Diamond_Jim

It's an NFL thing. State and City governments now pay for stadiums. Tasmania unlike NSW is a price taker and this is the price. The AFL didn't tell them where to build the stadium. Most new NFL stadiums are built out of town on cheap land which becomes valuable as an entertainment/exhibition centre with surrounding outlets

The BIG game is the night before at AAMI Storm v Sharks

India or even one or two States of India is definitely worth some grass roots investment. (The China play was a Kochie vanity project that should never be repeated). Strangely enough Kochi could be a perfect place to start. It might even attract the Victorian Indian diaspora. Being 5 hours behind it's not a bad TV market for 7:30pm games either

It's protected by Australian isolation in both a geographical and time zone sense. The only time zone that remotely competes is US sport shown around 10am East Coast time. Agree with your point in that if they had serious competition they would falter. When are we going to hear about games in New Zealand again. They've tried everywhere else

Looking at the ladder I'm not sure percentage will be a big determinant for us but not running out the game is not great.

With Pies and perhaps Geelong on a downer due to age in coming years Brisbane and GCS may establish a window of dominance Entry of Tasmania also helps Brisbane and GCS in that they retain their academy bump while the high draft picks held by lower clubs are compromised by the Tasmanian concessionary picks

One handball too many in some plays. Unlikely to hold up against North

Z cars is back on TV

I wonder if Hipwood is looking for a new home. Can't see him getting back into the Lions forward line unless there's injuries. Collingwood perhaps?

3 weeks for Chol (official just announced on AFL website)

I thought about that. It would be an 11pm flight so most players wouldn't be home much shy of 2am. Why not 3:40pm if that was the driver. My conspiracy mind says it's trial run for the infamous "twilight GF".

That is one way to measure construction costs. A few years back I cam across a site that looked at stadiums around the world using that measure. The most expensive per seat by a long way was Optus stadium in Perth. Building it at the same time as the mining infrastructure lead to the sweetest deal for all concerned. While hobart is different I would imagine that given run away construction costs post covid we'd be seeing a high cost build to say the least

Has anyone explained the logic of a 5:15pm start? No real problem with it but I'm trying to work out why not 4:30 or 6pm for example

Just saw a clip Surely Chol is gone But who knows

As good a reason as any Impossible to pick an emotional favourite BTW: Oscar P got his car going. All is good but he did clip the wall

Oscar Piastri's engine fails in the first practice session in Baku. Not a disaster but worrying

Am I right that the Pies have offered him 2 years at $X. I'd offer 2 years at $X + 125k with tough triggers for year three. We are continually burnt by contract lengths

Well Ugle-Hagen is officially in the room. What room and whose I've no idea A large question remark hangs over Jamarra Ugle-Hagan's head when it comes to the troubled Bulldogs' future, but leading AFL agent Paul Connors believes he can become another Jesse Hogan. https://www.sen.com.au/news/2025/09/17/jamarra-ugle-hagan-bulldogs-contract-afl-future

Curnow now angling for Geelong. Amazing to say the least

Independents and Greens control the Upper House It could be close

Carlton are a key player in the sense that Curnow wants to go to the Suns who in turn have the draft picks to satisfy us. With Curnow gone Carlton have the salary cap but I expect we would have to pay something to maximise the deal (Say $250k a year) The interesting hypothetical is what would we do with those draft picks. I'd use them and simply get $1.25M off our books

Ah hell Bring in the handicapper. MFC starts with say a 4.5 game start over Collingwood etc

You have to have some sympathy for the player. He's good but not good enough to force immediate offers from other clubs. Is it really his fault that these other clubs are dithering. Que Sera Sera

Still cannot understand why the Eagles can't get off the canvas given their money, resources and location advantage. Some random thoughts: Unfortunately father/son has to go. Academies favour interstate teams in lesser markets. I can see the benefit but you wonder if they really do anything to encourage youth participation generally. Arguably they are just another elite channeling system. Trades... a player tax paid to the AFL based on average ladder position over previous three years. The higher the club is ranked the more that goes to the AFL (say to a maximum of 20% of salary) Finally .. payments/facilitization by loosely associated entities. Banned unless player and entity can clearly show no connection. Onus on player. The fixture has simply become too contrived and gets worse year on year. Like the gambling dollar the AFL has become addicted. Very hard to unravel but perhaps incremental steps.

Agree OD AFL need to be a little smarter as they build up these wannabe games. It can't be a night game as Perth is 3 hours behind in summer. 5pm start at best