Diamond_Jim

Ten years ago we had no player over 25 who was in a bull's roar of AA. Now we have five or six. Makes following this team a comparative pleasure. I think our recent drafting (since 2019.. the glory year) has been okay but nothing spectacular. Trades other than Langdon have been abysmal. If we have anything to wonder about is how did it only take 18 months to pick apart the gameplan and why have we not been able to adjust. Realistically we're moving into a twilight period. The challenge is coming out the other side. Richmond have failed in that process as did WCE. Hawthorn seem to have managed it and Geelong (how do they do it)

For those interested in the mechanics of putting together the AFL fixture today's Age gives some insight. They use a third party computer product supplied by US Sports software coy, Fastbreak. The program then builds in various rules.. stadium availabity, breaks between matches etc etc Then most important are the "priority rules". These are designed as follows: There are over 400 rules or constraints in the system. That’s everything from what venues aren’t available, so we’ll have a venue block, through to the standard rules – we have rules around a five-day break, each club has to have 11 home, 11 away games, so on and so forth,” Bowler said. They essentially get preloaded into the system, and then we adjust the priority of those rules from there.” The priority of those rules has been to maximise attendances and broadcast ratings in the first year of a $4.5 billion deal with Seven and Foxtel, and culminated this week in the release of the 2025 schedule, which, as always, left some clubs and fans happier than others https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-big-fix-revealing-the-secret-formula-that-goes-into-making-the-most-read-list-in-australian-sport-20241115-p5kqtz.html

Certainly Binge will drop The Box watchers seem to be rusted on but they're certainly not increasing in number At present there are are around ten streaming products. Maybe more (Bein anyone... it's the tennis.. well some of it). Something has to give

The differing commercial in confidence (secret) stadium deals are an interesting subject. The AFL owns Docklands and as the competition organiser decides which venue a team will play at in a given week. It's a highly conflicted market to say the least. Could do with a little more sunshine

Not sure what this means for Kayo and future AFL TV rights pricing but it's interesting. The touted buyer for Foxtel has pulled out citing "unrealistic price expectations". But after discussions, Platinum is no longer actively engaged, said a source with direct knowledge of the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity. News Corp’s asking price for Foxtel was unrealistic, the source said. That leaves News Corp, which publicly flagged interest in selling Foxtel three months ago but with scant details to share, in a potentially precarious position. Seems like they missed their opportunity to sell in 2020.. In 2021, when News Corp was weighing up the initial public offering, The Australian Financial Review suggested Foxtel’s valuation as high as $4 billion and said its turnaround was worthy of an MBA case study. Other valuations were more modest, but it’s unlikely to fetch anywhere near the US$2 billion offered by US cable magnate Leo Hindery in 2020. The Age article bears reading on many levels... https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/the-murdochs-want-to-get-rid-of-foxtel-there-s-just-one-problem-20241113-p5kqe7.html

Yep... usually the top 4 or 5 are agreed with perhaps some discussion over the order (usually number 1 is obvious) but the whole top 10 this year is up in the air. Strange year... could make for a big spreadsheet for the recruiters as to the changing scenarios on draft night

Sensible approach.... but that useless comp aka VFL doesn't start until around week 3 of the AFL comp. They do however usually arrange scratch games with other AFL reserve clubs etc in the weeks leading up to the season proper. Seems that they are training hard given the time of year.... interesting

Very strange... First time we have ever played a Melbourne club there ( I think) The abacus is spinning

From a club progression viewpoint that fixture is damning. Sponsor contracts have multiple kicker clauses and I bet we hardly kick one.

Please no

The NM home games against Fremantle and WCE in Perth (price $2.5M) has echoes of when we sold our home game to Brisbane. The big complaint was by other clubs along the lines of giving Brisbane four points. NM may as well sell two home games to Qld, SA and NSW and balance their books. Theme song could be changed to the Travelling Wilburys. Expect Hawthorn to cover off their lost Tasmanian revenue by a taxpayer funded game or two PS: NM will still play two home games in Tasmania in 2025

In the winter sunshine... very enjoyable in the Southern Stand

With the new capacity they can make the same money at Kardinia Park as an 85k plus crowd at the MCG due to KP being a clean stadium Their dilemma will be that there are not many teams who can give them an 85k crowd in Melbourne when they play at the MCG Not sure when the football world will wake up to the extra dollars coming from a clean stadium. There's a reason why FIFA and F1 insist on clean stadiums To give some idea here is a quote from Brian Cook in 2009 Originally Posted by Brian Cook ...at Skilled Stadium when you have a capacity of 25,000, we make a net profit in that game of $638,000 per game, which is $26 per head. If we have a crowd of 85,500 at the MCG, which we did have against Collingwood in 2007, we brought home $771,000, which was $9 a head. Importantly,Telstra, now Etihad Stadium, with a near capacity of 46,000, we brought home $293,000, which is $6 a head. So when you compare a crowd at Skilled of 25,000 compared to Telstra, which is nearly twice as much at 46, you at Skilled bring home to the club $638,000 out of all revenue sources per game and only $293,000 from Telstra.

So you're going to pitch living in a share house and playing at Casey against the Gold Coast and the family. He has a choice unlike most players

I'd be pitching a hybrid first year. Play in Qld in the local league using a pre-agreed training regime and then play for Casey say four times on a fifo basis. Let's be honest he's probably not playing AFL until year 3. We also have to realise he can go to GCS and then trade out in year 3 if he's not seeing a clear path. Have to play this one smart

Interested to see when Spargo makes it back on the track

Round zero just makes the season that much longer. Add in Gather round and the bye week the home and away period is now 26 weeks. Add in the week off before finals and you have 31 weeks Hard for fans and players to stay interested for that long unless you're winning

NRL in Vegas .. a free hit TBH I'm not sure whether participation is a good or bad thing. Some teams thought that the extra bye gave them a plus last year. The fixture is fixed mais quelle surprise

Feel a bit like Jordan Lewis' last year. If our team is on the up a youngster will push him out. Will it happen.. no one grabbed Lewis' spot

Hope you're right.

Unless we have some major performance lifts from our 5-15 ranked players finishing around 10th is likely. There won't be any sacking simply because the club has had too much bad press. A managed exit would be my guess in 2026. Anyway let's hope 2025 delivers some fun matches

Not so sure about the game day thread...👺

A perfect example of a player that should be used on a rotational basis. His body will not make it through a 27 game season

Great news

As Taciturn Demon asked... what is the right number of teams in Melbourne? But perhaps you need to ask two questions first. 1. How many teams do you need in the competition. (I think most would say at least 16 and an even number avoiding rolling byes.) 2. Assuming you need say 16 teams where are any extra interstate teams best located. (A much harder question. Sydney or Brisbane... no pressing need but perhaps FNQ and/or Albury. Adelaide and Perth .. Maybe) So assuming one more team in Qld/NSW and one more team in Perth or Adelaide (plus the Tasmanian team) you have 11 interstate teams. Putting Geelong to one side (arguably not Melbourne based) that gives you four teams in Melbourne. For those favouring an 18 team comp you have 6 teams in Melbourne. The above is purely an economic assessment and assumes that additional teams (GCS and GWS especially) "pay" their own way in increased television rights. It won't happen but it's interesting to theorize.