The Chazz

Scully has signed with GWS?

Well, I live here now and I'm telling you exactly how it is in the South East QLD region. The CEO of the first company I worked for up here was an ex-RL player/coach/CEO and even he called RL - footy. And to be honest, Rugby Union is referred to as Rugby a lot more than it is referred to as Union.

Sorry Thomo, I'll do the same to you. All my born and bred Qld friends call; Rugby League - FOOTY (makes me feel dirty every time I hear them speak) Rugby Union - Rugby or Union AFL - numerous names, some I can't post, but generally AFL So, when I have a conversation with them about coming around for a footy and beers night, they ask "footy or AFL?".

Or the amount of weeks it will take him to recover from his first hamstring strain.

Ok RR, as my last post was deleted, can you please indicate where; a) I have laid 100% blame on the players, and b] Where I have acknowledged that my take on what happened was clearly incorrect I'm happy for you to quote me and not agree with what I believe, but don't ever make false claims. Poor form champ, poor form.

What do you call Rugby League then Thomo?

Where did my post go?

I wouldn't think Mars are sponsoring Carlton so that Cadbury's didn't sponsor them. And the fact that Ford sponsoring Geelong hasn't stopped the likes of Volvo sponsoring Melbourne (albeit not as a major sponsor). I don't think that now Hankook has stopped being a major sponsor of Melbourne will mean Bridgestone will be jumping on board straight away. Some brands need to sponsor becuase their competitor is, I totall agree. The Nike/Adidas/New Balance/etc sponsorships are always going to be for competition sake. I have worked for companies that have sponsored sporting clubs and/or events for both reasons RP. Some because it cut our competitors out, but other times for purely an awareness thing.

Half correct, half totally incorrect. I get it RP, you don't rate the Super XV competition. From a potential sponsors point of view, they are having their logo displayed in NZ, South Africa and Australia, the latter being heaily publicised in Qld, not so much in the other states, but in NZ, it's their number 1 sport and by the jesus are they passionate about that competition. WYL, wow dude, you and I are so in the zone at the moment - we are agreeing on everything each other says on all topics! Thanks!

RR, I have not said that the players are the only ones to blame. If anything, I indicated in the below paragraph (of my original post in this thread) that the Club isn't saying they were not guilty in those events, but they have fixed areas of concern... "To the players; if you have issues with certain things inside the Club? Don't punish us members and supporters by putting on displays such as 186 EVER again. There are things in place, personnel in place, that should never allow you to act in the fashion that you did. I would imagine you have got everything you asked for, and most importantly, you have got everything at your fingertips that even some recent premiers don't have. Now it's up to you to deliver something to us, the ones that have stuck by through thick and thin, the good times and the sh!t times." I have looked at threads, articles, and spoke to people involved with the Club not long after 186. While I wasn't at the game, I watched it all. From my observations, of course I have come to a conclusion, and that's wholey and soley my opinion.

Sorry Fan, I was under the impression that the players went to the Board, my mistake - I must have read that in the paper as opposed to here on Demonland. FWIW, if the board of the company I worked for and questioned me about aspects of the business, I'd front up the next day and put in 100%. I have a job to do, I get paid to do it, I get on and do it. But that's me. I don't sit back and think "f*** it, this place is in ruins", and then sit on my arse and do nothing. The amusing thing I find about this thread is that it is about the Annual Generaly Meeting. Normally that is a time to reflect on the past 12 months, covering all aspects of the business. They'd be the first to talk about a purchase we made 11 months ago that is generate X amount of millions of dollars. Well, why not review all aspects, not just those that we pick and choose.

Cool, interesting to know. Thanks DWA. I'm amazed actually, I thought that if something happened outside of WA it meant that you would have to read it in the World News section! Just kidding

Come up here (South East Qld) and try and sponsor the Reds. Hope you've got a few bucks in the bank! Just because super XV isn't big in Vic, WA or the ACT, doesn't mean that they lack it throughout the rest of the country. I can assure you, they more than make up for it in the northern state.

