Lord Nev

Yeah absolutely could be. Wouldn't think Hibberd is beyond dropping. Not sure if it was here, but did read somewhere he was looking great in training though. Definitely a different backline if all of Rivers, Salem and Smith come in. Personally, I wouldn't think we'd be play May, Lever, OMac and Smith, so for mine OMac goes out mostly due to pace given the shorter quarters and quick track. This has got me up and about too tbh. Sparked my interest back all of a sudden. IMO Jackson will mostly play forward, wouldn't think Gawn would need much relief, unless he goes forward more often. Really feel for Weid. Started a bit behind in his draft year due to injury, got really badly timed injuries along the way and now they're seemingly using him as a ruck option when he desperately needs forward confidence, and there's no VFL. I think we'll play 2 key forwards, TMac and Jackson, and rely on the mid sized forwards like Fritsch, Melksham, Petracca and Jones to kick a few with Pickett, ANB and Viney hopefully adding some scores from pressure. But geez, it's months since a game so it's pretty hard to have a solid idea.

Yeah, thought OMac was decent in round 1, but that was a couple of months ago now so not sure it matters too much. To me, just seems like we might go a bit smaller given the shorter quarters and quick track at Marvel. If Lever's soreness sticks around could be him coming out though. I'm a big fan of both Lockhart and Bedford, but gut feel is they might make way. You could be right on Hibberd, wouldn't be super surprised if he missed.

Half guessing, half already official.... IN: Bennell, Rivers, Jackson, Jones, Salem OUT: Spargo, Brown, OMac, Lockhart, Bedford

Nah, officially announced mate. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/703824

Bennell selected, Jackson and Rivers to debut also.

He's innnnnnnnn!!!!

Not sure that's entirely accurate. He played ruck very early but switched to forward while still young. It was after switching to forward that he won two best and fairests, so not sure "not a natural forward" is correct if you're looking at junior level.

1,000 allowed at the GWS game this week and just announced that around 2,200 (including private rooms) will be allowed in for the SA showdown too. We're definitely getting closer.

I said "probably no vandenBerg". That's not ruling him out. From the article corresponding to the video: "Aaron vandenBerg (foot), who has also faced a tough battle with injury in years gone by, has been increasing his training loads and shouldn’t be far away from a return." To me, that doesn't sound like he will be playing this week.

No Hore and probably no vandenBerg going by the injury report, but Bennell seems a genuine chance.

Just announced, no crowds for QLD games this weekend.

Not sure where the round 2 crowds thread went, but just been announced GWS will be able to have fans at their game this weekend. Don't know all the details yet.

Yeah, was very close to picking Weid at CHF. Not against it at all. The thing that tipped the balance for me was the short quarters on a quick track. Thought it might be good to go a little smaller. Why "must" Smith play? What form are you going off there? Bloke hasn't played an AFL game for about 20 months. I like him, but not sure why so many are all of a sudden excited by him. Anyways, you've got 2 players coming in and 3 players coming out there.

Nah, I wouldn't be. I'm more in the marketing and brand areas, not the business development areas. There will be plenty of quality people with the right knowledge looking for supplemental consultancy work going forward though so there's an opportunity there.

Yeah, look a few names are by no means set in stone, but you have to make a call. Personally I think Hibberd will benefit from the time off and that's what made me select him. ANB by all reports has looked like he's recaptured some form in training, and without VFL games training is the only barometer the selection committee have at the moment. Joel may be close, would no be surprised at all to see him play, but he's been out a LONG time, and tbh I'm just a fan of Hore and think at this stage he's the 'safer' option in a backline where clearly the offseason mantra has been 'make it safer'. To me, Joel is also an interceptor, and there's only 1cm between them so I don't see a big difference in defensive capabilities in one on one battles. Given we generally play a zone, I'm not too fussed about specific matchups tbh, I just feel we have often gone too tall at either end in the past and it has cost us some run. All just opinion and chat though, I'm not super passionate about that being the 22 that runs out.

