Rodney (Balls) Grinter

FFS what absolute BS

The AFL just hate admitting they are wrong and will only cave when they are forced to by leagal action.

But seriously where the consistency and resonablness in this.  How is JVR more guilty than Crips.

Where did giving the player any benifit of doubt regarding duty of care Vs made a small misjudgment and accidentally made minor contact (not actually injured vs he felt a shock at the time F witts).  It really irks me that the people that make these determinations look at the event in super slow motion freeze frame and make out like there is a rational descision making process that goes through the players head when all this happens.  Did these people ever actually play the game?

The AFL needs to go back over the footage of every game this season and suspend the dozens of players that similarly neglected their duty of care and made contact similar to JVR's.

I'm normally pretty understanding and progressive when it comes to these issues, but all this duty of care and protection of players health and safety has got to the point where it's lost the plot.  There does need to be a point that the players accept that by taking the feild, they are putting themselves at risk of accidental contact that is an unavoidable part of the game.  Where is it going to stop?  Suspend two players for an accidental head clash when they both only have eyes for the ball.

You know things are seriously out of whack when Jonathan Brown  presents a clearer and more credible argument than the official rulings from the league.

1 minute ago, biggestred said:

Don't appeal,mfc. Just pay the fine of every player and coach that fronts the media and tells the media its absolute [censored]. 

I think that would actually be more effective in making the point

11 hours ago, daisycutter said:

i don't dislike suns either....but 12k crowd ... c'mon

I see not so much the crowds, but the grass roots amature and jnr leagues in the area as the reason it's so important to have the Suns there.

Local and women's Aussie Rules footy in SEQ is on the rise.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/battleground-brisbane-the-afl-insurgency-and-league-s-brutal-response-20230323-p5cuoi.html

"Early into this season, the code boasts 38,000 registered participants (58,000 at its 2022 peak) at the grassroots level from northern NSW through Queensland, according to figures provided by the AFL.

It has added 34 teams – half of them for girls – to its Youth Community Football program and lists 170 community Aussie rules clubs in 11 leagues.

Swann said a common complaint from the suburbs was the lack of grounds to accommodate record numbers of juniors.

The NRL was less forthcoming with its data, but said it had 54,550 Queensland participants, up more than 20 per cent. It would not say when the figure was captured."

22 hours ago, JJR said:

do they think all the games we win is going to be convincing or something?

...Please name 1 team who's won all their games convincingly?

So maybe it's not realistic, but it would be nice if we did! 😉

I actually think our 2021 season was pretty close.  Bar a few games like the unfortunate loss to Collingwood and perhaps one or two others, I thought we we convincingly in control of most games.  Even though we only won alot of them with a winning margin of 20 - 30 points, we're generally so in control of those games that we always looked like we'd win and were close to unbeatable.

5 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

They know Hawthorn is a poor man's MFC 😎

Yeah, Jeff and his cheap and nasty Brown and Gold (wees and poos) sports jacket - case in point!

1 hour ago, The heart beats true said:

You wouldn’t laugh if you saw my tin hat. You’d be impressed by its sartorial elegance, and how I pair it with my tin cape.

Ooooooo tin cape, I haven't seen one of those before!

23 minutes ago, DemonWA said:

Dunstal loves the Suns (or they're paying him). Regularly talks them up and tries to keep them relevent on foxy footy when no one gives a [censored] about them. I wouldn't worry about the commentary. 

Honestly, I have a soft spot for the Sun's and hope they do well, because I think the Gold Coast and South East Queensland in particular is much more receptive and fertile ground for Australian Rules than Sydney will probably ever be, but trying to encourage support through rubbish biased commentary is just pathetic. 

Imagine had it have been Hawthorn in their prime that piped GC in yesterday's game.  It would have been never ending praise for this great Hawthorn team that 'just do what good teams do and find a way to win, even when they're not playing their best football'.  Maybe Dunstal is just sour, because he was a part of the Clarkson / Mitchel replacement strategy and recient Hawthorn recruiting strategy and he can see his beloved Hawks are in for a decade or more of pain and uncompetitiveness and it's at least partly his fault?

