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Questions ranged from frustration with the fixture to why didn't we chase kpfs in the trade period/why couldn't we kick straight. Pert acknowledged frustrations with the fixture and what it could cost Dees in dollar value ($1-$1.5 million potentially), but one win was not travelling to Geelong. Doesn't know why we have been disproportionately fixture there more than others, to the extent that we'd actually asked the Cats whether they were requesting a home game against the Dees every year (they say they haven't). Re: kpfs, Lamby did say they'd jump if Tom Lynch was available, but there weren't any possibilities that were better options than Petty (he was effusive on what he could bring over a full season up forward), and given we'd gone tall in consecutive drafts (Roo & Jefferson), want to see how they come on. I relayed a question from my daughters on what we can expect to see from Riv and Sparrow, Goody said Tom 'oozes leadership' and they're excited to see how his game builds this year, Riv is building and we can expect to see him in midfield more and more, his speed and agility through the middle will give us a different look. Selwyn Griffiths mentioned a bit later on that something seemed to have really clicked for Riv last season in terms of mindset and that he's ready for more midfield minutes. Overall I enjoyed the event, there was really good access to the key decision makers at the club, and the greatest value (imo) came after the formal proceedings when all staff were available for an individual chat. Given my obsession with all things draft, it was great to chat to Lamby about the recent draft period. Didn't give away a whole lot that wasn't already out in the public domain, but it was clear that we really liked Nick Watson and my impression was that after Harley, Watson was the guy we were targeting. The clubs ahead of us just wanted too much. There wasn't really much of a conversation with WC for a future 1st, that might have been exaggerated in the media (re:offer for our pick, likely a different story at the GWS pick). We talked about Windsor and when we developed an interest (noting the media only tied him to us relatively late). Lamby didn't know how it got out to the media (!), but said that Jase Taylor was a fan of Windsor coming into the year and we probably landed on him (a lot) earlier in the process than when we were eventually linked. Spoke to Pert afterward, and on the new facilities, he is excited about the possibility of having 3 ovals (2 at Caulfield) for our various AFL & VFL sides to have access to. With the introduction of the VFLW & AFLW, maintenance of ovals has become a challenge, so (exclusive) access to three ovals would be terrific for players across the 4 teams. Whilst the announcement was for a feasibility study, Pert did say a lot of work has already been done and that we're a significant way down the track. Reading between the lines, the study is a tick, but we may be closer to really locking in the facility than we have been. That the location would be in traditional Demon heartland was a point of pride.

How is living in 1964? Guess you’ve seen a lot of recent flags. The MCG has bars for members and change rooms for post game celebrations, otherwise you can walk to one of 50 nearby pubs. Our training base can be on Mars for all I care. It could be at Casey but Casey is worse than Mars. Caulfield is a great combination of demon heartland that’s accessible to fans and staff.

With so many Demonlanders living in the Caulfield area, we could start a franchise.

Old 6 packed his trusty camera and headed down the highway to Casey. Enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/gallery/n-Gdk9w2/i-7gzWqzP/A

Good Crivens Picket, I know it’s the festive season but 8:30am in the morning on a Wednesday is a bit early to be on the [censored]. Middle of nowhere. It’s only next to a train station that is a 10 minute trip from the city with 2 lines that junction from there. Next to a university. Five minutes drive from the biggest shopping centre in the country. A few kilometres from the south eastern freeway. It’s in the middle of built up suburbia. Not sure what box it doesn’t tick. I do love your Casey reports and I do quite like the Casey facility but please, “middle of nowhere”. The only thing it would be in the middle of………..is a race track.

I'm interviewing one of the Melbourne Football Club's newest recruits and one of Demonland's Sponsored Players for 2024 Koltyn Tholstup tomorrow for the Demonland Podcast. I'll be asking him about his recruitment to the club and how he has found the leap from WAFL to AFL as well as what his goals for 2024 and beyond are and much more If you have any further questions let me know below and I'll see if I can squeeze them in. I will release the podcast at some time tomorrow so stay tuned.

Caulfield is in the middle of nowhere? It is pretty much where the inner city meets inner suburbia in the South Eastern direction. It only happens to be in the vicinity of Caulfield Station which services 3 lines and will also have easy access to the new metro tunnel stations next year (Caulfield is one of the top 10 train stations in Melbourne by passenger numbers) and on a tram line (No. 3 tram). Road connection are very good there as well. If the potential MFC facility is located at the southern end of the Racecourse Precinct there will also be access to the new Glen Huntly station (Frankston Line) and the 67 tram from Melb Uni to Carnegie. It is located on the doorstop of Monash University Caulfield Campus and also new apartment developments such as Caulfield Village (with more developnents to come). Definitely scope for Demons proselytising amongst the foreign student cohort ...

