binman

Not 100% sure that is true. The BBL is referenced a bit in relation to the aflx. In particular in that is focused on entertainment and a young audience. A young non discerning audience who, understandably, love color, slogs, fire, mascots, bright uniforms and electric bails. But truth be known the BBL is a feeble replica of the IPL. The standard is poor and few top 50 cricketers in the world are involved. Each team has multiple club level players who can't make state sides. And a couple of blokes retired from international cricket who are passed their use by date (hogg played until he was mid 40s iirc) Yet it grows every year. Because its target audience are kids and few of them are cricket purists. The AFLX could use young players (maybe the best under 21s not yet drafted), the best of the state leagues and a handful of recently retired afl players (make one the captain). Money and the incentive to show their wares might make games competitive and serve the purpose of introducing potential players to a wider audience.

He mentioned East Melbourne cricket club. Not quite sure if that is existing club or an extinct one he thought we could help revive.

The AFL's plan for AFLX?

When i was kid we were so far away from a premiership that i measured success in how many state players we had. It was form of positive affirmation that despite spending most seasons closer to the spoon than a flag we were ok. I loved watching Robbie play for the Big V and loved how well he always played and the effort he put in. In those days, with few replays, let alone live telecasts, of the dees i reveled in the fact that the fans of other clubs could actually see for themselves how damn good he was. On replays i have fond(ish) memories of the fake/canned crowd noise used when one camera highlights were shown when a game that had not been telecast/replayed (which was all bar one or two) was being reviewed on WOS (and the Winners on the ABC?).

I tied hard last year to support the concept and look for positives. Am finding it much harder to to so this year. Much harder. Happy for it to go a head. With no dees players in sight. All washing their hair that day.

Leather poisoning

Or get Saty to stand the mark

Uggh. If it was winner in the first instance i would say AFLX has jumped the shark. At lesat we are the only club who will have won the 'title'

....and doesn't have any interruptions

Good post STMJ. I think there is little doubt we will be impacted by the number of players we have who have had interrupted preseasons. History tells us as much. The question is how much (Note: to be clear i'm not suggesting you think otherwise - i'm sure you agree and were just being conciliatory) Of course a mitigating factor will be that most in rehab have been able to keep their fitness levels up, but any disruption hurts to some degree and the issue we have is so many players are having some interruptions. An issue for the dees is the 'Melbourne way' ie goody's way places a huge emphasis on fitness but also high intensity, high impact football that will expose any deficit cause by interrupted preparations. With so few player's rehabbing last year we were able to make a fast start. But one huge positive (and at the risk of jinxing them) is unlike last year Tmac and Viney both seem to have had uninterrupted preseasons thus far. If that continues we will have both ready and raring to go round 1, which will go along way to offset the high impact of the number of players who have had interrupted preseasons

How much bigger is Tom this pre season? Will be a super important year for him in terms of his career. Will likely find it hard to break into the ones if lever fir and raing to go. Which if he isn't might open a window of opportunity for him early in the sason. Goody has shown a willingness to give player their chance. to be honest i don't think they handled his call up well last year. Wrong game and then to drop him after one week was supper tough on him.

Goody clearly rates smith very highly, given the decision to play him round 1 2017 and bring him in for wc. Looks likely they will use him as a defensive forward, which I think is very clever. His kicking is not so exposed up forward, his leap means he can play tall and bring the ball to ground and his athleticism makes him a dangerous match up in his own right. Might see some hangers next season from sos. Might be competing with hannan? Though i think there is room for both.

Wind up warning. Good to see even admin struggle.

My understanding is omac is rehabbing from back pain. From carrying the backline for the last two years.

I disagree. As I have said a number of times the idea would be a bar, restaurant type space that would be a natural spot for dees fans but open to all. Such a set up would make a fortune if done right. Income helps set up the club and contributes to on field success. But such a space would also have the benefit of being a natural meeting spot and hub for the faithful. Even for away games. I would travel in from altona for a great sport with good atmosphere and plenty of other dees fans for interstate games. Think of the ecmc final. I went to Perth but dees mates, after much humming and aching landed on the sporting globe in Richmond. A place I'm not a huge fan off. But a mfc pub would have been the ideal and it would of been having. Think also of the power of seeing the dees crowds grow and the feeling of having so many members. A shared space would fuel that and help build our membership. Create a dees army. All good and tranlatabke to on field success.

no flacking way

Me. The whole finals things took its toll. Just recovering.

Great training report Dr D and much respect for paying up. In the spirit of moving forward and a new season i say your debt has been paid. in full. feel free to change to the avatar of your choice. In any case that avatar is starting to freak me out a bit. I had a crazy thought of a mark neeld training report on DL. It would commence with something like; 'That new bloke, can't remember his name, is a spud. And i told him so. He better man up. Or he can @####@@ off. I don't care if we gave up pick 7 for him. And if i catch Harmes posting pictures himself riding a unicorn again i'm going to force him to sit though an edited highlights package of my pre game pep talks'

I trust the club to make the right call. They have all the information and of course will have assessed all options and then come up with their preferred option. Their call is yara park. Good enough for me.

Makes you wonder then why savvy, switched on operators like Glen Bartlett and Peter Jackson, after presumably considering all of the facts and relevant considerations, decided yara park was their preferred option. Not.

A couple of points. I didn't mention a social club. I said a bar owned by the mfc. In use all the time. Did you ever go to the old Hilton pub (directly opposite jolimont)? Game days it was packed to the rafters before and after demons games. Just as the cricketers arms is on any game day. A decent bar one train station to the city would always do well, particularly in a a practically dry area. Secondly, a purpose built space would include all the bells and whistles and we would make income from the office space. And one oval is enough. As the tigers, pies etch have shown. I'll bet players don't want to drive to outer woop woop eirher.

Demonland Twitter goes mainstream!

Why? Because yarra park is a brilliant idea. One oval is fine for Pete's sake (no issue for th Magpies it would seem) and having our gym, medical stuff, recovery, footy department and admin all in one place will be awesome. Not to mention a space for fans and members. A MFC owned bar above jolimont station would make a fortune - and not just from dees fans. It would be packed every time there was any event at the G. A natural meting place. We would also have a place for the demon shop. The Hawks are going to Dingley, which is not all that far from their current base and there is much to play out in terms of the viability of the project. The Bombers facility might be great but it is miles from anywhere and has costed an arm and a leg. it also does nothing in terms of a base for their fans. I got the election call right OD and i reckon i'll be right on Yarra park.It. Will. happen.

So, what you are saying is the Weed will never make it?

A good comparison. Weed will be bigger but like Kennedy he has got long reach. As he gets stronger he, like Kennedy started doing in his mid 20s, will really start clunking his marks. Really it has never been harder for big forwards given the use of zones, mids pushing back hard and out numbers down back. So many marking contest are pack situations, which puts a premium of strength. But like West Coast do we will of course continue to try and transition the ball quickly and provide Tmac and Weed as many one out opportunities as possible. One on one Weed will be as hard, maybe harder, to beat than TMac, with his height, strength and reach. Good times.