Club History Completely random Melbourne memories that come to mind for no particular reason

[PerfectFooty]

I hate they got rid of the pre season cup, so badly wanted to win that when I was young. Getting to see a mix of kids play but with actual pressure on the game was enjoyable. It was classic us that in my lifetime anyway we never got near winning that either

Yeah i never recall us getting far in them in my lifetime.

Although before my time i've rewatched all the games on the run to the 87 and 89 night flags and those are fun. A lot of clubs you could see taking it seriously for the prize money attached. The only game out of the 8 games i watched, the only opponent i saw not give a shit was Hawthorn, benching Derm and a bunch of others

 

[Simon_Says]

Beamers Bumps & Bruisers comes to mind occasionally for some reason

what a duo, oddly enough Im best mates With Beamers Cousin. Went to school with him

 

[danster168]

I remember watching Danny Hughes training and thinking this guy is an absolute gun from Sandringham, our aligned club at the time.

 

[dazzledavey36]

what a duo, oddly enough Im best mates With Beamers Cousin. Went to school with him

Two blokes that frequent the Melbourne night life on a weekly basis

Loved Col..

 

[mrmonkey]

I remember watching Danny Hughes training and thinking this guy is an absolute gun from Sandringham, our aligned club at the time.

I remember there was a bit of hype with his debut because he'd been around for a while and he just never hit the mark. The other one that was a bit hyped was Tim 'the bull' Smith

 

[schmuttt]

I hate they got rid of the pre season cup, so badly wanted to win that when I was young. Getting to see a mix of kids play but with actual pressure on the game was enjoyable. It was classic us that in my lifetime anyway we never got near winning that either

Yeah I liked it too, was actually interesting to watch. Guess it made no money because they scrapped it? I remember the GFs for it used to get good crowds but ultimately the games before that had pretty shit attendance (I remember watching us play the Lions at marvel in like 2006, and there would have been 10k there).

 

[Topkent]

Yeah I liked it too, was actually interesting to watch. Guess it made no money because they scrapped it? I remember the GFs for it used to get good crowds but ultimately the games before that had pretty shit attendance (I remember watching us play the Lions at marvel in like 2006, and there would have been 10k there).

Community series wouldn't make much either to be fair but I'm pretty sure Grant Thomas and Lenny Hayes looking grumpy after winning it killed it.
Classic AFL reacting to nothing. I remember when Carlton won it and they celebrated big maybe a year or 2 before that.

 

[Demon Attack]

Nick Stevens having to choose between the night granny or his brother's wedding rings a bell.

 

[Topkent]

Attendances looked all right here schmuttt

Guess now it's definitely dead cause they won't want a pre season comp destroying the W in ratings. AFL is such a dumb organisation though, instead of keeping something that worked and then letting clubs invite players who were undrafted to play for them in the pre season games so that a couple could be snagged as rookies, they tear it down and make gimmicks for tik Tok like AFL X.

 

[mrmonkey]

Attendances looked all right here schmuttt

Guess now it's definitely dead cause they won't want a pre season comp destroying the W in ratings. AFL is such a dumb organisation though, instead of keeping something that worked and then letting clubs invite players who were undrafted to play for them in the pre season games so that a couple could be snagged as rookies, they tear it down and make gimmicks for tik Tok like AFL X.

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Women's season isn't played in the summer anymore. The AFL have done something more stupid and start the womens season just when the mens start finals.

 

[Topkent]

Women's season isn't played in the summer anymore. The AFL have done something more stupid and start the womens season just when the mens start finals.

Shows how much I pay attention

 

[PerfectFooty]

Yeah I liked it too, was actually interesting to watch. Guess it made no money because they scrapped it? I remember the GFs for it used to get good crowds but ultimately the games before that had pretty shit attendance (I remember watching us play the Lions at marvel in like 2006, and there would have been 10k there).

I seem to recall when the AFL introduced GWS and Gold Coast they had issues fixturing it which is why at the end of the nab cups life they did those ****ing odd half games among three teams from 2011 to 2013. People hated that. I also guess the people that hated on it not being taken seriously will always point to that St Kilda photo when they won it. The AFL also probably killed it making it a tweaking ground for rules they wanted to trial

I think, but i don't know that the AFL took the prize money away from it around the 2000s, and that's when clubs started to stop giving a shit

It used to be an alrightish indicator at one point that some teams had improved, but i remember the last grand final in 2013 Brisbane defeated Carlton. Brisbane had a meh year that ended up with Voss getting sacked and Carlton did make finals but only due to Essendon being relegated to 9th

Now as much as i hated not playing for something you could win, i liked the community series. When it started it put the clubs out there and made them go to regional centres to play games and such (not that it didn't happen in nab cup). I remember the town up from me used to host games every odd couple of years and Shepparton had a game i went too in 2019. But since Covid the AFL really hasn't focused on the "Community" part of the Community series. They seem quite content to play most games at clubs training bases or traditional VFL home grounds, which isn't a bad thing. It was just more balanced in terms of regional and metro prior to covid. I also not saying they don't go to regional areas anymore, but again it's not very balanced

 

[mrmonkey]

Just reminded me the start of 2011 was poorly fixtured because gold coast made it an odd number a team had to get the bye first round. The AFL decided gold coast will have the bye first round which essentially meant the youngest team had only one bye during the season. Any team is screwed in that situation but gold coast should have been the last team to get it considering it was their first season. Gold coast probably should have got byes rounds 8 and 16 break the season up better for them.

 

[Deelighted]

James Harmes going crazy in the last game of the year against GWS in front of <10k marking as if he was trying to catch a beach ball

 

[schmuttt]

Attendances looked all right here schmuttt

Guess now it's definitely dead cause they won't want a pre season comp destroying the W in ratings. AFL is such a dumb organisation though, instead of keeping something that worked and then letting clubs invite players who were undrafted to play for them in the pre season games so that a couple could be snagged as rookies, they tear it down and make gimmicks for tik Tok like AFL X.

View attachment 2187706

Looks like crowds majorly dropped off in the last two years - maybe they decided it was best to scrap it with the expansion teams? Either way it was something actually interesting but now they're already playing 23 games I don't think we'll ever see it come back.

 

[Proper Gander]

James Harmes going crazy in the last game of the year against GWS in front of <10k marking as if he was trying to catch a beach ball

Howe took his regular mark of the century type thing in that game and kicked it straight to the opposition. Some guy with a super scarey voice was shouting threats to get Jeremy Howe to sign his contract. We all laughed but quietly moved a few seats away. Lynden Dunn rucked for a centre bounce or two, I remember blinking a bit. Daniel Cross played his last game and remembered little of it once he recovered consciousness. I was stunned at the dreadfulness of Etihad food - and that’s even compared to the G.

 

[Dee Train]

98 Queens Birthday. Beat the Pies by 3 points. The Rocca brothers both missed late. You could still run onto the field post match so my Dad and I jumped the fence. Great memories and the best game I’d ever attended.That is until a small game in Perth late in 2021. That was also ok.

 

[mrmonkey]

98 is up there with one of my favourites. Bottom in 97 to top 4 got a bit ripped off with the finals system after flogging Adelaide and the saints. Was the first successful year for me. I was too young to really be into 94.