No mate, you just went off on a completely different topic. One which I didn't bring up and don't think is relevant here. Apologies for posting again after saying I would leave it, but felt that needed to be explained. No hard feelings or anything, we're just on different topics now seemingly.

With respect, I don't think you understood what I was saying at all given the content of your response. I'll just leave it there.

The company I work for had just purchased the last 'smaller' company it would need to before it floated, however due to the impact of what has happened we've had to activate our cooling off and pull out. We're backed by a massive worldwide equity firm and have had to take drastic measures, that should tell you how much this will effect the hospitality industry. Not just for now, but there will be a big shift in how hospitality runs going forward as well. We already have capacity limits and they may continue in different ways for some time, there will be also be a HUGE issue of 'surface awareness' for hospitality meaning the way venues operate will change in a big big way, then other measures like staff on visas, licensing, supplier impacts (some suppliers may not survive) and a host of unforseen aspects that will come. IMO hospitality will be dominated even further by larger groups and less 'owner operators' or singularly focused businesses will survive. Partnerships will be where it's at in my view. Building developments is a whole different area. There may be opportunities appear there, but the question will be on our finances to do it, which again won't be viewed kindly if we have risky business plans in the future.

100% there's a lot of opportunity for the club in regards to supporter engagement. It's definitely something we've improved on in recent years, there's been some great initiatives and some canny marketing, but definitely more opportunity there. Hopefully as we come out of the current problems and companies look for innovative solutions and value-based partnerships we can link up with some that can be of mutual benefit for these exact ideas.

I appreciate your passion, but this is just not a realistic business model for a hospitality venue in the current climate both of the industry and the impacts of covid-19. Cheers.

Yeah, there's absolutely a way the club could find a way to hold events during the season for supporters, perhaps where they use external catering partners or tap one of the sponsors on the shoulder (Sporting Globe if they stay on board) to have that mingling opportunity some are keen on. I just don't think we have the resources, finance or customer base to have an actual purpose built facility that we run all year. Personally, my preference is just to have more community-based events. Simple things like sausage sizzles at training (which MFC do already very occasionally), signing sessions for the kids at the Demon Shop or with a temporary merch stand, maybe some more installation type events (think family day but MUCH smaller), more of the online chats - especially ones for kids only (Gawn doing a couple early this year was a good start) etc etc. I just think there's ways we can encourage supporter engagement and build our customer base without something so financially risky, and to be frank a bit exclusive, as a social club.

Are you sure the shop was actually open to the public though? It may have just had the doors open due to the member pickups. The MFC website says the Demon Shop is currently closed to the public due to covid-19. Edit - Scratch that, just saw your post above.

The whole social club/function space idea was already at best 'risky', but in the current financial climate it's fraught with danger. I work for one of Australia's largest hospitality companies. We have (just) survived the current disaster only due to being backed by one of the largest financial companies in the world. Our business fell by 99%. We have had major stand downs and redundancies from the top level down to those who answer the phones and one of the biggest parts of the business hit was the functions team. My company has close to 180 venues between Australia and New Zealand with very specific resources aimed at the corporate, sporting and functions markets and we make it work. All our venues have functions capacity and can host them any time of the year. The hospitality industry in general is heading more and more towards companies like mine; larger groups with better buying power and supplier bargaining capacities. To think a Melbourne based football club, one of the smallest, who would attract customers at best 6 months of the year can all of a sudden enter that space and compete is just not realistic. There's far better options for us in aligning ourselves with existing businesses and utilizing those partnerships to benefit us. Not only does it benefit us in a cost/benefit way, but also in the very important database/touch points/customer pathways way where we can share it with companies with a greater reach than just our own supporters. I mean really, we struggle to get fans to games, it's farcical to think we would have enough business from our club's supporters to profit in any way from such an investment.