9 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

 Modern boots sacrifice support for flexibility and mobility. 

Pretty handy I'm guessing when you're running 10 to 15 kms a game.

10 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

Games at Blundstone since 2012 (when North started playing home games there):

1. GWS - 6
2. Melbourne - 5
3. Adelaide - 3
4. St Kilda - 3
5. Sydney - 3
6. West Coast - 3
7. Port Adelaide - 3
8. Geelong - 2
9. Richmond - 2
10. Gold Coast - 1 (will be 2 by the end of this year)
11. Hawthorn - 1
12. Brisbane - 1
13. Carlton - 1
14. Collingwood - 0
15. Essendon - 0
16. Fremantle - 0
17. Western Bulldogs - 0

So we have played the most games at Kardinia Park in the last 30 or so years besides Geelong and the second most at Manuka and Blundstone besides the home team, while at the same time Pies, Blues, Bombers, Tigers and Hawks have virtually avoided all 3 grounds.

Sounds fair to me.

Edited August 7, 20231 yr by Redleg

5 minutes ago, Redleg said:

So we have played the most games at Kardinia Park in the last 30 or so years besides Geelong and the second most at Manuka and Blundstone besides the home team, while at the same time Pies, Blues, Bombers, Tigers and Hawks have virtually avoided all 3 grounds.

Sounds fair to me.

The answer to this is to draw bigger crowds in Melbourne. 

Dannyz has his finger on the pulse. The journo's are aiming for nearest to the pin.

11 minutes ago, Yarra Valley Demon said:

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but all over SEN melbourne this morning that Petty has a lisfranc injury, unsure of severity with a very vague timeline of 6 weeks - 6 months 🤮

Be great to hear from the frikn club wouldnt it! 

Just now, Wells 11 said:

Be great to hear from the frikn club wouldnt it! 

Agreed. 

 

We've heard zilch but in saying that, injury news usually comes out on a Tuesday and they will have needed a few days to get scans and advice. Hopefully we hear today. 

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

I STILL HAVE MY ADIDAS LA PLATA 

What a boot!, also Screw in Wemblys and a couple of Puma boots

It was really a miracle that the wind was calm. Some of those replays they showed with Boomer Harvey's extreme left compensation brought back some bad memories!

8 minutes ago, layzie said:

It was really a miracle that the wind was calm. Some of those replays they showed with Boomer Harvey's extreme left compensation brought back some bad memories!

Of playing against St. Bernards on a day of 100 klm winds . PS Just also found a pair of Adidas Leeds boots with the yellow stripes😁

39 minutes ago, A F said:

The answer to this is to draw bigger crowds in Melbourne. 

Yep it's not rocket science reality is it?

And " we" like to think we are the intelligent supporters

9 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Of playing against St. Bernards on a day of 100 klm winds . PS Just also found a pair of Adidas Leeds boots with the yellow stripes😁

Sorry Picket I bumbled this up, was meant to quote Skuit's post regarding the winds!

Glad I did though because that is very cool, what a robust boot La Plata was! 

56 minutes ago, A F said:

The answer to this is to draw bigger crowds in Melbourne. 

Exactly, North wants to play us in Tassie because we draw stuff all at Docklands (did we even crack 15k against them last year?)

1 minute ago, OutOfTheCentre21 said:

Agreed. 

 

We've heard zilch but in saying that, injury news usually comes out on a Tuesday and they will have needed a few days to get scans and advice. Hopefully we hear today. 

I have long been a critic of the club's comms on injury (and commms in general).

But agree, it's only two days since the injury. Let's all chill a bit.

The media have conditioned us to need our information sugar hits ASAP. Accuracy be damned. Better to be first than right.

I'm going to assume he's not playing again this season.

Any outcome to the contrary is a bonus.

Personally, I don't think petty out is the blow most in the media are making it out to be.

I mean, yes he has looked very good up forward. In the two full game he has played in the role.

But its not as if we have relied on petty to score. 

We kicked north of 100 points against the lions and crows without petts up forward. Or Fritter for that matter. 

We have fritter, Grundy, Brown, smith and Tmac as potential options. 

Yes fritter is not the contested mark, bring the ball to ground option we need. 

But have the media forgotten he was our leading goal scorer in 2021 and 2022? 

Melk plays tall, and has been terrifc at halving contests against much taller intercepting defenders.

Oliver back in, and the brilliant form if gus, allows tracc to still play 60% forward when we come up against the very best oppp midfield.

