Fixture 2020 (COVID Edition)

[Cards13 9,117]

Rotate players? Besides Bennell, until we’re guaranteed of finals then it would be madness to not play our best teams at all times. Professional athletes, Burgess they need to get through this looking to win as many as possible to get as far into the 8 as possible.

[Nasher 33,616]

7 hours ago, deanox said:

I don't understand when it is suggested this year has an astrix. In fact, this year is potentially the fairest year ever. You play everyone once. Everyone is travelling, moving, on notice. Interstate teams aren't disadvantaged with travel and advantaged with big home crowds. Vic clubs aren't getting cushy rides based on the crowds they draw to the G. The fixture is being drawn a few weeks in advance, so yes some clubs will have it better but it will largely be by chance not by design. All clubs will come up against it at some point. Winning this year proves you're the best in the comp over the season. 

It’s only Victorians who are pissy about not being able to the footy who think there’s an asterisk. I’m invested and want this flag as much as any other.

[deanox 9,942]

1 hour ago, Cards13 said:

Rotate players? Besides Bennell, until we’re guaranteed of finals then it would be madness to not play our best teams at all times. Professional athletes, Burgess they need to get through this looking to win as many as possible to get as far into the 8 as possible.

Cards, I agree with this (despite describing rotation above). What I was trying to point out was that in the situation where fatigue due to multiple, repeat, shortened gaps between games, is going to cost us games or injuries, we only need a small handful of players to throw in the mix and everyone can get a sightly extended break by bidding a round. Especially given we "already had our bye".

[BigFez 1,462]

The way some people carry on about the Tassie game you'd think it was a long haul flight to get down here.  It's under an hour from Melbourne, the bus trip to Geelong is longer.

You can fly direct from Adelaide and Brisbane, Brisbane being the longer flight at 2.5 hours.

Our form down here isn't too bad.  We will [censored] North.

Having said that I have no idea why they made it a night match in August!  I went to a night match at Blundstone arena Richmond vs North a few years back and my eyeballs nearly froze.

[Cards13 9,117]

4 minutes ago, BigFez said:

The way some people carry on about the Tassie game you'd think it was a long haul flight to get down here.  It's under an hour from Melbourne, the bus trip to Geelong is longer.

You can fly direct from Adelaide and Brisbane, Brisbane being the longer flight at 2.5 hours.

Our form down here isn't too bad.  We will [censored] North.

Having said that I have no idea why they made it a night match in August!  I went to a night match at Blundstone arena Richmond vs North a few years back and my eyeballs nearly froze.

Fez we’re flying from Qld, it’s a little longer than from Melbs with shortened gaps between games. It’s not ideal and tougher compared to others teams just plonked in Qld for the next block of games.

As the club has said though, anywhere, anytime! 

[BigFez 1,462]

2 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

Fez we’re flying from Qld, it’s a little longer than from Melbs with shortened gaps between games. It’s not ideal and tougher compared to others teams just plonked in Qld for the next block of games.

As the club has said though, anywhere, anytime! 

You'd think they'd fly straight from Adelaide on the Thursday and try and get a main session in at Blundstone before the game on Sunday wouldn't they?  Yes it isn't ideal for preparation but it really isn't a long way from either Brisbane or Adelaide.  Comparable to the bus ride from the Sunny Coast to the Gold Coast.

It will be interesting to see what the Premier says regarding the border restrictions, it wouldn't surprise me if he said no.  He's been pretty strict since the outbreak on the North-West Coast.

[Clintosaurus 7,852]

51 minutes ago, BigFez said:

You'd think they'd fly straight from Adelaide on the Thursday and try and get a main session in at Blundstone before the game on Sunday wouldn't they?  Yes it isn't ideal for preparation but it really isn't a long way from either Brisbane or Adelaide.  Comparable to the bus ride from the Sunny Coast to the Gold Coast.

It will be interesting to see what the Premier says regarding the border restrictions, it wouldn't surprise me if he said no.  He's been pretty strict since the outbreak on the North-West Coast.

I think staying in Adelaide until Saturday morning then having a session on Blundstone late Saturday would be best.

It would not surprise if Gutwein says no, but the lure of that sweet AFL cash might be too much.

[Fat Tony 5,252]

I think we really need to adopt a squad mentality to selection for the rest of the season.

The 22 that played against Hawthorn plus ANB, Hunt, TMac, Brown, Jones, Tomlinson, Rivers and Smith will be the core players coming into the side. Preuss may even get a run if Gawn needs to be rested. Players like Dunkley, Sparrow, Baker and Jordon might even get a chance.

The question is how we manage our key players like Petracca and Oliver. May and Langdon are also important given they are not easily replaceable. Like with Gawn, I would try to play these four in every game, but it will be a game to game proposition depending on how they recover.

