hardtack

A membership is about 50 cups of coffee... hardly worth quibbling over. One thing is certain though... if large numbers of members fail to renew, then the odds of the club wallowing in the mire can only become greater.

I haven't changed anything... this is what I have been saying all along and it is my opinion (last time I checked, I have no association with the AFL). As the MFC improves its onfield performances (as it should with the coaching panel it has put together), then memberships should start to increase. As we climb up the ladder, more members come on board and more bandwagon jumpers come along for the ride, attending games. The AFL then sees that there is a quid in it for them and they give us more home games against better opposition because we are getting the crowds in.

Goddard or Ponty?

Take a look at membership numbers for those 3 clubs. As long as the crowds are turning up to follow those teams, they will be rewarded in terms of fixtures.

Now you're talking! Quicksilver's live Happy Trails album was one of my favourites, I remember seeing Cipolina playing at the Roundhouse in London's Chalk Farm in 1975 as a guest guitarist with the Welsh band called Man... superb show! As as for Mike Bloomfield... the Live Adventures album and the Kooper Sessions live albums were nothing less than stunning. Another great one off band he put out an album with was KGB Band... Al Kooper, Rick Gretch and Mike Bloomfield being the members.

Collingwood, Carlton and Richmond are three of the top four sides in terms of membership.North and Port are much further down the list at 10th and 12th respectively... this entirely supports what I have been saying. The fixtures improve (in terms of home vs away games) for the teams who attract the biggest crowds, and the only way to attract big crowds is by performing on the field.

I suppose it depends on how you view it... in terms of the actual fixture, we are the most advantaged while the top clubs have the toughest fixture. Financially we may be disadvantaged by the fixturing of home and away games, but as I have already stated, why should we take money purely on the back of the opponents ability to draw crowds? An easier fixture in terms of opponents will see us hopefully rise up the ladder and consequently see us improving our supporter/member base and result in better draws in a financial sense. If it is given to us on a silver platter, then where is the incentive to improve on the field?

Shouldn't that read "nutcase"?

No reason not to think he may develop quicker than that, given Kyfe's (Canons talent manager) comments: "Kyte believes Wright will thrive in an AFL environment, given he already has a solid base underneath him. "Once he gets on to an AFL type training program, he's going to be a monster,"

To quote Macca (and this isn't having a go at Macca... simply addressing your question): "Us being a poor team shouldn't therefore mean we receive a fixture that hurts us financially. Off field effects on field and vice-versa but we shouldn't be conspired against." I'm confident that our club will be making inroads with regards to improved memberships and attendances and we will be rewarded in due course... so as to the rest of your comments, we can just agree to disagree.

tread carefully!

I would have thought that the AFL being a business (which it most definitely is) is interested in getting as many bums on seats as possible and so the clubs with the largest memberships and supporter bases are always going to be advantaged. That is simply put, good business sense. As much as it would be welcome to be given the home game against some of these clubs, how fair is it that we reap the benefits of their ability to attract a crowd as opposed to our inability to do same? Now that we have possibly the best coaching panel in recent memory in place at the club, performances should start to improve, and with that improvement, memberships and a "motivated" supporter base (bandwagon jumpers) should start to grow, and with that growth, AFL fixtures in years to come should start to swing in our favour. There is no great conspiracy against our club... we simply do not have the membership or supporter base that is able to make a big enough impact through the turnstyles.

I hope for your sake, Mohammed Ali doesn't frequent these forums.

With the need for a forward, with Jamar nearing the end of his career and with Gawn being injury prone, I would not be surprised to see Wright get the nod as he fills both needs.

The CD is there for $15 EH, but not the DVD (well, MP4 or whatever the video format is). But the DVD is available locally from stores... follow this lnk to get all of the details of the content: http://www.ezydvd.com.au/DVD/cream-royal-albert-hall/dp/783853

I have a double DVD of Cream live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2005. They reformed for a one off performance (well, 4 nights) and were very very good.

Fresh Cream was one of the first LP records I bought myself.

Advice to an internet persona? I think you will find that in most cases the attitudes expressed in forums like this are a far cry from attitudes applied in real life situations... and having met Saty out in the real world, I seriously doubt attitude would be an issue.

My father wasn't a VFL follower at that time (hailing from Sydney and being a St George supporter), so it was the transistor radio for me; even back then it wasn't recommended that 8 years olds travel unaccompanied from Croydon to Richmond on public transport.

I resemble that remark! Why you, I oughta!

Oh [censored] ! Back to another barren period for we fully paid up interstate members.

The best thing about this draw is that I actually get to see two games on the trot... down in Melbourne for the opening round against GC and then the following week we play GWS in Sydney.

They obviously haven't counted on them playing us at the MCG in our home final

I know exactly how you feel... we in Sydney went for something like 8 years without the dees playing a game here (the closest they came was Canberra).

I wouldn't have thought we had been "dudded" the last few years. In fact, I seem to recall over the past two seasons when the draw was released, many here were saying that if we can't improve our position with a draw like we had, then we were far worse than we thought (well, words to that effect).