Thought I'd revive this one and focus on the more social side of footy.
What are your favourite pubs to swing past before a game?
For the MCG for mine it is always the Cricketers and sometimes the Royal.
Cricketers is a delight to visit when playing the Tigers...their supporters pack the joint out even after they lose to us.
The Royal is great and has fantastic hospitality.
Etihad Stadium it is usually a bit of a pain to go past a pub...but the Sherlock Holmes or Royal Melbourne Hotel is usually my go.
Sherlock Holmes tends to be a little bit quieter being underground and easier/quicker to get a beer. Royal Melbourne Hotel is a little bit closer. Of course the other alternative is hit up the Locker Room Bar inside Etihad and be robbed in broad daylight.
What are your preferences in pubs before a big game?
One of the greatest ever musicians passes away and surprisingly there hasn't been a thread on this.
Makes you wonder with the absolute garbage brought out these days with every Tom, Dick and Harry masquerading as a musician that it's only a matter of time until all the classics pass away.
Seems there's a bit of angst in the trade threads about our list and what we've done (or haven't done) during this trade period. I get the feeling that part of it is to do with our years of mediocrity and that we are seemingly headed for the Club's longest ever premiership drought. Times are getting desperate.
I know I'm not the only one on here sick to death of the hole our club finds itself in both on and off the field...the fact that we haven't played in a prelim since 2000, and the fact that for the last 14 years, the club and supporters have been hanging their hats on a preliminary final victory...such is all this club has achieved since the 1995 Grand Final victory.
It cannot be good for our brand that this is the case....a lot of us are lucky enough to remember our last premiership, but for others who are not, all they have as supporters are the relics of the past that get dug up each and every September when the Blues are nowhere near it and the club attempts to make itself relevant in the modern era. But we've been nowhere near it for so long that Carlton Football Club is now irrelevant to the likes of the competition's heavyweights such as Hawthorn, who has had more success than any other club over the last 50 years and continues to produce on the field so there isn't any need to dig up footage from their glory years of the 80s to remind people.
This isn't by any means one of those "I'm done with CFC" threads, I'll always support our club and take out a membership, but I cannot be the only member/supporter who feels pessimistic about our future as a club and getting back to the top. Many of the clubs such as Richmond and Essendon, even us often talk about getting back up top "where we belong"...and this I have a problem with. We were successful in the past but it does not guarantee success in the future.
I lived in hope like a lot of others in late 2007 when Judd came across from WCE that he'd become a Carlton premiership player...but remove the navy blue glasses and while kudos goes to the club for signing Judd, one player does not make a team. It has been a severe case of list mismanagement/imbalance over the years that has us braced for another lean period as a club as a lot of our better/older players hang up the boots. I find that some folks blaming the 2002 salary cap punishments for our current state is a huge cop out...our drafting and recruiting has been sub-standard when you compare with other clubs.
While I have given up on seeing another Carlton premiership in the foreseeable future (or ever again), I still support the club. I'm expecting to get caned for this but if you ask yourselves truthfully enough and deep down enough, you will probably agree. As a point of reference, if you watch a lot of games featuring the Hawks or Cats, or better yet, this year's prelim, you can gain a better understanding of how much work we have to do as a club.
And additionally, I'm sure I won't be the only one who over the years went from being patient, impatient, and eventually, and now, over it and ambivalent to what we do now as a club.
