Join In The Chorus, Sing It One And All
It was reported in the Herald Sun that the Kangaroos membership had risen to 24,841 members! That is great news to the club and from a general supporter of AFL Football it is very pleasing to see the Kangaroo supporters getting behind their club. The question I have is why does it take this kind of situation for supporters to come out of the woodwork and buy a membership to support their club?
They are a big chance to reach their goal of 30,000 too with 6323 yet to renew their memberships. Brayshaw has certainly pulled out the big guns with Ricky Ponting securing the money of teammates Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shaun Tait and former Test opening batsman Justin Langer who has purchased a family ticket. Now that the Pakistan tour has been cancelled they may have some time to watch a few games. The Kangas have also secured other high profile people to jump on board as well Lee Freedman, musician Tim Rogers, former Australian Davis Cup representative Wayne Arthurs, and several golfers. Young West Australian golfer Michael Sim has told North he plans to wear the club logo on his golf bag.
Eugene Arroca correctly pointed out though that while the numbers a looking good this year it is a bit of a worry as to whether the “sympathisers” that have purchased memberships will renew them on a yearly basis. Let’s hope the Roos don’t have to rely on that to keep them going.
Alarm Bell’s Ringing for the GAA
News is spreading across the world at the moment after Ricky Nixon outlined his plans for a recruiter to be placed in each of Ireland’s 32 counties reporting to a national co-ordinator. Under his plan the young players, aged from 14 to 20, would be identified and their information placed on a central database that clubs could access for an annual fee of about $30,000. We all know that the games of Gaelic Football and Australian Rules Football in quite similar and the Irish tend to pick the game up quite quickly this is why the clubs are so keen on joining the recruiting network. And it looks as if they are queing up to fork out the $30,000.
It is already raising concerns in Ireland and it looks as if the GAA will need to act fast in order to protect losing the up and coming youngsters from their country. The Irish Newspaper the Intependant IE ran a story on it and mentioned that it is bound to cause concern for the GAA. Probably the most well known Irish export, Jim Stynes has weighed in on the situation:
“I know a lot of clubs are cashed up. This could do a lot of damage to Gaelic football in general,” he said.
“It’s a recipe for disaster with people (AFL recruiters) falling over themselves in Ireland.”
I just wonder know if the GAA and especially the Dublin County will still be so keen on the exercise that Eddie and the Collingwood Football Club are trying to tee up. Our Clubs are salivating at the thought of unearthing another player of similar quality to Marty Clarke (pictured above) or Tadhg Kennelly and it seems everyone wants a piece of the pie.
But I don’t think the GAA and the Gaelic Clubs are not going to take this all that favourably. With relationships already under strain this will not be helping the cause. Especially in terms of ressurecting the International Rules Series.
Get rid of the NAB Cup once and for all
The 2008 AFL NAB Cup competition is looking like being an even bigger waste of time than in previous years. As we would all know by now the AFL have decided to trial a new interchange rule, meaning clubs will only bee able to have 16 interchange rotations per quarter and 64 in total, with send offs due to the blood rule being included as a rotation. The backlash from this has been widespread with most clubs and medical experts alike are bemused at the rule and have questioned why there is a need to change it.
Not Prepared to risk players
The fall out of this rule change in particular is that clubs will not be prepared to risk their star players that are coming back from injury or players that need to be eased through the pre season prior to Round 1 because they will not be able to control the amount of game time they play. This has meant that many clubs, some who already don’t take the NAB Cup all that seriously to begin with will be forced to rest their better players and play the younger less experienced ones so they are in tip top shape come Round 1. Carlton, who has won the last 2 NAB Cups have even said that they will not be risking their stars and will not be fielding their best side. If the AFL regard the pre season competition as an important part of AFL Football then they need to pull their heads out of the clouds and work out a way they can resurrect it because it is a shambles at the moment and they may as well abandon it and go straight into the Regional Challenge (practice games).
I read a comment from Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos in regards to the interchange rule where he stated that the AFL had said there was not enough evidence yet to suggest that there is any link between injuries going up an the use of interchange rotations and therefore thought that there would be no change to that rule. So how can they now make the decision to change the rule? Because they are the AFL I guess.
