FB …….....

You seem to have the notion, that in the long run given free trade, that there would be no natural attrition of clubs and teams ….. and that somehow, they would all just magically remain intact.

I think for the good of the game ….. natural attrition should be allowed to occur, if not be encouraged.

I for one, think that the AFL’s expansion isn’t working at the moment ……. in that with the likes of the GC witches hats, and GWS ……...it diminishes both the on-field competition, and the games image as a whole.

We now have the situation where we are seeing a lot of half full stadiums at best …. and kids being forced to play against men out on the paddock ….. and that isn’t good for football, despite what Demetriou postulates.

If the competition was trimmed down a tad, lets see ……. perhaps each team could possibly play each other twice in the season …. how novel and equitable would that idea be?

They could even play one game each at their home ground, just to keep it all even.

You have some teams who fall to the bottom of the ladder and within a year or so are right back up there …….... but then you have those perennial cellar dwellers who, despite all manner of concessions and draft picks, and assistance, just cannot lift themselves higher than their ankles . eg the blood sucking Melbourne’s of this world (as but one example) who are nothing more than a drain on the competition, and a breeding ground for mediocrity at best

It’s these types of clubs, with their constant “fighting debt” campaigns, that are draining every successful club of money on an annual basis, that and the additional ridulous things like a “living away from home allowance” being given to the Swines.

If teams were to be trimmed down and the competition more even, then finals matches might not just be the one sided affairs they are currently in weeks one and two.

The spectacle itself would improve, for you would have a more highly concentrated skill base at each club and on display at every game.

Going back to the salary cap though ….... and just who is the AFL to say how much someone can earn, and how they can earn it?

Look at todays paper in regard to Joel Selwood, and his $30K deal that has got knocked on the head by the AFL.

The AFL are all to eager to put his face on playing cards and get a slice of that action .. yet he can’t do exactly the same thing for a company of his own choosing?

The sooner one of them has the balls to take the AFL to court, (a la Silvio Foschini) the better,.... and the quicker the AFL house of smoke and mirrors falls down.

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2012 Rotary Ambrose Champions “All Star Team” Member.
LD Champion – Growling Bog ’11, A Grade WV ’12, Bendigo ’12.
Albatross – 3rd hole Par 5 Beaconhills 19-11-2012 3W-6 iron.

I agree

However the afl had just signed a massive tv deal…

So from their perspective – business is good

Is that business model sustainable 10 years down the track – I dont believe so…

How will gold coast make money with 15,000 members once the afl stops handing out cash!

Was that the 2 players who used meth

??

Or salary cap issue?

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill

I believe they were just pills.

Its whats in the pills that matters…

Its interesting how times have changed…Now its a major story…..Then it was a story for a day or two…

Then gone….

The landscape has changed.

I may answer that if you’d like.
the name Eddie Obeid, how is that travelling in the news at the moment?
at the heat of the media coverage on this bloke we suddenly hear headlines that an explosive 12month investigation and a 45 page exposé on how drugs and betting and match fixing are rampant throughout all sports in Australia. All the Obeid news just shrinks away to the background.
well played Labor, well played.
yet contained within this booklet, because bugger me I’ve seen kids books with more pages than this document, shows that match fixing = one large A-League match that had a one off high placement if betting. Drugs = one AFL team and 6 NRL, well actually 5 because the tenuous link to one club has since been ignored.
the “report” demonized the word Peptide, something that is an string of amino acids that everyone one of singles youse has through out your body.
I don’t for one second doubt there are dodgeys going on, but for the massive explosive report, it’s all garbage that the Government took the opportunity to release at an awkward time for them during an already awkward election campaign.

Time to get really serious and have 2 divisions of 12 teams with the bottom 2 relegated from division 1 each year. Everyone plays each opponent home and away. No perennial cellar dwellers get axed or relocated and there is more Tv content. 2 teams in Tassie plus ACT and Darwin. Then 3rd teams in WA and SA and away we go.

Tail-end of the season would get very interesting and tense

A Golfer until the day I die despite playing absolutely crap

Mouldy i was always against that idea but to be honest these days i think it has real merit. Especially in the interests of having a fair and equitable draw. The other one that springs to mind is 20 sides and two conferences. 9 games against your conference, 9 games against the other conference. A final 4 in each. Playoffs (I hate that word let’s call them finals) within your conference with the winner to take on the other conference winner in the Grand Final on the last Saturday in September.

