Swooper Northey

From memory we took Jamie Shanahan with the first pick in the 1998 Pre Season Draft and although he clearly wasn't the same calibre of player as Peter Matera, he filled a hole for us in 1998 when we were in desperate need for a strong, experienced full back. By 2000 Al Nicholson had replaced him in that position, but you wonder if we'd had been as balanced as we were in 1998 if not for Shanners. A quiet achiever.

I went along to the AFLW match last night at Moorabbin and saw St.Kilda's impressive facilities for the first time. I left thinking what an indictment it is that the Saints have better facilities than us. In the time that we've been looking for a solution they left Moorabbin, developed Seaford, buggered up that arrangement, left Seaford and redeveloped Moorabbin to create an elite practice venue. What have we been doing? Creating 'facilities working groups' and what appears to be endless high-level talks with 'stakeholders'. Enough is enough. We have to see progress on this issue otherwise we'll be left behind.

I'd love us to finally crack the code on this issue. While in an ideal world the Melbourne Football Club would have its training base in Melbourne proper, I wonder if any training facility in the established Melbourne sporting precinct will give us scope to cater for the growing requirements of elite footy? I fear we will quickly outgrow any new facility in central Melbourne and find ourselves in the position of playing catch-up again. Soon enough all clubs will want huge training bases with a minimum of two training grounds, large indoor practice areas and the ability to hold closed sessions. Can inner-city Melbourne accommodate these demands? Hawthorn's new facilities at Dingley will soon be the envy of other Victorian clubs. West Coast opened its $60m home in Lathlain last year. It consists of two training grounds, one the size of Optus Stadium, the other the size of the MCG. It also has a 60 metre indoor training hall, gyms and a lap pool. This will become the standard for other clubs to chase. Moving beyond the 3000 postcode might give us more ability to establish such facilities. Elsternwick Park is an interesting proposition, particularly as the public golf course next door to the established VAFA ground has been closed and is being turned into community open space. Would there be more ability to establish the facilities we need in a location such as this, given it could also be used for community purposes? It is only 10km from the CBD and easily accessible by public transport.

An excellent appointment. Peter will be fantastic for our club.

Would love to see Ooze back at the MFC.