Lucifers Hero

You could well be right Js5. The Age article http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/mark-bomber-thompsons-port-melbourne-house-raided-20180108-h0f5th.html says the raids were conducted by the Geelong and Southern Metro Divisional Response Units. Re the multimillion dollar deal, The HS article in the 'biggestred' post says 'Last March Thompson pocketed $7 million after selling his stake in a farming property at Armstrong Creek' which is near Geelong. The Age article goes on to say 'Divisional Response Units investigate property crimes and illegal drug activity (including cultivate, manufacture and traffic), according to Victoria Police'. People can form their own theories but that line is certainly a leading piece of info.

It has now been put back to 'early next month' ie early Feb. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/melbourne/jack-viney-on-track-to-take-on-geelong-in-round-1-as-he-recovers-from-nasty-foot-injury/news-story/aabb7b0156b9db0b954365c33e765d33 We play our first JLT game on Feb 24 and he may be 'put in cotton wool' for the preseason games. Round 1 of the season vs Geelong is March 25. I would love to share the club's optimism that he will be ready for round 1 but gee it is hard to see that happening with virtually no preseason.

Looks like we will get a rundown on players for the next few weeks. Today Baker to Bugg http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-01-04/list-update-baker-to-bugg Its interesting to get the coaches of view of player progress. Some extracts that caught my eye: Goodwin: Oskar Baker has demonstrated some elite fundamentals, from a kicking perspective within our program. I like the sound of the elite kicking - just what we need. Goodwin: Harley Balic has been outstanding at training. He won one of our training ‘player of the week’ awards. I wouldn't be surprised if he got a game earlier than later. (Interesting to know we have 'player of the week' award for training). Goodwin: Angus Brayshaw is starting to emerge within the group, in terms of his training standards. Determined young fella - slow and steady will be good for his confidence Goodwin: Tomas Bugg has been working closely with the forwards. Sounds like he is keeping his head down working to regain respect. Admire him for that.

Agreed, the slogan itself isn't really important. Maybe our PR group are also still feeling flat from rnd 23 and the slogan reflects that. To me the real issue is our apparent non-conversion (so far) of the Dees supporters among the extra 146,000 people who attended our games in 2017. Win a few games early in the season and it might change quickly but I'm not holding out much hope of increasing the 2017 membership figure. Even if it increases, Vic clubs are growing faster than us (except Roos and maybe Saints). Our club works really hard but while our numbers are flat/small growth, relatively we are falling further behind them. It will be a poor return if we can't convert say 10% of the Dees supporters among the extra attendees. To avoid falling further behind, this must be our 'breakout' year on and off the field!

Very good points, VP. Most other clubs have received or are getting substantial government grants to upgrade ovals. Now that Casey is being used for VFL, VFLW and AFLW maybe its about time we put our hand out for some of those grants and put in the improvements you suggest. And while they are at it upgrade access to/from the ground and car parks.

Article on each club's latest membership http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-29/on-the-campaign-trail-your-clubs-membership-drive I've extracted a summary and added comparisons to roughly the same time in 2017'. I hadn't realised the Crows had so many members! Almost twice the capacity of Adelaide Oval. Our slogan 'Be a part of our journey' doesn't sound too inspiring nor aspirational! It sounds like we are just plodding along - the story of the last 10 years. Would have preferred something like 'Come Watch us Raise Hell' or 'Join our March Upward' or 'Bleed Red and Blue with Us'. Or anything that aspires to where we are going or reflects our passion! Clubs set to beat prior records are: Crows, Tigers, Bombers, Cats, Blues and maybe the Bulldogs. Mostly the so called big Vic clubs. Pies keep their numbers to themselves so hard to tell where they are at. We are on track to achieve last years total of 42,233. But it will be really disappointing if we cannot convert last year's bumper crowds to members, especially given the level of talent in the team. Based on those crowds, our talent and 2017 improvement, 45,000 would be a realistic 2018 ie a 6.5% increase. I suspect a lot of people haven't forgiven or aren't yet convinced.

Sorry if this is reported elsewhere, Mitch White will line up for Casey next year. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-27/mitch-to-make-most-of-new-opportunity It sounds like the pressure of being an AFL player got to him but at 21 he has every chance to get back to AFL as a mature age recruit. Casey will be the better for having him in the side next year.

Last year the Casey jumper and name was changed to Demons. Now, we have significantly beefed up the Casey staffing. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-26/exciting-times-at-casey-maynard This is a far cry from the pre Roos days. He recruited Plapp to start integrating Casey and Demons. Looking at MFC website the Casey staff are fully integrated into the MFC structure. It is no coincidence that most of the recent AFL premiers have very successful and integrated VFL teams. Bodes well for the future of both teams.

I worked in the industry for a long time so I understand the difference between Toyota and Lexus, their products and marketing strategies. (I have a slightly different view as to when their products are competing against each other but that isn't relevant to this thread). Nonetheless, your post is important for those that don't know how Toyota and Lexus are connected. My post was primarily to direct attention away from Lexus in case the attention given to it in this thread undermines the MFC's launch strategy (if it is Lexus). Hence my invitation to posters to suggest other Japanese brands with luxury cars.

Honda make some high spec SUV and Civics and a pretty neat sports car. But yes, Infiniti is a good guess - I believe owned by Nissan who don't sponsor an AFL team. Also Suzuki. Not sure how high their range goes. They do sponsor Melbourne Storm. Could leverage the 'Melbourne' name and that sort of stuff which suits the direction of our branding. Also, potential joint branding of Gosch's Paddock...?