Bennell probably plays every second game and freshman Jackson and Pickett will play less games than they otherwise might.

Still, looking at our depth, and the fact that our key players are largely in the perfect age bracket to recover, we are pretty well placed to do well in this crammed fixture.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,816]

13 hours ago, Bates Mate said:

Our Bye was inflicted by Essendon at a time we didn't need it and we get two road trips in the next block while Essendon get none. Shafted big time. I hated that club

I know it's popular to find reasons to blame and/or hate Essendon at every opportunity, but the bye was not inflicted by Essendon but by a positive Covid-19 test (which may have been a false positive) on an individual. With the virulence of this disese, it could just as easily have been one of our players who tested positive. It is still possible that one of our players may test positive and should that affect the AFL season in any way, I would not want the MFC to be blamed for it. 

Furthermore, if McKenna had the infection and it spread from him to other Essendon players and then to our players, we would not just be mortified for the impact on the competition, but for the health of our players and their families.

Let's keep the blame game to a minimum and instead appreciate what the AFL, all the clubs and all the players have done to keep the season alive as much as they can. 

 

[Demonland 72,230]

Not sure if this has been mentioned already but the times of our games in the Rounds 9 to 12 block are in.

Round 9 vs Port @ The Gabba on Thursday 30 July @ 8:10pm

Round 10 vs Adelaide @ Adelaide Oval on Wednesday 5 August @ 8:10pm (Melb Time) 7:40pm (Adel Time)

Round 11 vs North @ Blunstone Arena on Sunday 9 August @ 6:10pm

Round 12 vs Collingwood @ The Gabba on Saturday 15 August @ 5:10pm

[Demonland 72,230]

Also of note is the * next to our match against North in Tassie. The Venue is still subject to Tasmanian Government Approval.

Could this match potentially not even be played in Tasmania?

[Red and Blue realist 2,051]

5 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

I think we really need to adopt a squad mentality to selection for the rest of the season.

The 22 that played against Hawthorn plus ANB, Hunt, TMac, Brown, Jones, Tomlinson, Rivers and Smith will be the core players coming into the side. Preuss may even get a run if Gawn needs to be rested. Players like Dunkley, Sparrow, Baker and Jordon might even get a chance.

The question is how we manage our key players like Petracca and Oliver. May and Langdon are also important given they are not easily replaceable. Like with Gawn, I would try to play these four in every game, but it will be a game to game proposition depending on how they recover.

Bennell probably plays every second game and freshman Jackson and Pickett will play less games than they otherwise might.

Still, looking at our depth, and the fact that our key players are largely in the perfect age bracket to recover, we are pretty well placed to do well in this crammed fixture.

This is spot on, and there's already been talk (I know the media are ramping up their usual waffle at the moment) about other clubs mass resting players, I don't think we should take that approach but certainly take the squad mentality. I wonder if Burgess will have some say at selection meetings, with his experience in the EPL and soccer world where they have lots of short turn arounds, but mainly due to the difference competitions they play. This means they put out different squads for different levels of opponent (or how much they value the comp their in). The talk last night was the Geelong or Collingwood could rest 10 first choice players against the like of Adelaide/North etc. I don't think we need to be that harsh but certainly should be thinking about taking the choice out of players hands and forcing some to rest or positional changes (have Trac forward all game, or even Maxy to CHB and if needed use them to help win a game). 

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,816]

8 minutes ago, Red and Blue realist said:

This is spot on, and there's already been talk (I know the media are ramping up their usual waffle at the moment) about other clubs mass resting players, I don't think we should take that approach but certainly take the squad mentality. I wonder if Burgess will have some say at selection meetings, with his experience in the EPL and soccer world where they have lots of short turn arounds, but mainly due to the difference competitions they play. This means they put out different squads for different levels of opponent (or how much they value the comp their in). The talk last night was the Geelong or Collingwood could rest 10 first choice players against the like of Adelaide/North etc. I don't think we need to be that harsh but certainly should be thinking about taking the choice out of players hands and forcing some to rest or positional changes (have Trac forward all game, or even Maxy to CHB and if needed use them to help win a game). 

Interesting strategy. Apart from being accused of tanking, the better strategy might be to rest players when playing teams you don't expect to win against, to make sure that you do win the ones you should.

[Webber 10,476]

The assumed rotating of players will be exercised on a case by case basis. Biometrics (distance covered, time spent in heart-rate zones) will be taken into account, but the overriding qualification will be based on subjective reports of recovery. Thus, players will have to be brutally honest about how they’re travelling in the days post-game. With our lack of injuries, we couldn’t be better placed. Hopefully that remains the case. 

[DistrACTION Jackson 8,770]

I think injury lists are going to play a huge part the rest of this season. Teams with larger lists are going to really struggle to rotate their players to keep them fresh, which may result in additional injuries due to fatigue.

