hardtack

Unless he suddenly discovers his inner extrovert, I doubt very much that the Jones boy will be appointed Captain anytime soon. He should definitely be in the leadership group as he does set a great example when it comes to work ethic and improvement, but unfortunately, he is far too reserved to be a Captain (a position I believe needs to be filled by someone who can be a little intimidating when necessary - Moloney is a perfect example). I think though that he would make an excellent Vice Captain to Moloney's Captain.

+1

I'm not sure about a bigger table, but I imagine they will get a taller table; if there is any business to be conducted during the evening, they will no doubt want to have enough headroom.

Thanks for going to so much trouble to give us the detail Maldonboy38 - greatly appreciated!!

Fair enough Rogue, but regardless of that, the fact that the Swans were able to draw approximately double the crowd that the NRL "match of the week" could attract, in a city where active supporters are few and far between, speaks volumes for the drawing power of AFL; out of interest, what kind of crowds do the Storm attract?

I agree with RF on this one. Sure these kids go into the draft knowing they could end up anywhere, but as RF says, they are very young, and I think that even though the prospect of moving to Sydney or the Gold Coast may be very appealing to a 17 or 18 year old with stars in their eyes, after a year or so, it is not surprising that the gloss wears a bit thin and they start to miss their families and friends. It doesn't surprise me in the least that some of these kids will want to go home. I moved to Sydney over 30 years ago to join a band and after a few years became settled with a job and later a family; so I am here no matter how much I miss Melbourne.... and that is the funny thing, after all of these years I still consider myself a Melbourne person and would still rather live in Melbourne. However, as I am here for the duration, I do want more opportunities to see AFL and more particularly the Dees, without having to travel 1000km... so if the addition of GWS helps in that regard, I'm all for it (even if I do have to travel 300km to Canberra to see them next year).

"Are you some sort of self appointed Ambassador for the area? You get trigger happy; that would indicate some sort of attachment to the area which you don't appear to have." That's not argumentative? Ok... whatever. I do find it odd though, that you assume I am after an argument and yet are replying to a post in which I admit to Apocalypse XXX1 that I was overreacting... in other words, I was making a conscious effort to reconcile, rather than argue.

Gee, very out of character for you to jump in looking for an argument RF, but since you ask, as a Sydney based AFL supporter I would love to see the game do well and I recognise the fact that for it to succeed in Sydney, it needs to succeed in the Greater Western Sydney area. If that makes me some sort of an ambassador, then I'm happy to wear it. Why do you seem to have a problem with it?

Fair enough.. it was an overreaction on my part... but I really get a bit tired of the number of posts that are rubbishing the GWS area simply because of what occurred in relation to Scully; so I suppose I've become a bit trigger happy :-) Yes, it's not a place I would choose to live - anywhere that had a pub called the Comb and Cutter that was re-christened the Curb and Gutter doesn't really appeal to me; particularly having played there in bands - but I am not prepared to dismiss the place simply because the Scully affair stunk... and I do want the game to succeed in the area... just not with Sheedy, Gubby and Phat Phil gaining from it.

Of course it will change if GWS start to gain some successes. Sydney crowds love a winner as was shown by the crowds the Swans were attracting at the height of their powers... while a top drawing league game would attract around the 20k mark, the Swans would be drawing 40k. As I have posted earlier, if they can somehow manage to make inroads in the schools, they have a very good chance of winning over the population as there is a perception that it is a far more "family friendly" game. Also, Sydney's west has been part of a reasonably successful local AFL comp for many years, so it is not completely alien to them. There is a very good reason that you won't find large numbers of people discussing AFL around the photocopier or water dispenser in the office, and that is simply because they don't yet have a team in a major comp... that will all change from next year.

Absolute tripe... Blacktown does have a culturally/ethnically diverse population, yes (25% Filipino), but to say that half of them don't speak English is, quite frankly, ignorant in the extreme. And how working in an area qualifies you to be an "expert" in such things, is beyond me... I've worked in Sydney's CBD, Chatswood, North Rydes, Rhodes, Gordon etc.... and I honestly could never profess to be completely across such things as language skills. I have lived for almost 20 years in the most culturally diverse council area in Sydney (and possibly Australia - Marrickville) and language has never come across as an issue at all - and despite this cultural diversity, AusKick has been thriving as I have no doubt it will out Blacktown way..

Sounds like "bull" to me :-D

Well, an interesting Roy Morgan Research survey from about 4 years ago (http://www.roymorgan.com/news/press-releases/2007/649/), shows that the team with the largest supporter base (by a country mile) was the Sydney Swans coming in at something around 1.7mil which is three times the population of Tasmania. So, the potential supporters exist in Sydney (and Canberra) as long as the AFL is smart about how they intend to tap the well... perhaps they should attempt to encourage more schools to offer AFL as a sport in order to get the kids while they are young. AusKick has already made great inroads in Sydney and I would expect that they will now be expanding that into the greater west. As much as I dislike GWS Giants, I do believe that there is no reason that a second AFL team cannot do well here. These assertions regarding migrant populations are ridiculous, as that argument can be applied to every state in Australia... and Melbourne having just a half million people fewer than Sydney, is no exception. In fact, although I can't say it with any authority, I would argue that soccer has a much more fanatical and a much broader supporter base in Melbourne than it does in Sydney and I do know from first hand experience that Sydneysiders are not particularly fanatical about NRL; and certainly not to the degree that Melbourne people are about AFL.

Looked at the guy on the extreme left and thought for a moment that Barry Hall had joined the club :-)

Nicely done :-)

Hey, don't lump GWS territory in with the Inner West!

So Pendle's dad's just been offered a position as head caterer to the recruiting officer?

Going the full monty even

Bob Hawke's involved in this somehow???

Yeah, I get the feeling that teams like GWS and GCS are going to be hit badly by the "home sickness" factor.

Appropriate considering his recent He Who Must Not Be Mentioned monicker (thought I detected a hint of Parseltongue during his March presser) - fangs for the memories.

Just one minor point, that was posted in November 2010 :-)

In which case, why did they go for TS?

Jimmy looking good at today's training (from MFC tweet): http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/melbournefc/status/136623308685852672/photo/1

I must admit to being conflicted on this one... I would love to see the Pies lose one or two of their best, but at the same time I would hate to see GWS grow as a competitive team. I certainly wouldn't object however, if we were to poach Pendles - that would be doubly satisfying as we would be screwing Eddie and GWS at the same time :-)