Fixture Essendon v GWS stateside bound

[ghostdog]

Absolutely. Every question this club asks should.contain "will this help us win a premiership"? i.e "Sure, we could play in LA but....

I don't recall the exact quote but Bomber said something about Essendon not putting football first when he came from Geelong and here we are still.

There's an interesting article by Michael Smith (I think) in the Fin Review from November last year, discussing Port's decision to venture into China. Money is the driver; Port has their hand in bringing Chinese business into Australia, which is fine. I have nothing against Chinese business. There's nothing there about how it helps Port win football games.

 

[ghostdog]

...and David Koch has a background in business, finance and investment. Go figure. It would be interesting to know if he has any investment dollars of his own in any of the Chinese businesses he uses his football club to give a leg up.

 

[CBombers17]

...and David Koch has a background in business, finance and investment. Go figure. It would be interesting to know if he has any investment dollars of his own in any of the Chinese businesses he uses his football club to give a leg up.

If the club was leaving no stone unturned in its investment in areas - like player recruitment and onfield analysis for example - you could understand the desire for more and more $$$. As it stands our recruitment team doesn't do all that modern book learning stuff and neither does the football department. But we say we do!

They would have us thinking we are all Moneyball with number crunchers pouring over relevant game data to squeeze the best out of the group and aid the coaches. There's nobody - maybe Sheeds and Harvs playing Mario kart on the old eSports gear

Edit; to be fair - Adelaide is probably the most committed to this area and others are only doing a bit (because its expensive and requires investment), but what's wrong with leading the way on something for a change? Instead of nothing (except a Trumpian announcement).

 

[yaco55]

No problem with the idea - Soccer/basketball/tennis athletes etc,etc do this kind of activity on a regular basis - Some want AFL players to be soft.

 

[JayJ20]

The other side of the China experiment is the Gold Coast abandoning the game because the Suns board consideted it "too onerous and too difficult" on the playing group. They wanted instead to give their group the best chance for success and decided travelling to China was counter to that ambition.

We haven't won anything. This decision will be the board playing like millionaires. We should instead focus on football.

Gold Coast are struggling to survive at the minute. Their existence is being questioned. Plus they're actually giving up a home game for this. Makes sense for them to abandon the game.

I don't see how a trip to California for one away game means we don't focus on football. Even from a football perspective, that's taking a difficult away game to a neutral venue while maintaining all of your own home games. Increases our ability to win he game. If you truly want to focus on football, then we should be looking at rearranging our home Marvel-MCG split, which is actually impacting our ability to establish home ground advantage. We don't actually have a true home ground, which is far more baffling than one away game.

 

[ghostdog]

Gold Coast are struggling to survive at the minute. Their existence is being questioned. Plus they're actually giving up a home game for this. Makes sense for them to abandon the game.

I don't see how a trip to California for one away game means we don't focus on football. Even from a football perspective, that's taking a difficult away game to a neutral venue while maintaining all of your own home games. Increases our ability to win he game. If you truly want to focus on football, then we should be looking at rearranging our home Marvel-MCG split, which is actually impacting our ability to establish home ground advantage. We don't actually have a true home ground, which is far more baffling than one away game.

Gil said this week that the GCFC will never be abandoned by the AFL. The only thing they'll struggle with is success. Their existence is only questioned by the media and fans who take umbrage to their existence. I didn't think they were giving up a home game - it's Port's baby - though I could be wrong. It does make sense for them to abandon it though.

All I'm saying is that I would rather a game overseas was not part of our season. It's a meaningless distraction in a market where the game will never grow. Save it for an exhibition game at the end of the season. Still achieves the same ends, if we believe what they're telling us. It doesn't have to be for 4 points.

Look at Port's reasons for going to China and we might have something closer to the club's true reasons.

FWIW, I'd prefer our home games to be at the MCG.

 

[ghostdog]

No problem with the idea - Soccer/basketball/tennis athletes etc,etc do this kind of activity on a regular basis - Some want AFL players to be soft.

