george_on_the_outer

No club in Victoria uses this business model, simply because it requires spending a buckeload of capital to see a facility used probably for 15 days a year, and only a couple of hours each time at that. Even Collingwood have worked out that the couple of cents made on each beer barely pays the barmans wages, so they use facilities in the Ponsford stand post match. It wasn't even financially viable to obtain an interest in the cafe at AAMI park because there is not enough passing traffic to make it work. Social clubs are, as others have pointed out, a 1960's anachronism. If you want to hang around with other Demons supporters, the Bentleigh club or the Leighoak work just fine. Or join one of the many supporter groups where you can have a beer or 6 after the match and the club benefits from the higher membership level payment.

Magner was upgraded to the senior list in August while Clark was placed on the long-term injury list. He didn't play a senior game subsequent to that. That tells me that he has been assessed as being capable of playing senior football and the club took the opportunity to see if the likes of Davis, Clisby and Jetta were worthwhile retaining, in lieu of playing him. We now know the answer for Davis. Our new coach is adamant about mid-fielders. He has shown his ability in the past to get the absolute maximum out of ordinary players ( Shaw, Richards). So I can't see him throwing away a mid who has shown his ability to get the ball. Roos can work on Magners disposal like he has done with the others. Roos would have also looked at the VFL finals that Casey played in. Based on the performances it is easy to see why Tynan and Gillies were dropped. (Tynans brother is a better footballer coincidentally!) Jetta may also have his cards marked with an uninspiring effort. Bail, Nicholson and Evans aren't up to AFL standard but Evans will be saved this year by his contract. Clisby is a certain upgrade. The kid knows how to play football and used his opportunity until suspended. With 2 upgrades and Hogan to be added, there will be more to come. 3 retirements 4 delistings and 1 rookie gone is only the minimum amount that every club does each year. Remember where we finished in 2013? To get to be competitive we have to do more than the rest. I'm hoping for another 4 to go. And we will still have a sizable group of flawed players at the club! ( insert names here)

Rollo, sorry, am in NY that week. Jack will have to find another assistant. I've heard Kevin Sheedy is available

The low standard continues across all games, but it is invariably associated the same sinners... Geelong V Hawthorn. Umpire Schmidt produced the biggest howler of the season with his "deliberate out of bounds call" He then demonstrated his complete lack of knowledge of the rules following the interchange mistake ( another umpiring error, that is beyond belief if you can count whether there are 3 on the interchange or not!) A 50 m rule applies, so Schmidt takes Hale beyond the 50 m square...yes it's measured at 50m! and gives him a kick from only 50m out. http://www.afl.com.au/video/smart-replay/?round=CD_R201301415&matchId=CD_M20130141505

Maybe OD......, but "stars" aren't traded. They are never on the market. If Buddy moves to GWS it will be for money, Scully and Ablett moved for money and money only....not trade. Can you name another mid-field star traded in the past 5 years? If you want mid-fielders ( and we need a couple of good ones ) you have to grow them yourselves. No quick fixes possible, as Carlton have found with Judd..one is not enough

Looks like Etihad on 3 July for the real McCoy!....see you there Jack?

Eddie wants us to have a higher salary cap so that he doesn't have to share gate receipts among all the clubs. I like FT's ideas, but also should be added:an equalised draw, and equalised Free TV allocation and most importantly Andrew D's performance salary NOT tied to attendance will go a long way to creating a level playing field. At the moment it is in his interests to promote Collingwoods interests. No wonder Eddie wants to deflect and offer chicken feed in the hope that his real game is overlooked.....

When people look through the 5 minute highlight reel that is Nic Nat they find a player who still plays like he did at U18's. Hates body contact in the ruck and doesn't know where to go when the ball is being moved around. Goldstein took him apart in that game against North. At least WCE can swing Cox back into the ruck when it starts to look ugly. That said, he is streets ahead of Watts in terms of development and probably overall skill. Neither of them remotely comes up to the standard, output, guts, or skill of Daniel Rich taken at number 3 in the same draft. That's is where the comparisons should be made.

