Official Club Stuff Questions/Comments for the EFC?

[Wahooti Fandango]

My suggestion for the stadium song.

[YOUTUBE]oxYn8fFf1x8[/YOUTUBE]

Would get the fans seriously pumped and has a reference to the dome. Etihad could become our Terrordome.

 

[Sir Bomber]

The red shirts simply come down to costs. We will work on a different part of the ground in 2011 and if it takes off, will see how we can expand. It is a long-term plan to convert the whole stadium, but it will take some time and effort.

We have an exciting initiative on the table with a business partner at the moment, if they get on-board we hope our Big Footy fans can get involved! More details will be released once all is confirmed.

Also, this is what you get in your membership pack:

• Member Only 2011 personalised Membership card
• Member Only 2011 Lanyard & Ticket Wallet
• Member Only 2011 Lapel Pin
• Member Only 2011 Bumper Sticker
• Member Only 2011 Fixture Magnet
• Free entry to the Hall of Fame at Windy Hill
• Annual Subscription to the Bomber magazine
• Bomber Birthday Card (where DOB is provided)
• Weekly e-newsletters (where email provided)
• Voting rights for Members (18 years and over)
• Exclusive invitations to Club events (18 years and over)

PLUS - A free 2011 Membership scarf! Which can be picked up pre-game from the membership marquee. High Mark members receive their scarf in the mail.

Essendon Insider

Excellent Job, well done on getting the club on board!

From a membership perspective, my kids play sport Friday nights & Saturday afternoons, so getting to games is hard. we also live in a close rural town so we don't qualify for a country membership, but we are far enough away to make it a long day or late night. Is there some way of getting the club to release a 6 game family membership, which would include young guns memberships?

 

[pazza]

I note the public training session for the 22nd of December is at 9am - not too dis-similiar to the normal club training session times.

In my experience, it would seem easier to hold afternoon and evening training sessions, as those are times when we play our games throughout the year and in the past, when the club has held large public sessions at those times, the crowd numbers have been huge...and that incudes non-grand final week sessions like the centenary year public session in 1996 when something like 5000 went to the club at 5pm for the session and Sheedy's Q and A afterwards.

Has the club considered such a move with it's training sessions, with the potential of having bigger crowds in attendance (and an easier opportunity for the media to broadcast part of the sessions live on news services)?

 

[Essendon_FC]

Excellent Job, well done on getting the club on board!

From a membership perspective, my kids play sport Friday nights & Saturday afternoons, so getting to games is hard. we also live in a close rural town so we don't qualify for a country membership, but we are far enough away to make it a long day or late night. Is there some way of getting the club to release a 6 game family membership, which would include young guns memberships?

We are looking at releasing our 3 Game membership package shortly, but I am not too sure if a family option will be available. I will certainly pass your request onto the membership department to start the dialogue around new package options for 2012. There is no doubt some work is required around family categorization and non-11 game memberships - we will keep developing our offerings to ensure as many fans as possible are providing with suitable options to sign-up as members.

Essendon Insider

 

[Essendon_FC]

I note the public training session for the 22nd of December is at 9am - not too dis-similiar to the normal club training session times.

In my experience, it would seem easier to hold afternoon and evening training sessions, as those are times when we play our games throughout the year and in the past, when the club has held large public sessions at those times, the crowd numbers have been huge...and that incudes non-grand final week sessions like the centenary year public session in 1996 when something like 5000 went to the club at 5pm for the session and Sheedy's Q and A afterwards.

Has the club considered such a move with it's training sessions, with the potential of having bigger crowds in attendance (and an easier opportunity for the media to broadcast part of the sessions live on news services)?

Thanks for the feedback. We are entirely in the hands of the football department on this one. They dictate the training schedule and calendar based on what best meets their requirements, giving the players the best possible preparations for the season. The schedule is created by the coaches, high performance manager, dietitian, medical staff and sport scientists - they have it down to a fine art to maximize fitness, strength and conditioning, recovery, workloads, variety and other critical preparations. After all, they are soley focused on winning games of football.

Essendon Insider

 

[Skeeta Olly]

Speaking of Memberships, will Essendon still offer the MCC option?

 

[Essendon_FC]

Speaking of Memberships, will Essendon still offer the MCC option?

Yep, but you are unable to purchase this online. You have to call the Membership Services team on 1300 GO BOMBERS. Give them a buzz during business hours and they can hook you up.

Essendon Insider

 

[Skeeta Olly]

Cheers.

 

[Burzum]

Can you tell Hirdy and the other coaches to wear suits on game day?

This is a semi-serious suggestion.

 

[Lance Uppercut]

Can you tell Hirdy and the other coaches to wear suits on game day?

This is a semi-serious suggestion.

RIG, nobody TELLS Hirdy anything

 

[Essendon_FC]

Can you tell Hirdy and the other coaches to wear suits on game day?

This is a semi-serious suggestion.

Wouldn't have thought that suits would be particularly comfortable or practical on match day. Pretty sure they will stick with the polo, but you never know, they may want to follow the Jose Mourino path and become unintentional style icons. I'm sure Hirdy could rock a mean scarf in mid-winter, although if Timmy Watson proved anything, we may not yet be ready for that - not even Hirdy!

Essendon Insider

 

[Burzum]

lol

I've seen what James wears out in public (no stalker) and he would understand the concept of forfeiting comfort for style!

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

Any ideas where Hirdy will play Dempsey next year? More time in the midfield?

 

[Essendon_FC]

Any ideas where Hirdy will play Dempsey next year? More time in the midfield?

