Jaded No More

If it wasn't for Jurrah, I'd poke both my eyes out with a stick. Worst game I have seen since we played Adelaide. Thank god I want us to lose, because honestly we are just so bad when we go forward. Newton is horrendous. Absolutely horrendous. Jurrah can take the rest of the year off if he's not right. He is the only one who might win us a game at the moment. Although you gotta give Morton credit; he's doing well on Goodes (I think that experiment has backfired!)

5 point win to Freo. I just watched the last 10 minutes and they are seriously the two worst teams in the AFL at the moment. It's turnover galore. Bloody West Coast, they could have drawn, but when they got the ball free on the wing with 40 seconds left on the clock, some idiot had his kick smothered. It was the sort of kick that Freak could write a whole essay about. Flawed action and all that.

Ummm because West Coast are the only other team that can get a PP before Round 1! I want them out of contention, so that even if we finish above Freo, we can still get picks 1 & 3. If West Coast win less than four, than best case scenario for us will likely be 1 & 4.

I'm not watching, but West Coast were behind in the first half, and clawed their way back. On the other hand, I don't think they are tagging Pavlich, because he's already on 30 possessions.

Come on West Coast!!! 1 point up, 10 minutes into the last quarter...

I think most, if not all of us agree that Robbo's career is fast coming to an end. That doesn't mean that it gives armchair supporters the right to write-off and tarnish the name of a great player and ambassador of the Melbourne Football Club. He has given all of us a lot of joy and excitement over the years, he has performed well in big games and finals, and has stood up when required to play as the number one forward, despite obvious size limitations. When offered a tempting 3 year deal from the Dogs, he chose to stay with us, despite the knowledge that he'll retire without a premiership or even another finals appearance. He is an old-school forward, the type that has never been big on the defensive pressure, and has struggled to adapt to the change. That's a shame, because he could have played on for another 2-3 seasons otherwise, and in the end, he has only himself to blame. I love Robbo, always have, and I dearly hope that he doesn't play his last few matches with Casey. He is better than that.

Yeah exactly. I have no issues with them tanking, although they did it for far too long which was a disgrace. What I have a problem with is that for years, they have tried to buy success. They cheat the system and they think they are above the laws of the game, and the laws of our community at large. They are a disgraceful club, operated by crooks and cheats and if there is any karmic justice in this world, they will not see any success, ever!

I'll remind you of that on Sunday. It's going to be a great concept, and much like the 3 word analysis will catch on. Bring your visual aids! :D

Good to see you finally balancing some of that wisdom out!

For a rookie pick up, he has had a magnificent career and is one of the better small forwards of the past decade. Hatred may have been too strong a word, but there is definitely a lot of contempt shown towards someone who has given us nothing but good service over the years. He, along with Whelan, Junior and Wheatley all deserve to go out on a good note.

There is no greater evil than the Carlton Football Club. Their pain, misery and despair should bring joy to the rest of us. Glad they lost!

I agree. Robbo has given us many years of excitement and pleasure, he won a B&F, led our goal kicking more than once and was an integral part in many of our wins over the journey (finals included). Not many other players currently on our list can boast these credentials, so while I think he needs to retire, let's not sit here and spit on him, because he has given his all to this club and we should be thanking him for his contribution. I realise that not everyone is a Robbo fan, certainly not to the degree that I am, but the sheer hatred towards him this season seems in poor taste. Hopefully all the guys who hang up the boots at season's end will get the send off they deserve, regardless of their recent form.

Well done Melbourne. Doing what is right for our future!

[censored] news if true. Hopefully the back fractures haven't returned!

Confirmed where?

It's not a pretty term, but if I said a "two by two cotton ribbed singlet with a single lock hem" would you know what I was on about?

Well it depends if you're thinking just very plain 'wife beater' style singlets, that you can sell really cheaply, in either red or navy with a small Melbourne emblem placed somewhere, because that would probably sell quite well. It'll be a level entry product, one you'd buy in multiples and wear to the gym, in the garden, etc... If you're thinking the high performance type singles, the kind that Reebok makes for us, and which are already available, I'd say they are less likely to sell. You can buy performance products in every sportswear shop for a lot less, and from my experience performance wear is often your worst seller. It's expensive to make, your margins are often lower and you sell much smaller volumes. Working on some of the jackets at the moment, I'm thinking those products will need to retail at around $150-$200 for the club to make a decent margin, purely because they are complex garments to make. But, I do think it's important to cater to every consumer group that exists within the club, which means you have to have basics on offer that younger consumers can afford. That's where a singlet might be a good core product, along with caps/beanies/tees. The issue at the moment is that for the purposes of the project I need to have no more than 10 items, but the way this has taken off I could easily do a 25 piece range, which I would love to do, but I just don't have the time. I'm more than happy to get as many designs as I can done in the time that I have, and once my exams/assignments are finished I will happily add and build onto the collection, before sending it to the club. I'm taking into account that once I put some of the initial specs up, every poster and his dog will have an opinion and I'll need to do a complete re-work, which is going to be a lot of fun <_< On the other hand, if someone is willing to do my other assignments...

