Red and Blue realist

Thanks for that info poita! it's why it's hard to take some of the numbers on face value. Number might make the broadcasters happy but $ is what makes the world go round, it's probably why we're in a reasonably healthy financial position while the saints are very much struggling with huge debts.

Do you know LH if the comparisons are based on full memberships or total (including kids, pets, 3 games etc.) I know the Saints went very heavy advertising for 3 game memberships a year or 2 ago and most of those have been automatically rolled over.

I think they'll still be able to use him as the 23rd man, but another under age season (although as an overager), might be much more beneficial for him rather than just playing against full grown men.

That'd be certainly part of it, the guys only 24 (turning 25 shortly) but is known as a real mature leader so I'm sure he'll be doing what he can to keep our best players alongside him.

It was a scratch match, to which they organised a live stream. In years gone past you'd hear only the odd whisper about the game in the press or on here! Very few clubs had any sort of report, the majority had either highlights or just repeated the AFL website summary. I'd expect more from this weeks 'official' pre-season hit out, but surely between the AFL, SEN, HS, The Age etc. all covering the game this is enough?

Great clip, and summary. I think for ours mids to go from a mix of very good players to a real dominate force is that focus on not necessarily becoming better players (not that they shouldn't be trying to improve all the time), but to become much better team mates. They, and I'm counting Trac, Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney and Harmes have all played around that 100 game mark now so sometimes I think it takes a while for younger guys to not just see ball/get ball and think they make an impact through pure numbers, but to realise that they'll get those numbers and more if they are doing the blocking, shepparding etc. to help a teammate out, the focus then goes to the one getting the quick clearance who in turn lets them free a little more. The addition of Williams and Yze can only help in that regard, as I'm sure they value that stuff very highly.

Yes, but it was Frost's job to man a key forward, and he still cost us at least 2-3 goals per game getting caught in between defending and attack. Hunt should have more licensee to actually do that, one of the things that was obvious from yesterday we that he got his positioning wrong, he got caught in y the side of high packs a few times, he needs to move towards the back or the goal side if he's next to his man

I see Hunt nearly in the same way a lot saw Frost, the only difference is when Hunt makes a mistake I don't think it will cost us as much and he's got a higher footy IQ so when he's got the confidence to fully commit to all contests is less likely to end up in the middle of nowhere. Plus he's not playing on a key position forward, so the damage on a mistake should be less, he's just got to work on his positioning on the high ball

I like Hunt's game, but he needs to be given licensee to just attack the game he wants, the lack of tackling seemed to me to be more of being caught half between attacking their player or falling back to where he should be positioned and then getting in no-mans land. Allowing him that ability might cost a few goals but should also help save a few as well. The other thing he needs to do is to automatically peel out the back of a marking pack when it flys and his man is going up, let the big men do there job and he can stop any quick crumbers bursting through. He got caught on the side watching a few times. On point 3, the Tigers defence is the best in the game, so after only a few weeks of the focus shifting to the TMac/Jacko combo, I thought they held up reasonably well. I agree, Oscar is so close, but he's a liability if forced to go back towards the last line of defence and hasn't yet got the polish delivering forward. I don't think he's yet ready to play in the seniors opposite Langdon, but he'd be the perfect guy to learn off.

I'd be very surprised if Daw didn't get a run, no point having a look at him just at training, Farmer and Deakyn Smith are different in that they are highly unlikely to be considered for round 1.

Fair chance WW that there hasn't been a long history of stat keeping for goal assists, I think they might have started keeping records in 2003, looking on AFL Tables and even with that the stats seemed to have changed a fair bit over the years.

Thanks PF, there's photo's on the MFC website, that also says they were all split into their core units for training today, so the photo's were of the mids training (not sure if they'll have the other groups later on?). Must be a bummer to only see 1/3rd of the team training when trekking out that far!

Spot on, and then a break down on their type of disposal as well (contested vs uncontested), in my quick look (no analysis) Oliver, Trac and Viney are all top 20 for contested possessions. In fact Lachie Neale stands out as the number 1 disposal winner but isn't in the top 20 for clangers, whereas I think the rest of the top 20 are there. They clean it up a bit and we clean up big time!!

