On 12/05/2023 at 22:18, Jaded No More said:

How are they in such a bad position with injuries for the third year in a row? It’s not just bad luck. It’s bad management. 

Yeah, I agree. Something about it is very strange. 

  On 12/05/2023 at 22:18, Jaded No More said:

How are they in such a bad position with injuries for the third year in a row? It’s not just bad luck. It’s bad management. 

Not if you're tanking.

  On 12/05/2023 at 21:40, don cordner said:

West coast won a flag then straight to the bottom, biggest tankers! 

2005-06 they played in 2 GFs.
By 2009 they we're squabbling over the number#1 draft pick with us.
Watts or Nik Nat.

  On 12/05/2023 at 23:15, Fork 'em said:

2005-06 they played in 2 GFs.
By 2009 they we're squabbling over the number#1 draft pick with us.
Watts or Nik Nat.

Exactly, Déjà vu is a French loanword for the phenomenon of feeling as though one has lived through the present situation before. It is an illusion of memory whereby — despite a strong sense of recollection — the time, place, and context of the "previous" experience are uncertain or impossible

 

  On 12/05/2023 at 22:18, Jaded No More said:

How are they in such a bad position with injuries for the third year in a row? It’s not just bad luck. It’s bad management. 

It's also possibly poor recruiting. West Coast tend to value flashy talent but don't prioritise durability. Can only have so many in the side made of glass.

  On 12/05/2023 at 23:42, Demonland said:

 

Probably indicates both that they've been lucky with lack of injuries to senior players and unprepared to play developing players in a successful side.

  On 12/05/2023 at 14:19, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Get on Freo at $3.30 Vs Sydney tomorrow let alone next week.

Freo are more than a sneaky chance to roll Sydney on the road.

Sadly I agree given Sydney injuries with Tom McCartin out this week. A pity we're not playing Sydney again until the last round of the season when there's every chance they'll be at full-strength.

  On 12/05/2023 at 14:23, Bring-Back-Powell said:

A few people here are being harsh on West Coast.

West Coast have about 26 players able to train throughout the week.

Is it any surprise they any get within 7 goals of literally anyone these days?

I’d shudder to think how we’d performed with 8 of our best 22 out.

Fair call but I think what's disappointing is how their senior players aren't contributing at present (except Jayden Hunt). I know Jack Darling got injured last night but his contributions when WC are struggling are particularly poor.

 

  On 12/05/2023 at 23:56, layzie said:

It's also possibly poor recruiting. West Coast tend to value flashy talent but don't prioritise durability. Can only have so many in the side made of glass.

I'm not sure about this. Can you recruit for durability? Probably what's happening is a combination of bad luck with injuries to younger players and possibly older players being more prone to injury. What evidence is there that WC value flashy talent?

And WC tanking? You don't tank by playing 2 competitive quarters and getting blown away in the other 2. The reality is with the sides WC are getting on the park you just don't win games. WC aren't a side who wins premierships and then finish down the ladder to get draft picks. Like the Swans they pretty much always finish Top 8, usually Top 4 or 5, and therefore never get top draft picks but are still extremely competitive.

In retrospect giving away so much to get Tim Kelly was a mistake in 2019. In more recent times they finished 2021 poorly to finish 9th (lost last 4 games after being 7th) and then due to COVID/injuries haven't been able to put a decent side out since.

JHF up against his old team today. Probably relieved it's at Tassie and not marvel. Less nth fans to boo him. 

See if the nth players target him and lose focus on the footy 

  On 12/05/2023 at 11:52, DubDee said:

as Hodgy said it’s a massive game the Tigers have next week against the bombers

should really shape the bottom 6

And Richmond would have run Melbourne close if they'd kicked straight and Essendon beat us comprehensively. Either of these sides can still make the 8 (14 rounds to go). There's not much between any side in the comp apart from the bottom 3 (any maybe I should wait til later today before writing Hawthorn off).

  On 12/05/2023 at 11:55, Dee Zephyr said:

This 6-6-6 warning is pus. Get rid of it FFS

Agree entirely. Why are they still warning Clubs. I have no intel on this but the way it is at the moment coaches could be using this leniency to slow down the game at a crucial stage. Don't issue a warning. Just pay the free kick.

And while they're at it, get rid of the centre bounce. It was ridiculous last week against Gold Coast. Despite for the preceding VFL Match the umpires taking centre bounces out on the wing, the centre square was still so soft for the AFL game the bounce was (even more than usually) severely compromised. I don't think we need the game to be affected by the ability (or otherwise) of umpires to bounce the ball. And the umpires shouldn't be selected partly on that skill either.

Those supporters saying we were no good last week need to re-think their opinions after Suns knocked off the Eagle by more than what we did. They are now a team to be wary of and played bloody well last week. Have very good players on every line and with Touk to come back will win quite a few more. Also those saying May is a bit off need to also look at King's performance last night. Should have kicked 5/6 goals against Barass whereas last week May kept him to 2 goals and they were both from frees.

