pitmaster

Jeff K...I know, I know he's a donkey, but anyway...Jeff K warning the Covid 19 crisis means a 10% cut to Hawthorn's revenue, and that's before the attendances are taken into account. Our club's going to hurt. From afl.com: Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett has called on fans to get behind the team with the coronavirus having a huge impact on the club's financial situation."In going through our revenue, line by line, given the perception that the virus has already created, the situation is looking grim," Kennett wrote in a letter to club supporters. "The very best scenario is that our bottom line might be hit by about 10 per cent of budgeted revenue over this football year. This is before the AFL informs us of any curtailing of the AFL season, so clearly this is serious."

I thought so until I remembered that the Chinese doctor who tried to sound the alert back in December, and was arrested and interrogated for his trouble, died of Covid-19 in February and he was in his 30s.

Gawn is our outright MVP. TMac on fire is great and Petracca and Oliver also, but a dominant ruckman is a rare thing. Any number of beanpoles can fill in the ruck and any number of battlers can give you a chance in the ruck but a standout winner is irreplaceable.

I like to think of it as slightly more nuanced than that, but you're close.

I have some sympathy for him because as I understand it his manager talked him out of Melbourne by talking up his price to absurd heights on the back of one query from either GC (most likely) or GWS. The chatter ran all through his last year with us so that it passed the point of no return and he had to leave, and yes, he was sold a bill of goods by Buckley with the promise of going forward which lasted about three games. And he was paid about the same as he was at Melbourne. The big dollars promised earlier never materialised. Had he been smarter he could have been a one club player so long as we were prepared to tolerate his miskicks which were a weekly occurrence, just as they were with TMac in his time in defence. I had a chat with JH in the pre-season after he left us and told him we'd give him a good welcome. He knew exactly when that was - round four - better than I did, and seemed nervous about it. Now, with five years exposure to the self talk and bull of Eddie and Co he is showing the signs of all true Collingwood believers. Poor bugger. He displays no gratitude for Melbourne's role in plucking him from the obscurity of Dodge's Ferry. Let's hope we smash them for as long as JH remains there just as we did in round 4, 2016 and pull a flag as he totters into retirement.

You seriously want the club to confide in the public details of injuries, recovery times and illnesses? Why? So the opposition can plan better how to set up against us, who is likely to play and how our players might be hiding injuries? I am without words to respond to such expectations.

Coaches are the last people to decide this stuff.

Currently buying six.

Just our luck that the year we have two genuine home game blockbusters that the coronavirus is going to diminish crowd numbers. Last year we had neither Anzac Eve or QB and blew a $1.5 million hole in the accounts because the supposed big drawing home games came at the end of the year when the season was shot. Even if the virus is contained both our blockbusters will suffer lower numbers, maybe 40,000 instead of the anticipated 65,000-plus if the behaviour of the past week is any guide to the resilience and public spiritedness of Australians (Hint; there is none.) So the heat should be on those who sit on the fence every year waiting to see how the season unfolds, and also the estimated 10,000 MCC members who still resist buying even a token membership to do for this club what they demand of the players: go hard and go often. Time to buy a membership folks because the club budget is probably blown without you. NB: Moderators, I didn't put this in the Coronavirus thread because that derailed some time ago.

Great. I forgot to worry about this. When I saw it I thought what else was JV supposed to do? A suspension would have been misguided which is probably why I should've worried about it. Relieved.

Nah...if they're in the toilet Adem'll be in the box seat, unfortunately.

I don't see why Goodwin should spell out the style or the team rules for anyone outside the sanctum. Let the other mobs work it out for themselves. That's what they're supposed to do. Clarkson never talked about his 'web' before, during or after its operation that I know of.

Your comment on Scully is spot on. He is a cog and as it turns out a cog that doesn't often hurt the opposition. Wish we all had known that about him years and years ago, but it remains a lesson for the future. We copped a lot of pain to ensure we could have him and it was only ever going to be for a very small part of what makes a team. He proved to be no Judd, or Hodge, or Fyfe, or very much at all.

We know what happens to these privileged prats once success departs...they disappear very quickly, yet they're very bloody noisy soon after their club lucks out with one of the strongest drafts of all time while they're on the bottom.

Greg Williams was slow and one dimensional too. Viney has something rare and that cannot be manufactured: true grit. BTW I had a look at The Roar piece. The bloke who wrote it has 'expert' next to his name. Who's ever heard of him before this? I am backing Jack to tear The Roar a new one.

For a chronic pessimist and whinger you have a charming vein of optimism. Congratulations. Seriously, it's a compliment.

New one on me. Potentially as annoying as tennis players saying 'he played great/good etc'. Maybe moreso since it's meaningless.

As a fellow pedant I assure you 'fail' is both verb and noun depending on usage.

For all the talk about how the poor season in 2019 damaged membership sales - and this message was reinforced by Gary Pert at the AGM - there is no evidence to support that if the records on here are correct. According to George's numbers 2019 was our best year (at least in the past five) for memberships sold after April 1. In 2015 we went from 32,001 on April 1 to a final 35,911, an increase of 3,592. Last year the increase in the corresponding period was 6,909 coming from 45,537 on April 1 to 52,446 at the finish. That's a bigger number than In our finals year 2018. In 2016, '17 and '18 the increases in that period were 3,676, 3,548 and 5,419. If the club is right and we would have made 60,000 last year with a strong on-field performance there must be more to the numbers than is obvious. The club would know for example how many dropped off and how many outright new members there were. But right now it looks like the club's kidding itself.

That, and a mute recognition of what happened to us, which they chose not to 'notice' at the time since they've been taught for years by coaches who say 'injuries are no excuse' Don't expect the media, who are educated by players and coaches to downplay the significance of injuries, to break out of the mould on their own.

Fitzroy 1964 comes to mind.

First, it's "Soylent". Second, why would (spoiler alert) feeding people to people stop a virus?

Ground amenities aren't great. Most people sit or stand on the grass. The small temporary grandstands are fine but on the outer side you are exposed to the sun all afternoon so unless you're keen to tan up the grandstand side is better. Lasseter's may be the best viewing spot of the lot for the public but last year tickets were around $170 per which I thought was pretty steep. If your pockets are deep...

I agree except I WOULD make the effort from time to time to back the club. It would demand some creativity from the club to make it work. That is clearly the aim atm given comments at the annual meeting.

No. Don't let it be so. I want them on a sloooowwww slide down the ladder, say three years around 9-11 so they aren't in the race but aren't finding the absolute cream draft picks...then after a couple of recruiting blunders they slip into 13-16 territory for let's say four more years before absolutely bottoming out in a winless season, then recover to finish 12th for four more years. And the same for Hawthorn so I can enjoy an impotent Jeff Kennett howling in the pages of the Hun every few months.