mo64

Maurie, I think you'll find that with the exception of Scott Welsh, every player picked up today is a "speculative' choice. IMO, this is were the recruiting managers show their credentials.

3 developing talls, 2 mids who have played senior footy, no utilities. I can live with that. No point taking 4 development players as rookies, because it leaves you with no scope in next year's rookie draft.

fatty, the point I was making about the leagues clubs was in respect of the turnover of Southport Sharks compared to North Melbourne. I often hear that Collingwood, Adelaide and West Coast turnover between $40-$50 million. Based on what you and Rhino are saying, all of the NRL clubs (Storm and NZ excluded) would have a higher turnover than even the strongest AFL clubs, because they'd include non-football related revenue/expenses in their bottom line. For me, this is folly! You are 100% correct when you say that AFL is our biggest opponent. The AFL have weapons of mass destruction it can use on a club if it wants to weaken the club. It's nuclear warhead is the draw, which has a massive impact on the club's potential to attract sponsors. In the next few years, the AFL will use all it's artillery to ensure that North Melbourne can't survive. That's the part that I find sad, because they could equally find the means to ensure North Melbourne's survival. But they have agendas known only to themselves.

Whilst I totally agree with your sentiments Maurie, why did Demetriou throw the CBF back in the face of North Melbourne, and make it sound like charity, rather than a right? He suggested that the CBF was conditional on the club making progess to become self sufficient. If we have another poor year off the field, is our CBF allocation under threat?

I'll give you that one Gouga!!!

Rhino, do you fail to grasp the difference between turnover and bottom line profit? Because it's the bottom line profit derived from the sporting club that would be required to prop up the football club. They would be trading as separate entities. Gaming revenue is little more than a 2nd tier sponsor for the AFL clubs. History shows that gaming revenue was not enough to sustain Sydney rugby league clubs. Many folded or merged. I see North Melbourne being in the same position as the Hawks were in 1996. It took the threat of a merger to wake it from it's slumber. North should be given this opportunity, because if it moves to the Gold Coast, it's identity will be lost. I would hope that we would also have the opportunity to explore every avenue to survive in Melbourne, if or when we are in the same situation as North.

'been44years', people aren't attracted to the Southport club by the football club. If there was a golf or bowling club attached to the complex, they'd still maintain their turnover. It's just like the NRL Leagues clubs, which were the lifeline of the Sydney rugby league clubs in the past. The popularity of the Leagues Clubs didn't translate into support for the rugby league teams. South Sydney and St. George are prime examples. Hence it's folly to compare the turnover of the Southport club with that of North Melbourne.

QUOTE "We have been doing a lot of game-style training early on. We are doing a lot of running and been in the gym but the big difference is that we are doing handball games already," said McLean. To be honest Old, I cringed when I read that. The only teams that have been effective with a handball, run and carry style of game have been WCE and Pt. Adelaide, because they have the players with the pace and evasive skills to carry it out. I can't think of anyone on our list who is quick and evasive.

Yes, the Southport club 'turns over' more money than North Melbourne, but it does this regardless of the Southport Sharks football club. You may as well say that the BHP Billiton staff darts team makes more money than the Kangaroos!!! A more relevant comparison is the financial position of the Brisbane Lions. During their premiership years, they were still making a loss, when membership and crowd attendances were at their highest. They're are now making a small profit, but their crowd and membership numbers are relatively poor. Their Melbourne based (Old Fitzroy) membership has dropped from 7k to 3k. Do you really expect old North supporters to continue being members if they move to the Gold Coast? When you compare the population and demographics of Brisbane and the Gold Coast, why are people so certain that the Gold Coast can be a viable entity, without long term AFL support. And with long term AFL support, the weak clubs become weaker!

That's exactly what we got! What I found more interesting was what Billy Brownless had to say about Russell Robertson earlier in the program. Apparently Robbo went around to Garry Lyon's place for some advice, after receiving a 3 year deal from the Bulldogs. Garry told him a few home truths of what he thought of him as a player and clubman, which led Robbo to accept the 2 year deal offered by us.

Miller strikes me as a player who has been over-coached, and seems to think too much about following team instructions, rather than doing things by instinct. An example of this is that the Daniher coaching edict was for players who take a mark or gain possession with their back to goal, were not allowed to do a U-Turn, a la Wayne Carey. The instruction was for players to go back behind the mark and take their kick, or handball to someone facing the goals. I've heard David Schwarz mention how frustrated he was with this team instruction. Getting back to Miller, how often do you see him after taking a mark on the lead, handball to a player who is stagnant, or take his time moving the ball up forward? It struck me that he's too conscious of trying to do the team thing, rather than being instinctive. I've often said that Miller hasn't got a football brain. Maybe it's more a case of having too many things going through his head, rather than trusting his instincts.

