praha

I am not criticising the AFL's ability to make a fair fixture, as I know they have an obligation to fans and showing off the best teams at the best time, but I think that fixture is TERRIBLE for marketing purposes. As I said on Big Footy: You need a favorable fixture to better market your product. If you have the best show on TV, you're not going to put it on TV at 11pm on a Tuesday night. We're given a [censored] marketable fixture because the AFL doesn't have confidence in our brand. We'll win plenty of games next year. But that fixture doesn't nothing to get our brand out to the casual football fan, and those we're hoping to attract. Sorry for not being optimistic, but that's how I feel about that fixture. And it's funny, because in years past, everyone made a big fuss about the Sunday games making it difficult for us to promote our brand and make money. But now that all those Sunday games are against easy beats, it's suddenly OK... Consider we have a new logo, new direction, new brand. That fixture is terrible. Big test for the likes of Schwab and co. this season. Hopefully they can continue their great form off-field.

I'm looking at it from a marketing perspective. Quite a terrible fixture for making money. Great for onfield success, but we'll be hit hard in the first 10 rounds.

Yep, my bad. Missed the round 22 match. At least it's only 1, and at the end of the season. Great fixture for on-field, terrible for off-field. I can't imagine the club being particularly impressed.

Pros: 1. Pretty easy fixture. Only one trip to Perth. 2. No trip to Adelaide. Cons: 1. We do not have one home game at the MCG on a Saturday. 2. We play a HOME game against the EAGLES at ETIHAD on a SUNDAY at 1:10PM. FFS! Why Hawthorn has a home game on Saturday against Port, and we're delegated to Etihad on a Sunday against the Eagles is beyond me. 3. We have 5 home games against interstate clubs on a Sunday, 3 of which start at 1:10pm 4. We have four Etihad matches.

Melbourne vs. Collingwood round 1? That would be as big a test as this club has probably seen ever in its history. 1. Club recently out of debt. New rebranding. 2. Playing against easily the biggest sports club in the Australia - maximum exposure on the big stage. The big test would come in that this would be a Collingwood home game (because Queen's Birthday is ours) and so the Pies brand will be spread everywhere. The only way we'd at least make some ground is if we win and win well, which we could. But the flag unveiling would be quite the intimidation factor, especially with the crowd. It's a brilliant opportunity, but oh so tragically the big test we might not be ready for just yet. Our brand can either benefit more from a single game of football than we ever have in our history, or fail miserably and the current brand remains intact anyway, as a new brand with minimum exposure. But it won't happen. I think they'll put the Pies against a weaker club. The AFL wants this to be an all-Pies affair. There's no way the Eagles would upstage Collingwood at the MCG on a Saturday night. Brand Collingwood and the AFL would benefit most from a Pies win, and the AFL considers this when making the fixture, especially for round 1. They want Collingwood to be the LA Lakers of AFL. I don't imagine they'd put us up against them. If it would be a Melbourne team, it would be more of a modern day rival, like Bulldogs, or even Geelong.

Jamar is overrated? He wishes. And Jones is not underrated. He is very one dimensional, but a valuable player. I think most people appreciate him as such.

I love how three finalists and the 2008 and 2009 Premiers are on Fox, whereas the likes of Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Gold Coast, GWS, West Coast, Brisbane and Richmond are all on free-to-air...

Fixed for accuracy

So you supported a logo that represented us at quite possibly our lowest in the history of the club, a time when we came FAR closer to collapsing than we did back in 96 and at any other time? How exactly does that make it a fantastic logo? It was a complete annihilation of our culture, even going as far as to ditch our beloved, embraced mascot of the Demon. You don't do that, because even if you or I don't embrace that Demon, it's The Demons that won the 1964 Grand Final. Not "Melbourne FC". Or is it "Melbournefc", a rather hilariously moronic attempt at dressing up a bold and rather insulting corporate rebranding. That logo made this club appealing to conservative Chinese companies that were willing to break into Australia through cheap sponsorship. The logo means quite a lot, especially with a sports team that would be considered by a business team as an entertainment venture. Those in charge of the club at the time weren't willing to maintain the club's iconic history and culture, but were quite intent on taking the easy way out and dealing quite extensively with wealthy Chinese investors. They did that, and it failed miserably, perhaps bad kharma for ditching something so many people appreciated, all in favor of exploiting a land and hiding our fusion with a mascot as striking as the Demon. We went from having a decent brand, to having a grey corporate brand that had no history. This current logo might not last the ages, but it at least helps build the brand through messages. People will associate with it, and people want that sense of belonging (membership) and being part of something historically influential. This new logo screams all of those things in some way, even if it is Hollywood'd up to stand out. Our demon is part of our image, and to not reference it or show it is marketing suicide for a football club that has such a small brand anyway.

James Cook definitely comes to mind. Could have been a Coleman medalist. Would have given us a VERY potent forward line with Neitz and Farmer at the time. Started the season off very well, then hurt his ankle and put on a lot of weight. Sean Charles is another. Jakovich also. Boy it was good to see him in 1993 and 1994 when I was a kid.

BigFooty.

It's better than anything we've ever had in the past.

How I feel right now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUUPAepznk

I will never, EVER forget that game as long as I live. Growing up in the inner-city northern suburbs surrounded by Carlton and Collingwood supporters and as the ONLY Melbourne supporter in my primary school, it was SO amazing to go to school having been the 7th placed team that beat the 2nd place Carlton. It was my first ever final, and an amazing day. Will never forget the look on one Carlton supporter's face when we went 5 goals up in the last -- a big, long sigh, and then their face straight into their hands. It was a bit like this: Ahhhhh And that Lovell speckie on the MCC wing. Made back page of the Herald Sun the next day. Good times.

Coming off the bench, it would have to be someone that could have immediate impact on the ball, so I'd have to say (based on what I've seen in the 20 or so years I've been going to the football) either Sean Charles or The Ox. Charles at his best was just super. But personal problems and injuries hurt him. But he, along with Ox and Jakovich, provided me with some of my earliest (and best!) football memories.

That game against the Saints was the first football game I ever went to (I would have been about 4 or 5). But I didn't start going regularly until 1994, and I'll never forget Jakovich's performance against Brisbane in round 3 or 4 on a Friday night at the MCG. Absolutely destroyed Brisbane off his own boot. I was also at his last game against Hawthorn at Princess Park when he kicked 8 goals.

Wow!

Has he ever even been tried down back? I think it is a lot harder to be a successful forward than to be a successful back. Newton is talented, no doubt, but he isn't quite skillful and committed enough to be a good AFL forward. Tarrant was the same (although Newton holds nothing up to Tarrant, let's be honest). If he can perform and act as another solid player down back, then I'm all for it. If Carroll and Warnock can get games down there, surely Newton can.

Godspeed, Jordan. Godspeed.

I think a lot of men go to a lot of their games with their dads. It's a part of the culture, although it's becoming more of a family thing now. I second the reserved seat recommendation. I don't have one, but you're guaranteed to be sitting with a bunch of passionate, hardcore Melbourne fans. Otherwise, you can always hang around the standing room areas, because each bay has a group of regulars.

Geelong will always, always have good membership figures. They just won 2 flags in 4 years ffs.

What exactly is his role? Acting tough and getting easy possessions as a lose man across half-back, ala Joel Bowden?

Nick Maxwell elite? I threw up in my mouth a little.