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[MacMum]

Good post Spotty. I'm interested in the answer to your question re the umpiring decisions.

I'd hope the club has the ability to ask what the hell is going on! (maybe not quite in those words though)

 

[sisterka]

Hi Sisterka,

I've been told you've been contacted. Let me know if you have any other issues.

Cheers,

Yes the jumper arrived in the post next day. I am waiting for other items included in sponsorship. Thank you to QLD office for doing their job. I forgot QLD pace.

 

[briztoon]

G'day Lions_Insider,

Genuine question, I am wondering if you read the Match Day thread or Post Match thread?

And if so, if you report the mood of the fans back to the powers that be at the club.

 

[Carlos Danger]

G'day Lions_Insider,

Genuine question, I am wondering if you read the Match Day thread or Post Match thread?

And if so, if you report the mood of the fans back to the powers that be at the club.

Brizzy that would be an immensely bad idea. 24 hours on and there's still a lot of emotional nonsense getting posted in the review let alone the gameday thread. Best they just concentrate on more important things.

While I'm here LI no question just feedback, our clash jumper is so good, personally I'd like to wear it more, Fitzroy in melb, bears clash interstate & home @home.

Still I hope there's no plans to redesign it, some of the old clansh versions were God awful

 

[Lions_Insider]

G'day Lions_Insider,

Genuine question, I am wondering if you read the Match Day thread or Post Match thread?

And if so, if you report the mood of the fans back to the powers that be at the club.

Hi Briztoon,

Yes I read through most of the threads on here, as do other staff members at the Club. As with social media comments, it's good to know how the fans are feeling and what they are saying. We pick up on bits of information we may have missed and feedback on game day etc.

A few coaches do often ask after games what the feedback is like online and are interested in it.

Coaches, staff and players know how you guys are feeling after a loss. As mentioned above, a lot of the comments can be emotional or as a result of frustration. There's no need to pass these on.

Cheers,

 

[Lions_Insider]

Hi Lions_Insider,

This may be the sort of question that you can't answer, and if so, fair enough. Many of us Lions fans are used to feeling like the league's ugly stepchild. Geographically distant, no QLD commissioners, reduction of our one compensating advantage (academies), minimal interest from the AFL website and media, and AFL House seem quite happy for us to languish down the bottom. So I'm interested to know whether there are open lines of communication between AFL House and the Lions (and the Suns for that matter - QLD solidarity) about what is happening in QLD and how to get us as a club the support we need. More than just Gil's handshake tour every 3 or 4 years...

On a similar note, how much feedback do we as a club get on umpiring decisions? We've just seen two weeks in a row where umpiring was noted as distinctly against us by opposition supporters, yet we never hear anything about it. We had Charlie Cameron's goal against Richmond overturned to the surprise of all commentators, we had a very unusual first half in the Richmond game in general, and in the Gold Coast game, we had a 50m penalty against Berry for being hit in the face potentially costing us the game... I can appreciate that the AFL and AFL-controlled media won't accept questions about this sort of thing in the public sphere, and being in QLD, no one makes a big deal about it, but even if we aren't receiving feedback as supporters, I'd like to at least know that the club has a channel to talk to the AFL in private and ask questions about decisions and provide feedback to the umpiring department. Even if it doesn't provide me with information, for the really unusual ones, it'd be nice to know that there's some mechanism for the club to discuss with the AFL and the umpiring department in private.

Thanks - if there's anything there you can answer with general information, that'd be appreciated. Sorry if I seem bitter - it's not bitter against our club (who do a great job), but the AFL in general. It's been a tough decade...

Hey Spot,

Gil has visited Queensland a few times already this year, most recently for the Commonwealth Games where our funding was discussed with both State and Federal Ministers, and the communication between the heads at the Club and him are great. He is playing a big role in fighting to secure our future at Springfield.

We receive pretty good media considering our position the last few years. We will never receive the same amount of coverage in Melbourne as a Melbourne Club does, but that's to be expected, and our media team is working to continue to strengthen our relationship with Melbourne media. We believe our coverage locally is very fair, and we have a great working relationship with all local journalists.

The AFL is committed to ensuring we rise back up, both on the ladder and financially as a Club, we meet with the AFL three to four times a year to discuss those matters. This was reflected in the appointments of Chris Fagan and David Noble, which the AFL had a big say in. Chris is sitting on the new AFL Competition Committee so has a big say in the game going forward.

The AFL was up here recently reviewing our commercial department and we are working with them on areas where we can improve as a business.

Yes we have a channel to talk to the AFL about anything, including umpiring. Umpiring can never be perfect. Understand the frustration at those tough calls that have happened recently. The new Football Head at AFL Steve Hocking and David Noble have a great working relationship, so rest assured our concerns are being heard by those in charge.

