Engorged Onion

As I am a bit of a geography/cartography nerd... I saw a bunch of island names. King Island Stewart Island Isle of Mann Isle of Lewis Outer Banks No McKernan island though, but I did google a Corey!

should of had a soundtrack to it 👌 Always curious as to how the medalists worked it out? Did it strike you immediately when you saw the surnames? Or was it a bit of google trial and error?

Did you manage to listen to the commentary from Grandstand?

There is no doubt that player age (time in system), biomechanical and physological output matters when setting up training cycles. What I am fascinated about is that - let's assume that each club (18) have the top/best/most experienced, and thus all are abrest of 'best practice' in exercise sport science. Are the variations of loading between teams, governed by personal philosophy based on historical experience (Burgess overtly spoke about that on the podcast of his philosophy changing), or is it more nuanced and individual player based? Would it be based on opposition you are playing over say rounds 9-13 as well as looking at where you are currently points-wise to get to the post season?

appreciate your write ups 👌

One could make the assumption that they looked at their schedule... worked out where weaker opposition was, to start loading around that mark...knowing that they could lose, and what the optics look like externally. One could also make that same assumption about Melbourne vs WCE and North + the addition of having a two game break on our nearest competitors that time, and the FD choose to continue with a particular style of heavier training, for presumed peak fitness (aside from collision injuries) later on in the post season. ie: The luxury of the buffer has allowed us to continue to look a bit $hite rather than not loading, and carrying on...

Curiously, if that's true, were they the same 'reasons' for our 10-0 form?

Over the year, or over the last 3 weeks?

Plenty of overarching info out there bing, but it won’t be AFL specific (as in the exphys/biomech journals). Clubs won’t allow that data published… there will be plenty of internal data at each club collates over the last decades well as data for each individual player who has been metricfied into an inch of their playing life.

There was never a debate or conjecture to begin with. When I began the discussion around loading around a year ago, and provided information to demonstrate the science and how it occurs in season as well as my own personal experience. I was pretty surprised at the resistance… but then I shouldn’t have been surprised, we don’t all share the same experiences, not do we make sense of the world in the same way. Particularly when we are emotionally invested. The beauty of these threads is that some people - have far more intimate knowledge than others and they’re great at expanding on and detailing it far more forensically than I ever could. @binman in particular has championed discussion around it, both here and in the pod… and there are others too who had added relevant and detailed insights. @1964_2 @—coach— @Vipercrunch Nice that it’s finally spoken about on live tv now…and the quotes from Chris, hopefully that legitimises it for those sceptics/cynics/rooted in convention of the past. And more importantly creates meaningful discussion in a media landscape that chooses not to acknowledge for reasons most probably around gambling. By this thread, I just wanted to create a space where people could make sense of teams fluctuations in form at periods of time in the year that a) didn’t fit form and demonstrated ability and b) actually shone a light into what occurs in elite sport. Hope it’s helped illuminate.

Nah, it’s the presentation game day, of working hard on the track. It’s not about god, it’s about science…

Aside from the injuries…Pondering if Swans and Saints supporters have heard of this so called loading phenomenon? Or whether to explain these quite surprising losses, they just think their teams are just not ‘switched on’ ‘hungry enough’ ‘just don’t have enough pressure’ ‘Have inherent structural problems’ ’have been worked out’ 😇

only if it fits your narrative *agitator... love you all and farewell... how i hate middle age..... in between 'acceptance and rage;....

Jimbob... the FD tinker every week... it's not an absolute... yet the punters on Demonland deal in absolutes...mostly. What sort of tinkering are you suggesting, that perhaps the FD aren't putting into place? *postscript... were you concerned in the first 10 rounds?

any chance you could guide me to the nearest second, so I don't have to listen to Dwayne? 😘

It was done last year and it did... risk vs reward....

Please expand on that, good sir...

