Dr. Gonzo

The Roy Morgan polls are one aspect - they are multiple polls I should also add, not just one and the figures are consistent. The other aspects are memberships & attendance figures not just recently but even when we were travelling well earlier in the decade. If our supporter base is large enough why are trying to make inroads out Casey way?

Not very scientific analysis there. Even when we were travelling well we would struggle to get more than 35K supporters to a game. The new "minimum" for memberships seems to be 50K with the "big" clubs breaking 70K. I struggle to see how we will ever get anywhere near that at least in the next couple of decades. If we can sustain a membership base of 40K it will be a great achievement for where we are but will put us in the B-Division of Vic clubs alongside North, Dogs & Saints with all that that entails.

Do we? In those Roy Morgan polls we are consistently down the bottom (second last, pretty much equal last with North from memory at around 200K supporters). My guess would be that a large proportion of our supporter base is ageing with a lot of the younger generation having either left to follow other clubs or have no interest in footy. Another guess would be that many of the "supporters" we claim are actually MCC members who nominate Melbourne as their "footy" team but who really have little interest in football.

I was at the Royal Melbourne Show with my mum, aunt and cousin who is a Richmond supporter but was in his 3 or 4 year Hawthorn stage. I remember there were Demons and Hawks posters up around the Show and we kept asking people the score. All day people would tell us Melbourne was up then the last person we asked, "the Hawks won". Was only 5 but was shattered and it's my earliest footy memory (actually scratch that, remember listening to R22 vs Footscray on radio at my sisters birthday party).

NFL playoffs start on Sunday, that will get you through until the practice matches start. If you didn't watch week 17 go back and check out a few of those games, Packers/Bears was great and Dallas/Philly was pretty entertaining too, both games for the Division Titles and playoff berth and loser leaves town.

I hate pokies as well but the reality is they only exist because of the dolts who feed money into them. If someone's going to make money off them might as well be MFC.

I really have no faith in anything Barrett says or writes, just takes a scattergun approach to his journalism. Not surprised to see he has the same unprofessional approach outside the office as in. Just another bitter North Melbourne supporter with a persecution complex.

The guys had multiple usernames over the last few years pretty sure e25, Artie Bucco etc were him as well

Just occurred to me but he reminds me a bit of Paul Prymke. Someone will no doubt point out why they are nothing alike but hopefully he has better results than Prymke who was forced into early retirement due to back injury.

O'Loughlin?

This is what I'm expecting - a focus on strength around stoppages and hard running both ways. He mentioned something about Sydney's "slingshot" gameplan so I'd be expecting somehting similar to the way Sydney currently play, not necessarily how they were playing under Roos.

I'm like you old dee and this year will be my 25th consecutive year as a member. A couple of years back when I was wondering if it was all worth it and whether my money could be better spent elsewhere it definitely helped sway me to re-sign again. It's just a small thing but I think in the future when I get to 50 years I'll be glad I kept it up. Might also convince some to buy a "charity" membership on a lower cost during years when they may not be able to make many games due to travel/work etc. I think it's good for the club to recognise long standing members (though of course this doesn't mean they are any better/more valuable than any other members - every one counts!)

My 9 month old son got his 2nd membership in the mail today after joining up in March the day after he was born. Got a nice pair of redlegs socks included amongst other things.

I already said I don't have a problem with Nasher's post he was just make a light-hearted pun. As for advising people of mistakes, I often do this as well (not just in forums but real life) but often have to catch myself because I know that while some people see it as being "nice to advise someone of a mistake" others see it as annoying, arrogant, pompous and overall being a dick.

It's not that it's offensive, t's that it's monotonous and boring and makes Demonland a chore to read trying to get through multiple posts in multiple threads about Bleese's and Maloney's and what have you. I want to read about footy not people bitching back and forth about spelling mistakes. I haven't commented on it before because I don't want to contribute to the rubbish and I'll overlook cringeworthy "jokes" and comments about llama's but acting like a [censored] towards someone just trying to contribute because they misspelt someone's name is pathetic.

Haha exactly - if only the grammar/spelling Nazi's would realise their posts clogging up forums are infinitely more tiresome than someone inadvertently misspelling someone's name. I don't want to have to sift through pages of posts rehashing the same complaints and tired jokes, I want to read people's opinions on footy. I know we have a lot of wannabe comedians on here but for the most part the posts you think are so clever are actually pretty cringeworthy. Anyway now that I've got that off my chest I wanted to actually say thanks for your observations Dees2014 it's something that has been a well known fact for some time that the training standards at MFC were equivalent to a VFL or suburban team. If the intensity has picked up as it should be expected to under our new FD then hopefully this translates to gameday performances. It is also Misson's much anticipated "third pre-season" with the club so hopefully we should start to see those results also however considering the amount of turnover on the list since he began who knows. FWIW I had no issues with Nasher's post it was all the other rubbish that is the crap people shouldn't have to put up with when they're trying to share some info with the rest of us.

Jason Mifsud likes this post

Wow - speaking as a Greek, people have gone to war for less.

Unsure how I feel about the pick - I probably would have preferred Sheed but Salem is probably better again than Freeman. Seems a similar player to Toumpas however possibly with a bit more "aggro"/desire for the physical. Reminds a bit of Whelan like that and seems to have a decent boot on him so could be a good pick up. I think the value of this pick will come down to how well our other recruits (Tyson, Michie, Vince, Cross) perform. I would have thought that with Vince & Cross being mature aged players our quota of "inside"/contested ball winners wasn't complete but he could complement us for the next two years. Overall in what could be a pretty weak draft we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.

Yep what I was thinking too. As well as getting Adams from GWS.

Ha told ya

If he's available at West Coasts pick is be astonished if they don't take him.

I agree BH, Sheed looks like the most likely "footballer" in the old school sense of the word. He was initially my favourite at pick 2 and I think his stocks were hindered by his shoulder injury at the champs. I swung to Freeman for a while there as I was attracted by his pace and his highlights looked pretty good (maybe not "silky smooth" but got the outcomes in regards to getting the ball where it needed to go) and the last couple of days I've been warming to Salem but overall I'm thinking Sheed is a guarantee to be a consistent long-term player who can hit the scorebaord and stand up in big games. He may not be a "game-breaker" type but will just be a consistent high possession getter who does the job week-in, week-out. He remains my favourite though I wouldn't be totally unhappy if we landed Freeman or Salem or even Scharenberg if he's still available. I agree with you as well that the priority is to bed down the "contested ball winners" first and then complement them outside pace once that has been sorted.

Well not really - Demetriou is not the AFL and the AFL is not Demetriou. This was Ken Wood operating under his own mandate so I think it's a proper distinction - but anyway, carry on.

Did you read the article? It says Ken Wood wrote to the clubs, not Demetriou.