Footy Pannel at the ELC

[LostDoggy]

Hi guys just rang the club and found out that they will be doing a Footy panel at the ELC on 07/08/08. Apparently there will be a panel, funnily enough, featuring aka and Cooney as well as some people from the H Sun. Details. I was told that more details will be available closer to the date but they are taking details of interested people. There will also be tours of the ELC on the night. Thought it might be of some interest to some people.

I think Cost wise you are looking at $20 dollars Social Club can't be used for this night.

[Twodogs]

Sounds good.



Aker is downright funny and Puck Puck is one strange dude.

[LostDoggy]

Ill be there. Should be a great night.

[LostDoggy]

As long as I can get ot of another comitment I should be there. Sounds like a good night.

[LostDoggy]

Just spoke to the club about this and they said that it is going to be a debate and not a pannel. Starts at 630. It will have Aker, Cooney, Mike Sheahan, Mark Stevens and Mark Robinson. I am assuming there will be another person to even up the numbers of the teams. Finger food provided.

[Max469]

Just spoke to the club about this and they said that it is going to be a debate and not a pannel. Starts at 630. It will have Aker, Cooney, Mike Sheahan, Mark Stevens and Mark Robinson. I am assuming there will be another person to even up the numbers of the teams. Finger food provided.


Already booked in a week ago - looking forward to this. $15

[Desipura]

Hi guys just rang the club and found out that they will be doing a Footy panel at the ELC on 07/08/08. Apparently there will be a panel, funnily enough, featuring aka and Cooney as well as some people from the H Sun. Details. I was told that more details will be available closer to the date but they are taking details of interested people. There will also be tours of the ELC on the night. Thought it might be of some interest to some people.

I think Cost wise you are looking at $20 dollars Social Club can't be used for this night.
Mike, I believe you will be in attendance along with Robbo and a few players? What can we expect from the night?

[The Coon Dog]

I just rang the club. $15 for members & finger food supplied. No tables, just seating.

I intend to book later in the week, who wants to come along? Let me know & I'll book.

[LostDoggy]

Ill come along and sit with yas Coon Dog..

[The Coon Dog]

Ill come along and sit with yas Coon Dog..
Thanxxx Alexxx!

[Max469]

I have already booked - but it would be nice to meet a few Woofers.

[The Coon Dog]

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/6471/scanyn7.jpg

[LostDoggy]

I'll be there!
Also booked into the Bulldog Footy Show next Thursday. At Williamstown RSL I believe - wherever that is.

[LostDoggy]

Wills on next week, cant remember who else cause when they said Will was on i blocked everything else out :D.

[The Coon Dog]

Wills on next week, cant remember who else cause when they said Will was on i blocked everything else out :D.
I can just see Kevin Hillier with that devious little look before he talks to Will about the Cornes matter. :D

[aker39]

I'll be there!
Also booked into the Bulldog Footy Show next Thursday. At Williamstown RSL I believe - wherever that is.


Wills on next week, cant remember who else cause when they said Will was on i blocked everything else out :D.


I will also be there on Thursday, with 12 other of my family members.

Williamstown RSL is on the corner of Melbourne Rd and Ferguson St

The 2 other panel members are Jarrod Grant and Henry Jolsen.

[LostDoggy]

Its gunna be interesting..

Aker will get a question about the Handstand issue, cant wait to hear what he has to say..

[comrade]

Any reports? Was it all happy families? Is an implosion imminent? :p

[The Coon Dog]

So, who has booked for this?

[LostDoggy]

I have!

[LostDoggy]

I have! (thanks TCD :))

[firstdogonthemoon]

moi!

[LostDoggy]

Western Bulldogs Footy Panel in partnership with the Herald Sun

Due to popular demand we regret to advise that the Western Bulldogs Footy Panel scheduled for Thursday 7 August is now BOOKED OUT.

[LostDoggy]

Yeah and the bloody idiots didnt end up putting my name down, i go to selectors every week yet they somehow forgot to put my name down.

Pack of bloody idiots.

