Good read Stuart. It’s 3am in London. Osaka just beat Serena but I think this thread has been more entertaining.

A few points:
1) need relegation/promotion but can’t bring in to quickly imo. Takes a lot of money to set up an a league franchise and they need “protected time to grow” but that needs to end at some stage to create a pyramid promotion/relegation structure for franchises. If the div 2 teams have the finances/facilities then they should have a chance to go into a-league. Perhaps that time is now
2) active support. It’s the major difference that sets football aside from other sports in oz. the atmosphere gnerated was a major calling card and generated a buzz around the league in the early seasons. But chicken-egg scenario, unruly behaviour by individuals eg, flares (Ive stood at northern and south MV ends so have some idea of what’s it’s like) meant it wasn’t tenable from a PR perspective to continue as it risked bad coverage and being less family friendly but in losing that we lost the heart of what it was all about. we shouldn’t try and homogenise the way we support it to other sports but anti social and unsafe behaviour can’t be tolerated
3) I’m a melb v member when I was in melb but also spurs supporter (even before I started living in London). Y do I support spurs even without a contextual link? Combination of on field product, marketing and media coverage and once the league has big Enough following u feel part of a wider community that follows a league (but still scratching my head a bit). Again chicken egg- but the league hq controls marketing and so must do a better job of public engagement at all levels and until league is big enough it just won’t generate the coverage AFL or NRL does regardless of grass roots participation levels
4) need a salary cap sadly only because it would become a Scottish league situation where only 1 or 2 teams ever have a chance to win and I don’t think that would work in this market

Great read Geoff. Great perspective and analysis.

having been to docklands and AAMI to see MV, obviously atmosphere so much better at AAMI – id go as far to say a rocking AAMI park getting behind MV is the best atmosphere in Melb for any sport. its just money – i dont know what the deal is but even if you make $100,000 extra (compared to AAMI) playing 3 home games at docklands it is probably worth it. I wish it wasnt this way but it is naive to think it doesnt matter. Fact is most cities bar Brisbane Roar (suncorp) and Wellington have “boutique stadia” to play out of and it perhaps less of an issue these days

I guess we r jumping to conclusions until we see final proposals. I was initially excited but mainly because t gave a Chance for Georgia, PI to play as part of relegation/promotion. Perhaps we need to change this in our hemisphere- expand rugby championship to include japan and a PI nation as part of a 6 nations tournament and have promotion relegation within that. Can have a 2 test beldisloe series

thanks for a great read. good to know the history behind the club. i dont have much of any understanding about sports following in gc – i read lots about it being a sporting franchise graveyeard – gc blaze, gc a league team, titans struggles with money and fans.
Do you think the club attendances can turn around with some success or is it really something else about gc fans/population that makes it difficult for sporting franchises to succeed?

Good luck to both. Not a bad outcome really. Great if Phipps would swap with nic white/ really impressed with him in England club rugby

great piece and a fantastic way to bow out. going to miss your analysis articles. All the best with the cadetship

Some interesting points. Without a local team why would Canberra residents care about the a-league. As a victory fan it is my connection to the team that connects me to the league. No amount of FTA tv will change that at – at least for the foreseeable future. Not sure how the economics of FTA air works but a bit of chicken-egg perhaps; without the big viewer numbers BOLD won’t invest in its promotion and nor will any major FTA network but many would argue that you need FTA to generate the interest

Great read Scott. Summary pieces always tough and u covered it well. Was really great to c NBL rising again. Remember the great days of mid 1990s with RLA packed out and feel like they are getting there again with hisense arena and melb United.

The roar have to make money to keep it free. The article had nothing to with foxtel other than it sponsoring the piece. Editors, writers have to get paid and this is one way forward because punters who whinge about this aren’t going to pay a subscription to access content on this site

Great read Conor. If not mistaken – you have written some great pieces for the 1048 website. This is good stuff and goes with Nicholas Bishops work brilliantly.
Look forward to the next few pieces coming through

I’d disagree with that. I think at full strength most of their lineup is sorted:
Hartley, mako vinopola, Sinckler, itoje, launchnjry, lawes, billy v at 8. No 7 unknown but underhill seems to have made it his own. In the backs it’s going to be: young, Farrell, May, ?12, Slade at 13, daly and Nowell/Watson. They won 18 straight, 2 six nations and players then struggled off the back of a lions tour and a punishing club season. I think they will go well at WC

