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Do we still have pick 2 in the next draft?

Weideman has played 21 games over the last two years and has taken 86 marks, 34 of them contested. Only Gawn takes significantly more contested marks per game at Melbourne over that period and would have far more opportunities as a ruck than Weideman as predominantly a forward, although my recollection is Weideman does take many of his out on the wing and not deep forward. Weideman is taking a comparable number of contested marks per game to Tom McDonald, Jack Riewoldt, Charlie Dixon, Ben Brown etc. Yes he spills some he really should take, but he actually takes quite a few and I don’t think that’s the main problem. I think his tendency to go missing for impact for long periods of the game is the bigger concern. Too many games with six or seven disposals. Weideman is a better “for now” as ruck or forward over Jackson in ability in an individual tap out or marking contest as you’d expect for someone four years older, but there are options where Jackson can contribute that Weideman just can’t with Jackson’s far superior versatility through his agility. For what it’s worth I would play Weideman over Jackson and let Jackson develop in the VFL. If Weideman is not effective enough at AFL level after round 3 or so and Jackson is doing OK at VFL level then they could be swapped. Jackson in theory could come in to replace any number of players because of his agility and below knees ability so it’s also not as simple as Jackson vs. Weideman.

AFL planning for round one to go ahead, but fans will not be allowed to attend matches https://www.afl.com.au/news/384878/coronavirus-crisis-afl-makes-call-on-round-one Playing WCE w/o their fans in the stadium means maybe the umps might be a tad more even ...

I live in Perth. I will just go around coughing into my hand to send them home. Whatever it takes to get us the W.

The positive in a delayed season start is that Harley, KK, Vanders and Joel Smith will be all be set to play round 1

Its almost that time

Seriously? Much more contagious than the flu, x times more fatal and (the key bit) *for which there is neither cure nor vaccine*. And it's not just the elderly. Death rates for people with cardiovascular or respiratory conditions, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and cancer are through the roof. There's also a massive hidden cost which we're starting to see in places like Italy: because ICU's and hospitals are overwhelmed, people with other potentially life-threatening diseases are being shunted to the back of the cue, with a predictable longer-term cost. And that's without even starting on the long-term effects of isolation on mental health and global well-being for those who are already fragile.

Send him to Christmas Island.

What the ????

Good grief, idiotic conspiracy theories are ruining Demonland (as well as the reputation of those posting them IMO). Can we stick to discussing the effect on footy.

Trouble is, Australia's population is actually very heavily concentrated, with 10 of 25 million in just two cities and another five million in just three more. It doesn't even help Echuca or Tamworth much, because so much of our activity is concentrated in these huge hubs that all these other towns must keen interacting with them. It's not like, say, Germany where you've got dozens of cities of 100k, 200k, 500k population. (With the nod of course to the Ruhr super-metropolitan zone) In the end, it is all about personal habits. Wash your hands, sneeze into your elbow, semi-obsessively clean surfaces, try to avoid touching any 'contact points', avoid touching people in greetings, stay clear of medieval theocracies. One of the things driving people crazy is that there is nothing 'special' they can do to protect themselves or change the situation. Oh, also, if you can, see if you can work out a plan to support casual workers because they're going to spend the next 18 months being sent home every time they get a sniffle, and support payments are only available for people actually required to self-isolate for genuine COVID-19 exposure risks. At this stage, people pressed into a decision of 'take the chance and hope it is just a sniffle' versus 'fail to pay rent and be made homeless' are one of the highest medium and long term risk factors for Covid spread. It's it almost as if managing this kind of thing was part of the original rationale for the welfare state! So, let's all take a moment to be glad we don't live in the USA.

I think we have to be prepared for the whole season to be cancelled. This situation changes by the day and by the minute. It is depressing, but AFL 2020 may be a write off. We are in uncertain times. Never experienced anything like this before. Very disturbing to read about the hospitals in Italy deciding who should be treated and who should not, according to age or health, and they have one of the best health systems in Europe. It feels like we are in a science fiction novel. And not a good one.

Well, I wouldn't want to be travelling anywhere on a plane at the moment. I hope the AFL stump up for charters otherwise it's a stupid decision to start the season this week.

Gawn is our most valuable by a long way. If people bring up any other name, they're just trying to be too cute.

