Its Time for Another

This time last year on 14 May total was 46,896 and the cutoff total on 31 July was 53,188 so memberships went up another 6,292. So potentially there is the scope to crack the 65,000 target although it's not possible to know whether there are still that number of unsigned supporters out there or whether we've already milked most of them. In 2019 the previous record year before that the increase from this time to the 31 July cutoff was only 2,298. Let's hope the membership systems in place now are superior and we'll get there. The club is obviously being more creative with memberships now like the 6 game memberships for $66 which ultimately helps attract sponsors as the membership total goes up and hopefully helps with numbers at games.

Good point but this would maybe more relevant for teams in 7th and particularly 8th. Teams around 6th by then are usually in the 8 at the end. The line has to be drawn somewhere. Arguably teams chances of finishing top 2 or top 4 being compromised by an unfair draw, like Geelong getting Nth & Eagles twice is more of a problem.

The most logical way to get the closest to making it fairer is once everyone has played each other once then set who plays each other twice. The AFL proved last year and this year that you can set the fixture on a rolling basis so there shouldn't be a reason this couldn't be done. As for Cats, get a ridiculous home ground advantage without the penalty of having to play interstate every other week like the interstate teams. Plus that game is not a real AFL ground and with all the redevelopment there surely they could have fixed the width but that would have taken away that massive home ground advantage.

Good find. I understood the Bang Bang Bang and the French bit but no clue what the hell the rest of it was about.

I'd like to pose a question for tomorrow night. I'm wondering if other people fee like me that it still feels really strange being unanimously raved about in the press as the best team and unstoppable etc when for me it was less than a full season ago when we beat the Dogs in Rd 10 & then the Lions the next week that in my mind I started to think of us as a real chance to be contenders. It still feels surreal every time we're talked about that way. I keep making myself not take it for granted and enjoy every game and not get caught up in only thinking about getting to see this year's Premiership. I'd say the most fundamental thing to start with is I can finally "trust" the team to turn up and have a real go every week and not drop games they shouldn't. Also the incredible quality and depth of this list. Other than Robbie, I'm struggling to think of any players of the elite, even freak ability of Gawny, Trac, Clarry and Kossie (although in the company in his position of the Wiz and I'd say better than Davey). May is so elite not just in competing but his skill level and decision making. Lever as an interceptor. And to have all of them in the same team. I could wax lyrical for pages. But my point for discussion is whether other people are still coming to terms with how quickly we have gone from starting to think we might be in the mix to reaching such a high level and making sure they don't take it for granted.

Steven May on On the Couch tonight commented on him having done some good jobs the last couple of weeks. Fighting for his GF spot. (I'm saying the last sentence, not him.)

I was at that game. Only game in Perth I’ve ever been to. I happened to get down from Sydney for 3 games in a row that season which I expected to be losses. Beat Pies at QB by 4pts. Then reigning Premiers Dogs at Marvel. Then went to Perth and took my brother and nephew. Hunkered down amongst the only Dees supporters at the ground. So so sweet. Couldn’t believe it. It was Goody’s first season and by the end of those 3 games he was looking like the messiah not a naughty boy

Maybe it will all go in there. There was talk of that some years ago.

If we find out at the end of the year he wants to go to Freo it puts a very different light on their request for him for Cerra last year and Lobbe wanting to leave would have opened up the position and money for him. Now Freo have nothing to offer and he’s out of contract so we have a lot less to bargain with. Having said that personally I can’t see him going at the end of the year. We are in too much of a window for at least a 3 year contract extension. But weirder things have happened.

Just watched Burgo's Crows knock off the Dogs in Ballarat. Have to say work rate really stood out. I used to say there was a good Melbourne and a bad Melbourne. The good one ran and created options in defence and attack the bad one didn't and didn't do either. If you're not fit enough you just can't do the necessary running required in today's game. It's quite instructive to see how Burgo has weaved his magic already at Crows and how quickly they have become competitive. I'll never forget speaking to Flash at the 2011 B & F and he was saying Bailey was trying to get them to play a game plan they couldn't play. They were too young to have the running power to run up and down the ground the way he wanted them to. No doubt he was right about the game plan he just didn't adjust it to the players capability. This just reinforces what I said elsewhere about a big part of our success now being having a critical mass of players with enough years to be fit enough to have the stamina to compete with the best.

Interesting. I have no idea what stage it's at or how it's going but there doesn't seem to have been much progress since I took the photo below nearly 3 weeks ago on 2 April. I've just remembered I found out recently I know someone who works in there as a groundsman. Don't know if he actually works on Gosch's or just AAMI and others. I've put a request through to a mutual contact for some info on progress and will post if I get a reply.

On 3 August 2021 VIC Govt announced the upgrade which was to start at that time and finish in March 2022 in time for the start of the season.

It was originally planned to be ready to train on in May.

