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This I just want a change. I am sick to death of the old boys club 'nothing to see here' attitude around so many important issues that border on football. Pretend stances on racism, sexism, gambling, concussion and mental health while doing nothing practical to change things. I don't like the fact that my young son is more familiar with the gambling odds for a game than the players or the ground. AFL is never going to change the world but it can improve things in many small practical ways. Sorry Fork'em, if I'm sounding super woke today but hey, there you go.

He was terrific - his best game for casey by all accounts. As was the case in the last game, he played in defence - and quite deep in this game. Looked very natural down back. It is often said half back is a good spot to learn the game because the ball is coming at you, so even if he doesn't end up in defence it can only help his game. He is a funny height - not a small medium but not a key position size, which is a bit tricky re his best position. But down back it means he can take both a tall and medium size forward- and we struggle a bit with latter. He took most kick outs. He has a funky kicking technique, which is no work of art (well not Webber standard art in any case), but he greats great deprh and hits targets. Weights the ball well too, a much under appropriated skill. Huge upside I reckon.

He led the league through two horror years of covid that ended with dees as premiers. For that alone he deserves our gratitude and thanks for a job well done.

56,734

Gil has done some amazing things for the AFL, keeping the game running over the past 2 years big tick, the growth of female participation another tick. Now the whack, the expansion of AFLW and AFL GWS/GCS will be the biggest financial challenge they new CEO has. The AFLW will need to be heavily subsidized by the AFL along with the two AFL expansion clubs. The utter neglect for junior boys particularly in Victoria will be a massive issue for the new CEO, the game outside the increase participation of females is in a rapid decline at grass roots level, this was pre-covid and post covid we are seeing further drop off. AFL is to hard, you need so many volunteers to get a junior side on the park, Coaches, Team Managers, Umpires(massive shortage), Trainers, Time keepers, Umpire Escorts, each week a side needs 6-8 volunteers for your team to play. Basketball you need a coach and scorer. They will say the game has never been in a better place, might look that way in the top tier comp but underneath that there is massive issues.

This has been a problem for AFL for the past 30 years in the city and suburbs. When my boys went to school back in the 90s and early to mid 2000s most kids passed on footy. Very few Asian kids or their parents wanted their boys to play footy due to its physicality and injury risk. Also playing sport was not part of their culture. They were at school to do well academically. In addition, there were many parents with an Aussie/Anglo heritage that were concerned about injury. This view was confirmed by many of the bigger boys mimicking the physicality and behaviour of AFL, together with very poor umpiring in which umpires took no action against kids being hammered by aggressive and bigger opponents. Footy training was hindered by the small numbers. Many kids did not want to attend training on cold wet nights particularly when their mates were playing other sports. Hence the majority of kids played soccer and basketball. And they followed teams in Europe and USA. And Sat morning Auskick was hampered by small attendance and the thing being run by a few Dads who were well meaning but not exactly inspirational. In the country there is greater grass roots footy but again many boys play basketball. And as we know, junior and senior clubs are struggling and many have gone by the wayside, merged or struggle to survive from year to year. Whilst TV ratings may be healthy the condition of the body is distinctly unhealthy and participation is haemorrhaging. The long-term future of the game is limited. The AFL must spend its money at the junior development levels but at the same time spend money in the suburban and country regions. There is not much point playing footy if there are no teams to join.

I really don’t know if Gill has done a good job or bad job or a mediocre job. I guess the truth lies somewhere in the middle. What we do know is that the industry will paint his time in a favourable light particularly in terms of revenue streams and Covid management. He has managed to keep most of the key stakeholders onside. No mean feat. He is a good negotiator and has an ability to achieve acceptable outcomes. And sometimes doing a good job is measured by what you don’t see or hear rather than what you do. I tell you what I don’t like about his tenure. The AFL jumping into bed with the gambling industry. They have sold their soul and changed the nature of footy. The long term ramifications and corruption that comes with gambling will be felt for years to come. I also don’t like the constant rule changes and interpretations that frustrate fans, coaches and players. I don’t like rule changes that are simply designed to increase the speed of the game, the scoring rate and the attractiveness of the fame. Often the changes do not bring about the change desired. Most of the time I hear myself saying over and over in my head, just leave the bloody game alone. It is such a great game that you don’t need to do to much to improve it. I don’t like the fact that footy Tv ratings dictate the fixture. I hate weeknight games and the fact that it discriminates against families, working men and women, school age kids. In fact everyone that likes to attend live footy matches. Whilst recognising that umpires need the support of the AFL, I hate the way umpires have become centre stage actors in the drama of the game. Thats enough for now. This could go on for ever!