I was there as well, and the only thing I would add to the BB summation, (which I think was missed by most people )was that the MFC doesn't look like and have the feeling of a Football club. He compared the environment at Hawthorn, Essendon and in particular Geelong. To me this is absolutely damning as we have lost the raison d'etre for the clubs very existence. It only confirms exactly the story that was relayed to me when one of the current coaching staff arrived at the club. I am not a fan of the traditional Board based structure being applied to a membership organisation, particularly when it's constitution specifies that it exists to play, compete and foster football. You can have the principles of best practice governance without the structure. Why are appointments made by the Board to the Board? Where are the football credentials of the present and previous boards? Interesting to note that Ben Buckley former AFL deputy has joined the North Melbourne Board recently. These are the types of people needed, because their knowledge is football based, not in un-related public or private ventures. I know it was a long time ago, but Jim Cardwell knew exactly what he had to do, why he was doing it and how to do it. The first principle espoused by the Australian Institute of Company Directors is " know your business". It seems Peter Jackson has in only 6 days worked out that the MFC doesn't " know it's business" any more. Putting ALL that aside ( and we can have endless arguments about who should be replaced and why) the ONFIELD performance is the real concern. That is the Club's business. It is why it exists. I have NEVER seen a more gutless and heartless performance than against GC. The statistics around tackling are damning, but it is even worse because there is no statistic around tackles NOT laid. We all saw a GC player waltz through a pack of MFC players into an open goal and not a single one put a hand on him. No-one took responsibility, no-one even tried....... I help coach an U14's side and honestly they show more intensity in the game, probably because they WANT to play footy. I can't say that about the current group of players at the MFC. Footscray have an equally dismal performance record as we do: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/perceptions-punish-demons-but-dogs-are-none-too-rosy-20130514-2jklt.html but as Michael Gleeson notes in the article : "the biggest discrepancy between the sides has not been win-loss but effort and competitiveness" I hope for and wish Mr Jackson well. But I'm not rushing to get to the game this week because I know the U14's will be putting in more than most Melbourne players, so they deserve the encouragement and support.

Living proof about lies and statistics.... A player doesn't get to play 100 games of football if they are no good. We don't have a lot of these players because for too long the ones we have selected were NO GOOD! Are Jack Ziebell, Daniel Rich, Nic Natanui or even Oliver Wines and Jack Viney experienced?.....not by games played. But they are all good footballers. When you get a group of good footballers together you will suddenly discover they are experienced. Not the other way around.

Chelsea made the right call each time...it was the field umpires who called for the reviews....

Alex Silvagni ex Casey @ Freemantle

Andy, you need to sticky this..

Another lifetime payment sent. Who cares. We need to support this site, Andy and Nasher.

Easy one here.....a fit David Schwartz.

Never forgave Daniher for this loss..... He had Darren Jolly sitting on the bench for 25 minutes of the last quarter while Adelaide were given free rein with their big men in the forward line. Bizzell was left trying to out mark and muscle the likes of Burton, Clarke and Biglands. We had dragged ourselves out of the poo in the 3rd. Even the most junior of coaches would have dropped a big man at CHB to stem the tide in the last, especially if you are 6 goals up in a final. But he never had a Plan B.......

Only the old know the truth..... The name was given to him by Nick Walsh who was an Irish potential recruit. Mark constantly ribbed him about his strong Irish accent and calling him "paddy" , "irish" and the like. One day Nick got so fed up after the latest ribbing and responded with " what would you know, you bl....y Russian!" The name stuck from there on.......

While I left after an hour and a half, the group were doing running exercises. This involved a 300m run then a series of 100m sprints end on end. Mind you this was AFTER the hour and a half on the track!!! When Misson said the fitness and endurance factors would be raised he was serious. It was interesting as a contrast that Collingwood were running match simulations next door, and we are still building on fitness. Make of that what you will.... It was great to see the turnout from the tragics. As RGRS noted there were at least 3 times as many Demon supporters there as Filth, but it must be heartening for the players to have that sort of support shown. Sylvia and Tapscott walking laps. Sylvia with bandage on Hamstring/thigh. Nothing obvious with Tapscott. Gawn running full stretch with multiple laps. I wish I could run as far and as fast as he was. Dawes participating in the main activities, despite a knee bandage. Good signs to have him back on the track. Grimes back with the main group, also good sign. Clark still standing at the sidelines. At this rate will be lucky to be available early on in the season. Byrnes, Rodan, Gillies and Pedersen all out there which means 4 players ready to go from round 1 who weren't there last year. Hogan running laps. My god he is a big unit and only 17! Not a really intense session, but they seem to vary the programme week to week. Interested to hear others impressions, and keen for more reports over January, as being a typical Melbourne supporter, am now off to the ski-fields for a couple of weeks.

Russian is going to struggle with the change to the ruck rules. He depends on bodying and engaging the opposition, and unfortunately does not jump off the ground any more. Cox, Natanui and in particular Sandilands are going to monster the competition this year, simply because of their height.