Covid-19 is just another of several zoonotic origin viruses that have spread within and from China specifically because of the hideous lack of basic hygiene, animal handling, animal welfare and workplace safety standards. They are far from alone in these issues but as a country with the logistical resources to incarcerate millions of people for being a 'suspect' ethnicity and to monitor the exact location, occupation and connections of any given person, the continued total failure to enforce standards in this trade is a choice made by the Chinese government. Similarly, the culture of Chinese officaldom in choosing to arrest and threaten the doctors who initially reported on and advised action on the outbreak was a key factor in the scale of the outbreak and is also a persistent characteristic of Chinese authority. There's no value in getting into blame but there is also no question that the particular features of Chinese government and the accepted norms of a neglected and exploited filthy underclass were major factors, as was the deep culture of utter disdain for animal welfare. Also, the reason Spanish Influenza is referred to as such is largely because Spain was one of the few countries which did not massively cover-up the scale of infection, so there were regular news reports of it's spread there while in UK, France, Germany, etc there was dramatic under-reporting and minimal coverage. Spain was not the origin point, did not have unusually high cases, and there was no feature of Spain which made it a greater vector of virus spread than anywhere else. So there is entirely zero similarity between the two.

Can the off topic discussion about bacteria (lol) warfare, bat eating and world politics in general please be taken back to the edit pages of Wikipedia, 4Chan, Infowars or "General Discussion" sub thread?

I think an AFL player will get the virus within 2 weeks and round3 onwards will be canceled But canceling crowds helps the smaller vic clubs and the ****ty expansion clubs

Um, canceling the first round will definitely help, for precisely the reason you say it won’t help!! All it takes is one or two people in the crowd (and there would likely be more than that) to be infectious, and they could unknowingly spread the virus to numerous people around them in queues waiting to enter the ground, in the crowd in the stands, in queues for food and drinks, by leaving virus (thanks LdC) on counters where others could pick it up, etc etc.

It's a graph that makes plenty of sense. Would be interesting though to see an economic line included somehow, there are also heavy consequences to the balance (as you mentioned in an earlier post) But I can't understand why a sport that's more made for televised watching than any other (F1) wouldn't run without crowds?

Confirmation: Grand Prix to be Cancelled Interestingly, it is the teams who want to pull the pin - good on them. Shows leadership the organisers and governments didn't have. This diagram shows what governments are trying to manage: delay the CV peak to not stress medical resources. Source: The Age Lets hope they can pull it off. I suspect a lot of planning is based on the timetable shown in the diagram: Estimating when the peak will hit and develop contingencies for when to run events. Re the AFL season, someone suggested earlier that the season be reduced to 17 games where each team plays each other once; a great idea. The fixture would need a little rejigging and maybe more mid-week games but that would be far preferable to no season or a totally compromised season.

? so accurate, very good. but seriously, I really, really.. really HATE Dwayne Russell. Where the hell did this skid mark of an ‘expert’ even come from? BOOOOOOOO

It’s going to be bizarre to watch. Even as a fan, I wonder if I will still get as invested as I normally do without the roar of the crowd when something happens. We will find out I guess.

Just a slight topic change, I hear that the NRL are going ahead with their round one as per normal (as it falls after the Monday) and that good old ScoMo is going to be attending the Cronulla Sharks game. If Dutton has tested positive for the virus shouldn't our brilliant PM be self isolating?

Every pub is going to have 499 people crammed in watching the footy. What could go wrong? ?

If we are all going to die, the least we should be able to do is watch the Demons lose.

What home ground advantage do the eagles have now ???

Awesome! Footy is on the menu, And the Perth crowd is out of the equation in round 1.

Dutton has it haha.

There is only one solution, and that was given by Sue above.... No spectators for the forseeable future. Players have as much chance of catching it down the street as from each other, so stopping games is completely pointless from a perspective of transmission. The other consideration is that the TV obligations have to be met......solution: play the games. ( It also keeps the fans happier) There is NO point delaying the season. This virus will get worse in Australia when winter comes, just like it has in the Northern Hemisphere. And as Sue has said, no-one knows how long it will go on for ( probably until sufficient immunity has built up in the community, just like every previous epidemic..)

Talk about a timely release. Perhaps AFL Season 2020 can be an eSports season. Each club nominates 1 computer geek as their champion. Can be done remotely.

