Hawk the Demon

Sorry NC - it's exactly the right time. Let's build on this fabulous trip. Do we believe in our RAP plan or not?

Great stuff. Just one thing missing for the moment. Why hasn't our Board officially supported a First Nations Voice to Parliament? Essendon has. We are at the "Stretch" stage of our Reconciliation Action Plan. Time to Stretch and make that call! What are we waiting for? Let's keep leading in this space.

I also find it amusing that one of the grounds we will rely upon tonight is that "the decision was so unreasonable that no tribunal could have come to that decision having regards to the evidence before it". The Tribunal said that Roo, being a reasonable player, could have foreseen that he would make forceful contact to Ballard's head. Reasonable is key....

I see it from the other angle - if we had not appealed there would have been a members' riot. And there does seem to be a very sound legal basis (which is what is needed) to make the appeal, and a reasonable chance of success - the facts are pretty straight forward - it now goes to the laws of the game. I am not sure that our Footy Director should be tweeting about it though. Pass the matter over to the lawyers - this will be won or lost tonight in the Appeals Board hearing, not in the Twittersphere.

That's fine Binman - at the footy the chorus is clearly ROOOO! from us all. I hope the AFL recognise it's not a BOO.

It was Binman. As I said, just a small thing, but important to get it right - after all Binman is of the opinion that he will be a Superstar so we will be mentioning his name for a long time....

Love the Podcast Andy, Binman (and George of course when he is back). Particularly liked the analysis around losing contested possession and clearances, but winning the pressure game. Being at the game it did always feel that we would eventually pull away, but the Ballard stoppage clearly stopped our momentum... One tiny little suggestion - we are going to talk about Jacob Van Rooyen for years to come, so can we please pronounce his name the way he likes it - VAN-ROY-EN, not VAN-ROO-YEN. Hard I know because his nickname is ROO or ROOEY. Just as Christian prefers PE-TRAR-CA, RATHER than PE-TRACK-CA.

We can add that to the list of consultations that the Constitution Working Group didn't do. Time wasn't the issue - in fact they attended to the Constitution change at least a year later than they should have.

Give Kade an extension....and do it now. I am sure it's in train.....right?

My favourite topic - member number inflation - but that takes the cake. 😀

Looks like she is in rehab with her sore ankle....

Spargo absent. Kye Turner and Salem in rehab. I thought I saw Verrall there early, but then he was gone. Viney was working away from the group and ANB joined him for some significant running - looked like a load management exercise to me, so would expect them both to be available. Brown, Lever and Hibberd all trained unhindered with the main group so I would speculate that all three of those are also available to play on Sunday or Monday (despite Richo managing expectations there - still a main training session to come). Gawn a certainty. And lastly, Joel Smith was training!

JJ as sub is my guess based on the way they set up the Captain's Run.

Jimmy Plunkett keeps missing Max from 15 metres - long time out of the game - Jim that is!

Out at North Adelaide Oval. Max (only) out on the track doing a rehab session with Selwyn. Gentle warm-ups, band work to begin with.

So we're in agreement - last year's 66,000 is NOT 66,000 members. That is what has been established in this thread. And all Clubs inflate that membership number, with the AFL's imprimatur. Not 'toddling' anywhere....

Bit of a stretch there re destabilsiation - you keep repeating inaccuracies - if you sponsor 5 players for example, you are still just one member, but Ticketmaster will count each one of those sponsorships. Doesn't mean 4 other MFC 'friends' have a seat at the footy. Maybe that partially explains why attendances are regularly below the inflated membership number, regularly commented upon on this site. One more time - it's an AFL issue, not just an MFC issue, but repeating the lie incessantly does not make it true.

Apologies, but 58er kicked me backed into life. The truth is that 5 products equals one member. That is why 66,000 becomes 59,000. Just deal with it......and stop repeating the falsehood. You don't have to believe me - ring the Club's Company Secretary.

I think TMac's foot is still an issue - wouldn't be surprised if he misses this week, so the JVR call is a no-brainer with Max out - the bonus being that JVR will have the second ruck duties. He'll be right in the thick of it! Big test.

Sorry 58er, you are incorrect - the Company Secretary's affidavit before the Victorian Supreme Court confirmed that our 66,000 members at the end of last year translates into 59,000 individuals, and just over 42,000 voting members. I understand that one individual member was counted 11 times in the 66,000, because he has multiple Club products (not seats) and not because he has a large family. That is how the Ticketmaster data base lists them. Happy to post the extract from the Affidavit again if you like - all publicly available. I suspect this inflation of numbers is the same for all Clubs (because they all use the same system) so you can compare our 66,000 with other Club's declarations, if that is why we are following this tally. If we are still getting the numbers from that system, then it is an inaccurate member number. Yes, those 11 products represents a lot of money (a lot of chocolate) - my point is simply that the 11 is (or was?) just one person.

Not as good as Jack Ruby from close range......

Lee Harvey Oswald listed on a back flank for the oppo.....

Like it, but with Jordon a lock (he is just such a reliable player) and Van Rooyen as the sub. Reckon it's better to have a tall as the sub (particularly against the tall Dogs) - and it worked well when Lever had to go off in the Saints match: TMac went back and Van Rooyen went on and went forward.

Does this mean she will be re-invited to our Club media breakfast? All is forgiven Caro.....

I thought James Jordon was BOG, controlled most of the game with Munro, but we missed White and Luke Dunstan in the middle. At 3QTime the coach said he didn't care what the scoreboard said - that was the truth. We gave up a 4 goal lead going with the wind. Schache was very good early. Varrell rucked manfully. Hibberd had a lot of the ball, but seems now behind Bowey and McVee. Disco Turner, as usual did some nice things. Kye Turner tried in a different role this week, a bit more forward - shows promise. Sestan quiet in that high half-forward role. Van Rooyen always competes hard, but Schache showed how he (Schache) is a bit cleaner around goals.