chookrat

If we wanted to really stir things up the club could announce it is having preliminary discussions with the Tas Government re relocation due to a lack of commitment from the State Government and AFL for our women's and men's programs.

Realistically there is space in the MCG precinct, the challenge is securing buy-in from the necessary stakeholders to cut through the red tape. I believe we will have first class facilities in the MCG within the next 5 - 7 years I just think we don't have the political clout to drive the process and so need to work within the process set out by the State Government.

Either this or demolish the eyesore that is Fed Square and build something there.

OD, I would think that the votes for providing the MFC with a home in the MCG precinct would translate into votes in the Inner South. The major parties are not likely to win inner city seats in the future but I would think Labor would have picked up votes in the Inner South if they had pledged a home for the MFC in the MCG precinct without losing anything in the city.

Disappointed to see the development isn't billions of dollars of car parks, but I guess carparks near train stations in local electoratea is a federal government responsibility.

Lord Nev, there is open grass everywhere and if we cut a few trees down there is even more room. From memory the Jolimont proposal wouldn't have even required any trees to be cut down and admin would have been over the railway. From what I understand the main objection has been from a few hundred East Melbourne locals concerned that they will lose space to walk their dogs and if the state government are onboard it wouldn't take much to cut through their nonsense.

Lord Nev, while the money is not the issue a lack of commitment at AFL and State Government level to approve an option where we can build is. Our club has been working on options for more than 5 years now and to not have an announcement shows a lack of conviction to get this done. The land is there, the options are feasible, it should be a matter of choosing the best one and getting started.

Exactly OD and with inflation you are lucky to get any change of $25m to put a flag on a bridge these days.

It's interesting to note that the Octagon for Mixed Martial Arts, which is necessary to host MMA events, was banned in Victoria until 2015. Meanwhile 100's of horses were dying on the track each year with many 1,000's more being turned into dog food if they were not good enough at racing. Governments are highly conflicted when it comes to gambling regulation.

McQueen, I don't have an issue with whether people gamble either but do have concerns with the amount of gambling related advertising in sport. This not only presents issues for those addicted to gambling but also normalised gambling for kids, e.g. they are so heavily exposed to advertising that glamorises gambling at a young age that by the time they are an adult they are de-sensitised to it's harmful effects. As a parent I want to be able to take my kids to the Footy or watch a game on TV without gambling ads everytime the play stops.

I would have thought we'd have an in principle agreement with the State Government that we would have facilities in the MCG precinct and the timing of an announcement. It seems silly that we'd participate and contribute funding to the working group without this commitment up front. When the Gotch's paddock resurfacing was announced I thought Gary Pert nailed it in explaining how sub par our training ground had been since we used to train on the MCG as our home ground. The AFL needs to step up and lobby the State Government who need to step up and accept a viable option whether it be AAMI Park, the MCG Southern Stand, above the Jolimont Railway tracks or the area near the Freeway south of Gotch's paddock. That there is nothing to announce is a cop out as there should be an agreement by now on which development our facilities will be part of regardless of whether all of the detailed work is completed. I wouldn't mind the club publicly lobby on the lack of AFL and State Government funding we have received in comparison to every other club, e.g. publish a ladder of facility funding and where we sit, the state of our grounds since we were blocked from training on our home ground the MCG, and the funding we have contributed to work up options and present to the AFL and State Government which have been knocked back.

Is there any reason why either Joel Smith or Schache cannot play Petty's role in the backline and to play Petty forward? We probably need to prepare for our next batch of KPF's by only playing one of Ben Brown or TMac in the side along with a younger KPF. Also happy for JVR to get a run noting that he would likely struggle as our key target and would benefit through a TMac/Ben Brown and Petty to occupy their key best defenders.

I like Robb and reckon he could spin a good yarn, as long as the story isn't too complex and no more than a couple of paragraphs long.

Valid points. What I will say re Ross Lyon is that he led a dominant team that were with a kick of winning two grand finals. There is a good argument that he did almost everything right and was a bit unlucky to not have won a Premiership.

It's interesting that Ratten was at Hawthorn from 2012 to 2018. It doesn't make alot of sense that he was offered a 2 year contract extension mid-season and then terminated a few months later by the very people who extended his contract. Might be a coincidence but maybe not.

I'd also argue that the unlucky bounce would have mattered less if St Kilda were up by 10 goals, like we were.

I'm wondering if we will see a Coach traded to another team as part of a soft cap dump. Honestly if Don's and St Kilda were more organised they could have simply swapped Rutten / Ratten and saved alot of $$$.

I'd get him to meet up with Carey at the Casino.

Yep, before he injured his knee was ranked number 1 in the AFL for winning 1 on 1 marking contests.

Can we play him in the WAFL and collect the money in a brown paper bag for each match he plays 😎

Are we collecting man buns as our new list strategy?

That would absolutely be treated as draft tampering and there is no way the AFL would go along with it.

I suspect the difference btw 25 and 27 is that we might offset this against the portion Collingwood pay of Grundy's salary, e.g. rather than 300k they might chip in 280k or similar.

I believe the saying goes that behind every successful man is a surprised woman.

I've just come across the original ABC article re the allegations and reading this I've been way off the mark in suggesting the coaching staff don't have much to answer for. Previously I'd read comments from other articles in isolation (which don't really provide any context) but the ABC Sport interviews with the families paint a disturbing picture that is difficult enough to read, let alone experience. For anyone like me who hadn't previously read the ABC Sport article it paints quite a detailed picture of the allegations from the players and families perspectives, noting the content is quite distressing. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-21/alastair-clarkson-and-chris-fagan-named-in-hawks-review/101452320 The most disturbing part of this is the seemingly preemptive, systematic approach described in the players stories of separating young First Nations players from their families. E.g. this doesn't look like an isolated incident of a young player having poor habits and getting into a bit of trouble and the club acting to provide a stable environment. Anyway, I was very wrong on this and this will send shockwaves through the league. I think the players have done the right thing in going public as the allegations are serious to the extent that the AFL investigation would have been compromised before it started. if I am to be fully honest I am disappointed with you Demonlander's for not getting stuck into me properly for having a poorly formed opinion on something I clearly didn't do the requisite ground work.