praha

Interestingly we lost round 1 for a decade then managed 3 years in a row winning round 1. It took one last bout of round 1 misery last year before we could break through and play finals.

It's going to be hilarious watching Collingwood's retirement home midfield get spanked this year.

I think it's important people remember back to Pederson's first season at Melbourne when he was seen as one of the worst recruits to the club in a long while. A lot can change in a preseason and speaking with certainty that Smith cant contribute is shockingly shortsighted.

I visited Prague for the first time in 2007, and noticed "Praha" brandished everywhere, which, obviously, is Czech for "Prague". I always thought it would be a cool name for the bar I was going to open before I turned 30. Anyway I never opened the bar so thought I'd change my username to this. Prior to that it was "Cudi_420" which was just a joke name (Kid Cudi, 420, blaze it... ya know?), and before that, calabreseboy, which was a username I used online, dating back to my teenage years when I was a fully sick wog boy.

make no mistake me setup LG in Australia. They were a no name cheap brand and we helped get their name out there.

Putting us with those three is just silly. We didn't make finals for a decade, fielded one of the worst teams of all time during a part of that period, and yet still managed more or thereabouts in terms of members than the Saints Bulldogs and North, all of whom had many years of success in that period, including one flag, Prelims and Grand Finals. Can you honestly see either of the Bulldogs or North ever pulling 90k for an Elim final, regardless of opponent? Maybe the Saints, but those teams have peaked and growth won't be anywhere near as sudden. We have, what, 20k identified Melbourne supporters in the MCC that aren't Melbourne members. That's 20k people with high purchase intent. What club can claim to that sort of engagement level and purchase intent with non-members? 50k should be 2019 target, with 55k-60k in 2020. It's completely reasonable given the space for growth.

You need an element of differentiation, and melbourne is certainly different to any of the aforementioned. I think our attachment to the MCG and Yarra Park has an element of romanticism rarely seen in sports the world over. We need to embrace that more especially if we're going to attract a younger and newer audience. I'd not only be targeting kids, I'd be targeting Indian and Chinese students/expats that either see the MCG as a church (Indians with cricket and association with the MCG), or as a cultural landmark of the city (Chinese looking to make this their home, and finding ways to assimilate). A more obvious presence in the CBD should also be considered, to be considered as somewhat of a "gateway" to our home in the MCG.

Suspect it was one of Carlton, Gold Coast or St Kilda. No half decent team is offering a depth midfielder 5 years.

There was a heated discussion on Reddit about this. Most of those in not in favour went along the lines of "MY PARK HURRR DURRR" and basically carried on like as if this would completely ruin the park.

Surely not...if that's then case, then a home game against Essendon (for once), or at least a second game against Collingwood and Richmond.

We would be looking to maximise profit by playing teams that are well supported in the NT. The WA and SA teams, particularly Crows and Eagles, ensure a full house. A Melbourne v St Kilda game would be awful.

Suspect Essendon will get the Thursday night slot and we'll be looking at 3-4 friday night games, including one against Sydney in Sydney in round 2.

Crazy talk. To lose money on an MCG home game you need a sub-23k crowd. We'll get 45k-50k imo.

We would have likely scored Port at the MCG at some point anyway but it's still not ideal. Geelong on a friday night at the MCG....YAAAAAAWN. Not great scheduling. And then Bulldogs v Sydney as the primetime game on the Saturday night? GIVE ME A BREAK! Regardless, I think we'll get 50k in round 1.

The way I see it: - 13 MCG games - 2 Marvel games - 2 NT games (vs Adelaide, vs Freo) - 1 QLD game (vs Brisbane or GC) - 1 Sydney game (vs Swans or GWS) - 2 SA games (Crows and Power) - 1 WA game (Freo) That leaves 9 home MCG games and 4 away MCG games. Home: - Collingwood - WC - Hawthorn - Geelong - GC/Brisbane - GWS/Sydney - Carlton - Then one of St Kilda or Bulldogs Marvel away games: - North - One of Saints or Dogs Away MCG games: - Richmond - Collingwood - Essendon - Carlton Teams we play twice: - Collingwood - Carlton - Crows - Freo

If you can *play* like a small forward, your height is irrelevant.

I also saw Simon Godfrey at Inflation nightclub about 15 years back. I went up to him and said "Go Dees" like a groupie. He looked at me strange. Good times.

While in Amsterdam recently I had two extremely random MFC encounters. 1. My walking tour guide, who was an Amsterdam local, asked us who we followed in the footy after he heard we were from Melbourne. Before answering I asked him how he even knew about footy, and it was because his roomate was a diehard Melbourne supporter. Funnily, he knew all about Essendon's drug saga and compared it to FIFA corruption. 2. The next night, we did an awesome canal tour (Dam Boat Guys if anyone is after an awesome canal tour with some, erm, smoking flexibility). The guide was an Aussie that had been living in Amsterdam for a few years. While he was driving the boat at a blistering 5kmh, he was showing me highlights from the final vs Geelong and was almost in tears talking about how much he wished he was there. It was so random to find myself talking about the Dees on the other side of the world, twice, within 24 hours. What are your random MFC experiences while traveling? (NOTE: I asked the boat tour guide if he was the roommate of the walking tour guide, and he wasn't)

Gus squibbed a few times early as well...but he changed that really quickly and went from one extreme to the other. I think Andrew is a smart footballer, but unlike Gus he is taking longer to, erm, squib the squibs. Unless he does, he's just a Cale Morton 2.0

We are better defensively with a fit Lever and May, better by maybe 3-4 goals. Losing Hogan makes us 2 goals on average worse. However if we can keep the differential high enough, the total score is irrelevant.

Norf is trying very hard not to bottom out but imo they would be best served to. Build up and trade for draft picks, and manage that cap space accordingly. Throwing money at every single free agent is getting embarrassing for them. Imagine having your $200k p.a. better offer rejected.

I said on this forum once that he'll either be a solid forward-flanker that routinely kicks 40-50 goals a year, or he'll end up as Clive Waterhouse 2.0. The way people attacked me you'd think I'd killed their dog. Hogan both epitomizes and is the antithesis of Waterhouse's career so far.

The club probably would have had to let one of Brayshaw, Oliver, Harmes, Petracca, Mcdonald, and Hogan go at some point. Close to 0% chance we keep all together for the duration of their careers. Hogan leaving probably provides some flexibility, doubt they want to see him go but if they have an opportunity to get high value, of course they will do it.

He set the bar pretty high, no? You can either go the Adelaide or even the Carlton or WC route and pretend to be hard arses but end of the day the player will get to their destination. Our trade with Crows for Lever will stand as an important moment whenever we go to the trade table because that set the precedent.

Of course but i think it is bigger now than him being contracted, or a "player". if you're not motivated by the environment or your motivation lies elsewhere, it always falls down on management and stakeholders to find a way to motivate and instill belief. imposing rules or contractual obligations never works because no organisation in their right mind keeps someone around who doesn't want to be there. it's not just in football. the contractual element in sport is less about putting an explicit time window on the minimum obligation a player has: it is a safeguard for teams that, should the contract need to be altered, they have bargaining power. it's extremely rare that a contracted player that wishes to leave the team their contracted to doesn't have their wish fulfulled. I cringe when I hear teams say "they are a contracted player". The contract serves to protect the player's earning capacity first and foremost. If Hogan wishes to move, first intent is to ensure he is fully aware of how important he is. Beyond that, I believe the team has an obligation to him, fans and the team environment to get the best possible outcome in a trade.