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Round 1 doesn’t tell us much, lol at the conclusions already being made

How come the commentators aren’t using the proper names for the ground, such as the ‘Petracca pocket’, and the ‘bang bang bang end’?

Eagles are discovering how irksome is the 'graveyard' time slot: “One of the things that drives us mad is these late games on a Sunday,” he said. “It’s not just our country members... I’ve got a lot of mates who are in the bush and telling us ‘We just can’t get to the game’. I hate that. “It’s not the right thing to do, given there would be people in Melbourne who don’t realise how vast out State is and how far people have to drive or fly to get here. Only complicating matters is the fact that Monday is a school day, which Nisbett added makes it “extremely difficult for families” to make the trip for Eagles games". fixtures-draw-west-coast-eagles My heart bleeds. Not.

I've been watching most games this weekend - and texting mates along the way when their teams are playing - and I've realised what a pr*** I've become. I've dreamed of being in this situation. To my Carlton friend: I think you guys have something this year, you might make the 8 if things go well. Good on you. To my St Kilda & Essendon friends: It's only round one, don't stress too much. I'm sure you'll win a few games. To my Collingwood friend: Maybe you guys won't finish bottom four. You're looking like a 9-12 side! To my Hawthorn friend: Impressive given your outs. I think you guys are building something (this text was given with particular glee) To my North friend: Looks like you guys nailed a no1 pick with Horne-Francis, you need one or two more high picks though, so don't worry too much about this year. I could get used to this.

My take on the game: Rapt to see Bowey get his first goal. Libba played in defence a lot of the game, guarded by Gus so made our job of mananging him in the middle a lot easier. He looked very sulky. They didn't miss him in the middle as they won the clearances hands down. But he did next to nothing in defence. Max and to a lesser extent Jackson tapped far too many balls straight to Bulldog mids. If Oliver and Gawn continue to give up so many frees it will hurt their Brownlow chances as umps will most probably look at them unfavourably when considering the 'fairest' part of the award for voting. Last year our defence target was to not give up more than 60pts. We missed that by a smallish margin; a phenomenal effort with a backline that has rarely, if ever, played all together. Goodwin said that Lever's injury happened on Sunday. Yet they named him on Tuesday night and withdrew him one hour before the game. I can imagine this sent Beveridge ballistic as they would have put a lot of planning into how to neutralise Lever. Wasted effort requiring some fleet of foot changes. They failed miserably to take advantage of his absence. Gus was really good as a rebounding defender but hope he goes back to the wing. An aspect of Kozzie's work which is overlooked is how he mows down a player about to tackle his teammate going for the ball. He did it to Dunkley in the GF allowing Petracca to get that well-timed goal. This week he did it again when a bulldog (not sure the player) was about to tackle Langdon. The result: Langdon goaled. This work that Kozzie does probably is counted only in the 1% stats but gee it is so much more valuable. I really like that at the breaks the music was toned down. Daisy did another great job with her comments. I like the 'behind the goals vision' for some of the goals. Great way to start the year.

As i intimated in my post above, Beveridge would have been filthy on the Lever selection ruse which he learnt only one hour before the game. Then they got done over in the first qtr, done over in the last and shown up on a big stage again. The ABC reported that he could be heard being emotional from outside the box during the game. All up, it is no surprise he went into the press conf all snarly and then completely lost the plot. I guess his press conf was a deflection of their poor game that went to far. But losing control of one's emotions like that is not good. And he made damn sure he got no questions on the game by walking out. It must have received some internal discussion as his CEO said: “We don’t have any doubts about him being in the right frame of mind to coach the team on an ongoing basis.” And the backdrop for his apology video had no sponsor logos which says a lot about where their sponsors are at. On a serious note he could take a leaf from Goodwin's book 12-15 months ago: Treat everything in the media (good and bad) as Fugazzi. Acknowledge one's anxieties and weaknesses. Gain perspective Seek the right help. Stay calm I hope he is ok. Would hate to see him go down the path of Rhys Shaw who unravelled before our eyes.

It's an absolute travesty there aren't 60,000 WC fans inside Optus to witness this.

Swans are a top four team and will push for a flag in coming years. They missed top four by percentage last year, and had some close unlucky losses. They’ve got great young talent thanks to their dodgy academy players the last few years. They’ve got solid leaders too, with Parker the best of the lot. Not surprising we went hard for him a few years ago. Swans should finish top four this year and could give us trouble. We scraped by them last year at the G in one of your hardest games.

