Dr. Gonzo

"For neutral venues" - Adelaide and Port for example can play 8 home, 8 away and 1 neutral game. We could play 7 home, 7 away and 3 neutral (MCG games vs Richmond, Collingwood and Hawthorn). Home & away doesn't really matter except for interstate travel (or games in Geelong).

What is the difference between home and away for neutral venues with no crowds and no gates? NSW, QLD, SA & WA teams will get 8 home, 8 away and 1 neutral game. Vic clubs will be different but they can figure it out, Geelong really the only outlier.

Kangaroos have our 1st round pick this year

If we won the flag this year I would be bloody ecstatic. It would suck not being there or winning in an empty stadium, would be extremely eerie. But I'd still be celebrating like a madman with the family, wife, kids, parents, brother, sister, cousins, aunts and uncles. Especially if it was against the Pies or Tigers (or even West Coast)

He's a good 3rd marking option up forward but definitely not the key forward target, I agree

He had Hogan next to him. Hogan drew players to him and he ran up and back all day creating space in our forward and spreading defences.

You have to have some community integration, we need to have something to sell to the government to invest in

Governments should spend in a downturn to stimulate the economy

Each club should travel once to Perth, Sydney, Queensland & Adelaide (except of course the clubs based there). The WA and SA clubs will play more games in NSW/QLD due to their governments policies

And Richmond! My hope is no games in Geelong or Tassie. Reality is that won't happen...

So now we're getting up in arms about an anonymous misquoted comment about us being favourites for the spoon. It doesn't take much to move the needle does it? We need footy back ASAP

That's right, Norm grew up in the inner (at those times farmland!) suburbs of Northcote and Westgarth. Norm and Checker, two from outside the usual ranks of the Melbourne Establishment, were the heart and soul of the club for almost 4 decades during which we dominated the competition and won 10 flags. They put the Demon fire into the Melbourne CC/FC belly. We need to embrace the Demon, it is barely existent these days.

This is a great post and goes to the heart of the matter. Without wanting to sound like a robo-coach you need the structures and support in place to be able to foster a successful environment. We don't have a suburban heartland to draw inspiration from like the Doggies or Tigers so we need to market ourselves like a Collingwood or Hawthorn - that is ultra-professional with the best available facilities etc leaving no stone unturned to achieve success. It is the only way. Training on a park next to a freeway has to have an impact on the players even if only subconsciously. It's like, if the club isn't going to invest in us then how hard can we really be pushing ourselves? We need to lean on our connections with both MCC, the top end of town and in political circles. That is not to say the ordinary supporters should be disenfranchised or forgotten but to create the successful environment we need the resources and influence of those who can assist.

Did he call him a cheat? The only quote I can find is from DemonWiki which says Smith called him "subconsciously biased" - that is a lot different to calling someone a cheat! A bit precious from Blew to take it to Court.

My wife, dad and mum have all got the email but I haven't received it yet...

Seems fair, I assumed they would have to offer partial refunds to the level of an absentee membership which is fair. $170 to maintain your membership status for the year means $450 saved from a full membership and $300 from a silver membership The email seems to indicate you'll still have access to games this year should criwds be allowed to return (unlikely I know) but I'm going to clarify that this would be at the same rate as usual (ie for finals would you get in week 1 for the booking fee of $20 or would you have to pay the guest pass fee of around $80+ booking fee?)

He's not an idiot. His job is to play to his constituents and get re-elected. Bashing the Vic's is a clear vote winner.

The problem I've always had with Board elections is I wouldn't have any idea what any of their agendas are. The only thing I have to go on is their resume or public profile. I have no idea what platform they are running on or how competent they are to run a footy club.

We had Jimmy ?

This is the video I was referring to - others may have seen this but I hadn't seen an extended version of his interview on the Tony Charlton Football Show before.If you don't want to watch the whole thing it starts around the 18m30s mark

Come on mate. Of course its "only" a game in the grand scheme of things, but people are emotionally invested in their clubs which do not just represent a game but a community. That's why people post here. Over 7 and a half years I'm sure you've spent more than a few minutes on here

Hopefully some of our players have been watching The Last Dance on Netflix to get an idea of the mentality required to succeed at the highest level.

If it were "only a game" you wouldn't dedicate hours upon hours on here or at training or at the club etc It's more than a game, it's part of the fabric and history of this city/state/country. It's tribal. Supporters are emotionally invested and for many the football club is like a part of their extended family, it is part of their identity. That's not to say there shouldn't be perspective, but trying to downplay its importance is equally silly.

Because it is part of our clubs history and without addressing it and recognising the failure we won't be able to achieve success.

It's just the feeling I got while watching an old Norm Smith doco from fox footy a couple of weeks back. It had an extended version of the interview of Smith on the Tony Charlton show after his sacking which led me to believe the bad blood between he and the board went beyond this incident and went to the heart of our fall from grace. He said in that interview in 1965 that he and others (like Barassi) could see the writing on the wall but the board were oblivious Interestingly another commentator (can't remember who it was) that was interviewed made the comment that yeah, what Norm Smith did was wrong and anyone else you could understand the board not backing them. But this guy WAS Melbourne, he played in 4 premierships, coached 6 more for a total involvement in 10 of the clubs 12 flags! He had just come off an unprecedented era of success. Guys like that you back to the hilt, even if they're wrong. It was an interesting half hour doco, I'll try and upload to YouTube and post here in the next couple of days.