Diamond_Jim

Geelong outperformed expectations last year as Demonlamd points out. A lot to do with Dangerfield and their home ground advantage. Neither of those are operative factors this round so as they once sang , "It's Time"

It's almost time for kick off. Hard to decide between tonight's protagonists on a "who do we want to win basis." My head slightly says Carlton to lose by a big margin as relegating them to their usual low place on the ladder together with sending a message to our mates at the AFL would give me satisfaction. Then again a Richmond loss might not be bad for us come the pointy end of the season. A draw perhaps?

Here's the latest report: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/judge-reserves-decision-on-latest-twist-in-essendon-supplements-saga-20180321-p4z5jc.html Our legal system is not really designed to deal with cases such as this so I suspect it will go no further "AFL lawyer Gregory Harris QC argued any case would be expensive and should be limited. He said a trial should not involve lengthy cross-examination of many witnesses and discovery of documents. Harris added the matter was not a usual one, where a plaintiff seeks damages from a defendant but was a case brought by a "punitive plaintiff" enlisting the help of a "highly qualified" and "sophisticated" lawyer like Burnside. Burnside said a limited or "mini-trial" before a trial would not be the best way to decipher the facts on whether the league had acted in ways to protect its commercial interests during the scandal which became public in February, 2013. Justice John Dixon reserved his decision to a date to be determined about which form a trial should take. In his statement of claim, Taylor alleges several statements by McLachlan about the AFL's joint investigation with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority were misleading or deceptive. He also alleges several statements made by AFL executives – about former Essendon coach James Hird, player welfare, an interim report by ASADA and the AFL's decision-making – are examples of misleading or deceptive conduct."

mIssing these two players for any extended period is bad ... to miss them in the first half of the season when we just have to win is disappointing to say the least. Looks like Pederson has to get a game as the back up ruck.

This could be the answer DA who knows. I think coverage will be the issue. According to the Verizon article line of sight is best but it says they might do a little better. I can imagine that it might be like the old TV antenna days where you saw places with extra long TV masts. Up until my research I was not excited as I thought the plans would be capped like the present Telstra smart phone plans at around 6Gigs. If they have decent caps (some talk of 200G per per month) then TV watching at 4K level becomes a reality. NBN isn't even due to be started in my area until end of 2019 and because I am on a big block the odds are I will be treated as a special case and put to the end of the line. That means 2021 or thereabouts

Have been looking at this 5G which is to be rolled out at years end. From my minimal research it will first be available in the home through a modem service and then later will be rolled out to handsets. The suggestion from Verizon is that the plans will be uncapped as far as data is concerned unlike the present 4G plans. The speeds that are talking of are amazing. Apparently Vodafone have already tested in ti in Oz at a repeated 5Gbps and they expect the industry norm to be around 10Gbps. This just blows away the NBN speeds. As a wireless delivered service there may be coverage issues but it certainly sounds like the future if the price and coverage are right. http://au.pcmag.com/news/50494/verizon-no-4g-level-data-caps-for-5g-home-service Below is an article that describes the roll out plans for Australia https://www.finder.com.au/5g

we play the saints twice this year. Essential that we beat them both times if we want breathing space from other teams fighting for the 8. Riewoldt has been our undoing and without him there is no reason to think the Saints are on the way up. Bulldogs are the unknown re a spot in the 8. Eagles perhaps but unlikely. If we are just hanging onto 8th place at the end of the year the likelihood is that the other teams vying for a spot will be Bulldogs, Hawks, Eagles and Saints. The pre bye games are must wins... anything less than 7-4 and we can almost kiss the 8 goodbye.

that's what I said... "At present it remains the biggest story of the 2018 season and it isn't going anywhere until we win 5 or 6 straight or some other fiasco comes along "

When this story first appeared many said it was a flash in the pan. At present it remains the biggest story of the 2018 season and it isn't going anywhere until we win 5 or 6 straight or some other fiasco comes along