[LostDoggy]

This is gunna be a cracker! Especially with everything that has happened this week, really looking forward to it

[bornadog]

This is gunna be a cracker! Especially with everything that has happened this week, really looking forward to it

Full report on Friday please;)

[BulldogBelle]

l will be there.

Should be good!!!

[LostDoggy]

I'll be there too. There is a possibility of 2 spare tickets as the people that were going to come have fallen ill and may not be able to make it so if any one is interested PM me and I will keep you posted I should know at about lunch time.

[LostDoggy]

I have 2 tickets available if anybody is interested let me know and I'll arange your names to go on the the list so you can get in the only thing is it will cost you the $20 as it was reserved for no members.

[LostDoggy]

Great show tonight

Ill try and keep it short and sweet..

Started bit late, 7.00ish, finished 8.40...
First up was Cam Rose with a great speech about the ELC, and the current issue with the stand their building..

Out came Aker, Cooney (with a COOOOOON from the crowd), Mark Robinson, Mike Shehan and Mark Stevens...

Ill type up some quick highlights;

-Aker massive wrap on Cooney..was asked a question about how good Cooney is and Aker applauded his skill and the fact that he should be aware how much of a good year hes having, also believes hes on 15-18 brownlow votes. "Quote: Bartel has been good the past 4 weeks but what about Cooney? He has been so consistant through out the year" so didnt think Bartel was up there at the momen.

-Funny story from Aker about the Mildura 2nds when he was playing there, there was a gay player just had a funny shower story..which started many funny little gay comments eg. when talkin about Granty "They say Daylesford is the gay capital of Victoria"..Cooney & Aker also found it necessary to mention Jarrod Grant having lets say "well hung" haha..it came up when they mentioned Grant had groin problems (OP).

-Yet another Aker thing (he talked a fair bit, which is great) - this guy gives big wraps to Tommy Williams which is great to hear...said something along the lines of "He is such an amazing player, should see his best next year, could be in the all australian side in the next years to come.. may play round 22 and have him in for the first week against the hawks, because he will play on Franklin and he will beat him." which the crowd loved..

-Quick on Didak issue, Shehan said he feels more sorry for Shaw, Didak has had his chances...Mark Stevens talked to Peter Rohde today who said Adelaide (pretty sure it was Adelaide, i thought he was at Port) are quite interested in him.

Cant remember much more right now....Robinson got grilled in a question about why West wasnt in the league of "Great Players" believes hes a Great Doggies player though..

Aker on Jarrod Crouch: "Hes hard and fast but defenitely not a fair player"

Cooney mentioned he would rather play Hawks at the G over the dome so we could get more people in (crowd applauded)
Also a teacher from St Albans Primary i think it was praised Cooney...a troublesome kid in his class wrote a letter to Cooney and a few weeks later got a handwritten 3/4 of page letter (which aker said 'yeah he thanked me for that' lol) but great to hear that

Thats all i cbf writing right now if anything else springs to mind ill post it - or leave it to anyone else! Cheers

[hujsh]

Rhode's definitely at Port. They would be interested

[The Coon Dog]

I reckon there would have been around 500 people there tonight & all received a pie, sausage roll & can of drink as they entered.

The panel consisted of Kevin Hillier as compare, Jason Akermanis & Adam Cooney from the Bulldogs & Mark Robinson, Mark Stevens & Mike Sheehan from the Herald Sun.

Cam Rose took the opportunity to thank the Herald Sun for using the Western Bulldogs as the inaugural night for the Herald Sun footy panel.

Made brief comments about the redevelopment including the spat with the council which he didn't go into in any detail suffice to say it was extremely complicated. The EJ Whitten Stand redevelopment is expected to open in a fortnight.

The stadium deal at Telstra Dome is not up for re-negotiation. The AFL negotiated the deal for us & now realise how inequitable it is & will continue to support us thru the AFL divident which will be increased in lieu of the CBF as this has a negative conotation.

Mike Sheehan made many friends right off the bat when he declared that he was a member of the Western Bulldogs (along with Melbourne & North Melbourne).

