titan_uranus

I honestly reckon we might have 2 of the top, say, 10 most under-rated players in the comp in Langdon and Salem. What Langdon does is freakish and I'm not sure there are many other wingmen in the game (Gaff maybe?) who can do what he does.

The Rioli decision is the latest disgrace in what is an ongoing disgrace: the state of the AFL's MRO/Tribunal system. I can't use the word broken enough.

No, I don't think we're going to go into any game this year with all four of them in the backline. But swinging Petty forward would IMO be a move of pretty much last resort. I think Tomlinson will have to play pretty strong football prior to Petty's return to hold him out of the side. But if TMac/Weid are playing well in the forward line the discussion will be moot as there won't be a forward spot anyway.

I'm not sure he will, though. Like, are we really going to bring Petty in to play forward whilst keeping TMac down back?

I suspect TMac will stay back if Lever is not ready to come back. Once Lever is fit, I think TMac returns forward. If we want another tall in the interim, Weideman gets that spot. Personally, I think we should be going in with Brown, TMac/Weid, Gawn/Jackson and Fritsch, so I'd be bringing Weideman in if TMac has to play defence.

Could also be that Naughton and Brown were both 4/2, Smith was 3/1, Oliver the other 3 and Langdon the other 1.

Brisbane impressive? If one quarter is enough then you can add Gold Coast to your list of impressive sides. Melbourne, Sydney, Carlton and Geelong the four most impressive. The first two beat known quantities (Dogs and GWS). Reserve judgment on the latter two until we see how they go in Round 2 (Richmond wasn't very good and Essendon was appalling).

Meanwhile Gold Coast's team in this game was quite different to their team last night: Last night they had Weller, Ellis, Holman, Casboult, Rankine, Chol and Witts, none of whom played last time.

We should respect GC like we should respect all of our opponents this year. Rowell looked good last night, Miller is an A-grade midfielder, Rankine's just put up 4 goals from 23 possessions, and they have Witts back in the ruck after struggling to fill that position in 2021. Of course, they did just play West Coast's seconds, so that has to be taken into account. And we match up against GC well, we've won our last 9 against them.

100% agree. But because Rowell walked away with seemingly no injury, the AFL's broken MRO system will deem it a fine or something.

The answer to the OP's question is the same as the answer to many questions about current day AFL practices. TV.

Meanwhile Draper round arms Ratugolea in the guts and gets a fine.

Libba played forward rather than back, didn't he? At least in the second quarter he was forward and was involved in a couple of their quick goals. Agree re: the defence and the 60 point marker (is that something you read about? I hadn't read anything about that before). It's all the more phenomenal given the side we played is a high scoring side. On the music during breaks, I thought it was louder than ever before! Maybe I'm getting old...

Not just his marking but I reckon his fitness too. To me, he is more mobile and agile, covering the ground better than in 2021 (to be fair of course, he didn't exactly set a high bar on the mobility/agility front).

Yeah look thanks for sticking up for me @Deefiant but given the word "anus" is right there in my username, I don't think SWYL was really reverting to anything nasty by way of name calling. And FWIW agree, I am strongly of the view that we need TMac forward, or if not TMac then Weideman or another key forward alongside Brown and Gawn/Jackson.

I'm happy to open up a discussion on the standard of journalism in this country, particularly AFL journalism. But the case here of Morris reporting on team selection shouldn't fall foul of the issues above. The idea that a player being dropped shouldn't be reported on because of mental health issues is IMO ridiculous. Let's assume Hunter is going through a tough time in some way. His being dropped was always going to be reported on, whether before the team was announced or the moment the teams dropped. He was always going to be a focus of the media. Every week for the last few years journalists have reported on team selection issues hours or days prior to the official announcements. Just like they also report on injuries suffered, sometimes before the club formally announces it. There is in my view very little wrong with a journalist reporting on team selection early, and Beveridge's response to it was wholly disproportionate. If Beveridge was actually having a go at Morris for other issues (e.g. because of the way Morris handles himself generally, or maybe for the sorts of things the Whatsapp leak subsequently revealed), the way he did it was inappropriate.

I know you view Smith a bit like you viewed OMac, i.e. much more positively than most. But there's no way I'd characterise Smith as a good decision-maker or a good kick. We have worse players on both fronts, but he wouldn't rank at the top of the list on either front. And there's no way I'd put Smith above May on reliability of kicking (which is not to say May doesn't make the turnovers you've mentioned). Having said all that, it doesn't matter who we try to use to cover for Salem. We don't have an adequate replacement. We could mine the other 17 lists and struggle to find an adequate replacement for Salem.

From memory, and this might be wrong, Pert simply asked the AFL if we could have a home game vs the Dogs in Round 1 to unfurl the flag (e.g. see here). I'm not sure we asked for it to be a Wednesday night, and indeed I reckon if we'd been given the choice we'd have asked for a Friday night. As to Gil, he will do what Channel 7 want him to do, because the AFL needs Channel 7's money. 7 want more night games, so 7 will continue to get more night games.

I 100% subscribe to this. The AFL, and Channel 7, are going to cook the goose that laid the golden egg by repeatedly scheduling football on Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights. For now the ratings are probably good enough but if they keep doing it people are going to find better things to do with their lives than watch football on any night that isn't Friday/Saturday. If they want an example, they can look at how Channel 7 and Cricket Australia took a ratings machine in the BBL and turned it into a dud product. It's ridiculously unfair. Last year Hawthorn, Collingwood, Carlton and Richmond all missed the 8 whilst Essendon didn't win a final. Not a single one of those sides is being sent to Kardinia this year. Instead, the Victorian contingent is yet again made up of us, the Dogs, North and St Kilda. At the very least, Essendon played there in 2021 and Carlton played there in each of 2018, 2019 and 2020. Not a good argument here, @Sir Why You Little. In 2013 Hawthorn only played four interstate away games. The other 18 were either at the MCG, Marvel or their Tasmanian fortress. In 2014 and 2015 that figure rose to five, meaning 17 games were at the MCG, Marvel or Tasmania. They also faced less resistance from Sydney in the 2014 GF and West Coast in the 2015 GF than Richmond did against Adelaide in the 2017 GF. @dazzledavey36 the only part of your post I'd disagree with is that I think Fremantle put up a pretty strong show in the 2013 GF and if Fyfe had kicked straight in the first quarter that game I reckon could well have turned out very differently.

St Kilda's missing Ryder, Billings, Geary, Jones, Hannebery (but lol does he ever play?) and Clark. Collingwood is at full strength I believe. Makes a difference, but still, St Kilda don't look very good at all.

Assuming this is true, which it isn't, it doesn't mean we should all just say "well everyone does it so spare Tom Morris". Changing ingrained cultural sexism, racism and homophobia means changing these sorts of behaviours.

The bit where you said swinging TMac back made us go defensive again. You're suggesting that moving TMac back triggered a change in how we defended. I'm arguing that is complete rubbish. In this post you've said TMac went down back to cover for Salem and did a good job. I agree with that. But that doesn't mean him going back changed how we defended.

Unless he went into the game with chipped cartilege, sounds like a new injury?

This makes no sense. TMac went back as soon as Salem went off injured. There was no magical change from how we were defending before that compared to after. Indeed, TMac was back there in the second quarter when the Dogs piled on their 8 goals.

Good news that it's not an ACL or another sort of long-term injury. Still, albeit with no medical background at all, I'd imagine this is a 6-week injury at a minimum.