I'll agree with your comments about White, Neitz and Yze, but the rest is ill-informed: McDonald - How can he be past his best if he's won the last 2 b&f's? Green & Bruce - Are both at an age when players are considered to be at their prime. Moloney - How old do you think he is? Holland, Carroll, Wheatley, Miller - Past their best or not up to it? Frawley, Garland - KPPs with 1 season under their belt. Heard of the term player development? Bode, Buckley - Not superstars, but showed enough to warrant a place on our list. The players that you should have included are Warnock and Weetra.

Smokescreen or Sidescreen? That's how big he is. How often do we bemoan the fact that a player has had an injury interupted preseason? Well this guy is overweight and injured, and he's not even our player.

It's pointless to discuss the merits of a prospective List Manager. There are so many factors that go into the process of building a successful list, many of which are external to the List Manager. Who determines whether the club is in premiership mode, rebuilding mode, or top-up mode? Also, the board determines what percentage of the salary cap the club can afford. Player development is not part of the List Manager's job specification. So all those who have been critical of CAC for our current list, keep in mind there are other factors.

Nice line DeeTox...........

I heard the interview with Connolly on SEN, and got the same impression. Unless Connolly is trying to pull a shifty, and scare off Carlton and Richmond from taking him in the PSD, it's way too big a gamble to pick Sampi if he's unable to make a contribution till 2009. Connolly did mention that there were plenty of talented kids still available, which seemed to put a nail in Sampi's coffin.

You can be a periphery player and still put your head over the ball when it's your turn. Natural talent doesn't preclude you from doing the team things.

I totally disagree. We're in a competition that is designed, via the salary cap and draft, to make all teams competitive. It's inevitable that clubs are going to have peaks and troughs when it comes to on-field success, hence it's imperative that the club's revenue stream isn't reliant on on-field success. Maurie, 'good marketing and building a modern image' is what every business strives to achieve, but in a football sense, how about coming up with something tangible, before dismissing Jacka's proposal. As Jacka stated, we need to think beyond the square.

I think you make same good points Jacka. Our supporters need to take note of what has happened to Footscray and North Melbourne since they've changed their names to the Western Bulldogs and the Kangaroos. They've become easy targets of the AFL's push to expand into other regions. It seems that the club now recognises that we rightfully need to push the 'Melbourne' brand far more than the 'Demons'. However, being a Man City supporter for 30 years, I assimilate the United nickname with the arch enemy, and would find it hard to yell out 'Go United'!

WJ, I'm looking forward to your spiel on the colourful life of Robert Walters. As a Melbourne supporter who grew up in Strathmore, that game against Essendon is my most memorable game attended. Going to the game with my fanatical bomber mates, I was expecting another 100 point thrashing. But when Walters kicked 6 goals in the 2nd quarter against state players in Ken Fletcher and Garry Foulds, I thought I was witnessing a miracle. I had bragging rights for the one and only time in about 10 years.

Spot on Hannabal. The thing that I most admired about Brisbane during their premiership reign was that their lightly framed players were not afraid to put their head over the ball. Players such as Lappin, McRea, Power, Ashcroft and especially Hart, would have all been categorized as soft outside players when drafted, but under Matthews' coaching, they never shirked a contest. Let's hope DB instills this edict.

Another thing you don't understand is that trades and draft selections of recycled players are not the domain of the recruiting dept. Recruiting officers don't spend their time watching AFL games. I'd suggest it's the senior coach who'd make the call on trades and drafting of recycled players.

Great suggestion PDP. We really struggle against power forwards with big engines, ie; Brown, Pavlich and Reiwoldt. Bate has the engine, but probably not the strength. Give him 1 or 2 years of physical development and playing experience, and I could see him being an ideal FB. A vast majority of the best key backmen started their careers as key forwards.

What will the drafting of Kyle 'Dick' Cheney and Tom 'Robert' McNamara do to Sino/MFC relations? Or maybe they were drafted for their expertise in defense issues? Hmm, I'm not sure if it's a good idea to send them on our next trip to China. We could have an international incident on our hands. I suppose any publicity is good publicity!!!!

CAC's role was diminished with the appointment of Chris Connolly as Football Manager. I'd say that had a fair bit to do with his departure. Good luck in the future CAC, Luke Molan excluded, you've done a great job.