Sorry RP, I may be missing what you're saying. Realistcally, across Australia in general, there are 2 major sporting codes, AFL and NRL. In QLD, this isn't the case, but in other parts of Australia such as Vic and Tas, there is only 1 code - AFL! So, if I were an Asian investor, and I had $2m to spend on developing a brand in Aust through sporting sponsorships, I'd be looking at an AFL club and an NRL club. I wouldn't be looking at a club in every other code, and I have not indcated that. Then I would look at who gets what. 50/50? 60/40? That's up to CS to get the best deal from, and use the "we get X much exposure, blah blah". My point is that if the above scenario is close to the mark, which it is more than possible it is, that we may find we are getting a new major sponsor on bard for $1m. I admit - it's obviously hard to know exact figures, but I'm basing it on B59's assumption that the FoJ is worth $2m. Which lead me to my next point about the 5 companies putting in $500k each. Asian businesses can be quite clicky, and it wouldn't surprise if CS was meeting with more than 1 company at a single meeting. If a group of investors said "you want $2m for a major sponsorship, well, us 5 companies will put in $500k each, and we all want major sponsorship privilleages", what would you do? We're trying to develop our brand in China, and out of S' business trip to China, he managed to get a major sponsor "group" who are paying $2.5m a year, we'd all be high-fiving and chest pumping! It's then up to CS to negotiate how to generate maximum exposure for all investors, which could be for all away games company 1 & 2 get half each, and all home games the other 2 go half and half, and then the 5th party gets something else. Then, as an added incentive (as part of CS' negotitaions) would be that if we were to make finals, 1 company can have the sole rights to the FoJ at an extra cost (maybe $200k per game?). It's all hypothetical, and reality is that in 2012, it won't be anything like what I have just written! But, it could just be something for the MFC to consider as we continue to expand in the Chinese market.

What am I blaming him for? These are opinion-based threads, and that's my opinion. He told me to read through threads on here to understand what "actually" happened, yet as you said, no one from the Club has made comment on. You may well be right that the players and coach are partially to blame, but I can't see how they are only partially. They are professional athletes in their chosen field. They got beaten by 186 points in a competition tha tis mean to be "even". How can the players not be mostly to blame? At the end of the day, they're the ones running out on to the oval, chasing the ball, trying to stop their opponents from scoring while actually scoring themselves. It's either that or we were just having a bad day, all 21 of them at once (with the exception of Jordie Mc and someone else - can't remember who). No side at AFL level should allow that to happen, regardless of the amount of crap that was happening offield. Players must take responsibility and my original post is that it is never to happen again, ever. Things are in place to make sure that if they have an issue, that it's left in the change rooms, not on the scoreboard.

RR, not sure why you've all of a suddent adopted this "my opinion is right so f*** you if you don't agree" attitude. Hope everything is ok behind the screen. Firstly, why would I revisit threads on Demonland to learn about events that occured? Unless Cameron Schwab posted himself, which he has in the past, there is some truth in amongst the millions of pages of opinions, it's just trying to work out who to believe. You're not at the top of my list in that regard. But, how I saw 186 was that the players were obviously not happy with things behind the scenes, through various means, communicated with the Board voicing their concerns, then came out and put on the worst display of AFL/VFL football I have ever witnessed. Was it poor coaching? Maybe, but Bailey wasn't sacked becuase of 1 game. Did Bailey go out and tell the players "boys, don't try this week because, that will make a statement for what's going on with our Club". If that is in fact what happened, any player that didn't stand up and say "we don't stand for that" should have been sent packing with DB. If it was a player-driven thing, then my initial post stands re. we've fixed things behind the scenes, which gives you time to concentrate on improvement. Not sure where/why you are challenging me - it's my opinion, and at this stage, it's neither wrong nor right until someone that does know (ie players, coach, football department) comes out and sets the record straight. That means your opinion isn't right or wrong either.

If the Sydney press reported on Quade Cooper doing something brilliant or stupid, they'd be in there every week! He's either red hot or ice cold!!! I said ages ago on this thread (or a thread similar), that it's about the return on investment. If an Asian company trying to crack in to the Australian market have a sponsorship/marketing budget of say $2m a year, are they going to invest all that in to the MFC, or split that bucket of cash between the most covered/publicised codes in certain areas. It's then up to CS to come back and sell the benefits of us getting a majority of that money becuase of certain reasons, and hoping that they agree. The Asian economy is going well, but that doesn't mean they have deep buckets to be pouring in to Australian sports sponsorships. Where we can get the best out of it is that fact that there are a lot of individual buckets in Asia, and getting 5 companies on board at $500k each a year, is a lot better and probably more achievable than 1 company coming in with $2m a year.

Cheers WYL. The point of my thread was not to sound like a smart arse, but to make people understand, especially those that live in Victoria, that AFL doesn't have it all their own way when it comes to Australia-wide coverage. Placing huge price tags on sponsorhip packages is great if that company is specifically after the Victorian market, but if they are trying to crack in to other states as well, that they may not get the massive bang for their buck that they want. LG was probably a great example of that when they sponsored us. From memory, they sponosred a number of codes at the same time, and that included international codes. Instead of spending all their money on us, and hoping that they got exposure in other states, they probably negotiated a cheaper price, so that they could spread their name between a variety of sporting codes. As it currently stands, I'd be happy to reduce our price tag slightly, especially if the asking price is around the $2m that some on here believe it's worth. Unfortuantely, when investors are talking multi-million dollar deals, they have to feel in control of negotiations. While we have a bare space on our left [censored], it would be dangerous practice to be in a situation where we think we are in total control. Nb. I'm not saying we have to give the space away for nothing, just need to be resonable.

