Diamond_Jim

The NM home games against Fremantle and WCE in Perth (price $2.5M) has echoes of when we sold our home game to Brisbane. The big complaint was by other clubs along the lines of giving Brisbane four points. NM may as well sell two home games to Qld, SA and NSW and balance their books. Theme song could be changed to the Travelling Wilburys. Expect Hawthorn to cover off their lost Tasmanian revenue by a taxpayer funded game or two PS: NM will still play two home games in Tasmania in 2025

In the winter sunshine... very enjoyable in the Southern Stand

With the new capacity they can make the same money at Kardinia Park as an 85k plus crowd at the MCG due to KP being a clean stadium Their dilemma will be that there are not many teams who can give them an 85k crowd in Melbourne when they play at the MCG Not sure when the football world will wake up to the extra dollars coming from a clean stadium. There's a reason why FIFA and F1 insist on clean stadiums To give some idea here is a quote from Brian Cook in 2009 Originally Posted by Brian Cook ...at Skilled Stadium when you have a capacity of 25,000, we make a net profit in that game of $638,000 per game, which is $26 per head. If we have a crowd of 85,500 at the MCG, which we did have against Collingwood in 2007, we brought home $771,000, which was $9 a head. Importantly,Telstra, now Etihad Stadium, with a near capacity of 46,000, we brought home $293,000, which is $6 a head. So when you compare a crowd at Skilled of 25,000 compared to Telstra, which is nearly twice as much at 46, you at Skilled bring home to the club $638,000 out of all revenue sources per game and only $293,000 from Telstra.

So you're going to pitch living in a share house and playing at Casey against the Gold Coast and the family. He has a choice unlike most players

I'd be pitching a hybrid first year. Play in Qld in the local league using a pre-agreed training regime and then play for Casey say four times on a fifo basis. Let's be honest he's probably not playing AFL until year 3. We also have to realise he can go to GCS and then trade out in year 3 if he's not seeing a clear path. Have to play this one smart

Interested to see when Spargo makes it back on the track

Round zero just makes the season that much longer. Add in Gather round and the bye week the home and away period is now 26 weeks. Add in the week off before finals and you have 31 weeks Hard for fans and players to stay interested for that long unless you're winning

NRL in Vegas .. a free hit TBH I'm not sure whether participation is a good or bad thing. Some teams thought that the extra bye gave them a plus last year. The fixture is fixed mais quelle surprise

Feel a bit like Jordan Lewis' last year. If our team is on the up a youngster will push him out. Will it happen.. no one grabbed Lewis' spot

Hope you're right.

Unless we have some major performance lifts from our 5-15 ranked players finishing around 10th is likely. There won't be any sacking simply because the club has had too much bad press. A managed exit would be my guess in 2026. Anyway let's hope 2025 delivers some fun matches

Not so sure about the game day thread...👺

A perfect example of a player that should be used on a rotational basis. His body will not make it through a 27 game season

Great news

As Taciturn Demon asked... what is the right number of teams in Melbourne? But perhaps you need to ask two questions first. 1. How many teams do you need in the competition. (I think most would say at least 16 and an even number avoiding rolling byes.) 2. Assuming you need say 16 teams where are any extra interstate teams best located. (A much harder question. Sydney or Brisbane... no pressing need but perhaps FNQ and/or Albury. Adelaide and Perth .. Maybe) So assuming one more team in Qld/NSW and one more team in Perth or Adelaide (plus the Tasmanian team) you have 11 interstate teams. Putting Geelong to one side (arguably not Melbourne based) that gives you four teams in Melbourne. For those favouring an 18 team comp you have 6 teams in Melbourne. The above is purely an economic assessment and assumes that additional teams (GCS and GWS especially) "pay" their own way in increased television rights. It won't happen but it's interesting to theorize.

Suspect you are right. NT would be a stretch and require enormous NT gov't investment similar to Tasmania. The reasons we have GWS and GCS simply don't apply to NT. I'd like to see a summer (wet season) comp in the NT played by two conferences of indigenous teams supplemented by say 6 VFL (SANFL etc) players for each team. Comp goes for 8 weeks plus two weeks of finals. Outback grounds featured with finals shared between Alice Springs and Darwin. Federal Gov't money would flow and the TV coverage benefits to the NT could be massive

A very good season. Has the makings of a dominant and dare I say elite forward if he can find the mystical "forward connection" with our midfield

Great to see he has re-signed and he is pivotal down back to our structure post 2026. 2025... will he be forward or back or even half way... I have no idea but best of luck Harry

I really thought North would be a hard team to beat in 2024 with around 8 wins and a few close ones. Maybe in 2025 but who knows

You could have all that if you were Geelong. The only team with a "clean stadium".

On the surface appealing but hard to execute. Also if you have corridor teams playing each other it often becomes a turnover feast between the arcs. My preference is Collingwoods angled plays. Not 90 degree switches but more like 30 degrees ground covering kicks. You have to get the ball in front of the masses running up and down. Having two very good wingmen doesn't really favour the central style. It will definitely be a challenge especially with Salem slowing down.

That's a curate's egg of a sentence if ever I saw one. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

The Age draft predictions have Smith going to MFC The top fifteen are: Sam Lalor (Richmond) Levi Ashcroft (Brisbane matching Nth Melb's bid) Alix Tauru (Nth Melbourne) Finn O'Sullivan (Carlton) Harvey Langford (Adelaide) Jagga Smith (Melbourne) Josh Simile (Richmond) Leo Lombard (Gold Coast matching St Kilda's bid) Isaac Koko (Essendon matching St Kilda's bid) Sid Draper (St Kilda) Xavier Lindsay (St Kilda) Harry Armstrong (Melbourne) Tobie Travaglia (Richmond) Jobe Shanahan (Richmond) Bo Allan (West Coast) https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-afl-draft-is-just-weeks-away-here-s-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-top-40-prospects-20241024-p5kl0v.html What I found interesting is that Jagga Smith was ranked 1 by the Age poll in August and has now slipped to 6. These are the comments on Smith: Smith is a lightly framed midfield marvel who is an expert ball-winner with quick feet and rare agility that he uses to escape tight spots. He gathered an incredible 50 disposals and 24 contested possessions against Western Jets in a game this season, and is renowned for almost always hitting his target, particularly by hand. Smith has performed against boys and men, and recruiters were pleased to see him kick more goals and be more damaging with his disposals towards the end of the season. He is the safest pick in the draft, but recruiters believe his ceiling as a player is lower than some peers. If it’s not Smith here, the Demons may take Sid Draper instead.

Where's that emoji when you're looking for it Like you I'm over it for 2024 Merry Christmas fellow supporter

TMac staying did surprise me as I thought it would be Petty down back and Jefferson into the forward line. On reflection I can see Jefferson not debuting until Round 5. That probably gives him two VFL games and a chance to ease into the long season. On Petty... he had developed into a good backman and... we all know what happened