I'm not buying that whole financial sustainability crap thanks... the last few years, we've been one of the wealthiest clubs in the comp.

Personally, I'm not overly impressed by corporate type profit based arguments spruiked by glorified accountants. A simple rule in business for me is, accountants run the books. Managers run the business. Accountants... and my apologies to my accountant friends and acquaintances here, kill business.

Now thats a bridge worth getting over and over and over ...
True story. They have since added a second span.

Don't know if he paid though the nose but thats what financed my bridge , laundered in Uruguay.

Not sure I like that bridge, Larkin.

Those supports look too much like chevrons for comfort.

You have a point The Yet but think of the anchors holding the whole shebang in place. Stability.

The amount of celebrity support Polly is gathering is staggering; he even sees dead people. And I include Lou Reed in that category.

But the music is good. Teen Spirit Loud or even Polly.

I don't mind the new jumper but didn't hate the old one. Would have preferred they kept the jumper and changed the song. Purple Haze jumper would have been a suitable change if they really didn't like the other colours.

My point anyway is that people seem to be upset with other people telling them how they should feel yet are basically telling them to hate the new jumper or they're not a true supporter. It seems a bit hypocritical to me but I guess s/he started it first.

I know the real issue is not the actual jumper but the backdoor method it was introduced. I guess I'm not as upset as some because I really don't mind the new jumper. The Libs have changed the shopping hours in a similar fashion but it doesn't bother me either because I quite like the ability to do my food shopping on a week night and actually enjoy the weekend. Obviously all those that voted NO in the referendum are annoyed.

What I think is happening at the club is that the powers that be in the club were initially outsiders and have looked at what was percieved to be "wrong" with Freo and are trying to change that - The jumper, the club song and the trading of earlyish picks (even if just percieved).

Like all, I have copped as much stick about Freo as everyone else and have been frustrated not to be able to defend the song (it does suck - in my opinion) and some of the decisions we have made but it doesn't make me any less of a supporter. I love the club and having to accept that some of what they say is true hurts even more. As we haven't won our first premiership I haven't been able to just tell them to suck it up.

Harvey and co have stopped trading out picks for players and it seems to be working. The drafting has also been unbelieveable of late. Even if the jumper and song are just marketing tools, the people in charge seem to know what they are doing.

I didn't like club favourites like Jeff getting the arse for young players but that decision has been vindicated with their progress. Even Haze missing out on the final this year was hard to take but he wasn't the difference and a young player now may have had that experience to one day make him a premiership player.

If we were any good at running an AFL club we wouldn't be sitting here posting on forums (there is an exception to every rule).

FD0924, good post, however, I think you are confusing some of the issue.

You are right that it's outsiders who have come in and changed everything. The point is, what makes them right in doing so? There were 40,000 or so people who were happy enough with the way the club was going before they decided things were so bad they needed to be thrown away. Who cares what outsiders perceptions are? Why do they matter so much? For me, that's what made Freo, Freo. We did things our own way, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't but you knew it was Freo. Now I can't identify the difference between franchise 15 and all the rest.

The other point is the one about premierships. Is winning a flag going to make the jumper somehow better? Does a great jumper help you win a flag? I always think of Richmond when I hear things like this - great song, very traditional football jumper and a great mascot, yet they've had bugger all success for as long as I can remember. You could make a comparison to the OOFTITS if you like - terrible song, terrible jumper and an ok mascot, yet they are one of the most successful clubs in AFL history.

I also hope you're not saying that because the Steves are running an AFL club makes them good at it. History shows that most people that run AFL clubs are in fact not very good at it at all. I dare say the Steves well and truly fit into that category too.