Diamond_Jim

Players may be a little better this year particularly Petracca but our gameplan still stinks

Indian police are pretty good on the very few occasions I have interacted. Have been here several times and pretty well across all the scams. Made Cairo look tame.

Hi from the Pink city of Jaipur Traffic has stopped here and the local population awaits with bated breath the commencement of this epic game. According to google translate there are many words for demons in Hindi but let us say they will all soon be chanting..... GO APADUTA !!

We don't seem to handle the captaincy well if recent history is any guide. Hope this is not another example

The grandstand (if you can call it that) is very small I take a very comfortable fold up chair and sit on the grass verge. Pleasant way to watch the match

Looking on the web the complex that used to be the social club is now an almost agnostic bistro going by the name of Windy Hill. Certainly no overt mention of EFC. On a related note I think I recall EFC saying they wanted to vacate what was left of their presence at the ground itself. http://windyhillvenue.com.au/

Sounds like a disappointing effort from Hunt. Must say I have never seen him play well at VFL level. Always thought it was the lack of pace in the game gave him no room.

Interesting to see the works on the non grandstand wing. It's usually a lonely place over there during a VFL game. Much nicer on the grass verges that start around the 50 metre arc at both ends.

Is Bradtke rucking and what level is the Essendon opponent? Thanks

Great to see good weather for these practice games which can so often take place in 30plus degrees weather

The first Casey match is not until round 3 of the AFL season and the boys are of course not fulltime footballers. Interested to hear of any individual efforts etc

There's a good thread on Kayo. It works well if you have download speeds of 10-15 Mbs. Because it's live sport it needs a little more speed than Netflix that uses buffering. It also works very well overseas if used with a VPN. The difference between the standard and premium ($25 and $35) is simply 2 versus three devices at once. The biggest drawback is that if Channel 7 is covering a game you will get their feed and commentary with ads during the match. I had hoped to say goodbye to Bruce and co. Cricket coverage is topnotch as is tennis and F1 if you're into it.The replay system is great. I use an nvidia stream as my box but there are multiple alternatives. Finally it has no fixed contract so if you only want it for the football season remembering that all finals are FTA and therefore coverage is identical you can cancel at your convenience. Overall a very good product.

Not the party line ?

wonder if they have fixed the drainage

There's a pdf you can download.. it gives a bit more detail. I noticed we didn't call it a five year plan....nothing resembling socialism on our Board !

The need for exclusivity is what kills off many of the inner community ovals. Even if not perpetually exclusive the fencing etc required to provide for occasional closed sessions would be an anathema to the local populace

The first VFL game is not until round 3 of the AFL season. Interesting to see this match being scheduled. One hopes the bacon and egg rolls will be available !!

Interesting about the ticketing. I suspect that WCE like the Crows pretty well sell out their stadiums. That combined with the reserved seat revenue ensures that both are financial powerhouses. Good luck

Thanks RG and I agree big time on the fold up chair. It is an essential accompaniment of mine to any VFL match

The Epping Line (still can't call it the Mernda line) is strong black and white territory as I'm sure you know to your displeasure DZ. Grew up in Reservoir and even in our glory days there were no MFC jumpers at footy training as I recall it.

RG could you tell us a little more about the ground please. I assume it doesn't have much seating. Are there raised grass viewing areas or similar. I recall in the TV broadcast there being a stand of gum trees around the fifty metre mark.

two ovals etc will become the norm for the mega clubs OD. The other problem is that the Olympic pool structure is heritage listed which restricts what you can do there renovation wise. Pies would definitely be doing the sums ..of course whether they can make it work.... who knows. What we as a financial basket case often seem to forget is that with the salary cap and the soft salary cap the mega clubs have continuing surpluses that they need to use somehow. The other area they could be looking at is Thomastown (the old industrial sites) with a view to raising land values by their presence. (No it's not a joke).

Vic Park was I believe leased to the Pies.When they left there was a spat between the Pies and the local council over the condition of some aspects of the complex.Not sure either party would like a return to the old days. I think they have their eye on Yarra Bend and/or the land at the back of Clifton Hill that did (or may still have ) the fly fishing ponds.

Now that would be forward thinking. Not sure what the fixation is with the MCG precinct given that many teams in various sports have training grounds remote to their competition arenas. The reality is that we don't have the money to do what the mega teams are doing but I would like to think that wherever we go it is scaleable over time to a level that will compete with the mega complexes.

Did not realise that.