praha

Frost is an animal. http://twitter.com/wludbey/status/553334735062061056

Yes, delicious stuff. There are few "bad" Japanese beers, really. All very malty and rich. I'm not big on Australian beers generally. I much prefer Asian, German and Czech beers. Dutch beer is disappointingly bland. That said, Carlton Draught was made to be had with a pie. The two go together well. Although maybe I'm just used to the flavour. Draught tastes like it's been filtered through a bar mat if you have it after a pint of Asahi.

Asahi.

Only 5? He's as good as gone.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Signed with Freo. Confirmed.

Allen Jakovich, Sean Charles, Liam Jurrah.

Private vidya.

I believe this is what we call, "depth".

The final quarter is on YouTube also.

There's nothing *wrong* with those ideas. What are you on about?

Our average losing margin for the last 10 matches was 41. We almost *should have* beaten Port in Adelaide. We played very well against North. Should have beaten the Dogs and Lions. Our 2013 season comparatively over the last 8 rounds (8 loses in a row to end the season) was an average 47-point losing margin, but we never, ever looked like winning in *any* of those games. Our average losing margin for the whole year was 64 vs 36 for 2014. Our only *bad* loss in the second half of the year was against GWS, which was our worst game for the year. We lost to Freo and Geelong by 10 goals. They finished top 4. We should have bloody beaten Port in Adelaide and they were a kick away from a GF appearance and probably a flag. Roos didn't lose the players in the second-half of the year. A bad team just came up against some good opponents, and in some cases came very close to beating them if not for just broad inexperience at crucial times. I reject the notion that we were as bad in 2014 than at any point in 2013. It's just not true. Yeah we lost our last 10 games. This is just a team that doesn't know how to win. I'm not blindly following Roos here, but I'm just looking at this objectively. We had some bad loses, but we also had some good loses (if there is such a thing), and 2014 was far and away a better and more promising season than 2012 and 2013 combined.

The big question is: Did Nathan Jones seem committed. DID HE!?

You'll get a job with the Channel 7 AFL commentary team with that deep and informative insight!

Eh? As far as branding and expansion goes, Port has taken great strides both on and off the field. The club has $2 million debt, but 50,000+ members and a great team that's enjoyable to watch. The club is commercially attractive and that's what Kochie has turned them into. You sound bitter.

1998-2006 were great years. In patches.

No.

Haha you have your head in the sand! Who the hell wants to watch Melbourne? Why should Melbourne be given a good draw and prime time slots? This all has an influence on how the draw is created. Why are we selling games interstate? Because we've been a poorly managed club. Not because of the league's poor fixturing. We were given an absolute dream draw in 2007 commercially and in terms of ease, earned after a decade of good performances. We blew it and haven't come out of the funk since. 30k is better than losing money. What I am saying is that we have those matches as a product of a few things, including having to sell games, but also because the successful sides often play each other twice and so therefore need to make up the home games elsewhere against clubs like Melbourne. If we start winning, then maybe we'll get a home game against Richmond as other clubs around us become less commercially attractive for the audience and league. The league has an obligation to fans more than it does to Melbourne. The fixture is fair in that we hardly travel for away games and we play 13 games at the MCG. Arguing that the league has an obligation to create a *commercially* "fair" league is just ignorant to how the league is run. No one gives a [censored] about Melbourne atm. The only way to change that is to win games and you'll be amazed at how much the fixture will shift in our favour. Neo-liberal economic crap? What's the alternative? This is a competitive league. History has shown that the league's socialistic attempt to "equalise" the comp is futile when natural evolutions like free agency and growing audiences and interest shape how the league is marketed and promoted to fans. I bet you'll be applauding like an autistic seal if we sign Dangerfield next year. DAT NEO-LIBERAL CRAP! As Jackson said, the fixture is a product of where the club is at atm. If the club and I can see and acknowledge that, why can't you? I mean, I have Peter Jackson on my side. Thank God we don't have whatever the hell the opposite of a "neo-liberal" is running the joint!

All it takes is a 2-3 win streak for fans to come out. If you go into a match against Freo at the MCG with 2+ loses, yeah, you're going to get 16,000 there. Play good football and you can bump that up to 23-25k and the club breaks even. It is imperative now more than ever that the club starts winning games. We can't have another season of, "Oh yes but they're improving."

The thing is, if the team actually *wins* games, the matches against WB, Saints, North and probably Brisbane can potentially attract 30k+, which is what you need for a profit. What all of this comes down to is if you want a commercially viable fixture, you need to be commercially attractive. Melbourne is not. The only way to fix this is to win games. From that standpoint, the fixture doesn't actually make it *harder* for Melbourne to win games. We have no fate but what we make for ourselves. We can either blame the AFL, or we can suck it up, win some damn games of footy, and entice people to come to games. It's not rocket science.

The good news is we have 13 MCG games. Collingwood has 14 as does Richmond. Our MCG games are mostly away games against Melbourne clubs. This is because we have sold home games to play interstate and we must play interstate teams there, so they take up our "home games".

Probably one of the worst fixtures in recent memory. The club absolutely cannot afford another season with <6 wins.

The whole family is diehard Melbourne.

Nathan Jones.

It's not the same anymore. Flower definitely was a once-in-a-generation player but these days you need a good balance between core strength and pace. Cale had neither.