grazman

Like most I can hardly comprehend it. Two years younger than me. I was at the SCG when he made his debut and at the MCG for his hat trick. I've always loved watching test cricket, but Warnie made it an unadulterated indulgence in a period of absolute dominance. To misquote the great Paul Kelly: "He was half the bloody side" Simply the greatest cricketer I have ever had the privilege of watching.

At the risk of sounding like a pedant - here's another one - see if you can spot the error. From p14: the feature article on the premiership win. Goals Melbourne: Fritsch 6, B. Brown 3, Petracca 2, Neal-Bullen 2, McDonald 2, Spargo, Brayshaw, Saprrow, Oliver, Langdon, Jackson I buy the AFL record regularly and I know it may sound petty, but I'm disappointed in spending $40 on a reference publication that has so many obvious proofing errors (considering they are all to do with the premiers - you would think someone would be paying closer attention).

Being interstate I went down to my local newsagent today to excitedly pick up my copy of Records 2022 season guide. The first page I open to is on ours in the club section - only to discover they still have us listed as having 12 premierships (obviously an error as it lists all 13) - but seriously - WTF. Having suffered through arguably the toughest period any AFL club has had to endure and broke a 57 year drought it somehow escaped the editors that as the new reigning premiers we have now got an extra premiership 😡. Edit I just learned it was Charlie Spargo and not Tom Sparrow who kicked the goal from outside 50 to put us 18 points up--- I mean DOUBLE WTF**ingF! This is a publication that purports to be a reference document.

It was great to beat the old enemy yet again, but it really was a case of which bowling line up was better and clearly the English have systemic issues now in producing test class batsmen. I still can't believe Burns and Pope have played as many tests as they have. (Pope apparently averages close to 100 in county cricket - which I find staggering) I think Joe Root is a good bloke, but gee his captaincy left a lot to be desired in terms of tactics, aggression and selection. Anyhoo I'm not looking a 4-0-1 shellacking in the mouth so to speak. It probably won't matter for a little while yet, but can someone please teach the top order how to play short-pitched bowling. As Blewett said - the issue as demonstrated by Travis Head is you can't be half and half about it. Either have a decent crack like Nathan Lyon or leave it alone a la Steve Waugh. It didn't cost us against the Poms, but expect other teams to follow the lead of Neil Wagner and start peppering balls at the ribs.

With us starting our season on a Wednesday night it means that both ourselves and the Dogs almost have to play the following Thursday or Friday night fixtures. Assuming that both the Anzac Eve and the QB are locked in (also assuming we only play the Pies and maybe Richmond only once) it means our Rd 2 clash is probably against either Carlton or Essendon. Big games to kick off the season for us.

Which Josh Kennedy - or doesn’t that matter?

Warning ⚠️ on the Giants - look at their form with Mummy and without, they’re putting a lot of faith in Preuss getting on the park! Also no Toby for the first 5 rounds. Coniglio would want to have a very good year.

The really troubling aspect of the anti-vaxx movement (which has been around long before Covid) is the recent cultural appropriation of certain right-wing extremist language and behaviours recently encouraged and abetted by the Trump administration. Namely the endorsement of violence to 'defend' their viewpoints. Previously anti-vaxxers were thought of as alternative types more likely to buy organic produce in hemp woven bags than rabble rousing rednecks dressed in flouro. Like ABC news breakfast this morning mused, I too wonder what the reaction would have been if it had been an Islamic group driving around town with makeshift gallows and effigies? These people aren't just vile, they are dangerous and their actions aren't political, they're criminal. It is an overt threat of violence to elected representatives that our society should not only condemn, but prosecute.

I'd rather have a Tassie team than Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon in the comp!

There's an established path to success in rebuilding and it's all about getting early picks and giving them time to develop together and often at the expense of established older players. You have to know when it's time to rebuild - as good a coach as Clarko is/was he refused to accept the inevitable. Next minute the AFL is hit by COVID and completely stuffs club's TPPs. The strategy that Mitchell crafted was so 2019, it's shelf life expired last year. Because of their profile they're now two years away from being able to rebuild their list, that's another two years where their younger core mark time and potentially look to move to more successful clubs.

I watched Colin Young on Foxtel's trading day last night and my first thought was "used car salesman". I'm not sure Bobby got the best advice here, but GWS were absolutely entitled not to trade him if it didn't work for them. Does he now have the where-with-all to knuckle down and play his best footy to go back to the well at the end of 2023 or does he throw his bum in the corner and end up on the scrap heap as a delisted free agent without any suitors?

From what I've heard either Hill or his manager Colin Young have been a little disingenuous about this. Hill was/is best mates with Finlayson who has left for Port, Hill/Young apparently didn't make GWS aware of his desire to leave until after the GF which is almost a month after GWS' season ended. There's a bit of speculation from the Giants end that the whole family support angle is also a bit of a ruse. He's after more years (four) on better money - good luck to him if he can get it.

There's talent and then there's application. The big unknown is whether there's some blowback in terms of morale/happiness that some of those that have been publicly shopped around might not be as committed to the cause. It has the potential to unravel very quickly for them if there is significant dissonance between the senior players and the coach/es.

Story by Howard Kotton, bio from CT website below. Looks promising. CT is actually pretty reputable. "Howard Kotton has been a journalist for 43 years, working in various parts of Australia and overseas on assignment. He has spent the past 13 years as a senior journalist with the AFL Record"

I've read the list ten times now. No Dusty... what the? I know he missed five matches at the end because of his injury, but that's only a couple more than Tex for his brain explosion.

The same complaint Dockers fans had about Lingers - and then they boo him when he collects his medal! The one thing about our game plan it doesn't rely as much on precise delivery as it does on G&D.

Also loves being called the "First Lady of Football" - Hutchy says it so often on Footy Classified that it must be in her contract.

I can't be bothered finding it, but when I opened this thread I assumed it would be about Caro's opinion about half-way through the season that we couldn't win the premiership. She was wrong on that too!

Correct and I think the entire footy world was stunned by that trade. Pick 2 for Lachie Weller...🤯 If he's on the table then you'd expect their list manager is looking for a new job.

Darcy won't be ready for a while. Their only two rucks are Martin who will be 35 next year and English who Bevo clearly doesn't trust in the ruck

I'm not sure either side will want him, English is 24 and isn't trusted in the ruck by Bevo. I know big men take more time, but I'm not sure he gets much better than what he is at the moment. Whilst the Eagles need to replace Nic Nat they have two developing rucks and Vardy has retired, but I can't see them being overly enamoured with English's bruise free approach to rucking. Freo have Darcy, Meek and Lobbe. Lobbe is on a stack of money so to recruit English to play the same role doesn't make sense unless they can unload Lobbe and his contract, but it seems like they'd be trading one NQR second ruck for another NQR second ruck. I've heard a strong whisper that Ladhams is going to the Dogs (which is obviously why people like Lloyd are saying that they need to get a 24-26 y.o. second ruck and make them a main ruck). It will be interesting to see what the Dogs give up in order to get him and the picks necessary to avoid going into draft deficit for 2022.

Bunch of secessionist morons!

No, not really. Two years ago maybe, now not so much. I think he's cooked. It gave me great delight to see him and Rozee's pea-hearted efforts in the preliminary... hopefully not lost on Max as they were the first two to get stuck into him in 'that' game in 2019.

So I haven't fact checked this, but happy to stand corrected if I have been misled... apparently no premiership team in VFL/AFL history has ever played a single game together after they have won the premiership. Could we be the first?

Good to hear from you again Ash, hope you are well.