Not wanting to be all doom and gloom, because I'm glad we got the 4 points, I'll take that any day of the week and generally I think we are playing ok and in a decient position win/loss wise.

BUT I think there are some aspects of our defensive game that are rubbish at the moment.  My recollection of the last two goals that the GC kicked, were the result of some sloppy defending on our behalf close to the goal line that wouldn't have previously got through our once elite backline.

We can talk about bias against us with respects to umpiring decisions and JVR's suspension all we like, but I really hope the coaches and players throughly review that final 5mins of play carefully and we learn some lessons from that.  Goody publicly stated how well we played in the last quarter and generally I'd agree, but in our near capitulation, I think we actually lost our heads a bit and if it wasn't for their rubbish shot on goal in the last minute, we would have had an unfortunate loss.  Against any decient top 8 side and we loose that game.

12 hours ago, The heart beats true said:

In the 3rd quarter the suns got 3 free kicks in front of goal, one to Ellis and 2 to King, all resulting in goals, and they didn’t show the replay of the incident once.

Theres a clear mandate by both broadcasters not to show free kicks being paid in front of goal. That they don’t think we are aware of it is embarrassing. There’s an average of 27 seconds to show a replay of an incident before a shot for goal. The only logical conclusion is that they are trying to protect the umpires.

That free for holding the ball they gave to Ellis I think it was made me puke.  He had hold of him for all of a millisecond and the ball was handpassed clear. 

If it was Dusty who was tackled, no free holding the ball and the naritive would have been about how strong Dusty is and they they just can't contain him in a tackle, because of his brute strenght to break out of it.  In actual fact, the Ellis tackle on this occasion really wasn't even all that good and our player (I forget who) basically just slipped it and got a handball clear.

The free kick should never have been played anywhere on the ground, let alone right in front of goal in a close game.  I was quite ok receiving the Gawn free as an evener upper for that one.

Fact was in the final quarter we out played them for the most part, kicked poorly, which kept them in the game when they shouldn't have been, they then got a bunch of goals through part fluke and part bad defending on our behalf and had a chance to steal the game when the shouldn't have been in it.

5 hours ago, Abyssal said:

I can’t recall any criticism of Umpires by TV commentators this year.

Rarely see close-up vision of them nor are they referred to by name.

Fair chance Fox and Seven are under instructions, negotiated as part of the rights.

Except Razor Ray. 

He's every Ch 7 comentators favorite celebrity umpire.

I've even seen kids running around in bright yellow T-shirts with Razor's number on the back.

Love you Ray - now F off.

10 hours ago, Willmoy1947 said:

Jvr lifted his arm to avoid the most of the contact

Yeah I thought exactly the same thing.  How he can do that and still be considered negligent of his duty of care to the other player is beyond me.

Roo got shafted

Christian hates Demons

Appeal this injustice

14 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Yet  Tom Hawkins got of scot Free after his hit on Maysie, which caused massive damage! 

Well done AFL , Just another case of absolute double standards ànd faouritism🤮

That incident should have got 5 weeks.  Clumsy accident my backside. 

Hawkins was flailing about all over the place hoping something would connect. 

This notion that players do stuff like that by accident is garbage, it was far less of a football action than either of Kossies or JVR's incidents, because he had the ball and wasn't contesting it.  He was aggressively fending off May.

45 minutes ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

There are many silly, corrupt, or evil practices that would cease to exist if the participants did not generally comply with certain putative norms. Put simply, the MFC, and therefore its members, of which there are many on 'Land, are complicit in supporting this oppressive, systematic racket, dressed up as a judicial system. This is not about Michael Christian or any other individual, but insidious, systematic injustice, that transcends individual actors. Sooner or later, someone or something, must take a stand to root out systematic oppression within the whole system. It is clear the emperor has no clothes, for the AFL judicial system has acquired both a power and personality of its own, operating in a closed system, accountable only to itself.

What is needed is an outside force that takes a drastic action upon the interlocking forces that composes the system. If successful, this usually results in the movement of the entire system. One person or organisation can change a system, which in turn changes other systems, forming a network of cascading changes unimaginable from the point of the first contemplative action.

