Diamond_Jim

What we know as the Liberal Party had about 6 earlier names. The modern party was founded by Menzies in 1945. It took its name from the much older Commonwealth Liberal Party. The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a fusion of the Free Trade (Anti-socialist) Party and the Protectionist Party in 1909 by the second prime minister, Alfred Deakin, in response to Labor's growing electoral prominence. The Commonwealth Liberal Party merged with several Labor dissidents (including Billy Hughes) to form the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1917. That party, in turn, merged with Labor dissidents to form the UAP in 1931. The term "liberal" should be read as against the unnecessary government control of societylossely described as anti socialist. The term liberal used for the Canadian Liberal Party has a different meaning altogether and I would not try to guess what it means in the UK. Of course these days they're all centrist parties with little real difference once in power

Great article here on who gets the money from GF Merchandising. A couple of things surprised me: AFL take 12.5% Costs are over 50% (given mass produced on Bangladesh templates there must be a few middlemen) The club only gets 15% Surprisingly, Melbourne’s 2021 premiership surpassed Richmond’s 2017 drought-breaker for merchandise sales, despite the Tigers’ significantly larger fan base. The likely explanation, as Davies suggested, was that Melbourne’s flag was during the COVID-19 shutdown and many fans splurged online on items when they couldn’t attend the game. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/merch-bonanza-where-the-money-goes-from-magpies-record-flag-windfall-20231121-p5elp7.html As an aside on costs... In India you can buy the official cricket top for $20. Knock offs abound at around $5. How do we get to $100 plus for an official top

Interesting to see the Eagles complaining about the way the academies work: West Coast want a “discussion” on the AFL’s controversial next generation academies, admitting to frustration at losing Lance Collard to St Kilda in the national draft. The NGA system was a big talking point around the national draft on Monday and Tuesday nights. Gold Coast, as one of the four northern clubs, were able to recruit four of their academy players in the first round and it is tipped to be a bumper crop for the Suns. But under AFL rules, the other 14 clubs could not stop rival clubs poaching their NGA players if they were nominated inside the first 40 selections. So Collard, a highly rated Eagles academy prospect, was snapped up by St Kilda at pick 28. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/22/afl-draft-2023-club-next-generation-academy-rules

as usual it's gameplan. Can't see trading making an enormous difference except that it's always good to refresh and improve. We've gone for quick players as against the bigger bodied teams that now remain. We need to work on a greater degree of spread. The corridor use was fantastic against the lesser teams but it came horribly unstuck against the bigger bodied teams who simply crowded the ball carrier and prevented the spread. Better positioning by the forwards is a given. I enjoyed the team style of open play and hope we persist. Not sure where the comp as a whole is going. Will probably find out over the next two to three seasons but I'm not sure that 2023 was a great year for the competition. It needs to find its own space and calendar position somehow. Personally I don't like Princes Park. It's an old fashioned concrete shell devoid of character but I understand that Casey has significant drawbacks. Wherever it be the team and the comp needs to establish a relatively permanent base in the near future

West Coast if he goes

Not a difficult re-signing list for 2024. Hardest choice perhaps is do you give Langdon 3 or 4 years and how long for Joel Smith. Laurie is trending for no contract but he might surprise. Money for Tom Sparrow could be a minor issue (At age 24 this is a key contract for him) Will Tomlinson get another year... my guess is yes if he wants one. Out of curiosity is Charlie Spargo really a UFA in 2025 or is it a typo? Great job LH as always !!

Must admit the Hore selection makes little sense. One day the Melksham retention will be explained

Why... player trades do not reflect draft selection and form. He will attract a 5 x $1.6M offer and two picks around 8 if he wants to come home at the end of 3 years. It is the way Kennedy was a bit of luck for the Eagles. Lightning doesn't strike twice

He was the conservative choice for the Eagles but I can't see their strategy for getting out of the bottom four

Would we have used 27 and 35. Seems to me that with keeping Melksham, McDonald and Brown that list spots were constrained this year by comparison to next when we could easily have 5 spots available. I'll never understand keeping Schache as a back up ruck though

Could be said that we did go back to back in 22/23 but not in a good way

looking that way... the win against North was good but the opposition have learnt that if you close down the run we have no chance

not as bad as last week. At least a few of the handballs have connected. Bombing to non existent forwards is not great but I suspect that our forwards are playing too far out. Could have been worse but not promising

Seems settled in the newspapers that the Eagles will take Reid. Is it still a 2 year contract or did the proposal that the top draft picks get a three year contract get approved. You have to wonder what the Eagle's retention approach will be. Cannot see that they will do much better than 14th during the next two years. No young talent coming through it seems. Assuming he goes to a Melbourne club at the end of year 2 for say $1.5M x 6 years would the Eagles get anymore than say pick 8 and a future first

Thought they might have gone for one more mega club down there to sell some more superboxes. Not many "great" games at a stadium we the taxpayers have spent a fortune on

That fixture is missing round 23/24 It's Collingwood

On the crucial element of five-day breaks, only four teams – Adelaide, Melbourne, Richmond and St Kilda – have been handed two. Essendon, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Sydney and West Coast have escaped without any.

Bit tired of playing the Dogs early in the season. The fixture seems increasingly fixed in boringly grey cement

why not 7:20

It used to be tradie radio in the sense that it was background noise on building sites. Not sure what it is these days. Very difficult to build a national network as the national synergies in radio are few and far between. Perhaps ad selling but for that you have to deliver the required demographic. The other one that is looking down the barrel is Kayo. Losing sports.. no summer blockbusters... mainly free to air copies for AFL games.. price gone up... no increase in picture quality. The value proposition is fast disappearing for many as it fights for a place in the house streaming budget. Even Youtube doubled its prices last month. Addin Netflix with their ban on password sharing, the actors and writers strike in USA (no new content for possibly a year) and you are looking at a perfect storm for this sector

Another salary cap play as far as I read it. Assume it is just a one year deal but with Brown, McDonald and Melksham all likely to leave at the end of 2024 we certainly have a lot of spare salary cap for something

nice... looking forward to Collingwood making the trip in the near future. Cannot see the older brigade of Geelong handling that trip very well. Bulldogs lost that match last year and their follow up match in Melbourne. Together with playing an SA in Gather Round the three losses ended their season. In a season where most games are decided by under 20 points every little bit counts

game over

Don't think I've seen one effective handball from our players

The run and handball works against the less skilful sides but it is shown up by the hard tackling sides that crowd the pack