13thFlagIsComing

Can understand why Dawes was on his back...he doesn't want to give up the number sux.

Sure do. Back then the crappy buses with the overhead tram lines still roamed the streets. Not sure if it's still there these days. I'm guessing it is, When were you in Dalian (it's a beautiful city) ?

We currently have not lost any major sponsors I believe... so what is it that you are concerned about? What is so important about round 1? Are you worried that we may not be able to afford to field a team?

There was a brief article on the MFC site today re the club taking on 4 Chinese Melbourne University Business students to look at how they can improve what they are doing on the China front:

"The team of four - Melody, Will, Patrick and Kevin - spent two weeks working with the Club’s strategy and commercial teams, evaluating our current China strategy and providing insights into potential Chinese sponsors."

It goes on to say that they are...

"...currently in negotiations with a number of Chinese companies. The work conducted by the Melbourne University students will assist in refining and strengthening our relationships, which we expect to deliver a positive result in 2013."

All seems quite positive and nice to see them being proactive.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2013-03-19/china-strategy-strengthened-by-student-insights

Having lived in Northern China (Dalian) and Hong Kong from 2004-2006, i can say that the game can only appeal to city centric folk.

China may be big on land and people but in the cities space is at a premium. Plus the Chinese aren't big on contact sports (not including martial arts)

I started a small group of students (i was teaching English at the time in Dalian) where we would go to the local artificial football pitch and they would teach me how to play football and i would teach them how to play AFL.

Usually we'd end up playing best of 5 from the corner flag, They would curl it into the net and i would banana kick it in.

We did get a few onlookers who would jump in, hold the ball and roost it as far as they could.

Must say the highlght was playing kick to kick in Tiananmen Square, had a couple hundred onlookers until one of the Canadians who were travelling with our group shanked one and hit a bloke on the head!

Next thing, a Tarago full of soldiers in uniform were over questioning what happened!

I'm sure i've got the photos somewhere at home...

Good times!

Ah.....yes.

This just in...Jack Watts blamed for supporter having the same view on Jack Watts as he did 12 months ago.

Back him in this year...defensive sweeper who i would rather use the ball as great as he does and let the likes of Frawley, Garland, McDonald go in and bash and crash for the ball.

So you could understand why some people don't take that extra financial option up 13th?

Totally understand. i'm sure there is a decent percentage of Melbourne fans that don't have the cash to shell out extra but don't want to lose their MCC membership either.

It's their "Golden Ticket" to access finals and potential Grand Finals.

If the MCC subsidised $60 of all MCC members that support Melbourne, rather than add $60 extra then our membership then our membership goes up by 10-12,000.

Usually when the Dees are in the finals or Queens Birthday, first place that always fills up is the MCC.

We win a few more games, play consistent finals then you'll get more supporters like me that will shell out the extra $60.

Hate to burst the bubble but not all MCC members live in a 10 km radius of the MCG or in the most affluent suburbs around Melbourne.

I'm an MCC member and not on the greatest salary in the world. I also purchase the $60 option to support the club as well. That's around $500 a year. Luckily for me i love my footy (i even go to non Melbourne games, ANZAC Day, blockbusters, finals) and cricket so i justify the renewal every year due to the amount of events i attend . If you look at it that way, a single general admission ticket for say 20-30 games a year, plus finals plus test match, 20/20 and any other events then the MCC membership is value for money. Having waited about 16 years to become a Restricted Member i certainly won't be letting my membership lapse. I still dread the renewal notice every August though!

Spot on 13th and they are all a very long way from Collingwood and Hawthorn

Well i just pulled this from the Melton Leader from Nov 2012

AFTER two years Hawthorn Football Club’s West Waters entertainment complex in

Caroline Springs is still operating at a loss. According to the club’s 2012

annual report, the complex came in at a loss of $840,000. It comes after it

recorded a $1.1 million loss last year, in its first year of operation. A delay

in construction works in 2010 were attributed to the complex’s initial loss, but

in a statement the club says the business continues to grow and is a key

investment. The annual report claims West Waters was still in an ‘‘establishment

phase’’ and is projected to return a healthy profit next year.

Living out in the west in Taylors Hill, i'm only a stones throw away from Caroline Springs.

From what i understand - Collingwood owns "The Club" on the Western Highway at the front of Caroline Springs

Hawthorn - is in a joint venture called WestWaters in the heart of Caroline Springs. It's a massive, hotel, pub, pokies, TAB & enterntainment and there really isn't anywhere else around here like it.

The Club is bistro with pokies where WestWaters is an entertainment complex.

We need 22 committed , focused , team oriented champions to be avaliable late September 2014,15,16 & 17.

I'm looking forward to seeing if we have figured out how to hit a player on the chest rather than kicking at their ankles!

I just hope people have not gone to early on Viney.........He is just an 18 year old kid who has not yet played a game......

So the $50 i put on him to take out the NAB Rising Star / Brownlow double is a bit much?

Terence from Toorak?

Tally Ho...Go Dees!

Good Call Hardtack , excellent call...really need the money in the bank call!

Very confident about this Friday night - actually the whole NAB Cup.

Put $10 on sportsbet a few weeks ago to take out the pre-season title - Odds were 50-1

Checked back earlier this week to see if odds were the same - blown out to 67-1 . Another $10 on it.

Reasons i'm confident : 1) Heat and Humidity - Friday nght is looking to be humid about 30 degrees. Going back to back shouldnt be an issue, especially rotating the midfield between games 1-2. Our game against Port in the SA hinterland will be hot hot hot and an early march game at casey (should have home field advantage) will be warm as well

2) We need to show something - I think the club will treat this not only as a warm up to round one but as close to "real game" time as we can get. Plus we also need to show our supporters, sponsors and unsigned members that we mean business this year. Most of the players seem to be avaliable and going by Neeld will play (Hogan, Dawes, etc) on Friday night

3) Our fixture - Tigers , Roos - Etihad - Should knock off Tiges and hoping to sneak a win against North.

- Port away in SA - They are rebuilding and are further away from midnight than us. Especially if we play 90% of the team for Round 1.

- Saints @ Casey - Midfiels should dominate this game, and it's our second home.

Depending on who we come up against in the final...only top two teams go through, plus i dont think we want to travel anymore than we have to.

So with all that. Here's hoping $1170 coming my way in a few weeks.

Go Dees!!!

As a supporter - i tanked

The club didn't.

Roll on next Friday night!

Energy Watch is back on the telly i see....

With the amount of crap we dished out....we must have been on Metamucil.

Having been at the AGM last night, there was no issue with Satyriconhome' s question, which i thought was asked quite well and answered exceptionally well by Neil Craig.

As much as i hate (and boy do i hate Essendon) i don't hate the players in all this. They are footballers, not footballers with an undergraduate in bio-science.

It's the Calais driving , smug like Jeremy Clarkson, Jimmy, Llloydy, Sheedy, our sh*t don't stink supporters that i am thinking about today.

And that makes me smile

More photos from myself later tonight.

Tommy Mac just glides over the turf...he's a running machine!

Having seen the incident it was on the artificial grass llid used to cover the ground when the goal posts aren't in use. Jim slipped up against the post , got up looked at his lower leg. Must have twisted an ankle slightly. He'll be right. Was running well as I'm leaving to go back to the car.

Have really liked the talk from Dunn and Joel Mac. Keeping the boys up and going and on the defensive units backs if there is an error.

First time seeing him live but every Jimmy Toumpas kick is just smooth as silk.