Summary
* Maher asked Benny about Lids not re-signing being a distraction and how much time does Benny spend dealing with it. Benny said he doesn't spend as much time on it as you would think. Both parties are frank and candid about where they want to go. Media puts petrol on it which can be a distraction. You deal with what you know, make presentations and eventually these things get resolved.
* Not noticing much impact yet due to free agency. Expect to see more impact through the course of the year. We've known free agency was coming in for a couple of years so clubs have been prepapring for it. Fair system for players and admins. Up to clubs to offer an environment that players don't want to leave. We have the ME Bank centre which is first class. We've brought in people of real value to help players get the best out of the themselves. Wouldn't think players would want to leave. In fact would players would want to come to Tigerland.
* Rahul Dravid has been terrific with us (Benny said it didn't help him get many runs though lol). Been working on this Indian plan for a couple of years. Significant Indian population in Australia. The tiger is a important secular symbol in India. We want to build a bridge socially and economically to bring about greater cohesion as well as bring in customers for our club. We've hosted the India team in the international cup and Dravid is patron of our Indian Richmond group. Our sincerity has been shown by us wanting to play an exhibition game in India. It's a long-term play. Feb 2012 was an option this time last year but it got put off for a host of reasons. Need to make travelling party safe and secure and make it not an expensive trip. We wish to take another club with us to play. Further discussions over the next 12 months. Victorian premier Ted Baillieu is going on a trade exhibition to India next month and we'll have a representative going. The AFL is enthusiastic about the idea but it is a cautious approach as there's been some issues due to geo-political problems in recent years. What excites the AFL is there is a significant Indian population in Victoria and across Australia, Indians love sport and AFL is the biggest sport in town. Wouldn't it be great to get them involved, become apart of our community as well as become customers of our club. Andy Maher said SEN would love to be our media partner on any Indian trip (you want a free jaunt overseas Andy lol)