Robbo said that to get around the bias of writing about the club you barrack for you generally went a little more aggressively.

Mark Stevens has been accused of writing too many Bulldogs articles!

Coons rarely reads the paper if we lose. He also said that when Aker coming to the Bulldogs the players met & spoke about the pros & cons. Nathan Eagleton was the inspiration behing his new haircut, which he was shocked to see looked to awful when reviewing the video. The line has gone as the two tone wasn't a good look. Didn't realise how strong Chris Judd was when we played Carlton.

Aker was asked about starting in the back pocket. He said that decision was made early last week & not to shake off Jarrod Crouch. Aker made it very clear Crouch doesn't play within the rules. Felt the first few minutes of the Swans game he was in an air raid, the ball kept being kicked over his head.

Robbo couldn't wait to discuss the Didak situation at Collingwood. He felt that the Pies would forgive Heath Shaw, but not Didak. He reckons Heath Shaw is the best actor in the world the way he fooled everyone at the press conference, felt he lived the lie!! Felt Eddie was skilled at using the camera & he had a real crack at Robbo over his reporting of it. Mike Sheehan was staggered that Heath Shaw was not suspended despite blowing 0.144 but was rubbed out for telling a lie. Shehan was critical of the culture at the Lexus Centre which he said was akin to Universal Studios where everyone who gets there is a star within 6 months!

Coons was asked about losing his temper playing on Aker in a pre season clash. Coons admitted he lost his focus. Aker admitted deliberately needling him, but then spoke afterwards with him to explain it was how he dealt with this type of attention that was important in his development.

Aker was extremely disappointed with a recent Michael Voss article where he said Aker always struggled against Geelong. Aker said that his best ever game of AFL football was against Geelong in 2005. He said Voss suffered from amnesia as he's probably polled more Brownlow votes against Geelong than any other team. Put simply he said Voss was a dick head, who would initially struggle as a coach as he needs someone to lead him; not creative enough!

Aker claims he's so happy that he's playing with a terrific group of men. Luke Power & Nigel Lappin are his only 2 friends at Brisbane.

Robbo enjoys reading Robert Murphy's column, but can't understand what Chris Judd write's about as on his own planet.

Some of Aker's contreversial articles fail to get off the ground. Wanted to write about the gay trainer issue that cropped up recently in country Victoria. Talked about how he'd played with a gay footballer when he was younger & it was a complete non issue by his team mates. Felt that purely on statistics alone there had to be players at AFL level who are gay. Mark Stevens than said whilst there would be enormous pressure on the first player to come out, the financial rewards could be enormous & mentioned a 7 figure sum. On hearing that figure Coones raised his arms & cracked everyone up!!

Robbo felt this was the best season in a long time. Competition so even & seeing improvement in Richmond, Carlton & Essendon was a good thing as there's nothing like a packed MCG. There's real excitement in Melbourne. He can't wait for the first final between the Dogs & Hawthorn.

Mike Sheehan feels st this point Geelong are clearly the best team, but in a Grand Final both sides start even. He can't wait to see Tom Williams out on the paddock. Mark Stevens felt he was the player in the AFL most athletically equipped to take on Buddy Franklin. Aker said Tom will be a superstar & an all Australian within 24 months!

Aker asked Mike Sheehan who the player he most liked to interview? Mike said Aker, because even if you asked 'how are you' you got a story.

They discussed whether Scott West was a champion. Mike & Robbo both stopped short of classing him a champion, but claimed he was a champion of the Western Bulldogs. Robbo said it was like a great mother who wasn't mother of the year, she's still a great mother tho.

Aker has an altitude machine at home & he masks up & rides his bike. Perhaps had gone too hard on the bike recently, said it was trying to get out of a hole by digging harder, but at 31 years of age the sand was quicksand. Confirmed the training was recently ramped up for a few weeks.

Mark Stevens said it was a shame Chris Grant hasn't had a public send off & would love to see him do a lap of honour. Got the biggest cheer of the night.