Caulfield Racecourse is a 3 minute drive from Demonland HQ so expect a lot of training reports in the future if this comes to fruition.

It’s a guaranteed winner. Let’s make it happen. We are the nomads of the AFL, from the MCG to Junction oval to Caulfield Grammar school to Casey to AAMI as various training bases. Time for a home. Time for a modern state of the art facility. Time to stop driving 55 minutes out to Cranbourne. State Government will back it like they back the Cats and Bombers and Tigers training facilities. It’s a community facility too. And creates jobs and economic growth. It’s a winner. Feasibility. Yes pros and cons but Dees have wasted 30 years and countless dollars on feasibility. Let’s go. ps. I live within 10 minutes so declare a small conflict of interest.

It's time to accept that there is no suitable site within walking distance of the G. Time to look elsewhere. Caulfield screams out as a site with plenty of open space, a large existing proximate population with significant demon supporters (red and blue scarves fill the train carriages to the G), next suburb to our former recruiting area (think Robbie, Stephen Smith), good accessible public transport to the G and to Casey, reasonable car access and adequate potential car parking, a willing partner and it's walking distance for me. What's not to like? GO DEES

The AFL had an opportunity to make a stand after the Angus Brayshaw incident. They should've clearly stated that the player initiating the tackle or smother has a clear duty of care and that Maynard's action was unacceptable. Shamefully but typically they squibbed it.

you'd be wrong i posted earlier in this thread i'm fairly certain, but a 2015 sun study said these were our top 10 supporter suburbs: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/interactive-footy-fan-map-afl-clubs-membership-heartlands/news-story/4ceb4875ecacd1b3b04eade7b2dc620b Glen Iris Brighton Hawthorn Toorak Caulfield East Camberwell Richmond Malvern Kew Black Rock (list source via reddit cos the sun's map is borked) it may have shifted slightly since 2015, but as a stonnington resident, the whole of glen iris, malvern, toorak was decked out in dees colours in 2021 it was glorious

The Demons heartland as far as any exists outside the MCG is Brighton, Malvern, Glen Iris and Camberwell. Plus Bentleigh and surrounds. Caulfield is right in the middle of that area. You only have to look at the number of posters in this thread who live or have family nearby. Trying to argue against this is somehow more nonsense than your Star Wars mumbo jumbo. Those Port Melb options aren’t viable or desirable. A brand new training facility might not have ‘soul’ but it might be really great for staff and players.

We need to move on from being near the MCG. We can continue to stomp our feet and demand a home base near the G for another 40 years, or we can get on with it and finally get a homebase in Caulfield.

I don't think we did at all. We lost both finals due to poor conversion in front of goal and managing key moments in the game. We also were rocked with the hit on Brayshaw, which took the team a while to mentally recover from. 7 and 2 points are not disasters like the media make it out to be. Yes it sucks and hurts and all of that but teams have evolved to outplay us in certain ways and we need to adapt. Finally, you cannot excuse poor kicking. I think we need to do a bit more work on resilience and coping with high pressure situations.

Is there a way we can band together and start a gofundme to get you to stop carrying on about Fishermen’s Friends. The club has a very real thing happening at Caulfield.

In racing parlance, I think you are "whipping a dead horse" with your Fishermen's Bend proposal.

The Demonland Lost Souls Club 😁 I am a Carlton supporter, checked out this forum and stayed after I saw numerous TISM references splattered around. Take that [insert balaclava clad emoji]. It is probably anathema to many, but I do have a 'second club' I support and it is MFC. I don't just keep an eye on their scores and catch a quarter or two here and there on tv. I catch almost every match on Kayo/C7 and even catch some live matches at the MCG (I had a 3 game membership for last season). I wasn't born into a footy family, my parents are migrants and they followed the Saints as the first suburb they lived in was St Kilda. Most of my extended family followed Richmond, St Kilda or North Melbourne. There was pressuure/bribery on little No. 31 to follow the Saints, Tigers or Kangas. I rebuffed all of these overtures and threw my lot in with Carlton (more on that later). In primary school in the 1980s I grew up in one of Melbourne's traditional recruiting zones in the South Eastern 'burbs and Melbourne footballers used to come to our footy clinics. I remember being excited that Robbie Flower came to one of our clinics and he taught me how to handball, afterwards I always kept an eye out for him in games. Ultimately that lead to me always having some sympathy for the Dees and I actively followed their rise in the late 80s and late 90s and was a fan of footballers like Stynes, Lyon, Schwarz, Farmer, Neitz, Yze, Leoncelli and Woewodin. As for Carlton, I declared them to be my club as I was born in Carlton (at the old Royal Women's Hospital) and my local junior club were the Ormond Blues. It certainly helped that the Blues were a powerhouse in the early 80s. As a child I found the Navy Blue with the White monogram to be so stylish and elegant and having been born in the 3053 postcode sealed it for a young No. 31. Had the Dees been a strong club in contention in the early 80s, I may well have barracked for them given the Demons footy clinic connections (and I thought the Demons nickname was pretty cool and that they were named after Melbourne rather than a suburb of Melbourne). PS - I did spend a number of years living in Newtown, Geelong (as an adult) and I could see Kardinia Park from my balcony so I would go and watch the Cats sometimes. I never really developed an attachment to the Cats like I did with the Demons though.

