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You can't deny this bloke is a very special talent. I look forward to seeing him play for many years. Of course I'd love for that to be in red and blue but I understand that is just a pipe dream. I am just pleasantly surprised that the usual preferential treatment handled out to AFL golden children didn't occur this time. Realistically, the already badly battered reputation of the AFL probably couldn't have survived another blatant miscarriage of justice. I also believe the decision will serve Harley himself well in his maturity and development. Sure, it's a shame that it will cost him the Rising Star, but it also says to him, we know you are already a super footballer and a likely future great of the game, but you are subject the the same rules as everyone else. This is one part of the whole thing that I hope is not a pipe dream.

Taller than the door - good stuff 😀 Good luck, Luker!

Thanks for the feedback, I have no argument against anything you say but curious for thoughts on our gameplan. All the players you mentioned are contested animals, our gameplan is not playing to our strengths. Also cannot argue that heads dropped, but the why they dropped is not just personal, and not typical of the last 4 years.

Did anybody?

He trained today. No injury.

Mid Season Player Rating Review - Defenders Jake Lever (Key Defender 29yo 194cm) Rnd 0 to Rnd 5 vs Rnd 7 to 9 + H&A Season 2023 vs H&A Season 2024 The three rounds post the bye is only a small sample size but whatever Rick did over the bye round... make all players do that in the upcoming bye! What a pity we lost him against the Eagles and beyond. Started the year as he left off in 2023 as well. Great stuff from our champion intercept defender. Here's to a speedy recovery! #8 J Lever Rnds 0 to 5 Rnds 7 to 10 % Change 2023 2024 % Change Contested Poss 4.8 8.7 79.3 5.6 6.1 9.3 Uncontested Poss 9.0 11.0 22.2 8.7 9.7 11.3 Effective Disposals* 10.5 17.0 61.9 12.4 12.7 2.1 Disposal Effeciency % 80.4 80.3 -0.0 86.6 80.3 -6.3 Contested Marks* 0.7 1.7 150.0 0.7 1.0 46.7 Marks inside 50* 0.0 0.0 - 0.1 0.0 -100.0 One Percenters* 5.8 4.7 -20.0 5.3 5.4 3.3 Clearances* 0.2 0.7 300.0 0.2 0.3 83.3 Rebound 50s* 4.7 3.7 -21.4 3.3 4.3 32.4 Inside 50s* 1.2 1.3 14.3 1.0 1.2 22.2 Tackles* 1.8 1.7 -9.1 1.1 1.8 56.4 Score Involvements* 3.2 4.3 36.8 2.0 3.6 77.8 Meters Gained 258.0 328.0 27.1 238.3 281.3 18.0 Turnovers* 2.5 4.3 73.3 2.4 3.1 29.1 Intercepts* 7.0 12.7 81.0 8.0 8.9 10.5 Tackles Inside 50* 0.0 0.3 - 0.1 0.1 22.2 Time On Ground % 90.2 96.3 6.2 97.5 92.2 -5.3 Goals* 0.2 0.0 -100.0 0.0 0.1 - Hit Outs to Adv* 0.0 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 - *DD's Player Rating 3.1 4.3 40.8 3.1 3.5 11.3 Stats courtesy of footwire.com & wheeloratings.com

McAdam vs Spargo at training for the longest kick would be a tense thriller of a matchup!

They play in our defence. Ingerson and Shanahan play forward

Saw this thread at the top of the list, clicked on it, and started reading the pile on to HP.... Then I realised I was 10-12 pages behind, and the words like "pathetic" were from games 5-6 weeks ago.... At least he's been consistent What a [censored] catastrophe not trading him has been.... but it's OK we got some bloke called McAdam who can kick the ball almost as far as my primary school aged kid

He appears totally devoid of confidence, regardless of his body. I understand that the match committee prefer to bring back key players direct to AFL, but this must be destroying his spirit. Surely even a week or two at Casey could help him regain touch and thus confidence.

He’d be only on a 1 year deal so just move him on at seasons end and onto the next.

ABSOLUTELY NO WAY!

OMG Are you on something. He was one of our pressure leaders last week and usually is, despite “poor form”. The words “poor form” could also be written on your mirror.

Rachele wants to come home. Petty wants to go home. That’s a starting point, as both players have lost trade value this year, and would be worth similar on an open market - an early second rounder. Personally, I’d prefer Rachele is the club. I think Petty mentally fragile like Hogan was. Credit to Jesse, he’s coming good, but it’s been a long road. Body language of Petty is that of a player I wouldn’t even play if I were coach. He looks as though he doesn’t even want to be out there.

A big difference of course that Cam was a mature bodied experienced AFL player when we recruited him; Luker is a young inexperienced WAFL player. I hope he develops into more that a fill in role player, not downplaying in any way the value Cam gave to the club.

Thanks for clarifying Binman. My take on Buckley's comment is that the players have not done the work. Fwiw I enjoy your optimism and general analysis each week. Keep it up mate.

Surely you’re joking. He’s injured 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨

The real issue is the back line that has saved the mids and forwards for the last 3 seasons has finally cracked. Geez they've been good but it had to end eventually

When I was last at training, six weeks ago, he was moving and kicking sweetly. Looked ready to go then so hopefully he is only a few weeks away now.

Perhaps I was unclear. I wasn't citing Buckley's comments as evidence of being hyper fatigued from a loading block. I was agreeing with him that we are not at optimal fitness. Which is why I cited it as a possible explanation for our week to week, inconsistency and inability to play 4 good quarters. Perhaps that lack of fitness was exacerbated by a heavier training block, but I doubt it. More likely just the normal accumulative fatigue all teams are impacted by at the half way mark of the season, particularly those clubs, like us, with a ot of young regular best 22 players. I wonder whether it is partly by design ie plan to develop their fitness as the season goes on with the goal of minimising the impacts of training so hard for 6 months that perhaps makes it too hard to be in peak shape in September And there is no doubt the impact of having mutiple players in the team off interrupted preseasons who still clearly are not fully fit yet is having an impact- but are choosing to play them anyway (which intersects with the philosophy I'm wondering about above). As George noted, quoting Libby birch in the age article about the spate of injuries and demands of the game, and length of season, clubs are having to change their high performance programs and are training hard in multiple blocks. For example the pies were def not in optimal shape for the first 5 weeks or so, as evidenced by their method and results, and there was a suggestion that was by design. And that staggered approach might help explain why the cats and giants can look like world beaters for the first 7 weeks of the season then lose 4 and 3 games in a row respectively and look mid table teams. Or help explain why the dogs suddenly look so much more dynamic That's the glass half full take. The other possibility of course is that they have got the program wrong and/or the players have not done the work. If the latter is the case we are toast. Either way, as I noted on the pod the Selwyn and the high performance team deserve scrutiny - scrutiny they are not getting much of on demonland. I'm of the view that the high performance manager is almost as important, perhaps even more important, than the coach in terms of a team's chances of winning a flag. And should be critiqued accordingly.

It's only dusk. Unless we do some amazing trading/drafting the dawn is ages away.

… and of course, Gus. Melk was mooted to return “after the bye” which is round 15. Reports have said that he was in full training over the last several weeks. After such a layoff surely he will need at least one game at VFL. Unfortunately Casey has, of course, a bye weekend 15 June so he can’t get a warm up there.

Wouldn't read much into the on track mood Mono. One of the weeks i attended training was before the Lions match and they were super vocal & and [censored]-o-hooping! I'm not sure it matters all that much TBH. A quietish session could mean they're fully focused and determined to get the job done or maybe unhappy about things!

He’s always been a lazy player. Doesn’t demand he give or get 100% out of himself.