Hawk the Demon

'Start construction of new Melbourne home based facility by 2023'. Better late than never....

Casey played a scratch match against the Saints on that bye weekend.

And Tomlinson named in the 18 which normally means they will not be an omission when the final team drops.

MFC Strategic Paln Target 2020-23: 75,000. Guess it was a stretch?

Yep, but Rachele and Laird played for them last week - we haven't had Clayton since Port and Fritta since GWS.

No Laird or Rachele helps us this week...

And many supporters gather at the Waterfront Hotel pre-game, right where the ferry docks - then a 10/15 minute walk up to the ground....I don't think tickets will be a problem....

Newspaper reports indicating it was a very low-key scratch match against the Saints at Casey - 15 per side. He kicked one goal, attended four centre square ball-ups and 16 disposals, i.e. did not transform into Tony Lockett overnight. A closer watch will be Piranha Park next Saturday - 1.05 pm. Coburg haven't won a game this year....Our AFL game is on Sunday so let's pack the place out! Coburg that is, it's a northern suburb.....

Speaking of Wheels, I see he has left us to join the Eddie Betts Foundation. Nothing on the Club website.....

I agree. It would be good if the Club let us know how membership revenue was tracking against the prior year. We get no financial updates from the Club other than when the annual financial statements come out.

Membership record 67,049 revealed by the Club today. Now can we please have the breakdown? Last year's 66,484 represented 59,700 members with 42,250 members aged over 18. 17,357 junior members included within the 67,049.

We have a brand new MFC Nominations Committee now, with a new Chair. Maybe things will change this year?

MInimum 4 and maximum 10 forecast for Alice on Sunday - heat is NOT going to be a problem!

Could have been Coach 1 (Voss?) Trac 5 May 4 Lever 3 McKay 2 Langdon 1 Coach 2 (Goodwin?) Trac 5 May 4 Langdon 3 Lever 2 Weitering 1

The Age has reported that the lawyers for Clarkson, Fagan and Burt were proposing to seek an injunction this week to halt the AFL inquiry. If true it explains the haste to "call the whole thing off", which happened on Tuesday evening. And of course there was a very different spin put on the development at the AFL press conference.

I have a simple question about last night. Why didn't we hear from the Chair of the Independent Panel? The whole point of their appointment by the AFL was to give us independence and clarity. The Panel gets disbanded because it could not finish its work, mediation was rejected, etc..... An eminently qualified KC could surely have handled the press conference and the AFL CEO could have had his say after that.... When the Panel was appointed the AFL's statement included It is also vitally important that the panel is able to complete its work independently of the AFL. The AFL then rides in and takes the matter back into its own hands...... With hindsight (which is always handy) Gil could at least have admitted that establishing the panel wasn't a great idea. Those involved that could afford it were always going to "lawyer up".

Interseting article in the AFR today. "Mystery over borrowed $75b spending fund" Large amounts listed in the Victorian Budget under "Decisions made but not yet allocated" I wonder if any is heading the way of Caulfield? We can only hope.....

No.

Best I could do was Q18, Row X - seems the lower and middle Level 4 tickets all gone.....

So the big question is a return for Monday June 12 (Colingwood) or Thursday June 22 (Geelong) - which would be 34 days from the injury. The scheduling means we don't have a traditional type of bye, but three 10 day breaks - (Fri)June 2, (Mon)June 12, (Thu)June 22 and (Sun)July 2.

Dunstan is not an option as he is injured at the moment.

Well, we have no other option than to to watch a Demons' team without Clayton for some weeks. Both Harmes and Jordon had great hit-outs for Casey on Saturday, so, together with Sparrow to come back, at least there are capable replacements lining up.....

Looks like we have loads of junior members.... At the end of last year 59,700 individual members led to the 66,484 number quoted by the Club and the AFL. Only 42,250 members were over 18. So over 29% of our members are juniors.

Notables playing for North - Cunnington, Tarryn Thomas, Lazzaro, K Turner, Bonar, Curtis Taylor.

Casey Team v North Melbourne B: Adams Tomlinson D Smith HB: Steele Turner Buntine C: Howes Jordon* Grey HF: Moniz-Wakefield Schache Melksham F: Laurie* Brown J Smith* FF: Bell White Harmes IC Koo Woewodin* Neocleous Sestan Jefferson * AFL emergencies 16 AFL listed players selected (1 to be AFL sub) Emergs: Gregory, Shepherd, Baldi, Valentine