Hells Gates

Denis Pagan

Pedersen looked good so far, Sellar not so.

I like your side, if Terlich would replace anyone in that side it's Nicholson. DN must improve his foot skills considerably to hold his spot.

Don't be fooled, beers taste much better up here, had the opposite effect on me!!! :-)

When have you heard that players have lost 8kg during games in the dry season? I'm not talking the training in summer(humid), I'm talking the games? Absolute rubbish. We will start winning games the following week when we are better, at the moment we are a bad football team, good sides win on the road then back it up, at the moment we're not a good side.

Can I once again explain..... AT That time of year it is NOT frigging HUMID!!!! At match time, it WILL be cool, as it always is during that time of year. Look up BOM data if you don't believe me. It is a cop out to make up excuses for the heat, it's the same for both sides, yet our supporters live by this excuse. if anything it probably has more to do with the long flight or the fact that we have been a poor football team who's chances of winning the next week were slim anyway. It is a similar, if not cooler temperature than a nice spring day in Melbourne during finals, but we don't hear the top 8 sides complaining. Anyway embrace the Darwin move, until we get better..... There's always a spare bed & a fridge full of amber fluid for any member that wishes to come up and support the club on game day. Cheers, HG.

Unfortunately I will be away at work.

Dave had a great year last year also. While we had a horrid run with injuries, a very large percentage were contact injuries and not soft tissue. He is doing a great job.

I've said my piece many times about the benefits of Darwin, I will refrain from explaining again, here is some proof. Only the blind, dumb & stupid would be against it.

For those interested, Austin Wonaeamirri will captain theTiwi Bombers in tomorrows grand final against St Marys in the NTFL. Tiwi Bombers captain Shane Tipuamantamirri will miss out on this weekend's NTFL Grand Final after being suspended for rough conduct. This year's Nichols Medallist, Tipuamantamirri, pleaded not guilty to the charge at a tribunal hearing this week which was unsuccessful. Tiwi went down to St Mary's dismally in the semi final between the top two sides by 51 points. Tiwi 10.12.72 St Mary's 19.9.123 Aussie booted 3 goals in the loss. It will be a great honour for Aussie to captain the proud Tiwi Bombers in a grand final and I will be going to cheer for him and hopefully they go back to back. My verdict: St Mary's have been the standout team all year and if Tiwi try to play their game style St Mary's will win big. If Tiwi play their own style I think they'll win a close one. St Mary's by 38. Cheers, Hells Gates

Ok, we'll maybe it may take a bit longer for an announcement? How long ago did he tweet that? Lets just get it over with!

Announcement coming up guys, within the hour I'm told.

Couldn't agree more mate.

Hi All. Sorry I haven't been around much in the last few months - busy with work and buying a house and moving etc. still in Darwin. I hope everyone had a good Xmas and New Year's and killed enough brain cells to forget the Demons of Old!!! Last year there were a few topics and issues brought up and questions raised about the club so I thought of no better way than for me to ask those questions to the club and give the feedback right here on Demonland. Answers are from Board members high up over dinner with a notepad! I hope I've asked the questions correctly. The questions in bold, response below, I tried to jot down every word so see how it goes. How long do the Dees intend on playing up here in Darwin? We are committed to playing for the next 2 years (2013 and 2014) under the current AFL NT government agreement. We hope to position ourselves as part of the new agreement in 2015 to ensure that we play two games per year in Darwin each year. How many Darwin/NT members do we have at the club in 2012? We had 160 members in NT in 2012, a number that we are hoping will grow. Is the club actively looking at building a strong membership here? We believe that the Territorians are very footy literate. They love their AFL and we need them to love the first AFL club. So we will be trying to build membership but understand that many NT residents already have teams. We hope that if we are up there enough they will come to see us as their local AFL club. Why hasn't the club made more of an effort to contact members whilst the Dees are up here? A few phone calls around could have had a lot of support for them at training, the closed sessions are a bit disappointing too, especially at late notice. Not all people have access to twitter & the website. We understand that it can be hard if you are not plugged into social media for the late changes. Some of the changes occurred due to ground availability and the timing of the NT season I think only the last training session at the Army Barracks was closed otherwise, the others were open. When we play in July, there will be a civic reception where all MFC members are invited (via email). Will the club look at chartering a plane from Melbourne for supporters for our home games and offer cheaper packages? Probably not, but we work with Travelworld in Melbourne to do specific packages for the game and we advertise these on our website. We also are working with NT Tourism on some exciting ideas for 2013 and beyond. Is the club looking at major sponsorship up here? Yes, we have had some serious conversations with a number of potential sponsors. Also, in response to the US Marines we had 220 of them come to last years game and expect more at our Round 17 game against Brisbane in July. We also have aligned our new cheer squad as the Demon Army and hope they will be part of it. Also on Darwin, I would like to bring up about the day in which we play our games up here. Normally, always on a Saturday night which is usually a good idea. Last year I think the crowd was 6700 roughly. I truly believe we would have had a better crowd had the game been on a Friday night. My reasons being its right in the middle of the Darwin spring racing carnival which is a very popular event up here, there would have been quite a few people who wouldn't have made an effort after a big day at the races. Also fishing and camping is an extremely popular past time up here with the majority of people doing it at this time of year due to the cooler weather, most people like myself would leave to go fishing/camping early Saturday morning, but if the game was on a Friday night I'm sure a lot of these people would turn up also. Id like to hear some feedback on this, maybe we could change it? (My Question) We are also aware of the issues of the timing and how busy Darwin is during the Dry as is AFLNT and the government. The fixture is the domain of the AFL but we would like to have it during NT school term Friday nights might be hard but we will take on board your insights when we put forward our requests to the AFL. My next question is about a Dees social club/bar: Is the club active about trying to find/buy/build one close to the MCG as we desperately need somewhere to go and even the players to come to which is close to our home ground. Preferably not Docklands as its too far away. We have 2 clubs Leighoak and Bentleigh Club and as far as I know we are not seeking any further pubs / clubs. We also have social areas for different types of members within the ground on a match day and have held some functions at AAMI Park after matches. But no, we arent looking at establishing anymore. There used to be a bar next to the Hilton is that still an option? Or near the Tigers' clubrooms? That has been sold. Membership: How many supporters do you estimate weve got out there as a whole? Approximately 157,000 - 160,000 What other areas are the club actively trying to grow and seek members? City of Casey, Australia's second largest growth corridor which has twice the population of NT . Also looking at migrant communities, who are new to Australia and new to football. How much of a crowd does it take to make a profit or break even when we hire the MCG Someone has told me about 30,000 - 35,000? It really depends on the mix of members but it can be anywhere between 27,000 and 30,000. Will there be opportunities to meet the players and go into the change rooms and after match functions next year? We always hold open training sessions prior to our game in Darwin and also the government reception is generally open to members as well- these are the best opportunities to meet players when were up there for the game. Anyway all the best guys/girls. Have a nice day, not long until the footy starts! Cheers, HG.

