Diamond_Jim

The article below talks of a desired sale price of between $30M and $80M..... quite a variation Had forgotten the the stand and oval were heritage listed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverley_Park This following article is also very informative on what was originally planned at Waverley. It lists a sale price of $102M. The original Waverley plan was for a stadium accommodating 150,000 people (123K seated...31K standing) http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/the-157000seat-super-stadium-that-never-was/news-story/2c031a2774cc7e2353cf3857f3985723

Will be interesting as to how the AFL approach the ownership. Will they see their investment as a sunk cost and run the stadium at cost or will they expect a return on investment as is the case with Government assets. The last time the AFL owned a stadium (Waverley) was a very mixed bag with low investment and minimal maintenance. Justified at the time as a way of breaking the MCG monopoly perhaps. Would be a pity if the stadium is sold for development. The last thing the Docklands needs is another high rise full of low/medium quality apartments. It is wonderfully located and deserves some serious thought and investment.

wow............ !!! on the MFC site apologies just found the other thread on the draft/trade forum

had forgotten how close 76 was. In the last round we beat Collingwood but Footscray drew with Carlton (the top team) to make the five. We had a better percentage than Footscray but their draw in the final round saw them make the five on 46 points and us on the "outer" at 44 Has the hallmarks of 87 in that we won our last 4 games in the "charge" to the finals. The Bulldogs suffered a 7 point loss to Cats in the first elimination final . And Collingwood took the wooden spoon for the first time !! (There was some joy after all )

Just had a better look at some of Dawes' game stats while at Melbourne In 2014 he played 18 games .... his most games in a season so far for MFC. He did not feature in the top 10 best and fairest for 2014.... average disposals per game 12 in 2014 .... not exactly stellar even when he gets on the park

Now that was an enjoyable game. Ahead from the first bounce and the only real question was whether we were going to win by 100 points. Sean Wight played a blinder if I remember. A stress free final............. o perchance to dream !! Back on topic......... Petracca is a must improve next year (20 plus high quality possessions per game) if we are to move up the ladder. Like others I think he can do it..... one of my few reasons for being excited about the club.

4 years.... 50 games .... 47 goals .... and one of the highest paid on the list Merely a question of list management for mine (is he realistically keeping someone decent including someone new off the list... not out of the 22). If not bare minimum offer contract with incentives. He is 28 so perhaps has another 3 seasons if he can get fit but I ran out of patience this year if not last. Leave this one to the club to decide methinks. There is no doubt he adds structure but question whether in the modern game and with his lack of marking ability this is worth perseverance.

Ah.... the dreaded Sydney airport curfew 11pm until 6am Flew in the from the States once via Sydney... when I woke up I noticed we were slowly circling off the coast with no attempt to land. Then I realised the plane was just waiting for the airport to open up.

and are any of them paid $1M a year plus I also used the adjective "naturally". There are some of your mark and kick guys who have adjusted (Franklin is an excellent example as are the players you mentioned) but it is not a skill possessed by many

Needless to say that was a break through season for Jack. Next year is very important and it will be interesting to see how he deals with the greater attention given to good players by the opposition. Time for him to win some real respect in the general football community for what we all know is a great talent. Somehow I believe the ruck play did him the world of good. Well done Jack on 2016 and here's to a great 2017 and beyond.

Good point.... the AFL were also very lucky in the way the geographic cards fell in this series (no two games in any city on nay weekend.) Out of interest.... why was the Bulldogs v GWS prelim played at 5pm or thereabouts and not 7:30pm?

The "rich clubs" will be the Crows and possibly the Eagles and perhaps Geelong. Why.... they have stadiums that hold less people than they have members. In Adelaide people assign their seats to others rather than give them up. It has the potential to be similar to debentures at Wimbledon. $10 plus per home game for the right to a seat adds up to a massive amount on top of memberships. Add in the sponsorship dollars where you are not competing with 9 other teams ( a la Melbourne) and you have a potent recipe. The only problem stymieing these mega clubs is the salary cap. Note that the "rich tax" on clubs is going so the rich will get richer.

