COVID & AFL 2021

[Jaded No More 68,972]

2 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Jon Ralph reporting that the St Kilda V Port game might get moved to Saturday afternoon to allow Port to get home that night.

I wonder if our game gets moved to 7:25pm so channel 7 retain their Saturday night game.

Not that it really matters as none of us can go…

 

I would still like to know. Need to plan my move from the bed to the couch (big TV prime location) and time my drinking to ensure I’m just drunk enough to endure a Melbourne loss should it occur, but not so drunk that I won’t appreciate a win. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,938]

6 minutes ago, Jaded said:

I would still like to know. Need to plan my move from the bed to the couch (big TV prime location) and time my drinking to ensure I’m just drunk enough to endure a Melbourne loss should it occur, but not so drunk that I won’t appreciate a win. 

Very salient point indeed Jaded.

We all need to sit on our lucky COVID couches that got us over the line for the Dogs and Lions games.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Bring-Back-Powell

[titan_uranus 25,043]

A night game gives us FTA exposure which will be more enticing and rewarding for our sponsors.

Surely a better result than the twilight game on Fox.

[Stiff Arm 4,419]

6 hours ago, DubDee said:

My Mrs is not happy at all about this lockdown, she has tickets to see Magic Mike on sunday and now will be stuck with the not-so-Magic DubDee.

I might start by seductively peeling my socks off one at a time

Please stop DD, you're turning me on...

?

[Clayton van Oliver 1,823]

1 hour ago, Rusty Nails said:

You mean the member countries of the EU aren't in lock step with one another ADD!??  I'm shocked!

Quite right. Fortunately, that is not the point or aim of the EU ?.

 

Sorry to everyone who is having to go back into lockdown. It truly, truly sucks.

[Jaded No More 68,972]

Well just when you thought today couldn’t suck anymore Geelong are now top of the ladder. Goodnight and [censored] off 2021!

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,938]

Can someone please tell me why they AFL sent 6 clubs to a state that has mystery cases and might be a case away from their own lock down this weekend?

I get Gil and his boys have done a great job during the pandemic (with a lot of help from state govts) but this one might be a case of out smarting themselves.

[Lucifers Hero 40,336]

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Can someone please tell me why they AFL sent 6 clubs to a state that has mystery cases and might be a case away from their own lock down this weekend?

I get Gil and his boys have done a great job during the pandemic (with a lot of help from state govts) but this one might be a case of out smarting themselves.

Other states are allowing crowds.

And yesterday's post:

18 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Posted this in another thread but probably more relevant here, re why Ess game moved to Qld: 

AFL spreading the risk across states rather than having 12 teams 'stuck' in Victoria and theu looking forward to who plays who in rounds 19 and 20.

In rounds 19 and 20 Ess play GWS and Syd who have also flown to Qld.  Then GWS and Syd play SA or WA teams and they are banking on it being easier those games played and teams back to SA and WA respectively. 

Apparently, Bulldogs preparing for a stint out of Vic.  They play Adelaide in round 19 so likely to be in SE Qld.

I can see mini hubs forming in SE Qld for most of the teams that flew up today. 

I wouldn't be surprised if the AFL swap some games around in the latter rounds to enable the season to be finished.

Since that post, Tigers/Lions game was moved to Qld, presumably so that Lions will be allowed back into Qld if they shut the border with Vic. 

The only games in Melb this weekend are Vic teams vs Vic teams.

Edit: and at this stage Saints vs Port is in Melbourne.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Lucifer's Hero

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,938]

57 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Other states are allowing crowds.

And yesterday's post:

Since that post, Tigers/Lions game was moved to Qld, presumably so that Lions will be allowed back into Qld if they shut the border with Vic. 

The only games in Melb this weekend are Vic teams vs Vic teams.

Edit: and at this stage Saints vs Port is in Melbourne.

Agree with all that, but it's a risky move for the AFL to put a lot of their eggs in a state that is currently experiencing community transmission/mystery cases and won't hesitate to lock the state down by tomorrow if they have more numbers today.

 

[whatwhat say what 22,927]

getting to qld as a hub is gonna be tricky for any team not already there - arrive after 1am saturday and it's 14 days hotel quarantine

[Lucifers Hero 40,336]

1 hour ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Agree with all that, but it's a risky move for the AFL to put a lot of their eggs in a state that is currently experiencing community transmission/mystery cases and won't hesitate to lock the state down by tomorrow if they have more numbers today.

