Dr. Gonzo

Pros - no game at Geelong, no Mothers Day game, only 4 interstate games (away) Cons - no home games against Ess/Carl/Rich/Haw, playing GC at home on Easter/Greek Easter, home game at Docklands

It's the cost of having a guaranteed home game against the Pies on Queens Bday every year.

Much better than being sent to Perth to play Freo which is what I was expecting. Is it true we haven't played interstate in round 1 since 1998? I think we'll know very quickly how next season might pan out - a disappointing performance against the Saints will make for another looong winter. Not too fussed about the Friday night thing - what's the point if we just get embarrassed on national TV in prime time anyway? As a neutral I hate watching rubbish teams on Friday so can understand not getting any games until we've shown we can at least be competitive.

Pretty sure it's correct, I remember reading about it this time last year when Port were in all sorts of [censored]. Part of the AFL's manouvering to get back the SA licenses. Agree.

I'd offer Pendlebury big money but only on a 3-year deal. Doubt there's any chance of him coming but then I laughed at anyone who thought we'd get Roos when Neeld was sacked.

Should've had Talia.

Yeah why was that exuded from the podcast (Carlton's list management as well)? Pretty much the only part worth listening to.

Prepare to be disappointed - rumours I've read (mainly on BigFooty) reckon we're playing Freo in Perth round 1.

Nah that's wrong - you play 3 from your group of 6 twice , 2 from the middle group and 1 from the top group.

I just don't want to play at Geelong next year and have more Saturday than Sunday games. I'd also like some home games against other Vic clubs and not play on Easter Sunday, Mothers Day or Greek Easter (we copped the trifecta last year)!

I can understand our need to press into new markets to attract new supporters/sponsors/members but my issue with NT is there's just no-one there. A quick google search shows Darwin's population as at 2010 was about 125K, Alice's in 2011 was 25K. Is there really an opportunity for growth there? I'd rather play in Canberra who, while still a small city, at least has quite a large regional population close by. The other issue is whether this is going to be a long term relationship or not; if yes, then I think it will really prohibit our club down the track when we are (hopefully) pushing for and playing in finals. If it's only a short-term cash injection then we will lose the goodwill of the locals, similarly to what North did when they were hopping around the country in the late 90's, early 2000's.What happens then if we fall on hard times again? Will they welcome us back with open arms or will it be a case of once bitten, twice shy? Will they ahve formed a relationship with someone else? All of this of course doesn't even account for the immediate effects on the team & club. Will we be scheduled to play 6 interstate trips on top of our NT games, meaning 8 road games? Will we have another game at Geelong meaning only 13 Melbourne games? Will we also have a Docklands home game meaning only 8 home games left at the G. Who will our other home games be against, will we get more than 2 home MCG games against Vic clubs (generally only Collingwood and Hawthorn the last few years). Will we still be scheduled to play GWS, Gold Coast, Brisbane, West Coast etc on Mothers Day, Easter Sunday, Sunday twilight games? We'll find out next week but hopefully we have at least negotiated to have several MCG home games against the larger drawing Vic clubs (Carlton, Essendon, Richmond) instead of our usual dog's breakfast draw of Queen's Birthday, one other big drawing Vic club at home and a bunch of interstate franchises with little to no support or interest.

And one is R11 the week before we play Collingwood on Queens Bday which, whether you like it or not, is our flagship H&A game. How much is this deal worth? No mention of that in the article. I understand why they've done this but I'm not happy about it at all.

They probably thought the benefit of having Yeo as well as Acres or Sheed at 11 was worth the risk of missing out on Sheed at 6.

Would probably make more sense for the Pies to grab Freeman at 6 as Bontempelli still likely to be there for them at 9 - although it was reported they were keen on Lennon too.

Haha I was thinking Tingay but yep, I think you're right. Hopefully a better outcome this time assuming we draft him.

Mate did you not see us play this year? Pretty sure we'll find a spot for both if we have to, Jetta is one who is contracted but expendable. Hell we could do a Foundation Heroes collection to pay out Pedersen's contract and get him off our list if we have to.

It's always tough to tell how good the kids will go at senior level and whether each respective draft class is actually good or just look good in comparison to their peers. However as it stands I'll be happy if we pick any of Sheed (who was my early choice for pick 2), Freeman, Crouch (the pure midfielders), KK (I won't even try to spell his name), Bontempelli or even Lennon. I have a feeling we'll get one of the players we want and if Freeman and Sheed are both still available it will be a tough choice to split them. Sheed sounds like the more pure midfielder but Freeman seems to have a burst of speed which could add some dynamism to our midfield. I know Sheed can find the goals but not sure on Freeman's tendency to hit the scoreboard? I assume Eagles are after Sheed at 11 so would feel good to pip them after they pinched Shuey from us in 2008.

Your friend doesn't work for the Pies does he? I thought this kid was the reason the wanted that number 6 pick off WCE.

For anyone interested there is a trade radio podcast which is probably better because as well as avoiding the dropouts every 10 seconds, you can forward through all of Barret's [censored] and listen to the parts you actually want to listen to.

I thought his kicking action looked a bit awkward or "unco" but looking at the outcome they seemed to get to their target and be perfectly weighted kicks - granted its a small sample size but I thought it looked OK, probably not great but good.

Dreaming.

Yep, I've paraphrased but it's a pretty accurate dialogue of what was said in the sapce of a minute or so. It's not verbatim but pretty close to (think it was last Wednesday when they were talking about North).

Was talking more about body shape than height.

Haha what a [censored] - just listen to him on trade radio, comes of as a fawning loser - also has all these extreme opinions about teams/players/trades then when interviewing anyone about them goes to water like a meek little moron. "Do you think the Roos can make the Grand Final in 2014 Terry?" "Nup" "Do you think Dal Santo could be the difference between the Roos making the GF in 2014?" (pause) "No" LMAO

+ either Freeman, Crouch or Sheed?