If there is a Silvio Foshini style court case the the AFL’s salary cap is thrown out… what then? players pay will be driven by market forces? only the biggest and richest clubs could afford the cream of the playing stocks… what if the draft is thrown out too? Good Bye North Melbourne, Melbourne, St Kilda, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide, GWS, Gold Coast… Would Hawthorn last long after then… maybe as the Hobart Hawks… The AFL would closely resemble the EPL, but in miniature.

I agree Mekat, although I think the Hawks would be fine for quite some time…

Salary cap is important. I don’t want the comp to be going like the EPL…

Question without notice, do any if the players know there is a salary cap in place before they sign a contract to get paid to play footy?
let me answer that, of course they bleeping do.
if they were ever unhappy with the field of work they are entering into maybe they should fall back on their second choice career in the field of science or accounting, instead they choose to remain footballers.

If there is a Silvio Foshini style court case the the AFL’s salary cap is thrown out… what then? players pay will be driven by market forces? only the biggest and richest clubs could afford the cream of the playing stocks… what if the draft is thrown out too? Good Bye North Melbourne, Melbourne, St Kilda, Bulldogs, Port Adelaide, GWS, Gold Coast… Would Hawthorn last long after then… maybe as the Hobart Hawks… The AFL would closely resemble the EPL, but in miniature.

Too much slow play means that golf has a wait problem

In terms of the salary cap, it’s limitations have already seen the likes of Gary Ablett Jnr, pretty much being led to seek greener pastures.

Everyone is entitled to maximise their earnings …. and the existence of salary cap limits it at best, and at worst, forces players to choose between their future financial security or playing with their mates.

Lance Franklin is now holding off on his own contract talks with the Hawks, no doubt in order to maximise his potential income, and who could blame him …. this now gives the other clubs a whole year to find room within their salary caps for him and to give him more than the Hawks are allowed to pay him, which of course may lead to him also packing his bags.

Without the salary cap in place, and the Hawks could stand a better chance of paying him what many people think he is worth. (For mine, he’s slightly over rated, but only slightly)

Onto the draft etc now, and traditionally speaking …. (for at least the last 10 years) Melbourne for one, has never done well out of the draft, nor on the financial front .... so no great loss if they dissappeared completely.

Most of their supporters allegedly, only turn up at the football when there is no snow on the nearby hills, and of course with Melbourne …..... you never really know if they are officially going to try and win a game these days anyway.

The Bulldogs likewise, have never done well out of the draft, and are always asking people to dig deep for them …. so no real loss again if they got sucked down the pipe.

GWS and Co …. are just novelty value for the supporters in their territory ….... and an easy 4 points for everyone else, so again no great loss if they vacated the football landscape.

The AFL may or may not not resemble the EPL if it gave up on the draft and the salary cap etc…........ but it would resemble a real business …... where your employees are paid what they are worth, and where you were accountable for poor management practices.

but it would resemble a real business …… where your employees are paid what they are worth, and where you were accountable for poor management practices

Players are only worth what clubs can & will pay for them.

Kurt Tippett valued himself at some ridiculous figure. Clubs that reportedly had the money (Lions & Freo as an example) didn’t think he was worth that much so left him for the Swans who thought he was worth it.

If a player thinks he is being under paid he can refuse to sign a contract and shop himself around. No one forces a guy to sign. Any previously listed player can enter a draft with a price on his head.

As Bump says, if the players felt they weren’t getting paid well enough they’d do what the rest of us do and find another job.

I agree Mekat, although I think the Hawks would be fine for quite some time…

Salary cap is important. I don’t want the comp to be going like the EPL…

OOMBET 2013 is HERE!!

Smoldy… Checking you in to the Smackdown Hotel.

VTP #008
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Agree 2 x Smergs.

Always amuses me that people still think of Hawthorn as in financial difficulties.
2nd biggest membership base in Melbs with over 60K last year. Sponsors galore and some of the most marketable faces in the game.
Simple fact is, if it came down to a battle of the cheque books, Hawthorn would be right up there.

The sponors to clubs and the AFL are important but make no mistake it is the TV rights than underpin the competition.

