hardtack

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 :-)

Actually, comedian Dennis Leary had a rather appropriate song, the chorus of which could be chanted to great effect.

Ok ok... the let's just settle on Dustin Martin then shall we? :-D

Rainman too... however, I think DeeZee may have been thinking of Ray Martin ;-)

Saucer of milk to the Moderators room please!!

Yeah... performed well in The Graduate, Kramer v Kramer etc... not sure what position he could hold down with the Dees though.

I would have thought that was one of the reasons the club brought him in... wouldn't it be part of his job description to get such processes in place?

Conversely it could have been: "We want to get young Tom to come to our club, so how about we offer you a good earner on a 6 year deal, dependent on your talking young Tom into signing on the dotted line."

I get the feeling that it won't be just the players at our club that will be giving it to him on this. I get the feeling that the way this has unfolded will see him copping a mouthful from players from most teams barring GWS themselves. The way this deal was done has sent shock waves throughout the competition, not just the Dees.