That's right yaco. I want our players to be soft.

 

[ghostdog]

If the club was leaving no stone unturned in its investment in areas - like player recruitment and onfield analysis for example - you could understand the desire for more and more $$$. As it stands our recruitment team doesn't do all that modern book learning stuff and neither does the football department. But we say we do!

They would have us thinking we are all Moneyball with number crunchers pouring over relevant game data to squeeze the best out of the group and aid the coaches. There's nobody - maybe Sheeds and Harvs playing Mario kart on the old eSports gear

Edit; to be fair - Adelaide is probably the most committed to this area and others are only doing a bit (because its expensive and requires investment), but what's wrong with leading the way on something for a change? Instead of nothing (except a Trumpian announcement).

I don't have an issue with the club innovating at all. I just think playing a game for points in California is an ill-conceived extravagance for the wrong reasons.

 

[yaco55]

That's right yaco. I want our players to be soft.

Posters are argung about the length of journey and jetlag, but yet both teams will have a bye - They are professional athletes so should be fine.

 

[ghostdog]

Posters are argung about the length of journey and jetlag, but yet both teams will have a bye - They are professional athletes so should be fine.

Why should they? How does it help them play better? I've given reasons why it could cause problems while you've given 'they should be fine'

 

[HirdsTheWord]

A stupid idea meant for struggling clubs to find supporter bases.

Cannot believe Essendon would want to be involved in this.

 

[Cold Sober]

Probably safer venue than India or Western Sydney.

 

[owen87]

I didn't think they were giving up a home game - it's Port's baby - though I could be wrong

Correct, you're wrong.

Port has an agreement with Adelaide Oval that means they can't move a home game, so they pay another club to move their home game to China instead. GCS then STK did this.

So they in effect 'bought' an extra home game, to be played in Shanghai. While for STK they likely make more from that game than the home game they'd play at Marvel.

In this proposed case it's GWS giving up a home game, so means one less trip to Perth / Sydney / Brisbane for us and a US trip (with a bye week after) instead.

Shouldn't really have any impact upon our ability to perform, and if anything, removes the home ground advantage GWS would have playing us as a standard Away game. East Coast US (SFO or LAX) are easy, direct flights, to a country with high levels of hygiene and accomodation standards, that the players would happily visit on a holiday.

Also a lot of Australian's live in California, and it's a massive economy to draw potential sponsors from.

I don't hate it, Campbell's job is mostly overseeing the commercial side of the club, and he's done a pretty solid job of that thus far.

 

[rumply]

Maybe another way to look at it is that this exercise will help the club better it's travel planning & logistics leading to a better run organisation overall & the extra benefits that could provide to travel to say Perth or Brisy.

But yeah I agree with JayJ20's comments above, there's a bigger issue right here with our own home ground...remind me, where is it exactly?...

 

[Fridge16]

Don't be so short sighted, games like this if done correctly give the club invaluable exposure that turns into dollars through sponsorship and membership. People have this false belief that the salary cap and the AFL equalisation rules make dollars irrelevant to on field success. Money still makes the world go around, we need to continue to grow or we will go backwards.

I believe Essendon are trying to make this game the first game of the season, it would become another blockbuster a week before Richmond V Carlton. That would be amazing.

 

[mike14]

Don't be so short sighted, games like this if done correctly give the club invaluable exposure that turns into dollars through sponsorship and membership. People have this false belief that the salary cap and the AFL equalisation rules make dollars irrelevant to on field success. Money still makes the world go around, we need to continue to grow or we will go backwards.

I believe Essendon are trying to make this game the first game of the season, it would become another blockbuster a week before Richmond V Carlton. That would be amazing.

I mean, we've been one of the best performing clubs financially for quite some time, have just posted record membership numbers and signed a new sponsor. What we haven't done is won a final since 2004....

 

[Milanista28]

No issue with it.

 

[Lore]

More Americans watch Australian Rules Football than do Australians.

