30/10 Jordo Goes West
The Eltham FC is pleased to announce the delisting of Robert Jordan from the playing roster due to uncontrollable obsessions.       The Club attempted to make a pre-draft trade with any Club but was unable to strike a deal (failed to elicit any interest). He is nominating for the interstate draft and it is rumoured that an unwitting team in WA will pick him up. Rob said he was happy to make the move if that was where his future lay. Uncharacteristically, the Panthers failed to show any loyalty towards the three-year veteran and help him achieve his goal of playing one more game to reach his 50th. But we all know his self-proclaimed obsession will draw him back to fulfil his dream. Until then, may WA become an independent sovereign nation and Jordo never be granted an entry visa (for the sake of our mental health).

28/10 2004 Preliminary Draw
The preliminary 2004 draw, released today by the DVFL, has round one scheduled for the week before the Easter break.       Notable items for Eltham are that they are down to play at home against Hurstbridge during round one, have Sunday games against Montmorency and play the last two games away from home.

The Eltham FC committee indicated that they would prefer the season to start after Easter. "Because of where Easter is we should schedule it so we have a full pre-season running up to Easter, then a break before we launch straight into the season," Eltham FC President Dean Philpots stated after the circulation of the draw. "It would be great for the players and officials to have a week to prepare themselves for the big year ahead. I also see the first week standing in isolation as a huge disruption to creating enthusiasm amongst supporters. It could stall momentum of the opening of the season and may harm crowd numbers."

Dean added that with cricket finals finishing on the last weekend of March and due to them customarily being played at Eltham Central Park, getting the ground to a respectable standard, especially the area surrounding the cricket pitch, may prove too difficult. "It only gives the council and ourselves 7 days to set up the ground, the changing rooms and social rooms when the official hand over of the keys (between cricket & football) is on the Thursday of the first selection night. It will be chaos."

For these reasons the Eltham FC will be pressing the DVFL and will be hopeful for a slight change to the draw, with Eltham either playing away during the first round or better still the first round being re-scheduled to 17 April (the weekend after Easter).

This could easily be accommodated by moving the finals back a week, with the division one grand final on AFL preliminary final week (similar to the Eastern FL). This may also have the added advantage of giving Clubs not participating in the finals another week of operation. In the unlikely event of a draw during the finals, with the grand final having to be re-scheduled, it could be played on the Sunday after the AFL grand final. Either that or re-structure the division one finals and play them over 3 weeks rather than 4.

Eltham FC were pleased to get Sunday games against Montmorency and to have the last two games as away fixtures. "Not playing on our ground at the end of the season gives us a better chance of staging finals games. With other measures such as decreasing traffic on the ground we are confident the ground will be up to standard to host finals," Dean said. Preliminary draw

16/10 Committee Ramblings
The 2004 committee met for the first time in preparation for season 2004 on Tuesday 14 October.       The priority of the committee is to continue to progress the Club on and off the field. To do this it was identified that turnover would have to increase by 15% whilst keeping operational costs at the same level. Impossible say the sceptics and pessimists, but that's why the crazy people and dreamers are on the committee not the realists.

Membership and sponsorship revenue streams continue to look disappointing at balance day considering the large amount of patronage and community support received by the Club. With a change in tact and some exciting innovations already being drawn up it will be hard not to become the DVFL Club with the highest membership. And that's without considering the on-field improvements coach Phil Maylin, the players and the recruiting boys are enthusiastically working towards. It's on record; the Club is aiming high.

As keenly broadcasted by the Club, capital improvements to Central Park will continue with $170,000 work on renovating the changing rooms starting in July. The $10,000 scoreboard project, $1,500 additional public seating and $1,000 visitors coaches box are looking at a completion dates of the start of the season. The Club is also looking toward improving the ground condition at Susan Street so the traffic on Central Park is eased.

29/09 Maylin Continues
Phil Maylin will again take charge of the on-field challenges in season 2004 that lie ahead for the Panthers.       After accepting the position as senior coach, Phil was quick to announce that optional fitness training will start on Monday 6 October at 6pm at Central Park. Further sessions will be on Wednesday's 6pm and Friday's 6am running through until November when full compulsory pre-season starts.

24/09 Change Rooms Project
The aim of this project is to renovate the existing change rooms to improve player amenities, modernise the interior and create better viewing areas.      
Cost
The Victorian State government has allocated $170K in their 2004/05 budget to fund the project. This amount will have to cover all costs as neither the senior or junior football clubs or the cricket club has committed any of their own money for the project.

Plan
The project is split into several stages based on the agreed significance of the change room requirements. 
Stage 1 – Renovation of the toilet block and bathrooms for both the home and away sides. 
Stage 2 – Removal of the internal walls separating the home rooms, medical room and canteen. Bricking the existing veranda in front of both home & away rooms. Utilising the canteen entrance as the new entry/exit for the home rooms and creating a new entry/exit on the side of the away rooms. 
Stage 3 – Fix the flooring and install a roller door between the home & away rooms. 
Stage 4 – Extend the second level viewing area (currently the time keepers box) the full length of the building front. 
Landscaping – Included in the 170k grant is a requirement to spend money on landscaping, this may give us enough room to build a veranda and improve the players entry to the ground. 
Stage 5 – The new change room plan has made no provision for the umpires but all clubs have agreed that part of the money will be used to help fund a new umpire’s room underneath the scoreboard. This will be determined after the scoreboard is built. This is why the scoreboard is such a high priory for the football club.

Progress
Currently the change rooms has cost the three clubs $1,500 each to prepare the plans, engineers report and the soil test. It is expected that this amount will be refunded to each club when the grant is paid.

Time Frame
It is expected the grant money will be forwarded around July 2004 and that work will start straight away. However if the works will cause too much of an inconvenience to the players on match day the project will be delayed until the end of the football season.