Hey @jayceebee31, hope you're well mate. Griffith spoke to our injuries in his presentation. Mentioned that we lost 119 games to injury this year, the league average was approx 151, and 87% of our list were able to complete the season without significant injury whilst being one of the hardest two way running teams in the comp. Clarrie was a high profile soft tissue injury, but a good percentage of the rest of our injury list comprised of collision type injuries (noting T Mac's injury was related to carry over foot issues and Ben Brown's knee was preexisting and managed well last year, but back issues arose during the season for him as well), where trauma (e.g. tackle related) resulted in the injury. We did some analysis on these, in particular foot and ankle. To the point that what shoes players wear were analysed and adjusted accordingly. A large part that can't be accounted for in those trauma related injuries is luck. We had some bad luck, particularly in one area of the ground which REALLY hurt us, but overall the results for the fitness program were positive.

I don't know why a feasibility study is necessary......Is Caulfield feasible? The answer is yes. If no then we are back to stone motherless nothing again. Just get on with it. Caulfield was mooted for development years ago now. Why hasn't such feasibility been carried out already, and long ago. It has been claimed that the Board examined every spare/open space in 30 council areas? That is feasibility and if true has been done. From 2 years ago: https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/caulfield-racecourse-unveils-570m-sports-entertainment-precinct-plan-20210413-p57iu8.html Or is this just another ruse in the lead up to elections?

Thank Christ the MCG pipedream has been put to bed. Sounds like as long as we keep the Melbourne Racing Club sweet this should get done. From a selfish point of view Caulfield is a great option. I'm just 3 stops away on the train or 10 mins drive away. Get it done Kate.

I don't live near Caulfield, but I couldn't care less how inconvenient Caulfield is for some supporters. Players will never outwardly complain about driving 1-2 hours to Casey to train, but inwardly most would hate it. By choice, I've spent the past 20 years working within a 30 minute walk from home. And I've prepared to sacrifice money to do so. Having a home base within a short distance of the CBD will be a great selling point when trying to attract players, or even player retention. Get it done.

In 2022 Collingwood lost finals by 6pts and 1pt, with a tidy win vs Freo at the MCG sandwiched in between. I don't think they threw the baby out with the bathwater in 2023 as a result. They did double down on practising close game scenarios though. In 2023 they won 3 finals by a total of 12pts.

Like much of the bay Port Melbourne will be underwater in 20 years. The whole area will be re-marketed as the Atlantis Precinct and any new training facility would need to be build on floating pontoons.

Personally I can’t see any better alternative and the possibilities there are enormous. Exciting times ahead.

John is a regular contributor on one of the Melbourne Football club supporters facebook pages. He's certainly very very passionate about the club still and follows every moment.

Both sides have seen a mutually beneficial opportunity, so now they study just what it entails. Dees will say we need an oval, an office building, change rooms, a pool, a gym etc. Caulfield say we’d love to have an oval in the infield if it doesn’t disrupt racing, we can sell or rent you land for your building for x amount of cost. Both sides then present a case to the local council (and any government that will have them) on funding for the oval in exchange for allowing public access and community sport. Perhaps the same for the gym and pool. If the numbers line up for everyone involved we’ve got a deal. The best case for Caulfield is they’ve already got or need a lot of things: - hospitality and catering, we don’t need to spend on a cafe or members function space, we can use theirs. - the oval - every local council needs more and they have a heap of space at Caulfield - pool and gym - if we are willing to share they’re about to have 5,000 new residents who’ll need somewhere to swim and work out - medical facilities can be shared with the community similar to the Saints at Moorabbin There’s a lot of potential for something to work here.

You're in your 50's and have never been in a committed relationship but are desperate to meet someone and and build a life together. Every prospective partner in the past 20 years has turned you down after your high school sweetheart Amy Parks wanted a relationship but you were afraid to commit and she moved on with your nemesis. Your mum has now arranged for you to meet a girl through a family connection through lack of any other options but you have very little in common and have started to work out what you have to offer her and her family before you actually meet each other.