OK so mine has only just begun. Hung the first premiership poster in my new Thailand house today. The sofa will be directly in front of this poster facing the TV on the opposite wall. I plan to have a MFC gurnsey framed and hung on the blank wall to the left of this pic on my next trip to Thailand. Other items will be added to the room to make it a full-on MFC shrine. My wife doent like Aussie Rules at all but she was informed before we built the house that the TV room was going to be devoted to the mighty MFC. The main lounge has her TV so we dont need to argue. The rest of the house was also hers to decorate. And a fine job she (Angkana is her name) did. My TV room (future shrine) is the room at the front right of the house. Show us your overseas decorations honoring the mighty MFC.

Oooohhhh how does go and get fffkkkkkdddd sound you massive bellend!

I've got one - when she's commentating Crows games, it stops Ricciuto from incessantly ending every sentence with "…boys!"

I walked the replay today and have watched a lot of round 1. There seems to be a set of rules in the ruck that solely applies to Gawn and no other ruck. Joel Smith’s game really stood out on the replay. One of our best

Don't worry, I too have been telling my mates how [censored] their teams are. I'm arrogant AF now.

Longmire is an outstanding coach right up there with Clarkson, Hardwick and Goody. Also, they probably have the best Football Dept personnel in the competition. The Swans changed 1/2 the list over a 3 year period and already these young boys playing top 4 footy. We hear so little Sydney news here in VIc (which is probably fine by Longmire) that it feels sudden, but it is just another indication of Sydney doing Sydney things really well.

Maybe the fact is that in order to win a premiership, you need both stars and a system. I wonder why we won one? 😄

Small forwards are, by nature, inconsistent. They are opportunistic players and sometimes they get no opportunities to impact the scoreboard. This is what makes Spargo and Kosi such good small forwards. Because whether they are kicking goals or not, they are impacting the scoreboard with their pressure off the ball or their kicking skills going inside 50. They don’t need to hit the scoreboard themselves to help the team, which means they are never liabilities, even if they have low stats. This is an incredibly rare trait for small forwards. Compare Kosi to Weightman. Both had identical stats. 5 disposals and 1 goal. But I know who I’m taking.

I’ve dismantled mine now that the house is sold and we’re packing up. We are going to travel for a few months (while continuing to follow the Demons on watchafl.com). We will land in Melbourne in August and start our next phase of life. It will probably feel strange living in Australia again after all these years. I hope to meet some Demonlanders and enjoy a Premiership at the ‘G.

I've been an insufferable [censored] all off-season. Now I'm just pumping up their tyres to give them a false sense of security before we crush them in September (or just in case our wheels fall off the last thing they might remember is me being nice and complimentary).

Superb work on the line by the freo defender there. Most would have conceded the point

Strange to have the wooden spoon decider in round 1.

These numbers strike me as completely predictable. People are keen to go but nervous about exposure. The MCG parking situation really doesn’t help if there are people not keen on public transport yet. All the media hand wringing is just trying to make a story out of nothing.

That is true. Because back then systems were not as important. The tigers, and to a lesser extent the dogs, changed that. Teams simply will not win a flag these days without the right system, no matter how talented their list is. Again, the Cats are the perfect example to illustrate that point. Under Scott they have had an incredibly talented list. He inherited an talented list and has topped up the talent ever since - just look who they brought in in the last few years. In the 11 years he has coached the team they have won one flag. Not coincidentally that was way back in 2011 (his first year as coach). I say say not coincidentally, because in a 2011 systems were a much less important factor. Under Scott their talent has got them to finals every year, and premlim most times to boot - and probably will this year too. But they don't have grand final winning system. So haven't won one.

Actually, I thought Jones done a great job commentating.

West Coast will run out of petrol. They look incredibly unfit.

I send this to the Dons cohort often…

Kennedy gives away a free. Swears. No 50. Kennedy gets out marked and encroaches on the mark. No 50. Umpiring going beautifully as per usual.

1994 ??

Gus, think very carefully about Freo!

My family (Crows fans) thought I had gone a tad to far with enjoying our flag and plodding other clubs that I copped the famous quote from Top Gun: "Son, Your Ego Is Writing Checks Your Body Can't Cash"

Kelli Underwood is the worst commentator by the length of the flemington straight

On a marginally related topic, every Dees fan should, when in New York, make a pilgrimage to the George Cohan statue in Times Square. You may not have heard of him; he is an American composer (albeit perhaps not all that famous). But you have definitely sung a song of his, called "You're a Grand Old Flag" with some slightly different words ...