Thanks,

 

[spotthedog1]

Hey Spot,

Gil has visited Queensland a few times already this year, most recently for the Commonwealth Games where our funding was discussed with both State and Federal Ministers, and the communication between the heads at the Club and him are great. He is playing a big role in fighting to secure our future at Springfield.

We receive pretty good media considering our position the last few years. We will never receive the same amount of coverage in Melbourne as a Melbourne Club does, but that's to be expected, and our media team is working to continue to strengthen our relationship with Melbourne media. We believe our coverage locally is very fair, and we have a great working relationship with all local journalists.

The AFL is committed to ensuring we rise back up, both on the ladder and financially as a Club, we meet with the AFL three to four times a year to discuss those matters. This was reflected in the appointments of Chris Fagan and David Noble, which the AFL had a big say in. Chris is sitting on the new AFL Competition Committee so has a big say in the game going forward.

The AFL was up here recently reviewing our commercial department and we are working with them on areas where we can improve as a business.

Yes we have a channel to talk to the AFL about anything, including umpiring. Umpiring can never be perfect. Understand the frustration at those tough calls that have happened recently. The new Football Head at AFL Steve Hocking and David Noble have a great working relationship, so rest assured our concerns are being heard by those in charge.

Thanks,

Cheers LI - that's a really interesting and insightful response. Really appreciate the effort you've gone to there.

Just to give you feedback on where I'm sitting, which'll be representative of some (though not all) fans... I know I'm not privy to internal workings, but I'm also not required to toe the company line, so I can say I'm honestly not as optimistic about the AFL's efforts, despite being a member... Happy with the AFL's assistance in staffing, and now a bit with facilities... But then we hit finances, and they're doing just enough to barely keep us above water (we may receive a bit of extra cash, but other clubs have received things like AFL-purchased stadia). And then we hit onfield... and they seem unwilling to assist... Which doesn't help when we still are among the worst draft profiles in the competition. The club has done a good job of selling hope, and this has seemed to resonate with the AFL media, who are giving us a remarkably easy time, partially due to reduced coverage (we've seen just how harsh Carlton is copping it at the moment). The general tone of "young team, lots of promise" is good for short-term sales, but undermines the help we actually need (refer Zorko D, 2016). Minimal draft assistance despite obvious need. They had a perfect opportunity with Rocky compo, and opted to round down instead of up, and one can't help but think back to the Frawley compo. Academies were a good idea of the AFL's, and gave us a small leg up. Now however, stronger academies have been gifted to every other team (to the stage where North are likely to get a higher-rated player in year 1 than we've had ever). It's difficult as a fan to see that the AFL want us to succeed - their actions don't support it, and as an authoritarian government, they can't shirk the responsibility. As a pretty avid supporter, after a decade of being told to have hope, it's wearing thin.

Not looking for a response there. Just providing feedback in the hope that it can be useful somehow in knowing how the message is working and possibly add to likely a rather large pile of feedback to let the AFL know that even the solid supporter base up here is tiring.

 

[MacMum]

Very informative from both of your above posts Lions_Insider .... thanks and as always, much appreciated.

 

[Lions_Insider]

Cheers LI - that's a really interesting and insightful response. Really appreciate the effort you've gone to there.

Just to give you feedback on where I'm sitting, which'll be representative of some (though not all) fans... I know I'm not privy to internal workings, but I'm also not required to toe the company line, so I can say I'm honestly not as optimistic about the AFL's efforts, despite being a member... Happy with the AFL's assistance in staffing, and now a bit with facilities... But then we hit finances, and they're doing just enough to barely keep us above water (we may receive a bit of extra cash, but other clubs have received things like AFL-purchased stadia). And then we hit onfield... and they seem unwilling to assist... Which doesn't help when we still are among the worst draft profiles in the competition. The club has done a good job of selling hope, and this has seemed to resonate with the AFL media, who are giving us a remarkably easy time, partially due to reduced coverage (we've seen just how harsh Carlton is copping it at the moment). The general tone of "young team, lots of promise" is good for short-term sales, but undermines the help we actually need (refer Zorko D, 2016). Minimal draft assistance despite obvious need. They had a perfect opportunity with Rocky compo, and opted to round down instead of up, and one can't help but think back to the Frawley compo. Academies were a good idea of the AFL's, and gave us a small leg up. Now however, stronger academies have been gifted to every other team (to the stage where North are likely to get a higher-rated player in year 1 than we've had ever). It's difficult as a fan to see that the AFL want us to succeed - their actions don't support it, and as an authoritarian government, they can't shirk the responsibility. As a pretty avid supporter, after a decade of being told to have hope, it's wearing thin.

