Tricky

Jack is a friend of my family, So I wouldn't say I was a random fan. Jack mentioned this to me when I asked when he expected to play. It was in general conversation and not to be taken as iron clad. It could be this week, next week or the week after. One thing for sure is he will be playing soon, As I mentioned earlier he told me the coach said if he puts in a similar performance as last week he will play the Darwin game.

When I do get to speak to Jack I usually post it on here because I know people are very excited about him playing, So any info I get I post it EXACTLY how I was told. Don't shoot me down if I'm a week off as I am not on the inner sanctum.

I for one appreciate the insight - thanks and keep it coming.

According to Walls, Darcy and Quartermaine on One Week it was a perfect tackle on a player in possession. They suggested that the MRP should be fined for their poor decision.

Yeah and suspended

In addition to players being hit in the face under the guise of an attempted "spoil", I was also very frustrated on Friday night by the following being flouted:

• Diving (Barry Hall, all night)
  
• Kicking in danger
  
• Intentional rushed behinds
  

There will be more, and countless mistakes by the umpires, but these in particular seemed to me to be blatantly ignored. How can the players expect to second guess whether or not a rule is being enforced for a round until they either get penalized OR their opponent gets away with one on them?

HOW THE FU*K IS THIS STILL GOING????????????

I know how you feel but IMO it's worth us all following his progress. It's the unrelenting "play him now" vs "don't play him yet" ping pong that makes me want to bang my head!

Can't find the link now as I'm using my iPhone, but I saw earlier today on the Age website an article about AAMI Park and a video tour through the facilities.

Worth a quick look for those interested.

Love to see that link enforcer, from all reports it's going to be fantastic. Can't wait to go inside and have a look.

Could be this one I think: Final touches as bubble stadium unwrapped

some more pics...

Sorry to ask this, but is it definately true? I did not see todays paper, and i cannot find any info on MFC website or AFL. Just thought that if it was definately happening then I could read about it somewhere? What exactly did it say?

It's true. See Cam's twitter with a pic of the jumper - here : http://twitpic.com/1l6cxa

Hey morons - you can all pontificate as much as you want about watts being skinny, key position etc etc but the very simple fact is if he wanted it bad enough, he'd be playing right now. Gumbleton - was injured. Lynch - try getting a game for st. kilda when your a mid sized forward, Henderson - bradshaw and brown at brissy = not a chance of getting a game (and he ended up playing in the BACKLINE to squeeze him into the side). Mckernon??? What type of example is this?

With his speed and agility, if he really wanted to he'd be in the side one way or another - particularly given our hell bent approach at getting as much games into the kids as possible.

Its not a big deal, but he doesnt deserve a spot at the moment because of his attitude. Accept it, move on, and wait until he does deserve a spot. But dont delude yourselves, the reason he's not playing isnt because of his age, size, position he plays etc

OK i'll bite - what are you basing your intimate knowledge of his attitude on out of interest?

OK - that's 8 pages, well done all. I vote for a new thread: "Soft Bones" - anyone with me??

So much is confidence and belif. We got wrong footed at times and overdid things because we got the jitters. The "balance"thatwas there previously allowed the players to believe it would progres up the field. We returned to second guessing and some cases of the fumbles. Not a disastrous day in the context of the bigger picture ( of steady improvement) ..but not a happy day either.

Petterds influence will be missed, but he'll be back. weve still more wins to come.. and we are getting better. Bails still needs to work on the adeptness of appropriate plan B's ..for those days when you just have to accommodate the things that are going wrong. ( i.e the other team is besting you )

Totally agree - never enjoy a loss, but bigger picture is still bright. It was bound to happen after the media hype on us during the week and after huge effort exerted over the previous 4 games - these are mostly kids, and they will get tired, and we will win & loose more games this season. Throw in Eddie's Hat, and you could see it coming.

Jack said back when he was being drafted, if we passed on him and went for NikNat he would not nominate because he did not want to move interstate. I would not have thought that thought would have changed

I heard somewhere (on SEN I think) that players had to have been with their club for a minimum of 3 years before being eligible for poaching?

I would like to preface these comments by noting Swampfox's point - the unfortunate reality is that we MUST learn to play this stadium.

Having said that, time to whinge....I am also a big HATER of this stadium.

A ground where security have to block off the only walkway around the ground level,twice for each interval, to allow the coaching staff to access the ground? That couldn't have been better planned?

Not enough entry gates & ticket boxes - busy games are a queuing nightmare - and all to watch sub-standard, congested basketball style games on dangerous and frankly S*#%house surface. Did anyone see James Mcdonald furiously kicking mounds of sand in the air after his foot got "bogged" in a hole during a forward line contest? I can't remember in which quarter it occurred, but it was a blatant venting of frustration towards the surface.

Another poster on here said that we picked too many talls. Talls weren't the problem. North had effective talls who were able to take contested marks on the forward line. Ours weren't.

IMO - North did the right thing playing tall. There is very little room to get a run & carry style game happening on this S*#%hole of a ground. Both teams adopted the flood and the majority of forward 50 entries were a case of crossing your fingers and bombing it in. In fact for the most part, it reminded me of watching a local Aus Kick game where the entire team on both sides runs in a huddle over the ball around the entire ground.

