Bulldogs push for NT deal & Dogs chasing interstate cash for home games (3 articles)

[azabob]

Um, Caroline Wilson, where in all of the interviews did Rodney Eade say that he had 'strong misgivings'? If you're pulling together inferences from half-lines from previous interviews I would suggest that you take a leaf out of Jon Ralph's book and actually interview the protaganists now and use up-to-date quotes.

I just can't believe the rubbish level of journalism involved. I didn't read the article with any preconceptions -- I hadn't noticed who the reporter was, but I jumped when I read that line because it was so obviously a shit-stir, and then immediately knew who wrote it, which was confirmed when I looked at the byline. So, so predictable.

Latern are you saying that Rodney Eade is 100% behind our club selling home games? I understand why we sell games but I'd prfere to keep them in Melbourne.
Surely he'd want all our home games to be played in Melbourne not interstate.

[Sedat]

Darwin should continue to be developed as our 'home away from home', and I love the idea of playing there 2 rounds in a row followed by the mid-season break (with community camps and local activity through the week to further develop this relationship). We need to invest more time and resources into this alignment, so that it continues to provide us with significant commercial advantages. But more importantly, by engaging the local community so that they can develop a personal affinity with our club, playing consistently in Darwin over time will also provide us with a genuine on-field and crowd support advantage.
The likes of Canberra and the SCG provide little more than a cash grab, and do not provide anything sustainable in relation to engaging the market or providing an on-field advantage to the team (quite the opposite in fact, as we invariably play Sydney in these markets). I wouldn't like us to explore Tassie either because Hawthorn has already captured the hearts and minds of the market - one more interstate move and we will suffer the North syndrome of gypsies and nomads that have failed to make any market a true home away from home. We've put a stake in the ground at Darwin, so we should continue to foster and develop this market to its fullest potential.

For the long-term health of our club, I hope we continue to work towards a sustainable model that maximises the Darwin alliance and cements the long-term relationship with the NT Govt.

[Twodogs]

Might just be me but I quite like the NT games. The crowds always fun. If it's going to help keep the club alive I don't really mind. The two games in a row in Darwin with the week off afterwards for community work is the ideal deal.

Darwin should continue to be developed as our 'home away from home', and I love the idea of playing there 2 rounds in a row followed by the mid-season break (with community camps and local activity through the week to further develop this relationship). We need to invest more time and resources into this alignment, so that it continues to provide us with significant commercial advantages. But more importantly, by engaging the local community so that they can develop a personal affinity with our club,

Yep, strongly agree with these posts. Darwin has a lot of advantages over the other venues:

1/ It's ours, no other club plays up there and the locals love their footy. Playing up there on a regular basis will give us a pocket of support and mybe even extra memberships.

2/ It's a home ground that we could learn to play well at and turn it into 'Fort Marrarra' A proper home away from home where we can pencil in at least two wins at the start of the season

3/ The locals love football already

4/ The local economy is booming-lot's of money making/sponsorship opportunities.


This is an opportunity for the club, it shouldnt be seen as a problem.

[LostDoggy]

Latern are you saying that Rodney Eade is 100% behind our club selling home games? I understand why we sell games but I'd prfere to keep them in Melbourne.
Surely he'd want all our home games to be played in Melbourne not interstate.

I'm not saying if Rocket will like it or not, I'm just saying that if you're going to write in a newspaper that he has 'strong misgivings' you should bloody well ask him and quote him instead of just writing it as an insinuation based on half-truths.

I think Eddie McGuire summed it up best when he said about Caroline Wilson that she 'confuses (her own) opinion with fact'. She certainly doesn't distinguish between the two, which is deceitful and dishonest journalism at worst, incompetent rubbish at best.

[aker39]

We sell the interstate games so we don't lose money to ES. Playing a Melbourne club would be a financially ******** decision.

Fair enough. Then play Brisbane or Adelaide up there.

Port Adelaide have quite a few aborginal players and I think they love playing up there.

[hujsh]

Fair enough. Then play Brisbane or Adelaide up there.

Port Adelaide have quite a few aborginal players and I think they love playing up there.

