Diamond_Jim

Essendon just released their latest financials. Apparently they received $7M in grants and donations to "extend and improve the hangar." Essendon have posted a strong financial result for 2021, recording a statutory profit of $8.2 million and becoming bank-debt free again. The Bombers’ profit for this year is made up of $1.2 million generated from operations, and $7 million derived from grants and donations which were used to expand their Hangar facility in Tullamarine. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/bombers-post-strong-financial-result-for-covid-hit-2021-season-20211124-p59bp4.html

Starting to see reports from around the World that the booster take up is substantially less than the original vax rate. For example in Malaysia 40% of people eligible for boosters haven't turned up. The human race never ceases to amaze me with its stupidity. https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/11/747859/govt-has-booster-shot-plan-b

watching the replay will be easy... no one will bother until around 10 minutes into the third quarter and then it's 45 minutes odd of pure bliss. Hopefully it's a nice day and one can wander in Yarra Park until the big moment

the question is what price we are asking for the 2022 sponsorhip assuming Jaguar didn't have a multi year deal? The ultimate prize for most clubs is an airline (do we still have China Southern) but I'm thinking new age... Tesla here we come or perhaps SpaceX !!

Relatively depressing article on the likelihood of a new variant from today's Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/21/is-delta-the-last-covid-super-variant

Production is the issue here as usual Macca. Needs to be given early and will likely be rationed to those with very high risk. 2022 is increasingly looking like a year which the world will stumble through. After two years of no meaningful travel my patience is almost exhausted. Might do a long roadtrip through the USA around March including Mexico perhaps.

The new normal I think Interesting to see what is the reaction in April I've given up trying to predict government and public reactions these days

Need to start the building of a solid financial base. In a time of dynamic fixtures and covid limits/hesitancy it won't be easy. Also need to double our FTA appearances medium term to drive sponsorship dollars. This list should give us a five year window of relative success. Let's not squander it.

you have to wonder how Melksham will approach the season. Surprised no other team was interested in him and hard to see how he will break into the team without significant injury. Needs to dominate three or more games at VFL level and even then does he have the goods to demand a spot over ANB or Spargo. He's also competing with the likes of Bedford and Chandler at VFL level for the AFL spot

2022 season will be interesting as players catch covid as some undoubtedly will. (Essendon CEO just reported to have a mild version). Who will be deemed to be close contacts. Will the rules for testing and isolation be the same in each State. Do you organise indoor training in limited groups. What mix of players makes up a group. The questions go on........

Probably of all the players Hunt surprised me the most in 2021. Having seen no glimpse of his run and carry from the backline in the VFL I was convinced that the game had renedered his main skill nugatory and that he was a medium level forward opportunity only. How wrong I was. He'll be vying for the spots presently held by Bowey and Hibberd. Pre season match form will be vital in the short term as both he and Tomlinson try to break back into the team

The AFL will tell clubs if any draft nominees do not intend to become fully vaccinated for COVID-19 before they make their selections in this year’s national draft, in order to guard against players being added to a list who aren’t eligible to play or train due to the league’s vaccination policy. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-clubs-will-be-told-of-draft-nominees-who-don-t-intend-to-be-vaccinated-20211110-p597r8.html but Draft nominees who are fully vaccinated, or intend to become fully vaccinated, do not have to inform the AFL of their status, and clubs have been allowed to ask potential draftees whether they had any issues with being vaccinated during their interview process.

All good points but if a team can increase its accuracy by 25% it will in most cases challenge superior opposition. Ignore this aspect at your peril.

One can just see those workers in China and Bangladesh saying to each other... "What is this team with strange colours ... must be new Australian team"

Do you think that was the turning point for the 2021 Dees like the 1987 night GF win?

There weren't that many "weekends" away though due to the fixturing. Assuming no covid interruptions Casey was scheduled to play only one game interstate. It was against the Gold Coast in Round 15. It didn't seem much worse for the Melbourne based non aligned VFL clubs. Looking at Coburg they only played interstate twice The fixture is so compromised with byes, a late start, not all teams playing each other etc that it cannot be described as a competition. With covid I wonder if the coaches will think that they were just as well served by "scratch matches". It would certainly be tempting as a cost saving initiative. Some might even wonder if the VFL has been set up to fail. Here's a link to what was supposed to be the 2021 fixture for anyone who wants to check out the "draw" for other teams https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2021/04/14/8f398b5f-e986-4bbc-b6f5-4544b559756e/AM-7554-0221-VFL-Fixture_Full_FA-3-.pdf

Unfortunately, due to the state-wide lockdown The Demon Shop is closed. We will re-open once the restrictions for retail stores have changed. They changed 4 or 5 days ago

Is the Demons shop at the MCG now open? Thought I might take my first train trip for a while and pick up a souvenir or two

Could be the key to back to back premierships. Our home and away forward line was hit and miss but got the job done. A solid contribution from BB in 2022 could be just that little thing that explodes our forward line. Great finals series. Thanks Ben

Took me a minute to think about that one I'm now leaning towards Biriyani .... far more exotic than Butter Chicken

That third quarter is classic "Tale of Two Cities" material. I think like most I find it far more satisfying than the last quarter

yeah I edited the post. The "Shilling a bag"man was a legend. He wasn't an "authorised vendor" but somehow he always got in.

These celebrations are usually spontaneous and involve milling around. None of that allowed these days. Wonder what if anything Richmond did last year. (Did a google search and could find very little except this) https://mumbrella.com.au/richmond-tigers-launch-virtual-premiership-cup-tour-658549

First of all we have to make top 4. Two games out from finals this year we were staring at fifth position. We had a magnificent finals series. While we won the home and away comp a quiet review of several matches shows we were often scratchy and off target. We rode our luck on the back of a decent gameplan supported by a great backline. Looking forward to 2022 but in no way drinking the bathwater

The real problem is that if BT was removed they would replace him with someone similar. Perhaps scope for some new commentators to break in via community radio that marketed itself as an alternative tv commentary. And of course we need someone to invent an app to synch the radio and the TV. While Push red for Ed on Foxtel was discontinued it was a groundbreaker on how we could do things