Fox Footy's Round Table - Tuesday 8.30 p.m

[Doctor]

I just hope Andrew doesn't get ambushed. Not sure which side Kochy sits, but the ambulance chaser is firmly in Eddie's camp/pocket, so it may get a bit uneasy for him.

Gerard has been a bit antsy on Sydney since we towelled up his beloved Cats last year, so I'm not expecting any real favours from him, even moreso given Eddie is a Fox stooge to boot...

Watch his interview with Hird. Kochy does understand that it's a national game so I suspect him to be fairly balanced. Peter Gordon is the interesting one for me.

[Dosser]

So does Eddie wear his Fox Footy employee's hat or his Collingwood president's hat?

Should be a very interesting hour. Gerard Whateley is bound to keep a good handle on things too.

Wear the fox hat?

[WauchopeAnalyst]

Just saw a little ad for the Round Table discussion with Kochie totally opposite to fat Eddie regarding TV rights. Suprised Eddie says that the most important is Victoria but Kochie says no Eddie your totally wrong, its NSW and Queensland. Just a teaser!

[jono2707]

Eddie is making a fool of himself so far. Blathering away, he's lost his cool, whilst the other three are remaining calm and well spoken. Plenty of holes picked in his flimsy arguments by the other three, plus Whateley, at this stage.

[WauchopeAnalyst]

Andrew Pridham did a very good job and didn't accept crap. Fat Eddie talked all about Victoria and the" big clubs" and need big dollars with Carlton and Essendon playing well. Eddie stll believes that the VFL is the centre of Australia, if not the whole world. But Andrew and Kochie were thinking the same thing and the fact that 52% of Australia population lives in NSW and Queensland and if it fails then so will AFL. Very interesting show but get someone else instead off Eddie so the other guests get a intelligent perspective.

[i'm-uninformed2]

Kochie brilliantly put the challenge in Sydney/NSW in perspective. Left old triple chin looking like a dribbler

[lorakf]

Eddie proved that he just doesn't get it, or at best, he just doesn't care. The key moment for me when Pridham and Koch were trying to explain that equalisation can never occur equally to all clubs. They conceded that teams like Collingwood will always receive a great fixture (with only 5 games maximum away from Melbourne) that they get a greater share of the better tv time slots, and will always play a grand final at home but that was fine as each club has its own advantages.
Pridham was attempting to explain to Eddie that this was why it was fair for Sydney to have things like the academies as it helps the club grow the market and playing stocks, that they were in fact vital for the AFL as a whole and just when you think Eddie might be listening he says, "You've convinced me, I think all clubs should have academies", totally missing the point they were trying to explain. Eddie's argument was basically, if your club has an advantage, then that is unfair and his club should have it too but any advantage Collingwood has is just to be accepted as unchangeable. (Pridham also stressed that it is too early to tell if the academies are even advantages at all as the clubs has spent millions of dollars so far for a return of 22 games for the club but that growing the game was the real winner from the academies and all clubs will benefit in the end)

[ScottH]

Eddie makes a lot of sense on a lot of topics.
But when the word "Collingwood" comes up his eyes glaze over, mouth seizes up and his asshole starts talking.

[Jeynez]

Eddie proved that he just doesn't get it, or at best, he just doesn't care.

This is one of the main things I took away from it too. When Kochie and Pridham were stressing the need to increase the overall revenue pie, Eddie would keep returning to his own slice of the revenue. He only cares about the best interests/future of the game when it doesn't affect Collingwood. He was going on about Melbourne Victory's membership numbers for a bit, but he didn't see the overall picture. There are only two Victorian based Soccer teams, and I bet you'd find that Melbourne Victory members are also AFL club members. Soccer has long overtaken AFL in popularity in QLD and NSW; the kids would much rather play Soccer or Rugby before AFL. Without the Academies, AFL won't be getting the first choice talent from the North-East.

[Mel_C]

I missed the discussion on the academies but caught the end when Eddie was asked if he was in charge of the swans would he have done anything to get Buddy. He said he would want Buddy and COLA and the academies. He said that we didn't break any rules getting Buddy but that we used the rules to our advantage. To me that makes it sound like we were underhanded. And isn't that the same comments that his puppet Gordon said about us last year??

I liked how Eddie thought the big challenge of the AFL was for Essendon and Carlton to become power houses again and that Victoria was important for the tv rights, whereas Kochie was adamant that the success of NSW and Qld was more important. It was an unbiased view compared to Eddie's Victorian centric world.

[jono2707]

Eddie came out of it very poorly compared to the others. Of the four, he came a distant fourth.

[Doctor]

I missed the discussion on the academies but caught the end when Eddie was asked if he was in charge of the swans would he have done anything to get Buddy. He said he would want Buddy and COLA and the academies. He said that we didn't break any rules getting Buddy but that we used the rules to our advantage. To me that makes it sound like we were underhanded. And isn't that the same comments that his puppet Gordon said about us last year??

I liked how Eddie thought the big challenge of the AFL was for Essendon and Carlton to become power houses again and that Victoria was important for the tv rights, whereas Kochie was adamant that the success of NSW and Qld was more important. It was an unbiased view compared to Eddie's Victorian centric world.

The Buddy thing was the main moment where I thought Eddie was prepared to drop his bombast and say "yeah I'd have done it too". It came across as grudging admiration actually.

The friction between McGuire and Koch was far greater than it was between any of the others.

[magic.merkin]

maybe i'll catch it on youtube one day

[DamY]

Gerard's well spoken but he's essentially as soft as butter. He's only critical when it's popular opinion or something he won't be pulled up on.

The floor will be Eddie's. I'm not sure I can be bothered with it.

I have to disagree with you, Whateley has typically been quite unwavering and stands up to Robbo and guests on AFL360 quite frequently. He did turn on the Swans after the Buddy deal though IIRC

[graemed]

As much as I dislike McGuire, his football politics, his opinions and his attitude, I thought he was the best performed spokesperson for his club.His acumen and performance skills held him in good stead and while I could not agree with a single thing he said, he said it convincingly and unfortunately had the loudest voice.
Koch was eloquent and considered and understood the whole picture but he was too pleasant and he was only strong on a couple of issues and even then allowed himself to be talked over.
Gordon, for me was the most impressive. He spoke with clarity and reserve but there was an intelligence in his arguments that reflected a deep understanding of their consequences. This was especially true when speaking about drugs and money.
Pridham appeared slightly overwhelmed by the whole process. It appeared he had a lot more to say on many issues but felt too polite to interrupt or talk out of turn.
Whately was reasonable and the topics were vanilla enough to avoid real conflict.