Port and Adelaide have similar lists to us, however both North and Collingwood are really struggling on the injury front. We really need to take advantage of this period. Anything less than 3 wins in the next 5 games will be a fail in my mind.

Looking through the injury lists of sides we will be playing during this condensed fixture period and they are as follows:

Port Adelaide

Adelaide

North Melbourne

 

Collingwood

[Red and Blue realist 2,051]

6 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Interesting strategy. Apart from being accused of tanking, the better strategy might be to rest players when playing teams you don't expect to win against, to make sure that you do win the ones you should.

I expect to win all games, and hope the coaches and players do to! I know that won't happen but no point putting the cue in the rack before the balls bounced. I'd be looking a lot closer at match ups and how well we structure against the teams and basing decisions on that. 

[binman 43,135]

12 minutes ago, Webber said:

The assumed rotating of players will be exercised on a case by case basis. Biometrics (distance covered, time spent in heart-rate zones) will be taken into account, but the overriding qualification will be based on subjective reports of recovery. Thus, players will have to be brutally honest about how they’re travelling in the days post-game. With our lack of injuries, we couldn’t be better placed. Hopefully that remains the case. 

It is all about recovery isn't it Webber.

In normal seasons i'm guessing they spend most of their week recovering and maybe only have the one tough training session (and some players wouldn't even have that).

With short breaks they will just miss that big session.

And i'm thinking that with the players all in in the hub they have unique opportunity to support (control?) the player's recovery - no late nights bingeing on netflix and corn chips.

I was critical of the decision by the AFL to go to 16 minute quarters but credit where it is due - 20% less game time  across the board will help a lot with recovery in this period.

I think another big factor is that all teams, dees included, are, at least to some degree, playing tempo footy with lots of slow, patient ball movement, holding it for 15 odd seconds after a mark and chipping it around the back line. Look at how few inside 50s GWS have had. They are barely moving it forward.

This means the games are generally slower,  less ballistic, not as physically taxing and players get a rest on the ground during games.

Clubs might look to play more of this style in this block of games, particularly if they get say 3-4 goals lead, to help keep their players fresher (for footy punters might be good period to back unders on the total match point).

And we don't get close to using all of our rotations i don't think and some players, like Gawn barely come off. We can use all of our rotations and give players like Gawn more of rest to help manage loads

[drdrake 3,178]

The big one for us is how we manage Max Gawn, most other areas we can cover.  Preuss hasn't played this year, not sure if he has even had a run in the scratch matches.  

All other clubs will also have a bye after this block of games we don't so we need to manage our players.

 

 

[Diamond_Jim 12,597]

1 hour ago, Clintosaurus said:

I think staying in Adelaide until Saturday morning then having a session on Blundstone late Saturday would be best.

It would not surprise if Gutwein says no, but the lure of that sweet AFL cash might be too much.

The cash goes the other way.

This is North trying to fulfil its sponsorship contract. Tassie may want to spend its money on other things

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,860]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Also of note is the * next to our match against North in Tassie. The Venue is still subject to Tasmanian Government Approval.

Could this match potentially not even be played in Tasmania?

This was mentioned on channel 7 news, but the general consensus was that it's all but confirmed that the Tassie government will allow these games to occur....

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,860]

I wonder if the Melbourne V Port Thursday night game is a 7 or Fox game?

Would be good for national exposure if it's on FTA.

The North and Collingwood games will be on FOX I'd say.

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

Kind of feels like NHL/NBA fixturing. On a plane every second day. Strap in if you love your footy. 

No bigger challenge than the upcoming month. Really looking forward to it. 

[Clintosaurus 7,852]

Port game is on 7, the others are on Fox.

[In Harmes Way 7,796]

I'm amazed at the amount of travel we've got over the next 4 weeks; given we've also got partners and kids in the QLD "hub". Presuming other clubs in the same boat. I wonder if we are moving our whole team + entourage en masse between locations, or commuting back to QLD between games.

For reasons of minimising COVID community transmission, I'd have thought the AFL would be trying to minimise the travel burden (or maybe they have overall, and it's us that copped the short end of the stick?)

[Cards13 9,117]

1 hour ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Kind of feels like NHL/NBA fixturing. On a plane every second day. Strap in if you love your footy. 

No bigger challenge than the upcoming month. Really looking forward to it. 

Was reading just this morning the break in the NHL has been huge for most teams. They play so many games in a week (sometimes and a home and away agains the same team on back to back days) the rest for the players has been great along with new coaches getting to actually implement their systems. 
 

NHL playoffs aiming to start in 2 hub/bubble cities in Aug 1st, something like 1 month of 6 games every single day, all back to back!!!