Toyota are long term sponsors of the Crows so if Lexus sponsor Demons they may dilute each others marketing a bit ie both marketing to the same AFL watching audience. Perhaps it is Honda? They are one of the few car makers who don't sponsor an AFL club. Honda is a great brand and have very nice cars. Anyway, we should keep guessing as we don't want to steal the club's thunder of a big announcement and spoil their PR efforts or for some journo to read this and start pestering the club for a statement. On that note who are the other Japanese car makers with who don't sponsor an AFL team?

Indispensable - that covers 1 or 2 of the 4 players in Bali. I suspect you are right - we won't be hearing much more about it. If for no other reason than the girl doesn't want her name and picture splashed all over the place and become the subject of social media abuse. It takes a very brave, brave person to take on the might of the AFL especially if a big name player is involved. I think the broom and the carpet are waiting.

Exactly! And, they pay for the privilege. Check this out - Just like Etihad with the roof closed. Spectators wear their team colours, buy merchandise etc. Great for sponsors, especially those with international brands (ie most AFL clubs, MFC one of the exceptions)

People pay to go to stadiums to watch other people play video games on a big screen. Lots of fan fare and noise and pizazz! Exciting to some but meh to others. Mainly watched by under 35's. Others watch on their computers/apps. So it is, a mega version of watching your mates play X-box games. Lots and lots of scope for sponsors to put up big money to get exposure - hence the allure to the AFL and AFL clubs. Essendon will put their team in red and black and call them 'The Bombers'. Lots of leverage. Mega attractive to their sponsors. Essendon is swimming in $$ so they can afford the investment. So can other cashed up clubs like Coll. Geelong and Adelaide. AFL also keen as they can use Ethiad as the venue to host esport games and sell tickets for those events. For mine - I'll just stick to watching Aussie Rules.

Recently Essendon bought a team. Adelaide have a team. The AFL wants to play: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-21/understanding-esports-how-the-afl-is-involved And today Pies and Cats have started looking at getting involved. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/collingwood-and-geelong-exploring-esports-plans-for-etihad-stadium-facility-20171222-h094nb.html Excuse the cynicism but my eyebrows raised when I read: " Bastion Live – the owners of Avant Gaming – are a branch of Bastion Collective, a diverse communications firm whose board members include former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou. Former Western Bulldogs player Simon Garlick is CEO of Bastion's sponsorship arm while Hamish McLachlan, brother of AFL CEO Gillon, is a key shareholder in the business". Incestuous? Feathering nests? Boy's Club? I'm not a follower of esport but can see it could change the face of sponsorship and attendances (and $$$) of 'sport' as we know it. It could be really good for clubs (who know what they are getting into). But I really wouldn't like to see AFL/Club involvement to be 'controlled' by associated parties. Not good governance.

Totally agree. Players position is irrelevant. One rule for all. No exceptions. A genuine Question: What if the facts (which hopefully are not made public) show the club there is some truth to the allegation and her view is accepted as probable and the player is 'in real trouble'. She subsequently decides she does not wish to put herself thru the public trauma of a legal process so the player's legal guilt/innocence will not be tested in court. Do you think the club will sack/stand down the player?

I suggested the Integrity Unit/AFL as Peter Ryan (The Age) broke the story. Until April 2017 he was an AFL staff reporter. Of the 5 possible leak options, for me the AFL is the most likely the culprit. Maybe Ryan knew for a while and kept it quiet, maybe he picked it up at a Christmas party. But it came from one of his sources.

It was also posted in the Viney thread but it seems the instagram with the video embeddd in the post has been deleted from posts in both threads... If it doesn't come back in those threads google Rob Jackson instagram

Five possible sources for the leak to the media: The girl The player MFC The Police The AFL Integrity Unit I would be shattered if it was from withing MFC. I would have my money on the so called Integrity Unit. In my book, the leaking of a personal matter to the media is a sackable offence.

How am I selling him short? I said he has done a solid job. Not sure what you see to suggest it has been fantastic. Yes, stability is crucial and with adequate succession planning there is no reason why it shouldn't remain so. We had a succession plan for the coach. Jackson has talked about a successor for himself. We have a succession plan for our next captain. Can't see why succession planning can't apply for a President. Let me repeat I am not potting our President. In my view, as a club we need to take a significant leap in size and scope. That will require a different approach and skill set. And I haven't seen those signs from our President (or the Board). Maybe he will surprise. But then maybe 10 years is too long.

Posted this in the Training Thread but also relevant here: Viney is super human!! If his foot is ready there will be no stopping him next year.

He was asked what he thought of Hawthorn's policy of Presidents standing down after two terms ie 6 years. Our President said he thought 10 years is about right. So expect our vanilla flavoured President for another five years! While his style has suited a club rebuilding and establishing a solid stable base, there comes a time when we need to make a significant leap in size to just keep up with other clubs. And I don't think a vanilla style presidency is so effective for that. At some point we need someone who has some charisma, is innovative and sells our club. So for mine, I hope we get someone else in the role well before before the 10 years are up. Not potting Bartlett - he has done a solid job. But it is horses for courses.

Well training was on yesterday and it seems a lot of fun being had by all. Great video! Really like how the players were rapt for him. Crikey, if Viney's foot is fully healed he will be unstoppable next year - and beware anyone who gets in his way!

True but does it matter? Just shows how Viney can work Selwood over and over again. Bit of fun with pictures.

And just for the fun of it put Bernie onto Dangerfield