praha

Etihad is not financially viable, and probably never will be. Its facilities are ageing far too quickly for a stadium that was built only 16 years ago. The fact you stand to be better placed hosting 20,000 fans at a 100,000-seat stadium than you would hosting 20,000 at a 50,000-seat stadium shows just how important a new stadium is. Teams like North, Bulldogs, Saints would probably be better placed financially now if they didn't lose thousands at every home game there, even with decent crowds. Melbourne probably lost 250k for the game against GWS there last year. 16,000 at the MCG might have only been 50k loss. Money matters. Income distribution isn't the answer. It's a bandaid solution. Teams need to be in a position where they are self-sustainable. Melbourne is well on the way but we're lucky to call the MCG home. Carlton says it wants to come to the MCG to better service its fans but it's most certainly more about the money. Eddie's plan isn't anywhere near as crazy as everybody makes it out to be. Any rational thinker can see that a stadium built with financial gain in mind from the start is important to the future of the league and its smaller clubs. No doubt Collingwood and Richmond would benefit the most from these plans but smaller stadiums that don't lose clubs hundreds of thousands of dollars is definitely the direction we need to go.

"2003 recruiting creating a dynasty" "2009 recruiting creating a dynasty" "2010 recruiting creating a dynasty"

Hate to toot my own horn (not really) but back in the 08-09 years when we had that god awful corporate "Melbournefc" logo, I mentioned on here that it was the right direction, the club had *almost* the right idea at the time, but the branding was downright awful. I was hounded for it. I believe they were trying to distance themselves from "Demons" because of the potential to damage relations with China partners and fans, maybe it's the same logic now, I wouldn't be surprised, but that vision then was to better associate the club with "Melbourne". The only problem was that you had a bunch of old corporates with no previous experience in the sport field, who absolutely fluffed it. Looking at the Schwab era, I won't disagree he wasn't great, he clearly hurt the club in many ways, but you can't criticise his ambition, his vision to reestablish the club and its brand as a league powerhouse. The vision now you can see is all about establishing a brand that doubles as a fashion icon, is accessible, can pass as something other than a sport brand (think NY Yankees). I think I saw someone on here mentioned that in the past. I've always thought that Jackson and co. approach the NT deal with contempt, with a kind of, "well we *have* to, but hopefully in the future we don't have to." Playing a home game there is definitely at odds with Jackson's vision. Hawthorn sell games now, not because they have to. But because it adds a cheeky extra million to their bottom line. And they aren't massive crowd drawers against interstate teams. As "big" as they seem, they are not a Richmond or a Collingwood from a support perspective. I am and always will be highly cynical of the value of their "membership" figures but you can't understate how important that figure alone is. The figure that's important is ratio of support-to-attendance. I think Melbourne is among the league leaders in that regard. Selling games to NT is detrimental to that. It's necessary atm, but once we get up and going, with the way the game is amplified with broadcast and social media, it'll be a thing of the past. It's all about getting it right. The ship has sailed I'm afraid for establishing a "second" home. Hawthorn jumped on a state primed to be taken advantage of. North's exercise is futile in Hobart, but it might work out. What I love about Jackson, even Roos to a degree, they can see the potential. If Melbourne went through an era similar to what Hawthorn is going through now, I have no doubt we'd be bigger than them. Our crowds, our memberships aren't great, but they're on-par with finals-bound teams of the Bulldogs and North variety. I remember one game at the MCG back in 2004 or 2005 against West Coast. 45,000 people at the game. We weren't even that great. We were good. But not great. Melbourne is a juggernaut waiting to be woken. But instead of waking it with a thunderous kick to the belly, we've only poked it with a stick for going on 60 years. Two finals series in a row, a bit of hype and some consistency over a number of years, and we'll be up and about. A flag will seal it and we'll be the league's powerhouse again. People put us with the Saints, North, Bulldogs. We're in a different league. We're in that middle-ground between the upper-tier and lower-tier, but we linger around the lower-tier because we've been so god damn awful.

Hold the phone....Ox getting carried away? Never!

Pederson should be doing more in the ruck. You also have Garland and Oscar M down back who could take it when it's down there. He seems to be all over the ground.

I'm not even lying but part of the reason I went yesterday was so I didn't have to watch Fox Footy. I really hate Etihad.

