Rogue

I agree with both of your points here.

IMHO, our holes are the same as they were a year ago - talls and pace. I'm betting that a couple of those 'rubbish' players will still be on our list in 2010, and I doubt Carroll will retire (but may be delisted, which is the same result I suppose). ...and I agree with Y_M. It's fairly easy to fill those gaps with lower draft picks, relative to the difficulty of getting decent talls.

McDonald's on his last legs - I'd be shocked if he got more than one extra season - so lets discount him. I think it's too early to say that all the guys you've listed are in our starting 18 - let alone 22 - but assuming they all play, I'm not sure why you'd pigeon-hole Grimes and Petterd as run-with players. That leaves us with Bartram and Dunn, and you don't only play two defensive players in your team. I could envisage Bartram playing down back, and he was pretty good at giving us a target when breaking from defence. That'd leave Dunn with the midfield tagging role.

I've heard from someone close to our membership efforts that we have the lowest churn rate in the AFL. The 18% figure was mentioned on the forums by someone once, and you've now run with it a fair few times. Anyone know if this is legit, what the figure was in previous years, and how they compare to other Clubs? You're right, but I think everyone's aware of this. As has been stated, clearing the debt will allow the Club to move forward more easily. IMHO it's better than donating the Club, providing you have a willing 'target'. Donating, while marginally better for the Club in direct financial terms (due to less in admin), has no other benefits. Donate the money and it's gone. Buy a membership for someone and we can make an attempt to convert some people into the AFL and the Demons, making some effort to get more people involved with the Club, rather than waiting the many years until we can see if Casey (or Canberra ) bear fruit. Pertinent point - image is important. I cringe every time someone goes on about how we have the most fickle fans, yada yada. Attendance and membership figures indicate that virtually all AFL clubs, and sporting clubs in general, have peaks and troughs that tend to correlate with performance. Why would an outsider want to be associated with a Club that it's own members constantly deride and degrade?

Two games is acceptable. The five games bandied about on here is far too much. Good to know - we can't afford to alienate our Melbourne-based members and supporters. I wonder if the price of the 'all Melb games' m/ship will be adjusted accordingly. Deanox, there won't be 17 games in Melb if we sell off three. Hopefully something comes of our requests.

It wasn't Newton. AzzKikA was likening Newton to someone else.

^ What would be the cost of using direct debit to the MFC, if anything? Not trying to knock the idea, but it's lots of transactions for not much coin.

Did you exclude his stats from those games this season where he was playing down back?

It's not a 'fake' membership if you give it to someone: A great way to introduce someone to footy, and the Dees.

Valenti, CJ, and Newton (providing he finds form at Sandringham).

That's pretty impressive.

LBW by Clark, apparently. Geez, Chanderpaul has had a great series.

So true.

Hawthorn aren't sitting on the bottom, so I doubt the disincentive of x number of games in Tas is a powerful one, when compared to the entertainment value of an exciting team + the added incentive of access to finals tickets (and potentially a grand final). However, we're struggling on-field, and thus the entertainment value of a MFC membership is lessened (most don't enjoy going to the footy to see us get smashed), and there's no finals ticket carrot to lure fans to sign on as members. In a time when we're facing the real threat of relocation, we need to galvanise support in this city - not sell off a large number of games. After committing to Melbourne, and asking fans to get behind the Club, it'd be a slap in the face to then move a substantial number of home games to Canberra. It's also been reported that the Hawks are tapping into the Apple Isle when it comes to fans and members. How many of those in Canberra are going to embrace us coming up for a few years, if it's a smash-and-grab to remove our debt? What links do we have with Canberra, aka Hudson and Tas/Hawks? Zilch and zilch. Quite different scenarios, IMO. Edit: Not to mention the cash the Tas government has given the Hawks. I'd say it's a long way off. I'm not sure about facilities for the players, but for spectators, there's only one very small stand, and a few park benches scattered around the 'outer'. The fence around the ground is about waist height, and (most of) the toilets were 'porta-loos' placed outside the ground's perimeter. I heard it's a fair walk to the ground from the nearest station, and the road out to the ground is one lane IIRC. There was enough parking for the NAB Cup game, and there's plenty of room out at the Casey Fields 'precint', so that may not be an issue.

He hasn't been in the greatest form lately, and since he was only dropped back to Sandy this week (after being omitted, and then recalled due to a late pull-out, twice), I don't think he'll come straight back in.

Wolfmother recognises this, and has simply given some background on his business venture in order to show that he has the capability to do this. He asserted that he'd do this on a not-for-profit basis.

That's fairly big. You'd want the stadium to be sold out each game, so that people need to reserve seats.

Interesting idea. Good luck with it. I've PM'd you some details.

You're probably being a little facetious, but playing a large number of home games in Melbourne would kill the enthusiasm generated on the back of Stynes' return to the Club, CC working on getting past players back to the Dees, the 150 dinner etc, IMHO. It's no good getting a short-term windfall if we don't take this opportunity to galvanise and rejuvenate our supporter base.

Haha, nice observation, Jaded :D

Hehe On a serious note, it'd probably be worth chasing up your 'brick'. It's been reported that we've had massive staff turnover, so perhaps it just got lost in the cracks. Even if it's gone, the Club might be able to help you out in some other way. Don't lose faith in the Club because of an administrative issue - the Club's bigger than that. edit: Some sort of 'arm chair' 'membership' would be good - I think the Roos may have had one. Basically, it'd be to target people who may want to help out the Dees and feel like part of the Club, but don't go to the footy and/or can't justify the cost of an 11-game membership. It'd essentially be a donation, and probably couldn't be counted in our official AFL membership tally, but it'd help get these people on board with the Club (able to market to, possible to convert into a 'full price' member in future years, etc). I'd price it at under $100, send out the Demons mag, perhaps the membership gift, and say a 2-match home game entry pass. The Club wins, as they get money they wouldn't otherwise get, plus a Dees fan to market to (sponsorship stuff, raffle tickets or whatever, full-price membership in future, etc). The fan wins, as they're engaged by the Club when they otherwise wouldn't.

You're definitely right regarding sustainability - on here or Demonology someone pulled out the old 'give a man a fish' chestnut. I think most posters recognise that while donations would help, they won't address underlying financial issues. However, without the debt it's going to make it easier for the Club to move forward. I think members deserve to be engaged by their Club, and the Club should certainly make good on any offers - ie. this guy deserves his brick

I'm not sure it's that simple. You'd have to process the donation too, so you'd have to judge the extra cost of a membership - in admin and related goodies - versus the extra benefit of adding to your membership tally (in terms of sponsors, AFL, perceptions of large member base, etc).

While we're struggling on-field, 'selling' the four points isn't really a terrible thing football-wise. Melb-based 11-game members haven't lost out this year, with the 'designated' home game versus Hawks in lieu of the Sydney game that's to be played at Manuka. However, four games interstate would be terrible for fans. Regardless, I can't see it happening.

I think the point is that if you buy a second membership and give that to someone else, it can boost attendance to games and is an attempt to get more people into footy, building our supporter base. Talking of 'praraphanalia' () I'd like a tickbox on the membership form where I can opt-out of the crappy pen etc. Sounds good. Wouldn't need to be expensive - send the players down for some clinics, maybe do something for their fete, raffle off some merchandise, etc. Perhaps we could also look at doing something with Melb Uni, a la WB's Vic Uni deal. I think we were looking to get the Chinese students interested (we offer a membership themed along those lines), and I'm sure a few are at Melb. Footy is a good 'in' for building links/a common talking point for newcomers.