Jammed gambling down our kids throats. Good onya Gill.

JVR looks like the real deal to me. Not that big so not quite the size for a key forward, at least in the Ben Brown tmac mold but will get bigger and stronger. Great hands and looks a total natural in terms of using his body and of most significance ability to know where the ball drop is going to be and protecting that space. On the second two points he reminds of fritter - not in size or role, just that natural forward craft - which really is the most important thing for forwards. The first goal of the match was a good example of his forward craft. Responded more quickly than his defender to the centre clearance, led hard and despite good pressure never looked like not marking it. Went back and kicked it gun barrel straight - which is anorher pretty important skill for a forward! And seems to have a real intensity about. A competitor. Reminds me a little of a young ox. Howes was in and out of the game, so hard to reallt assess him (that's the first time I've seen him live). But oozes class. Smooth mover too. Like roaman he is a middling height and I'm not sure what his best position will end up being. Needs to put on a fair bit of muscle to be a chance of playing as a mid in rbe ones I'd reckon. Where did he play as a junior? Laurie looks the good also. Behind a few, bur has plenty of time. A full season along as a mid at Casey, another solid preseason and im sure he'll be in the frame for best 22 next year.

I was at the game at the MCG last year when GWS beat us. Melbourne were listless, flat and seemed disinterested. About a week later I went to an MND fundraiser night where David Schwarz spoke, and he categorically stated that Melbourne would win the premiership. When I said that I had been at the game on the weekend against GWS and they looked far from premiership contenders, he said that Burgess had really upped their training loads and that was why they were so flat. He said that barring injuries they would win and he was right!! I would like them to smash the orange maggots.

Well, more power to the Saints. I think more clubs should appeal, and serve up all manner of previous inconsistencies (of which there is no shortage), if for no other reason than to embarrass the AFL. If they have any shame at all -- long bow, I admit -- maybe that would force them into some kind of consistency.

Realises he can't stop the Melbourne juggernaut so he's getting out.

Free kicks don’t win games of football, everything evens out etc. But this dogs thing is an established trend. Over the last ten years before 2019 the dogs were consistently in the top three in the AFL for frees for and differential. The other two were West Coast and Geelong, teams with strong home crowd advantages, large supporter groups, ‘noise of affirmation’ and clear reasons for the advantage. The dogs have none of those. This all went to a whole other level the last two years, they had an average differential of +7 on all other teams in 2021! That’s 7 extra contested marks a game! They get more frees for than the next team (Geelong) by a factor of 6! And give away less by a factor of 4! For what reason? The dogs have no home ground advantage, no Selwood, no clear reason to be so well treated for over a decade. The nice guys thing is just weird. At what point does the AFL look into why one team gets so much better treatment than every other team? It’s pretty weird right?

I’ll be honest, I think we cop the one week for that. Stupid and out of character for Ben, must’ve been a frustrating night but that’s no excuse and it’s bloody frustrating.

I feel history repeating itself again.

It could really be anyone. And by anyone, I mean an old, rich, white dude.

Compare the above English decision a few weeks ago, to the Ryder one. Ryder was more stationary than English. He was unlucky there was concussion. The English bump had equally as much if not more 'potential to cause damage' as the Ryder bump but the MRO chose to ignore the potential in that case. If they penalised the potential for damage there would be fewer English/Ryder cases and fewer concussions. Either potential to cause damage is an issue or they stop pretending that it is as they almost never take it into account when deciding sanctions. Walk the Talk or stop the spin! As someone else mentioned English hit Nankervis full on in the face giving him a blood nose in a ruck contest. No penalty. No MRO sanction. Yet other ruckman and particularly Max, get a free against for putting out an arm out at chest height to stop the op ruckman putting a knee in their chest. Umpires and MRO really need to be more consistent.

Fully agree with this. I'm guessing player numbers are down at least 10% from last year, and probably more, given what I see in my local league. I rarely see kids kicking the footy at the local park, and the prevalence of night games makes it hard from them to get to or see games. Junior clubs are not being supported and are really struggling financially and with finding volunteers. I'm assuming the same issues are apparent at junior league level as well.

I hope the replacement is not someone from within AFL house. It's been inbred for too long now. Gale would be the obvious replacement from outside. He's ruffled a few feathers at HQ and that might be a good thing.

Ryder had the option of smothering the kick. His suspension was the most uncontroversial of the year. If you choose to bump and the opposition player suffers a head knock, you are gone. Everyone knows that.