Great article although a lot of people seem to too easily dismiss Roos' style here. Our defense during the pre-season has been sublime. Our pressure out times in the defensive half was fantastic. And as the article mentioned, our transition out of defense, a major area of issue the last two seasons, looked great. Our forward pressure was also good. There is a defensive mindset that was so lacking that Roos introduced, and combined with Goodwin's bold, striking, fast style, creates a more free-flowing game.

2-3 weeks.

What I've liked all pre-season is that we link together better than we have for years, but skills still let them down. Early days though. We are much better in transition, and haven't really leaked goals in quick succession. Defense looks good and tight with lots of pressure but gee, Garland, McDonald (both), Grimes are going to cost us a lot of goals this year. They work so hard but some of the errors Garland makes, he shouldn't be flunking kicks and missing targets this late in his career. I think half of Saints' goals came from errors.

29

Love this jacket. https://thedemonshop.shopdesq.com/mens-bomber-jacket I used to have a similar bomber jacket in the '90s. Wore it to school every day. good to see these jackets come back into fashion. Might save up for this.

At least he didn't hack someone with a machete.

I too am to believe she would be prepared to move to Melbourne. Not convinced Dion would jump ship, he's smart enough to hold off until new CBA, also has the kind of character to be loyal and take control of something. Once Ablett is gone, the Suns would be Prestia's team if he stays. That said, you can't ignore the Melbourne factor, both city and team. If he leaves Gold Coast, I'd say there is a 90% chance he'd end up at Melbourne. You're looking at generations of hardcore Melbourne fans and I can't imagine he would ever pull on the jumper of another Melbourne team. His dad I'm sure wants the best for him but he'd be pushing him to go to Melbourne. lol, he's coming home.

Yep. 30 second mark. After he did that, some Carlton fans behind us WOULD. NOT. SHUT. UP. They carried on for the next two quarters. They were giving so much [censored] to Melbourne and Melbourne supporters all day. At three-quarter time they were just yelling out to us, giving us crap because Carlton was 4 goals up. In the final moments with us being home, this young Carlton supporter, maybe 15-16, stood up, went over to them and just sprayed them for making the Blues fans around them look like such flogs. Carlton supporters turning on each other. It was glorious.

I'd still prefer someone who actually gets the ball and provides some run than a bloke like Toumpas who goes missing when he makes a mistake or the team is getting smashed.

Just imagine if Lyon, Schwartz and Jakovich had all been healthy through the 90s. Throw in other injury-riddled players in Tingay, Charles, Lovett, and we'd have most definitely snagged a flag in the 90s. Don't forget we added Farmer to the mix in 95. There's no doubting that we drafted and recruited superbly in that era, but the problem was around player recovery and fitness. We always seemed to have one of the longest injury lists in the AFL, while the likes of North, Carlton, West Coast, Geelong could get their best star players on the pitch for 99% of the season.

Is anyone really surprised that our two key backmen in McDonald and Garland are the ones that have the biggest brain farts? They were key components of a backline that got bombarded week in, week out for 3-4 years. It's probably the hardest transition. They're probably so used to being under pressure, and over think every single little possession they get. Watts does the same thing. It might be something that can never be fixed. The gap between good and bad is colossal. McDonald sometimes reacts like as if he's under pressure when he's not, and as such, he fluffs the ball and turns it over. Then, when he does get used to the space, he loses all sense of vision and awareness and gets tackled. There's no in between. Ultimately, McDonald and Garland are remnants of a backline that survived and played through the club's worst ever era. Maybe we should loosen up on them a bit. It's hard to learn and improve when all you do is lose most weeks. They still play like losers because, well, they've never been winners.

4-6 weeks.

When was the last time we finised the pre-season with a winning record? '89.

Good tackle.

Frosty Man

CAPITANO!

We're playing like it's a scratch match, just trying to build up fitness. Bulldogs look to be trying to build towards something. Body language at times has been telling as well.

We are still one of the dumbest teams in the league. They were run off their feet at half time and have absolutely run all over us this quarter. We can't exploit turnovers We can't transition We don't get back We miss targets And we can't finish teams Only preseason but gee, the exact same issues persist.

Oliver is going to miss a few games through suspension this year.