Hey genius, did you click "view votes", also known as 'null vote'? You can PM me your answers and I can insert them manually.

Best changes ever. :D

I'm not gonna delve into merchandise that is not classified as apparel, such as flags etc... because that is not my area of expertise. With accessories, I'll steer clear of scarves, since I think we all have more than enough, but definitely caps (unisex military style ones probably) and beanies are a must. Gloves are also a good idea. Obviously outerwear, so jackets, jumpers, bomber jackets etc... are going to be the most appropriate and salable items, but I'll also do some lighter weight tops and tees/polo. One because we do play games in the heat at the start of the season, and secondly because the collection is made to be worn outside of the footy as well, and you need to have a balance of winter, summer and transeasonal pieces to ensure you generate sales all year long (with the primary focus obviously being winter). The idea of 'convertible' clothing is also something that I want to incorporate, so reversible hoodies and jackets with removable sleeves/hoods. That gives the piece a more functional aspect, and I know myself that I'd rug up to the footy, only to get overheated when I start abusing players/umpires, so having the option of removing a layer is important.

As far as I know surf/skate brands are big on the hoodies, zip-up jumpers, tees (long and short sleeve) and casual jackets, which are all things that I want to include in the range. Is there a specific product or brand that you have in mind? If you or anyone has an item that they've seen and really like, attach a picture or a link and I can incorporate the basic shape or some of the design elements in the collection. I'm definitely liking the collegian look. It's a big trend with sportswear retailers and is a real cash cow. Elements of that look, particularly the idea of 'tags' or branding stamps, as well as the use of numbers as prints is definitely stuff that should be incorporated into a sports-focused collection. For anyone not familiar with the style, Franklin Marshall is the sort of label that I'd be looking at.

I know, finally doing something which gives me an excuse to procrastinate on Demonland I'm spewing that I didn't make it to the Youth Summit so I could whinge about the merchandise, but I do know the guy from Globe that you're talking about (he did a guest lecture at uni once upon a time). There is, in my mind at least, a real opportunity for Melbourne to get a secondary apparel sponsor on board, similar to the Jeff Banks sponsorship, only for casual merchandise. This means that Melbourne can draw on Globe's expertise in development and design, and Globe can get some much needed exposure through their association with a national football club (that caters to the sort of supporter group they would be targeting). Ah, to be given free reigns at the MFC!

I also prefer the darker, deeper 'blood' red and I will definitely use that. The navy is also going to be a very very dark navy. That's why I don't think I'll use much black. When I send it all to the club I'll attach the colour codes so that if they do want to take some of the ideas on board, they'll be able to use the same colour tones. I've got so much to do before this project is due, because as well as garment designs, we're required to come up with marketing and merchandising ideas for the range, so packaging, visual displays, tags, fabrications etc... then put the entire collection into a catalogue. The finished catalogue is what I'll (hopefully) send to the club.

I will do my best to get the initial specs up, so that I can get opinions regarding the basic shapes and structural details. This is pretty much the most important aspect because this is what I think the club is most likely to adopt. I'll also try and put up some trim details and printed appliques that I'm thinking of using. Hopefully I can get about 80 voters on the poll by next week, then I can close it, gather the data and start moving. I've got 3 other subjects at the moment, plus a thesis that needs finishing, so I need to make sure I don't give all of my time to this and get completely behind on the other stuff. For one, this will involve us having to find overseas suppliers, and not just overseas suppliers, but ones that are willing to make very small runs. If anyone has the contacts or the time to do that, great, but the idea is to get the club to use their contacts and their volume discounts to produce a substantial range that can be updated on an ongoing basis. You're also looking at the issue of distribution. How many sales can we possibly generate on Demonland, when compared to all the avenues where Melbourne merchandise are currently sold? It's just not going to have the same kind of financial impact, and that's the bottom line. I can design a range that Demonlanders might love, but if it doesn't generate large volume sells, it's not going to help anyone.

I've long loved the idea of 'customised' merchandise, so just as you can choose what number you want on your jumper, you can choose what number application to have on your hoodie/jumper/jacket. Price and logistics wise this is probably a very difficult thing to coordinate, especially if you're looking at fabric number trims, transferable appliques etc... but who knows. 1964, 12 and 1859 will all be numbers that I'll look to feature in some form, as they are not obvious but they would mean something to Melbourne supporters. I'm going to guess that because we need to use the same red on all of our merchandise, there is a discrepancy that comes across in some merchandise. Some items do appear to have a darker, deeper red (the track jacket for example), but the full synthetic items, particularly the jumpers, are a brighter red. This is an issue to do with fiber properties, since each fiber has a different level of dye absorbency, so you'll have some items coming up brighter and some absorbing the dye a lot better and having a more intense, darker shade. If you're going to create a completely separate casual range,and you're going to use cotton as your primary fiber (or at the very least a 70-30 cotton/poly blend), than you could set one dye tone and you'll get a consistent colour across the range. However you will always get some colour discrepancy if you use the same shade on different fabrics. Everything from fiber content, weave or knit structure and any finishes that are applied, will impact the final colour. If you want to get the exact shade across every item, you need to do separate lab-dips for each garment, which can be done, but is a costly process.