You would assume so, but if they miss out on Roos, Eade and Williams, then you're looking at coaches like Ratten, who have recently been sacked as well, or an untried assistant, which they couldn't possibly do after sacking Voss in this manner.

The fall was obviously due to the introduction of the two new expansion sides. No surprise there. When the Bears and Eagles entered back in 1987, the crowd average that year was the lowest for 34 years. Take both the Suns and Giants crowds off and the average of the other 16 clubs is on par with the comp's average pre-Sun/Giants (~36k). In any case even ignoring that, the completion of the redevelopments of Kardinia Park (Geelong), Adelaide Oval and the SCG plus the upcoming new 60-70k Perth stadium will see average AFL crowds rise even further. Compare that with the NRL crowds that have fallen away quite a bit this year (average down to 15k per game) and they don't have expansion as an excuse. It won't surprise me that within the next decade A-league average crowds will end up higher than the NRL's.

Maybe they're hoping to be able to swoop on Thompson if he gets off the charges at Essendon.

I'd be surprised if he was interested tbh, he genuinely seemed to have lost the passion for the head coaching gig at Geelong, and has stated a few times this season that he's loving his role at Essendon and 'doesn't have that fire' anymore for coaching.

And even then, with this whole Essendon Malarkey, I honestly don't know if I'd want him.

71,533 last night at the G.

Plus it's the biggest ozzy rewls competition in the world with two of the worlds best teams of its sport competing against each other.

says a lot, really.

Attendance figures for round 21:

Haw vs Coll: 71,533 @ MCG
Rich vs Carl: 63,825 @ MCG
Port vs GCS: 18,703 @ AAMI Stadium
Ess vs North: 34,102 @ Etihad
Lions vs GWS: 13,855 @ Gabba
WCE vs Geel: 34,394 @ Patersons
Melb vs Freo: 13,768 @ MCG
Swans vs Saints: 26,730 @ SCG
B'dogs vs Adel: (still waiting on figures)

Essendon North was very disappointing.

Channel 7 had a report on the fall in ALF crowds.

Did they try and put it down to their coverage? :lol:

Nah they were relating it to the drug saga. Mainly Essendons crowds. Although channel 7 is full of braindead fuckwits so I wouldn't be surprised. Ask Tim how great of a coach he was and ask yourself why he is a part of an expert panel.

Collingwood membership numbers have just passed the 80k mark.

And you don't question the credibility of that figure seeing as the season ends in two weeks?