The knockers keep coming for the Kangaroos
What is it with these footballing greats knocking the North Melbourne Football Clubs decision to relocate to the Gold Coast?
Some of the comments from these people really surprise me. I mean here we have Ron Barassi a two time North Melbourne Premiership coach (1975, 1977) and arguably the biggest footballing identity saying that it wasn’t his preference for the club to stay in Melbourne. What!!!! This is one person that I would have thought would have been 100% behind the club, but he says his opinion is that the “game is greater than any one club”, which is fair enough, but try to explain that to the members of the Kangaroos or any club for that matter. What would happen if the Collingwood Football Club was in a similar situation? A good business man Eddie McGuire is, but there would be a never ending riot if he decided that would be best for the Pies. I am sure he could see all the positives in it from a business sense but he would do everything in his power to get the same result here in Melbourne I am sure of that. What would the great Ted Whitten and Chris Grant think of a decision about relocating the Western Bulldogs?
We then have outspoken football identity and Kangaroo great Sam Kekovich saying similar things about the decision: “We had everything to gain and nothing to lose,” the former club champion said.
Then Alan Aylett: “Even if I don’t agree with it, all you can do now is wait and hope. Time will tell.”
Here are 3 high profile football identities that have big profiles and a lot of pull in a lot of different areas of business and football and instead of getting off there arse and trying to help their club they are taking the easy option and having a go at the club for doing their best to “Stay in Melbourne”.
It is sad to see that the history and passion of a club in today’s AFL landscape is lost on these types of people, which I would have thought to be the opposite. I am sure James Brayshaw and his board are just taking note of the comments being said by these people and creating a nice little collection to be pulled out at a later date when they have successfully done what they set out to achieve and prove all these people wrong.
All you North Melbourne fans head on over to the Kangaroo website and sign up now!
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”
3 games, Empty Stands say’s the Gold Coast
Who does Ron Clarke think he is?
Who do the South East Queensland people think they are? This is a comment I was reading from the Lord Mayor Ron Clarke, “after rejecting the AFL’s relocation offer the Roos would not be welcome on the coast and would play in front of neat empty stands”. This proves to me that they have no understanding what so ever about the traditions of AFL Football and do not deserve to have one of our clubs move there as far as I am concerned!
3 Games in 2008
The North Melbourne Football Club are due to play 3 games on the Gold Coast next year, and if this is the kind of reception they are going to get then the South East Queensland people should be ashamed of themselves and their Lord Major. This is a group of people that less than a week ago were excited at the prospect of adopting the Kangaroos as their own.
Attention all Melbourne Football Fans
It was a brave decision by Brayshaw and the Kangaroos, one that I had concerns over in regards to whether he would be able to deliver the goods, but after comments like that I implore, not only North Melbourne fans but football fans in general to get behind the Roos in their endeavours to stay in Melbourne.
It will be interesting to see how the fans up there start out all jubilant about having a side in 2010, and then come plummeting to the ground when they struggle down the bottom of the ladder for the first 5 - 6 years of their existence.
Let’s see how the South East Queensland people respond to “their” team then?
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?
The Gold Coast is ready for AFL Football
SHOCKED !!!
They were the words of AFL boss Andrew Demetriou this morning when the AFL announced that they WILL NOT grant the Kangaroos a 12 month extension on their decision on whether they will rellocate to the Gold Coast or not.
What does this mean ?
Well the AFL is desperate to be the fastest growing sport in the country and they will take AFL Football to South Eastern Queensland, there is no question of that, it is just a question of whether the Kangaroos will be the ones to cash in ?
They now have 2 options either take the AFL’s lucrative offer or take a chance on James Brayshaws proposal, which is a huge gamble let me tell you.
Is this a gamble they should take ?
An emotional showdown at tonight’s members meeting is a certainty ! And I can understand the passion that some board members and general members are going to have, but is it really a gamble they should take ?.
