sideshowbob

In other sports news: Ferrari have conceded that they cannot win the 2009 championship and are focusing on developing their car for 2010. Fulham are hoping to do well in Europe this year and again finish top 7 to qualify for the Europa League. Pim Verbeek wants us to make Round 2 of the World Cup in 2010. The Cleveland Indians just traded their best player to the Boston Red Sox. It's lucky we don't apply the more extreme version of the arguments applied in the 7 preceding pages, otherwise each of these teams would be immediately disbanded because they are not trying to win the premiership/championship.

I think that would be even more disastrous. Why would anyone in Sydney follow a second division team? The West Sydney move is all about creating new fans - not quite "build it and they will come" but more of a "they will never come if nothing is built there". The AFL already has captured the Tassie market and they do not need a team there to maintain that dominance. If other codes think national league teams can be set up in Tassie, let them have it. I bet the NRL, ARU and FFA don't even think about touching the place.

AdelaideDemon - I agree that merch should be available from Round one - but this year was a bit difficult when we did not have a sponsor for most of the pre-season. Don't expect the same issue next year.

I went to a club function last week where Cameron Schwab spoke to us. We have ensured our true home - the MCG - is recognised with our association with the MCC. We will be training across the road. We are then getting involved with other communities such as Casey and maybe even Darwin to grow our supporter base while always acknowledging our home is in the city of Melbourne. I don't feel confused at all about where our home is.

Clearly Schwarta forgot about the mighty Dutchman and his cannons "Trouble" and "Danger".

Yes I can. But both are related to revenue and crowd numbers. Obviously the possible game switch was motivated by crowd numbers. Read all the posts on this board about moving games and it will always be suggested that we move games against Port, Fremantle, West Coast, Adelaide, or in the future Gold Coast and West Sydney. I hardly think we'll move a Melbourne v Essendon game to Darwin, will we? why? Revenue and crowd numbers.

Isn't this precisely why we are looking at Darwin?

I don't think this is common sense at all. Let's separate the two issues of a possible move of a Demons game and a possible move of cats/saints. Cats/saints should be moved to allow more people to attend. That IS common sense. Are you telling me the IPL can move it's whole tournament to South Africa but the AFL can't move one game across town? Now, to the second issue. If a Demons home game was moved to allow the AFL to meet its contractual obligations we would be financially compensated. Given that we will lose money on the Port game then it's fine by me. If having to travel 2 extra train stops will prevent you going to a Demons game i'd consider that very disappointing. You can't use the same excuses you use to NOT attend optus because there is parking and there is public transport. I know people want to sit in THEIR seat at our home ground but surely a once-off move doesn't hurt? Further, Port have not lost a game on the MCG in two years so I don't understand where these arguments about how moving the game to Etihad will make it easier for Port to win. The fact our nominated home ground is the MCG means nothing if we continue to draw crowds that are smaller than those in Canberra and Launceston. If Demons fans don't turn up to the Port game then I hope you enjoy watching us play Port on Foxtel, in Darwin, for the next 5 years. How can we claim we "rightfully belong" at the MCG when the only time we fill the ground is when the Pies fans fill it for us, and we sell our games to Brisbane, Gold Coast, Canberra, and now maybe even Darwin? If you insist that you will only watch the Demons when they play at the MCG, then I ask you one question. Who will you follow when the Demons fold? Yours in common sense Sideshow Bob

An important factor is that we need to ensure there are enough "make up" games at the MCG where members can get entry into an away game. The Hawks games in Tassie are regularly on Fox so I don't like our chances of guaramnteeing free to air coverage. However, by the time this deal is in place there may be new TV providers as the current deal will have run out.

I won't go, but not because of the venue - I'll be overseas! I'm happy to support the demons wherever they play. If we support the boys at the G on a Saturday (i.e. like this week) maybe we'll get a few more games there?