Almost seven and a half million Americans (7,496,000) watch Australian Rules Football at least occasionally on television. This means Australian Rules Football is viewed by more Americans than Australians (7,004,000).

Wayback Machine

But at the same time there are about as many domestic aussie rules footballers in the USA as there are AFL players. So there's not a lot of grassroots lol.

I think they'd be better to go to Canada really. They got 30,000 in Toronto in the 80s for an exhibition match, that's more than you can say for the exhibition matches played in the USA, China or New Zealand.

On the other hand, US sport is where we seem to go for a lot of IP and inspiration, so maybe it's a chance to link up with some of those big teams and big names from American sport.

 

[CBombers17]

I remember Rugby League went there to play a game (exhibition) years ago and they interviewed a local at the ground who said something along the lines of - i cant wait to see all the big marks lol

 

[rumply]

Wayback Machine

But at the same time there are about as many domestic aussie rules footballers in the USA as there are AFL players. So there's not a lot of grassroots lol.

I think they'd be better to go to Canada really. They got 30,000 in Toronto in the 80s for an exhibition match, that's more than you can say for the exhibition matches played in the USA, China or New Zealand.

On the other hand, US sport is where we seem to go for a lot of IP and inspiration, so maybe it's a chance to link up with some of those big teams and big names from American sport.

Many Yanks like the brutality aspect of their sport which was best demonstrated by the minor panic when Soccer took a foothold & was seen by some as a big threat to the NFL but that never eventuated & the NFL has gone from strength to strength despite rules changes to make the game safer etc.

So while I personally dont expect the game to take off bigtime overseas, stranger things have happened & if only a small percentage of Americans started to seriously follow the AFL, which as we all know is one of the more physical games played on this planet, well who knows where it could end up. Establishing an early foothold could prove to be a master stroke by both GWS & Essendon in years to come.

But yeah I totally agree with the 'just win a ******* final already' sentiments expressed, that is first priority.

 

[Fridge16]

I mean, we've been one of the best performing clubs financially for quite some time, have just posted record membership numbers and signed a new sponsor. What we haven't done is won a final since 2004....

Lets stop making money, that will make us win premierships

 

[JayJ20]

I

Gil said this week that the GCFC will never be abandoned by the AFL. The only thing they'll struggle with is success. Their existence is only questioned by the media and fans who take umbrage to their existence. I didn't think they were giving up a home game - it's Port's baby - though I could be wrong. It does make sense for them to abandon it though.

All I'm saying is that I would rather a game overseas was not part of our season. It's a meaningless distraction in a market where the game will never grow. Save it for an exhibition game at the end of the season. Still achieves the same ends, if we believe what they're telling us. It doesn't have to be for 4 points.

Look at Port's reasons for going to China and we might have something closer to the club's true reasons.

FWIW, I'd prefer our home games to be at the MCG.

It’s GC’s home game.

See I’d rather not have an exhibition game. If we’re going to travel there, then make it count instead of a meaningless exhibition game.

We’ll agree to disagree. I just don’t see how it’ll impact our season. It’s just an away game.

Yeah it’s a money decision, but that doesn’t impact our on field ability. I think getting GWS on a neutral ground is a win. I’ll only call it off if we have to host the game.

 

[brutus76]

Make it 2021 and May and i might be able to go as I'll be on the start of a 5 week coast to coaster holiday!

 

[blitzer]

I must admit I'm a bit lukewarm on the idea. We already have the ultra short week most years with ANZAC day messing up our schedules (obviously not this year) then you add in some international travel and I dunno. Lots can go wrong in a season before you add extra complications.

 

[ghostdog]

I must admit I'm a bit lukewarm on the idea. We already have the ultra short week most years with ANZAC day messing up our schedules (obviously not this year) then you add in some international travel and I dunno. Lots can go wrong in a season before you add extra complications.

Yes.

If we really must play a game it should be an exhibition game at season's end. It would still achieve the club's economic aims without jeopardising the season. More sensible.