praha

Bit of hysteria in this thread. Prior to our GWS game we were averaging 50k for home games. Even after that poor turnout of 20k it was still a 41k average, good enough for second behind Carlton. Currently across home and away we are 7th behind Tigers, Blues, Magpies, Bombers and Hawks. We have a better home average than Collingwood (although they've admittedly had home games against GC WC and Adelaide) and have 40k average, same as Essendon, who have a 84k ANZAC Day home game in their pocket. Personally I feel like our own supporter turnout has been about the same as past years...internally the club must be a bit frustrated at that. But I wouldn't say our crowds have been bad. An Essendon supporter friend of mine said it was the first time he felt that Essendon had as many supporters in MCC as Melbourne. Normally he says we have about double. Either more Essendon supporters showed up than usual or MCC is letting us down. As someone that sits in the AFL Members, the turnout there is probably the lowest I can remember, probably not since 2008/2009. At the GWS game I reckon there was maybe 300 AFL Members there. Looking into the MCC, it doesn't look as full as it used to. BUT club members GA and Southern Stand GA is busier than it has been in past years. I definitely feel like MCC and AFL Members are the ones keeping crowds below where we expect them to be. As an AFL member the way we have been treated not just the past two years but the past decade has been shocking. The facilities are [censored] poor, ticketing is ridiculous and prices keep going up. During COVID it reached peak levels and I honestly think some fans are just sick of it. I can't speak for the MCC but I suspect it may be similar. I pay 700 a year which is discounted this year and yeah I am pretty much guaranteed a Grand Final ticket but the "experience" is just decisively average. In summary, crowds and growth might be below what we'd expect after a flag, but COVID has shined a light on how uninspiring the league has become from a fan experience perspective. They've just expected fans to return to the same pre-2020 product without realising that many have enjoyed football from home for two years, all the while actually presenting a *worse* product. Given that I'd say it's a miracle crowds are even what they are. And evidently, Melbourne and Carlton supporters are rocking up to home games more than any other team's supporters.

Round 21 2019 vs Collingwood. Next one will be this weekend vs Saints simply because this thread exists.

If Essendon pays half his contract I'd give up a 3rd rounder + filler for him Maybe Melksham lol

I think North Melbourne has a completely different indigenous name.

Which sums up why WC would be utterly insane to throw massive numbers at him with the legitimate intent to sign him. None of it makes sense to me at all. They'd have to part ways to 2x top 10 picks and a pretty big chunk of salary gap space. If they were pushing for finals and their window then fair enough but Eagles are looking at years at the bottom. They are way too top heavy on the experience scale. Their fans seems to think they will turn it around quickly but it ain't the 90s anymore.

Disgusting crowd number again

lol McDonald

Even when we're playing [censored], we're still playing pretty good lol

Three goals from turnovers at half back.

Gunstan, Bruest, Sicily, OMeara absolutely carving us up. The ball is falling into the hands of Gunstan and Bruest.

Relax.

Their transition and disposal out of defense is nauseatingly good.

"It's 2022 and manning up isn't a thing anymore."

tl;dr "Score more than them."

I don't think they do this. I am certain they still offer some casual chatter and insight during ad breaks.

This helps us in Jackson negotiations. Any player would be crazy to sign a contract beyond 2024 given broadcast rights will increase and thus push up player payments. 2 year extension and then revisit in 2024.

Was a good turnout by both teams yesterday. If Hawks can get up today we could well get 50k+ next week.

Give them a shot. I've rewatched every game except the Gold Coast game and they are all great gritty wins and much easier to enjoy knowing the result.

This is 2019 Melbourne

Worst quarter of the last 2 years. Easily. Tigers beating us at our own game.

McDonald was a given for Brown given Richmond's lack of height in defense and it being a dry night. Was the right decision. Weeds undoubtedly giving us more atm.

That's on the basis that they're only household close contacts and don't actually have COVID.

They have returned to a system of "just turning up". Big crowd events have always been "ticketed". The ticketing mechanisms in 2022 are back to normal, as they were in 2019 pre-COVID. All three of our home games this year have allowed walk-ups in AFL Members. They only time they don't is if ticketing exceeds 60% capacity. At that point, you must purchase a reserved seat. That's how it was pre-COVID.

Night games simply aren't as appealing as they used to be. Anyone that thinks lockdowns didn't have an impact are kidding themselves. I used to love going into the city at night but after two years locked down I want to be out and about during the day... waiting a whole day for a game is weirdly more tiring than it used to be. If that game were at 2pm on Saturday afternoon, 100% there's at least another 5k there. We got 38k vs GWS in 2018 at the MCG. Closer to finals and the crowd is definitely bigger. IMO COVID still plays a huge role. AFL Members was as dead as I've ever seen it at a Melbourne game and let me tell you the AFL Members is normally quiet at Melbourne games anyway but Saturday night was next level quiet. I'm part of an AFL Members facebook group and you're talking about a highly invested group of football supporters who attend multiple games a year as neutral supporters...if you think the clubs have stuffed around supporters with club membership, trust me they've got NOTHING on how [censored] terrible the ticketing and facilities have gotten for AFL Members. People have stopped caring. Richmond, Collingwood, Essendon supporters....all turning their back on the league. 20k isn't a Melbourne problem. It's a league problem. Confident things will pick up again though. Suspect changes in isolation rules will also have an impact. Read somewhere that it's something like 30k household contacts per day isolating... that's going to have an impact *everywhere* especially on a sport heavily invested in family memberships... one member goes down and you have 3-6 people who can't attend. My family all used to attend every week, 10-12 people. This year no more than 3 of us on any given night have attended. A combination of night matches, covid caution and isolation rules all impacting the decision. Last week I was the only one from my extended family who went. It wasn't that anyone said they "didn't want to" attend. They literally couldn't because of either COVID, or because they were away for Easter. Easter has an impact on crowds in a normal year. Add COVID and you have double or triple impact. The government has been kidding themselves thinking things can get "back to normal" with vaccination requirements and isolation rules still in place.

I don't think ANB has lost a contest in the middle all game.