Mike's top 50. He was queried about his selection criteria. he said the top 10 wasn't too difficult, but from there it gets tougher as there are about 120 players who are very good. he looks for consistently good players who can influence games.

A school teacher from St. Albans thanked Adam Cooney for personally replying to a letter from a student with a few issues. The teacher was a Geelong fan, but was very impressed that Adam took the time to hand write a response to this boy & it had made a huge difference.

I think that covered most of it.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Thanks for the reports guys, much appreciated.

Have you learnt shorthand, Baz? I can just see you with your notepad and pleated skirt, propped up on Cooney's lap taking dictation.

[The Underdog]

Thanks guys, some great stuff there.

[LostDoggy]

I thought it was a great night. It got off on a great start with Cam Rose's speech good to get an insight to whats going on with the redevelopment and that a surplus will be made again this year about the same if not more than last year. He also said that we will continue to see the benifits of hard decisions made over the last 6 years of the comming years and that we are going from strength to strength on and off the field as we continue our push to T32. He said that 6 years ago that the Dogs were printed in the media as relocating to SE Qld that is not the case now due to us having a great board, president and playing group. (Cam you should be proud of what you have done because you have done a brilliant job and should be remembered as one of our great CEOs because of your efforts and vision)

Aka was great it was the first time that I have seen him at a footy show and he seems as though he loves playing with the group and said he was lucky to come to a pace full of such good men and that it was very rare to come to a place where you can be around 15 - 20 great people.

Darren Goldspink (sorry about the spelling) apparently is a mad doggies fan as well as his entire family and Aka is constantly signing stuff for him at SEN as his spot is usually on before aka's. Never would have guessed that.

It was a fantastic night and if another one occurs highly recommend you go to it.

Oh and Robbo kept pointing out "You see this is what we have to put up with at the H/Sun Stevens going on and on about the Dogs every chance he gets."

Stevens also had a little jab at Mike after his "Pretenders" story after the Geelong going saying something like its not to bad when you have lost 2 out of 15."

[Mantis]

Darren Goldspink (sorry about the spelling) apparently is a mad doggies fan as well as his entire family and Aka is constantly signing stuff for him at SEN as his spot is usually on before aka's. Never would have guessed that.




Not sure about Darren, but I do know his family (especially his kids) are big fans. Have seen them decked out in Bulldog's colours at quite a few games over the years.

And thanks for the reports, sounds like it was a good night.

[bornadog]

Great reports , enjoyed the read over my morning coffee.

TCD, I don't know how you remember everything and write it in such detail, keep up the good work. You haven't got one of those dictation machines in your pocket:D

What was the purpose of the panel? Was it an information evening for supporters?

[LostDoggy]

Yeah thanks for the reports, its always great to read about things when your not there.

[LostDoggy]

The pannel was pretty just 6 blokes talking about the game and its current state. No real purpose or set agneder. The MC didn't direct what topics were discussed they just opened the floor and went from there. Like I said 6 blokes that talking about the game they clearly love. I did however find it interesting when the journos talked about what they consider when they write because they are fully aware that it just doesn't affect the player of club but their families as well and they said that they do find it difficault sometimes because they are talking about people's lives.

[The Coon Dog]

TCD, I don't know how you remember everything and write it in such detail, keep up the good work. You haven't got one of those dictation machines in your pocket:D


No, I haven't. I just write very fast & hope like hell that when I get home I can read what I have written.

[LostDoggy]

Baz, did Cam Rose say anything about a new sponser? and if so when could we expect an annoucement?

[LostDoggy]

No Mention about a new major sponser

[The Coon Dog]

Baz, did Cam Rose say anything about a new sponser? and if so when could we expect an annoucement?

No, I was hoping he would have mentioned something, or even an provided an opportunity to ask questions, but unfortunately after his opening address he left the stage.

[LostDoggy]

everybody's a pro poker player now days!!

[LostDoggy]

everybody's a pro poker player now days!!

Ummm what has that got to do with anything bulldogs related?

