The Chazz

As long as Joel's not being caught out spending company dollars on the 3Ps (porn, punt and prostitutes).

There was a sense of sarcasm in my comment. Also a sense of honesty - had a couple of bosses comment how they love hiring Victorians in Queensland because we are hard workers! The mines are a different beast, mainly because for the locals, it's all they know, and it's a very financially "rewarding" job.

I don't see the issue as Queenslander's rarely work anyway. (Unless you are originally from Vic).

I think Gawn mentioned something along the lines of coming back underdone after his hammy.

We'll agree to disagree on the size of those companies. At the end of the day, if they are willing to pay the $ figure required, I'll take them over a company like Apple, if Apple want to give us SFA. Let's not forget, sponsorship is one income generator. Here's something for you to chuckle/cringe at. Some friends of mine are currently visiting from NZ, and are staying right in the CBD. They always ask me how the MFC are going, even though they wouldn't know two things about the club. I receive a message two days ago telling me that he purchased an AFL club shirt - a BLACK AND WHITE one! Purchased from the CBD, by a non-AFL supporter (he just follows all sports and likes sports merchandise). I continually bang on about it, but we are missing out on serious income by not having a merchandise store of some sort in the CBD. We start advertising our brand in the Arrivals lounge of the International Airport, then we have a merchandise presence in the CBD. It's revenue waiting to happen, and it has got me stuffed why we don't do it.

I have no idea why, but all things equal, I'm confident against that team. What an idiot I am.

Very strong if 100% fit. Still highlights our lack of depth though.

Zurich Iselect IG New Balance Northern Territory We can only have a maximum of two "major" sponsors (ie front and back of jumper). Only other "major" financial opportunity could be the naming rights sponsor of our home ground or training facilities, if we owned 100% of. We don't. Given our recent history, I think we are doing well on the sponsorship front, and will continue to do so as we continue to improve.

Thank you sir. Where has he been generally placed in the time trials in previous years? Based on the names you mentioned, the 22 I'd expect; - Jones, Tyson, Trac, Oliver, Salem and Brayshaw to be locks. - 2 of Harmes, Stretch, Maynard, Baker and Viney. Maynard - Yes. Viney - Yes (if not injured). Baker - NO. Harmes/Stretch - Yes (if Viney injured). - All of Lewis, Vince, Hogan, ANB, Bugg, Melksham and Hannan to play - Hibberd, Jetta, Lever, OMc, TMc, Jeffy and Gawn - Bugg could be replaced by Pedo if match-ups require it

@Satyriconhome, Moonie above has mentioned about the interview on the club site with OMc. There is a snippet of the players finishing one of their time trials, with TMc, Bugg and ANB leading the way. Can you please confirm if the player that the next player behind them is Tyson? And if so, can you please advise if this is because he is actually 4th, or if they front 3 have lapped him? And finally, if it is in fact that Tyson is 4th, where does that put him compared to his previous preseasons with us? I realise that this is close to his first full preseason with us with no niggles. I'm a big Tyson fan, and think a couple on this thread are quite a way off the mark with their criticism of him. Definitely think he is a vital cog in our midfield group.

The boredom of a small town can be worse than the attractions of the big smoke. Tree change isn't a guaranteed healer.

Danger won a Brownlow.

