Engorged Onion

Depending where you like to get your news from, will inform whether you get a populist narrative or something a bit more nuanced (and certainly one that works well for my echo chamber). The following is some love for the Dees. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/article/2024/may/06/afl-melbourne-demons-geelong-cats-australian-rules-football-entertain-show-must-go-on-weather-turns

Anyone know if stats are available to the public, that if one player, or two etc becomes injured... how much each remaining player increases their exertion levels to cover that loss? 10% 15% 20%? anyone got any ideas?

Not for Chris Scott though 🤷‍♀️

Maybe the additional question is - what reasons woudn't the media give Goodwin the recognition? I just assume Scott is trying to protect his players, and will be quite concerned behind the scenes... he's a great coach with a great team around him, and they've got a bit to nut out. They'd also understand we could have won by 4-6 goals...

https://www.theroar.com.au/2024/05/05/footy-fix-the-dees-prove-theyre-legit-and-show-how-they-can-overcome-their-finals-curse/

The FD clearly feel he is important enough (and good enough) to our structure to warrant regaining fitness and form in the side, rather than at Casey. It's probably useful for people to ask why that is. It's almost like the FD get paid to make those decisions for a reason... Thank god, the FD aren't interpreting his body language and making it out to be something it isn't. 😅 They'd have a handle on where Brown is at, they'd have a handle on what JVR needs as well, as well as the overall structure of the forward line... etc etc etc

Not mine... but Melbourne Premiers 2021 > Games 81 Won 57 Lost 23 Drawn 1 Won score ≥ 100 pts 22 Lost score ≥ 100 pts 3 Geelong Premiers 2022 > Games 55 Won 38 Lost 16 Drawn 1 Won score ≥ 100 pts 18 Lost score ≥ 100 pts 8 Collingwood Premiers 2023 > Games 34 Won 25 Lost 8 Drawn 1 Won score ≥ 100 pts 11 Lost score ≥ 100 pts 7

Enjoy the AI transcribed Press Conference from The Age 🤷‍♀️🫠 https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-2024-round-eight-live-updates-sydney-swans-gws-giants-open-afl-saturday-ahead-of-saints-v-roos-dees-v-cats-20240503-p5fovk.html?post=p55xz4#p55xz4

Great to see flexibility of game style against a formidable opponent. The all team defence (inclusive of forwards and midfields) to spread them wide (wings) on transition from our back half, and the gut running was superb. Even if we had of lost, the evidence is there that we match them comfortably.

Keen to hear the First Crack analysis if anyone has a link :)

The one he kicked after Harmes hit him lace out? 😅 Second to Allen Jakovich's over the head one for me... 👆

I'd roll with McAdam for Chin sadly, and Laurie for Billings... I'm also expecting a loss... compressed turn around, thus the impact on ability to recover between games. If it happens, it'll be interesting to see the media narrative.

But we do, we just haven’t converted 🥹

If we win we are premiers... If we lose, we are sleeper premiers... 😃

There are two sorts of supporters in this world. Each game is an 'audit' (ugh) of your capabilities and extrapolated out to your teams ability to reach a specific outcome or Each game is taken case by case, context specific, as a way of making sense of the overall trajectory of the team and it's potential throughout the season. Choose your weapon.** *many beers in

Mostly love Demonland for this sort of binary analysis. 🫠🤷‍♀️

I get it's hard to conceptualise how brutual and taxing the game is on the body until you've done it yourself. It's such an odd thing to personalise Parfitt's (or anyone's) 'management' as a statement of arrogance as opposed to 'literal' management of his fatigue and loading for a competition whereby most athletes will be running effectively 30-40km weekly, plus all the intense contact that comes weekly, and still having to put in those km's - and then doing it 8 months of the year... Here's the thing: managing players is a crucial strategy in today's elite sports. Squad Rotation: Teams have a larger pool of talented players than just the starting 22. This allows coaches to rotate players to prevent fatigue and injuries. Match-Specific Strategies: Every opponent presents a different challenge. Coaches might choose players who have a specific skillset that directly counters the strengths of the team they're facing. Injury Management: Even minor niggles can be a concern for elite athletes. A player might be listed as "managed" to avoid aggravating a slight injury and ensure they're fit for important games later in the season. That said, it's also fair to acknowledge the complexities involved. Without being privy to the inner workings of a team, it's difficult to definitively judge the motivations behind a player's "management." There could be a genuine need to manage fatigue or a niggling injury, or perhaps there's a tactical consideration at play. Ultimately, the goal should be to maximize the team's success while prioritising player well-being. Open communication between coaches, players, and the public can help foster trust and understanding in these situations and, the reality is, is that that information is rarely for public consumption.

Who's a better bloke, Charlie Cameron, or Max Gawn? {insert discretionary interpretation here}

@Roost it far, that's great sentiment and feels accurate 😃 Context was that we had injuries, (and got injured - see Brayshaw) and the correlation/causation between how healthy a list is/in game injuries, and where you finish on the ladder, is well undeniable... and not very oft' spoken about in the public domain. Hence we get language like 'wasted opportunities' whereby it's more about opportunistically injured....but maybe we're saying the same thing and I am being a pedant.

Well, in a perfect world, you'd get a premiership once every 18 years (a 5.5% chance annually)... so 4 in total over the course of a life time to feel satisfied? Being a child of the late 70's/80's - I never thought we'd win one. So I feel fairly satisfied, and shake my head at myself and my naivety for daring to buy into the notion from 22 onwards, that we 'could' have a dynasty with the list that we had/have... because, that very very rarely happens, and has either happened due to draft concessions affecting other teams whilst your playing list is of a certain calibre, or $$ behind closed doors...

Thought it would be a good time to open up this dormant thread again. And chew the fat with some good analysis from those that see the game from a technical/tactical lens. A question...2 months in. What seems to be our preferred game style (understanding that we have some significant outs currently)? A few questions for this week How does this contrast against this weeks opponents (Geelong)? Knowing how Geelong prefer to play, what do we tweak as part of our system to minimize/distrupt their game plan? Knowing how Geelong prefer to play, what can we potentially take advantage of to maximise our outcome? Thanks to those who wish to contribute. 😃

C'mon now Ollie AFL is [censored] serious sport - it's life and death, it's existential, it's the answer to the question in The Hitchhikers Guide . Don't you recall the footage of Jack Watts daring to laugh, watching his team get slaughtered... I lost faith in humanity that day, and wrote a letter to the whomever the president was at the time as I was incredulous that employee of the MFC could behave in such a way, exposing the anemic culture of the club - and rightfully should be traded because he wasn't in full view doing his best version of this...

@titan_uranus @binman Gents, good context below.... AFL AVERAGE DISPOSAL EFFICIENCY IS 73.1% 67.3% for kicks 81.8% for handballs

Probably worthwhile to pin this to the top of the threads? ❤️

If that was Cyril Rioli, he'd be lauded 🤩