2 hours ago, Demonland said:

Every team that won in round 1 plays a team in round 2 that lost which means it's mathematically possible for us to win next week and remain 9th.

How awful.

Still, look on the bright side. From 9th you can almost see the 8.

23 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

My better half made a prediction this afternoon after reviewing the Dog's draw. Seven straight games at Etihad they could win but they will lose the eighth game away. When I asked who that was it turned to be us, at the Gee!  She is not a Demons person by the way, but she may be on the money. We knocked them over at the G last year. 

 

22 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The Bulldogs ended up with just under 28,000 on a Sunday, great effort.

I was at the Doggies game (they were giving away free tickets to boost their numbers), and I have to say that as impressive as they were, their skills were terrible.  While we expect the pressure and run that they used to smash Freo in the first quarter, we would normally expect good kicking as well and they just didn't deliver.  Far too many passes fell short and wound up being contested balls again.  It's a sad reflection on the state of Fremantle's play that they let the Doggies get away with it.  I don't see the better sides letting them off the hook if they keep kicking like that. 

 

Watching the Hawks/Geelong game, I don't understand the raving about Dangerfield.  He was explosive and won heaps of the ball, but his disposal was Moloney-like.  His handpassing was mostly to the feet rather than the hands and he constantly launched blind long bombs out of traffic.  I don't think his teammates will be quite as happy with his game as the media are.  Zac Smith started really well but vanished from the game after quarter time. 

That being said, this game shows us clearly how far we still have to go.  Two of the best in the league, with seven of the last nine flags between them and they set the standard again.  I didn't see the WC game, but I would think that at this stage they are the only other side at this level. 

21 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Stop it Earl..You will get ulcers going back to 2012...We all saw it..

It is OK I am in full time therapy and the nurses stupidly let me near a computer. 

3 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

It is OK I am in full time therapy and the nurses stupidly let me near a computer. 

RIP Sylvia Anderson (Lady Penelope) I had a Gin & Tonic in her honour last week...

4 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

RIP Sylvia Anderson (Lady Penelope) I had a Gin & Tonic in her honour last week...

I always knew you were a total gentleman Sir unlike some others who shall not be named here. May her Ladyship rest in peace. 

27 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

It is OK I am in full time therapy and the nurses stupidly let me near a computer. 

Nurse Ratched?

She wouldn't even let us watch the World Series!!!

13 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

I always knew you were a total gentleman Sir unlike some others who shall not be named here. May her Ladyship rest in peace. 

She epitomized the "Swinging London" with pure class and Beauty. 

Firefly was a Jet Airliner we should have got...

51 minutes ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

......

That being said, this game shows us clearly how far we still have to go.  Two of the best in the league, with seven of the last nine flags between them and they set the standard again.  I didn't see the WC game, but I would think that at this stage they are the only other side at this level. 

I only saw the second half, but I thought the skills were not so good.  Ad I don't think pressure is an excuse. I've seen both clubs show better skills under similar pressure.

34 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

She epitomized the "Swinging London" with pure class and Beauty. 

Firefly was a Jet Airliner we should have got...

The fire flash airliner? It had issues, largely because of me If I remember. In my younger days I had some problems I admit. 

2 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

The fire flash airliner? It had issues, largely because of me If I remember. In my younger days I had some problems I admit. 

Yes all the bad guys on the Thunderbirds looked like Yul Brenner!!

issues!

7 hours ago, Curry & Beer said:

also possible for us to be the only undefeated side and a game clear on top

Including NAB, we are the only undefeated team this year.

Blow the siren.

Since we won't win it this year, I'll be barracking hard for the Dogs to win it. Not sure it's possible, but gees wouldn't it be nice to see someone new win the damn thing? Not to mention one of the poor clubs!

If it's Hawthorn, Geelong, West Coast or Sydney again, we may as well give up.

The greatest surprise for me was the Sydney had 11 in their team who had played less than 50 games.  Also, Sinclair looks a good get.

They are building a formidable future.  Its amazing they keep doing this without falling out of the 8.  Yes, they have the Academy.  It just shows how good their 'system' is that they can identify and develop young talent to be high draft contenders.

They will give the top 4 a decent shake.  Wouldn't be surprised to see them in the GF this year - they have no obvious weaknesses and a good balance of talent and experience.  Not to mention intent.

Between them, Hawthorn, Geelong, Sydney and West Coast have won all bar one of the last 11 premierships, with the Pies on the first Saturday in October 2010 (as opposed to the last Saturday in September - same as in 1990).

 

The only teams other than those five to play off for a premiership in that time period are Port Adelaide as a bit of a surprise in 2007 (albeit they had won three years previous, so it can't be that much of a surprise that they were still in contention), where they were destroyed by the Cats, and Freo - who have a bit of Port circa 01-03 about them in that they're there or thereabouts albeit not quite premiership ready it would seem.

 

What was that about an 'even' competition?

 

As midnight oil sang...the rich get richer, the poor get the picture.