I think Hegel's quote is best "The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history"

LEADERBOARD FINAL RESULTS 1 D. PEARCE 2 L. PEARCE 3 T-HARRIS 3 T.HANKS 5 L. BIRCH 5 L. MITHEN 5 K. PAXMAN 8 A. BANNAN 9 S. GOLDRICK 10 E. WEST A huge congratulations to all who represented the Dees this year….especially the top 10 ❤️💙

Surely we can crack 60,000. We are 4-0. Get on it people.

The Saints are giving the Tribunal a lesson in Precendence. Firstly, the English incident above. Three more examples: The first: Sam Reid's bump on Nat Fyfe (2021), which resulted in a two-week ban to Reid. Saints say force much greater, direct impact to the head and well off the ball. The second: Jordan De Goey's bump on Clayton Oliver (2021), which resulted in a one-match ban. Saints say player off a long run up hits head with shoulder, no attempt to stop and that is assessed as 'medium' impact. It's the very opposite, Saints say, to Ryder. The third: Levi Casboult's bump on Alex Pearce (2021), which .was judged 'low' impact. Says the incident bodes "quite favourably" for Ryder given Ryder's conduct compared to Casboult's. MRO: Take note!

Its a real shame we aren't playing in Alice in the Indigenous round especially as we didn't get to play a game there at all last year. iirc we are usually one of the Saturday night bookends for that week/fortnight. It would make sense for us to play the round 11 game vs Freo in Alice and play the later season vs Port game at the G instead of Alice. Not a big change as we usually play a WA or SA teams in Alice; just change the venue no need to change dates. The Alice folk would love to see a 1st vs 3rd game. A real shame for all.

This is why Josh Jenkins will never be in List Management.

I still cannot stand the AFL in how they handled the "drugs saga". Gill and the AFL just so protected Essendon from the correct penalty. Friends and family tell me to get over it but still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Howes ✅JVR ✅ Woey jnr ✅ all looked good and should develop this year at Casey. Howes might even be considered later in the year perhaps for a senior run. Moniz-Wakefield was involved in the contest, cracked in and kicked a beautiful goal from the 50. One to work with imv. Bailey Laurie was ok but seems to be pencilled in as a small forward. Smart and creative type. Will aim to keep fit in 2022, and develop. Most promising game from Rosman. Still only in his 2nd year but held down key position in defence alongside Petty. Got the athletic ability, just needs to develop his footy skills and decisions. We have time to let him develop over the 22 and 23 seasons then assess.

I reckon Benny Gale would make an ideal replacement, but anybody who has read Mick Warner's "The Boys' Club" would be unsurprised in the least to see the job go to one of Gil's AFL mates.

I don't care who the next CEO is just as long as it's not Kate Roffey

So if a player steps BACK one step, that is a 50 Metre Penalty? it is a disgraceful rule…but they can never admit they are ever wrong

Is it better treatment? Or does Luke Beveridge and his team understand the rules, and therefore how to exploit them, better than everyone else? I'd suggest it's the latter.

He doesn't understand or is deliberately ignoring the AFL's MRO classification rules and just trying to create controversy and clickbait. It was graded as deliberate, low impact, high contact. AFL rules say two weeks down to 1 for early plea. Looking at clearer vision the guy was running, against the flight of the ball, directly at BB with his left arm up readying to make contact with bb's chest, throat or jaw. BB was running with and watching the flight of the ball so his elbow/forearm looks like a reflex to the guy's extended arm but being on the run and so tall he got the guy in the head. No excuse but it it isn't as bad as the media is making.

I wish I could still do all the things I was able to do pre-stroke but life moves on. It would be very difficult to keep the same team for sale an extended time due to salary caps, lack of opportunity for certain players etc. Also the club needs to improve the list by developing it future players as the list ages. I am glad to only be an arm chair critic and leave the hard decisions to other more capable people. As a supporter I am still trying to recover from all the previous failed rebuild over a 57 year period. Atleast we finally got the latest rebuild right. GO THE DEES! I would like to order another three premierships in the next three years.

I thought we'd already covered this!

I’m on no hurry to underestimate GWS this weekend. They’re out of form but they have some genuine weapons in their team. They troubled us twice last year. (With that said… they’re a franchise, not a club and they have no real supporters)

I’d put Daniel Cross in the same category: not a premiership player but came to the club with a very professional attitude and IMHO greatly helped revive our fortunes.

