Breaking News from Shanghai: Not good news

[longtimesaint]

It would be for team balance if they wanted Hind to come into the team in place of a sick player, and Hind would be a better like for like than White.

[fugazi]

Stupid gimmick of an event
WTF are we playing in China for....as if they give a s***
Now half a dozen players sick
Lets hope it's not gut parasites as they can take ages to get better.
Should have done the Warney and flown our own baked beans in.

[WellardSaint]

Well I’m over here now and just warming up in case I get a late call up.

Just promise you won't just bomb it into F50,
you will actually look for a leading player.

We're all behind you (unless you have the runs, then the only person behind you
will be a nurse with a bedpan )

[Annoyedsaint]

Stupid gimmick of an event
WTF are we playing in China for....as if they give a s***
Now half a dozen players sick
Lets hope it's not gut parasites as they can take ages to get better.
Should have done the Warney and flown our own baked beans in.

We are over there because of the ridiculous debt we have.
If we gain $500k out of it I’m all for it until the debt is wiped. I couldn’t care if we played in Antarctica, rather do that than go broke. We currently can’t compete off field with that debt noose around our neck. Flow on affect is we can’t disobey any AFL orders or they cut funding, etc

AFL should be paying a large chunk of that debt anyway because of the s*** stadium deal we had for so long.
Will be very interesting to see if profit and cash flow improves with the new deal combined with being back at Moorabbin.

[WellardSaint]

NZ experiment didn't work out, and we tried Tassy - I recall Butters saying that playing in Tassy
was a "no brainer" and it would be great for the club...we gave that up and let the Hawks take over.
We should embrace China, if only as a way to make a truckload of $$$.
The club won't be getting any Friday night games for a fair while, until we get into the top 6 of the ladder,
and attract more than 25k to our home games.
So our poor performance and poor supporter base means we have to sell our souls to the Devil, i.e. the AFL

[Annoyedsaint]

NZ experiment didn't work out, and we tried Tassy - I recall Butters saying that playing in Tassy
was a "no brainer" and it would be great for the club...we gave that up and let the Hawks take over.
We should embrace China, if only as a way to make a truckload of $$$.
The club won't be getting any Friday night games for a fair while, until we get into the top 6 of the ladder,
and attract more than 25k to our home games.
So our poor performance and poor supporter base means we have to sell our souls to the Devil, i.e. the AFL

Playing in China is purely for $$$, it’s not an experiment to play there all the time in future.

However, I disagree on supporter base. The fans are there (50k against Brisbane in 2004), and regularly 35-40k at home games between 2004-2011. Stadium deal meant we made no money and had no buffer when things turned for the worse.

We have to do something, and if no rich supporter (eg. Gutnick) will bail us out then we need to do anything we can to pay the debt down. Richmond and Melbourne also had special fundraisers organised by the boards at the time. Cannot stress enough that it needs to be rid of before we can become more competitive off field (I.e. get best coaches and assistants as well as general managers).
The extra wages we could then offer rather than burning cash on loan interest can’t be underestimated.

[minneapolis]

ShangHai is one of the great cities of the world.

As a club, we had a choice (and thank god we were offered it). Play Port in a home game at Marvel and make $30,000 profit or play Port in a home game in ShangHai and make a million bucks.

In the past the club spent $200,000+ to send the team overseas as a learning experience. Now we have a chance to do the same, with the full resources of the AF and the media, and get paid for it.

The club consulted many experts, including Lade who had been there twice, how to plan a successful trip. Of course the food they ate was part of the plan.

As anyone who has been to Asia knows, you can get sick taking a shower or walking down the street. It is just bad luck.

Now we have a chance to make a valiant statement. Like the one when we earned our shield. What an opportunity.

[Laurie]

Apparently Acres arrived in China with a virus and high temperature and was picked up at the airport screening hence being dropped.
Did the others pick up the same virus as well not sure.
However if they did go out and eat a restaurant questions do need to asked and someone held accountable be it coach doctor dietitian etc how unprofessional is the club if this was allowed to happen.
I hear Port Adelaide take their own food to China well done Port Adelaide .

[66Iwasthere]

Sick of reading the suggestions that our club has been negligent in this issue. If you read the article in yesterdays Herald Sun you will see the meticulous planning that our dietician did in planning what food we would take and where and what the team should eat once over there. She even collaborated with some restaurants on the types of food and where it should be sourced from.

[BarryGrogan]

I've eaten all sorts of s*** in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Vietnam.

Never had a single problem.

[maverick]

Have to agree nothing wrong with the food, Shanghai is a massive city, massive with a large amount of western food and high quality Asian food
The chances of getting food poisoning there are as high as getting it at the mcg dining room

If they are sick they took it with them

[tony74]

Certainly didn’t get it from the food. As sure as I can be

[perfectionist]

At least the plane didn't crash.

[the dome]

"I hear Port Adelaide take their own food to China well done Port Adelaide."

If true St.Kilda could take a leaf out of the Port's considered approach.
Banking a mil is where St.Kilda is at because the likes of St.Kilda & Port need the $$ to level out the playing field.

[The Fireman]

oh well at least we will have a credible excuse after this drubbing.

Scraping in over the cheats we were never going to win this one anyway.

[The Fireman]

oh well at least we will have a credible excuse after this drubbing.

Scraping in over the cheats we were never going to win this one anyway.

sorry got it wrong.....no excuses

[samuraisaint]

Sick of reading the suggestions that our club has been negligent in this issue. If you read the article in yesterdays Herald Sun you will see the meticulous planning that our dietician did in planning what food we would take and where and what the team should eat once over there. She even collaborated with some restaurants on the types of food and where it should be sourced from.

Well, this is as bad as it gets, so if they didn't all eat out and get sick from dodgy food, after selling our home game, and then serve this tripe up, then there would want to be heads rolling. It would want to be food poisoning because if this is the best they can do after selling our home game to a side we never beat and never play at home anyway, then something is definitely awry.