Gator

You're already wrong.

Jetta, May, Oscar McDonald, Salem, Lever, Hibberd Gawn, Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Kolodjashnij, Harmes Petracca, Weideman, Neal-Bullen, Melksham, Tom McDonald, Spargo Jones, vandenBerg, Fritsch, Lewis, Hannan That's our best 23 players. Good to reasonable depth: Frost, Hunt, Garlett, Stretch, J. Smith, Kennedy-Harris, J. Wagner That's 30, not 24, imo. Petty will be a player, while I'm not as bullish on Tim Smith and Maynard who have also donned the red & blue. For me, it's as much depth as most clubs. And I reckon Hore might just be a player.

The MFC didn't have to make the decision they did and people don't have to throw their money down the drain. There should be no "reward" for clubs who make a business decision whether it's inspired by community spirit, or not..

No-one is saying that most, if not all, will be ready to go round one. What they're saying is that when you're in rehab, or on a modified or reduced program, then your preseason has indeed been interrupted. Some players boast at the end of the preseason that they've "done every session". I'm sure you've also heard the boast. They know it sets them up for a good year. It's not to say that those on a reduced preseason can't also have a good year, however, they can't make the same claim. You know, because it was "interrupted".

I formally give you permission to "let go".

It's just logic, but you've articulated it very well.

I didn't think it was possible that anybody could put a positive spin on having so many in rehab, i.e. an interrupted preseason. I was wrong.

There's a difference between game-day kicking and kicking at training ---- pressure. Pleasing that Jordon has a good technique.

Really ? Looks ghastly.

I'm devastated we have a bloke with a man bun on the list.

Why did you bring up the wording "team to beat" then ? What was your query ? Your inference was that it was CD's term. If you knew it was a journo's interpretation I don't know why you'd make the post you did. It doesn't make sense.

CD are not evaluating "teams" they've ranking "lists" of players who have played at least 5 games over the past two years. It doesn't take into account game-plans, etc. A team is quite different to a list.

The Eagles stats were elite when it mattered - finals. The competition is so close with no standout teams. If you make finals and perform at the right time you can walk away with the chocolates Footscray-style-2016.

That's a sub editor's headline. It's a journo's interpretation. It's not a comment from CD.

Did I read that Goodwin's status rose on "6 good games" ? Sometimes I wish I could say what I really think. I'm with you. I would never give any coach longer than three years. It's completely unnecessary.

Where did you read that this was a flag prediction ranking ?

It's not an "analysis", it's stats. For example, West Coast ranked 18th for ground-ball gets. Stats where they weren't great during the H&A they excelled at in finals. They weren't a great contested ball winning team whereas Melbourne were no.1 in the competition, but who won the contested stats in the prelim ? Sheed had been in and out of the side during the year, but was great in the finals. Redden had a great last 6 weeks. West Coast were 18th for ground-ball stats, 11th for contested possessions, 11th for clearances, and 15th for tackles. It is what it is. It's just stats.

The topic doesn't overly interest me, but having heard a CD rep on SEN this morning it was clear that none of this is subjective opinion. It's 100% raw stats. As to the poignancy of the stats or how they rate each stat I wouldn't know. But they've been doing stats for over 20 years, so I suspect their models would be reasonably relevant.

I don't think this is correct. CD said today on SEN that it is entirely stats based. They may give more weight to some stats over others, but none of their assessments are linked to "opinion".

This isn't correct. It's a full two seasons finishing at the Grand Final. It's also weighted with more recent games having a heavier loading than round 1, 2017. Even the second half of 2018 has more weight than the first half of 2018. Every player in the competition who has played at least 5 games is measured individually and then the algorithms spit out the values attributed to each player and then determine the list rankings. The above can be attributed to a spokesperson from CD who was just interviewed on SEN.

It's based on a rolling 40 games I believe and Gawn was rubbish when he came back from his bad hamstring in 2017. Note: the above isn't quite true. See a few posts down.

Trust me, if you ever find yourself at odds with Picket sleep well at night.

Both

Can't help mate. Other than when Casey is on TV, I haven't watched VFL footy for a while. Looks good from the footage though. They wouldn't bring him in if they didn't think his upside was regular AFL footy.

Sparrow and Nietschke appear below.