Training facilities upgrade

[BuntonRules]

An drew Hamilton may be a knob - but he has hit the nail on the head with this article from a few days ago

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...chase-more-money/story-fn842ffk-1226086588722

Brisbane desperately need to get out of the Gabba and build a new facility.

Their headquarters are dark, dank and below ground. They have adequate equipment - after all a 20kg plate weighs the same whenever it was constructed.

But their training area is a far cry from other clubs who have row after row of bikes and treadmills, and weight racks.

This is on top of having a home ground that is gaining a reputation as a n injury hothouse.


With all of our talk on other threads of poaching players & salary cap room to entice a star or 2, how will we compete? Both the club we are trying to get a player from, and other suitors, will be right in their ear about the above, and the wisdom of moving to BrisVegas.

With free agency coming in, we are at risk of becoming also-rans. In the future the playing field will become more uneven, and I fear we will be left behind.

Questions - is it that bad?, and what can we do about it?

I had a dream that Clive Palmer was a Lions fan. Unfortunately, I woke up. Could not find another thread that addressed this issue, & IMO it is an important factor in our future that should be discussed.

 

[LION UP]

Re: More factors to consider

I thought I heard last year there was an upgrade coming? Did I dream that?

 

[POBT]

Re: More factors to consider

Andrew Hamilton may be a knob

May be the best introduction to a post ever!

I don't have a lot to compare it to. I did see on Fox the other night some footage inside St Kilda's facilities where they had a row of exercise bikes in a high altitude room. I doubt we have anything like that.

I think the message is that we are going to spend more on the footy dept. Perhaps it is time for some capital investment in that area. Given we don't always train at the Gabba, there may be scope to move elsewhere, depending on lease arrangements etc.

 

[whatboutbob]

Re: More factors to consider

Perhaps it is time for some capital investment in that area.

Don't we need capital for that?

FWIW, St Kilda's altitude room was donated to them by one of their rich sponsors (jeld-wen chappy IIRC).

North's new facilities look pretty impressive too, as does their weight-bearing doo-dad featured on AFL insiders recently. Apparently a few of the clubs have 'em. If you haven't seen it then, well, it is bloody difficult to explain. It is effectively a treadmill surrounded by a bubble. Player coming back from leg injury jumps in the bubble and seals it at their waist. They then set the weight they want to be and the bubble is blown up sufficiently so that it takes 'x' amount off player's weight. They then run at reduced weight.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Re: More factors to consider

HQ may well be dealing with this issue as we speak.

 

[The Flying Belgian]

Re: More factors to consider

Player coming back from leg injury jumps in the bubble and seals it at their waste.

Always a good move IMO.

 

[Ceebee]

Re: More factors to consider

Always a good move IMO.

Yes we dont want any nasty little accidents do we

 

[chopperduck]

Re: More factors to consider

Back during the premiership years i believe our facilities were pretty good, however, that is getting towards nearly 10 years ago, and the game has changed much from then. I don't think we've really had any facility upgrades in this time, so we would certainly be looking for an upgrade. Hopefully the new social club is very profitable for the club, and it can help get us some capital to fund such facility upgrades. A move away from the Gabba would definately have to be looked at, just as it was for the social club, but i don't know if we are locked in in any way with any deals with the Gabba.

Considering we had nice cash reserves, and the previous admin thought it would be a good idea to bleed it all dry before they were turfed out, it might take awhile until we are able to afford any decent upgrades.

 

[GingerGreatness]

Re: More factors to consider

Is the North Melbourne weight bearing doo-dad anything like the Randy Couture 'got a door, then you got a gym' power tower from the late night infomercials?

I'm convinced we just need a few more doors.

And Proactiv.

 

[Haggis McHaggis]

Re: More factors to consider

LoL I used to love Eric Bana's send ups of Body by Jake.

 

[Last of the Roys]

Re: More factors to consider

I definitely can believe the article. My impression is similar to what has been said before, that we haven't really had major spending on our facilities / equipment since the Premiership era.

Money has been pouring in to other Clubs from sponsors, wealthy supporters, but also from the AFL and governments.

We need to investigate all of these avenues - but the bottom line is that at the moment we must be facing another multi-million loss this year on top of previous huge losses. The AFL will surely need to bail us out starting this year.

The bottom line is we need help from two sources:
- the AFL, desperately
- from within via our supporters, and by growing the Club's financial capacity again overtime (via on-field success and growth in other areas such as the new Social Club)

 

[weevil]

Re: More factors to consider

Good, so we are all agreed. He's a knob.

 

[LION UP]

Re: More factors to consider

Agreed - he is.

So too, are those who send both our seniors and 2's interstate on the same weekend. Seriously, how do you expect the Lions to grow their member base if there isn't even the Reserves game to go support on a weekend. That is absolute rubbish.

 

[acuguy]

Re: More factors to consider

I got to tour our facilities at the start of the season and I couldn't believe how crap they were. It was basically your typical local footy club set up just on a larger scale with a few more machines. There was nothing cutting edge or overly motivating about it. Infact my thoughts were that I bet the players just get in there and get out as quickly as possible!