Numerous such actions have been taken against the previous incarnation of the VFL, and the modern AFL, that exposed disorder, hypocrisy, highlighted political and moral U-turns, and punctured bombastic posturing. Maybe the time has come to expose the emperor again and the institutionalisation of trickery at all levels.

 

Mind blown 🤯

43 minutes ago, Deeoldfart said:

King and Montagna on ‘First Crack’ reckon Melbourne will appeal to the Tribunal, and JVR will be free to play next week.  I hope they are correct!  The integrity of the game is imperative!

Since when do Melbourne ever appeal this stuff?

2 minutes ago, Redlagged said:

Just caught a bit of the Channel 9 Sunday show. Oliver is leading the polling. 'Shocking'. FFS.

I think it's all in context really.

A shocker game from Clarry is anything that he's not up amoung the top coaches votes.  I'd say Brownlow, but the umpires clearly don't have a clue about rating players games, so that's not a valid metric.

In other words, a shocker game for Clarry is the best game of the year for 95% of standard AFL players.

21 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

I have a simple explanation for so many of our players being flat:

• 3 interstate games in the first 5. 
• Followed with 3 games in 12 days including another flight. 
• An eye on another interstate game vs Port in 2 weeks. 

That workload takes a big toll on players with niggles and AFL level newbies like:  McVee, JvR, and Chandler.  And maybe our imported players (Hunter and Grundy) wouldn't be used to that workload nor yet conditioned to our standards.

The season is a marathon.  We only need to ride out this tough patch through to the Port game, take the 4 points as often as we can and get ready to consolidate our season with most games thereafter being in Melbourne.

After the workload so far we are in an outstanding position in the top 4 with an excellent %

No need for all the stress in this thread. 

I'm seeing the next 3 or 4 games as a really important block to get out team humming to take on Collingwood on Kings Birthday, which I expect to be a near finals like test of atmosphere, intensity and consequence.

Who knows what we will get from Hawthorn (a big part of me hopes they are puss that we can slaughter with ease and total dominance), but Port and Freo should be competitive enough to get our heads in the right place for playing genuinely contending teams.

Not sure if others have commented much on this already, but I was really pleased with Bowey's game last night.  His form has been a bit up and down this season and over the past 12 months we've found that he is actually human, but I get the impression that he's returning to his best 2021 premiership finals era type tenacious, unflappable, unbeatable and undropable form. 

12 minutes ago, sue said:

Just made the mistake of watching Goodwin's press conference. Not because of anything he said - he rarely says anything much.  But how can a mega-dollar organization as the AFL not manage to have the questions audible.  Do they fear the journos will steal a microphone if one is anywhere near them?

Totally agree Sue.  This issue grates on my immensely.  I mean seriously.  What you get is a series of disconnected statements about the game from the coaches and spend half your time trying to figure out what their answer relates to.  You've got to feel for the coaches too as they've got to be aware of this, that one of their main chances to explain the story to the fans is massively compromised.

The AFL are so very dum in alot of respects.  This one also falls into the same basket of not having enough dedicated cameras and technology to do propper post goal review.  They'll spend nearly a billion dollars on a new stadium that Tasmania 'must have' to make it suitable for AFL standard, but then won't fork out a few thousand dollars to have dedicated cameras setup in the best locations for goal line review, so we'll get a game that gets controversially decided on some blurry vision with the goal umpires butt three quarters blocking the view of the ball as it crosses.

6 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

After last year’s practice of playing the same 22 regardless of injury status, and then bowing out of finals in straight sets, I’m really pleased to see Goody playing with variations on team setup and players from Casey getting a go. Petty looked really good playing forward in that final last yr vs Brisbane. We’ve had a good look at him as a forward now and I think we’ve learned he’s better in defence, but it didn’t cost us games to find this out. 

Also pleasing that we are resting our bulls like Clarry and Trac for periods during games where we can afford to and using our midfield depth to wear down oppositions that don't bat as deep in the guts.  I suspected we were doing this somewhat, but Goodwin more or less confirmed that again in his presser too.