Qld in much better shape than Vic.  NT and Qld have/will close their borders.  14 day quarantine required to enter (unless exemptions granted).  It is all very fluid and the AFL are trying to out run a storm which so far they have been excellent at.

One thing for sure, the GCS game won't be in Darwin.  I won't be sorry that we don't have that long haul trip

We just need to accept that some clubs will benefit some won't.  MFC is well placed to weather whatever storm comes our way.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Lucifer's Hero

[Red and Blue realist 2,058]

Anyone have any idea why our game is still scheduled for 4:35pm? Why would the AFL and broadcasters want 2 games going head to head (our game is the same time as the Suns v Dogs game)? Surely given the lockdowns and the huge TV audiences they got last year they'd be better off starting our game at around 2pm and then have the games lead into each other, they'd get all the neutral supporters then, rather than having them split across the 1 time slot. There'd be no issues with us starting earlier?  

[Lucifers Hero 40,336]

Anyone else thinking the AFL may need to schedule a few byes in the next month or two to get the season done and then extend finals into October.

They can't simply stop the season at the end of a given round as we have yet to play GCS and WCS once and Bulldogs are yet to play a few teams once.

They can bring those games forward but byes and some October finals might be easier to organise.

[Lucifers Hero 40,336]

27 minutes ago, Red and Blue realist said:

Anyone have any idea why our game is still scheduled for 4:35pm? Why would the AFL and broadcasters want 2 games going head to head (our game is the same time as the Suns v Dogs game)? Surely given the lockdowns and the huge TV audiences they got last year they'd be better off starting our game at around 2pm and then have the games lead into each other, they'd get all the neutral supporters then, rather than having them split across the 1 time slot. There'd be no issues with us starting earlier?  

Guessing it is to do with the available times for games at Metricon and the AFL not wanting to shift our game time for impact on organisers and broadcasters. 

With new border closures the time and even the venue may change.

 

As an aside, all the Qld games this weekend are at Metricon.  Is the gabba unavailable? 

Just realised games being at Metricon could be to make life easier for broadcasters to staff up at one ground rather than two, at short notice.

Edited July 16, 2021 by Lucifer's Hero

[old55 23,687]

17 hours ago, Pollyanna said:

In terms of a "legitimate AFL Season", we're pretty close to there now.  The only teams we haven't played are GC and WC, we've played GWS twice and will have played Hawthorn twice after this weekend.  The other 3 games vs. WB, Adelaide and Geelong are all repeats.

I haven't got time to do the analysis but it's likely the other teams will be in the same ballpark.

Everyone knows 5th to 8th are making up the numbers in the finals.

Worst case, if the AFL really wants to get a legitimate season result they could concentrate on fixturing the remaining clashes that haven't happened and then run a 2 week final series starting with "Preliminary finals" 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd - winners to the GF.

 

14 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

There are other issues with this though. Some teams (rumours suggest we might be one) planned for a 22-game season by way of our training loads. Degrees of unfairness start to arise if you suddenly chop the season down to, say, 19 games.

Otherwise it then gets a bit complicated. The Dogs, for example, after this week will have three games left to complete (Adelaide, Essendon, Hawthorn). Adelaide, by contrast, will have just one (Bulldogs). 

Some sides are going to have too many games whilst others will have too many byes.

The AFL's come this far, I expect it will do everything it can to finish the 22 rounds as intended.

Of course the AFL and everyone would prefer that the full 23 rounds are completed as intended and the full finals series played.

What I am suggesting is an alternative to Season 2021 abandoned.

Yes some teams will have more un-played opponents than others.  When the extra un-played opponents matches are played, repeats can be scheduled for the other teams to keep the total number of games played by each club the same.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

1 hour ago, Red and Blue realist said:

Anyone have any idea why our game is still scheduled for 4:35pm? Why would the AFL and broadcasters want 2 games going head to head (our game is the same time as the Suns v Dogs game)? Surely given the lockdowns and the huge TV audiences they got last year they'd be better off starting our game at around 2pm and then have the games lead into each other, they'd get all the neutral supporters then, rather than having them split across the 1 time slot. There'd be no issues with us starting earlier?  