After seeing the crowds for the rest of the weekend I think our 58k turnout wasn't too bad. 71k Thurs night, 40k Fri only 54k for Bombers/Cats yesterday https://www.sen.com.au/news/2022/03/19/significant-concerns-raised-over-poor-crowd-numbers/

Try again.

Fagan: "What's up, Joe? Something not quite right?" Daniher: "I heard on the radio we've got a big power forward who can kick bags of goals, an' I'm keepin' a lookout to work out who it is." Fagan: "It's YOU, Joe. It's YOU." Daniher: "Ohhhhhhhhh! Oh right." (after the game) Fagan: "See, Joe? Those clutch goals got us back in the game." Daniher: "Nah, mate. I was watchin' the replays on the scoreboard and it's that big number 3 who done it."

And just like the grand final he creates space and opportunities for other players. Langdons opening goal is a perfect example of that and it’s really selfless play, especially for a small forward that may only get a handful of opportunities per game. Pickett created that space to allow Langdon to kick that goal and post goal you could see Langdon say something in recognition and appreciation. Zero impact on the stat sheet but a huge impact.

I actually think it is the opposite. Stars can make you competitive but systems win you flags. That is demonstratively true for the 3 dynasties this century. That cats team you mention was a basket case, with all the players you mentioned until they had a come to Jesus (that nearly cost bomber his job) and bought into the team system. Hawthorn stole one off the back of raw talent but then slid back to obscurity until they bought into Clarkson’s system, that system bought them the 3 peat, they kept winning even when individuals with massive talent left (Buddy). Richmond were the same, perennially struggling until they did the review that nearly got rid of Hardwick. Instead they doubled down and bought into ‘the Richmond way’…system.

Luke Parker is still some sort of player

I haven't heard Niall's comments. I'm guessing that was in the Real Footy podcast? Did he seriously imply we were not 'all about systems'? Fair dinkum, how is it possible for someone PAID to cover football come to that conclusion? We have by far the strongest system in the AFL. And a very simple one at that. Goody as said for years he wants fan to come to the footy knowing what effort they will see from our players AND what it will 'look like' in terms of how we play. And we have well and truly arrived at that point. Even the most see ball, watch ball dees fan (and i don't mean that in critical way, nothing wrong with just watching the game and not worrying about structures and systems) can tell Jake how we will play any given game. They can tell Jake exactly where may will kick to after a point, who will be at that aerial contest rom the kick and the role of of each and every player in the team. Sheesh. Coincidentally i was just thinking las night watching the pies and saints turn the ball over time and time again that we have now arrived at point where we have an incredibly effective and consistent system AND an incredibly talented list, spearheaded by four or five true A graders. That's why i am so bullish about chances this year. And the next few years after that for that matter. What an idiotic comment from Niall.

Smith actually was stationary and Weightman made the slightest of contact with him. Appalling free

I think most people's beef (and not just MFC fans) with the Footscray differential is the fact that there seems consistently / repeatedly to be different interpretations for them and their opponents within games.

Agree a million percent. His off the ball work is immense. He constantly creates space in the forward line with bumps on defenders which gives our forwards an extra second of time. And you can tell that when a defender gets the ball… they’re looking for where Kozzie/Spargo is.

i dont think it an overreaction to fold the club Everyone at the club, bar Nick Martin, can get ■■■■■■ for dishing up that vomit Essendon Football Club Where talent comes to die. When’s cricket season start

Dwayne Is the worst commentator in the AFL - not that the others are any good, but he insists on adding Americanisms to our game, and all it does it takeaway what is special about the AFL. I actually forgot how much I dislike when he calls.

Did Mick Malthouse really tip Essendon to win the flag?

I like Smith, but come on mate. Going a bit far now. 5 clangers (2 direct turnovers) from 11 disposals the other night. Averaged 2.7 clangers (2.3 turnovers) from his 6.7 disposals last year. I would rate that as an average kick and decision maker. He's not horrible like some make out, but definitely wouldn't be saying 'pretty strong' in that area, and 100% would not be saying he's a more reliable kick than May.

Not a single person has seemed to realise that Kozzie put a lot of time into being a defensive forward on Caleb Daniel. When the Dogs beat us in round 19 last year, Daniel had 34 possessions, 128 AFL Fantasy Point and kicked one goal. Even in the Grand Final when the Dogs barely touched the ball for 45 minutes, he ended that game having 37 touches and 126 Fantasy Points. On Wednesday night he was kept to 26, and they weren't overly effective - only 89 fantasy points. Anyone that didn't see what Koz was doing and the role his was playing needs to watch the game again.