Lord Nev

It's not about want, it's about what is financially viable and what is important in terms of us building a proper base. Catering for the handful of hardcore supporters who may or may not show up to training a few times a week for the months training is actually on is way way way down the list in terms of what we should be spending time and money on.

Are you meaning a hospitality partner? We had The Duke previously and now The Sporting Globe.

So, does this mean you now barrack for the Dogs and the Cats? Or does having a cafe/social club not guarantee you new fans...?

"Barkers Cafe" is a cafe that went out of business and was then bought by the wives of the Doggies president and assistant coach. The other two are very very basic breakfast and lunch cafes in outer suburbs. None of them are listed as 'social clubs' and interestingly, none of them are open before or after games. These are basically more official versions of Edwin's Cafe, and I don't see that particularly rockin' before or after Dees training or games.

Nowhere have I said that or even implied it. Massive reach there. What I said was a grand final party venue is the least important aspect of what we need in a training and admin base.

You're changing the point a bit now mate. You were talking about our apparent Grand Final party. If that was the most important aspect of a training and facility base I don't think we would have got much value for money over the last 56 years. Training and admin absolute priority. A social club or a Grand Final party venue is the least of our worries.

Reckon this is possibly the least important question to ask about a training and admin base. Would be pretty easy to have this event in Yarra Park just like the family day though.

So what you're saying is, we'll have better luck moving into a 'strong football community'..? You don't think maybe such a community would already have chosen their teams...? Suggest perhaps you take your own advice of doing better on the logic front. Cheer.

Logical reasoning? I've already pointed out the cases of GWS and GC. Want to talk about Richmond too? Biggest membership in the AFL, where is their home base? You've somehow decided it's our 'heartland'. What data is that based on exactly? Can you show me the home base plans and where the social club is located? You realize what footy players generally do on weekends yeah? I reckon there's a reason most footy clinics take place in schools, during school times. Again mate, plonking a training base in the middle of an area just due to population statistics does not guarantee you a growing supporter base. See: GWS, GC. Winning creates more supporters. I didn't live anywhere near Junction Oval as a kid, yet somehow I chose to barrack for the Dees.

Would be interesting to see our geographical membership data, but even then, that doesn't mean that's where our opportunities for growth are, or even that geographical data is relevant. My point is that we seem to be bemoaning the lack of government/community support for building a base, yet we received 7.5mil out of the 8mil we spent on Casey from those exact areas. (The other 500k was from the AFL).

IMO, especially in the current climate, we are FAR better off looking to partner with a hospitality provider where there's a bit of leverage both ways but neither takes a big risk, than have a footy club with a famously low number of supporters trying to run a business that isn't core to what they do and has minimal opportunities to trade. Single owner/owner operator hospitality venues are fast becoming a thing of the past as well.

I agree mate! My original question may have come across as facetious, but I meant it, is Casey already our heartland and we refuse to admit it?

I don't think we have to be close to the G, I'm open minded about where we go, I just don't get this reasoning that if we plonk ourselves in a statistically highly populate area then all of a sudden we get fans. I mean, it's literally what was done with GWS and GC, and they were in 'footy fresh' areas where AFL wasn't already dominant. Richmond has a higher population than Glen Iris... Hasn't helped grow our supporter base though. Can't see a Glen Iris local saying "Well, I've barracked for Essendon all my life, so did my Dad and his Dad, but geez, now that the Dees have started training twice a week a few streets across I think I'll switch and buy the whole family memberships!".

We got government funding though, that's my point. We got it out at Casey.

An "on site cafe and social club" that gets used, what, cafe: a couple of times a week for a handful of people, social club: maybe 15 times a year... Sorry mate, they're not 'revenue raisers'. Not sure if you're up on the hospitality industry currently, but a footy club with one of the lowest supporter bases deciding to enter that arena is a horrible decision. Footy clinics are pretty much always at schools aren't they? Let's say we run some, once we get through the few hyper-local schools who is going to pay for the buses to bring kids out? Sorry mate, I just don't think your logic flies. Training base = supporters, social club = supporters, it's just not reality. I agree we don't have to be based in the MCG precinct, but spending millions building a training base somewhere so that a few supporters can come to training is just not a reasoning I'm onboard with.

Didn't we get local support when we improved the facilities at Casey...? Does that make it our heartland?

It's not just just the Dees that don't have huge crowds at training every week though. Also, hardly think Glen Iris is a much easier location to get to than Gosch's, which is right next to where we play, and near a bunch of public transport. Let's say you're right though, and we move to Glen Iris and magically attract 80 hardcore MFC supporters to every session (once COVID regulations allow actual open sessions of course), how exactly does that benefit us? The people that go to training are rusted on fans, will they now up their membership to start going door to door to find fans for us now that training is closer to home? (Assuming they're a 'statistically central population' member).

Genuine question, why does it matter where our 'support base' is statistically geographically located or where the 'population' centre is? There's only ever a handful of people who go to training, it's not exactly a big attraction. You don't all of a sudden start getting fans because of where your home base is, just ask GWS and GC. Winning does that. We have the family day at Yarra Park, a social club is a terrible idea, I don't really understand the preoccupation with making our training base a good location for supporters? Way more important that it's a good location for attracting players and staff I would think.

Yeah, I personally wouldn't think Melksham would come out, but if Fritsch pulls up then you never know I guess?

If Fritsch is right (doubtful) I have a feeling he might come in for Melksham. Fox Footy's 'selection whispers' is saying his spot is under some heat. Weid for Brown a lock, May for Petty all but locked in, IMO.

I do hope you're pronouncing that correctly DZ.... ;)

Opinion or got the good word mate?

Goody gave a special mention to ANB tonight on 360. Was talking about the leaders in the club, he brought up the core group around Gawn being Viney, Lever, May and ANB.

'Dropped' due to injury. Didn't train today, clearly named as emergency in case he's right in time and is needed.

I hear ya mate, and I was a big critic of him last year. Just think, in form, he's a weapon for us and this is his best chance to find that form. A role where he can be a bit selfish and focus on kicking goals. Wouldn't be against Chandler getting a shot, just think that totally changes our forward setup though.