DeeGee

I was born in 1976, and my dad was a demon supporter. His dad was a demon supporter too. So was his dad. I don’t know about his dad. Needless to say, my 2 kids (teenagers) are Melbourne supporters too.

That was great. I didn’t appreciate how hard it would have been to come back from the drubbings in his early career. At the elite level, that would shatter your confidence so to overcome that, end up captain, b&f and premiership player is amazing.

What was the cause of the apparent difference in fitness levels between 2022 and 2021, and the capacity to run out games? I appreciate he may be limited in what he can say, but I think it’s worth asking in any case.

I was there tonight, and it was hard to believe Geelong won the flag. Carlton weren’t much better and did their best to lose the game.

My daughter saw Gibby in the flesh at Ed Sheeran the other week. She was shattered when I told her he’d left the podcast and therefore no prize for her 🤣

As a secondary question, how does he perceive the difference in fan cultures between the two clubs? Great podcast by the way.

Horrendous if even partly true. I’m not sure how anyone would think that those actions are good for any footballer’s career. How was that meant to improve performance?

Cheers - thanks for that. So who came to us from that region? Was Garry Lyon via the zone? Yze is from that area but he must have come via the draft. is there a notable MFC supporter base in that area now? I lived in the Wimmera years ago and there are a heap of Essendon supporters there, which I think is due to the zoning.

This is all a bit before my time. Two questions: 1. Where was our zone? 2. How else did clubs find players if not via the zone? Could you just find a player and sign them up?

Agreed. Amazing that it’s been 10 years since he left the club, but he is currently only 33 years old. He could have played a LOT longer than he did.

The bloke with the mike was in the way, and yet you still couldn’t hear the questions asked. You’d think they would have sorted it out for Fagan, but no.

My nephew played junior representative footy with Tom many years ago. He reckons Tom was nothing special as a junior, and he was staggered he got drafted. Great effort to get to where he has in the game, as a 200 game player who is pretty well respected I think. Meanwhile, my nephew (who was apparently a far better junior) is still running around a local country league.

I got tickets on Level 4 last night with no issue. On a side note, pre-COVID it was possible for my kids to scan their MFC memberships to get into the MCC for Dees games. Now we need to book tix via Ticketek, it doesn’t accept their barcodes, so I need to buy them a visitor ticket, which is a bit annoying. Anyone else notice this?

I must admit I didn’t know the song at all until I searched for it today. It’s not good, and certainly not worthy of a feud (if that’s what it is).

3 flags, a scarf and a Herald Sun poster of Max and RDB, on display at my place in Scoresby.

This is probably not the main item of interest this week, but MOPT has an upcoming tender for the Gosch’s Paddock redevelopment. Good to see it’s moving. https://www.tenders.vic.gov.au/tender/view?id=233936 ———————— The Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust will soon be inviting offers from suitably qualified and experienced contractors for the Gosch's Paddock Sportsfield Redevelopment. The Trust will be seeking to appoint a Head Contractor to oversee and deliver the proposed upgrade works below: Remove existing playing surface to a depth of 100mm. Expand the existing field to a size similar to the Marvel/ MCG playing surfaces and extend the existing drainage and irrigation systems to facilitate the larger size field. Upgrade the existing lighting structures. Install a new sand layer and new turf* Upgrade the existing perimeter fence Upgrade camera coverage for both M&OP and the MFC Improve the existing facilities, including but not limited to; access to drinking water and seating for patrons. *The Trust are currently inviting offers for the turf supply and installation works that will form part of this redevelopment program, refer to RFT12082021 The Open Request for Tender will be released on 9 September 2021 and there will be a mandatory briefing onsite at 10am Monday 13 September. Tenderers will need to register for this briefing once the Request for Tender is released, you do not need to register your interest in advance. Any questions are to be directed to [email protected]

Percy Beams also I believe

Gee I hope COVID doesn’t screw up this season. This is the best chance of a flag in my lifetime (I’m 45).

Agree- I said exactly the same thing at the ground today. Most of the noise is just [censored] as well, and detracts from the spectacle.

Understand the theory but we have been waiting for years for this to happen. I think the key to having the right age/experience spread is for players to be “good enough” to play 150+ games. In the past we’ve waited for our players to get to the required experience level, but as it turned out- they weren’t good enough. ps. Hopefully we’ve got enough good players now.

No problems with my MCC/MFC membership- I paid it for next year the other day. I think it was a 30% discount to cover the lack of games this year.

I watched him at training in January, and he looked so ripped then he almost looked out of proportion. It was clear to me he was up for a big season. i think the main thing was he knew he could take on anyone and beat them. Massive confidence to be able to do that.

Agreed. My dad and I spoke to him on game day last year when he was injured. Top bloke, had plenty of time to chat. Great leader on and off the field. I also liked his comments about not having the flag this weekend. It’s ridiculous it can’t be shown.

I think one of the problems is that the entire AFL industry has assumed that the broadcast rights would keep on expanding exponentially. This has lead to a massive blowout in costs to run clubs. But even aside from COVID I think we are getting close to saturation in the Australian market. Ultimately all the money comes from the punters - in the form of tickets, memberships or advertising (companies only advertise if they can get people to buy their product). i think they need to wind back costs but have to keep the old guard clubs. Melbourne has 50,000 odd members but about 250,000 supporters. If we fold, I would bet many of these would be lost to the game. At least I would. Same for the other clubs I reckon. Why dilute your loyal fan base and cut the ultimate source of revenue. Even the rich clubs need someone to play against ( preferably a decent competitor to make it attractive).

Neita spoke at a MCC/MFC members function I went to with my dad last year. He was awesome - he told some great stories and the crowd loved it. Top bloke