We had a thread not long ago about additional income streams. It's obviously something the club need to look at, but I would question the effectiveness of those listed above. Firstly, there would be no bistro/kitchen in town that would want to give up and/or share their kitchens on a Thursday-Sunday. This is their peak time. I do think there are catering facilities at AAMI Park, so that may give an opportunity. But even then, it's being restricted to people in Melbourne. I would want to know the demographics of our members, in particular their place of residence. It would also count out a number of families that don't have two bob to rub together, but still manage to buy a membership (I sincerely admire these families). The second idea just further puts a gulf between the haves and the have nots. Those with more money will buy more tickets and give the "poorer" kids less chance of living their dream. It's also requiring those lesser families to put their hand in their pocket further, with a high chance of nothing in return. I like the idea of raffles where you can only buy 1 ticket. Up the ticket price, but at least if your average Joe buys one, they know they have just as much chance as the high-rollers. The other thing to remember is that some sponsors use these match day privileges that they receive as part of their sponsorship package as a carrot for their customers. We can't be taking that away from them. You could add a "sweepstakes" style of raffle to the memberships, but rather than winning a $30,000 car, give away 10 prizes of $3,000. Also, one thing that annoys me is when they have promotions for members who sign between certain dates, in a bid to get more members before the new season. I'm a Dedicated Demon, why should I miss out on additional promotions because I just roll over from one year to the next? I also hat those online auction things that the clubs run. I have looked at them once or twice, and never bothered to consider a bid. Am I poor? No, but I'm not rich. I would love to sit in the coaches box one day. or pay for my boy to run out with the players, but I know I'm going to get blown out of the water, so why bother. I said it in the there thread that was going about the additional income streams. We need to find services that everyone uses, and try and get involved in something there, even if via a strategic partnership with someone already in that space. Health Services, Education, Groceries, Utilities (ie gas, power, water), these are all things that we all have to put money in to on a regular basis. To generate the best income, we have two main starting points. Offer something that no-one else does, and market it so that even opposition supporters will need it, so that we aren't relying just on the Demon faithful for income. Or, we need to offer a product/service that everyone needs/uses, but offer a "Demon" alternative. This will most likely restrict our customers to the Demon faithful. But we also need to make sure that anything we come up with is accessible for all our supporters around Australia, not just the CBD and outer suburbs of Melbourne. It's not easy - if it was we'd be already doing it, and so would most other clubs.

Daisy, I've heard (in this thread) that the players went straight to the AFLPA, and I've also heard that some went to Goody first. I can't make anything from that!!!

I refuse to listen to SEN now, that is until the footy season starts again. It's total pus. That said, a recap of this interview would be appreciated. TIA.

Sure is a "cracking" photo...

First comment I'm making on this. While it certainly doesn't look great, mostly thanks to the media for their usual spin, there's too many things that I'm not privy to, to either start keying some players' cars, or to start sending Goody hate mail. Things like did the players approach Goody first before going to the AFLPA? Who was influencing what the younger players thought? What "side" was Jones on? I'd like to think the leadership group made the initial contact with Goody, then if he responded in with answers that they didn't like, then I'm happy for them to go to the AFLPA. While we want them to be robotic, they do still have their rights, and the AFLPA provides a platform for this. Presuming the above took place, then I sincerely hope this is a one-off. I still expect the FD to control everything, but hopefully in a way that exceeds their expectations, but at the same time satisfies the players. Under no circumstances, however, do I want to see the players make this a habit. That if they are being pushed out of their comfort zone, and they don't like something, that they just go to the AFLPA and get their way. I have great trust (could be blind) in the playing group, and in particular our leaders, to ensure this doesn't happen again. If all of the above didn't/doesn't happen, then quite simply, we're rooted.

I was expecting this "Last Touch" thread to be riddled with Simon Lethlean puns, and to a lesser extent, have a hint of Harvey Weinstein about it. Not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed...

It's one of those amazingly rare times that stats actually tell the story. If you don't remember Robbo's laziness, you're either too young to remember, seduced by his highlight package, or just didn't watch him play.

Check most teams. A lot of their top leading goal scorers in their history have played within the last 30 years. And in the era of Robbo, we had quite a successful team (albeit we don't win any premierships). That's your view, I have mine. My issue was that he was lazy. I'll back my view up with the fact he averaged 1 tackle per game for his entire career. There were countless times, especially in the last 2 or 3 seasons of his career, where he would just spectate defensively. I don't know why you are arguing against fact.

Was a highlight package, that brought a smile to many a Demon supporter. Was also a lazy forward who refused to apply pressure, and was pretty typical of our fortunes in the '00s. When we were up, so was he. When we were down, he was MIA. Not solely to blame for our inconsistent era, but certainly played his role in it.

They are fair responses to Vogan's points, but I notice you left the Smith recall off. With that in mind, there is absolutely no reason you can come up with that would justify Smith's recall later in the season. From memory, he played one return match at Casey, and was pretty ordinary, but was then rushed back in to the seniors. I don't really know what this whole argument is about. Reality is, the selection committee will pick 22 likes who they think will win a game. Its their opinion, so there's always going to be some that disagree. But it's what they get paid to do, and we can only trust that their decisions are accurate. They also have access to a lot of data (GPS, etc) that we will never see, and also know more about opposition teams than any of us ever know.

Brayshaw's head has surely been photoshopped on, right?

They were painful, so I'm not surprised. Any word on their replacement?

Did you forget about the teddy bears picnic for next year's Grade 1 kids?