Not looking for a response there. Just providing feedback in the hope that it can be useful somehow in knowing how the message is working and possibly add to likely a rather large pile of feedback to let the AFL know that even the solid supporter base up here is tiring.

As a Club we share some of your frustrations re: the football items you have mentioned.

To find out how close we were to getting a 1st round compo pick from Rockliff was very frustrating, especially after they had turned our priority pick request down only a few weeks earlier.

Regarding the watering down of club academies, the AFL CEO’s meeting is this week and we will be raising that on the agenda.

In terms of our finances, we truly believe that once Springfield is up and running, the new business opportunities will allow us to return the club to a consistent profit relatively quickly. Once the doors are open we remove million-dollar overheads in regards to hiring of offices, ground, etc and become a landlord of a world class facility that businesses across multiple industries have expressed an interest in partnering with.

In the short term we are:
• Awaiting the review of Stadiums Queensland to see if we can improve our agreement with the Gabba
• Beginning upgrade of our Lions @ Springwood facility in the next few weeks
• Launched our All For One guernsey and inner sanctum experience, and will be releasing some information about another fundraising venture later in the season.

 

[spotthedog1]

As a Club we share some of your frustrations re: the football items you have mentioned.

To find out how close we were to getting a 1st round compo pick from Rockliff was very frustrating, especially after they had turned our priority pick request down only a few weeks earlier.

Regarding the watering down of club academies, the AFL CEO’s meeting is this week and we will be raising that on the agenda.

In terms of our finances, we truly believe that once Springfield is up and running, the new business opportunities will allow us to return the club to a consistent profit relatively quickly. Once the doors are open we remove million-dollar overheads in regards to hiring of offices, ground, etc and become a landlord of a world class facility that businesses across multiple industries have expressed an interest in partnering with.

In the short term we are:
• Awaiting the review of Stadiums Queensland to see if we can improve our agreement with the Gabba
• Beginning upgrade of our Lions @ Springwood facility in the next few weeks
• Launched our All For One guernsey and inner sanctum experience, and will be releasing some information about another fundraising venture later in the season.

Cheers LI - really great info. Really appreciate those responses - gives a good idea of how the club thinks, which is really interesting to me.

Funnily enough, for someone quite downcast about our footy potential, I'm not sweating on the financials as much. I work in accounting and financial advisory spheres, and my analysis is that we're quite poor, but largely because the AFL choose us to be. They're our biggest creditor, and they hold the TV rights, so AFL distributions are a major income stream for the club. That income stream is, of course, at the AFL's discretion, and they distribute what they want to, holding back a quite large slice of the pie for themselves (that's not to fault them - they need a bankroll). The AFL being quite fond of their money (I add in an understated manner), they keep us in the red, encouraging the club to find other income streams, and develop our own ways of increasing funds. That's good business by the AFL, as long as they don't mind us suffering on a shoestring budget for 5 or 10 years while we develop those income streams (which did happen, so evidently they were fine with it). This is likely why they've been much more generous with us financially (football department spending, etc), since we've been developing things like Springwood to generate alternative cashflow streams.

So, with the AFL not about to call our debt, I look at our rather ugly balance sheet in conjunction with the AFLs, and then it looks fine. Springwood is maturing, and even if I disagree with pokies as an income stream, it definitely generates cash. And I completely agree - Springfield should be very good for the club financially. Of course, once that happens, our distributions from the AFL will reduce compensatorily, keeping us treading water, but oh well. That's what happens. The AFL would rather the cash be in their pocket than ours.

Long story short - I'm fine with it. The club'll survive...

 

[Fatcat08]

Lions_Insider does someone sandbox test the push notifications on the lions android app related to promotional items. The last few I've tried to open via the app have just gone to a photo of a silloetted Gabba and nothing else. The latest one was the oaks promotion which I just clicked on and didnt bring anything up.

Maybe it's just me

Also the spacing on that page when You get to it via the app is horrible. There's 3 headers and a footer and as soon as you go to type something in you can't actually see any of the boxes so you have to close the keyboard down between each field. Perhaps some of these things need to be mobile tested before rolling out in final version

 

[spotthedog1]

Lions_Insider does someone sandbox test the push notifications on the lions android app related to promotional items. The last few I've tried to open via the app have just gone to a photo of a silloetted Gabba and nothing else. The latest one was the oaks promotion which I just clicked on and didnt bring anything up.