Please explain RR.

Further to my above post, I thought I'd share an insight for our southern friends in the way our print media rolls in Queensland. Jimmy's stepping down yesterday was by far the biggest news circling AFL ranks yesterday. Today's Courier Mail had a back page full of NRL (this Saturday is teh all stars game). Inside the back page - more RL, next page is a full page (except a small article at the bottom on the T20 match last night) devoted to Black Caviar and how she is worth more than what she's actually name after. Next page = more RL, and the next, you guessed it, more RL. The next page has 1/2 an article on RL, and half a page about car racing. Finally, on the 7th page in from the back, just underneath the 3/4 page of Rugby Union, is a small article, 2 columns wide and about 2 inches high, of Stynes stepping down. FWIW, the following page is basicallt dedicated to A-League. Sponsoring a non-QLD based AFL team gives you minimal exposure in this location, and would definitely not be more than a non-QLD based Super XV team. Especially, as Demonator rightly indicated, as the Reds are doing so well in the Super XV competition.

Does anyone know if the Club has anything similar to/along the lines of "Melbourne Immortals"? I know we have AFL/VFL Legends, but I'm talking about an exclusive MFC thing. While there are a number of statues around the MCG for various sportsman/women, we need to continue to turn this (the G), back in to our heartland. Having an avenue of Melbourne Immortals statues would be a great thing, especially if it is near where the players walk in to the ground. It would be a thing that the likes of Beamer and Jonesy would insist that every MFC player that walked in to the MCG had to walk down this path. Just an idea - wrong thread again I know sorry!

Thanks for all the reports guys, much appreciated. Question I have regarding the "flatness" of the meeting. While the obvious events regarding Jimmy would have put a dampener on things, could it be that everyone in the room have had enough of all the positive talk, and just crave action from the players? I have listened to the 3 talks on DeeTV (McLArdy, Schwab and Neeld), and while I enjoy listening to anything anyone from the Club says, I've lost a lot of interests in the positive talk. The Club has got their sh!t together offield, they have hopefully got specialised people in roles of which they will succeed, wwhich is for the good of the Club. Now, it's up to the players to produce. While it isn't that long ago since 186, and we are asking them to erase whatever bad memories they had of the Club in its enitrety in such a short time, it is overdue for their actions to speak louder than their words. To the players; if you have issues with certain things inside the Club? Don't punish us members and supporters by putting on displays such as 186 EVER again. There are things in place, personnel in place, that should never allow you to act in the fashion that you did. I would imagine you have got everything you asked for, and most importantly, you have got everything at your fingertips that even some recent premiers don't have. Now it's up to you to deliver something to us, the ones that have stuck by through thick and thin, the good times and the sh!t times. Maybe in 2012 our marketing slogan should've be "NO MORE EXCUSES". Supporters have NO MORE EXCUSES not to go to the twilight Mothers Day games against an interstate team at Docklands, they have NO MORE EXCUSES not to buy memberships, they have NO MORE EXCUSES not to wear their colours with pride, and most importantly, the players have NO MORE EXCUSES about not performing at a consistently elite level. Anyone that makes excuses are out. Putting external pressure on the playing group right from the start is healthy. Carlton had the "They know we're coming" phrase a couple of seasons ago, and guess what, the playing group had to perform otherwise they would be the laughing stock. Look at them now, probably a Top 4 contender. Sorry to hijack the thread, but if the offield side of the Club can get this message across at AGMs, etc, then it may be a reason why you are left a bit flat. If we were coming off a premiership I can assure you that there wouldn't be any flatness in the room!

No Juice under 29? Disappointing.

As many have written, without Jim's strength, beleif and determination, we wouldn't be supporting the Melbourne Football Club as we know it. And it's becuase of these qualities that has ensured he celebrated another festive season with his family, and I hope there are many more. While Jim was instrumental in ensuring the survival of this Club, he formed a quality group of indians of which I'm sure our next chief will continue on from where Jimmy left. A lot of football clubs of all levels still have the "Most Courageous Award", surely we will have the Jim Stynes Award for such a title at the Club. It's an award EVERY player should strive to have their name engraved on. I know there is the Jim Stynes medal, but Jimmy is the Melbourne Football Club, and always will be.

Totally agree. It hasn't been the same since 1987!!!