Pates

I actually don’t know what the financial return is for finals matches, I suppose us not being involved in many for a while has made me not really care. But do home teams get the gate takings? Does it go to the AFL and then portion goes to competing teams?

I would love to hear the statement directly from medical professional who made that recommendation. It just sounds idiotic, particularly when you consider the dangers of someone not catching the ball and it potentially hitting someone vulnerable (such as an infant/child, the elderly, or a disabled person). I wonder if they will have the netting up behind the goals?

Plenty of threads I could put this but this is as good as any. I find it almost laughable that Europe is able to create a system that allows the Euro’s to take place with the players flying in and out and being isolated but Australia’s states after a year of this have still been unable to come up with a system to create freedom of movement to allow professional sport to continue. The players and staff would be amongst the most tested people in the country, it just doesn’t make sense to me. With proper precautions and systems in place this match could easily have taken place in NT.

Just throwing a (probably impossible) idea out there. If NT are banning entrance from Victoria surely by the time our QB comes along the players will have spent enough time quarantined from the outside world and away from Victorian cases that we could move the game to NT. Kill two birds with one stone as it were, and at least we’re not giving up a future home game that members can go to, and we get money from the NT agreement. Unlikely, but just a thought.

The other thing that may not gave been mentioned is that even though we had the gates for the tigers match it was reduced capacity so it was nowhere near the usual money spinner. So two years in a row we have been screwed out of our usual big games. just throwing an idea out there re: Alice. If things don’t get better hubs might be back on the agenda (even if it’s temporary), I would really push Alice as a location for a hub that features us. Could be a way of getting our Alice money back while not being the only team giving up home games.

I just had a look at “all the goals”, the drop that I think was the most disappointing was the one that ended in Jordon’s goal (great crumbing goal btw). Spargo had pulled the kick perfectly, Sam got separation from his direct opponent and had the leap at it, he got a large piece of it first up but subsequently dropped it and fumbled the second grab. Those are the ones you expect a tall forward to gobble up more often than not.

They should put their hands up to hub a bunch of teams then. If they really want this then they need to grease some wheels.

I mean this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, so people duck for cover and instead the person behind might get smacked in the face with the ball. FFS just bring some antibacterial hand gel with you, or better yet make them available at the ground. Or another solution make bottom level empty and the crowd only available to level 2/3. Seriously there are some stupid decisions being made out there ?‍♂️.

The game being at Giants Stadium for me removes Hibbo from the list of potential wingers, and he's also the logical option for Cameron. I would love to see Hunt given first crack at the wing, see if he can channel his twin brother for a bit. But I also worry as I'm not sure Hunt understands the running patterns that Langdon does, it's a lot more than just having the ability to run hard, and Hunt has managed to turn his form around on the back of being able to explode from the backline. A few have suggested, and I wouldn't be against it, trying Rivers on the wing. Again, I worry that being a young player he hasn't developed his tank to be able to do what's asked on him. I think the club is going to be very straight forward with this. No shuffling of the magnets, just bring in Baker for Langdon and back Oscar to do the job.

Melbourne is a great example of how these board spills and tickets for new presidency can be an absolute disaster for a club and leave them in the wilderness for 10+ years. It’s hard not to have a little schadenfreude about it, particularly when it comes to the pies. Eddie should be feeling a lot of responsibility for this, which in some ways is a shame because if he’d read the tea leafs right he could’ve left the club in the best position but I get the feeling he is a person that loves the feeling of power so being selfless was not in his character. On the outside this tumbling house of cards started when he forced Mick Malthouse aside for his favourite son. They were on the verge of a dynasty with Malthouse, but that move clearly created discord in the club and it’s just been bubbling in the background ever since.

I know it might be unpopular for people wanting to go to the game but I really think if it’s possible we should rearrange the GWS game to be in Alice. Perhaps we can negotiate to have the Essendon game as a replacement for members. Losing both the QB and Alice will be such a massive hole in our budget, we should try to salvage at least one of them.

I’m in the UK but getting back in July, my MFCSS is telling me that when I return they’ll turn garbage again. I haven’t seen a H&A win live for about 7 years I reckon.

There were quite a few that he got his hand on that I can understand him not pulling them down, pack marking is something sometimes it just happens to stick but largely they go to ground. There were a few of one v one, two v two situations, that he got a big enough piece of that I was disappointed he didn’t pull down. I don’t expect him to take all of them but even just one out of three in those situations would be good. I don’t like potting him, but he needs to start clunking again. We can’t have a player that is largely ineffectual for large parts of the game, has a flurry of 5 minutes, but then after that is just “bringing the ball to ground”.

Harmes definitely plays his best footy when he has a run with role, the beauty of him is that when he’s doing that role it actually gets him more involved in the play and can become damaging on the other side. His game on the weekend was outstanding.

I’m surprised he qualifies, I swear he played plenty of games last season. In any case it’s very well deserved, he’s an absolute ripper.

The criticism he cops isn’t unwarranted, most people who vent their frustrations with him point to lazy efforts as his biggest deficiency. He rarely tackles properly, and it was very evident against the crows that he was a weak link in the zone which allowed the crows to get out of defence. As a goal kicking forward he’s doing a great job and should he continue with his current form he’ll have a really good (even great) season, but he needs to buy into the team mentality as well.

We’ve been playing in Alice for long enough, I don’t know how people don’t know this. Quite often the conditions there are absolutely perfect.

I feel like this is how TMac became the player he is now, he stuck with roles and knuckled down to make sure he was contributing regularly. He just seems to be a deer in headlights when he plays at senior level.

Having a think about the changes, will a bit of it depend on which ground we play at? If it's at the SCG, being a smaller ground, the idea of having a player that can run all day on a smaller ground might not be so required. I think at the SCG Hibberd would be really suited to the wing role, he has a penetrating kick and has an amazing ability to get himself out of trouble.

Exactly my thoughts. At home that game will give us very little revenue, in Alice we get our $700k. With no Queens birthday this year replacing the game in the NT needs to become a priority.

I doubt the AFL would do it but for the sake of fairness and integrity they should be forcing both teams to fly on the same day to have equal conditions. It’s also worth noting that the match is a night game so it wouldn’t require getting up at sparrows fart, they could be on a plane at say midday and go to the ground early for muscle warm ups or have nap at the hotel.

Well reasoned. Would they allow crowds at the game? You would have to imagine all players/staff test negative before entering the territory.

It will be either way, we won’t get anything close to a profitable game anywhere else. This is going to be another tough year for the bottom line. Thankfully memberships will help. One of the first challenges next season for our new president, petition that next years QB be ours again. I’d settle for splitting it in half though.

Just another aside, does this put our QB match with crowds allowed in jeopardy? I’ll be ****ed off if that happens and they get the gate next season. And a different point, if the NT indeed doesn’t happen for next round I would not be against us giving up the Giants at the G later in the year to play there. It’s low drawing anyway and there are no GWS fans on Alice so the crowd would be firmly in our camp. As for Fly in Fly out, we just don’t seem to be able to bring it under those circumstances. I’d prefer we play in Sydney, personally prefer Giants stadium but I know from my brother it’s a pain to get to.

The only deal I would do (aside from those dollars as well) would be that in the event of a final this year against us no matter who’s home game it is, we play it at the G. Would be a big gamble on the Lions part. I agree that would definitely be something Seven would have to clear, but on the other hand Monday night footy actually rated quite well last season. An opportunity to give it a really big match. Fact of the matter is that someone will be put out by all of this whether it’s us, the Lions, or Seven. I would also only make it Monday night if it allowed the game to be played in Alice, otherwise we relocate it.