Dee*ceiving

I think with Petty it's all about his confidence and timing his leap. He got this second half v cats but found himself on a very good defender vs Blues. The cats game suggested to me he can still jump at the ball despite his foot injuries (for now at least). Weitering is somewhat similar to May, not many key forwards will play well against him unless their midfield is on top.

Lol...I did read it and would be of the view that no book written about MFC winning a premiership could be terrible, even if it was written with crayon, on ancient parchment and in Egyptian heiroglyphics it would still be a bloody good read!

I miss day games too Agree. Proof reader needed...we've found a top candidate.

People in the media simply want to blow smoke up the backsides of a long time dormant Essendon supporter base. Not unlike they have done with Carlton over the last 12 months...

Agree with @DistrACTION Jackson In: Verrall, BBB Out: Turner, JVR Max needs help and we won't get a better chance to debut a ruckman. We need to find out at some stage what he can offer and by the reports I've read he is ahead of Jefferson and Fullarton in terms of output. BBB had 8 scoring shots last week and we need a tall forward, nuff said. Suggest we'd need a runner as sub though. Would love if Max could get through with <70% game time.

If Disco and JVR miss Verrell and a small/medium would suffice. We might not get a better chance to test Verrell and some air cover for Max feels timely. If Salem is in we can also afford Tracc forward a touch more than normal (though maybe not the extent we saw last week)

If JVR is out I feel like we should give Verrall a shot and maybe limit Max's minutes if we can. Be even better if we could leave Max in Melbourne

Be good to have mulligan on that first quarter

found this on DL

Great read Oracle. Go Dees!

Bowey in for Billings Hore (sub) in for Laurie

Yeah...coz Collon-wood, maaate

Damn shame about McAdam. I thought he'd be a big chance to replace billings.

6. Gawn 5. Lever 4. Langdon 3. Petty 2. May 1. Fritsch McDonald, Oliver, Windsor, Pickett & McVee unlucky. In fact nearly everyone played their roles very well.

MLB has a looser model around spending caps. i understand teams you can spend over a nominated cap but every $ over is taxed at a rate that scales up the more you spend. A luxury tax as such. Not sure how effective it is or where the money goes.

If there's one thing we can commend the AFL for it's how the draft, soft cap and other factors have led us to the even competition we have now. Sydney, the Bulldogs and Melbourne have broken big premiership droughts in the last 20 years and whilst Hawthorn, Geelong and the Tigers have won multiple premierships they've all also had some tough years. Not only that but I think nearly team has played in a GF since 2000 except GC? - could be wrong on that.

Agree, not for me. The returns are regulated though. I think 85-90% of what goes in must come out (assuming they run to regulation and audits etc. are effective). So if you play long enough you will win! But if you are a long time player you will forever run 10-15% down on what you bet. That structure actually encourages the problem gamblers because they know eventually they'll get something back. The casuals though will mostly lose interest. Play a time or 2, lose and think that sucks.

The league is rich. The clubs operate under a soft cap & are somewhat handcuffed (league and self inflicted). Gaming revenue a simple example. Foregoing that is morally the right thing to do (as our club has done, not all though). But theres a stack of money in it. The Dees turning a profit of $3m from $56m revenue is pretty good (>5%). Pokies is another license to print money though

100% Great argument. It will definitely drum up 'feels'. I just wonder about the capital investment required to get the infrastructure up to standard and the ability for the team to attract regular, local support. Based purely on population, I have been to Darwin and love it as a place and have zero view on social demographics of the locals Correct. Plenty of cash. One of the reasons the executive and the AFLPA get so much money is because there is just so much money! No private equity firm wanting to use profits to capitalise other opportunities and no shareholder dividends. Its a license to print money and not pay tax. & the people getting rich are the execs!

I'd think he's taking a paycut no matter where he ends up. Question is how big a pay cut and how interested he is in moving interstate to maximise his salary and/or potential to play finals.

If Steven May played full forward and influenced every game the way he does at full back he'd be celebrated as one of the greatest players to ever play. I always found it interesting that preventing goals isn't applauded anywhere near the degree kicking them is.

I am of the belief we'll end up with a 20th team but it won't be from the NT. SA or WA would be my guess, borne from a WAFL or SANFL team.

Players come and go. The players are the products of the club's leadership. If North get the leadership right, just like we did with Jackson and Roos (and others), (after several failures!), they'll turn the ship around. Didn't GC and GWS enter the competition during our doldrums? IIRC correctly GWS cost us Scully & our captain but directly netted Hogan, Salem and Tyson. That netted out ok (and we hadn't yet gathered the premiership winning administration)... The list is not the hardest thing to fix IMO. Getting good leaders into the club and getting them aligned on the same objectives is the number 1 challenge. BTW, NM has recorded 50,000 members for the last 2 years

I can see your point too SWYL. We can agree to disagree. Whilst painful and difficult to turn into solvency I don't feel consecutive losing seasons are a significant threat to a clubs livelihood in the current AFL climate. Their is stacks of money to go around and options to create more if/when needed. Plenty of low hanging fruit (IMV)... Regarding talent, yes there will be less to go around for a time but in 1 or 2 generations I think we'll find Suns, Giants and Devils will have stirred their local talent pools considerably purely through their existence which will benefit every club. But, I could be wrong too!

I think the pertinent question is... "are there more eyeballs on the product in those regions this year than there were last year and what does the forecast suggest for 5 years time?" When those numbers decrease year on year over a 5 year period then there would be reason to worry. But my main point is, the AFL won't let that happen. They can't afford to let that happen. When that happens the first thing that occurs is executive bonuses get slashed (ouch) and then when it doesn't get corrected executives get marching orders (big ouch!).