For the purpose of this review I will put aside the contractual issues. It was an okay season with the occasional highlight. The real question I have is whether he can play the role of the modern forward. It is an extremely difficult role and frankly outside Riewoldt (who is now at the sunset of his career) there are few players who can naturally perform in this position. If he is to play a more CHF role he will need to improve his fitness and agility. ( A big pre-season is the appropriate cliche I believe.) Good Luck in 2017 as our upward trajectory is dependent upon Jesse and 3 or four other players having stand out seasons.

I posted this on another topic but it is apposite to what is being discussed here: "The secret to the Dogs success is something simple. Beat the teams below you on the ladder (outside the eight)... have an upset win or two against the top eight.... make the finals and who knows Until we can achieve number 1 on that list (beating the teams outside the 8) we are going nowhere No more.. we are too young or too tired....."

a pleasant thought in what has been a "hard" day for us all. Thanks Nasher

sounds like a reasonable choice.......... TG it was not one of our usual howlers

remind me..... who did we take instead of Zak?

I enjoyed the Junction Oval (those few times we were in the finals) Unfortunately owned by Cricket and therefore was a difficult summer training ground. Would be interesting how Collingwood regard Victoria Park now that they have the old Olympic swimming pool as their base. Is Toorak Park the old Prahran oval. If so I would not be against it but it probably has cricket issues as well. Not sure about ground size for training purposes. Would like to hear more. Casey and the Paddock don't cut it in m view.

The secret to the Dogs success is something simple. Beat the teams below you on the ladder (outside the eight)... have an upset win or two against the top eight.... make the finals and who knows Until we can achieve number 1 on that list (beating the teams outside the 8) we are going nowhere No more.. we are too young or too tired.....

I think I am agreeing with you Paying under the cap when players under perform makes perfect sense. It also allows for the lower paying clubs to use money to attract the bigger fish

The requirement to pay at or near the salary cap goes back to the Fitzroy days where clubs like Fitzroy (and probably MFC) stayed afloat by paying well under what was the then the maximum cap. When the AFL took over ownership of the League the requirement to pay the salary cap made sense if we were to avoid an EPL situation. Perhaps it is time for this requirement to be tweaked.

Getting to a GF for teams like MFC and the Bulldogs involves a lot of luck. We are a long way from finals success from a list perspective..... whether we then have the luck who knows. Ask me again when we don't lose to a Carlton (first win in nine games) when we have a possible finals berth riding on the result. Good Luck Dogs.... they will need it

Perhaps they might wait for the CAS finding. Amazing ........ the AFL are a disgrace in this area.......... shows that it is still a business run by the ex players with the mentality and baggage that goes with it. I would have more respect if the players put 10% of their salaries above base into a fund for past players now suffering from chronic back/knee issues etc. Perhaps the 12 Apostles could make a start !!!

Just reading an article in the Guardian about Cronulla in this weeks NRL final. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/sep/29/cronullas-potential-drought-breakers-the-nrl-grand-final-fairytale-that-isnt Found the following post in the comments section interesting: Yeah, remember the early talk about how the AFL was managing this masterfully and the NRL was fumbling through it? Also that blinkered clown Gerard Whately on Offsiders saying Essendon is a 2/10 and the Sharks 9/10? Turns out Dave Smith played a blinder. Paul Gallen and co. should send him a Christmas present every year. Meanwhile not only was Essendon's program far more wide-reaching and sinister than the Sharks, but the league, club and players have all handled it abysmally. The AFL treated it like a PR exercise to be stage-managed, and got humiliated by CAS. NRL co-operated with WADA. Essendon should probably be suspended, like Russian athletics was. And the players across both codes don't appear to have learnt a thing, still trotting out excuses that don't wash for a 15 year old amateur swimmer still in school, yet as full-time professionals they seem to think they are completely unaccountable for being injected with random [censored]. But at least the Sharks players were managed to cop it and move on. The biggest shame for the NRL is that the clubs got nervous about the TV deal, forced Smith out, and with that gave the wrong people the leverage all over again. There is no way they are capable of manage anything of this magnitude so well next time without him.

Seems that the Bye following the last round will continue in 2017 http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-endofseason-bye-to-stay-in-2017-as-commission-considers-minor-premiership-windfall-20160928-grqs1n.html