19 minutes ago, DemonAndrew said:

Between them, Hawthorn, Geelong, Sydney and West Coast have won all bar one of the last 11 premierships, with the Pies on the first Saturday in October 2010 (as opposed to the last Saturday in September - same as in 1990).

 

The only teams other than those five to play off for a premiership in that time period are Port Adelaide as a bit of a surprise in 2007 (albeit they had won three years previous, so it can't be that much of a surprise that they were still in contention), where they were destroyed by the Cats, and Freo - who have a bit of Port circa 01-03 about them in that they're there or thereabouts albeit not quite premiership ready it would seem.

 

What was that about an 'even' competition?

 

As midnight oil sang...the rich get richer, the poor get the picture.

The MFC have had many chances to improve. 

It is in our hands to do it

We are now doing it right...

31 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

They are building a formidable future.  Its amazing they keep doing this without falling out of the 8.  Yes, they have the Academy.  It just shows how good their 'system' is that they can identify and develop young talent to be high draft contenders.

They've effectively had two top 5 draft picks in years when they have been a top 4 team without giving up much in return, huge advantage.

39 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

The greatest surprise for me was the Sydney had 11 in their team who had played less than 50 games.  Also, Sinclair looks a good get.

They are building a formidable future.  Its amazing they keep doing this without falling out of the 8.  Yes, they have the Academy.  It just shows how good their 'system' is that they can identify and develop young talent to be high draft contenders.

They will give the top 4 a decent shake.  Wouldn't be surprised to see them in the GF this year - they have no obvious weaknesses and a good balance of talent and experience.  Not to mention intent.

Yes, looks like I called that one badly.

Still it's only the first game and their opponent was terrible.

9 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

They've effectively had two top 5 draft picks in years when they have been a top 4 team without giving up much in return, huge advantage.

They paid the market price for Heeney last year.  But remember they have developed the likes of Callum Mills and Heeney to be top 3 picks so good on them.  The advantage is no greater than Hawthorn getting a few high picks from GWS for peanuts. Or the advantage that teams get from FA's for zip ala Frawley to Hawthorn.  The anomalies are numerous.

On the flip side of the Academy benefits one of the debutantes was Tom Papley, an elevated rookie who was in the mix for rnd 1 Rising Star. 

Sydney are just very good at recruiting and developing a solid, consistent team.   I'm happy to acknowledge that.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

Yes, looks like I called that one badly.

Still it's only the first game and their opponent was terrible.

Yes, Titus O'Reily thinks we'll be able to get a better handle on Sydney's quality once they've played Carlton next week.

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

They paid the market price for Heeney last year. 

you forgot the 20% discount for first rounder (increasing for subsequent rounds)

7 hours ago, Jaded said:

Since we won't win it this year, I'll be barracking hard for the Dogs to win it. Not sure it's possible, but gees wouldn't it be nice to see someone new win the damn thing? Not to mention one of the poor clubs!

If it's Hawthorn, Geelong, West Coast or Sydney again, we may as well give up.

I think the competition is going to roll like this until the AFL tighten up on the movement of players who simply don't want to play for one club and just happen to 'prefer' a transfer to a successful club. We complain about FA but essentially, it's just a process that doesn't necessarily need to be utilised by the players if they wish to move clubs as they just hold their current club to ransom in some instances. God help the struggling clubs if it's lessened to 6 years service and compensation is abolished.

Geelong creamed it during trade period, Hawks managed to get O'Rourke for pick 19 after some development had been put into him at GWS. Sydney with Franklin and Tippet plus the academy guns in Heeney and Mills - both effectively #1 draft picks.

It really wil be up to clubs and the players to commit to the journey and manage contracts according to team success as opposed to individual performance. GWS and GCS stuffed this up from the get-go by handing huge contracts to Scully and GAJ whilst the real potential is getting NEAFL games and unbalanced contracts.

This why we can't sell the farm for Hogan when we've got so much talent that's going to be feeding him ball for the next decade.

Hawthorn manage it, Geelong are paying PD $800k a year when he's clearly worth >$1.2m at least.

Anyway, let's hope the equalisation measures actually do result in evening out the competition. That said, if we manage to win 6 flags in a row you won't hear me complaining. 

21 hours ago, Curry & Beer said:

the thought of Hawthorn winning 4 makes me physically ill, so I will barrack against them no matter who they're playing

that said, the Cats and Dangerfield can go to hell

No, Hawks winning 4 matches Collingwoods effort and takes that record away from them.  I'm just so sick of seeing Hawks and Cats at the top.

On 24/03/2016 at 8:20 AM, Whispering_Jack said:

If anyone beats Jacob Weitering in this year's NAB Rising Star then he will be an amazing footballer.

Correct on all counts.

On 24/03/2016 at 8:20 AM, Whispering_Jack said:

If anyone beats Jacob Weitering in this year's NAB Rising Star then he will be an amazing footballer.

 

Can't wait to see the young brigade of Oliver, Petracca and Brayshaw debut against Collingwood in Round 4. Only thing more exciting will be JT's return to the "G"!