Diamond_Jim

In simple practical terms what was the difference to Brisbane between us picking Ashcroft at 5 and other teams picking him at say 1 and 10. I know it's points but what does that point differential translate to in cold hard picks Thanks

One thousand young lads nominated and around 60 selected. I feel for those who miss out especially those in the 60-120 category. Life is tough to be forever pigeon holed at that age.

Understood but unless that mystery team was next in line WC could have lost Bo Allan (especially as Freo was next in line.)

This is unfortunately true. Not sure what the answer is and I don't think the AFL is interested in exploring the answer The funneling of talent seems to start as early as age 12 but is really evident by age 15 I have often argued for a summer comp in NT featuring local players and some young VFL level players. It might help in widening the pathways and giving exposure to remote indigenous talent. It could be age limited to say 23 with two older players per team. I've never been in favour of the boarding school route. It has overtones of the many "good intended" mistakes made in the past.

Gather Round has potential but it needs to be strung out a little and the accomodation needs a think (cruise ships etc) Having a game on Thursday is a good start but I can see a game on Wednesday and Monday in the future. Adelaide would be party town for nearly a week. Like the World Cup and the Olympics the daily sport is the glue but the surrounding party vibe is the cream

One of the most watched items in NFL is the "Fashion Walk." Players dress up in top fashions and walk to the team plane or into the stadium Not my thing but a small example of things that interest fans https://www.cbsnews.com/video/how-nfl-game-day-has-transformed-into-a-new-kind-of-runway/

They admit this with the following: The priority of those rules has been to maximise attendances and broadcast ratings in the first year of a $4.5 billion deal with Seven and Foxtel, We failed on both counts.. we don't rate TV wise and our attendances don't punch through the 50k mark often enough Let's hope we turn it around in 2025. I'm certainly hoping for some better forward connection and two wins against Collingwood.

Went to the World Cup in Russia in 2018 (great experience... learnt it's all about the bar scene but that's for another day). At the games I was amazed by the number of people videoing the games. Very annoying if someone was holding an ipad in your viewing line (I later realised that few actually see the match as everyone stands up in their seats). Of course videoing is de rigeur at concerts (Taylor Swift at the MCG choked the wifi) but it got me thinking. Why not have a section of the stadium where interacting is encouraged. Give them some instagram type props. Have a few key players dedicated to driving the vibe etc. Needs work but it might work My holiday town of Penang became a world wide instagram hit by getting a Lithuanian artist to paint street murals that encouraged an interactive selfie. You could sit on the back of a virtual bike or go for a swing etc. I'm sure you could do something with a similar MFC theme. "Holding up the premiership cup with Max Gawn for example."

If you want to say goodbye to BT... here's your chance During the 2025 AFL season, Fox Footy commentary and production will be available on all games for the first time along with no ad-breaks during play and every match will also be made available in 4K on Kayo Sports and Foxtel. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2024-fox-footy-tv-commentators-for-2025-season-leigh-matthews-joins-anthony-hudson-and-gerard-whateley-call-friday-nights-new-afl-360-and-on-the-couch-hosts/news-story/3ea9e46e284c91e3be16d14d2acfae05

Good but neither are likely to challenge for elite (AA) status. At best you can say potential but they would need to move up a few gears No intended criticism of those guys but they're not Petracca, Oliver or Lever. (Add to that May, Gawn and {Brayshaw cusp of elite})

They are okay and some could be/are good but hard to see any of them at the elite level. (Perhaps Windsor)

How to kill a comp... starve it of funds... give it a fixture from hell filled with byes.. zero publicity Oh well

Ten years ago we had no player over 25 who was in a bull's roar of AA. Now we have five or six. Makes following this team a comparative pleasure. I think our recent drafting (since 2019.. the glory year) has been okay but nothing spectacular. Trades other than Langdon have been abysmal. If we have anything to wonder about is how did it only take 18 months to pick apart the gameplan and why have we not been able to adjust. Realistically we're moving into a twilight period. The challenge is coming out the other side. Richmond have failed in that process as did WCE. Hawthorn seem to have managed it and Geelong (how do they do it)

For those interested in the mechanics of putting together the AFL fixture today's Age gives some insight. They use a third party computer product supplied by US Sports software coy, Fastbreak. The program then builds in various rules.. stadium availabity, breaks between matches etc etc Then most important are the "priority rules". These are designed as follows: There are over 400 rules or constraints in the system. That’s everything from what venues aren’t available, so we’ll have a venue block, through to the standard rules – we have rules around a five-day break, each club has to have 11 home, 11 away games, so on and so forth,” Bowler said. They essentially get preloaded into the system, and then we adjust the priority of those rules from there.” The priority of those rules has been to maximise attendances and broadcast ratings in the first year of a $4.5 billion deal with Seven and Foxtel, and culminated this week in the release of the 2025 schedule, which, as always, left some clubs and fans happier than others https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-big-fix-revealing-the-secret-formula-that-goes-into-making-the-most-read-list-in-australian-sport-20241115-p5kqtz.html

Certainly Binge will drop The Box watchers seem to be rusted on but they're certainly not increasing in number At present there are are around ten streaming products. Maybe more (Bein anyone... it's the tennis.. well some of it). Something has to give

The differing commercial in confidence (secret) stadium deals are an interesting subject. The AFL owns Docklands and as the competition organiser decides which venue a team will play at in a given week. It's a highly conflicted market to say the least. Could do with a little more sunshine

Not sure what this means for Kayo and future AFL TV rights pricing but it's interesting. The touted buyer for Foxtel has pulled out citing "unrealistic price expectations". But after discussions, Platinum is no longer actively engaged, said a source with direct knowledge of the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity. News Corp’s asking price for Foxtel was unrealistic, the source said. That leaves News Corp, which publicly flagged interest in selling Foxtel three months ago but with scant details to share, in a potentially precarious position. Seems like they missed their opportunity to sell in 2020.. In 2021, when News Corp was weighing up the initial public offering, The Australian Financial Review suggested Foxtel’s valuation as high as $4 billion and said its turnaround was worthy of an MBA case study. Other valuations were more modest, but it’s unlikely to fetch anywhere near the US$2 billion offered by US cable magnate Leo Hindery in 2020. The Age article bears reading on many levels... https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/the-murdochs-want-to-get-rid-of-foxtel-there-s-just-one-problem-20241113-p5kqe7.html

Yep... usually the top 4 or 5 are agreed with perhaps some discussion over the order (usually number 1 is obvious) but the whole top 10 this year is up in the air. Strange year... could make for a big spreadsheet for the recruiters as to the changing scenarios on draft night

Sensible approach.... but that useless comp aka VFL doesn't start until around week 3 of the AFL comp. They do however usually arrange scratch games with other AFL reserve clubs etc in the weeks leading up to the season proper. Seems that they are training hard given the time of year.... interesting

Very strange... First time we have ever played a Melbourne club there ( I think) The abacus is spinning

From a club progression viewpoint that fixture is damning. Sponsor contracts have multiple kicker clauses and I bet we hardly kick one.

Please no

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.