Diamond_Jim

Good points Pitmaster. IIRC a lot of the money for the Western Oval came from the federal government under a grant scheme they had running at the time. It was sold as a major upgrade of public facilities in the western suburbs. "After the appointment of Campbell Rose as Chief Executive of the football club in 2002, discussions commenced on a redevelopment of Whitten Oval. In September 2004, the club secured a deal for a $19.5m redevelopment, with contributions from the Federal Government ($8.0m),[12][13] Western Bulldogs Forever Foundation ($5.5m), State Government ($3.0m),[14][15] AFL ($1.5m) and the City of Maribyrnong ($1.0m).[16] Construction commenced in 2005,[17] and was completed in 2009. The renovated ground includes a 120 place childcare centre, a conference and convention centre and a state-of-the-art sports, medical, and health care centre for the Bulldogs to use as a training base " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitten_Oval

4 years sounds about right... allows a further extension at the end of year 3 if all is going well. I think coaches of the future will be looking for sabbaticals in their contracts (even for half a season). Year on year it's a very tough gig especially on the family front.

I get the feeling it will be the new arms race. One thing protecting us perhaps is that with the soft cap on the football department spend the mega facility can become uneconomic in that the bigger the facility the more staff you need to employ to maximise the utility of the facility. For those in the know what goes under this cap. For example the groundskeepers and the cleaners would be outside the cap but are the dieticians and the kitchen staff within?

Needs a little analysis and I am never sure where the broadcast money fits into the financial reports but at first glance we have matched Richmond's gross revenue figure for 2016 which at face value is a good result. We had an operating loss which is not good and this loss was made good by income from discontinued operations (presumably pokies). The headline item is that we now have an increase in our cash on hand of $9M. On the other hand we increased our non current liabilities by $2.3M PS: I see we extended a loan facility due in the 2017 FY for a period longer than twelve months so it was reclassified as a non current liability ... so no real change there. The various changes in accounting treatment make the reports difficult to understand. For example in our 2017 report gross revenue is shown at $51M but in the comparison table in our 2018 report gross revenue for 2017 is shown as being $51M. (These accountants do love the dark arts !!)

this is the new West Coast facility https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/eagles-show-off-plans-for-new-home-at-lathlain-bc-5557316662001 There is obviously a big push by the powerhouses to take their facilities to another level. Adelaide spent $16M on their facility at AAMI park in 2008. Freo train in a facility that cost $109M http://www.fremantlefc.com.au/news/2018-07-19/fremantle-dockers-training-facility-tours- Getting back to our own facility we clearly don't have the money to match the powerhouses. Compromise is needed but we need to get a wriggle on.

to do that we would need to pay commercial value for the land... East Melbourne is amongst the highest value per square foot in Melbourne. Woop woop as you call it will not get any cheaper and it will get further out the longer we wait.

All about future proofing Binman... The Yarra park solution is better than we have (almost nothing) but it will be miles behind what the big clubs develop in the near future. EFC have an enormous indoor facility in which you can kick a football for example. Collingwood have spent big money on the old pool site but I suspect the architectural constraints of the place have limited them. If they had their time over again I think they would be elsewhere. Richmond is the unknown. Good facilities at Punt road but not really 21st century facilities. Richmond with their success and membership base (especially if they can hook their members onto the pre reserved seats merry go round) will soon be rolling in money. Social clubs are dead unless you can think of a use for them on the other 340 days of the year. Here's a site showing the training grounds for the EPL clubs. Not suggesting we have the money they have but the most recently built training facility is for Tottenham. Worth a look. It's about 30k from their home ground. http://www.footballtraininggrounds.com/tottenham.html

I think in all of this we are missing overall costs. Would love to know the cost of the Bomber's development. I suspect we are effectively asking for the land for free and we pick up the development costs. As an aside the new Perth stadium has the highest cost per seat (a measure of stadium costs) in the world. $227k on a feasibility study is small these days and I suspect it would also include lobbying and preliminary submissions etc. I have no personal knowledge but I suspect that even when you mention something being built over a rail line the planning costs soars. (Have a look at what the NBN is charging for individual connections if you want FTTP as against their standard offering.)

Many of us have downgraded our expectations on both Hunt and Garlett for 2019. If they make it that will be great. Once again a pity that the Casey season will almost certainly start a few weeks after the AFL which makes it just that little bit harder for them to show their wares. Doubly so with JLT being practice level at best these days.

On Whirlpool there's a hundred page thread on this topic which only started 2.5 weeks ago (shades of the Hogan thread !!). My head started hurting after 20 or so pages. Most of the discussion seems to be about the difficulties of chromecasting but overall the product is welcomed and gets high marks for content. Lots of discussion about whether it's 4k or HD. Apparently there will be TV apps by the end of the year so I will check back in then. Here's the thread if anyone is interested: https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2763582&p=1

Have a look at Aussie Broadband OD. The guys on the whirlpool forum where they discuss these topics swear by it. Should not cost you any more than your present ADSL. The big plus of Aussie Broadband is that they severely limit their user to CVC (connections to the NBN) ratio as compared to many other users. Try the 25mbs plan and see if that gives you enough speed. $55 per month. Enjoy the day mate

