16 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Hawks play home games in Tas are they a serious football club?

Games in Tassie are like traveling down the road to Geelong.

No comparison to two trips to the northern territory, especially the extremely taxing Darwin game.

Id gladly trade the NT games for a couple of Tassie ones, though id prefer we ditched this crap altogether.

Edited October 28, 20177 yr by Petraccattack

Maybe nth should have come to alice or darwin one year as a payback having us go to tassie. 

On 27/10/2017 at 1:59 PM, The Chazz said:

Sorry Faulty, but according to some, our premiership chances are determined by how many games Essendon play against this year's finalists, how many Sunday twilight games we play, and if we play interstate teams in the NT instead of Vic teams.

Our supporters need to HTFU.  We have a list full of quality, and should demand more of them, rather than sweating the small stuff over our game being on Fox Footy instead of Channel 7.

We have a full list of Quality Players when they start winning the hard games. 

They have done nothing yet...

Some People on here still say our list is better than Richmond, which is absolute rubbish. 

They achieved...

2 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We have a full list of Quality Players when they start winning the hard games. 

They have done nothing yet...

Some People on here still say our list is better than Richmond, which is absolute rubbish. 

They achieved...

Agree Potential is such a vicious word we deserve what we get!

Stop Bleatin and start winnin!

Next year a defining year for Goodwin, the Players and the Club,

Finish outside the 8 next year and we may as well amalgamate/relocate to Tasmania play as the Devils  and forget everything else!

12 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Agree Potential is such a vicious word we deserve what we get!

Stop Bleatin and start winnin!

Next year a defining year for Goodwin, the Players and the Club,

Finish outside the 8 next year and we may as well amalgamate/relocate to Tasmania play as the Devils  and forget everything else!

Agreed picket, a finish outside the 8 next year would be a high magnitude disaster.

Too terrible to contemplate. 

2 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Agreed picket, a finish outside the 8 next year would be a high magnitude disaster.

Too terrible to contemplate. 

More Terrible than even you and I going forth into the wastelands of Romsey in search of the perfect woman and coming up with 

"The Hession""

That's Old Bags, Uncle!

Edited October 28, 20177 yr by picket fence

We are top 4 bound in 2018, stop stressing fellas

57 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Agree Potential is such a vicious word we deserve what we get!

Stop Bleatin and start winnin!

Next year a defining year for Goodwin, the Players and the Club,

Finish outside the 8 next year and we may as well amalgamate/relocate to Tasmania play as the Devils  and forget everything else!

Understand completely PF but I would go a little further.

This year should have been the 8.... next year has to be 6 with a chance to push for 3 or 4.

Tired of the mediocrity shown by this club.

Not sure the Pollyanna's on this forum understand the damage done to this club by the late season fade out. It simply must not happen again. Remember with five games to go we could have gone top 4 and instead we won 2 out of 5 with almost our best 22 on the park. Moreover 4 out of those 5 games were against teams that well and truly missed the 8.

Edited October 28, 20177 yr by Diamond_Jim

21 hours ago, Je Roos Salem said:

Our game against Sydney has probably put the AFL off giving us Friday nights. If we're definitely not playing Essendon twice (huge surprise) I guess it'll just be their home game again. There must be elements of copying and pasting in the fixture making

According to the HUN our game after Anzac Eve is an Away game against Essendon at Etihad. 

A near-certainty that it's their home game again.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-fixture-2018-afl-has-solution-to-short-week-for-four-anzac-match-teams/news-story/69944909fb9d72aff6336d4114613db2

So it seems so far we know we have Geelong at the G in Round 1, Brisbane away in Round 2, Richmond at home in Round 5, Essendon at Etihad in Round 6, GC in Brisbane in Round 8, Adelaide in Alice Springs in Round 10, Collingwood on QB in Round 12, and Freo at Darwin in Round 16. I think we'll have a bye in Round 11 like this year between Alice Springs and QB).

A bit more travel in the first half of the year so far it seems. 

We've got Geelong and Richmond at home in the opening 5 weeks which is great commercially. Will be interesting to see whether we get any Friday nights and, if so, when and against whom. I can't see us getting any more than 1.