Tracc, when playing forward, demands one of the opposition's very best defenders. And with his sheer strength and ability to win one on ones, they can't risk putting a small on him. 

With Smith's athletisim and leap, using him as sub gives us tactical flexibility to bring him on if we need some height up forward.

And we have JVR, who seems to thrive in big games.

I actually think the biggest issue of petts being out is our need for a tall forward who can push up the ground and provide a marking and/or contest option at half back and the wing.

Max can't do that all day solo. And we don't want JVR using up his petrol tickets amd/or getting smashed from pillar to post.

Grundy can play that role (though his lack of pace worries me). 

And Grundy doesn't need much forward craft to halve marking contests, smash into packs and bring the ball to ground inside 50

I reckon tmac is the wild card.

Much depends on how he comes up, but if he is more mobile than he was when he has played this season (which is possible if his surgery addressed the issue he had with his foot) then he is the perfect fit for what we need. Good kick for goal too.

Snake Baker 2.0?

I have to say Brown looks miles off, but maybe there's time to get him into shape for a meaningful impact in finals?

Snake Baker 3.0?

All of which hlights how ridiculous Jon Ralph's assertion that petts is as big an out structurally as daicos is for the pies.

Daicos is critical to the pies method of transitioning the ball.

Whoever replaces him in that role needs elite endurance, elite vision, elite running power, elite speed and elite kicking skills. 

Have they got such a player running around in  the magoos?

And perhaps more importantly, unlike us, the pies have not trialled alternative game plans, sytems and roles during games. Pretty late in the day to do so now.

4 minutes ago, binman said:

I have long been a critic of the club's comms on injury (and commms in general).

But agree, it's only two days since the injury. Let's all chill a bit.

The media have conditioned us to need our information sugar hits ASAP. Accuracy be damned. Better to be first than right.

I'm going to assume he's not playing again this season.

Any outcome to the contrary is a bonus.

Personally, I don't think petty out is the blow most in the media are making it out to be.

I mean, yes he has looked very good up forward. In the two full game he has played in the role.

But its not as if we have relied on petty to score. 

We kicked north of 100 points against the lions and crows without petts up forward. Or Fritter for that matter. 

We have fritter, Grundy, Brown, smith and Tmac as potential options. 

Yes fritter is not the contested mark, bring the ball to ground option we need. 

But have the media forgotten he was our leading goal scorer in 2021 and 2022? 

Melk plays tall, and has been terrifc at halving contests against much taller intercepting defenders.

Oliver back in, and the brilliant form if gus, allows tracc to still play 60% forward when we come up against the very best oppp midfield.

Tracc, when playing forward, demands one of the opposition's very best defenders. And with his sheer strength and ability to win one on ones, they can't risk putting a small on him. 

With Smith's athletisim and leap, using him as sub gives us tactical flexibility to bring him on if we need some height up forward.

And we have JVR, who seems to thrive in big games.

I actually think the biggest issue of petts being out is our need for a tall forward who can push up the ground and provide a marking and/or contest option at half back and the wing.

Max can't do that all day solo. And we don't want JVR using up his petrol tickets amd/or getting smashed from pillar to post.

Grundy can play that role (though his lack of pace worries me). 

And Grundy doesn't need much forward craft to halve marking contests, smash into packs and bring the ball to ground inside 50

I reckon tmac is the wild card.

Much depends on how he comes up, but if he is more mobile than he was when he has played this season (which is possible if his surgery addressed the issue he had with his foot) then he is the perfect fit for what we need. Good kick for goal too.

Snake Baker 2.0?

I have to say Brown looks miles off, but maybe there's time to get him into shape for a meaningful impact in finals?

Snake Baker 3.0?

All of which hlights how ridiculous Jon Ralph's assertion that petts is as big an out structurally as daicos is for the pies.

Daicos is critical to the pies method of transitioning the ball.

Whoever replaces him in that role needs elite endurance, elite vision, elite running power, elite speed and elite kicking skills. 

Have they got such a player running around in  the magoos?

And perhaps more importantly, unlike us, the pies have not trialled alternative game plans, sytems and roles during games. Pretty late in the day to do so now.

John Ralph is a peanut. He's Robbo with a tie.

Agreed, surely Tmac is fresh and ready to go if he's fully fit. He'll be desperate to cement a spot in the best 22 (as will all potential Petty replacements). 