 

[Carn the Roys!]

The Lions should learn from the experience of Fitzroy and the Bears in the first half of the 90s. Facilities have a big influence over a players decision to join or stay at a club. The players are all well aware of the stuff the other clubs have. It might be hard to keep up with the never ending pockets if Collingwood but when North have something better that's got to ring alarm bells.

 

[Dylan12]

Re: More factors to consider

I got to tour our facilities at the start of the season and I couldn't believe how crap they were. It was basically your typical local footy club set up just on a larger scale with a few more machines. There was nothing cutting edge or overly motivating about it. Infact my thoughts were that I bet the players just get in there and get out as quickly as possible!

I have been through Richmond's, Carlton's and the Dogs', not to mention both West Coast and Freo over a year or so ago and all are absolutely first rate and actually have light. I have seen a number of facilities on AFL Insider and if the Lions haven't upgraded their facilities since last time I went through them about 2 years ago, then god help us...if I was new player, I wouldn't want to come to the club either if that is all we can offer.

I suspect the club may have to resort to raising money like old Fitzroy with the tins or initiate a Richmond like 'fighting fund' because you can't compete without cutting edge facilities and even harder to entice players north with dank facilities like we have.

 

[whatboutbob]

Re: More factors to consider

Shouldn't need to rattle tins when they've got one-armed bandits.

 

[Chasing the Dream]

Re: More factors to consider

Our staff filled premises for the players is second rate now as best.

I look at it like a mobile phone. Back in 2000, or there abouts, we were treated to the facilities now known at the Hyundai Centre. Players raved about how much better they were than the average club, and how it helped us succeed on field. My mobile phone then used to call my wife to let her know I was on my way home, I could also send or receive a text message, heck, my phone could be set to silent and it would vibrate in my pocket.

Fast forward a bit over a decade.

Every club seems to have had been delivered a "State of the Art" facility, the poorest cousins of the AFL in Footscray and North Melbourne were able to achieve these facilities, so those with money have made sure they offer their players top notch in everything (Arizona mid season holiday anyone??)

My mobile phone now has internet access, apps that let me get stats while I am at the game, co-ordinates with my home PC, has different songs for everyone in my contact list and I don't even know everything I can do with it.

So in short, I was at the club again during the week. It certainly felt to me like I was picking up a Nokia circa 1999 phone, their phone must have been on silent, as I seemed to feel a buzz coming through the floor, maybe it was the phone, or was it something else???......... Maybe we need to trade in the Hyundai and get ourselves a BMW or something

 

[adey115]

Re: More factors to consider

How many rows of bikes and treadmills could have been purchased, instead of spending that cash on researching, designing and marketing a new logo and guernsey that we didn't really need or want??!!

 

[doddgey]

Re: More factors to consider

Shouldn't need to rattle tins when they've got one-armed bandits.

Picked up my members cap a few months ago from Springwood on a Tuesday arvo around 2.00 pm, the carpark was full and the place was packed.
Fingers crossed that they are making some serious coin.

 

[whatboutbob]

Re: More factors to consider

Picked up my members cap a few months ago from Springwood on a Tuesday arvo around 2.00 pm, the carpark was full and the place was packed.
Fingers crossed that they are making some serious coin.

Every time I drive by it is crammed. They've got a fair whack to pay off, though it is looking very promising.

 

[lionbear]

Re: More factors to consider

The club do really need to move their training base away from the Gabba, it is controlled way to much by cricket, and they need to have more room if they want to have serious facilities moving forward.

Does the club have the coin to do this? Is the more important question that needs answering.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Re: More factors to consider

It's frustrating when you see other clubs getting funding from local councils and state governments to build these great new training bases and we are still stuck in a subterranian dungeon.

Giffin Park is a stone's throw from the Gabba and seems like a perfect place to set up a training base. Getting the funding however is practically impossible.

AFL still isn't on the radar up here. Nothing to gain politically by giving money to an AFL team. These are the inequtities the AFL needs to compensate for if they are serious about growing the game nationally.

 

[GingerGreatness]

Re: More factors to consider

I have no idea, but for some reason I had thought the boys trained at Matty Kennedy's gym accross the road from the Gabba.

It was pitched that way a few years back anyways.

I take it Hammo's "dank" comments (and the other comments here about the equipment seen on tours being less than impressive) were about the work-out gear in the gabba itself?

 

[Dylan12]

Re: More factors to consider

I have no idea, but for some reason I had thought the boys trained at Matty Kennedy's gym accross the road from the Gabba.

I used to train with Max last year and he sold that business about 12 months ago and relocated back to the Gold Coast, where he is with the Suns and finishing his masters in sports science before heading up their S&C Department.

As for that gym, it is still there, new owners, with less emphasis on boxing and more on rehabilitation. I think the Lions still use it sparingly, but it is still not big enough for the needs of an AFL club.