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Recently there has been a lot of criticism of Jake Laver on this site, with posters suggesting he should be dropped etc.. Some points in his defence. First, he had a rough start to the season with injury. Secondly, over the last 3 weeks he has had to carry the defence as a tall - and he is not really tall and certainly is not solid - with May gone, Petty banged up, and Max having to go forward to help out there instead of dropping back in his normal manner. Oh, and all of this while trying to act as the general - watching the structures, directing the other defenders, last week helping out a first-gamer. And against good teams. I think he has done pretty well actually.

I don't not at all, If he is not injured, he is suspended!

Thanks to Binman & co. for the education on loading. Even after Geelong admit it over the weekend, virtually zero acknowledgement on the impact in games from commentators. Demons go from 10-0 to lose 3 in a row with massive drop in last quarters and nothing from analysts. Losing multiple talls in each game and nothing much said, May coming back not much said, Max going out huge! Analysis really is average when there are so many reporters and experts! A big opportunity for someone to provide real insight. We are fortunate to get some great insight on Demonland, if Binman & co had the FD insider knowledge, it would take it to another level. Still after all said and read, feeling very good about Demons, just make top 4 with a healthy list, and we will be looking good at a great shot for back to back!

mentioned on radio that there is concern that some afl players could be suffering from effects of long covid long covid can have extreme effects but is in fact a spectrum of effects where it may not be noticeable as such but is enough to affect elite performance and appear as just a form slump just putting it out there

Finishing 2nd. First final vs Freo at the G. Perfect! Lets see how Freo would go with a crowd of 70,000 dees fans hungry to see a dees final on the Hallowed Turf, rather than the 25K they played in front of a month ago. Not to mention with a healthier team not decimated during the game by injury to key players.

They’re going to Geelong

This isn't a 'non-story'. The story isn't footballer gets drunk while at a nightclub on holidays. The story is sexual assault. Clearly there was no consent. On another day or another girl he is up for sexual assault and this time their is video evidence. It isn't the first time he has been charged with sexual assault - he has got off the previous times. There are plenty of Jordy types out there. Think of this from the view of your daughters, sisters, nieces etc and this behaviour should be condemned. And perhaps help educate the young men in your lives on what is consent.

I don't think anyone has suggested him to be dropped to be honest...

Jackson should look long and hard at Tom Boyd's experience. Wanted to come home and was traded to Bulldogs for a huge sum. He was taunted by teammates about it and got into fisticuffs over it. Even tho he was critical in winning their 2016 premiership he left the game a few years later disillusioned and with depression. He could have been one of the all time greats. He was never really part of the team. Neither was HW$NBN who took the big money. Not in any way suggesting any of that would happen to Jackson. But going to Freo where some young gun players, yet to earn decent $, have to sacrifice $ now or in the future to accommodate his contract would take a lot of maturity. Not sure he has that maturity at this stage. Ironically, Jackson played an equally critical role in our 2021 premiership as Boyd did in 2016 at not dissimilar age. Still think he will stay.

This must be what it's like reading the Herald Sun. 58 pages in and still no actual news.

History will tell you that finishing outside of the top 4 is an incredible disadvantage. Only Dog in 2016 have bucked that trend in the last 20+ years. If we finish outside of the top 4, you can pretty much kiss the 22 premiership good-bye. Its hard to back-up 4 weeks of back-to-back intense finals games.

The last three games we’ve been hit with injuries/suspension, teams are moving the ball quickly and isolating our defenders. Let’s get the band back together and get some stability back. It starts this week!

You can certainly tweak it from week to week but you have to be applying more load as a general trend, so a 4 game period of heavy load one week, light the next and then repeated would offer little benefit. This image is describes it in it's most simple form, although it would be more complicated and specific to peaking in then holding that through September

Harmesy will always be a Demon Legend, for “That Kick”

I always find it amusing that the AFL is bagged for its supposed incompetence - yet sometimes those same people think they are capable of organizing an ultra sophisticated conspiracy like having the umpires impact results or the (independent) tribunal doing its bidding.

Freo supporters suggesting their current and future first rounder for Jackson for the free agency compensation pick we get for Brayshaw (assume he leaves) and our second rounder. Or Bailey Banfield and Ethan Hughes for Luke Jackson. No draft picks involved. Meanwhile our supporters want two first rounders AND a Caleb Serong, Hayden Young or Andrew Brayshaw. Going to be a long second half of the year and trade week....

We've been talking 'bout Jackson ...

I read the last two words first and nearly had heart failure. Would we then have A Brayshaw A, and A Brayshaw B?