Could it be technical issues associated with the broadcast? We keep forgetting that each game needs all sorts of tech to be available, such as cameras and an outside broadcast van, for example. But do they also need satellite space to be booked? (or is there other technology such as cable or microwave used to send the sound and pictures right around the country, and beyond?) Anyway, just a thought.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,909]

Sensible advice (although I can't vouch for the odds). Nevertheless, let me just leave this here:

[picket fence 17,495]

17 hours ago, Hampton 22 said:

The AFL should just award the 2021 premiership to whoever is on top of the ladder right now. 

Ah that would then be Geelong?

Edited July 16, 2021 by picket fence

[titan_uranus 25,043]

1 hour ago, Pollyanna said:

 

Of course the AFL and everyone would prefer that the full 23 rounds are completed as intended and the full finals series played.

What I am suggesting is an alternative to Season 2021 abandoned.

Yes some teams will have more un-played opponents than others.  When the extra un-played opponents matches are played, repeats can be scheduled for the other teams to keep the total number of games played by each club the same.

I'm not suggesting it's impossible or unworkable to adjust the fixture, all I'm suggesting is that it's both sub-optimal and not as easy as just scrapping future return games.

There are fairness and integrity issues at stake. Other examples include the games earlier in the year where sides had home games flipped to away games on the basis that there would be a return game later in the season (e.g. Brisbane v Collingwood, St Kilda v Sydney, Brisbane v Fremantle).

Sure, this is all better than abandoning season 2021, but until scrapping games becomes the only option, I advocate against it and I'm sure the AFL will do what it can to avoid it.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,938]

AFL grand final likely to be moved according to Tom Morris's opinion piece. I actually agree with his points.

A special thanks to the NSW  removalists and the returning family that had to duck into Coles to pickup that all important bottle of dishwashing liquid.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-latest-news-2021-grand-final-venue-covid-updates-mcg-deal-victoria-covid-lockdown-fixture-updates-tom-morris/news-story/b8b406ee23bb97f71ccf28335c640fe8

Edited July 16, 2021 by Bring-Back-Powell

[Diamond_Jim 12,627]

9 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

AFL grand final likely to be moved according to Tom Morris's opinion piece. I actually agree with his points.

A special thanks to the NSW  removalists and the returning family that had to duck into Coles to pickup that all important bottle of dishwashing liquid.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-latest-news-2021-grand-final-venue-covid-updates-mcg-deal-victoria-covid-lockdown-fixture-updates-tom-morris/news-story/b8b406ee23bb97f71ccf28335c640fe8

you have to read between the lines.

The AFL makes more on 50k in Perth or Adelaide than a 50k crowd at the MCG simply because the other State governments kick in money.

That's how Ana did it last year.

I smell an attempted squeeze on the Victorian government here but the AFL would want to tread warily

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,938]

4 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

you have to read between the lines.

The AFL makes more on 50k in Perth or Adelaide than a 50k crowd at the MCG simply because the other State governments kick in money.

That's how Ana did it last year.

I smell an attempted squeeze on the Victorian government here but the AFL would want to tread warily

Agree with all that. Feels like tradition's going out the window in exchange for some much needed recouped COVID 19 funds.

If the grand final is moved to Perth, you'd want to hope we haven't been locked down for at least 4 weeks. That way MFC members with guaranteed GF tickets will be able to fly over.

If VIC is really that desperate to hold the GF, they'll magically adjust the formula.

[Macca 17,032]

The  crowds at the footy has (in part) led to this latest lockdown

So be careful what you wish for ... the chances are that the virus might be spread at the games up in QLD and then what? Up until now the border between QLD & NSW has been open

Victoria has a chance to get on top of the virus because of the much stricter lockdown conditions

NSW on the other hand has very little hope unless they have more stringent lockdown conditions.  If they don't get tough up there the disease will be out of control

And then the rest of the country will be on a knife's edge. 

Gladys needs to get much tougher on the movement of people

Edited July 16, 2021 by Macca

[rjay 25,070]

On 7/15/2021 at 3:19 PM, demonstone said:

There's already been a movie made about those dodgy removalists.

The only question I have is who the hell is Kenny Carter?

Thanks for posting 'demonstone'.

I've got the play in book form of this and was just thinking of it as well.

Must dig it out again and have a read.

[rjay 25,070]

3 hours ago, picket fence said:

Ah that would then be Geelong?

No, you would have to go on the last fully completed round...