Leaderboard

I feel like Bailey Fritsch gets forgotten in pretty much all discussions about potential goal-kickers for our upcoming games. Just not sure why. He’s easily our best forward, in his prime, an absolute gun, and if stays fit, will win our goal-kicking again this year. #stopignoringfritta

Indeed. But the real issue is whether it was a smother or pressure is immaterial. He should have got weeks because he chose to turn and bump - and flushed Gus with his shoulder. Text book. He had the option to put his hands out to protect himself and Gus. Which as Brad Scott said, is EXACTLY what he he would have done if that incident happened at training and Pendlebury was the player he was running at to spoil. Or as a poster noted here, a brilliant analogy i thought, if your 3 year old was on your bed and you fell towards them what would you do? What would your instinctive reaction be to protect your child? To protect your child, would you turn your body in mid air, brace and flush them with your shoulder? Or would you remain chest on and put your hands out in front to do everything you could to protect them? Hell, do the same thing with no child, just you but falling face first to the ground. What's your natural instinct? What's the natural instinctive reaction to protect yourself? Every time its putting both hands out to cushion your fall. NOT turn your body and smash your shoulder into the ground. It's why the AFL's prosecution was so pathetic. They completely allowed the pies movement expert to spout rubbish and not push back. Or even ask the questions above - which i would have thought are the logical questions. Or perhaps ask: 'Mr Maynard, you CHOSE to to turn your body and bump to protect yourself. That choice clearly protected you, but not your opponent. In hindsight, what other ways might you have CHOSEN to protect yourself AND show a duty of care to your opponent and minimise the risk of head trauma? Was turning your body and choosing to bump your opponent in the head REALLY the only option you had to protect yourself and your opponent?' You might ask those questions IF YOU ARE ACTUALLY TRYING TO GET A GUILTY VERDICT. Or you might call YOUR OWN biomechanical expert as a witness to rebut theirs. One that might for instance explain how many decisions can be made in a spilt second and how for example divers and gymnasts turn their body ALL THE TIME in a split second to minimise the impact of a mistimed dive or jump. Pathetic. The fix was so in It infuriates me.

A lot of posters underestimating Chandler. After his first full season in the 1s he kicked 20 odd goals and trailed off. Has speed and endurance and some tricks. Kicks very straight. stick with him. after round 10 last year everyone was raving I reckon he is a keeper

At the Casey practice match, they had to shorten the kick to kick because 11 and 13 wouldn't get off the ground signing autographs. It took Claz fully 45 minutes to get from the eastern wing back over to the sheds, just yacking with fans.

I was at training at Gosches when Clarry returned to team training.He was signing autographs for kids and posing for photos.He is a people person. He loves the fans.

Been great to just ponder today... Had 360 going in the back, just listening to the build up of the game... & it had me thinking... We're opening the season!!!🥹 Groing up i always figured what it would be like being a blue or tiges round 1. The roos on a friday night or the bombers getting loads of prime time fixtures. Jeez this footy club's come a long way 🔴🔵

Fantasy ..get offered a free flight to Syd to stay with family member. No ticket to game but go along to the open session to see players. Find out can get reciprocal rights with MCC membership but have to queue from 5pm & hope for the best . Half an hour ago get call from a players parents who can’t make the game and want to know if a ticket is required. Reality.. will now be sitting with the players families tomorrow night. How envious am I but super excited for another Dees supporter to be there

He sure is 'Webber' and one of the best forwards in the game who also gets left out of that discussion.

I am with you Binman. Webster deserves a penalty. But it seems 4-5 weeks is par for what he did. For me this stinks of the AFL going hard in the pre-season on minnow clubs. I'll know they are serious when they dish out the same penalty for a Carlton or Collingwood player in a final. By about round 5, they will have forgotten all about head bumps and concussion, unless another player unfortunately cops one. It seems likely that if the order of the Powell-Pepper and Webster bumps were reversed, then Webster would have got 4 and Powell-Pepper 7.

I’m was surprised too, but in hindsight we’ve done it many times before. They clearly rate the competitive match play during training sessions very highly as a way to decide a players readiness to return.

