Rogue

As far as I'm aware it's not full, but the AFL Members 'reserve' might well be exhausted - it's quite small. Is that over there? I think even down at Geelong you need to buy a seat just like anyone else, and unlike at TD you don't get an AFL Members discount. Yeah, I tend to agree. I'll be surprised if we get much over 40.

Free. Just rock up to the game and you'll be given a ticket. The only difference is that you can't walk in and head up to anywhere on level 3 after scanning your membership - you'll be given a particular seat. No - refer above Spending $650 on your membership I can only assume that you're a full member and that'd mean you've been an AFL member for a while, so I'm surprised you've never come across this. While the AFL Membership is a MCG-based product, there's a limited reserve at TD for AFL members that is reserved on demand. The AFL Membership info (ie. site) pretty clear on this. I'd suggest considering the following - a) seeing whether there's a level 3 wing allocation for AFL members and if so, whether it's available; and/or B) reserving a seat outside of the AFL membership at a reduced fee (with your AFL membership you won't be charged the premium); and/or c) seeing what the deal is with gaining access on level 3 on the night.

That it's fully-ticketed doesn't mean there's a huge demand for this match. This doesn't mean you need to pre-book seats, it just means that you'll be given a particular seat when you get to the ground. If this is a sell-out I'll be amazed. PS. Afaik every Essendon home game is ticketed.

/motions to the mob 'Lets get 'im, boys!'

I said easier, not easy - it's a relative term.

If every member put in ~$30 this year we'd clear our debt. Not all can or will, but there are others who will be happy to chip in far more. Haha, brilliant.

This is getting ridiculous.

If we've taken the best mid with pick #1 (say Scully) and it's a toss-up between a KPF and a mid for #2 I'd take the KPF. Decent mids are easier to find - later in the draft - and take less time to develop (future years).

Haha. As I said, Dappa Dan - and a few others - have really taken the words out of my mouth. Sylvia's track record indicates he hasn't been living the values the Club wants to promote, so from that perspective he's not in the ballpark. I don't think a few good weeks suddenly changes that and no player needs to be in the leadership group to be a leader or lead by example on-field (or off). As Dappa Dan has suggested, your leaders don't need to be your best players. I do think it helps to be a good player but the best players don't necessarily make the best leaders. I also think this talk a bit premature on the back of a few games, although if he continues to play well you might be able to say you started up the bandwagon :D As for the chances of Sylvia in the leadership group I don't think it'll happen this year but it could happen next year. These days the leadership groups are quite large and the list turnover is quite high, so if you hang around long enough you're in with a decent chance. Without knowing Sylvia it's hard to form a judgement but I'm not sure it'd help his footy. As someone said, if his good form continues he's likely to attract more attention next year, which could prove a major challenge in itself. If the times are close yours could well have been first - I think the time has been out for a while. Yep, fair enough. It's easy to make a big call like that though - no one persecutes you if you fail to pick the winner with a roughie, but if it happens - even a few years later - you're the modern day Nostradamus.

Or maybe those who sensed it didn't feel the need to engage - 'don't feed the troll' and all

The game hasn't changed dramatically between the time McLean was leading our best and fairest and now. It's reality. Ask Hawthorn or Carlton fans how they feel in retrospect.

What these guys said.

That's bizarre...

Indeed. In the big picture, it's largely irrelevant. At least there was this: "The crowd of 60,000-plus was healthy, probably bordering on excellent, given the conditions"

My thoughts exactly. Come back to us in a couple of years H_T. PS. Who had this idea first, you or Demonology's DW?

Are we any different to other sporting teams? As a general rule I'd say sporting teams are more popular when they're successful. This sentiment is thrown around a bit on here but I'm not sure Melb supporters are any different to others. We've smashed our membership record in consecutive seasons where we've been cellar dwellers. It certainly seems true of AFL sides and if we have more supporters who want to come to games when their side's going well, or more supporters who feel they'll get value out of a membership when the side's going well, are we any different to most other AFL teams?

I think it was always on the cards. It also makes sense to have it now, rather than in a few years time - people can still rationalise that it's justifiable. They won't be so receptive if we have our hand out in this manner in 5 years.

The treatment of Hodge is bizarre. Despite getting another CA contract he's not picked for the Ashes or the 20/20 World Cup. Why are we giving him a contract if he's not good enough to make any of the squads? It's not like it's one of the encouragement award signings for a youngster. If he's not good enough to make the Test or 20/20 squads how is he good enough to get a contract? Put another way, if he's good enough to get a contract how is he not good enough for the Test or 20/20 squads? I'm not sure I would have taken him on the Ashes tour but I'd certainly have taken him to the 20/20 World Cup - he's one of the best. PS. Since we're talking of Victorians, how many more chances does David Hussey have to establish himself as a quality player at international level?

This is the disappointing bit about the views from many. Surely you people that were positive last week, negative this week and who will be positive after our next decent performance don't take the same sort of view in other areas of life..? I understand there are emotions connected to footy but the typical over-reactions to each good and bad performance make some of the reading on here pretty dull.

The best statistic would be the percentage of your posts that are related to forward line structure

I think the foundation will be good enough to get us thereabouts, providing we find serviceable ruck options and one tall forward. However, the difference between a good side and an excellent side are elite players and we don't have any. We need some to come through - take your pick from guys like Sylvia, McLean, Morton, Watts, Pick1 - 2009 (Scully?) and Pick2 - 2009 (Butcher?). If you think we'll unearth a couple of elite AFL players in the next few years, we'll have a good crack at a flag. If you don't, we won't win a flag.

Sylvia was very good on Monday. Maybe they will both share a slow start and successul finish, but Sylvia's problems haven't come because he has taken the time to perfect the basics. Are you confident with his disposal by hand, particular in tight positions?

Why do you say that? We look very good when we move the ball through the middle of the ground quickly. Unfortunately turnovers kill us, but that's skill-level - not game plan. What's the support confidence been like for pretty much every coach who turns out to be a failure? NB: I'm not asserting that Bailey will be a failure as senior coach. Injured / returning from injury.

Our list is top-heavy, as Nugget Jones has pointed out, and that inflates our list/team age. We're also not going to lose much off the top - McDonald, Robertson, Whelan and Bruce will be the guys over 30 in 2010. Green (March) and Wheatley (Dec) will be 30 in 2011. No one else will hit 30 until 2013.

As usual. I don't see why it's so hard. The manager of the Choir of Hard Knocks took a printer down to an event to ensure they had decent signs (hand-written wasn't good enough) yet we can't get anything happening.