Dr. Gonzo

Can't wait for Petracca to get on the park, watching him in the middle with Jones, Viney and Brayshaw will be brutal.

I completely agree with your first paragraph. I can't comprehend the second.

You obviously never went to any of the old suburban grounds or Waverley? Or for that matter the MCG before the recent upgrades. Docklands is far less a "hole" than any of those grounds. I don't like it but to suggest it is a "hole" is ridiculous. And I'll go watch the MFC play wherever it's not about the ground it's about the club. Those who refuse to support the club at Docklands because of some hissy fit about it's not fair and I don't like it are just as bad as though who refuse to buy a membership as a means of "sending a message to the club" - especially when the club has no say in the scheduling of these games. Nb. I'm not saying there aren't reasons for not going/buying memberships but those who otherwise would but choose not to because they're having a sook are quite frankly part of the problem. Case in point. Haha "thousands" - get a grip.

This plan stinks! The AFL spoke some platitudes about equalisation a couple of years back (even asking for submissions from each club) and formed an equalisation committee/taskforce including Eddie McGuire, Andrew Newbold, Peter Gordon (token) and Gary March. The outcome? The biggest issue apparently wasn't revenue distribution, favoured fixturing, stadium agreements or the disparity in FD spending between rich and poor clubs. No, the big issue needing to be addressed was Sydney's COLA allowance and the northern club academies. So instead of real equalisation measures that could help achieve a form of parity in the competition we get the new draft bidding system and this reintroduction of zoning. Zoning, remember, was phased out for the draft as an equalisation measure in the first place! And if you think this won't lead to clubs having first dibs on players you're off with the fairies. If the AFL wants to address the issue they should be taking ownership of the academies themselves rather than leaving it in the hands off self interested parochial clubs. Most clubs have had some issue or another managing themselves competently over the last 20-30 years so why does the AFL leave the development of the game in their hands? Why doesn't the AFL manage the academies ensuring a consistent approach and no favouritism to one club over another? The AFL remember is not only the administrator of the competition but also the custodian of the game, something they usurped from the ANFC when the VFL expanded and swallowed the other states up. So in their role as custodian it is their responsibility to develop the game and expand into different communities - instead we get this ridiculous proposal which has only come about because the likes of Collingwood & Hawthorn have hijacked the equalisation debate and made sure no true measures that would impact their clubs can be implemented. The AFL and the other clubs are of course spineless and refuse to do anything about this. I have been saying for a long time the smaller clubs need to form a bloc and lobby the AFL on issues such as fixturing, stadium arrangements and other inequalities in the competition. Not just Melbourne, North, Footscray and Saints but include Geelong (who at least under their current administration is aligned with us on this) and others such as Port and Brisbane. That's 7 of the 18 clubs and more than enough to get the AFL's ear.

Pretty sure gate sharing was in place until as recently as the late 90's! I assumed it changed due to the non-Vic clubs kicking up a stink?

1987 revisited?

No that's not how it works. If you're in the bottom 6 you play 2-3 of those in your third of the ladder twice, 1-2 of the middle third twice anf 0-1 of the top third twice. The afl would never implement a fixture that didn't leave it open to their manipulation to still get the blockbusters/derbies etc twice a year.

You realise one of the games is in Alice Springs, not Darwin yeah?

Haha ok mate

It will - when we consistently draw 35-40k against those teams in Melbourne. Until then I'm actually more inclined to see us play more games there akin to Hawthorn in Tassie, something I never thought I would say.

No thats wrong - they do divide the ladder into thirds but you play 2-3 in your third twice and then 1-2 or 0-1 in the other thirds depending on where you finished.

I reckon our double ups aren't bad outside of Hawthorn. Collingwood and Saints won't be that good (though playing Saints twice at Docklands hurts - although we did play better against them there than at the G this year...), we usually match up well against Port and Gold Coast will only be thereabouts. At least we don't play Freo or West Coast twice and I'd rather Collingwood than Geelong or the Dogs I think.

Yeah and the flipside is we get Essendon away at the G every year instead of playing them at Docklands. Would prefer a home game against the Bombers though.

I guess it's better than playing one of the non-Vic sides there and pulling a crowd of 15k. At least with playing the Saints it should mean the game is profitable.

Bulldogs and Melbourne the only Vic sides to travel to Geelong.

3 away games to finish the year as well (Port @ Adel, Carl, Geel @ Geel)

Only 5 of those are home games though and one is the ANZAC Eve game so doesn't really count.

Port game is in the Alice, the Freo game is Darwin - and we don't have a bye after the Darwin game AGAIN

No friday night games No home games against Essendon or Carlton A home game against the Saints at Docklands Double up games against Hawthorn, Collingwood, Gold Coast, Port & Saints 6 home games against interstate sides and we play North Melbourne in Hobart At least we don't have to play Mothers Day or Easter Sunday Oh yeah and the last game is in Geelong

Hopefully no one informs him of Hanukkah or Ramadan his head will explode! It's a great move by the two clubs and hopefully remains supported by the AFL. Will be interesting to see how it pans out - I have my reservations, especially how it will work when ANZAC day falls mid week though could help the scheduling with the 4 clubs playing each other the week before/after so each has a similar break. We may have been better off trying fir a permanent Friday game each ANZAC round but you can't fault the clubs for trying. It's important we try and get as big a crowd as possible to this one. Hopefully the weather helps, from memory last year was drizzling all afternoon with bad weather expected that night so it would have kept some of the neutrals and 50/50's away.

Vince and Jones won't be around forever and it's pretty disingenuous to label Salem, Brayshaw and Petracca as "inside mids". You could also add Trengove in the same boat but who knows if he'll ever play again. I dont think we have enough midfield depth that we can pass on a good thing however I agree we want some class users of the ball which Parish should hopefully assist with.

Just going from what I've read I would be shocked if we didn't take Parish at 3. Not disappointed as I don't really know any of these kids from a bar of soap, just shocked.

I'm a regular listener of Junktime it'd easily the best AFL podcast going round and is probably the best football show period. The two hosts used to write for Before The Game if I'm not mistaken and do well without a network censoring them. The podcast with Titus was great, he completely encapsulated for other listeners what it has been like being a Melbourne supporter for the last decade. Nothing new for those of us who have lived through it (and I couldn't believe he got some dates wrong like the 186 game being in 2009 and the draft years though I guess that shows not all supporters are as maniacal as those of us here) but still a shock to hear it anf hear the reactions of those who haven't been in the bunker with us. The Carlton supporter said he was interested as a supporter of a club about to go through the same horror...

Someone on BigFooty said we've only travelled once in round 1 since 1991! (Twice if you count going to Kardinia Park in 95).

27k against the Suns in the same game this year.