Worked most of my life in the big high rises of the CBD and then spent the last ten working in Dandenong. You get used to it. Driving against the traffic was usually very good. As to the admin there's a lot of people living in the Cranbourne catchment area if you are looking for employees. (Just google Berwick... enormous area that has now been there over ten years for example.) Gosch's paddock and the inner city will almost involve compromises. The land at Docklands is not cheap and every time I go to visit anybody down that way the wind is blowing a gale. Philosophically I can see benefits of the admin being located near the player facility but it is not a must have. I would however like to see a strong shopfront presence by the MFC in the MCG environs. By shopfront I don't just mean a merchandising outlet but a building with naming rights that could display a prominent neon sign or the like. Of course if you want Government money to help it along the outer suburbs including the likes of Point Cook are probably where you have to go. As an aside there is big voter backlash in NSW against the government funding for the upgrading of the Olympic Stadium.

I think that is the only solution. Having a look at the Essendon facility it is seriously good and they were prepared to move to get it. "The project involved the development of a Greenfield 10 hectare site with the construction of two full sized AFL ovals and elite training facilities for the club. EFC also relocated all administrative and football department functions to the new state of the art facility. The training facility also includes all player treatment areas and a 4 lane 25 metre pool. The new facilities were programmed to be available for the start of the 2013 football season." http://www.kersulting.com.au/project/essendon-football-club-training-facility-tullamarine/ If we cannot get a decent answer to the issue this year I am resolved to developing Casey. It is a designated high performance sport precinct. Sure it's not CBD etc but with the freeway the access is not too bad from the southern suburbs. Whatever happens we need to do something if we are not to be left behind in the arms war that is high tech sport.

good point but I see Preuss and Pedersen as almost interchangeable save that Preuss has the added attraction of being a better replacement ruck. Not ideal I know but it seems to the strategy. We also have Tim Smith who needs to play the role if needed or he will unfortunately be delisted.

I may only dream... ADSL 2 with about 5mbs on a good day

Pray... seriously though you simply cannot carry many back up KPP's. Even if you could draft another who is ready in say 2 years do you think that player would happily play as an understudy for two or three more years until TMac retires. With Hogan leaving we have avoided the big push for the Weid that would almost certainly have come at the end of 2019 season. If there is an ideal player it's the mid that can play "tall" whatever that really means. I see people speak of Petracca in that vein but while I can remember many marks from good positioning I can't say I can recall many marks where he uses his "height." Perhaps the best example of such a player at present is Bontompelli but there aren't many like him.

Interesting article in todays's Fairfax papers. Shows what many of us have often thought about the traditional Foxtel's chances of long term success. Limited discussion of the canibalisation factor but one has to ask if say 40% of existing Foxtel customers were to move exclusively to Kayo what would happen to the Foxtel model and on what platform would the likes of HBO and AMC find exposure. I think the comment on pricing is simplistic as it ignores the ease with which streaming accounts can be shared between friends and family. The set top box delivery model precluded sharing and of course it charged you more even to watch on a second television. The big negative as I see it is the delivery method ie not directly to the TV screen. This may put off a lot of people at first but as word gets around about the ease of use of google's chromecast etc that sense of technology fear may be reduced. Big changes perhaps. " There is a near complete absence of the term Foxtel or Fox Sports anywhere in the user interface. Foxtel would not be the first Australian company to pursue a two-brands strategy (Qantas did it with Jetstar to great effect) but the move suggests the Foxtel brand is toxic with sections of the new product's target audience." "Less encouraging is the pricing. At $25 a month, KayoSports is at the upper end of what analysts expected it to cost. At that price point, the risk of cannibalisation of Foxtel's existing service, delivered over satellite, will be significantly diminished. Whether it appeals to enough new customers, though, is the bigger question." https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/we-re-about-to-enter-a-decisive-chapter-in-australia-s-streaming-wars-20181123-p50hxr.html

Thanks inandunda what is your normal internet download speed if I may ask cheers

depth wise we are perhaps undermanned on many fronts. Rarely did a VFL regular perform week in/week out in a manner that demanded senior selection. Drafting this year has seen us go young in the main and has said goodbye to many of those who while adequate at VFL level were NQR at senior level. Does it worry me... not that much unless of course we see five or six of our best 22 out injured as we did in 2017. Putting this years draft to one side who realistically will push for senior selection: Stretch, Petty, Baker, the Smith "brothers" are my most likely and then I will add Preuss, Hunt, JFK and Garlett?? into the mix. Will any of them push their way into the top 15... hard to see it but perhaps. Tyson was an obvious high level depth player who we no longer have but it could be said that he is replaced by JKK. I suspect we are not too different to most teams in this respect.

King from GC in a couple of years if needed

Interesting selection

he's a demon...official

Like his height at 186 for a midfielder.... watching the youngsters at Casey will be enjoyable. There really haven't been too many of them the last few years. If we can get two if not three of the new four to fire it will be a fantastic result

Bet you he plays deep like his namesake Two from SA ... interesting but not all that surprising given our coach and recruiting manager's connections.

so other than keeping North honest what was in it for the Crows nominating this guy at 8. Is it as simple as the Crows wanted him and were not sure if North would match... (why not just ask North beforehand) Must say I find the concept of using a pick 42 to match a number 8 selection very confusing. Thanks