Chook could see the writing on the wall and he is better off where he is and to be quite honest so are we, good luck to him he has never bagged us so what's the problem.

Chris Johnson, Farmer and Thompson were three that I was annoyed at but that's life, we didn't give Thompson the opportunity he deserved, Farmer wanted to go home but could have waited a couple of years and CJ just walked out on the club.

Don't necessarily agree on Chook. Not sure what the "writing on the wall was" exactly?

McLean set for Blues

Farmer & Thompson had their home towns luring them, so sort of understandable (just don't come back - but that's whole other thread). For mine - CJ & Brock deserted and are well worth a good old fashioned show of disapproval, aussie rules crowd style. BOOOO!

I'm not friends with any of my ex-girlfriends either

All of them?

Got that right... but some with additional vigour and spite

Agree - booing TJ is crap form. I felt the same way when it happened to Woewodin - Save it for those who leave voluntarily....I know who i'll be booing this year against the blues.

From a "nugget" tweet:

"Japanese for dinner with my boy!! Jarrod Riv dogg (as he likes to call himself), great feed, ok company haha, http://tl.gd/vj8n1"

Also I noted during the 5 mins of TFS that i could endure last night, was that 6000 members from last year have not resigned. C'mon people!

There's no winning with you Belzebub.....bring him in now and if he doesn't meet expectations, he's not worthy. Bring him in later and if he steps up, then we should have brought him in sooner. What it ultimately comes down to is your wisdom against the club's....I wonder which one I'll back?

Agree.

Dees to give Watts VFL time

"MELBOURNE remains confident that rarely-sighted key forward prospect Jack Watts will play a significant role at AFL level this season despite his slow start to 2010."

So we have 10,000 MCC/MFC members. Despite the fact that it is good for the club to have these people on board to begin with rather than not committed at all, doesn't it also mean that we start waaaaay back financially in terms of actual income from membership?

20,000 members are fully paid up for this year so far and 10,000 MCC affiliate members. That is compared with 40,000 fully paid up members at other clubs. If the cost of an MCC afiliate membership is $50, and the average club membership is about $150+, does this mean that we are currently really only sitting on a membership of about 23,000-24,000 in monetary terms? That would make North Melbourne's income from membership greater than ours. Am I reading this wrong? Doesn't sound as rosy to me. We need to attract way more non-MCC members. Not saying it isn't great to be getting these people on board, just that maybe they aren't going to be the financial saviours of the club.

Good points pringle - we would need to take into account the break down of the 10000 - EG % of $160 premium v $50 "recognised" members. Probably fair to assume a larger portion are the latter.

My point is that these people would otherwise not have signed up at all - so better some $ than none, furthermore they count towards the official recognised stat, which is all important for attracting sponsors etc.

Any membership is also good for the club as it is generally recurring income that can be relied on and allow for future $ projections & budgets.

We have a fully dedicated membership dept, whose job it is market for attract new members from across the board; MCC certainly won't be saviors of the club....but every bit helps.

Would it count as membership? IE add to the official stat, which is all important in attracting sponsors?

You're forgetting that MCC members have already forked out over $500 for their membership, which is a fair whack. I think a lot more MCC members would be on board if they actually got something for their money (like general MFC members who get entry to footy games for their money). If the club could come up with a way of giving some value for the $50, which is currently a donation really, then I know a few people who I reckon I could badger into joining.

Agree - as per the old thread: Carrot for MCC members

Correct. Some MFC supporters might be shocked to realise that.

I would not be happy if the MCC were selling Collingwood memberships and merchandise.

Not arguing importance of one over the other, however the relationship is special and thus in an entirely different league to that of Collingwood. Formally "symbolised" by the signing of a document by both club presidents last year with the following wording:

"The relationship between the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Melbourne Football Club is as old as the game itself. Our clubs share both heritage and heroes, sparked by the spirit of Tom Wills in 1858 as he sought a means of keeping his Melbourne cricketers fit during the winter months. A game was born, and so was the Melbourne Football Club.

If the MCG is ‘the paddock that grew’, we cultivated it together, through hope and hardship, with characters and colour, and with a shared heart that always beats true."

Frankly it's remarkable we're even allowed to go that far.

"Remarkable" on a MFC match day, to allow the club with oldest connection with the MCC to have a small stall off to the side of foyer - why do you say that?

YES the current MFC board has done much to address the relationship between the two clubs.

Could we coax a few more MCC members to sign up....probably

Is that what this thread is about? Yes.

So about half of the MCC members listed as supporters are members (50%). That leaves about 11% of non-MCC members who are supporters signing up (going by the 200,000 melbourne supporters in total figure). I'd say that's the market we need to tap into.

That would be great I agree, but these MCC members are at the game already, decked out in their gear and can simply take up a $50 "token" membership to show their support and count for the official stat. Let's face it, it should be easier to squeeze a fifty out of some of these guys than the average joe who needs to come up with over 5 times that for the cheapest membership on offer.

There is a membership stall in the lobby of the MCC at every home game. It is often manned by injured/reserves players. MCC/MFC Members can also collect their scarves from here.

I'm also aware of the MFC stall in the foyer (where existing MFC members pick up their scalves). This is good, but maybe not proactive enough.

Just sayin, even a few more thousand would help the stat, and seems accessible.