That's a fair point. Port play there about as much as we do

[azabob]

I'm not saying if Rocket will like it or not, I'm just saying that if you're going to write in a newspaper that he has 'strong misgivings' you should bloody well ask him and quote him instead of just writing it as an insinuation based on half-truths.

I think Eddie McGuire summed it up best when he said about Caroline Wilson that she 'confuses (her own) opinion with fact'. She certainly doesn't distinguish between the two, which is deceitful and dishonest journalism at worst, incompetent rubbish at best.

Yep I agree that is a fair call.

[azabob]

Fair enough. Then play Brisbane or Adelaide up there.

Port Adelaide have quite a few aborginal players and I think they love playing up there.

No not Port!! They play well up there as they are quicker than us and they use the ball really well.

[Sedat]

That's a fair point. Port play there about as much as we do

With the introducion of Gold Coast and West Sydney into the competition, there will be 8 interstate teams that we can rotate through the 2 matches a year in Darwin so that none of them can truly get comfortable playing there - Port should be excluded from playing there for at least the next 4 years, as their Round 12 match there will be the 4th time they've played us in Darwin (out of the 6 matches we've played there in total since 2004) - and Port lead us 2-1 head to head in Darwin. I wouldn't be against us playing Melbourne and the Kangeroos there on occasions either - that's 10 clubs we can rotate through Darwin as opponents without having to compromise our financial position by using any of the higher drawing Melbourne based teams.

[hujsh]

Sedat, we were actually agreeing that we shouldn't play Port.

[Sedat]

Sedat, we were actually agreeing that we shouldn't play Port.

I know, I was just delving into more detail as to how the opposition can be rotated through without any of them getting comfortable with the ground and the conditions.

[hujsh]

I know, I was just delving into more detail as to how the opposition can be rotated through without any of them getting comfortable with the ground and the conditions.

Soz that should be addressed to bobmurphy.

[comrade]

I’ve felt strongly about this for some time and even commented on it previously. Allow me the indulgence of quoting myself from an earlier thread:

My only concern is that we’ll continue to be football nomads, moving from location to location trying to secure the best short term offer. If we are forced to sell home games, why not continue to play in Darwin and truly embrace it? Put our resources into making it a genuine home away from home in the same vein as Hawthorn and Tasmania. Obviously there are a number of differences in that comparison (distance, climate, costs involved) but (prior to Hawthorn moving in) both Launceston and Darwin are passionate football cities, don’t get regular elite football and don’t have a major team to support.

Why not play 2 or 3 games there a year, sell Darwin memberships and have players and coaches go up there regularly and put on clinics for the locals. Hell, maybe we could film a weekly kids show (sponsored by Mission of course) out of the Elite Learning Centre and beam it to Darwin.

Until stadium deals improve (and with Collins at the helm, it’ll be a while) we are forced to sell home games – I can live with that. But let’s maximize the opportunity and do it right, not just give a token effort and grab the cash before running off to the next stadium that offers a good deal.

[LostDoggy]

I’ve felt strongly about this for some time and even commented on it previously. Allow me the indulgence of quoting myself from an earlier thread:

I remember your previous post and agree with the bulk of it. I'm sure the club are already thinking along those lines, but I don't think there'll be any harm in emailing someone in club administration to let them know what the fans are thinking.

[The Pie Man]

I can't remember a home game of ours this year at ES that was smaller than 40,000

Ideally, we'd re-sign a deal that can give us some cash for this attendance figure as 40,000 is well over the breakeven point, and play some interstate clubs at Geelong (15,000 crowd, $300,000 profit, actual home ground advantage an hour down the road ...uhh that's a no brainer) until somewhere like Visy Park is redelevoped.

The renegotiation on the ES deal is clearly the sticking point, and should we bottom out and start to average 30,000 or less at home games we'll be writing out cheques to Collins - still...let's say we get $600,000 for 2 games of 15,000 in Geelong as opposed to $1mil at Darwin/Canberra and the distinct possibility of losing both games on our travels and risking further fatigue/exhaustion from Darwin.