No one takes the NAB Cup seriously do they?
There are a number of clubs that have already stated that they will not be fielding very experienced and strong sides in this years competition and Leigh Matthews has said “No one really takes this seriously do they?” What incentive do clubs have to even consider taking it seriously? Well there is probably only one $$$. The kangaroos have eluded to the fact they will after the prize money in this years NAB Cup “We have always been aware that our performance really indicates our bottom dollar. If we drop off, it does hurt us financially. With most of the other clubs preparing for the NAB Cup the way they are then it opens the door for clubs like the Kangaroos to field a strong team and take the cash, something that we all know the desperately need, and in turn will hopefully improve their membership tally. But the more financially secure clubs don’t really need the cash and therefore have no real incentive.
The time has come to get rid of the NAB Cup unless the AFL can do something so the clubs can both prepare their sides the best way they can for the start of the season and also create a competition that clubs will want to play in. Which they are not doing at the moment. Clubs are better off playing a series of practice matches instead.
Post your comment and let football world know your thoughts on the NAB Cup.
Can the Kangaroos put the off field dramas behind them?
After what has been the biggest off season in the North Melbourne Football Club’s history, James Brayshaw and his team have made their decision to stay in Melbourne and the North fans are rejoicing while others are not so sure. The question is can the Kangaroos player and coaching staff get them selves up for the 2008 season and build on what was an impressive 2007 where they unexpectedly made the Preliminary Final, this was on the back of them being touted as Wooden Spooners. I have posted previously about some great highlight packages of the Kangaroos to get the adrenalin going.
Let’s go through their additions and deletions from the list:
ADDITIONS:
Exchange period – received: Ben Davies (Collingwood), Sam Power (Western Bulldogs)
Rookie elevation: Leigh Adams, Matt Campbell
NAB AFL Draft: Levi Greenwood (Port Adelaide Magpies), Blake Grima (Kangaroos), Josh Smith (West Perth), Robbie Tarrant (Bendigo Pioneers), Scott Thompson (Geelong VFL)
DELETIONS:
Retired: Glenn Archer (veteran – outside list), Kasey Green, Jonathan Hay
Exchange period – traded: Brad Moran (Adelaide)
Delisted: Blake Grima (second list lodgement), Daniel McConnell, David Trotter, Callum Urch, Djaran Whyman, Ben Hughes (rookie), Tim Hutchison (rookie)
With a finishing ladder position of 4th in 2007 the Kangaroos will not be expecting anything less than another top 4 finish in 2008. Dean Laidley has got this team gelling together as a unit very nicely. The don’t have the superstar players that other teams have, unless you can put Brent Harvey and Daniel Wells in that category, but what they do is play as an old fashioned team as you would expect given they are the “Shinboners”.
In 2007 the Kangaroos seemed to have the better of the teams outside the eight but were found out a bit by the teams inside the eight as illustrated by the fact that they only won 4 of 13 games against these teams, this is something that I am sure Laidley has discussed at length with the playing group.
In 2007 Laidley produced a more attacking game plan and the Kangaroos now play an exiting attacking, high scoring style of football which from a spectators point of view is good to watch. Laidley’s faith in a couple of players in Michael Firrito, who was exceptional at holding down full back and the emergence of Josh Gibson in the back half was great to see. These two will be the leaders in defence along with Daniel Pratt now that the Shinboner of the Century has retired and his on field presence will be missed. A youngster by the name of Levi Greenwood may just slot straight into the great mans shoes and from all reports bares a striking resemblance to the way Archer played.
Last year saw what I would rate as career best form from the likes of Brent Harvey, Corey Jones, Shannon Watt, Jesse Smith and Hamish McIntosh. It will be interesting too see if this group of players and along with the likes of Andrew Swallow and Scott McMahan can back up their exceptional years and have another fantastic season because that will go along way to determining the outcome of the season for the Kangaroos. Let’s not forget the Kangaroos had 9 players in the finals series that had played under 50 games so those players should now be ready to take a big step forward.