Yeh, how dare people be offended by misogyny and representations of objectification of women. I mean, are you serious? This guy has had a past history of charges against him for sexual abuse, harassment, etc, are you trying to say you have no problem with that?

Veering off topic for a moment, If I ever turn on the TV and catch some form of motor racing (F1 or V8's) I am always impressed with the information they provide viewers. If the general population of the world can understand what is happening in these events with strategy, tyres and car performance, then the AFL can be a little more analytical with their presentation and actually teach people about the game. That would be refreshing

That concept (only possible to peak twice a year) jags perfectly with the model that seems to be standard in the AFL. That's to say, do a big block in preseason and taper to be cherry ripe round one. Win as many games as possible in the next two and a half months. In that period, there is diminishing returns in terms of losing a bit of condition that was built preseason (because the match is the big load and training sessions focus on recovery and maintenance). Explains why we looked dominant early and then slowly came back to the pack. Then do another big block pre bye (which explains our obvious fatigue in our three losses), a little freshen up (and hopefully a win againstthe lions), and then another big block (which will likey mean more 3-4 games where we are fatigued), with a view to peak preliminary final day.

Cycling is where my (limited) knowledge comes from. To put it in context for the football followers, those athletes race their bikes all year, although for most of them they target only a couple of specific races each year (Peaking). They compete in many races during loading phases and are often doing extra riding after races whether to or from venues/finishes. It is widely accepted that you can only peak twice in a given year and that is a much more difficult thing to manage for the second time.

Players with covid: Round 6: Viney and Lever Round 7: Jackson, Sparrow, Kozzie, ANB and Petty. Ben Brown was a close contact. Petracca caught the nasty flu that has been going round and affected a few on the list. Poor Petty, comes back in round 8 and starts getting patched up in and since round 11. Not much time for healing of any sort. Hopefully with two recent consecutive 9 day breaks (and an 8 day break to follow) has/will help them all recover a bit and they can fire up this week.

Explains your name...

He has an injured foot. His 1-1 numbers are good but the fact that he has had so many 1-1s is a problem. Teams have figured us out a bit and keeping Jake ‘honest’ and it is leaving others exposed.

You'd take it right now if on offer! That return game in Perth goes a long way to securing this.

He's down on form like the rest of the team May marshals the defence so his absence has had a direct impact on Rick's form and confidence. May's return will steady the ship Lever was AA last year. He'll come good

We will not lose Angus Brayshaw.

Lucky for her she has you to tell her how offended and outraged she should be, and to get offended amd outraged on her behalf... 👏

He got off lightly with his past history, no arguments there... Would I want him at Melbourne, no-way... massive risk But, specifically on this incident tho, my understanding is 2 people were consentually flirting and someone else filmed it and published it, right?

I think this will be really good for Weid, work hard around the ground, it will make him feel involved, i think he will do well. Our game will change on the back of turnovers and scoring. Simply, if we can convert opportunities, then we will win and get back on track. The Swans and Pies games, i think were not bad loses, and while not at our best, i think we were not far off in both games. Pressure, hold our nerve down back and then get it in quick. We win.

I'd say today has been another productive day people good job! Clock off and yabadabadoo!!

Yep spot on. However you overlooked the 3 years they'll play at MFC first in order to qualify for the minimum age requirement at the cattery.

Without Max and TMac, we'll learn a lot more about Jackson's true value in the next few weeks. And the same can be said of Weideman, about to turn 25 and probably facing a challenge which could be make or break for him at AFL level. Speculation about Jackson's future is pointless. If he is determined to leave, he will. For the club, trying desperately to hang on to an unhappy player would be disastrous. Naturally, I hope he stays, and ditto for Brayshaw.

And the footy public love defining the future worth based on a handful of performances. I get that he wiped the floor against an average ruckman in English during a quarter in a GF when we were loosing. It is an amazing feat and will never be forgotten for its significance to the MFC. But as i have said previously, he hasn't been busting the door down that would warrant that kind of money so we would be foolish to try and match until we are convinced that he's the real deal, which wont become apparent until he his at least 23-25 yo. So if he is offered what Freo are indicating, then the trade price for them will need to be considerable. 2 first rounders and an established first 22 player.

Our backline was so effective because they played as a team, not as a collection of individuals, to direct, support, encourage and gang tackle the oppos. Injuries and other issues to May, Petty, Maxie, Lever, Hibberd, Salem and Tomlinson have a way of unsettling and reducing the effectiveness of the group. It is unfair to single out one part of a group. Let's hope that they all overcome their issues and come together to dominate as before.