Very slim pickings this week. From bf: ...and please be gentle Demons. Maybe I'll break out the rum instead of gin 3 new umps .... please Apart from cloning Tom Green a few times, there's probably not much we can do that would make a difference. I don't care what the game plan is I just want to see us score 100+ points. I wouldn't care if we list by 10 goals doing so. It is better than watching the rubbish they are dishing up at the moment. With Ash we recruited a line breaking half back and we have turned him into a tagging mode who doesn’t know what to with it when he gets [it}. Watching him get on the wing in a canter in space and get run down and tackled is infuriating. Looks like VFL HQ is getting ready to stitch-up Preuss again as a scapegoat to cover up, and deflect attention away from, the umpiring crime scene. ...its onwards to the MCG against the Demons. Oh dear god please stand up and make a game of it. Don't blame them for wanting 3 new umps! Each week ops supporters dread playing the Demons. Never much optimism from them. Only occasionally is there some hope, albeit futile. It feels good to be feared by them.

Eddie or Jeff? 😬

Admittedly it is a draft write up which are always pretty glowing, but a 194cm+, 2.90sec 20m sprint and a (almost) record breaking 2k time trial is tantalising. I’m pretty sure the Club were looking at making a winger out of him but understandably is still a work in progress. Another Sandringham player with a lot of upside, Rosman was 192cm last year but is now 194cm and could still grow a little more as well; with his speed and reach on the lead, that extra height could be handy. With a frame to build on and a bucketful of natural athleticism and x-factor, the potential Rosman has is on the very high end. Rosman’s athleticism was certainly on show at the combine with some eye-catching results; notching 2.90 seconds in the 20m sprint and an incredible 5:52 time in the 2km time trial, which was two seconds behind the previous record breakers Jay Rantall and former Dragon, Finn Maginness before Harry Sharp broke that record again. Regardless, both of those results are elite for Rosman and they are a very rare combination to have. His leap tests were solid at the start of the year and he certainly likes to jump at the ball when marking.

Smith for Hunt, Petty for Tommo. Or neither. Anybody not selected is unlucky, either way. Crazy times as a Dees supporter!

The Early Top 40 from Davo-27 on bigfooty 1. George Wardlaw - Oakleigh 2. Elijah Hewett - Swan Dist 3. Elijah Tsatas - Oakleigh 4. Harry Lemmey - West Adel 5. Will Ashcroft - Sand 6. Adam D'Aloia - WWT 7. Olivier Northam - Geel 8. Aaron Cadman - GWV 9. Anthony Munkara - NT/West Adel 10. Matthew Jefferson - Oakleigh 11. Jhye Clark - Geel 12. Jackson Broadbent - Peel 13. Harry Sheezel - Sand 14. Isaac Keeler - Nth Adel 15. Lachlan Cowan - Tas 16. Oliver Hollands - Murr 17. Kobe Ryan - West Adel 18. Kane Bevan - West Perth 19. Jedd Busslinger - East Perth 20. Ted Clohesy - Geel 21. Blake Drury - Oakleigh 22. Bailey Humphrey - Gipps 23. Charlie Clarke - Sand 24. Max Clohesy - Murr 25. Jed Hagan - East Frem 26. Max Michaelanny - Norw 27. Sam Gilbey - Clare 28. Josh Weddle - Oakleigh 29. Braden George - Murr 30. Seth Campbell - Tas 31. Paul Pascu - Cald 32. Luke Teal - Oakleigh 33. Jaspa Fletcher - Bris A 34. Mitch Szybkowski - Dand 35. Jaxon Binns - Dand 36. Brady Wright - GWV 37. Matthaes Phillipou - WWT 38. Jonti Schuback - Gipps 39. Henry Hustwaite - Dand 40. Noah Long - Bend

Jon Ralph seems to be running some form of campaign to get Ben Brown’s MRP suspension increased to 3-4 weeks. That’s ludicrous when you look at the outcome. Not normally into conspiracy theories but he is with the Herald Sun and didn’t they run a nasty little campaign against our coach in the off season?

Easy there, Spartacus. I said ‘heartless’ not ‘heinous’ 😳 Forcing someone to go down the Hawthorn path against their will is an indictable offence which carries a penalty of 25 to life. Well, it doesn’t. But it should. BTW, Love your solving skills. Demonstone would be proud. And probs a little jealous. 😁

I’m never confident playing GWS.

Maybe we're giving him too much benefit of the doubt but I'd suspect it's an indication of how frustrated he was with what Williamstown were doing to him off the ball. Gaff's a fair player too but Fremantle got to him that day and he lashed out.

They could have spent half the money and you would have a club with soul in Tasmania

I thought that last week was going to be a close game and came out looking like a goose, so i wont be making any bold predictions this week. Dees by only 80 points.