Where maybe last season Clarry and Trac battle it out all game in the guts to win the game from their brute strenght and capasity, they end up with 30+ possessions and we say how great they are and they're the difference between us and GC.  But I think we've now arrived at a point where Clarry, Trac and co don't need that affirmation of their greatness every week and we have enough trust in others to go head to head with Rowel and Co, knowing that we may be conceding a little, but still doing enough to control the game, conserving our guns for when th heat is really on and developing the game of the next gen through the middle all at the same time.

I think we've learnt from 2022 and what we are watching now is the next step in our evolution to being a great side over a sustained period and hopefully great crack at another flag this year.

15 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

May kicks in to the left and close to the centre square with 15 seconds left.. [censored] [censored] [censored] [censored] gotta go closer to the boundary!

Talk about an out if character brain fade from Mr.Reliable kicking out who always goes boundary and to the left.

Kicking down the guts with 15 seconds left might have been the right play if we were 5 points down, but 5 points up?  I was somewhat dumbfounded.  Unless he shanked it off the wrong side of the boot or something but he's too good a kick for that.

Don't want to crucify the MFC premiership full back and MFC full back of the century, meerly like to know "what the F were you thinking big fella" and I'm tipping he was asking himself the same question the moment it left his boot and would be very thankful when we got away with it and the 4 points.

7 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Thanks.  Updated.

Good work.  Here on DL we hold ourselfs the highest of editorial and typesetting standards you know.

12 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Forget finals. Don’t finish top 4 and get a home final and we are cooked. 
We need 16 wins minimum IMO to give the flag a shake. 

Add to that being in good form and a fit list hitting first week of finals so we get a repeat of 2021 and not 2022.

16 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Had a quick look at the draw for other top 8 contenders,  Teams each plays twice:

• Adelaide: Brisbane, Collingwood, Gold Coast, GWS, Port Adelaide, West Coast
• Carlton: Collingwood, Gold Coast, GWS, Melbourne, St Kilda, West Coast
• Essendon: Collingwood, Geelong, GWS, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, West Coast
• Port Adelaide: Adelaide, Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Richmond, Western Bulldogs
• St Kilda: Brisbane, Carlton, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Richmond
• Sydney: Fremantle, Geelong, Gold Coast, GWS, Melbourne, Richmond
• Western Bulldogs: Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn, GWS, Port Adelaide, Richmond

Similar to Geelong, Brisbane and Collingwood, those teams will have more 8-point games than Dees (and Saints) and their potential for big % boosts won't be as plentiful.

Short of major injuries or some other disaster I can't see us not making the top 4. 

I'm ok with top 4 especially as the other teams are likely to be Vic teams so our finals will be at the G - as long as we don't get an Away game vs Brisbane.

Out of all those current top 8 teams, I'd say Port probably have the toughest double ups.

Could be bye bye Ken at the end of the season when they miss the 8. 

Alternatively if they make it, they could be either cooked through fighting so hard just to make it or one of the better sides in the bottom half of the 8.

On 4/12/2023 at 3:48 PM, layzie said:

How cool is that! Nice job!

My mum drove around with my 2005 members scarf on her dashboard for months after the flag, suffice to say it's become rather faded. 

On 4/12/2023 at 6:17 PM, Chook said:

I use my Neeld-era scarf as a windbreak to prevent warm air escaping to the unused parts of my house in Winter.

It's pretty much the best use that scarf could hope for - I sure didn't wear it to many games.

My 2011 Neeld era scarf was a prized possession for me after we won in 2021 as it was proof I wasn't some cheap band wagon jumper.  Think I actually lost it sometime last year and I'm devo. 

Also annoyed that I got rid of a whole bunch of others from that era as I couldn't justify having a whole draw full and got rid of them when my wife got up me one day about the room being a mess.

Absolutely treasure my 2021 members scarfs and probably over the premiers ones, which I never bought.  I'm hoping the 2023 one might become treasured in much the same way after September and it's a better more classic design too.