Diamond_Jim

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/04/13/lifting-the-draft-age-to-19-a-no-brainer-beveridge/ Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge believes the AFL should use the COVID-19 situation to raise the draft age to 19. With underage pathways and leagues not running because of the virus and a situation where list sizes may be reduced, limiting the need for a draft in 2020, Beveridge believes it is time to pull the trigger. “It’s an absolute no-brainer (to lift the draft age). I mean, every other year as much as I’ve advocated for the draft age to be lifted, I was finding it hard to work out how you would actually do it,” he told SEN’s Whateley.

August at the earliest.... Mind you to discuss it before mid May is... Wrong

Those businesses would also have stock on hand and debtors which cover the line of credit providing short term liquidity. The clubs have no liquid reserves to handle business risk even for a period of a few months. If you did a quick asset ratio test on most of them they would fail. Anyway the nature of the game is that each board will take financial risks in search of the elusive element of success. Not long ago now that Collingwood was technically insolvent.

very few businesses would carry sufficient reserves to go through a whole year without revenue. That being said the lack of any real reserves at the club level underscores how financially weak many of them are. This pandemic is an outlier event but there are many significant events that should have been included in any business disaster recovery plan.What would happen for instance if Channel 7 went broke and could only pay 50% of their media bill for the remainder of the season.We have also seen major sponsors go under etc etc

MFC is a workplace and can continue while social distancing is practiced. Read recently that one of the big EPL clubs are practising in groups of four passing etc. They have separate fields and separate change rooms for each group. Of course these clubs have mega facilities that allow such activity. I wonder which of the AFL clubs will be the first to try this type of training. As Gosch's paddock is an open field I cannot see it working there but Casey which has two adjoining ovals is a possibility.

not to mention Smith and AVB. I wish them all including McCartin the best

was watching a show recently on TV. It appears that certain Hawaiian printed shirts are now very collectable ?

Agree... That of course was the year Collingwood broke their premiership drought. There was no outstanding team and it was ours for the taking.

I'm still undecided but while there are over half a million cases in the USA with over one thousand deaths every day it's way too early to think about something as peripheral as a contrived football season. Let's have a look in a month and then think about it. To have games when it is illegal for two children to kick a ball in the park is not the right message. Like many I cannot help but think that the willingness of sports to restart is motivated by money rater than any altrustic desire to provide entertainment in these difficult times.

88 was similar if I recall in that we won the first 8 plus and then cratered but we recovered to sneak into the six? and then we all know what happened from there I was in Europe for the first six odd weeks of the season and was amazed when in the Qantas lounge in Singapore on the way home to read of our success. Definitely no internet cafes in those days

I suspect that the resolution for the NRL will be the CEO losing his job. It is clear that he has alienated Government and his media backers. Hard to see him continuing in his job. This is one time when sports need to follow rather than lead.

We were plagued by injuries. IIRC we lost one or more key players each of those last four games of the regular season

I was wondering when a country was going to use polling techniques to conduct a random tested sample of its population. While electoral opinion polling may get the final result wrong in elections the margin of error is such that for this purpose they can give you excellent trend analysis. The poll conducted in Austria had a surprising result: Less than 1% of the Austrian population is “acutely infected” with coronavirus, new research based on testing a representative sample of more than 1,500 people suggests. The research, if replicated and confirmed elsewhere, would appear to scotch hopes of countries being remotely close to relying on “herd immunity” – where enough of the population is exposed to the virus to build up a combined immunity – as a viable policy option. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/10/less-than-1-of-austria-infected-with-coronavirus-new-study-shows

TJ wasmy vote. He embodies Melbourne.... could have been anything but no His third quarter against Adelaide was the best individual effort from a footballler I have ever witnessed

you're right dc but having been to Bangladesh a few times it is a complex issue.The garment industry has greatly assisted in the liberation of the women of Bangladesh and has enabled them to put food on the table for their families. Like Filipinos their menfolk provide a very large proportion of foreign labour in the Gulf and South East Asia. Yes it's a horrible life but compared to poverty levels of thirty years ago it's a big improvement. As an aside the Bangladeshi workers love a protest march. The marches are lead by drummers and the must have is an elephant !! An amazing site on the streets of Dhaka

Reports that AFL and Channel 7 are in talks to extend the present media deal until 2024 at a slightly reduced fee. As Foxtel pays more than half the annual fee it could be interesting. At least the AFL are getting better press than the NRL who are looking almost rugby unionesque in their ineptitude.

Relocation of the GCS to Tasmania is the way to go but other than a few million a year I cannot see anyone down there interested in ownership. Back in the late eighties some teams played with public ownership (share listings etc) but it didn't really work out. One of the problems is that in an insolvency the licence reverts to the AFL so the actual asset values held by the clubs is limited. Relocation of GCS to Tasmania would also put pressure on North's existence

did we win against Freo last week? If not this is close to a coach killer match !!

can remember when Neitz and Schwarz debuted. The club knew they had two very special players. What a shame they never achieved that elusive flag.

The argument between NRL and Channel 9 heats up: https://au.yahoo.com/sports/nrl-2020-channel-nine-stunning-attack-mismanagement-015505242.html The game’s administrators are expected to announce plans to recommence a shortened 15-round season as early as May 21, however Channel Nine are considering that a breach of contract. Nine’s chief executive Hugh Marks has reportedly told the NRL they want to renegotiate the game’s $1.8 billion broadcast deal, launching an extraordinary broadside on the code.

Not sure what to read into this but if I was channel 9 I would be rethinking my weekly payment.... Channel Nine has launched a scathing broadside at the NRL over the league’s plans to restart a shortened competition as early as 21 May, claiming the broadcast rights holder has not been consulted on the proposal and accusing the NRL of squandering millions of dollars over a number of years. In a strongly-worded statement, the national broadcaster criticised the NRL’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, which forced the 2020 season to be put on hold after just two rounds and plunged the game into financial crisis. “At Nine we had hoped to work with the NRL on a solution to the issues facing rugby league in 2020, brought on so starkly by Covid-19,” a Channel Nine statement read. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/09/nrl-2020-season-restart-decision

masks not required here by law but social custom almost demands you wear one. Easily ordered 50 online but hell they're hot to wear on the equator . Week four of the lockdown about to start and no real sign of it being lifted. My State of three million only has one hundred cases. Biggest danger is that with little traffic many drive like maniacs as the speed limit is as fast as you can go !!! Somewhat amusing that the model state of Singapore is suffering outbreaks amongst its migrant worker population who live in very small and cramped accomodation. Usually there would be ten to a room with the other ten out working their shift. They would then swap over but with the construction closed there are now twenty to a room. The West has never really understood how Asia and the Middle East is so dependent upon cheap migrant labour.

wasn't that our own Max commenting on his missed goal that would have won us the game against Geelong

Some good news from Taiwan ?? https://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2020/04/08/taiwanese-team-finds-key-antibodies-in-covid-19-patients

Aaron Davey redefined football with his defensive tackling in the forward line. He probably had more influence on the modern game than any other. While this does not make him the best he was probably the most influential. Cannot see how Nathan Jones gets a mention and while I love Gawn he is playing in a time where his style is less than crucial. Maybe Jeff White was better in his own way but the game was so different.