Opinion Merger design: Fitzroy and Melbourne 1986

[Roylion]

Fitzroy was the subject to a great deal of merger speculation from 1985 onwards, being connected to just about every Victorian club and a few interstate clubs. So in a new series, (and to get some talk going on the Fitzroy board ) let's consider each of those prospective mergers

If you had sole charge of the merger and could decide its conditions how would you have organised it?

The first merger to decide is between the Fitzroy Lions and the Melbourne Demons

Post the following about your new combined club:

1. Name of new combined club
2. Mascot of new combined club (can be combined with 1.)
3. Home ground of new combined club
4. Colours / Jumper / Guernsey of new combined club (image preferred, but description will do)
5. Theme song
6. Training base of new combined club
7. President of new combined club. (Board members optional). Presidents in 1986 were leon Weigard (Fitzroy) and Stuart Spencer (Melbourne)
8. 1987 Playing list (48 player limit). Players must be chosen from 1986 lists of Fitzroy and Melbourne, except for draftees)
9. Best side (22 players) in 1987. (Name three emergencies)
10. Draft picks in the 1986 AFL draft (the new club has two picks in the first round and one pick in each of the next four rounds.) and the players you would have taken. (Drafted players must be part of the 1987 48 player list. You must pick at least three players). Your new club has picks #3, #11, #16, #29, #42, and #55. To make it realistic you can only pick from the list of players that actually were taken in the first round for your first round picks. See 1986 draftee list link below.
11. Likely ladder position in 1987 in your opinion, with justification.
12. Why your proposed merger conditions would have worked (finances, supporter base)


Fitzroy 1986 Playing List
# Player GM GL
1 Roos, Paul 24 5
17 McIvor, Scott 25 10
12 Conlan, Mick 24 45
24 Pekin, Tim 24 2
38 Harris, Leon 18 6
11 Barwick, Doug 23 30
14 Turner, Dean 20 4
44 Osborne, Richard 25 62
3 Pert, Gary 24 8
4 Thornton, Ross 20 1
40 Clayton, Scott 19 3
16 Lokan, Bill 16 6
18 Blakey, John 23 2
15 Hinchen, Graeme 17 2
9 Rendell, Matthew 15 5
13 Harris, Bernie 18 25
58 Dwyer, Mark 11 5
34 Lawrie, Grant 18 6
35 McGrath, Craig 16 13
5 Quinlan, Bernie 17 52
28 Reeves, Michael 16 2
19 Osborne, Graham 8 2
25 Keane, Gary 14 10
27 Cooper, Jamie 13 1
36 Knight, Phillip 8 4
30 Tilley, Paul 9 1
8 Browne, Murray 6
32 Mitchell, David 4 2
20 Rowe, Duane 5 1
37 Cameron, Stuart 3 2
6 Williamson, Graeme 5 1
58 Wynd, Jim 2 1
45 Bolden, Darren 2 2
2 Coates, Michael 3
29 Lyon, Ross 1 1
7 Gale, Michael 1
31 Stacey, Chris 1
15 McCormack, Peter 1
40 Ryan, Brendan 1

Melbourne 1986 Playing List

Number Player Games Goals
2 Robert Flower 16 15
3 Garry Lyon 20 26
4 Peter Giles 1 1
5 Robin White 9 1
6 Michael O'Sullivan 5 0
7 Brian Wilson 12 5
8 Graeme Yeats 5 0
9 Alan Johnson 10 9
10 Danny Hughes 15 6
12 David Williams 5 14
14 Rod Grinter 11 9
15 Mark Withers 12 3
16 Adrian Battiston 19 16
17 Frank Rugolo 2 4
18 Steven Stretch 18 4
19 Rodney Wright 2 0
19 Paul Payne 15 0
20 Russell Richards 20 13
21 Michael Reynolds 6 9
22 Chris Connolly 12 5
23 Daryl Bourke 9 0
24 Bret Bailey 10 2
25 Simon Eishold 5 3
26 Joe Rugolo 4 0
27 Sean Wight 6 0
28 David Cordner 9 3
29 Dale Dickson 9 4
30 Peter Moore 16 15
32 Shane Zantuck 9 3
33 Greg Healy 17 35
34 Stephen Newport 18 13
35 Darryl Cox 2 1
36 Ted Fidge 8 15
37 David Allday 11 3
38 Nigel Kol 17 9
39 Jeremy Nichols 4 2
40 Tony Campbell 12 5
41 Steve Turner 17 7
43 Len Gandini 5 1
44 John Fidge 4 12
45 Ricky Jackson 2 0
46 Darren Louttit 2 1
47 Alan Jarrott 18 11
50 Brett Lovett 8 0
57 Greg Sizer 1 1
59 Andrew Dale 2 0


Pre-Draft Selections (ineligible for selection by new club)

Matthew Campbell - Brisbane Bears
Stephen Connelly - Brisbane Bears
Ben Harris - Brisbane Bears
Neil Hahn - Brisbane Bears
Colin McDonald - Brisbane Bears
Mark Mickan - Brisbane Bears

National Selections (ineligible for selection by new club)

#1 Martin Leslie - Brisbane Bears
#2 Steven Sims - St Kilda

Full list of the 1986 Draftees can be found here.

