hardtack

Sorry OD... I'm just not used to such compliments

Yeah yeah, sure.... anyway, hope there might be a possibility to catch up with a few (your good self included of course) next week when I and my son come down for the Port game (fingers crossed and hoping that they have a training run at Goschs on the Saturday).

I often get mistaken for nutbean... seems he has the same problem? ;-)

If he leaves, I could see it being to a club like Collingwood, but only if someone like Daisy Thomas is on his way out of the door...hopefully on his way to the MFC.

As someone else mentioned, depending on when the games are played, it does not necessarily have to be as hot as many seem to think. As far as distance goes and Port Adelaide having some sort of advantage, it is just 700km difference if traveling from Adelaide or Melbourne... hardly a leg up and hardly a climate that will suit them better than us. And what is that comment about "a footy loving audience"??? Are you saying they don't love their footy in Darwin? Give me a break. I may be wrong, but I would have thought West Coast and Freemantle travel a lot more than us throughout a season, yet it hasn't really affected their chances/performances.

This bit was interesting:"The sponsorship deal, believed to be worth $200,000-$300,000 a season, could be worth millions of dollars when combined with home games in the Territory." It all helps, and the heat and travel is hardly going to have too much of a negative impact on us where we are at the moment... if anything it may harden us up, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

We currently have not lost any major sponsors I believe... so what is it that you are concerned about? What is so important about round 1? Are you worried that we may not be able to afford to field a team? There was a brief article on the MFC site today re the club taking on 4 Chinese Melbourne University Business students to look at how they can improve what they are doing on the China front: "The team of four - Melody, Will, Patrick and Kevin - spent two weeks working with the Club’s strategy and commercial teams, evaluating our current China strategy and providing insights into potential Chinese sponsors." It goes on to say that they are... "...currently in negotiations with a number of Chinese companies. The work conducted by the Melbourne University students will assist in refining and strengthening our relationships, which we expect to deliver a positive result in 2013." All seems quite positive and nice to see them being proactive. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-03-19/china-strategy-strengthened-by-student-insights

Yes, I was about to say that it was because we were still trying to climb out of the hole we had dug ourselves over the previous few seasons.

Pacino?

So why do you seem to aspire (albeit unsuccessfully) to being one?

And if they come out of the investigation "clean"... what then? I could not imagine that the club would sit back and take it on the chin... think litigation! No, this is, and rightfully should be, a case of innocent until proven otherwise.

I thought it had something to do with pole dancing.

So in essence, the rest of us are basically the same as you, the only difference being that we are a little less arrogant and self-centred?

I for one am hoping he makes it back for Round 1... am taking my young son down to Melbourne for the game, and Mitch is one of his favourites. As an aside, he played his first ever real full game of footy with the Newtown Swans Junior AFL club and chose number 11 to be his for the season (and they managed to beat the more highly fancied Concord Giants by about 27 points).

That's nothing, I bought LJ's St Patricks Day signed jumper AND I bought Matty Warnock's Shanghai jumper... I'm currently batting at 100%.

I really don't care if there is any validity in what you say, that was just a plain nasty and unwarranted post!

I feel just fine... after all, we had a better NAB cup than the two grand finalists from last season ;-)

And now the Giants have just taken down the Saints by 16 points... the whole comp is going to be turned on its head this year!

At least I have to go away to get lost it seems... you seem to have managed it without leaving the comfort of your own home.

And I'm off to Guangxi province, China, June/July.

Yes, and going by your rather skewed logic, Port are headed for the 2013 flag and the Swans are destined to be in the race with us for draft pick #1.

Idiot! West Coast Eagles formed 1986, played finals 1988. Adelaide Crows formed 1991, played finals 1993 Brisbane Lions, formed from ashes of Fitzroy, played final in inaugural year. GCS and GWS have had money, draft picks and players thrown at them by the AFL and will both be powerhouse teams. We are coming off a massive rebuild, have had to settle our debts and fight our off field battles with minimal assistance and maximum hinderance from the AFL and we are playing today with a still understrength side.

I'm trying to fathom what politics has to do with any of this? Seems to me you have a few issues. The fact that you need to console yourself with references to left leaning gherkins and the nature of conservatives, would seem to indicate someone with either very low self esteem or a complete lack of confidence.

That's a nasty speech impediment you have there MS ;-)

Regardless of how the ex Dees are performing, I have to say that I'm loving watching Carlton getting a hiding. Jonathan Brown still has it... 5 goals without appearing to be doing much at all.