Cam Rose had a quick laugh about Herald Sun being a sponser...i think he was trying to hint it haha

[LostDoggy]

Ummm what has that got to do with anything bulldogs related?

Cam Rose had a quick laugh about Herald Sun being a sponser...i think he was trying to hint it haha

Would you think that the H/Sun being a major sponser would be a possibility? I know theAge sponser the Staints would be a good get if they did

[The Underdog]

Would you think that the H/Sun being a major sponser would be a possibility? I know theAge sponser the Staints would be a good get if they did

I can't imagine the "Collingwood newsletter" sponsoring us. Certainly not as a major sponsor. Can't imagine a newspaper being the major sponsor of any team.

On a side note, enjoyed Aker's assessment of Voss. Doesn't surprise.

[LostDoggy]

Sorry westernmonkey i get it now, should of got it straight away im a big poker fan..

Herald Sun sponsering would be great for us... We would see last nights panel show a couple times a year!

[Pembleton]

Sorry westernmonkey i get it now, should of got it straight away im a big poker fan..

Herald Sun sponsering would be great for us... We would see last nights panel show a couple times a year!

Rose actually made a comment about the possibility of it becoming a quarterly event.

[Cyberdoggie]

Thanks for the reports guys, much appreciated.

Have you learnt shorthand, Baz? I can just see you with your notepad and pleated skirt, propped up on Cooney's lap taking dictation.

hehe, that's grose! :rolleyes:

[Pembleton]

A little more reporting for all those who didn't get there...

I have only skimmed the reprts by others, so if any of this doubles up, i apologise.

Interesting to see that someone described Cam Rose's speech as great, because i thought it was pretty boring, and went much too long. Hearing him descibe in depth, why the ELC was named such, was pretty painful. When i say in depth, each word in the acronym got its own very drawn out explanation. Nobody has ever said 'elite' so many times in a 5 minute spell. It probably seems like i am being harsh, but this part of the speech was very thin on substance, pretty high on cliche (can we possible get 'at the end of the day' banned in this country?), and seemed largely designed around certain positive sound bytes. So it was much like a politician speech.

That was only part of his speech though, he did also move onto to substantive topics, and then he had some interesting things to say.
The Dogs will post a profit again this year, and should continue to do so in the future.
Stadium Deal: It is NEVER up for renegotiation. The AFL did the deal, not the Dogs, and they are locked in until the AFL agreement with the developer finishes in 17 years. So, the way it works, because our deal sucks relative to other clubs, is that we subsidise everyone by basically by doing a hefty share of the paying for the stadium. This is the main reason why we get the extra AFL money each year, so you would think that is in no danger of drying up for at least 17 years. This was good to be told, because i never really understood that this is the nature of our Dome deal.

However, it is disappointing that previously i have heard different information from the same source. I have heard Rose previously talk of the possibility of negotioating the deal, yet now he says that it has never been a possibility. Perhaps he was just hopeful that we could get the deal changed, rather than it really being open to negotiation.

It was interesting to hear Cam mention the talk of us relocating back when he took over, and specifically to mention the gold coast. I remember attending a Footscray Forver Coterie meeting as a guest where Rose spoke, in his early days with the club, He was enthusiastically 'selling' the opportunities for the club in SE QLD. It was going to be our Darwin, before Darwin became our Darwin...i hope you can follow that. I'm not suggesting anything sinister or even being critical about it, the club has made no secret of looking interstate for opportunities to raise revenue, but it did strike me that perhaps some of the talk of relocation to SE QLD came about because Cam was in fact looking to that area as a possible 'second home'.

Cooney is bright. I've barely seen the guy in non footy settings, because he isn't in the media much, and i was impressed with his sharp mind. Nothing major, but just his quick witted humour suggests he is a pretty clever guy.

Aker rates Voss as a coach pretty much the way most people do (that i speak to anyway)...not very highly. Aker said that as a plyer, Voss didn't have the kind of creative footy mind that would suit coaching, basically, he wasn't a thinking player.

Sheahan Robinson and Stevens were good without being ground breaking. Robinson got into Edde a bit, which was good to hear really, because i think Eddie is generally not viewed with enough cynicism.

