One of the reasons the AFL KOed us was that Elliot wouldn't kneel before them and at one stage suggested a super league similar to the NRL breakaway.
We need to think outside the box. I don't know what the answer is but one by one the other clubs are getting some toe hold that gives them an advantage. Essendon** started it with their deal at Docklands. Hawks got Waverley and Tasmania. The SA and WA clubs have purpose designed stadia that are hard for interstate clubs to win at. Geelong has it's own stadium provided by the taxpayers and the AFL for the most part on top of their being the last club to get free access to F/S and then there is the Gazza compo debacle.
North have placed themselves in South Tassie and in the long term that will be a financial bonanza as they are guaranteed gate takings they could only dream about at Etihad. Collingwood had Eddie and the shameless payola at the footy show for ten years that got them out of their financial woes. Sydney has a home ground and the COLA, which is a farce. If they need COLA, it should be paid to the lowest paid players, not as a 10% across the board salary cap rort that sees the players that need it the least getting the lion's share of it. Speaking of the Lions, they are a hole in the sand into which the AFL has poured an excessive amount of financial support and the odd priority pick that we haven't had. The two expansion clubs had several drafts to rort, which co-incidentally occured during the period we most needed access to good players and which is part of the reason we are missing players in the 24-27 age bracket. Dogs are getting into Ballarat, which I suggested we try several years ago. It hasn't proven financially successful as yet but it's in its infancy. Essendon** has been supported shamelessly by the AFL for the last four years on top of its stadium deal and the AFL has publicly stated that 'everybody wants a strong Essendon**'. Well I don't want a strong Essendon** on the back of corruption. Melbourne had Rootsy paid for by the AFL and a 'timely' over-the-top compo for Frawley when they were bottom of the ladder and went the quinella (as did Hawthorn when it landed Buddy and Franklin and thanks for coming.)
OK, we dug this hole and we need to get ourselves out of it. How do we get something extra to help? The money going to PP for the women's comp won't find its way to CFC directly. OK, the lights may be improved and the old stand is heritage listed but we will never play games there. Or will we? I have always been of the opinion that the second boutique stadium should be PP but the club has never really pushed it hard. Parking is an issue there, which Richmond is quick to point out is not the issue at Punt Rd. Could we relocate to Bendigo and develop a home ground there? How about Kilmore, close to Melbourne and in the growth corridor? Something. Anything.
I hate Richmond but I'll give them one thing. They've done this on their own. I struggle to think of any real assistance they've had from the AFL. They're like us in that regard.
Maybe it IS our board that's the problem. Maybe it's not but I think we need to develop something either alone or with the AFL that will give is something the others don't have.

In my dream, Visy, Fraser Brown and the Grollos rebuild PP for the club. The ACTU comes on board, lobbies the state and Federal governments for a subsidy and we establish the entire project as a trade-training project that will produce hundreds of tradesmen over the life of the rebuild and beyond.

Then I wake up and we're still 18th and broke.

http://www.hpnfooty.com/?p=29899

Look at the game and you come much to the same conclusions.
Stats are an overpriced drain on resources.
Dedicate more time to goal kicking instead of reading stats. If the coach's can't see what is going on in real time instead of referring to stats they're not worth the money or position they're in.

Look at the game and you come much to the same conclusions.
Stats are an overpriced drain on resources.
Dedicate more time to goal kicking instead of reading stats. If the coach's can't see what is going on in real time instead of referring to stats they're not worth the money or position they're in.

murmurings around Dayne Beams coming back to Melbourne... ?

http://www.hpnfooty.com/?p=29899

Based on the current ladder position we are expected to receive pick 23 (2nd round pick from the Bulldogs) and pick 28 (2nd round pick from the Crows). Hopefully both sides have a poor second half of the season.

Whether it is pick 20 or pick 23 I don't think it really matters. It is all a gamble when trying to work out the success of players when they are just 17 years of age. The draft age should be 20 or above, something should be done to reform it.

I decided to just randomly pick a draft to see how successful players in the 20-30 draft pick range are.
I picked 2015.

Pick 20 - Brayden Fiorini- never heard of him - excuse my ignorance
Pick 21 - Ben McKay - ditto
Pick 22 - Kieran Lovell - ditto

etc
Where it is interesting
pick 25- Josh Dunkley - strikes gold - premiership player Bulldogs
pick 26 - Kieran Collins - strikes mud - very next selection - also a Bulldogs player. Played 1 game.

If anything better exemplifies the random hit or miss nature of judging 17 year old kids. This is it.


so of this draft pick 20-30 90% of them I have never heard of, or couldn't be called raging successes... the draft is a con as it stands.

We are sold on the lie that the draft is the panacea for all of Carlton's problems, yet why is Garlett, Gibbs, Tuohy, Betts etc playing at other clubs? Every year we are told Carlton is plumbing for great new players at the same time they release decent players to get ones that may or may not be good. Gibbs for pick 10 and some other pick or whatever it was...it just isn't a level playing field. Gibbs got 30 something possessions on the weekend...but Carlton HAD to get rid of him otherwise he would have walked for nothing 2018 blah, blah and on it goes.

1 step forward for 3 steps back. November draft. I have pencilled it in already.

I get your frustration Tap but I don't see an alternative, (i.e. to the draft). No club's going to give us good players for peanuts. Free agency greatly favours clubs plausibly in flag contention. F/S' are a good way to get an advantage ... not sure what's coming up there.

The strategy we're following now, (ie trade good players for picks), is the one that underpinned Hawthorn's rise and built the foundation of their premiership teams. Hopefully we choose wisely.

...it just isn't a level playing field.

If we are following what Hawks did over 12 years ago we will never catch up because strategies change
Just because club x did this and they won a flag or 2 doesn't automatically equate to club y following the same path for the same result

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Nobody held a gun to our head and told us to do the Jaksch trade, or use pick #19 on Boekhorst, or the McLean trade, Warnock trade, not sign Betts and let him walk for nothing, not signing up Jacobs earlier so we got screwed in the trade, underestimate Josh Kennedy and make him part of the Judd deal and lose the trade, let Garlett go for nothing, and pay a fortune for Daisy. And of course we've had more than our fair share of first round draft blunders with the likes of Lucas, Watson and Menzel.
We have nobody to blame but ourselves however our recruiting since SOS took over has been very good and I'm confident we will be playing finals in a couple of years.