Heart_fan

This was always the risk. In a salary capped league we are stuck really trying to get promising visa players that aren't over 30 and injury prone. Lets hope that the "lifestyle" element that he has talked about is actually not just rhetoric.He's promising, but has a long way to go to.

Haven't seen him play in a while. Seemed to show some promise back in his MV days but whether or not he would be the type of player we need is not so clear.

Unfortunately, this is the crap type of media attention we get constantly. If we lose its just another headline they can add to make us sound like the worst team in the world, but if we win its somehow a fluke. The transition from being able to get all the leaks and media reporting they wanted from our former owners to the new situation where it is Fort Knox at the best of times must be hurting them. To sit their and cream themselves over MV for that entire discussion just highlights the challenges we have. Lets hope our media strategy can improve over the next few years, which will also need to be alligned with successful results and attacking, beautiful football to get people talking about us for the right reasons.

At the games I've been to this season he's been mainly used in that deeper midfield role, acting as our primary playmaker. On talent alone he's probably the best player in that squad, outside of maybe Dekker. How old is he anyway? He has been in the youth team for a while I think he's 20, or maybe even 21, definitely been around the youth set-up for some time. What are the chances we would sign him to a senior contract though? The NYL is often a highway to nowhere unfortunately, with many players appearing to be developing well but clubs seem to be resistant to take a chance to sign them when their time in the youth ranks is over. If the salary cap concessions do come in for loyalty and developing players, this would potentially be an incentive to actually sign these players and not just recycle other club's trash.

How do we expect to be anything but "not-MV"? There is nothing else that we can even attempt to harness new support, as focusing on one region of this city is hardly a receipe for success. Unless CFG decide to buy Sandown Racecourse, build a stadium and even larger training base, the South-East is a non-starter. Thats about the only area of any scale we could possibly even try to differenciate yourself geographical. In doing that though, in one go you lose nearly all of the Northern and Western supporter base due to distance and a likely disconnection from the club with such a refocus. Lets try and get some success on the park and finally bring some confidence for people to bother supporting us.

lmfao @ the true driver of growth What are you laughing at in that statement? One look at the FFA's plan and at numerous data points over the last few years shows just how fast women's football is becoming more and more important part of our sport. Our club finally getting permission to start a W-League side could well give us a substantial benefit in terms of fan engagement over the next few years across our brand.

Source on Maclaren move? Or are you just being pessimistic? Soccer stoppage time Umm.. Judging by their track record at reporting stories, he could be signing for Central Coast In all seriousness though, we make far more sense to sign him than MV. He'd find himself in the same situation as His time at PG, whereas we are much more in need of a player like him.

Heard a rumour today that Kennedy may well announce his retirement. Likely just another crazy rumour that seems to follow our club like a magnet, but given his struggles with injuries, I wouldn't rule it out.

He also seems to be very injury prone, which is hardly what we need more of. A very talented player though.

The Latrobe University stadium that was in the masterplan certainly sounds interesting, but transport just isn't up to scratch to allow it to happen. There's a tram out front, but the closest train stations are kilometers away. To cut off the club from many of our fans in other regions of the city would also be damaging. Going to the effort of renaming the club Melbourne City, with a logo containing the Melbourne flag, would also seem odd to only play matches in the outer north. It's strange enough we are based out there

How much $$ is he likely signing on for? Happy to hear that he will be staying. He has shown a lot of potential that will hopefully improve further next season.

He got the team to a Semi Final, so it would be harder to justify getting rid of him. I don't think he's going to take us to the next level either, but they must have their reasons.

^^ Maybe we can leverage that and kick MV out of the venue, whilst the AFL can take over Etihad Stadium and leave MV to feel on the outer for once I'm sure the Sidwell is very pleased with his bit of business to sell our club to CFG, so I am sure he will like the sound of assisting to a better deal for MC, MS and the MR at AAMI Park. He may also implement the same closed off top tier policy for MR matches as he did for MH, which must help save cash. I still am surprised to see them currently have those tiers open for such small crowds.

I agree that it is hard enough to get the HAL clubs to make money, let alone the less commercially lucrative women's game, but that's only half the story. Women's football is the true driver of growth in our sport in this country at this stage, so opportunities to improve the standard should be welcomed. As I understand it, no W-League team is fully funded by the HAL club they are aligned with, leaving the burden to finance on the state federation. Whether or not we have to fully fund our team, whilst MV get to continue their fully funded arrangement with the FFV will be interesting to see. Biggest club in the league and can't even bother to fund a women's team? You can see why the women do feel let down by their attitude. MV get all the benefits of the club's branding out there, growing their overall supporter base network, yet don't invest a cent, or care for that matter.

Ha just posted about this in the Rugby thread Get ready for a Rebels team that will be run on the smell of an oily rag as fuel and cut every corner it can to not have to invest in the club. Bad option for them if true. Meh, no different from how the ARU have been running us. Oh well. No money, no ambition will be a mantra the Rebels should be used to then. That won't change under him control

I wonder if the W-League will get any TV coverage next season? Would be dissapointing if no one picks it up.

With marquees, is any pay-out also outside the cap? It's not really occured yet from memory in the HAL so even though it should be safe to assume it would be, it would be interesting to see what would occur.

Is Murdocca's contract finished too? As for a few players with contracts, Michael Lynch's article did point to the club looking at getting rid of players that had contracts for next year too if solutions could be found for them at other clubs. Surely NJ and CCM, or even now Perth, need some cheap Hoff and Redders options to fill their squads

^^ Thats about what we expected. Sad to see Mate go but at the end of the day, he just hasn't taken the next step. Yep,. hes going, so that should free up some significant salary cap space alone

Judging by what I have seen, I would also sign him. He would not be able to get big $$, so we can sign him for a decent amount, and he seems to have the talent to take the next step. I have raised this before, but there must be something to puts clubs off signing him? His performances on the park seem to be a high standard, but clubs just don't want to take the risk.

I'm not sure his interpersonal and motivational skills are any better than JVS to be honest. He got success with a very strong squad, but failed to get much out of them once a couple of key players left.

Ha just posted about this in the Rugby thread Get ready for a Rebels team that will be run on the smell of an oily rag as fuel and cut every corner it can to not have to invest in the club. Bad option for them if true.

I think the main issue was FFV's opposition to a 2nd Victorian W-League side at the time, and likely a reluctance to fund it by the previous owners. I'd be interested to see what the funding model is, as MV's team is currently funded by FFV. Will it be a 50/50 model where each club half funds the team, and the FFV funding covers the other half? Great news to see us become more of a complete club. This may well generate additional interest in our cluboverall, especially with us now being able to tap into the rapidly growing women's player numbers and supporters of our sport.

Apparently JVS did have some decent players that were interested in the past but our former owners were not interested in paying for them. It went to show how difficult it can be, even with the connections, to get these players to come half way around the globe, as many will need big $$ to even consider it.

He got to play his preferred role and still offered nothing. What can he being to our team that he hasn't yet shown? Likely not much.