Moonshadow

Love to see Toumpas get more than 10 touches in his first game.

Was it Woosher saying today that he has already noticed the game opening up from the capped rotations? Could be, but I'm not sure I'd call the coaches impartial on the topic.

I watched it online and thought he was good. Hard at it and tackled very well. Can't have the ball all the time, so I was happy with his high tackle count.

There was a thread a while back about how to get your kids to follow the Dees. I remember a number of posters commented upon the importance of their first game being a win, going home from the game on a positive note. Also, many mentioned their kids being wrapped at meeting their fav player at training, family day, etc. The winning team bit in your first point is such a big influence. It's why there are so many Hawk supporters under 40, and perhaps so few Dee fans under 40. We need more wins and prolonged success over a number of seasons.

Like it, Red. Would love to see Strauss secure a spot in the back line earlier rather than later. His kicking is such an advantage in the back 6.

Do you read? In case you missed it, this thread is about how much we make from pokies. Sure, alcohol and cigarettes are big problems to society. No one is denying that. You are blinkered along the 'which is the biggest problem' line. I'm very happy for you name the biggest problem, if size is all important to you. They are all problems and minimising their damage is always good, of course. My beef is that we are DEPENDENT upon pokie income for survival, ugly money IMO. If they were making $4.7mill+ from cigarettes then I'd be disappointed as well. We could forego what we make from cigarettes, if anything, and survive, and I'd be happy with that too. We (arguably) could not give up pokies and survive. It is impossible to rid society of all problems, big or small, but this is Demonland and this thread is about pokie profits. I'll leave you to argue about all the others by yourself. Good luck with that. If you wish to globally crusade against booze or cigarettes, knock your socks off Robbie. Let me know where to sign your petition.

Are we reaping $4.7mill from booze, or the other items you list? We are with pokies, and many want that to increase significantly. That's the point that you miss again Robbie. No one is wanting us to be the Crusaders on all issues, but becoming increasingly dependant upon the profit from pokies is ugly and goes against the idea of a sporting club being a positive role model to its followers. It's one significant thing that we could have taken a position on before we too, as a club, got hooked. $4.7mill...... and increasing. If we lost that (which has been mentioned during the 'tanking' affair) would we survive? Good on North for taking a stand. Taken from: http://www.problemgambling.gov.au/ "Australians spend nearly $12 billion a year on poker machines and three quarters of people who have a serious problem with gambling are pokie players. As a community, we have a duty of care to make gambling on poker machines safer and protect people whose gambling is out of control. One in six people who play the pokies regularly has a severe gambling problem. People who have a problem with their gambling lose an average of $21,000 a year. That’s a third of the average annual salary. So extensive are the impacts that the social cost of problem gambling to the community is estimated to be at least $4.7 billion each year." I'm guessing ill just agree to disagree with you.

Wins, wins, wins. IF....... we had 7 wins around the half way point, my guess is we'd get a good boost in members. That's a big if, though.

No. You missed the point Robbie and misunderstood what i said. They are all unpleasant, not saying they aren't. But we make a large amount of our income from this one, and only in the last few years. Put in perspective, pokie profits have us by the short n curlies. We have become addicted to their money. Plenty of things are legal, doesn't make it a good idea for a family orientated spectator sport to invest heavily in other people's losses. You can have your doubts, as you choose, but pokies cause big damage to a lot of people, more than most of us realise. But it's legal, and if we don't fleece their cash another club will, so lets do it, eh?

So why haven't all clubs been doing this for years, if it works so good?

Sliding Dawes, perhaps? Sorry, feeling a little unhinged of late........ Welcome aboard, deano.

How about p3 or p5 in our sponsors product?

Just saw add on SBS TV - 'drugs in sport' topic on Insight next Tuesday. Clint Bartram is on the panel.

Page 70 of the HS? That'll hit the big fish, potential sponsors right between the eyes. How about a butt strip across the MFC shorts which reads "advertise here, call 1300BUTT"? edit: I have no idea who you'll get if you are dumb enough to ring that number.

But we don't make $4.7million from cigarettes or the other examples you quote, do we? Following your logic, we shouldn't buy the non-FSC footy record (google it) or turn the coal-fired electric tower lights on. They are all arguably not good, per se, but MFC are not becoming increasingly dependant upon raising revenue from them, as we are with pokies. I do not buy the line of 'if we don't do it someone else will'. It's too easy to make cash out of someone else's misery. The bigger the amount, the greater the lie. Again, should we make a comparatively large amount of money out of other people's misery? Sure, governments will not control it, especially since a very large % of the gov'ernment revenue comes from gambling taxes/losses (Vic state gov't, it counted for $1.6billion in 2009, probably much more now. That figure does not include Crown's pokie gluttony). No, you can't fix everyone's problems, but we can make a conscious decision not to profit significantly from the misery of others, especially by positioning them in areas where low-income or vulnerable people are more susceptible. It's not about being a do-gooder activist, it's simply about doing what's right, given our level of investment.The elderly pensioners who lived next to me used to go down to the local pokie den on pension day and more often than not throw their pension into the machines. They had little $ to spare before they went there, typical frugal depression generation. She used to tell me over the fence that they lost the lot and were eating jam sandwiches until the next pension. Credit was easy. In the end, they had to sell the house, which her mother had left her 40 yrs earlier. They were hooked, lost the lot. Died a couple of years ago, son had to pay for funeral. Combination of easy access to credit and an addiction to pokies. Pathetic and sad. edit: stat correction.

Maybe it'd be better for us to sell em. If they're not making us much money, that is. I hear brothels are very profitable, and they're legal. Lets buy half a dozen, hey.

Sorry mate, my bad.

Sorry Macca, i don't agree. The worst part of it is that people lose money, a lot of money, to a machine where the odds are stacked massively against them. It's legal, but it's not right.

1400 pokie money takers owned by Victorian AFL clubs. What a marvellous contribution to society. Not. Geez we go low for a buck. Congratulations to Norf for being bold enough to not have any.

It would be good if they gave the reasoning behind the number. Or has it just been pulled from a hat? Transparency would do Vlad the world of good ATM. It's what he lacks badly.

Not going to do a lot for ch 9's ratings. I've seen sherin footballs with more personality.

Apart from his lack of premiership experience (which Neeld loves, incidentally), can someone tell me exactly what role Choco has had in his assist coaching career at various clubs and what the views were about his success in those roles? I know that he is our current midfield coach and hasn't had a lot to work with, nor had a lot of success. Wasn't he our back line assist coach at some point? I'm trying to gauge what he's done, what success he's had, and what role he is best suited to at MFC, if any. I believe his contract runs to the end of this season. I'd be disappointed to see any of the core group leave, partic Craig, Misso, Brown, Rawlings..... and of course Neeld. Incidentally, what are people's views on Josh Mahoney's performance?

Good game from Tappy today. Here's to him keeping up this form through the season proper.

77 posts before the fist bounce for a B team match in the middle of nowhere. Guessing there will be 770 before round one H&A.

Friendly. Sorry should've put wink emoticon jr.