AFL Clubs slam NAB Cup interchange cap
Well it was bound to happen wasn’t it, the AFL have decided to trial a new rule and already there has been backlash from the powerhouses clubs of the AFL. I was talking to a couple of friends and my football club last night at our 2nd post christmas pre season session (pretty tough I might add), and we were discussing this exact issue, where the AFL have decided to cap the interchange rotations that each team is able to have and the effect it will have on other areas of the game and players.
What the clubs are saying is very true, this cap makes it very difficult for players that are coming back from injury to have limited game time to ease back into the fold. I was reading an article this morning in the Herald Sun here in Melbourne Australia and a leading sports medico has said that players may try and avoid being detected by the umpire when they are bleeding and injured players may worsen their injuries because they are forced to stay on the ground, I have mentioned on a couple of forums that I thought the fact that players will have less time on the bench to rest that they might then become more fatigued resulting in more soft tissue injuries.
AFL Clubs were told that the interchange rule would not come in and all of a sudden the AFL have made the decision to trial the rule during this years NAB Cup regardless of the clubs objections. Do the AFL take anything else into consideration when they make these decisions? I mean surely they should have consulted the clubs and medical officers about the ramifications of such a rule?
It will mean that the Clubs will just treat the NAB Cup as even more of a joke than they do now. Clubs just will not risk bringing players back during the NAB Cup if they can’t control the amount of game time that they are able to play. In an even more ridiculous situation the Western Bulldogs are due to play the Kangaroos in the humid town of Darwin and requested to be allowed to have extra player swaps during that game but the AFL knocked it back!
If this rule comes in to the regular season then it will mean that the older players and legends of the game will be forced to retire earlier because they are forced to play more time because of the interchange rotation rule. Players like Robert Harvey, as fit as this bloke is, probably wouldn’t be playing this year if the rule had been introduced previously.
I thought the investigation that the AFL is conducting this year on the perceived link between the speed of the game, interchange rotations and impact injuries was going to determine whether they would take this line? They haven’t even started that investigation and the rule is already being trialled. This is just another example of the AFL throwing thier weight around regardless of what the people playing the game think.
More interesting times ahead for the clubs and the AFL.
Is Aylett jumping off a sinking ship?
Are the Kangaroos a sinking ship and Rick Aylett is smart enough to get off? That is what it looks like to me. James Brayshaw may put on a confident and brave face in the media for the benefit of all the Kangaroo supporters, but behind closed doors he must be literally crapping himself. Aylett may have cited personal reasons for his resignation but there is no way that is the truth ! He doens’t think the North Melbourne Football Club will survive here in Melbourne and that the Brayshaw business model is not going to succeed. We should all applaud Rick Aylett, not for his thoughts about the club but at least he has the North Melbourne Football Club at the front of his mind and left in the best interests of the club.
Brayshaw has announced his new board on Wednesday, they include former coach Denis Pagan, Melbourne QC Will Horton, Perth businessman Geoff Lewis, Mark Brayshaw, Ron Joseph and Stephen Head. At least they now have a board that is unified in the cause and all want the same thing.
The Kangaroos massive job certainly isn’t getting easier, while the AFL said publicly that they would support the decision either way they definatly have a weird way of showing it. For starters the AFL have swapped their round 1 NAB Cup clash against Brisbane from Cararra and they are now playing the Western Bulldogs in Darwin. They have moved their community camp from the Gold Coast to East Gippsland.
Brayshaw is kidding himself if he thinks this is not “Payback” for their decision. They certainly won’t get any help from the AFL from now on. As I have said before there is a great deal of apprehension associated with the Brayshaw plans be we all hope they succeed
How will they go? “Time will Tell”
Wayne “Duck” Carey, is he the real deal?
The eagerly anticipated battle of the codes between Willie Mason and Barry Hall might be a fizzer with the Swans putting a dampener on preceedings, but Wayne Carey has now put his hand up to take on the big man from the Sydney Roosters. I guess the $1 million price tag may be to much to pass up.