 

[Silent Alarm]

1. The joint entity of Melbourne Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club will officially be Melbourne-Fitzroy Football Club; trading, advertising, and being colloquially titled as 'Melbourne Lions.'

2. The official insignia of the club will be a Lion, with the exact design currently used by the Fitzroy Football Club to be retained indefinitely and forever by the Melbourne Lions entity. A mascot for advertorial and promotional uses will be a newly drawn lion, dubbed 'Roy the Lion.'

3. Melbourne Lions will play designated 'home' games in the 1987 Victorian Football League (VFL) season at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). It's at the recommendation of this charter that the MCG be the perennial venue for all future Melbourne Lions matches played in the VFL competition.

4. Melbourne Lions will play all games, irrelevant of competition, in a jumper designed to appropriate both Melbourne and Fitzroy Football Clubs. The mutual colours of blue and red will be retained. The jumper base will be of Melbourne's navy blue, with a yoke atop that in the pre-1974 (deep) red. The aforementioned Lion (owned by the Fitzroy Football Club) will be retained in the colour of yellow, and have prominence in the middle of the jumper (sitting below the yoke)

5. The official song of the Melbourne Lions will be mostly borrowed from the former entity of the Fitzroy Football Club. Lyrical replacements will occur, meaning the word 'Fitzroy' will be replaced with 'Melbourne.'

6. Training, administrative, and all non-playing on-goings of the merged entity will exist at Brunswick Street Oval, North Fitzroy. Any move from this venue will be consulted by, and 50% decided on, by the members of the new Melbourne Lions club.

7. Former Fitzroy President Leon Weigard will be the inaugural President of the new club.

8. The award for the Melbourne Lions fairest and best player will be anointed the 'Buntn - Barassi Medal,' with the winner deemed the 'Buntn - Barassi Medallist.'

 

[fumbler]

1. Melbourne Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club would officially become Melbourne Lions Football Club.

2. The logo would be the old Fitzroy lion.

3. Melbourne Lions would play at the MCG but move their training base to BSO.

4. Melbourne Lions would wear Melbourne's current guernseys with a Gold Lion in the middle for all home and away games but would wear a Gold guernsey with a red MFC logo with a red lion on the breast for clash purposes.

5. It's a grand old flag, it's a high flying flag
It's the eblem for me and for you..........(Lions)
It's the emblem of the team we love
The team of the Red Blue and Gold.
Win or lose, we do or die
In defeat we always try
We're the Lions, Melbourne Lions
The club all others fear
Premiers this year.

Sorry to those who are members.

I'll finish the rest asap.

 

[Power Raid]

With melbourne's future as a stand alone club in question; who would you have rather merged with?

Melbourne, Brisbane or other?

Can you see Melbourne merging with GWS or moving to Tassie in time?


For the record, I hope Melbourne stay as a stand alone club and believe the Brisbane success was delivered by the merger with Fitzroy.

 

[Mazza44]

For the record, I hope Melbourne stay as a stand alone club and believe the Brisbane success was delivered by the merger with Fitzroy.

A lot of Brisbane's success can be attributed to the merger.

1. Chris Johnson.
2. Martin Pike was picked up by North Melbourne and eventually drafted by Brisbane.
3. Mal Michael was traded to Brisbane for Jarrod Molloy
4. Received pick 31 from Sydney which was used on Simon Black for Simon Hawking (and Brent Green)
5. Received Brad Scott as part of a trade with Hawthorn for John Barker
6. Received Aaron Shattock for Nick Carter (makes me cringe a little)

Not to mention the money kicked in by the AFL as well as the massive support the Lions had down in Melbourne during the finals .

 

[tribey]

A lot of Brisbane's success can be attributed to the merger.

1. Chris Johnson.
2. Martin Pike was picked up by North Melbourne and eventually drafted by Brisbane.
3. Mal Michael was traded to Brisbane for Jarrod Molloy
4. Received pick 31 from Sydney which was used on Simon Black for Simon Hawking (and Brent Green)
5. Received Brad Scott as part of a trade with Hawthorn for John Barker
6. Received Aaron Shattock for Nick Carter (makes me cringe a little)

Not to mention the money kicked in by the AFL as well as the massive support the Lions had down in Melbourne during the finals .

7. Jonathan Brown was acquired via the father-son rule because his dad, Brian, played 51 games for Fitzroy (at the time the minimum requirement was 50 games, today it is 100).

 

[OldLion]

7. Jonathan Brown was acquired via the father-son rule because his dad, Brian, played 51 games for Fitzroy (at the time the minimum requirement was 50 games, today it is 100).

8. Lethal becomes coach. Team goes from last to prelim final v eventual premiers. ( not exactly merger, but turned CJ into stellar backman, Leppa into All-Aust KPP and Aker in Brownlow mid )