Maybe it's just me

Also the spacing on that page when You get to it via the app is horrible. There's 3 headers and a footer and as soon as you go to type something in you can't actually see any of the boxes so you have to close the keyboard down between each field. Perhaps some of these things need to be mobile tested before rolling out in final version

Not just you - I dismiss most of the promotional ones, but team lists and any other push notification - not a single one has ever loaded properly for me (running Android 7.0). They had an issue with large amounts of text in a notification, but I think they resolved that by loading a prompt box with a copy of the text. Still fails to load the app though.

 

[Dalions]

Lions_Insider
After the article in the Courier Mail today about the funding for the new Training and Admin facility. Just wondering if their is likely to be an official announcement soon or do we still need to wait until the upcoming State Government budget for an announcement.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Lions_Insider]

Lions_Insider
After the article in the Courier Mail today about the funding for the new Training and Admin facility. Just wondering if their is likely to be an official announcement soon or do we still need to wait until the upcoming State Government budget for an announcement.
Thanks in advance.

Still waiting for the budget until we make an official announcement. An interview with Greg Swann just went up on our site if you would like to listen to the latest developments around the project: http://www.lions.com.au/video/2018-04-02/swann-on-springfield

 

[Lions_Insider]

Lions_Insider does someone sandbox test the push notifications on the lions android app related to promotional items. The last few I've tried to open via the app have just gone to a photo of a silloetted Gabba and nothing else. The latest one was the oaks promotion which I just clicked on and didnt bring anything up.

Maybe it's just me

Also the spacing on that page when You get to it via the app is horrible. There's 3 headers and a footer and as soon as you go to type something in you can't actually see any of the boxes so you have to close the keyboard down between each field. Perhaps some of these things need to be mobile tested before rolling out in final version

Hi,

Thanks for letting us know about this.

Majority of the office are on iOS so we weren't aware of an issue with push notifications on Android. Will follow up with our developer.

The competition entry page is working on my mobile. Not perfectly optimised but still okay. I'll see if Oaks can make any changes to make it more user friendly when entering details.

Thanks,

 

[Fatcat08]

Hi,

Thanks for letting us know about this.

Majority of the office are on iOS so we weren't aware of an issue with push notifications on Android. Will follow up with our developer.

The competition entry page is working on my mobile. Not perfectly optimised but still okay. I'll see if Oaks can make any changes to make it more user friendly when entering details.

Thanks,

Might be worth going to ALDI and picking up a cheap android phone and have it in the office to test on. I bought a refurbished iPhone cheap to do the same for my work.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Pretty sure you can get Android emulators for PC too.

 

[SizeMatters]

Pretty sure you can get Android emulators for PC too.

I use Bluestacks. They do exist.

 

[Scubaveg]

Lions_Insider, touching continual frustration for fans in the football department area and adding a little further on the frustration other posters have indicated above. I’m interested in the Clubs thoughts and possible responses to the AFL on Essendon listing Chris Johnson’s some in their NG academy?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Lions_Insider]

Lions_Insider, touching continual frustration for fans in the football department area and adding a little further on the frustration other posters have indicated above. I’m interested in the Clubs thoughts and possible responses to the AFL on Essendon listing Chris Johnson’s some in their NG academy?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Hi,

This was answered above: Regarding the watering down of club academies, the AFL CEO’s meeting is this week and we will be raising that on the agenda.

Will hopefully have more of an update on this next week. Can understand the frustration.

Cheers,

 

[Lions_Insider]

Might be worth going to ALDI and picking up a cheap android phone and have it in the office to test on. I bought a refurbished iPhone cheap to do the same for my work.

Good idea.

If anyone has any screenshots of the problems they've encountered feel free to message them through on here or send to socialmedia@lions.com.au. Appreciate the help.

 

[Grizzly86]

Lions Insider, just a small query in regards to half time activities.

Was there a reason behind no auskick or little league games taking place? Seemed odd to see a lack of traffic on the ground. I was at the MCG on Saturday arvo and witnessed them plonk 8 auskick games and 2 little league games on at half time.

 

[Scubaveg]

Hi,

This was answered above: Regarding the watering down of club academies, the AFL CEO’s meeting is this week and we will be raising that on the agenda.

Will hopefully have more of an update on this next week. Can understand the frustration.

Cheers,

Hey Lions_Insider, just wondering if there is anything that came out of the CEO forum on this that you can share with us?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[brizrider]

Lions Insider, just a small query in regards to half time activities.

Was there a reason behind no auskick or little league games taking place? Seemed odd to see a lack of traffic on the ground. I was at the MCG on Saturday arvo and witnessed them plonk 8 auskick games and 2 little league games on at half time.

I'm guessing the public holiday. There were junior teams short of players all over Brisbane this weekend.

 

[Back2Back2Back]

Hey LI, just wanted to say thanks for taking that feedback about the PA volume on board. Leaps and bounds better last night.