The Chazz

Thanks Choke, will give that a try later. Can't be too difficult to do that can it??!! Thanks to you too LFR.

I reckon there is every possible chance you will break records with your one-liners on this one B59!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/dont-blame-the-weapon-says-essendon-chairman-david-evans/story-e6frf9io-1226456149474 "Robinson was hired to build bulk and power to compete with league leaders. Robinson joined Essendon last pre-season on the recommendation of coach James Hird's right-hand man Mark Thompson, who worked with him in Geelong's premiership years." Just saying...

Interesting article... http://www.sportsnewsfirst.com.au/articles/2011/10/14/don-t-push-bomber-he-s-close-to-the-edge/ "Meanwhile, Thompson says the Bombers need to get back in the gym over summer if they want to match reigning AFL premiers Geelong next season... Thompson and senior coach James Hird drove the Bombers through a rigorous pre-season training regime last summer and Thompson says the players can expect more gruelling sessions in the build-up to the 2012 season. "We will do that again this year. We'll keep pushing until we get them big and strong and fit enough to play complete games of footy against the best teams," Thompson said on Friday. "More volume, more intensity, more weights, more education, more skills, more everything."" Yeah, I know, most clubs will say that sort of stuff every year, I'm just being a [censored]!

Wasn't it one of Thompson's first priorities (when he re-joined EFC) to get the players to add up to 10kg as quickly as possible?

It's a shame it's Clothier handling this, he hasn't had much success finding evidence in recent times. I'd prefer someone that can find something that will stick in this (EFC) case. F*** 'em.

Well MJT, if the figures are correct in that we get $400k a game, then $1.8m would make it $1.2m for games played, and $600k for "other" conditions, such as naming on jumpers/shorts. I would expect that we could ask for more, especially if we are "selling" 3 home games, our preseason camp, jumper sponsorship, plus community programs when we are up there. It should be worth >$2.5m per season.

It's probably a fair question to raise, given the first article was published back in 2009. Given that it is obvious we are doing what they (NT govt) wanted "a" club to do, I'd be wanting to know if we have got a 3-5 year plan as to how this will work, especially with an increase in games per season, as well as the Northern Territory "logo" appearing somewhere (similar to the Tasmania one on the HFC). I always thought this would be a better approach for the Chinese market, ie Tourism China getting some form of sponsorship, rather than targeting individual Asian companies. Carlton did/does it with Malaysia tourism.

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has It's a Grand Old Flag as a ringtone for iPhone? If so, any chance I can get the file emailed to me? Cheers.

Interesting topic, thanks HG for the OP. Found a couple of articles that will be of interest to most posters; http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/demons-open-to-darwin-game-deal/2009/05/27/1243103592913.html States that the NT government were prepared to offer up to $1.2m a year for any club that wanted to "do a Hawthorn in Tassie", which inclided community programs, sponsorship and playing game/s annually up there. Also had CS indocating that the MFC would prefer an arrangement like that, rather than the cash grab similar to the ACT days and the home games in Brisbane. So, looking at it from that point of view, the membership numbers aren't as important as getting hold of all of that $1.2m a year that the NT government want to throw an AFL club's way. But, I can imagine some on here would be thinking that $1.2m a year is only generating an extra $500k on top of the $700k we already get, well... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/darwin-to-host-melbourne-demons-at-marrara-oval/story-e6frf7jo-1225749440840 From the reports in this article, it looks like we only get around $400k a game, which is around what I remembered situations like that to be, so I'm not sure who came up with the $700k amount. All of a sudden, a 2nd/3rd home game in Darwin has to be on the radar over the coming years, wspecially if we are wanting to get as much of the NT government pie. At least that way, as the like of RPFC has indicated, we can sell 3-game memberships and would probably find that our membership numbers increase significantly in the NT should this be the case.

Dpositive - we will struggle to attract any new sponsors, local or international, until such time the tanking investigation is done and dusted. The current sponosrs re-signed during the investigation, but it's a monty that they will have a get-out clause should we be found guilty. Will they chose to "activate" it? Time will tel, but I assure you, I hope not! On the other hand, if our name is cleared, it'll not only be a relief, but it will be a lot easier to attract new money to the club. The fact that we barely made a profit in 2012, and the fact that no-one knows what the outcome will be, is why people on here like myself, Old Dee and WYL are bloody concerned should we be found guilty. If one of our $1m sponsors walk, it makes our bottom line at the end of 2013 look a lot weaker. On the flip side to that is that if we are cleared, we still need more $$$ coming in to continue to beef up our FD, to grow our asset base. It will be in that situation where the international market is a great idea. What is the latest on China???