Are we talking about whether the jumper looks good or whether there is a need to wear it against a team? St.Kilda's jumper looked poor but assisted in distinguishing between the dark team and the light team. The other way you could tell was that if the team was hitting targets and kicking goals, it was St.Kilda! I maintain that our red clash jumper looks good, and I prefer wearing the traditional jumper, but there is a clash between our traditional jumper and Carlton, Essendon, and the Port, Adelaide, Fremantle and Eagles Home Jumpers. If we wear our white clash jumper against Essendon I won't mind because it 's an away game, it looks good, and clearly distinguishes the two teams. No excuses for hitting the wrong target or a miller-whelan style tackle!

I thought it looked good, but like most people I prefer we stick with the traditional jumper. Have no problem wearing something different for 2-3 games a year as long as it's red and blue.

I've always said that the Bears were a meaningless nothing until they merged with Fitzroy. Wait until North is a carcass waiting to be picked at (a la the roy boys) then North should merge with Fremantle, become the Fremantle Kangaroos, wear a Roos jumper and then they survive and Fremantle get some backbone. That being said, if North manage to survive on their own, good on them.

I dispute your NRL comparison. The NRL clubs that are going broke are Cronulla and Parramatta. Neither of them merged. Wests Magpies and Balmain Tigers merged to become the Wests Tigers and won a premiership. St.George Illawarra merged and made a grand final in their first season. The only failed merger was the Northern Eagles because it didn't respect the histories of the previous clubs in the way the other mergers did. Manly came back from the joint venture and made a grand final then (as much as we Storm supporters don't want to acknowledge) won a premiership. If you respect the history of the previous clubs, mergers can work. That being said, I don't want the demons to merge.

Dear Nugget Jones You wrote "NO Excuses". You may not have other commitments in your life but many others do. Sunday 4.40 is not a good timeslot. It's not easy to bring the kids, especailly if travelling from the country. Many people have other commitments at that time (as I did - a long planned family event). And if it's live on TV and freezing cold, why would you take the family and risk a week of sick kids at home with colds? There are always excuses, otherwise our crowds would ALWAYS exceed 35,000. 30,000 members plus whoever else shows up. I think they are all reasonable excuses. I would have loved to be there but couldn't.

Would have gone, but it's a Sunday night and I have other commitments then. Any other timeslot and I would have been there.

It's actually game one this year, not game 3, and I don't think the ad is suggesting the stadium is the coliseum but that the players are gladiators.

Brilliant idea!

I know the point you are trying to make, which is all the more powerfully made by the little bloke with the rolling eyes, but the AFL has got brisbane and adelaide to wear alternate jumpers against us in the past - why wouldn't they make us wear an alternate jumper against them? In fact I'd expect the AFL to do so.

I liked both versions but think the red potentially clashes with Adelaide and Brisbane - the AFL might force us to wear white in those games. I'd buy the white jumper. Then again, I bought the silver purely because it was a melbourne jumper...

If we want guidance about a reasonable crowd figure, let's see what we get on Friday. Even with our ready made excuses we should be getting a good roll up.

I may disagree with some of McLaren's umpiring decisions, but some of the comments on this thread disgust me. I'd love to see some of the people who are wishing death upon McLaren put up with some of the stuff he cops just for doing his job. If it wasn't for James Hird many of you wouldn't even know who he was. In fact, I'd love to see some of you have a go at umpiring if you think it's so damn easy. Call your local league and have a go and see if you can hack it for more than two weeks.

That segment is all about stirring up controversy and keeping people listening to them until 6pm, I wouldn't be too bothered by it if I was brucey!

I think the important thing to note is the "let's get the rich people to pay off the first part of the debt" initiative is just a short term strategy to put us in a better position to think long term. It's a good idea - people won't contribute unless they have the means to do so, and then once we've reduced some of the debt our long term initiatives can tackle the rest of it. I was at the function yesterday (i'm on the top part of the 5 next to Jimmy) and I'm excited about the future of the club. I'm also buying a number 7 to put on my jumper after hearing Brad Miller talk yesterday, he's got captain written all over him if he controls his occasional hot head on the field, but that's a topic for another thread.

To all those of you who think resting Kerr is a sign of tanking, I'd like to see you play footy after getting stung by a stingray!!! Stop it with the conspiracy theories! We wouldn't even be posting on this issue if our team wasn't competitng for pick one!