossip as a source. He'd be better writing for Women's Weekly. This is an absolute non-issue.

At the Demonland cafe.....

This is a good point. I don't have anywhere near enough information to form a reasoned opinion on this issue. I have some thoughts and queries but certainly no definitive view. These thoughts and queries include: good on the players for taking responsibility and saying they didn't think the camp is valuable - we would mature adults not sheep in 2017 agree they every right to consult with the AFLPA, not least to understand their rights eg what do standard player contracts say about their right to not participate in an over night camp. I have no sense though of how, when or ho consulted the AFLPA or how appropriate the AFLPA response was what does the fact that the player's decision came so late in the piece say? ie is it evidence of poor communication from the club, did the club not properly evaluate last years camp, did the club not consult with the players or perhaps they did and the players buried their head in the sand and were they the ones guilty of leaving it to the last moment? the players apparently love goody, will this impact on that? who gives a rats arse what a bloke who has the nickname Spud thinks?

During Christmas and New Year breaks, things become very slow, in terms of sports news. The likes of "fill-in' breakfast hosts, Maher, Brown and Frawley, will clutch at anything that they can run with, in all their "journalistic" banality and In my view, that is what has happened here. Subscribe to conspiracy theories all you like, but I'll continue to trust in the guys to get the job done.

That seems unnecessarily harsh. I'm not an apologist, I just see the gravity of the situation differently.

The players had a meeting and decided they will not be training. Ever.

That doesn't mean he's always right. In this case, he isn't. On the flip side, I like the fact that the players want to take control of where they are headed by asking for this not to go ahead. They want to achieve something and felt that this was not the way to do it. They gave that feedback and it was cancelled. Nothing sinister in it at all, and no different to most workplaces. As I've stated earlier, this is nothing more than a one off, and had the players known about the camp in advance they would have been able to put forward their feedback earlier. It's a non issue that's getting air time because we're a week out of Xmas and nothing else is happening.

I've been supporting Melbourne since I was young in the 1950s. I've been through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and I still support Melbourne. Melbourne is for life, and I would never change my club or drop my support. Without support, the club is nothing. I'll leave the idea of "business", "buying", "product" and changing "suppliers" to things like phone contracts, power companies and banking. Not for my football club. If you've managed to stay with Melbourne for the last 11 years, why would you leave now that things are really starting to look up?

I hear Casey settling on 15 players with a top up supplementary group of 5 from local league if injuries mount up. Jack Hutchins to captain again. Mitch Gent, Dylan Gordon, Goy Lok and Angus Scott to remain in 2018. Mitch White returns. Tom Couch as playing assistant coach. Col Garland likely to support as required. Corey Wagner recruited to be another live wire forward and midfielder.

Its a shame that we jettisoned our Casey Demons B&F this year. Trengrove (and Melbourne) would be the better if he backed up his 2017 Casey B&F next year and could hold aloft the 2018 Premiership Cup. Very unlikely he is going to obtain any massive plaudits at Port Adelaide.