This the biggest decision in the Kangaroos history. The AFL should have given the Kangaroos at least the 12 months they were asking !!
It is an Australian tradition to rise in the face of adversity and I am positive that will be shown at the meeting. I think the AFL and the Kangaroos will be overwhelmed by the passion that will be shown tonight.
Although I am still a bit sceptical of Brayshaw’s proposal I hope for the Kangaroo fans he can deliver what he says he can and they can continue to be a Melbourne based club in their own right.
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.
Shinboner of the Century speaks his mind
Kangaroo Stars in trouble
Shannon Grant and Aaron Edwards were in strife with on Saturday after what seems like a weekend bender at a Lionel Richie concert at Scotchmans Hill winery. Police used capsicum spray on Grant, and Edwards “was just laying on the ground, they couldn’t get him off the ground he was that far gone” witnesses said. Especially for Edwards this could end up being a serious issue in regards to his playing career at the Kangaroos. It is not the first time he has been in trouble with the police, remember that while at West Coast he was caught on police phone taps talking to convicted drug trafficker Shane Waters. Very ironic that on Saturday there was an article on him in The Age where he states that he was only going to be focusing on his football.
The club doesn’t have a problem with Grant but says Edwards will face disciplinary action this week.
This couldn’t come at a worse time for the Roos, will this affect any sponsorship deals that the Brayshaw led stay in melbourne group fight to keep the Roos from going to the Gold Coast. We all know how sponsors hate to be associated with negative publicity like this? One would hope not.
Kangaroos 100-1 to stay in Melbourne
Shinboner of the Century, Glenn Archer has admitted that the Kangaroos are realistically looking at permanent relocation to the Gold Coast. Archer who is a key figure in the James Brayshaw’s led “Stay in Melbourne Group” is realistic but I hope they don’t give up their battle, it would be a great shame to see a club with 138 years of history in Melbourne gone.
The Roos met the AFL on October 31 and were given 30 days to decide whether the club wanted to be based in Southeast Queensland by 2010. Brayshaw, Archer and the rest of the Stay in Melbourne team will not leave any stone unturned in their battle to keep the club in Melbourne and rightly so.
Archer has said that he can understand the AFL’s position but he is not prepared to let his club’s history and tradition in Melbourne be surrendered. When Archer speaks people tend to listen. I love these two quotes from him
“I totally understand their position, but it’s North Melbourne and I would love to see it stay here.” and
“(The AFL) know what my feelings are”
It’s like him saying to the AFL, I understand where you are coming from but Stuff You this is my club and we are staying here!.
I just reckon the pull and profile that James Brayshaw no has in the media and business circles they might just survive which for all Kangaroo fans and football fans in general would be great to see.
Kangaroo draftee Levi Greenwood the new Glenn Archer ?
With pick number 32 in this years AFL National Draft, the Kangaroos secured a Port Adelaide young gun Levi Greenwood. Yesterday this young man recieved an accolade that most in AFL player circles would crave. He has been likened to Glenn Archer “Shinboner of the Century”, this is big wrap on a first year draftee. Going on his size and shape, weighing in at 93kg and standing 181cm tall, few could argue. But it will be the on field actions that will determine whether he is capable of filling the shoes of the retired Kangaroos hardman. If he can even get close to Archer’s hardness and be as intimidating then it will will be great to watch.
Coach Dean Laidley is quietly confident that all his draftees in Greenwood, Blake Grima, Robbie Tarrant, Scott Thompson and Josh Smith can have an impact in 2008. He is probably in a better position with his draftees than other clubs because they have picked up guys that have big bodies that will be able to withstand the contest of senior AFL Football.
Thompson and Greenwood look like they may get their career started down back, which will give a bit of much needed run. While Tarrant and Smith are more than likely to see themselves up forward, something that the Kangas definitely need.
Having made it to a Preliminary Final in 2007 and adding the new faces and also re drafting Blake Grima expect the Kangaroos to have their eyes fixed on the top 4 again in 2008.
