Seems a pretty easy fix. Just add the time back on if needed.
I actually don’t mind letting the play unfold before reviewing. Just need to tweak it for that (as they need to do for recalled bounces and the like).
In before someone does a knee in dead time.
It doesn’t matter what way this gets adjudged, there’ll always be a trade-off.
Time not added back on: “ohh what if it is late in the game and those 10 seconds are the difference”
Time added back on: “what if someone gets injured in that time”
I just reckon its a bad look, complicates the game more than it needs to. Each to own
I want a new rule introduced where if a team is 10 goals up late in the third the captains can agree to pack it in. Imagine our Sunday afternoons.
1 Like
Zaharakis goal vs Gold Coast. Full back grabbed the ball from the spectator 3 rows back, Goal ump does nothing, full back runs off while halfway through his pie and sauce and a coke. Nothing done.
Cant recall that one im sorry
1 Like
We came from a fair way back.
Walla did some great play in the last minute to get it to Hooksey who goaled to put in front. Then Stringer kicked a very long goal from the ball up.
Former AFL boss launches Melbourne’s newest private club
**Zoe Samios**Business reporter
Jun 7, 2025 – 5.00am
The ground floor of Pullman Melbourne on the Park is probably the last place you would expect to find a former AFL boss, an English cricket legend, a Tour de France champion, and a former rugby league player.
Come August, it’ll be a home of sorts for Andrew Demetriou, Cadel Evans, Lord Ian Botham, and Wes Maas, who are among the faces behind Melbourne’s newest private members’ club, known as Sanctum.
Andrew Demetriou (left) and Clint Hillas (right) are launching Sanctum inside Pullman Melbourne on the Park in August. Eamon Gallagher
Sanctum is the brainchild of Demetriou. He has wanted to make better use of the major sports and entertainment venues, including the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rod Laver Arena and AAMI Park, since he left the AFL in 2014.
“Melbourne is a very cultural, sporting and entertainment city with probably some of the best-supported events in the world on the scale of per capita,” Demetriou told AFR Weekend. “It thrives because it’s got an amazing precinct and an amazing offering.
“We want to tap into that and offer something unique, curated, that’s a bit different from the old-school memberships – make it accessible, make it affordable, and get some diversity into it.”
Advertisement
Sanctum will be led by Clint Hillas, who has specialised in sports and entertainment events for more than 20 years. He and Demetriou have lofty ambitions – 1000 members in the first year and a cap of 3500, which they expect to hit within three to five years.
Demetriou also wants to expand the club to Sydney, but doesn’t have a time frame. The first venue will launch in August.
Melbourne has an abundance of private members’ clubs that date back as far as the 19th century. Some, like the Melbourne Club, are exclusive to men, have strict dress codes, and no-phone policies. Others offer wellness experiences alongside the opportunity to network.
Sanctum’s plan is different again – it aims to offer all the privacy of a typical club while leveraging one of Australia’s largest sports and entertainment hubs.
Complimentary access to Collingwood home matches is among what’s on offer. Getty
The Melbourne Olympic and Parks precinct includes Rod Laver Arena, Kia Arena and AAMI Park, home to major sports teams including the AFL’s Collingwood, the NRL’s Melbourne Storm, A-League club Melbourne Victory, and netball team the Melbourne Mavericks. Down the road sits the MCG.
Advertisement
“It started off conceptually as what could we produce for a membership base that would avail themselves of all these world-class facilities down in that precinct,” Demetriou said. “Then we started to fill it out with more ideas around getting more women involved, offering not just sport, but entertainment and culture.
“We got the idea of a concept of a club where members could go have a sense of belonging and be themselves, and have a private setting where they could go to before and after events.”
Demetriou and Hillas are financial backers alongside former AFL executive Darren Birch, who was recently running DigiLearning Australia.