Not currently but will see how he goes once the season starts. WAFL pre season matches start this weekend so may get a look at him. Im not a believer in signing players to keep siblings. Back your culture (that dirty word)

No, it's not that. It's just that he plays a critical role as a defender. Riv's run and carry from the back half is key to our transition game. And there is no obvious replacement, certainly not one with his skill set and/or could play the role to his level. By contrast we have langdon, Windsor, Hunter, Billings, nibbla, Laurie, howes and spargs who could all conceivably play on the wing.

Here's hoping the shackster makes petty work hard for his spot.

Laurie should be in the 22 over Chandler based on their pre-season performance. Would also prefer to have a strong aerobic athlete playing from the start and have an impact player come on later in the game.

Jake Melksham travelled with the team, and active at training. Important to the fabric of the team. And active in the coaches box?

Spargo will be part of the new, improved delivery inside 50, or I think that's the theory.

SparGod fans (me) rejoice!

Schache in for McDonald. 6 months later lol

He’s back at Claremont training with the Senior Squad BVR is contact training and should play Futures and Community footy this year. He’s 199cm now I heard yesterday

Now there is an inconvenient truth! chookrat thanks for your explanation regarding the Maynard decision and while I'm firmly in the Binman corner I do appreciate your explanation. I think we all know that it was the opening minutes of the first final and Maynard wanted to make a "statement". He missed the smother and then found himself in the position to make that statement and made a very positive decision to do so. And I'll hate him for making that decision forever. I'm not so angry about there being no suspension. It's a little like a murderer getting 20 years, it doesn't bring the murdered person back to life. I still wonder if Brayshaw could sue Maynard for loss of income, it's not about the money, it's about Maynard being recognized for the brutality of his decision and the impact it has had on a fellow competitor.

i will never be convinced ma****D executed his duty of care to gus. ever.

I just hope the club talks to Kozzie and tells him not to ever bump again. We can’t lose him for 7 weeks

Is Demonland going to ban all Jon Ralph articles from being posted from now on? Clearly they are unsubstantiated rumours which are strictly forbidden.

Langdon, Windsor and Billings will be the wingers.

Agree. Langers not up to his usual best last season and I’m not convinced that Hunter has the foot skills to improve on his forward 50 deliveries. Rivers and Windsor will put pressure on the former two.

I’m pleasantly surprised Dof. I didn’t think he would get named after taking no part in the praccy matches.

Wow, Spargo in, go Charles. From all reports he was flying on the track prior to the achilles setback.

We’ve taken over Sydney …

I didn’t expect Fox’s promotion to get me pumped for this game but here we are. I also quietly love that they’ve got Billings in there. Back him in and let’s go.

I think we should be incredibly proud of the way the club has handled this off season, it's been a mess, and some of the interesting articles coming out of the herald sun haven't helped, but i feel we have shown our culture is strong and we're ready for the season. on a side note, it sounds like Clarry has been to hell and back so for him to tick all the boxes and be selected for round zero is an enormous accomplishment and something i hope he's very proud of.

It might sound hypocritical by me given my stance on banning the bump, but I'm against giving Webster a massive penalty. From my perspective it is unfair on Webster and against the principles of natural justice. Why? Because retrospective penalties, particularly for incidents that are not novel (eg like judds chick wing tackle), indeed are in fact super common, are antihical to the principle of natural justice. As analogy, you cop a speeding fine. There are set penalties, but a magistrate decides they want to make a statement because of a recent spike in road deaths. And triples the fine and takes your licence. There is a regime of penalties for bumps to the head. Webster's hit was a bog standard example. The penalty set in the regime is what he should get, perhaps at the upper range. Why should Webster be 'made an example of'? How fair is that to webster? If the AFL feel that is the way to stamp out bumps to the head, why didn't SPP get 8 weeks? If using webster as the example implies it will stamp it out, then has simpkin got a legal argument that the AFL didn't take the opportunity to make an example of SPP (because that may have meant him not getting knocked out)? The time for setting penalties is in the calm of the off season. If the argument is increased penalties will be an effective deterrent then bloody introduce them BEFORE the season starts. If the AFL wanted to make a statement about head trauma they could have announced, to much fanfare, BEFORE the first intra club simulation that penalties for bumps to the head had been dramatically increased. Knock a player out, minimum 5 weeks. Knock a player out when choosing to bump if tackling is an option, minimum 7 weeks. Run past the ball and bump a player and hit the head, minimum 8 weeks. Leave the ground and knock a player out, minimum 10 weeks. Additional weeks for particularly spiteful acts. Weeks double for repeat offenders. Put every player on notice and make it clear that this season these penalties WILL apply. It's so typical of the AFL's approach to this, and other issues, to do nothing, or not enough, and then react to specific events. And then dodge responsibility and putting it at the feet of the players. It's a point Gus made powerfully in his retirement letter - to protect the head, the AFL has to be PROACTIVE not REACTIVE. I've made this point a number of times over the last few seasons, I find it increasingly hard to believe that the AFL addiction to media saturation doesn't drive its decision making. All the whoo ha filling up the airwaves about the bump is great content for the media, who pay big bucks to the AFL for access.