Covington up and down as a 3 point shooter but a good wing defender. Saric plays well at no 3 or 4. Jb is one if not the best 2 way player in the nba (alongside Leonard maybe). Win for Phili – butler probably covers the offensive output if Saric and Covington and offers defensive excellence and versatility

after the absolute intensity of the preceding game at twickenham this was a bit of a let down. same old really – not taking points when they are there, malfunctioning lineout – needs work, again not sure why people think TPN is the panacea to our lineout problems – he has never been a great thrower. Scrummaging was good. Aimless kicking. If you want to take a look at tactical kicking at its finest – watch the england v nz match. ok to kick but intelligently and with purpose i.e. to the corners to gain terriotry, build pressure, high midfield balls with strong chasers (we dont do either well). basically we cant sack chieka and co because RA cant afford it and we will need to ride it out until end of WC. it pains me to say it but the worst thing that could happen is for us make it to the RWC final again and we have another 4 years of this…

Haha. Sorry I meant to say Aron

Great read Anon, it’s been a good October for us. We will b better next year but still struggle. 6 wins and bring more competitive would be a good outcome. I’ve been a supporter since 2002 and seen mostly pain but just gotta stick fat

How about positive stuff – I only got to watch the Melbourne derby from London but 40000 showed up and it was a great game. Star power, good skill and active fans back to their best

Great wkend of epl. Loved the hammers beating manure- and playing good football to do so.

great read as always. agree they need a ruckman. I would say a couple of small forwards. Defence and midfield look strong (albeit slightly 1 paced) and you have a dominant key forward in Tomahawk. Delahus + another small forward (e,g, narkle) might be enough to push towards a flag. They made 2 prelims in the last 3 years – they arent far in the overall context of things. Need to also figure out gamestyle – key ingredients at this stage are manic pressure, forward line turnover and pressure acts and getting numbers to the contest for down the line kicks (and of course key skills by hands and foot but i think the top 8 have that covered). Achieve that and they could win another flag

great read and preview. thanks for the posts. cant disagree with any of it. Bit worried about my cowboys – lost des bryant and TE whitten from the receiving core and not sure we have replaced it. Season rests on offensive line once again dominating and huge seasons from prescott and elliott

im a bit late to the party here (was avoiding the roar trying to watch a reaply of bledisloe cup). COmmenting to ensure stuart keeps writing these wrap pieces which are on a par with some of the other big sports agencies ala ESPNFC etc.
Liverpool different beast this year – keita sorts out the problematic DMF position, VVD really finding his feet and with Gomez back – have flexibility to play 3 centre backs in a 5-3-2 or 2 CB in a 4-2-3-1.

good read. reactionary perhaps but stats dont lie and indias overseas batting performances have been woeful. Had 3 good chances to win games in SA and 1st test in UK and batting failed. Im not sure about Pandhya – he isnt making runs and isnt used much in bowling. But coming to australia where it will be hot we need a 5th bowling option and cant see anyone else providing that.
The key is preparation – they decided to play ODI/T20. They should have played more practice matches to get used to conditions. Other than that I am not sure what else they could have done becuase not many teams would have survived in very bowler friendly conditions and a good and somewhat reinvigorated pace attack.
As for consistent pitches – bowler friendly pitches is the way to go. Provide exciting cricket and more often good finishes. Add more roads with no bounce, seam or swing will surely kill test cricket

some good ones there. I would love to see bolt out there. Heart ruling my head here and even if he isnt quite up to scratch it would bring fans (perhaps the ones people on this forum wont be keen on having come anyway), provide great likely international coverage. Yep – perhaps may create issues in the squad not to mention the wider integrity of the a-league if he gets a game and is woefully substandard but who cares
Also, MV allowing free standing in the north terrace – will the NTC return, avoid flares and bring their energy to MV home games? time will tell but good to have them back (if they choose to return)

cant speak for others but I am interested in the EPL and enjoyed the read. I know it was a tester but a bit more breadth next time (i hope there is a next time) covering more teams/depth would be great.
I am not sure following A-league and EPL are mutually exclusive – I follow both keenly. Also why can t we have articles on EPL. if u dont like it, dont read it.
As for what matters the football – city look the goods, mendy seems a brilliant addition after a year out with injury. but may take some time for teams to gel e.g. west ham and for others to get going after the WC. might be 1 horse race but lets see, Liverpool on paper seem the most likely to challenge. Never count a Jose coached team out either

Nice read. I think r real threat for the flag. The apply strong pressure, have good defensive systems, are clean by hand and foot and can work their way through a zone with short kicks. Throws in finals experience and mcg not being a factor and hawks need to be in the premiership conversation