An ASIC search reveals some other big names are backing the venture: former South Sydney Rabbitohs player Maas, who runs Maas Group, Symal Group founder Joe Bartolo, and Michael Catanzariti, director at Ascot Wealth Management.
Sanctum will try to tap into one of Australia’s largest sports and entertainment precincts. Joe Armao
Demetriou, a former director of Capital Health and Crown Resorts, leads a board that includes Hillas, Birch and Findex’s former managing director of corporate finance, Ken Poutakidis, who also has equity. They plan to have female representation in the coming months.
Advertisement
Sanctum will offer various membership tiers for individuals and businesses, which is its main source of income. The standard cost is a $750 joining fee and $4500 annual fee, but it will also offer a discounted rate for people between 21 and 28 years old.
“There are some baseline benefits included,” Hillas said. “A Fitness First membership and we’re offering complimentary … general admission tickets, level one seats to Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Victory, Collingwood Footy club … as well as access to our headquarters.
“[HQ] is where we think that the members will choose what they want to attend across the year.”
Other benefits include complimentary access to Moonah Links Golf Resort on the Mornington Peninsula and Heritage Golf Club in the Yarra Valley, backstage access to artists at major cultural and entertainment events, pre- and post-match experiences across sports, including the AFL and NRL.
There is also a bespoke concierge service that will assist with access to high-end restaurants or private golf courses. “It is really about unlocking access. That’s what we’re trying to do on behalf of our members,” Hillas said.
Part of that access is to the club’s ambassadors. Sanctum has already signed Tour de France winner Evans, former Sydney Swans premiership coach Paul Roos, and cricketer Botham as ambassadors. It plans to offer tailored dinners and small-group experiences – a bike ride with Evans to Frankston, a lesson in leadership from Roos, or a prelude to the Ashes with Botham.
Advertisement
“We are even in chats with Guide Dogs about doing puppy yoga,” Hillas said.
Demetriou and Hillas are still a couple of months from launch, and the headquarters are incomplete. The pair is optimistic the venue will be up well before Melbourne’s sports and entertainment calendar enters spring.
“Post-COVID, one of the things that’s probably got the state running again has been sport, culture and entertainment events,” Demetriou said. “I would have thought hopefully, this membership offering will add to that mix of getting people to come back to town.”
How many creditors is this ■■■■ going to rip off with this latest scam?
7 Likes
You’d hate to see a grand final decided by that.
I actually couldn’t give a stuff but my understanding is that you can’t have a discussion about a rule change without someone stating that so just getting it out of the way.
Oh get farked, I don’t want these clowns anywhere near one of my hotels 
That reads like the scammiest scam to have ever scammed.
3 Likes
There will be plenty! What an absolute piece of manure!
this sounds like an idea that three of the drunkest blokes you’ve ever seen in your life at the matthew flinders hotel would come up with
2 Likes
The Collingwood seats seem like a pretty bad idea. Any non Collingwood supporter wouldn’t see the value. Even if they did, you’d say the bulk of initial members will be Pie fans and who’d want to hang out with a bunch of Collingwood supporters anyway?
Sounds like a good day out thanks
What the hell is this? Dillon has dinner and “a fireside chat” with Smith and Chris Scott. This Geelong favouritism has to stop ASAP
Dillon’s decision making is extremely strange. The only thing he got right was the restructure, but reports are that his dinner with Gillon and Demetriou helped him get a clue there.
Wouldn’t it be important to strengthen your relationship with the prime minister, especially since he’s given Peter Vlandy’s and his favourite sport the nrl close to $1 billion of tax payer dollars in the past two years and that’s the AFL’s major competitor.
1 Like
Grand Final time stays at 2:30pm Melbourne time.
For EFC players, that’s approximately 6:30am Ibiza time. If you’re still not out cutting shapes, you might be able to find some Aussie themed pub showing the match live.
8 Likes
This guy is hilarious.
Get some diversity into ya everyone
Why would anyone go anywhere near anything he touches
1 Like