Our form is Ok at the moment.

  On 13/05/2023 at 01:55, Sydney_Demon said:

And Richmond would have run Melbourne close if they'd kicked straight and Essendon beat us comprehensively. Either of these sides can still make the 8 (14 rounds to go). There's not much between any side in the comp apart from the bottom 3 (any maybe I should wait til later today before writing Hawthorn off).

Agree entirely. Why are they still warning Clubs. I have no intel on this but the way it is at the moment coaches could be using this leniency to slow down the game at a crucial stage. Don't issue a warning. Just pay the free kick.

And while they're at it, get rid of the centre bounce. It was ridiculous last week against Gold Coast. Despite for the preceding VFL Match the umpires taking centre bounces out on the wing, the centre square was still so soft for the AFL game the bounce was (even more than usually) severely compromised. I don't think we need the game to be affected by the ability (or otherwise) of umpires to bounce the ball. And the umpires shouldn't be selected partly on that skill either.

If I was coach of a team ahead by a couple of points after a goal had been scored in the dying seconds, and we hadn't had a 666 warning, I'd create one since a ball-up is more predictable and easier to bring to your ruckman's feet and hold things up. A wild bounce may give your opponents a quick route to goal.

Anyway, all teams should have a 666 warning when they play the Demons.

Mills subbed out with a calf

Logan McDonald with an ankle in the rooms 

Swans can’t take a trick

thats 6 talls injured now

Edited May 13, 20231 yr by DubDee

Have Port got their mind on next week instead of the game at hand.

They need to bring in a 25m penalty.

The 50 isn't fair applied to every act.

  On 13/05/2023 at 04:40, YearOfTheDees said:

Have Port got their mind on next week instead of the game at hand.

I hope they don't lose.

  On 13/05/2023 at 01:24, Sydney_Demon said:

I'm not sure about this. Can you recruit for durability? Probably what's happening is a combination of bad luck with injuries to younger players and possibly older players being more prone to injury. What evidence is there that WC value flashy talent?

And WC tanking? You don't tank by playing 2 competitive quarters and getting blown away in the other 2. The reality is with the sides WC are getting on the park you just don't win games. WC aren't a side who wins premierships and then finish down the ladder to get draft picks. Like the Swans they pretty much always finish Top 8, usually Top 4 or 5, and therefore never get top draft picks but are still extremely competitive.

In retrospect giving away so much to get Tim Kelly was a mistake in 2019. In more recent times they finished 2021 poorly to finish 9th (lost last 4 games after being 7th) and then due to COVID/injuries haven't been able to put a decent side out since.

You definitely can recruit for durability with medical history, injury history, general make up and then all the sport science things like BMI, muscle mass and plenty of the tests done at the combine to determine bodies that would hold up well to the rigours of AFL footy. The 2014 draft is a great example of this, why did St Kilda pick Mccartin no.1 with his previous health issues over Petracca? It's something they do in the NFL a lot and without knowing too much about the Eagles situation it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for a team like Melbourne to build their list with priority on strong bodied midfielders who can hold up to the physical side of the game week in week out while another team focuses on the finesse and flash but looks past the fact that they sat out half their Under 17 or 18 year with a knee injury or number of soft tissue injuries. There has to be a reason why so many top 15 picks each year seem to fall to the 2nd and 3rd round where the Eagles pounce. There' no right or wrong way to go about it and they won a flag doing so but I doubt that every club approaches the draft in the same way. 

The thing is it's never just the older players, every year West Coast's injury list is always perfectly balanced between the old, the mid range and the young. The number of under 24 y.o's they have there with less than 50 games experience is quite alarming. 

What evidence that they value flashy talent? You don't think the likes of Ryan, Petruccelle, Jetta, Rioli in their flag year were flashy? Trading the farm for Tim Kelly? Choosing the flashier Natinui over Watts? Mcgovern, getting Petrevski-Seton in etc There's plenty of evidence that they like the flashy players Sydney_Demon and it's one of the reasons they were always good to watch. It's a little naive to put these things totally down to bad luck and bad management especially when we have next to no idea how they work internally but it's never just 1 or 2 things. I think their recruiting should be closely examined as well. 

I'm not sure who you're responding to in regards to the Eagles tanking, I didn't say anything about that.

Edited May 13, 20231 yr by layzie

Sydney are shocking. This farce at home. It hurts they beat us in a final. I'm pencilling in a win for our last h and a game against them.

Freo will win this easy. double the inside 50’s. Swans have no talls

Port now in complete control.

Sydney fans might start booing their own players soon.

  On 12/05/2023 at 14:58, JimmyGadson said:

You've lost the plot. 

Are you sure about that.

Freo getting the job done as per my prediction.

Not sure why people were so confident in Sydney winning. The are drosh this year.

The AFL have made a serious mistake the pies are playing on mother's Day. Next thing you know they will have to play at Geelong!