tincan

GWS and the Giants both had strong lists in their first few seasons, albeit young. Arguably, they’ve always had strong lists. Their main challenge, though, was the same one Tassie will face - player retention - anyone over the age of 18 leaves Tassie as soon as they get the chance. As you mentioned, the only realistic way to counteract that is through lucrative player payments. Otherwise, building a genuinely competitive team from scratch will be very difficult, no matter how generous the draft concessions are.

Thanks 58er, at 16 years I am still a long way off!

Anyone know if the club puts on special events for long term members? I heard the Saints have a funciton each year for 20 year+ members to meet players, etc.

Difference is ours is a pick swap, nothing exciting to most people about numbers on a screen. The other stories involve actual players.

Trac would be one of the most influential players at our club. So if there's any truth to the rumors about issues with our club culture, it’s the senior players like Trac who should be reflecting on their own leadership, rather than looking to leave.

Here's their discussion of Hardwick if you want to see it:

No it's not as simple as that. Many other clubs have become powerhouses without sustained success. In 2017 Richmond hadn’t won a premiership and hardly made finals in almost 40 years but their membership was over 70,000. The following year, after a premiership, they cracked 100,000, hardly sustained success. Collingwood won one premiership between 1959 and 2009 but have been a powerhouse with a large supporter. Carlton have almost 100,000 members but have been the poorest club in the league since 2000. It's not just sustained success that builds a club, it's something more than that. And we certainly can't blame MCC members, most that I know have dual memberships and every Melbourne based club has a similar issue.

Very disappointing numbers. Looks like we may just limp past last years tally, and will probably need to do some sort of $13 membership special to even get to that point. They way we are playing we should be smashing records by 10-20% a year...

Wow, Freo turning on LJ quicker than I expected! "Fremantle great Paul Hasleby believes his old club would be omitting Luke Jackson this weekend if he wasn’t a big-name recruit." "Jackson hasn’t proven anything really in the AFL. He played a great quarter in a Grand Final, but all of last year, if we’re being brutally honest, it was just average football from him,” he said." https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/03/27/should-luke-jackson-be-omitted-freo-great-ponders-the-ruck-dilemma/

I prefer not to speak that year, the beginning of some dark days...

Membership tally sitting on 55,528. We've reached our second highest yearly membership tally at Round 1. Fantastic effort Dees!!

Ive heard a few commentators saying the potential rule change will benefit Grundy & Gawn working together. Can someone explain why that is?

I like the idea but based on previous years our coaches want players now and will probably go the other way and trade next years picks for this years draft...

And lost Jackson

WC refusing to give up pick 2 so they are struggling to get a deal done. Regardless, they are still interested which improves our hand at the table when it comes to negotiations.