Simply put advertisers pay a premium to advertise during AFL games and thus the AFL can demand a huge price from the TV stations for the rights.

If the games became crap and mostly predictable outcomes TV ratings would drop just like crowd attendances drop when teams are going poorly.

When TV ratings drop advertisers get less value for money which will lead to a smaller TV rights contract the next time.

This won’t happen becasue the AFL wants the competition to be as even as possible via salary cap, drafts and redistribution(sponsoring) of the poorer clubs.

It makes good business sense what the AFL does.

The sponors to clubs and the AFL are important but make no mistake it is the TV rights than underpin the competition.

Simply put advertisers pay a premium to advertise during AFL games and thus the AFL can demand a huge price from the TV stations for the rights.

If the games became crap and mostly predictable outcomes TV ratings would drop just like crowd attendances drop when teams are going poorly.

When TV ratings drop advertisers get less value for money which will lead to a smaller TV rights contract the next time.

This won’t happen becasue the AFL wants the competition to be as even as possible via salary cap, drafts and redistribution(sponsoring) of the poorer clubs.

It makes good business sense what the AFL does.

Play it as it lies, get on with it, its not life or death, its just a game!

+1

its about $$

losers… some disappointing games still to come once the gears wears off..

P&B, let’s wait until the proof is in, and all is known before we kick them… lest there be a reason for others to kick us…!

na rather get the boot in now….

heard on the grape vine that the bombers have booked greyhound buses for all the interstate travel this year in fear of failing drug swipe tests at airports…

drugs claim by Mcgrath’s brother

Massive story if true

Huge… that is why I say to keep your powder dry till we KNOW more… and not just suspect.

they had to be on drugs to beat us, same as carlton , west coast, essendon, man the list goes on..

they had to be on drugs to beat us, same as carlton , west coast, essendon, man the list goes on..

handicap 6. www.HowAus.orgWeb Universe
Vision Golf Balls

yeah head ring leaders was collingwood

every club has it in their club no club is clean

just remember parsandbirdies there is 4 collinwood players that came clean to the afl for taking drugs

irregardless wether they beat a rule becuase of a clause the fact remains 4 collingwood players were and still are drug takers

much as i like to see essendon in a bit of strife and collingwood for that matter

they are not the only teams involved i think the enitre clubs have something to do with it

pars dont be cocky as i think you need to clean up the pies backyard first

they had to be on drugs to beat us, same as carlton , west coast, essendon, man the list goes on..

handicap 6. www.HowAus.orgWeb Universe
Vision Golf Balls

Dane Swann is on the gear – you know it, I know it everyone knows it

didak was on the gear, why was he hanging with a bikie member at 3 am (the bikie member that later killed someone in broad daylight) then lied about it

wouldnt suprise if Beams was on the gear also

who owns most of the tattoo parlours…Bikie club members do

wake UP…do I need to go on??

Bummer supporters need not worry. If ASADA does anything nasty you can be sure to get a $500k grant from the AFL and as many priority draft picks as you need. All you need is a couple of smart lawyers and a scapegoat or two.

Carlton is the only club in the AFL to ever get punished

People can be suspended, a club fined, but no club tanked… so says the AFL… the Austrich (Ostrich) Football League.

they had to be on drugs to beat us, same as carlton , west coast, essendon, man the list goes on..

handicap 6. www.HowAus.orgWeb Universe
Vision Golf Balls

Dane Swann is on the gear – you know it, I know it everyone knows it

didak was on the gear, why was he hanging with a bikie member at 3 am (the bikie member that later killed someone in broad daylight) then lied about it

wouldnt suprise if Beams was on the gear also

who owns most of the tattoo parlours…Bikie club members do

wake UP…do I need to go on??

We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchill

cmon Mick.

Lets start with Didak the bloke feared for his life you can pretty much say he was kidnapped by a crazed fan who which we know was a mad man..

Swan on the gear please … he has a gut short legs big arse and tatts that allow him to be in touch of artistic sensitive side..

Beams on the gear and crooked because he has tatts ? the bloke collects postcards from spa retreats and is a gentle cat loving at appreciating person…

if we did have the gear i could name ten players in our side that could use the gear… for size and stamina…

face it we are just skilled and naturally talented and determined to do well.

Go Pies..