I have read and heard on numerous occations that Carey can handle himself in the ring, with the Shinboner of the Century Glenn Archer saying that he wouldn’t want to fight the “Duck” and he is the best fighter he has seen. I can’t remember if that was before or after the fiasco with Anthony Stevens? (see the footage below and you be the judge). Carey has the lingo down pat, he said that he would fight Mason “any where, any time”.
I just think Mason just wants to belt the crap out of anyone in AFL circles ! First there was Big Bad Barry, the Swans turned that down, then he moved onto Brendan Fevola, Carlton turned that down, now Carey.
No Home? No Deal!
You don’t have a home for us?, then stuff ya !
They were the words of the North Melbourne Football Club’s chairman James Brayshaw, or as he known among the Kangaroo faithful “GOD” (not those exact words but that’s what he implied).
The North Melbourne Football Club is staying in Melbourne, while the AFL will push on with it’s interests in the Gold Coast it will not be with the Kangaroos. It’s good to see the passion is still alive in today’s football world, you just can’t beat “People Power” !
The North Melbourne fans turned out in droves to the Dallas Brooks Hall to hear their new “GOD” James Brayshaw outline his plans to resurrect the future of the embattled AFL Club. Hours earlier the Kangaroos board rejected the AFL’s rail roading tactics to try to lure them with a $100 million carrot, one I am sure was very tempting. But like most other football followers I am glad they refused, there is still enough room here in Victoria for the North Melbourne Football Club.
The AFL’s appalling tactics
The AFL’s decision to prey on a club that is in a vulnerable position like North Melbourne are just so Mr Demetriou 
and his board to can say they grew the game into uncharted territory is disgusting to say the least. I hope all North Melbourne fans and supporters of other clubs “Stick it up em”, to use one the late great Teddy Whitten’s cliché’s. Remember this is a club with 138 years of tradition here in Melbourne, and what a lot of people may not realise is that this is a club that battled for 30 years to get into the VFL, and then another 50 to win their first premiership !, but the AFL brushed this aside and could only see their own agenda.
What now for the Roos?
16 Players that need to make an impact in 2008
As clubs get into full swing of pre season and the new draftees come out with great enthusiasm and the obligutary cliche’s
- “I just hope to get a game”,
- “All the boys down here have been great”
- “I’ve still got a lot of hard work ahead of me”
- “To start off with it’s a little bit strange, you’re used to watching them on telly you’re not used to playing with them.”
There are a number senior players that i reckon need to make a bigger impact in the 2008 AFL Season, not just to keep the careers alive but to help propel their team towards the finals.
Need to make more of an impact !!
- Adam McPhee (Ess)
- Simon Prestigiacomo (Coll)
- Kris Massie (Adelaide)
- Stephen Armstrong (W.C)
- Leigh Harding (Kangaroos)
- Jason Akermanis (Western Bulldogs)
Is Brayshaw giving Kangaroo fans false hope?
In what is shaping to be the biggest decision in the Kangaroos history the man who will be President if the Kangaroos stay was on holiday in Las Vegas?
In what could be an even worse situation for the Roos, they failed to inform the AFL of the incidents involving Grant, Edwards and MacIntosh. Under AFL policy clubs are supposed to inform them of any incidents like this involving a player from their club. In a time that the Roos can ill afford any of this controversy it will be interesting how the AFL handle that one.
$10 million over 2 Years?
Brayshaw has a proposal that will see $10 million over the next 2 years and would be invested as non football revenue. I can understand the
Kangaroos decision in saying that they can’t vote for the move given that the AFL is yet to even give them a stadium to play at and such a decision would be irresponsible, but can he deliver on his proposals? It seems to be that he is full of passion for the club, which is great don’t get me wrong, but there is a big difference in being passionate and being realistic. He is going to have to pull a big cat out of the bag to get the club out of this one. The fact that he chose to go to Vegas with his mates from the Footy Show at this time just doesn’t sit right with me, and makes me question whether he is the best person to be leading this charge. Sure he has a big profile and lots of connections but is that enough to run an AFL Football Club? It is understood that the AFL is yet to see any documentation of the plans that would deliver what Brayshaw says they will.