I reckon in the past 18 months this team has taught me more about what it takes to be a great football team than anything I learnt from any other team anywhere since 1964. We seem to be in the eye of a perfect storm that has taken since the end of 2007 to realise. There are so many parts to the equation that without any one part you don't end up being where we are now. I didn't know half those parts until recently. Roosy said before he took the job that the key elements to a successful team were :- - list management/recruiting, - development/conditioning, - coaching. It's fair to say we've learnt the lesson the hard way that list management/recruiting is meaningless without the right development built around it. Cale Morton & Jack Grimes in '07, Watts '08, Scully Trengove '09 were generally regarded in the industry as the players that should have gone at those picks. Who knows what the first 3 might have achieved under the development and culture we now have. There were some nasty misses in the recruiting other than them which cost us many years of development but hindsight doesn't help. In '07 Dangerfield went 10 but 5 other teams didn't take him either. Cyril Rioli went 12 but 10 other teams didn't pick him either. In '08 I'd still have taken Watts over Nic Nat especially given we ended up with Maxy shortly after and Watts ended up being Fritsch. Blease at 17 was a bit nasty when Luke Shuey went the next pick and Jamie Bennell at 35 when we had told Rory Sloane 44, we were taking him at that pick. In '09 Dusty went the pick after Trengove but I doubt he would be the player he is today if he'd gone to us and probably would have left years ago like he nearly did at the Tigers to go to GWS on big bucks and be with his father. Gysberts at 11 was a bit nasty with Daniel Talia 13 & Lewis Jetta 14 (although Melksham 10 has made up for that) Tapscott 18 when Nat Fyfe went 20. When Bails was appointed at the end of 2007 the first thing he said is that it generally takes five years of a group of players playing together to become a contender. I believe this still holds true. Unfortunately that led to his first major mistake which was the philosophy of getting rid of any player that wasn't going to be there in 5 years. It's taken until probably the past 18 months to recover from the vacuum of leadership and experience that created. It's also 5 years of being taught and executing the same evolving gameplan, so you obviously need the same coach. (If it hadn't have been for Pert's review at the end of 2020 and the Board resisting Bartlett's efforts to remove the coach who knows where we would be now but it wouldn't be Premiers that's for sure.) I believe it takes 5 years for players to reach their full physical development so they have the stamina to be able to match or outrun their opponents and the strength to compete against the best. I think we've learnt over the past 18 months that the player driven culture has a lot to do with training standards. Obviously all of this has now come together. Some outstanding recruiting and list management supported with the right development and enough players who have been around long enough to be at the top end of work rate and game style. Goody from day one defined his gameplan philosophy as hard at the contest, attack from defence and holding the ball in the forward line. That's what we've ultimately seen. But it was interesting hearing one of the players saying last year that Chappie had been "banging on" about the defensive structure for years and they had finally got it. One of the things I've picked up the most over the past few years is how important setting up off the ball is. We were still pretty clueless about this in 2020 but there was a major transformation in this over the preseason leading in to 2021 and we are now one of the best at it in the comp which has got a lot to do with how well we are going. There's so much more to it but work rate is also a product of knowing where to be and where to get to a lot of which is off the ball. Go Dees

It’s the hat right ?

I watched Kossie pretty closely last week. He had little to know impact. Seemed lethargic. It's been a pretty slow start to this season and end of last season. I appreciate that he does a lot of pressure work off the ball but he's a fair way off his best. Wonder if they will consider dropping him if this continues. Give Bedford a go.

Great work guys. Asked nearly all the questions I wanted answered.

Agree. Not good news about your Avatar but at least it's 8 weeks and not the season. He's a big loss. Plenty of players who I was wondering would get a game are getting a chance already. There's some excellent depth on the list at the moment.

51,513 Thanks for updating the tally George. It's not even on the club website. We reached that amount around early July last year and mid June in the previous record year. So we are way ahead at this point. We got an extra 13,000 from this date to the end last year so at this point we are heading for at least the early 60,000's. Where it ends up probably depends a bit on how many people were motivated to join earlier than last year and whether it will start to slow or hopefully the opposite.

Thought Irving packed up and went home.

Crows got a pretty kind fixture. Played 5 of the top 6 at home. We played one at home.

Assume the Wookie was playing in the ruck. Dalek? Back pocket?

Sheesh people around you must get frustrated with you. Your own post is right there in black and white and you're trying to deny it. Trying to be pedantic about individual words is ridiculous. You go back and read your own post. You take what an Agent said and turn it into something it wasn't. I've been on here for a long time and you're now only the second person I've put on Ignore.

Mate you've written a post that conveys that an Agent on the doco said something that creates a worry the Club were prepared to trade Jackson. Whereas the Agent on the doco's express words were that Melbourne were not prepared to trade Jackson. A lot of people on here won't have access to that show and you are inventing a damaging falsehood you have taken the time to communicate to them. I call that dangerous. For some reason I had rated you as reliable. Won't be doing that anymore.

On a different note, for those who thought our deal for Jessie Hogan was a dud. Freo let Cerra go for pick 6 and a future third rounder. He had no on or off field baggage and is on his way to being an absolute gun. We got pick 6 and 23 for Hogan who was gone in what two years without hardly playing a game. That's not a comment on Hogan who I wish the best, just a comment on the trades. On another side note. Scully turned into the pick we used to get Hogan who turned into May Kolodjashnij and Sparrow. Thank you Tom. Where is he now?