Imagine the disrespect to other teams in the presser? Media Schlep: "Can you explain why you have lost 3 in a row, and your form slump?" Goodwin: "We've got a belief that we are in the running to win a premiership, and when analysing the season fixture, we found that this block of weeks was a good time, to give ourselves the best chance to up our training loads, so that when the second season rolls around, the players will be in the best possible condition. We've been very fortunate to be 10 and 0, and our good fortune, gave us a buffer to really ramp it up, so the lads are more fatigued on the track, and bring that into the game. Ideally we wouldn't lose, there are other factors contributing of course, and I hear the anxiety of supporters, so essentially we've decided somewhere during the season, we need to push hard, and are willing to accept losses against other sides." Media Schlep: "Why are you scratching your leg so much Simon?"

I'd argue we are too fit... it just doesn't look like it 😇 yet...😍 "

I'd be concerned if in all 3 games we had been smashed from the 1st bounce. The fact that we've got out to 4-6 goal leads and have been reeled back in, it feels less of a concern. You don't get out to those leads unless you're doing many things right. Those things don't include ethereal concepts such as being hungrier than the opposition, losing dare, not being confident, or the opposition has worked you out, etc. You don't get reeled back in, because you lose those ethereal concepts either...

Ugh! I've fallen asleep at the wheel.... Round 13 = 923 - 137 Matches Played P Cripps = 1000 Clearances - 144 Matches Played =77 / 7 = 11 per match to equal. Drifting some more....

2019 - Richmond's Mid Season Report Card... ""The times Richmond have come up against the leading teams in the competition - Geelong, Collingwood, GWS Giants and even Adelaide – the yellow and black have been well beaten. Throw in costly losses to North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs and that means a third straight finals berth – not to mention a top four finish - is in peril." This sounds like a familiar narrative! Now I bet if I posted this last year... there would have been howls of derision, as we had not won a premiership yet... but now having won a premiership...things feel pretty familiar with last year, and even what other premiership contenders have done as a bit of a philosophy.... All of those teams though have to contend with legitimate injuries to the top echelon of their playing group...as we are... and this provides another bit of context to make sense of why have we lost 3 in a row...and yet why all is not lost... actually... it's a familiar sight if you're prepared to look amongst the nuance.

Thanks for the guidance....😘 anyways... 2019 - Richmond's Mid Season Report Card...directly after 3 straight losses. ""The times Richmond have come up against the leading teams in the competition - Geelong, Collingwood, GWS Giants and even Adelaide – the yellow and black have been well beaten. Throw in costly losses to North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs and that means a third straight finals berth – not to mention a top four finish - is in peril." This sounds like a familiar narrative in the media! Now I bet if I posted this last year... there would have been howls of derision, as we had not won a premiership yet... (I get it, people require evidence first) - but now having won a premiership...things feel pretty familiar with last year, and even what other premiership contenders have done over the last 4/5 years as a bit of a philosophy.... All of those teams though, have to contend with legitimate injuries to the top echelon of their playing group...as we are... and this provides another bit of context to make sense of why have we lost 3 in a row...and yet why all is not lost... actually... it's a familiar sight if you're prepared to look amongst the nuance.

Pressure (I'm unclear of what makes up that metric) , could you please tell me where the Dogs are? (where do you find the stat @CYB My take is - Limited pre-season comparable to others. Depleted from an injury perspective to key personnel (backs, forwards, midfielders)... Potentially doing a hard training block (and even if we remove that), what we know is, is that injuries to key personnel (or playing injured (unspoken)) is THE key correlation to winning premierships.

Thought I'd re-post in this thread. Purely for context. Richmond whom won the Premiership in 2019. Richmond 2019 3 losses during Round 11,12,13 (North Melbourne, Geelong and Adelaide) - North Bloody Melbourne!? 2nd halves Opposition= 9.2+9.4+13.4 = 31.10 Richmond = 3.5+3.3+4.8 = 10.16