Have you seen the ratings for individual foxtel shows? FTA is still where it's at from an exposure viewpoint

so what they are saying is that in any one hour their is a one in 5 chance of rain but taken cumulatively there is a 50% chance of it raining sometime. Wow ... you have to love that form of modelling... Frankly given Melbourne's unpredictable weather I don't blame them

in today's forecast it's down to 5 mm and a slightly reduced chance of 60%

Excellent post Binman IIRC Carlton were justified from the AFL power brokers by the talk of up and coming team etc etc What a load of the proverbial. It is a last ditch attempt to prop up a falling club. They are only 8k members above us. The sad thing is that if they put the effort into the MFC the AFL might see a better return than propping up the old blue baggers

Ollie's twin brother ... Ginger Meggs Love the caricatures even if like some others I thought Hoges was Hibberd !

Some random thoughts Interesting that this is one year where the interstate teams cannot "bank" two wins against their cross town opponents. In the past it is normal for one of the interstate teams to be up and its cross city rival is down. Looking at them for 2018 the largest disparity is probably between Freo and the Eagles but neither is a definite winner or loser. This year we have Freo in Darwin. It's a must win for the Dees as one can expect that the rest of the teams fighting for the 8 will register home wins against Freo. We have two games against Adelaide including one being our home game in Alice. Split those and we can be top 4. Lose both and it gets harder. 13 wins for the 8 and 16.5 for 4th is my prediction. Strangely as others have mentioned we could turn at the bye at 9-2 and still only end up with 13 wins given our tough schedule in he second half of the year. Saints could be our new North .. we just have to beat them twice. As to the final ladder I have no idea but North for the spoon is probably a good bet unless they can turn Tassie into their fortress and pick up say 4 wins down there. For number 1 my pick is GWS. They were nearly there last year but they had a bad run with injuries. Richmond's game plan like ours can win any game on a given day but it is high maintenance and high risk. Somewhere between 3 and 6 for the Toiges. The Bulldogs are my conundrum team. Sure 2016 was a lucky premiership (oh we could have that luck) but the fact remains that they were easily in the 8 that year.

no Saty .. more coverage = better sponsors .... just look at Collingwood if you want a case in point

it's even worse... 13.5 million dollars difference between Collingwood and St Kilda

Here's an Age article from 2015 talking of different AFL sponsorship deals. While figures may have changed there is no reason to think the relativities have changed. "Hawthorn last season booked $15 million of marketing income, which includes sponsorship deals. With the addition of Audi and the hopeful retention of BUPA, a 20-year sponsor of the club, that figure could top $16 million next year. Collingwood generates more than $19 million a year in marketing revenue. At Essendon the figure $17.7 million. In contrast, the Bulldogs booked just $7.5 million of "business development" income, which includes sponsorship. The Saints did even worse, earning just $5.5 million from sponsorship and events." https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/audi-deal-shows-how-some-clubs-enjoy-life-in-the-fast-lane-20150619-ghsmgd.html

Hate to rain on the parade but of course while we have another sponsor we have no idea of what they are paying by comparison to the sponsors of others clubs. Having seen some sponsorship contracts many years ago they are driven by exposure bonuses etc. On the good side there is probably a bonus for finals appearances!!

So right jnrmac The myopia of some posters worries me. It's not me complaining about the need for Foxtel or similar to watch games. MFC competes in a sports market for its very existence. Continual scheduling in low rating FTA spots if at all is deadly to our brand. Success alone will not breed more members. Look at North if you want a case study. We need to put our product in front f as many people as we can and then we need to deliver an exciting product. F1 is a technically exciting sport and cutting edge in TV coverage. It has suffered in recent years from the dominance of one team be it Mercedes and before that Red Bull. They now have new American owners that are committed to increasing the brand.

Out of curiosity ... are we always destined to go up against the Australian GP Last year it was against the qualifying session and this year it is the race itself.

Carlton's membership is around 50k and is in danger of slipping down to our membership levels. The number crunchers don't want the club to recede and thus the "help plan." This allows Carlton to attract sponsors etc etc It is just so obvious that it is a two or three tiered system. The strange thing is that Carlton were favoured in 2016 and the Friday night games were abysmal that year.

agree .. if it is newsworthy

why would you announce something outside the afternoon/evening news cycle?