But Cotchin and Martin are 1 and 2 and Bolton and M.Pickett are in the top 20, using your logic the Tigers must have finished last in 2020. All the top players are going to be high on the clanger list becuase they get so much of the ball, those that try and be creative, Martin, Trac, Danger, Bont etc. will make mistakes, while Oliver, Cripps, Adams etc. who win the ball in close and try to use it qucikly will also be impacted. Yes we need to be cleaner, but moreso on the outside, in the delivery into fwd50 and there's clearly been a lot of work done on that area so far this pre-season.

I think a few on here are over stating what a captain's role is these days, they toss the coin and attend press conferences and are responsible for promoting the club. They also have a role in "firing up" the team before the game and on the ground at half time, but this can also fall to more vocal members of the team. As far as on-field leadership they are no more responsible than all other experienced players, guys like Hodge had Mitchell, Lewis, Buddy, Birchall, Lake etc. who'd all stand up when required, but didn't need to be told too by Hodge. Selwood had Scarlett, Enright, Bartel, Hawkins etc. Cotchin has got Dusty, Reiwolt, Grimes etc. Gawn needs support from Viney, but had May, Lever, Nev in the backline last year, where we struggle is forward leaders, that's why Melk probably got games last year when out of form. hopefully BBB and Weid steps up this year. If al are working well together, all of a sudden Max will be seen as a good captain.

I think the opposite to the bolded part, a 2 man 'official' leadership group means that everyone knows who tosses the coin and who the back up is. Essendon did themselves in by having a larger group, which meant guys missed out and probably rightly, thought they should be in there. A captain/vice captain model, means that any other senior player should think they are a leader and can speak up when they see fit, it's not forced upon them while also not discouraging. The capt/VC can still talk to them if they overstep the mark without having to bring it into a group leadership situation, and as you said the coaches really should be the ones they go to with issues.

Choco Williams loved Scharenburg and has talked him up a few times during his career, if he's over his injuries I reckon he'd be a good chance

Thanks for those who can get out to training and provide their views! I'm interested if any DLs saw this exchange, for 2 reasons: (1) Was is just an opportunistic tackle from Viney or was he generally very aggressive all round (I'm hoping he's going to take the aggression up this year as I think he's more valuable getting 20 touches and 10 bone crunching tackles than getting 30 touches and 3 or 4 tackles) (2) How was Weid's reaction, some guys really fire up and play their best after getting a big shot, and I think Weid needs some sort of physicality early in a game to play his best. If he jumped up and played on then getting hit hard might be the best thing for him.

Freo also have at least 2 academy players who they'll take, and 1 is a small forward (Joel Western) so maybe Farmer just isn't a need for them?

He's definitely nominated, but probably hasn't got much press because he's not seen as a potential main draft pick, I'm wondering if we might nominate and hope there's no bids and he falls through to the rookie draft. Or if they were giving him one last chance, otherwise he'll probably play colts again in the WAFL and try again next year.

They can go into points deficit next year, which they won't care about because they have a kid coming through who's been touted as top 3, so their 1st round pick next year and maybe one of their 2nds is probably gone anyway. If a bid comes for McInnes before either 14 or 16, then there'd be no point in engaging with them, but if there's no bid before their first 2 picks the offering up 19 and 50 for their 1st next year become appealing.

Don't forget about all those pesky hospitals and medical centre's who use student nurses, radiologists, physio's etc. Along with all the tech companies that also have student placements at them. The MFC came out to clarify their position on this and explain about the Pathway program but there are those that refuse to acknowledge that.

Haha, happy with that. The pathway program was put out there by the club, again read what they tweeted about that. Not sure the personal attack was warranted, when all I did was present facts, not my fault if you jump to conclusions

The original ad said "students or graduates", go back and look if you want. The club then clarified they were looking at those who needed that hours for their course as part of a pathway program. I'm sure there also happy for graduates who are trying to get a foot in the industry, similar to what happens at every other club and a lot of other professional sports (along with local clubs/sports as well). Not sure what part of that you think is malicious rubbish??

I really think you need to go back and read the club's response which was posted by DeeSpencer on the 1st page of this thread. You've got it completely wrong and seem to be trying to bring in other arguments that aren't relevant at all. You can sit on the uninformed incorrect side of the fence all you want, but this was a pathway program designed to work in with participants required course hours, no exploitation at all and a very common practice that would be employed by all clubs, other professional teams and I know from personal experience, which I outlined before, universities with sports related courses will actively seek out these type of programs as well.