30 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

According to the HUN our game after Anzac Eve is against Essendon at Etihad. 

A near-certainty that it's their home game again.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-fixture-2018-afl-has-solution-to-short-week-for-four-anzac-match-teams/news-story/69944909fb9d72aff6336d4114613db2

There is a reason why we always play as the away side v Essendon and it all has to do with clash jumpers and the failure of the afl to make essendon have a real clash jumper 

36 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

According to the HUN our game after Anzac Eve is against Essendon at Etihad. 

A near-certainty that it's their home game again.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-fixture-2018-afl-has-solution-to-short-week-for-four-anzac-match-teams/news-story/69944909fb9d72aff6336d4114613db2

Trying to do the math from the article and it seems we have a Saturday game in round 4. 

We get a decent break going into the Anzac Eve clash but it will be interesting to see our player management heading into the Dons game on such a short turnaround.

5 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We have a full list of Quality Players when they start winning the hard games. 

They have done nothing yet...

Some People on here still say our list is better than Richmond, which is absolute rubbish. 

They achieved...

Spot on SWYL

We can shout from the rooftops about our talented list, but the Tigs (and last years Dogs) found a way to win a flag from seemingly nowhere, with great game plans for the occasion, and total commitment from the entire list. That level of commitment is something I have never witnessed from a Melbourne team when the big time arrives.

If this list stay together and play with the single mindedness of this years Tigers, we should win 5 in a row.

Easy to predict that we wont, based on past experience.

 

 

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Understand completely PF but I would go a little further.

This year should have been the 8.... next year has to be 6 with a chance to push for 3 or 4.

Tired of the mediocrity shown by this club.

Not sure the Pollyanna's on this forum understand the damage done to this club by the late season fade out. It simply must not happen again. Remember with five games to go we could have gone top 4 and instead we won 2 out of 5 with almost our best 22 on the park. Moreover 4 out of those 5 games were against teams that well and truly missed the 8.

Well said mate. Good post.

Picking up a player such as Lever is a massive step in the right direction. We are targeting the type of player who will stand up to finals pressure, and offloading those who wont.

We have a terrible history of falling over our own feet when in a position to push deep into the top 8. Almost as if it's a mental issue, not a physical one. Missing the 8, or even missing the top 4 next season would be a huge failure in my eyes. Our footy dept needs to ditch the "young list" excuses, and saddle us up for a serious shot. Otherwise we will still be seen as a joke to the rest of the AFL community.

16 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

We have a full list of Quality Players when they start winning the hard games. 

They have done nothing yet...

Some People on here still say our list is better than Richmond, which is absolute rubbish. 

They achieved...

Yours is the easy argument and hard to argue against.  

Full credit to Richmond, after years of failing and losing in the first week of finals their senior players finally stepped up and there was total buy in to the game-plan from the rest of the group.  

They had virtually no injuries and the second easiest draw in the competition.  But they still had to get it done and they did.  Four years in finals out of the last 5 years showed they'd been there abouts.

Martin, Rance, Cotchin, and Riewoldt are stars.  They weren't always stars, but they're now the best collection of 4 players in the one team in the competition. 

Petracca, Lever, Oliver, and Hogan are not stars.  Nor is Viney.  And it may take them the same amount of time it's taken the Richmond players.  Or not.  Or they may never get there at all.

So for me it rests on whether we develop stars.  It always has.  You give me a collection of stars and I'll show you a premiership.  

Don't care who we play but when we play and where we play in relation to that when - i.e. not multiple consecutive games six days after one another with a cross-country trip in the middle. Simple as that. We had the most taxing post-bye fixture that I can ever recall. Anything that isn't that is a bonus and should be surmountable. I'd be thrilled if we played each of the top-eight teams twice next year.

41 minutes ago, ProDee said:

Yours is the easy argument and hard to argue against.  

Full credit to Richmond, after years of failing and losing in the first week of finals their senior players finally stepped up and there was total buy in to the game-plan from the rest of the group.  