I haven't spoken to him about it directly, but from what I have heard we will be looking for more rotations through the midfield, so if Courtenay's fitness allows I am sure he will form part of that. His pace and evasive skills would suit a midfield role. I would like to see more of him on the wing providing a option for Fletch/Hooker/Pears/Hurley to hit on the run out from defensive 50, as well as the occasional bursts through the centre in similar fashion to Andrew Lovett of '08, '09.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

EFC Stig, I'm fairly sure Hank Slattery re-signed until 2012 earlier this year.

Can you confirm both his and Sam Lonergan's contract status?

 

[Essendon_FC]

EFC Stig, I'm fairly sure Hank Slattery re-signed until 2012 earlier this year.

Can you confirm both his and Sam Lonergan's contract status?

I have asked Paul Hamilton to respond to this one. We tend not to talk about player contracts in public, but when they sign new ones we announce the length of them, so perhaps I can. Will let you know if Paul is happy for me to post this info.

Essendon Insider

 

[Wahooti Fandango]

I haven't spoken to him about it directly, but from what I have heard we will be looking for more rotations through the midfield, so if Courtenay's fitness allows I am sure he will form part of that. His pace and evasive skills would suit a midfield role. I would like to see more of him on the wing providing a option for Fletch/Hooker/Pears/Hurley to hit on the run out from defensive 50, as well as the occasional bursts through the centre in similar fashion to Andrew Lovett of '08, '09.

Cheers for the response.

 

[Ben the Gooner]

I have asked Paul Hamilton to respond to this one. We tend not to talk about player contracts in public, but when they sign new ones we announce the length of them, so perhaps I can. Will let you know if Paul is happy for me to post this info.

Essendon Insider

Thanks.

 

[Essendon_FC]

Essendon Insider,

What's the club's stance on the consumption of alcohol? I always found it irritating that some (but not all) highly paid professional athletes refuse to give up the grog, when all science and common sense indicates it has a negative influence on physical - and mental - peformance.

Does the club impose bans during the season at all? Or it it limited to say the night before a game?

There is no official policy, but the players are educated around the importance of professional preparation, as well as the role they play withing the community. If players do not meet the required standards there are repercussions. Be assured that our players are 100% committed to ensuring they are ready for the rigors of AFL football week-in-week-out both physically and mentally, and are supported by a highly talented team of high performance coaches and sports scientists. No stone will be left unturned in their pursuit of success through hard work, dedication and commitment to the red and black.

Essendon Insider

 

[juppy]

Hey EFC,

Firstly thank you for doing all of this work, it is greatly appreciated. Something I have been wondering for a while is whether the EFC or other clubs (to your knowledge) have people that perform statistical analyses to identify areas that need to be addressed on the field. By 'statistical analyses' I mean analysis more than just looking at if we won or lost the tackle count but using more complex statistical methods to see whether some of the game stats significantly altered outcome of the game.

Kind of like the thread below but more complex stuff.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=775827

Cheers

 

[Essendon_FC]

Hey EFC,

Firstly thank you for doing all of this work, it is greatly appreciated. Something I have been wondering for a while is whether the EFC or other clubs (to your knowledge) have people that perform statistical analyses to identify areas that need to be addressed on the field. By 'statistical analyses' I mean analysis more than just looking at if we won or lost the tackle count but using more complex statistical methods to see whether some of the game stats significantly altered outcome of the game.

Kind of like the thread below but more complex stuff.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=775827

Cheers

Way over my head here! We get full statistical analysis of our games from Champion Data - more that the usual stats they provide the papers and TV stations. We have a team of IT and statistician dudes who work closely with the football department to analyze the stats and make recommendations based upon them - both during games and during the week. I will pass your comments onto the head of Football IT though, I'm sure he will understand it more.

Essendon Insider

 

[Kong]

Once again, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Yoda_]

Essendon Insider

What are the club doing to ensure the Bendigo Diggers / Essendon Bombers alignment remains strong?

With the recent announcement of changes to the structures of VFL football in Victoria, how are we going to continue this alignment?

I also notice a recent media release in the Bendigo Advertiser stating "Bendigo are keen to recruit ex - AFL players" whilst a group of 24 in Melbourne and 25 in Bendigo have been doing a pre season for about a month, any chance you could PM this list, or post them here? as a fairly regular poster on the workings of Bendigo I am quite interested to see if we have any of this years TAC kids coming across to play for the Bendigo Bombers.

Thanks

HFF_07

 

[Essendon_FC]

Essendon Insider

What are the club doing to ensure the Bendigo Diggers / Essendon Bombers alignment remains strong?

With the recent announcement of changes to the structures of VFL football in Victoria, how are we going to continue this alignment?

I also notice a recent media release in the Bendigo Advertiser stating "Bendigo are keen to recruit ex - AFL players" whilst a group of 24 in Melbourne and 25 in Bendigo have been doing a pre season for about a month, any chance you could PM this list, or post them here? as a fairly regular poster on the workings of Bendigo I am quite interested to see if we have any of this years TAC kids coming across to play for the Bendigo Bombers.

Thanks

HFF_07

Leave this one with me. I will chat to Shannon Grant next week and get his response about who is training and how they are progressing. I will also chat to a couple of people about the alignment plans.

We are planning much more detailed coverage of the Bendigo Bombers on our website in 2011 - we admit that we did not provide enough info this season and with such passionate fans and a great crop of young players impressing, we need to step-up our game. We may even need a couple of people to help out, so if you are keen email me at theinsider@essendonfc.com.au

Essendon Insider

 

[OzBomber]

If you don't mind me asking, what's it like working for the Dons and is it anything like you imagined?