There's a gouging opportunity here. Sell 499 tickets to each game at an astonomical price.

At the end of the game it is the team that has scored most that wins, not the team that has most possessions or displayed greater courage or commitment. Sending the ball through the big sticks is the name of the game and why talented forwards have been prized forever. Maxie can get all the hitouts to advantage and Clarrie can get 60+ possessions but unless we score we are toast. TMAC at his best can score. That's why he is the most valuable, even though not necessarily the best.

In your example 12 a side would make defensive zones untenable. The ground is too big and players can kick the ball too far too quickly to be able to cover distance between the opposition in a 12 man zone. There were always be some congestion around the ball but it would be drastically reduced and coaches would be forced to play man on man due to the zones being unworkable

Sadly true. But it is coming at us like an out of control freight train. There is no way that players and staff can be effectively isolated from the community and the virus. The season will be postponed or cancelled. This is going to escalate to such an extent that the AFL/Govt, will be left with no choice. The players themselves may well act themselves. They need to consider their own position first and foremost and not leave it to others to decide for them.

I like to think of it as slightly more nuanced than that, but you're close.

As soon as this happens (or players having to quarantine because of contact with people who have it) and inevitably it will that will be the end of season 2020.

Hopefully if there are no feral yelling screaming WCE fans at next week's game, the umpires may be just a little less intimidated and we may get half a fair go for a change. Maybe that is wishful thinking as no doubt some of the ferals will be lurking outside the ground boozing up all afternoon waiting for the umpires to (try to) leave.

GP has been cancelled according to sources, article from the BBC. https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/51849163 Crazy they waited until teams arrived here to them cancel the event and only after a positive test. $$$$$$$$ above public safety.

Didn't he also live in an airport, probably where he picked up CV.

Pretty much spot on I reckon. His other traits are great - he's a fierce tackler for a tall bloke, is good below his knees, hurts people, and he's a great kick. You can see he works his [censored] off - he does a lot right, but doesn't have a lot to show for it stats-wise. If it clicks, we'll have an absolute weapon on our hands. No doubt contested marking is a hard thing to drastically improve, but it's worth remembering that Gawn couldn't take a grab to save himself for the first 6 years of his career. Hawkins pretty much the same. I hold hope.

That is clearly his achilles heel. He is a nice kick and battled manfully as a chop out ruckman. However, he does drop far too many marking chances and I agree, that unless he fixes that he has little chance of being a long term key forward. Key forwards take marks.

Happy to write off the very elderly stuck in nursing homes with poor quality of life, they've had a good run. But would rather my parents be around for a while yet. And the sick includes a whole bunch of people who have long and productive lives in front of them. We should all do what we can to stop the spread. A casey practice match isn't much to give up.

So I was talking to a bloke who said he catered an AFL player’s engagement party at the player’s house. Said the player had a whole lot of posters for “Mark of the year” printed up at the house that couldn’t be used. This bloke was being a bit cryptic about the identity of the player and I just said “That would be Jeremy Howe” and the bloke was shocked I’d worked it out. Not too hard to work through “Who probably should have won mark of the year, but comes across as dense enough to count their chickens before they hatch?”.

I'm pretty sure the first thing he did when he got his new contract there was to fix his teeth ...... don't know why he bothered, no one there would notice.

Maybe we could try him in defense?

That's fine. Each to their own. My point is just withholding membership money based on performance is counter productive at best.

I’m all for it. Just a bit of cheeky banter. I prefer it to dull, “everybody’s great”, p.c bollocks.

This is the year to get on board, Demons raging hot favourites to win the flag, can just see big Max holding up the cup in 2020! Why? After 50 plus years following the Demons, seeing two shocking GF’s in 88 & 2000, how ironic and MFCSS would it be for us to win in a lock out GF! I would still absolutely take it!!

I have no problem with people refraining from buying memberships because it's a difficult financial decision for them. Breaking it down into "two coffees per week" is not a fair way of looking at it - it's one of many weekly expenses and for some people those two coffees need to go towards a bill or another household expense instead. I do, however, have a bit of a problem with people who have the money and can afford a membership but chose not to buy one because they want to make a statement or something like that. I accept that doing this (i.e. making a statement by not buying a membership) is important for some people but IMO it is counterproductive and unhelpful.