Diamond_Jim

Another draw would be nice

Excellent point. Security of tenure for assistant coaches is very low. On this basis alone they should be paid extra to allow for the time to transition to another job

In simple terms you have to look at our best 26 and say who is bottom 10. Then you ask is he a better player for a particular role than someone in the bottom 10. If yes... go for him I'd be disappointed if the recruitment team have not got a secret spreadsheet where this exercise is applied to every bottom 10 across the league. You can easily add in the "gettable" factor when you've identified your targets to determine the prime targets.

If you want that then you offer North the deal they should have got for Tasmania. All home games played in Darwin and all away games in Melbourne with Melbourne based NMFC members given normal members entrance rights. Training facility in Melbourne for five years before team and admin relocated to Darwin. Long term location to be reviewed at say 7 year point to consider cancelling Melbourne away game advantage based upon finances, crowds in Melbourne and on field performance. This is how the Tasmania team should have been introduced. Given North played 5 or 6 home games in Tasmania anyway the introduction of a hybrid approach was a great intermediate step. Not sure Darwin would work given airfares and limited connections but longer term who knows. If you want to think outside the box a soccer team based in Darwin competing in the Indonesian League might also be viable. The other SEA leagues are relative minnows

Membership numbers are so fudged these days they often mean nothing. Free 3 game memberships given to Tasmania for example in return for Tas Gov't money. (We probably do the same with NT). Child members etc. The only true guide is attendances. Corporate box use is another guide. Many companies elect to close their box for a lesser game.

The big clubs make big money and are getting tired of being held back by the competitive balance issues tailored to low earning clubs. Say for example they upped the soft cap by 100%... not unreasonable. North could not raise it. It would require AFL money

Had not thought of that but obviously true. Of course they could introduce another Mickey Mouse Round.

Adelaide, Carlton and the Suns winning (along with us) would put a nice break on the 7-12 group. GWS may as well beat the Swans given that the Swans will be in the mix for positions 2-5. Tigers could upset Freo but I doubt it. If Dogs lose to the Hawks Bevo won't see the season out I'm prepared to cede top spot to GWS for the present. They do us little harm if they are a break away number 1. The next 6 weeks will see some important positioning for the post bye run home.

Whatever slight niggle Chandler has with his knee doesn't seem to be going away given his personalised training program

Definitely worth listening to... Thanks for posting

the interesting thing is the seeming acceptance that the VFL is not an adequate space for gaining match fitness by best 22 players. Really need to question the continued dumbing down of the VFL as a competition. I've no idea of the solution but post pandemic when the competition was eliminated it has gone downhill. Is it time to scrap the VFL?

Detroit got 700k visitors for NFL draft week. No wonder the AFL salivate over how to hype it up. I wonder why the NFL fans attend? Watching grass grow or a long dental appointment spring to mind but obviously I'm missing something https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/27/nfl-draft-day-three-attendance-record-broken-saturday-detroit

Geelong have the Suns in Darwin on Thursday 16 May. A brutal game. Knowing Scott he'll rest half his team. Very sensible

Now it's AFL owned that deal is not a requirement any more. Just an excuse

They carry on about servicing their Melbourne supporter base as well. Mind you a few MCG games against GWS would see them saying we can no longer cater to that base. Geelong have for a while carried a lot of clout at AFL headquarters

I really thought North would be more competitive this year given their drafting, Larkey etc. Something is amiss perhaps

Two reasons: They make the same with a crowd of 70k plus at the MCG The football dept wants exposure to the MCG (The answer is for Essendon and Carlton to make the MCG their exclusive home venue and then there would not be room for Geelong)

They'll never do that simply because the AFL can't handle a bad news story. Ten years or so ago they had the opportunity to lay down minimal solvency rules etc. for clubs to meet ten years later. The problem was GCS and GWS would have failed them. Melbourne clearly has at least two teams too many as evidenced by the need of four teams including us to sell home games interstate. Docklands with its roof closed policy due to TV coverage has become a dark hole for daytime football Nah they'll admit the 19th team and then say supporters are clamoring for a 20th team so as to eliminate constant byes

Definitely.. In the USA foundations/investment funds are enormous. We just have to resist the temptation to dip into capital as distinct from income. Magpies have a decent investment fund as well

If we also beat GWS we will be flag favourites

A must read article for those who have an interest in football administration and finances. It's a relatively frank interview with Carlton CEO Brian Cook on the subject of non football income and in particular business support. As a person who grew up in an era where more deals were made in the Carlton Social Club than in Collins Street it brings back memories. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/billionaires-and-business-deals-the-money-machine-delivering-big-benefits-to-the-blues-20240425-p5fmj9.html

It's Geelong who put in the requests for who they play at the MCG. They need a crowd of 70k to make what they can make off 45k at Taxpayer Park Not sure what the answer is as only 4 of the ten Melbourne teams can guarantee that crowd and we're not one of them

been thinking on McAdam.. it's a ten day break. They may up his training load and take a chance. Given the subsequent 5 day break this is a risk but Goodwin does like unexpected selections and leaving players in the VFL is not one of them.... vide Petty this year and Salem in 2022

back from the heat of Asia after a few months I have watched a few games in 4k on kayo. A wonderful experience which just makes one lament that the prime games are still in the old HD format. For a game that makes almost all of its money from TV you'd think they would insist on a decent standard

This is the reality. Same with the Suns. No one cares if they win a flag unless you're playing them in the GF