B59, there is nothing is this post of yours to contribute to our discussion. The only thing you wrote that is relevant and truthful is the fact that the sponsors have resigned, and regardless of the outcome of the investigations, I hope it stays that way for the next year or 3. But, I will give your post the reply that it deserves(?); 1. I obviously know more than you on the subject. You expected that the FoJ sponsorship would be worth more than what EW were going to pay. I don't recall saying that I disagreed that the FoJ was worth less than BoJ, my main point was that the FoJ was not worth $2m+. I was right. 2. The only time I get pleasure out of being right, is when I bring up a topic on here, and posters like yourself try the whole "macho poster" thing, and often get personal rather than keeping to the topic. When it turns out I'm right, yes, I get great enjoyment out of it. I struggle to see how that puts me in Caro's class, but that's just further proof of your personal comments about my views. 3. Yes, major sponsors have resigned. How much for? Same as last year? Who knows, but I'd be tipping that it's not the overinflated prices that you thought was "market value". I would like to think CS could've negotiated an increase. 4.1 I have not said we are a basket case, but hey, don't let the facts get in the way of you trying to prove your incompetence on this subject. I did say we are irrelvant to the broader AFL community, and I bloody well meant it. To me, the MFC is everything, but jumping on this reality bus (hope it's a double decker), not many people that aren't Melbourne couldn't give a sh!t about us. 4.2 They (I'm assuming you mean Webjet and Opel) obviously do share the same opinion as me. They were happy to pay $1m each, I can assure you Webjet would've told CS where to stick his contract if he asked for your $2m+. Now, the way you played my post was as bad as the West Indies one-day side (as of today). I await your response, and by some miracle it would be great of you to address the points I raised in my previous post, such as why you think the 2013 model would excite a potential investor to hand over $1m+. But I expect that would be a lot harder than making shallow posts about nothing. Just for sh!ts and giggles B59, if you were looking to sponsor a team for 2013, would you invest in a club that has an investigation hanging over it's head, an investigation that is accusing us of cheating? Yep, the sound of crickets is deafening.

Round and round she goes... What is the 2013 model? C'mon B59, give me your sales pitch. I could have millions I want to invest, so I would love to hear why I should. It would want to be a bloody good one, because I will strongly argue that the negatives to date (especially those that Old Dee listed) would far outweigh the potential positives, especially for any smart business folk. Sadly, you would sound like an Indian trying to sell telco products to me at this stage. It would've been easier for CS to sell our potential when Bailey took over as opposed to now. Sure, in hindsight it was a mistake, but we didn't have as much baggage back then as we do now. I am quite confident that's how businesses would be thinking if CS were to walk through their door. If we are basicaly breaking even based given the sponsorship amounts received in 2012, I hope to Christ that CS in his renegotiations has managed to squeeze a few more dollars out of them somehow this year, which would be bloody near impossible. Perhaps he put in a performance-based clause, ie the more we win (over 2012), the more you pay.

Who you suggesting? There would a lot less now than this time 12 months ago.

And he has got big hands.

Thankfully RP, a lot of those blokes aren't on our list anymore.

I'm gald you agree with Old Dee's post, especially the line "Terrible off field publicity over the last two years". It may have been the sound of the penny dropping that I heard rather than your stomping. You have made comments over the past 6 months about how "good" this "publicity" is for our sponsors during the tanking investigations. Absolute tripe. I raised the point that a majority of the coverage we have received, especially when there was footage of us or a photograph used, all displayed 2009 merchandise/sponsors. Very rarely did they use footage of 2012. But what was your comeback to that? Oh that's right, it would've attracted more unique visitors to our web page. You really think supporters from other AFL clubs are rushing to www.melbournefc.com.au to find out the next installment of the saga? Get real B59. I can assure you, I'm an AFL tragic, and on the very rare occasion that I look at another club's webpage, the last thing I'm doing is looking for their sponsors. Just over 12 months ago you were making comments about the worth/value of the MFC brand. You basically indicated that if EW were going to pay $2m a year for the back of the jumper, that you were convinced that we shouldn't accept the same or less than $2m a year for the front, and questioned me personally for thinking that EW overpaid and that we wouldn't get anywhere near that for the front. There was a link to an article posted in this thread estimating both Opel and Webjet paid $1m a year. On that article that was posted, I'm amazed that you of all people B59, hasn't torn shreds off CS. You were so vocal about what you believed the front of jumper was worth. If as reported, we managed to sign someone up for $1m, I know for a fact that you would be livid.

He's skinny.

Brace yourself Old Dee - I'm hearing B59 stomping up to the keyboard as we speak...

He did indeed Redleg...

How else could we watch the Tour De France? I spend the first hour of coverage looking at the backdrop, then start watching the cycling for 5 minutes, then go to bed. Without drugs in that sport, I'd go to bed after I finish looking at the backdrop.

Pretty much... "Mick was delisted at the end of last year by a Melbourne-based AFL club, mainly for being not good enough, but partly because he had lost all interest in playing footy."

Gee, harsh! I have the luxury of not getting SEN where I live, but when I watch Richo on TVN, especially on a Friday night, I think he is quite funny but also very knowledgable! Each to their own!

Is that the Jason "Richo" Richardson the horse racing bloke that's on TVN?