Ahh dear. I bet you've been stewing over my comment all day too. It just goes to show the mentality or even stupidity for that matter that you have. Read my other posts, there is a big picture that the club is trying to paint, alot bigger than you obviously understand. Do you want the club to sit on its hands forever? You havent answered my question on what you would do, since youre not a fan of Darwin? All you gave me was "tell the players to win games". Geez youre a thinker arent you. Do you even understand why they're experimenting with Darwin? Or are you too stubborn.... The club is trying to get on a level playing field here with the rest of the competition, if that means 1-2 games in Darwin good on them. We may only get a small crowd but the opportunities are endless - and we need money. Basically I couldnt care less what you do, no show or not, but I'm not going to knock the club for having the balls to try new things. Also not sure why you would stick the boots into rpfc for having his own opinion, he said nothing wrong and he brings alot of good stuff to this forum, so why dont you stop being so childish & spiteful and think about your own posts before you press send..... If you dont like what I bring to the forum then please feel free, go ahead and use the ignore fuction.

Very good point. Never thought of it like that.

Ok where did you get that info? Im pretty sure its 35k, I will ask Cam today, hopefully he'll tell me.

All good mate, just this place is frustrating sometimes!! Wasnt Henry Parkes a Sir? Im not sure, probably got the wrong guy...but he would have fresh legs by now, been rested up for a while.

So you dont agree? You have an obsession with Americans. Odd.

Ok in about an hour Im heading to the Barracks to see what the boys are up to today. Feel free to put forward any questions to me or players to focus on before I head off. Cheers, HG.

Ok. Unlike you to belittle anyone Nasher. Ridiculous comparisons??? Anyone with half a brain knows he will never be Pavlich, I was only stating that he moves alot like a young Pavlich, the way he runs, marks and moves through traffic - I thought looked he quite similar. If he even has 2 years on the rookie list I'd be happy.

Tell the players to win?? Its that easy hey? Way out of line?? Explain yourself a bit better than that poor effort. You tell me how to fix the problem then.....? Whether you like it or not its the truth. We dont have a high supporter base but we also have supporters with a poor attitude. I remember in 2010 when we were starting to play some good footy and crowds would be poor. We've always had the reputation of crowds not turning up. From memory and I may be wrong it costs the club about a home crowd of 35,000 to hire the MCG, when we only get 18-20,000 odd against lower sides its not very beneficial is it? Trouble is Melb v Bris, Port, Freo, GWS, GC arent pulling the crowds so club has acted, its not as if we're missing out on any blockbusters, which Dees supporters seem to turn up to. I could go on for pages but you obviously don't get it so I will stop wasting my time. Are you one of "those" supporters that dont show up when were losing? Everyone hates losing, but build a bridge, we are heading in the right direction more than ever before, both on and off the field and if that means playing a couple of home games a year in Darwin for 5 years until we get better then great work by the club I'd say.

Ok so tonight the subject was raised and little to my understanding and a few others the club does offer pet memberships. A few people expressed interest and if you have a spare $35 the options there for you. Cheers.

Thanks for the kind words. I will definetley put it to the club tomorrow, might be awhile before we hear anything though.

Well there you go. $35 for dees. It's never been well advertised then as I've never seen it. Cheers for that