The panel got stuck on talking about whether various players are/were champions. Pretty boring stuff. It's not an official title, who cares if Mark Robinson wants to label West a champion or not? I think that 'Champion' should probably go on that banned list, or at the least people who want to use it a lot should keep a dictionary handy.

I was a late ring in for another guy who had booked but couldn't make it, so i don't have much idea about how the food was advertised, but, I was disappointed at the pie and sausage roll with a coke dinner. At least having water as a drink option would have helped, but also a vegetarian option would have been good. Salad rolls and water would cost no more than pies and coke.

Overall, a pretty good night for a dogs fan.

[Pembleton]

A little more...

Robinson is apparently cynical of the idea of hard training cycles. On this issue, Aker said that the bye week wasn't really a break for them, as they trained hard on both the Friday and Monday, and i think he suggested they had a hard period following on from that, without defining how many weeks that lasted. He spoke in more detail about his own situation, saying that he had been doing extra training every night on an altitude machine (which i think is a mask you wear that limits the amount of oxygen in the air you breath, thus mimicking high altitude areas. You whack it on whilst riding an exercise bike). He said that he'd been over doing it, and the assumption is that that is why his form has dropped off lately. He's stayed off the machine this week.

[Sockeye Salmon]

That was only part of his speech though, he did also move onto to substantive topics, and then he had some interesting things to say.
The Dogs will post a profit again this year, and should continue to do so in the future.
Stadium Deal: It is NEVER up for renegotiation. The AFL did the deal, not the Dogs, and they are locked in until the AFL agreement with the developer finishes in 17 years. So, the way it works, because our deal sucks relative to other clubs, is that we subsidise everyone by basically by doing a hefty share of the paying for the stadium. This is the main reason why we get the extra AFL money each year, so you would think that is in no danger of drying up for at least 17 years. This was good to be told, because i never really understood that this is the nature of our Dome deal.



I have understood this to have been the case since about 2003 and have had many arguements with Bulldog and opposition supporters alike on the other board for years.

[Pembleton]

I have understood this to have been the case since about 2003 and have had many arguements with Bulldog and opposition supporters alike on the other board for years.

I always knew that the deal itself was a big part of why we get extra cash from the AFL, and i also knew that our hands were pretty tied by the AFL (we can only play where they fixture us after all), but i never knew the deal was for so long. Not sure i understand the situation fully now either, given what seem to be inconsistent comments from the admin, but I think understand a bit better now.

[LostDoggy]

We thoroughly enjoyed the evening and I can't comment any more about what was said by Cam Rose and the panel. It's been very well covered. I actually took a video of Cam's speech so am looking forward to hearing it all again (if it works on my little camera).
I would like to say thanks to the excellent organisation by the Bulldog staff, particularly Amy, Cody, Mary and Rachel and the others whose names I don't know. The whole thing went very smoothly and although you may complain about the food on offer - it was virtually a pie night (and they were hot!). With 500 people to feed in a short space of time - I thought it went very well. At least we were able to sit down.
A very good night and one I hope will be repeated on a regular basis.

[GVGjr]

Darren Goldspink (sorry about the spelling) apparently is a mad doggies fan as well as his entire family and Aka is constantly signing stuff for him at SEN as his spot is usually on before aka's. Never would have guessed that.




Not sure about Darren, but I do know his family (especially his kids) are big fans. Have seen them decked out in Bulldog's colours at quite a few games over the years.

And thanks for the reports, sounds like it was a good night.

Yes Darren's wife and children follow the Doggies and I think Darren's father follows North.

[Stevo]

It was a great night and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[The Underdog]

. At least having water as a drink option would have helped, but also a vegetarian option would have been good. Salad rolls and water would cost no more than pies and coke.



We'll have racial, sexual and class equality and world peace before a vegetarian can get a decent feed in a footy club.

[Pembleton]

We'll have racial, sexual and class equality and world peace before a vegetarian can get a decent feed in a footy club.

Hahaha, you're probably right. :)