Good turnout from the Demon supporters to watch the final session. Much more so than Collingwood who were on the oval before us, and Essendon who followed. We didn't have use of the main ground, as Victory were using it. Not much really to report as things seemed to be a little less intense than previous sessions and there would have to have been some respite after Darwin. Points: * a player reported that for the Darwin sessions 7 minutes was the maximum allowed before rehydrating/cooling down. That surely puts a lot more stress and requirements than poncing around in Arizona! * the players were put through a series of shuttle runs AFTER running a couple of laps of the oval, and some serious sprint and warm-ups.. Standouts were Gillies and Davis? Special mention to Spencer and Fitzpatrick who were still around near the end. * Grimes running laps. Fairly freely and getting lots of encouragement from the rest of the team as he passed by on each lap. Hamstring and quad recovery apparently. * Watts, Gawn, Dawes, Dunn, Nicholson on another oval in rehab. * Clark back in moon boot, but probably to protect the foot after removing the staples this week. Also has lost his beard. * Howe trying to sell his car, after winning a new Toyota for mark of the year. Said he needed a new one ... looking forward to next year's model as well ... * a few rucking/clearance exercises to finish, but nothing as stenuous as what Misson is putting them through. * another player reported that the work rate is up 30% on last year. Given that was up 30% on the previous, it should show in the fitness levels in 2013 OR we were REALLY bad when Misson first arrived.

...except that this is not a company charged with making a profit. It is a business charged with winning Premierships. If perfect budgeting is performed the MFC ( and every club in the AFL) should spend every bit of their revenue on attaining that goal. They do not have objectives of making financial gains to return dividends to shareholders. IF a club makes a high level of profit ala Collingwood, then good on them. That just means they have more money to spend on achieving their objectives next year. Which they should...because they didn't win the Premiership this year. And If they do that then their profit will also approach zero.

Redleg.....I know someone who has an appeal next week seeking a fixed sentence. Any chance you know the outcome, as you obviously can read the minds of judges?

Spot on Weedster. The club doesn't even find out about it until strike 3. And then it's too late. All the effort they put into diet, training, conditioning, re-hab, physio etc and they don't get to know that some clown is on the juice. If they were able to find out at strike 1 then the club can do something about it. And the testing regime is hardly rigorous when you divide the number of players by the tests completed in a season. Lucky if you get to "fill the bottle" once or twice in a season. Small wonder Cousins never returned a postive......

Good to see the devotion and committment from FNQ. I went down myself for the first look of the pre-season. I usually leave it until now, so that the majority of the new recruits are there. No doubt others will fill in with their observations but here are mine: * Davey looks to have had arthroscopy, with a small medical bandage on his left knee. He is still favouring it, which wouldn't be surprising if he has had the operation. He wasn't running freely or moving to that side, but kicking superbly with the left in subsequent exercises. * I have been to pre-season for many years and this is the FIRST time that our new recruits don't look like 17 year old stick insects. All of them are built solidly and have that upper body definition that comes from working out in the gym. The comparisons with the body shapes of Gysberts and Morton would be chalk and cheese. * Josh Tynan ran a lot of laps and a serious pace. But his body is simply enormous for one so young. I wish I looked like that at 19! * Rory Taggert was hard to pick out for a while, but has he grown as well! * Jack Viney is a bull at a gate with everything that he does. He hasn't got the body yet, but he simply charges and tries to break through or walk over anyone in his way. He simply reeks of attitude...... * Jake Spencer has been taught to jump. For the first time ever, I saw him jump off the ground to take a mark. When he does, no-one can get close to him. * Max Gawn ran laps and again is simply a monster! If we get him on the ground this coming season, a few opposition rucks/players are going to need a change of pants. * Didn't see Trengove, Grimes, Sylvia at all, whil Clark was there but only jogging lightly. Has lost a bit of definition in his calf, which is to be expected. * Rhodans legs are like tree trunks. He never gets moved out of the contest, and even if he only plays for 1 year we WILL get great value from him. * Collingwood trained at the same time, but they shut up shop long before our guys, who just kept on going. We probably have to given our relative positions last year, but it is apparent we are putting in the extra work needed to produce better results. * Big emphasis at the start on tackling. I didn't recognise who was running the session, but they certainly knew their job and pulled players up constantly for not adopting the correct technique. Expect to see a lot of opposition players lifted off their feet and thrust backwards this year. * It was interesting to see the number of assistants on the ground. It means that no-one gets away with anything. And while Neeld was watching from the side, Craig is prowling around everything barking orders. Everything is completed correctly according to the coaches instruction. No half-arsed efforts are tolerated. Can't think of anything else. I'm sure others will fill in the gaps. No pictures today, the wife pinched the batteries from the camera. Next time......

Every year the same question arises, so here is the answer: With the exception of Essendon, every AFL club site is controlled and managed by Telstra. Telstra provides a limited amout of upload to each club each day. If the club want to upload extra, then they have to pay exorbitant amounts to Telstra to do it. Every other club is trying to get their uploads done at the same time. And being in a monopoly position, Telstra don't provide much in the way of resources to do it. We sit in the queue with everyone else, so we have to be smart about what we put up, and with what priority. If things are happening as far as Club news is concerned ( like Trade week or the Draft ), then uploads of new players video is of higher importance than player weights and heights. Be assurred that when things quieten down later in the year, the information will get put up. But don't blame the club. Just move your phone services to someone who cares......