Daisy. I am glad that you raised this. Have tried to find which players have missed with Covid protocols - as I recall they include BBB Jackson ?Tracc all of whom have been well below par. So instead of slanging off at our players for being “duds” maybe some can try to think a bit deeper. And of course maybe those of us who think the Eagles are tanking could reconsider that many of them also were out with covid related issues.

Some top shelf prognostications there stu. I hadn't thought much past the lions game, but I thought similarly for that game ie we will look to be as fresh as possible. It's one game back from the port game last season, but it seems similar in terms of freshening up to play a top 4 contender, and possible finals opponent, before going hard again. Scott's comments in his presser were fascinating. Pretty clear from his comments, they have long loaded, but never got it quite right in terms of peaking at the right time. But are now going harder than they previously have - and damn the consequences in terms of the risk of missing the finals Really reinforces the point made in that football Australia pages I linked to that periodisation is incredibly complex. So many variables, like game style and mix of different types of athletes (eg power v runners) and physiology. And that within each program there must be a range of philosophies and approaches, albeit within a pretty narrow framework of what is accepted, and proven, best practice. Also, as you suggest, during this block of aprox 7-8 games, clubs will freshen up for specific games they want to maximise their chance of games. Like you my gut feel is that will include the lions game, and I suspect they will also freshen up for (unless that doesn't fit with the program they have mapped out).

I imagine the FD saw us at 8-0 coming up against an historically terrible Eagles, followed by 4 straight games in Melbourne to lead into the bye and determined it was best to try to make use of those fixtures to begin their loading regime. There was a lot of 7 day breaks and then the 9 day break into the QB game. Enough time to have the heavy training sessions right in the middle between games and hope that the fatigue levels were manageable. Like you, @binman, I think it's a certainty to continue after the bye. However given our two non-consecutive Thursday night games I imagine we'll see something like: Players returning tomorrow from the break, makes it tough to load up and not be fatigued for Thursday night. I imagine a more moderate training into the game vs the Lions The 9 day break into Round 16 vs Crows offers more time to have a heavier training load The 5 day break into Round 17 vs Cats will likely see an easier week on the training track, as the game itself will act as a heavy training session being so close to the previous game. The 10 day break into Round 18 vs Port again offers enough time to load up once again Their is then a 6 day break into the Round 19 game vs the Doggies - this one could go either way. The coincidence of playing the Dogs for a second time in Round 19 exactly like last year is an amazing coincidence! I think we will see energised performances against the Lions and Cats, and sluggish performances against the Crows and Port, and possible the Dogs. We could win or lose any of them but that's just my guess as to how the team will look during those games.

not much of a story really we already knew he was an elite bogan footballer

Agreed. We have return games vs Freo, Coll and Lions. We've lost to the first two. I feel we really need to win at least one of the games vs those 3 teams and this week vs Lions is a good place to start. They will all be full of confidence for the return games (on their home turf) so very keen to beat Lions this week.

Sorry Ollie, i totally disagree. I think he has been awful. And i would hope he has a better last half of the season. I understand his limited start to season, but its his decision making that shows me he is horribly out of form like a lot of players. Good thing is he can recapture it and hopefully a settled back 7 will do wonders for the team.

Weightman didn't get a free yet played a brilliant and courageous game. He is a much better player focusing on getting the ball on his merits, of which he has plenty, rather than getting cheap frees. The fuss over his 'skill' to milk frees, ironically may be the making of him.

Between The Herald Sun's "African Gangs are taking over" and The Guardian's "Everything is offensive" I'd say they're all as bad as one another.

Yeah, the other one thinks they already have him.

RE a player like Harmes taking the option to go: he wouldn't be on big money and is contracted, so I can't see us sacrificing him. But I could see us saying: "hey team X are interested in you, and while we don't really want to lose you and would be happy for you to stay and be part of the squad, if you can get an extra 250k per year and 2 years on a contract out of them, you'd be mad not to think about it." I know it is next year, not this year, but it is Oliver I'd be saving the money for, not Jackson.

Love Jacko, and would love him to stay, but if we want sustained success the conversation will be happening asking Jackson what he wants and if it’s to leave you look after #1 and get the best deal for the club moving forward Oscar Allen and a first round pick gets it done for me. #1 pick Tom Scully leaving effectively got us Hogan who got us May AA defender Frawley leaving gets us an extra first rounder seeing us nab Bradshaw and Trac I dare say Trac, Gus and May were all vitally important in us winning the flag last year. No player is bigger than the club, keep evolving and improving I have great faith in Jason Taylor making the right decisions

Must be a very desparate club if Jordan de goey is the one player you would take. Must be north