Kangaroos give "McGuire" a serve

[Rooboy 96]

North have increased membership again this year... we know we don't have a huge supporter base... but what we do do better then any other club is turn supporters into members...

This is all we can do and believe that our on field success over the last 30 odd years will bring new members to the club each year... so far it is...

 

[Rooboy 96]

I understand the dividend methodology will change and that will most likely help you.

I have not heard of this before... where do you know this from???

 

[MarkT]

Take my word for it for now - or don't.

Why do you finish with the double smilies all the time?

 

[Rooboy 96]

Take my word for it for now - or don't.

Why do you finish with the double smilies all the time?

sitting Fifth on the table and Collingwood Carlton and Essendon are where they belong... wouldn't you be happy if you were in my boots??? as far as I am concerned we are still 2 years away from being a serious threat so this year has been an absolute blast... almost as good as 1993 when no one expected anything from us... but we just kept on winning...

 

[MarkT]

Frankly I wouldn't really care that much where others were but I don't have a bunker mentality inferiority complex. 2 years is a long time though. Take your chance while you have it.

 

[Rooboy 96]

Frankly I wouldn't really care that much where others were but I don't have a bunker mentality inferiority complex. 2 years is a long time though. Take your chance while you have it.

bunker inferiority complex... born to rule complex... we all have our burdens in life... pity yours are not achievable...

 

[MarkT]

I'm an agnostic republican. Born to nothing!

 

[Rooboy 96]

I'm an agnostic republican. Born to nothing!

so you say today...

 

[M29]

Yep. But the jumper didnt have any part in our failure.

They do go hand in hand though.

 

[Tas]

Tas, I understand the financial angle to Canberra. It’s bandaid stuff though. Sometimes all you need is a bandaid. North need more. They won’t lose the converted but they will have less chance of new converted in Melbourne IMO. It’s a focus thing and it presents the wrong image. I know some North people don’t like all the focus on the shinboner stuff but it is something very marketable and it is something that is positive.

Yeah, we do need more. But, the first step is to stop the bleeding. Once the bleeding stops then you can work on expansion. There is no point trying to expand while the club is losing money and heading down the crapper.

We are from North Melbourne and we will take you all on and beat your arses. Not we are the Kangaroos and we’ll play wherever the money takes us because we are desperate just to exist.

That is well and good if you have the means to survive while taking the high moral ground. I do not think our supporters lack passion or heart, I believe it was documented we convert a far greater proportion of our supporters into members than any other club. It is part of why North have a very different look and feel to most clubs, players that come from other clubs highlight this fact.

I think to a certain point you are correct, I would not support or accept the selling of the club's soul to survive, and by that I mean what Miller tried. It would be financially negligent for the club to take on a stubborn Collingwood-like approach to football because we just do not have number of supporters at present.

You are looking at insignificant aspects of the club that in the grand scheme of things will be a footnote in our history. There is nothing more important than survival. There is no point putting pride before survival, there is no point in going down with the ship because we are too proud to bail the water out because of a leak. We are bailing the water, we will fix the leak and when the time and opportunity presents itself we will have the luxury of being able to be proud, stubborn and arrogant. Now is not the time.

There is a very different focus and which you think kids today are more likely to fall in love with. I’m not talking about watching games on TV I’m talking about falling in love with the team, the club and wanting to institutionalise in their family.

I think we have a very large 'junior' following, like Hawthorn and most teams benefitted from a period of success you benefit from young supporters who jump aboard when the team is doing well. We just have to act responsibly now, fix as many of the problems we can and make the most of the influx of members that will occur over the years due to our dominant period.

That is partly why I want to keep the black and white stripes but that’s another debate. You are right about less family loyalty in clubs. That is probably due to a range of reasons but IMO the main one is parents taking the kids to the games.

Do not understimate the power of success. When Tim Watson's young kid was wearing a North Melbourne jumper during the 90s then you can't underestimate the power of success. There are a lot of kids coming through the schooling system that will say they follow North, love the Kangas, and not just from Victoria. We are the fourth most supported club in WA.

Most teams peak for a short period of time, we had a pretty good run and even now when are rebuilding we are competitive enough so even fickle supporters shouldn't lose interest or faith. The challenge for the club is to fix the problems cast by the previous administration and to set the club up and make the most out of the influx of youth and turn them into members. If we can raise our membership from the 24k now to 30-35k over the next 5-10 years we will have the foudation to grow a very strong and powerful club.

The AFL have your money not the ACT government but again that’s another debate.

In our short period of time we have manage to create 2,500 members there in Canberra, we have promoted football in a territory that would otherwise have had none and we have been able to stop running games at a loss during a period where we do not have a strong following.

I believe it has been a win-win relationship but it is not going to be the future of the club. I am all for the club expanding its horizons, I do not mind us playing some games away from our home as long as we do not lose sight of who we are, or lose any of the pride or passion.

I think we made the correct decision not to train at Optus Oval and to work on creating the facilities we need at Arden Street. It is the longer and more difficult road but it is the right road to take. We can afford at this point in time to make that kind of decision, because the club is growing, we will soon be able to be run without any assistance and we do not have a premiership team or even a favourable draw in terms of broadcasting.

There are many areas where we can improve significantly, if those things all fall into place then we will have the luxury in the future to be stubborn, to make decisions based on pride and not worry about having the money to survive.

If we manage to rebuild quicker than anyone expected or anticipated and can have another strong on-field period I think our future will be very bright in the years to come. Sustained success over a long period of time is what clubs really need to turn things around. it is just difficult to do with the way the AFL is structured.