Diamond_Jim

A very reasoned post Ernie... 4 years sounds about right... allows you to extend at the end of year 3 if all are happy. I do think that this list may be the last roll of our dice for a while so I want to see sustained success. A flag if possible but deep into the finals is the minimum. The last ten plus years has ripped the life out of the club and its base membership is I suspect getting out of balance age wise. We need to bring on a new generation. While we can point to the Pies and Tigers as examples of how you can turn it around we can also point to the Bulldogs for flash in the pan success. We desperately need sustained success.

Thought this comment on an article about the never ending Harry Potter spin offs and "special editions" in the Guardian might tickle your senses: "So I took my kids to The Potter Factory in LA, I spent close to $500 on Dumble Brunch and $80 on wands that light up, but do not kill traffic cops when your car is being towed from a legal parking spot. We spent two nights at the Grindleward Inn, hauntings and visitations were extra, yeah, $100 per severed head and a mental $250 for something called a Budgeon-Fo-Killer-[censored], some kind of spell, basically helium is leaked into your room via the air-con so everyone speaks like mice for an hour or until your $250 runs out. Pathetic! Anyway, I shan't be going back. Eff you, Harry Potter and all your big-eared stupid, hairy mates. " https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/nov/28/harry-potter-and-the-56-anniversary-editions-endless-tie-ins-are-diluting-the-magic

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?

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.)

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.

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

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

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.

Boy this thread is starting to sound like the radio stations that constantly plug funeral ads. Now try to avoid them for obvious reasons ?

Docklands has serious wind problems from my observation. Don't laugh but is Gosch's Park plus a private subway to an admin and gym facility across the road a possibility? Would need to be done as part of a precinct upgrade which is sure to be done anyway with Richmond station and surrounds.

Many people I know share Netflix and Foxtel Go subscriptions between friends and family. The Foxtel Go allows you one device change per month so you can't just flick them around as people want to use them. It has five devices but only allows two simultaneous uses. I see Kayo offers two devices for $25 and three for $35 per month. One plus of streaming to a phone/tablet and then streaming to the TV is that it makes VPN usage easier overseas. Might take advantage of the 14 day trial and see how it goes.

The attached article talks about data usage and more importantly for those of us still on ADSL, required internet speed. It's suggesting a minimum speed of 7.8mb/s for high definition at a data useage rate of 7Gbs per hour. Just did a speed test and I'm showing 2.8mb/s for my old ADSL line so probably no go until NBN arrives in 2020. Potential category killer if Foxtel gets it right. The flip side is that it may well destroy the "normal Foxtel" as one the sports discriminator is reduced. https://www.finder.com.au/kayo-data-usage

apparently the difference between standard and premium subscriptions are the number of devices. Two for standard... three for premium. Sharing the service between friends/family members makes it attractive. Anything about quality on the big (70-80 inch) TV's and internet speed needed to get a good stream. As Binman says this could be worthwhile and that coming from someone who hates Foxtel is a BIG concession.