Think you are in the minority Picket and yes, I declare I live 10 minutes walk from the Racecourse. I also note when we made the 21 GF, every second or third home seemed to have Melbourne colours adorned.

A sight for sore eyes! Can't wait to cheer on Gus in round 1!

Thanks ChaserJ for your detailed and valued report on proceedings also all contributer’s, great to hear that all coaches and CEO were approachable, sends a good signal to our supporters.

All presentations are now available on www.melbournefc.com.au

I suspect the "feasibility study" will justify a decision that's already been made. As a former senior public servant used to say, place your targets after you've seen where the arrows have landed. To put it in dating parlance, you've already got the girl pregnant so now you're working out how to justify to others the need to get married.

Better there than Fisherman's bend or the western suburbs. It's pretty close to Demon 'Heartland' and it's inner suburbs not out in the sticks like the Hawks with Waverley or Dingley.

Caulfield Racecourse would be the worst idea and training base ever.The middle of nowhere in the middle of nowhere!🤮

Finally some movement on the Caulfield front, hopefully this odd chatter about Royal Park and Melbourne University a few pages back can now be covered by a Glen Eira morning fog ... really, that part of inner Northern Melbourne is the domain of another club, what was coming next, a proposal to develop Princes Park?!? 😁 Now, Caulfield certainly can create some synergies for the MRC, the Trust administering the area inside the race track and Melbourne FC. There is clearly enough room there to develop a modern, fit for 21st century purposes training facility for the Demons and now the club is openly discussing it means that negotiations have progressed to a certain stage where the parties think it is doable.

If you're reading this Salo, please pack the brick in the bottom of the backpack.

Especially when it involves the best and most modern facilities in the AFL.

It is a 5 minute walk from my retired Dad's house. He has also confirmed that he will be turning his attention to full time stalking of training once we move in. In the meantime he will provide me with building progress updates. I know a lot of Melbourne supporters who live in and around Caulfield. It is a very good location that will service a massive chunk of our supporter base.

We'll be souped up. (Sorry)

I just watched Alan Richardson, Simon Goodwin, Selwyn Griffith and Tim Lamb, they are leaving no stone unturned in attempting to make us a better football club. I love the holistic approach to football.❤️💙

Middle of nowhere? A little early to be on the turps picket

@dpositive Demon heartland is generally considered to be the leafy eastern suburbs, Glen Iris and the like. If you look at the rail lines on game day, the likes of Alamein & Glen Waverley lines are predominantly Melbourne supporters.

Fantastic reporting mate 👌

LOL. At least it wasn’t an announcement on the feasibility of opening a feasibility study. It could just as easily have been an announcement that the feasibility study into the MCG precinct has now ended with the outcome being that it’s unfeasible.

Millane stood on him while Ted was sprawled on the boundary line with the ball out of play. I recall a Collingwood type claiming a king hit, as they were known at the time, which ii sort of was although supposed to have been provoked. We'll never know if it caused any long term damage to Millane. Very sorry to learn about Fidge's troubles. He and his brother were an entertaining pair although we bundled them off to the Brisbane Bears when the opportunity was forced on us as it was all clubs.

We moved to Melbourne at the end of 1984, a family friend who was a mad Richmond supporter took my dad and me to my first game in 1986, Tigers vs Dees. As a young fella does, I picked the Dees because I liked their colours and nickname more. We lost by 9pts that game, but I don’t change teams. It’s been a frustrating run, but that feeling of when we won the flag was pretty special after years of pain. 🏆❤️💙

Yeah the one thing I had really wrong was that we’re actually dealing with the Caulfield Rec Reserve Trust who oversee the site and the MRC are tenants. We’d obviously need a symbiotic relationship with the MRC too but really it’s dealing with a Trust who from what I can tell are short of cash and very keen to get development going. And a local council that’s serious short on sporting facilities. Here’s their Dec 2023 strategic management plan. https://www.crrt.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CRRT-Strategic-Management-Plan-December-2023.pdf Go to page 14/15 to see the ‘recreation administration precinct’ that looks a lot like a code for Dees base!

A lot is said about the fact that we weren't a club born out of a suburb and have suffered membership wise as a result of this but reading this thread has me thinking that we may also have picked up a good chunk of our overseas arrivals simply due to being named after this great city of ours. Swings and roundabouts as they say. To think none of us would even have heard of the game before we got here. I certainly hadn't. My first experience being on a borrowed portable black & white tv watching highlights of North v Collingwood in the preliminary final of 1979 from our little unit at the Springvale Migrant Hostel.