1 hour ago, binman said:

Pretty handy I'm guessing when you're running 10 to 15 kms a game.

I guess the trade off is to reduce player safety to keep the game faster.

One interesting opinion from the media this week is the impact of changing tackle styles since concussion became the focus. if you watch MaKay he tackles Petty and then falls to his knees and leans back. This avoids any chance of Petty's head hitting the ground. What it does do is drastically increase the chance of serious leg injuries. Going to be interesting watching this play out over the next few seasons.

8 minutes ago, John Crow Batty said:

I guess the trade off is to reduce player safety to keep the game faster.

There were no injuries related to running around in work boots and playing at glacial speeds back in the day?

1 minute ago, Roost it far said:

One interesting opinion from the media this week is the impact of changing tackle styles since concussion became the focus. if you watch MaKay he tackles Petty and then falls to his knees and leans back. This avoids any chance of Petty's head hitting the ground. What it does do is drastically increase the chance of serious leg injuries. Going to be interesting watching this play out over the next few seasons.

Makes that optimal tackle area smaller really. Avoid slinging them to the ground and hitting their head but then you risk twisting legs up and potentially doing ACLs and other serious injuries that could hurt careers.

It's just not possible to hold every player up in a tackle and I really don't know how this will play out. 

30 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

One interesting opinion from the media this week is the impact of changing tackle styles since concussion became the focus. if you watch MaKay he tackles Petty and then falls to his knees and leans back. This avoids any chance of Petty's head hitting the ground. What it does do is drastically increase the chance of serious leg injuries. Going to be interesting watching this play out over the next few seasons.

Jonathon Brown highlighted this a number of weeks ago, and the fact the NRL has outlawed hip drop tackles for this very reason. Given the dynamic way AFL is played, I don't see how they can do similar, which means these ankle injuries are here to stay

20 minutes ago, Mickey said:

Jonathon Brown highlighted this a number of weeks ago, and the fact the NRL has outlawed hip drop tackles for this very reason. Given the dynamic way AFL is played, I don't see how they can do similar, which means these ankle injuries are here to stay

I understand the reason why the AFL is so worried about concussions but they’ve gone too far with it. It’s a contact sport, head knocks are going to happen.

It’s only a matter of time before a player gets a career ending leg injury because of the reasons stated above.

Just now, Floody100 said:

I understand the reason why the AFL is so worried about concussions but they’ve gone too far with it. It’s a contact sport, head knocks are going to happen.

It’s only a matter of time before a player gets a career ending leg injury because of the reasons stated above.

A career ending leg injury is no good.

But a better outcome than brain trauma and CTE that impacts for the rest of a player's life. 

And tragically, that life may not be that long for some with the clear link between CTE and suicide and many other adverse physical and psychological outcomes.   

I think it comes back to coaching and knowing the possible outcomes. There’s ways to tackle that both avoid concussion and limit the chance of serious leg injuries. The AFL need to undertake some research and inform the clubs prior to the next preseason. Of course this is too logical so in the middle of next year the AFL to counter a spate of leg injuries will introduce more rule changes on the fly. This will render our game even harder to umpire and lead to more poor umpiring so they’ll introduce 5 umpires. All amateurs!

Edited August 8, 20231 yr by Roost it far

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

One interesting opinion from the media this week is the impact of changing tackle styles since concussion became the focus. if you watch MaKay he tackles Petty and then falls to his knees and leans back. This avoids any chance of Petty's head hitting the ground. What it does do is drastically increase the chance of serious leg injuries. Going to be interesting watching this play out over the next few seasons.

I think it was on the couch and Buckley Mentioned this and there was something like 3 serious injuries due to this new technique which keep in mind was banned in rugby if I recall due to the ankle/foot injuries it was causing so often.

18 minutes ago, Hawny for Gawny said:

I think it was on the couch and Buckley Mentioned this and there was something like 3 serious injuries due to this new technique which keep in mind was banned in rugby if I recall due to the ankle/foot injuries it was causing so often.

The AFL need to do some research and inform the clubs. Give them a dozen safe ways to tackle. You’ve got to stop using the tribunal as a way to make the game safer. It’s like getting more police and defunding the aid programs.

Edited August 8, 20231 yr by Roost it far

1 hour ago, binman said:

There were no injuries related to running around in work boots and playing at glacial speeds back in the day?

Implementing protective footwear and slowing the game down to help minimise injuries. That’s outrageous.

Edited August 8, 20231 yr by John Crow Batty