Petty in for Schache and that’s a very good team

Spargo after no practice matches? Surprised. Means Laurie or Chandler for sub, you’d think.

I think we’re going to give the Swans a drubbing tomorrow night. Dees by 50 +

Hope Blake has a very good game in a Dees win and gets the confidence to go onto a fine career with us.

So to summarize the current AFL position, if he is very good we don't get him and if he isn't we might.

I'll come back to the recent foregoing in due course, for my regular dose of amusement and befuddlement, but I must report something I've discovered while researching for a puzzle (not for here; breathe easy!), that might fit the entry criteria of this thread: Australia had never had a Prime Minister with a surname longer than 7 letters (7 of those, and 11 6s, 4 5s, and 5 4s). Until, that is, the last three in a row: TURNBULL, MORRISON, ALBANESE! Curse inflation!

Woewodin might be the sub. He's definitely in Sydney.

But the argument then becomes, the bump occurred after the initial action to smother, so cannot be seen as a 'football action'. The way it was prosecuted was so weak, but my line of questioning would've have been around from the point your arms were outstretched in the air looking to smother your next motion was to turn your body and drop your shoulder into Brayshaw's head. One option you had was to put your arms out in front of you to lessen the blow to Brayshaw, why didn't you do this instead? This idea that it was a football action is nonsense, it was a split second decision and he got it wrong but wasn't penalised.

Discussing “Adelaide is/isn’t sh-t” is truly a national pastime.

From the Club website article: 'With 74 career games since his debut in 2019, the trusted Demon is closing in on the 100-match milestone in season 2024.' That'd be in a (winning) grand final then.

Great news. 👏👏👏👏👏 Tom Sparrow 💙❤️💙❤️ premiership player we love ya Tommy 👏👏👏👏👏

Was it not the same as last year. late, after he had got rid of the ball, high, deliberate, he left the ground, and got him in the head. therefore it was a football action AFL treat us like sheet

Full credit to Webster and St Kilda in the they handled the aftermath: The Saints pleaded guilty with Webster saying: “I’m really sorry about what happened on Sunday. It’s something I’m not proud of - I’ve left a lot of people down. “My main concern is for Jy to get back to playing footy and I really hope he’s OK. I understand how bad concussions are and how much we want to see them stamped out of the game.” Asked why he jumped off the ground he replied: “I haven’t got an excuse.” If only we'd seen this kind of humility from Maynard, Collingwood and that F### (Justice has been served) McGuire, no one would need disect the rules and be splitting hairs over the legalities rather than focus on the intent.

“..While I'm comfortable that the AFL had no way of suspending Maynard under the existing rules..” There have been players suspended in the past for electing to leave the ground and KOing opponents so this was absolutely an option in September 2023. The obscene (some may even suggest corrupt) manner in which the case was prosecuted, none the least having a Magpie member as prosecutor, was a grotesque failure of process and will remain a dark blot on Gil’s legacy.

His manager ok’d it when asked, he did not release it.

I likened him to Robbie and Ive seen nothing so far to change my mind - will he ever be as good - we can only hope because Robbie was possibly the best footballer I’ve ever seen in red and blue. He does move like the great man but I agree they are massive boots to fill He deserves his spot given his training form and pre season form and add the fact that Hunter is unavailable We have lacked pace imo - he has it Good luck to him let’s all hope he plays a good game and helps us to a great first up victory

I wonder if this was leaked by our media department to old dopey Ralphy, as a way of then illustrating that despite our players being in high demand by other clubs, our players are still re-signing. Ala, we are well and truly on top of our "cultural problems". That's how I'd play 4D chess anyway. Too Machiavellian?

I've heard that Sparrow has re-signed. Great news!