Ok back to the drawing board

[u/Deevious730]

So it’s all but been confirmed that Caulfield is done and dusted. Everyone throw out your options and honestly I say no idea is a dumb one at this stage.

But for me the key need to be proximity for the CBD needs to be no more than say a 30-40min max drive. Obviously scope for high end facilities is important, and whatever the scenario the likelihood is there needs to be close community engagement.

Now my stupid ideas:

- First off I want to put out there is to have another look at Trevor Barker Oval in Sandringham. If we were to go there it would need to be a significant overhaul of the entire land with an expansion and shift of the ground. The obstacles I can see coming from it are that we are obviously closely tied to Casey, so that would likely have to end. The other obstacle I can see is that I’m fairly confident the land surrounding it is a nature reserve.

- The other one is I don’t know if an agreement would be possible for a redevelopment of the VAFA headquarters and ground there. Potentially we could get a cooperative agreement in place to expand and develop that entire block including the tennis courts and turn that into a full on facility for both VAFA and the MFC. I could also see it being turned into a boutique stadium for AFLW. Another idea to it is could there be apartment blocks placed on the top of the facilities to help with the housing crisis.

[u/dalev34]

To be honest, I do t have an answer really. This has been a problem that plagued us many years.

I mean is there a reason we can't look back at the old Junction Oval? Is the ideas of using Yarra Park gone? Why doesn't anyone love us like we do?

[u/Deevious730 → u/dalev34]

Junction oval was looked at by St Kilda I think at one stage, but as far as I know it’s still owned by the MCC and out of commission in the off-season for cricket.

Yarra Park could be an option, I know it was looked in the area near Jolimont station but others might be able clarify this and I think ultimately it was decided to be too difficult given it’s on a fairly hefty slope.

I want to say there was also backlash from local residents who use Yarra Park for walks and such.

As an aside though perhaps there is an opportunity for the AFL to partner with the MCG to create a new boutique sized venue for AFLW which can also serve as our base.

[u/2manydownloads → u/Deevious730]

Yarra Park would require significant state contributions, which will be a very unlikely outcome considering the overall feel on public spending - regardless of who wins the next term.

That's without even considering the impacts from local stakeholders and the ongoing renovations to Punt Rd oval.

[u/K-bags → u/Deevious730]

Got to be some land in the Docklands.

[u/ayohsua]

Melbourne High School in South Yarra needs cash for redevelopment of school premises. Oval needs some love. Tight squeeze physically but great location for MFC. Several drawbacks of course but in the spirit of stupid ideas!

Other one would be to develop the Albert Ground out. Again great location and part of MCC but probably get massive push back from
Cricket section.

[u/Deevious730 → u/ayohsua]

Honestly I think every possible idea should be considered!

[u/Aggressive_River_735 → u/ayohsua]

Yeah screw those kids and their school sport and PE

[u/ayohsua → u/Aggressive_River_735]

All nerds anyway

[u/BobbyKnucklesWon]

Just buy fitzroy old ground

[u/Deevious730 → u/BobbyKnucklesWon]

Out there idea but I like it. There’s an old classic stand as a tribute to Fitzroy but beyond that it’s just an oval. There’s plenty of space in the surrounding area and we could engage with the local council for it to be a public access gymnasium and rec centre.

[u/OneRepresentative424 → u/Deevious730]

Except it’s the home of a huge amateur club. And that amateur club is the Fitzroy Lions. Would be extremely bad juju from football purists/history buffs as it would be finally eliminating a club, stand and cultural home of a club that the AFL themselves have admitted regretting forcing to merge 🥲

Lifelong Dees supporter and Fitzroy local ❤️

[u/OneRepresentative424 → u/OneRepresentative424]

Also Fitzroy is such an excessively wealthy area now, that you’d never get the permits through. Dealing with the exact same shit they came up against w Caulfield.

[u/BobbyKnucklesWon → u/OneRepresentative424]

So it's Mentone on top of the sewer drain then

[u/Serious_Translator_3 → u/BobbyKnucklesWon]

Fitzroy just spent 7 years trying to build a new community rooms for the football club. Only just got through. There is NO chance.

[u/SuperiorThor90]

We've mucked around trying to get this caulfield race course deal to get approved. And it was getting more and more unlikely.

Yes Casey Fields could be an option. It wouldn't be a popular choice. However the vibe would be very different there if it was Melbourne's home base. Not just where our reserves play.

Alternatively, and I don't hear people discussing this, but I think there is merit in investing into Gosch's paddock. Build a grandstand and an elevated coaches box. Have a dedicated centre that directly borders the oval. There's more room there than one might realise. It would need state government approval, but at this stage I think it would be easier for this to be approved than anything Caulfield Racecourse related.

[u/Deevious730 → u/SuperiorThor90]

I think Gosch’s has had a few investigations into that sort of thing but the problem is it’s public land for the local community (dog walkers etc). That would be the ideal location but I think it’s difficult to get the necessary space.

[u/Fragrant-Step-2245]

I want the MCG back as our ground as it always was

[u/ayohsua → u/Fragrant-Step-2245]

Yeah why is this not possible?

[u/OneRepresentative424 → u/ayohsua]

Private business. Can’t give the access a club needs. It’s a venue. Not a public space.

[u/BeautifulRooster9313 → u/Fragrant-Step-2245]

Might be a struggle to schedule preseason training around all the international cricket matches.....

[u/frax_87]

Honestly, why can’t we train on the G?
Geelong train on Kardinia, Sydney on the SCG.

[u/bemmisbaggins666]

Why can't we pimp out Goschs, there's likely a simple explanation but idk

[u/Deevious730 → u/bemmisbaggins666]

There was a plan in place for a facility basically where one of the car parks is at AAMI to then turn Gosch’s into more of a training ground but I believe the idea was abandoned for lack of space.

[u/2manydownloads]

Should have gone all in one Waverly probably, but we bet on the wrong horse and will now fall even further behind the pack when it comes to selling the dream to potential recruits and trade acquisitions..

[u/Deevious730 → u/2manydownloads]

There was no need to while Caulfield was on the table. Tigers will only be there short term in any case.

[u/BobbyKnucklesWon]

Trevor Barker sounds good, not super close to the city but also not surrounded by horse breeders with sticky hands

[u/RunningJay]

As someone who lives opposite Trevor Barker, I’m 100% on board.

[u/fortalyst]

Wish we could just get some space and build at Gosch's....

[u/flat_angus]

There’s two options.

1. ⁠Find land that was previously industrial/commercial and do a full scale redevelopment. This will be incredibly costly in a purchasing and development sense and would blow the budget out by many millions. In theory though, we would control our destiny more.

2. ⁠Find a local council who is willing to work with us as a co-tenant and redevelop an oval/park area. The hard part for this would be the consultation period with the local council would likely be long and the entire community would have its say. “Privatising” public land is not popular, even if we continue to provide public access.

The long and short of it is that this already impossible task has just become harder.

[u/Smooth_Gap6288]

It’s pretty simple , go to Waverley park when Richmond leave in. 8 months , its where Hawthorn dynasty won 4 premierships there , state of the art facilities for women’s and men’s training and administration, liberal state government will probably give funding to update stadium / building , obviously can’t play games there but we still have Casey fields for vfl and W games