They had virtually no injuries and the second easiest draw in the competition.  But they still had to get it done and they did.  Four years in finals out of the last 5 years showed they'd been there abouts.

Martin, Rance, Cotchin, and Riewoldt are stars.  They weren't always stars, but they're now the best collection of 4 players in the one team in the competition. 

Petracca, Lever, Oliver, and Hogan are not stars.  Nor is Viney.  And it may take them the same amount of time it's taken the Richmond players.  Or not.  Or they may never get there at all.

So for me it rests on whether we develop stars.  It always has.  You give me a collection of stars and I'll show you a premiership.  

While I agree with the premise of your post, I still can't get my head around last years Bulldogs. 

Stars? All I saw was a committed group of blokes who had figured out a way to throw the ball so fast, the umpires couldn't keep up.

 

The Tigers list is also full of bog-average players. Shows what can be achieved when your handful of "stars" are on song. Only takes a few.

5 minutes ago, faultydet said:

While I agree with the premise of your post, I still can't get my head around last years Bulldogs. 

Stars? All I saw was a committed group of blokes who had figured out a way to throw the ball so fast, the umpires couldn't keep up.

 

The Tigers list is also full of bog-average players. Shows what can be achieved when your handful of "stars" are on song. Only takes a few.

The landscape has changed in that it's now possible for a good ordinary side to pinch a flag.  The competition has never been more even.

But I'd rather note history in the main and not an aberration or two.

Develop some genuine stars of the competition with quality support crew and you'll invariably stand upon the dais late in September. 

If our players develop into their potential (yeah, that word) we really could see multiple opportunities to secure flags.  Put simply, the cream of our youth is the envy of the competition.

Edited October 28, 20177 yr by ProDee

2 hours ago, ProDee said:

Yours is the easy argument and hard to argue against.  

Full credit to Richmond, after years of failing and losing in the first week of finals their senior players finally stepped up and there was total buy in to the game-plan from the rest of the group.  

They had virtually no injuries and the second easiest draw in the competition.  But they still had to get it done and they did.  Four years in finals out of the last 5 years showed they'd been there abouts.

Martin, Rance, Cotchin, and Riewoldt are stars.  They weren't always stars, but they're now the best collection of 4 players in the one team in the competition. 

Petracca, Lever, Oliver, and Hogan are not stars.  Nor is Viney.  And it may take them the same amount of time it's taken the Richmond players.  Or not.  Or they may never get there at all.

So for me it rests on whether we develop stars.  It always has.  You give me a collection of stars and I'll show you a premiership.  

Sure. Attitude and Application will decide who wins 99% of the time. 

We Could have had a real crack this year, but it was all too hard. 

I think that is why Goodwin targetted Watts...

14 hours ago, Demonland said:

 

 

Its almost as though Dland is trolled ! 

A number of us suggested this exact answer. 

Good.

 

20 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

So it seems so far we know we have Geelong at the G in Round 1, Brisbane away in Round 2, Richmond at home in Round 5, Essendon at Etihad in Round 6, GC in Brisbane in Round 8, Adelaide in Alice Springs in Round 10, Collingwood on QB in Round 12, and Freo at Darwin in Round 16. I think we'll have a bye in Round 11 like this year between Alice Springs and QB).

A bit more travel in the first half of the year so far it seems. 

We've got Geelong and Richmond at home in the opening 5 weeks which is great commercially. Will be interesting to see whether we get any Friday nights and, if so, when and against whom. I can't see us getting any more than 1.

do we know what dates these are, specifically the darwin game?'

 

58 minutes ago, Danelska said:

do we know what dates these are, specifically the darwin game?'

 

Darwin game will be Sat night so you should be able to figure it out if you have a calendar and few spare minutes handy

Edited October 29, 20177 yr by Dr. Gonzo

Round 16
Melbourne v Fremantle
TIO Stadium, Darwin
Saturday, July 7 at 7.10pm ACST/7.40pm AEST

Virgin return flights ex Melbourne up Friday night and back Sunday are showing at around: $670

Edited October 29, 20177 yr by Diamond_Jim