Engorged Onion

A wise person once told me. Pursue your dreams vigorously, and hold them lightly. Deep tantric..ommmmmmmmmmmm Jingly jangly music "For one to have happiness as a football supporter, once must let go of expectations, and become one with the acceptance that they have no control over what the football department does, for one is merely an observer to bare witness to what 22 random people they've never met does on a week to week basis whilst chasing an inflated object around"

Mate, all teams for years have been doing those conversations, its not revolutionary, week in, week out, disectting your errors, looking at 'vision' - they're all versions of honesty...brutal or otherwise, and they don't always create change. By the way...what aren't the players getting? Fun fact... AFL coaching staff often ask a player in front of others in his group when reviewing vision, 'why did you do that x behaviour'... player will then clam up and not want to embarrass oneself, or shame oneself when not following 'team rules'. So brutally honest conversations, aren't always of benefit... I saw a meme the other day online about 'what seems ridiculous as an adult, looking back at your school' One of the responses was, - Getting hot and sweaty, running a cross country in your PE clothes, with all your mates cheering you on...and then 5 minutes after its finished...going back to the class room to learn about algebra in sweaty clothes. Ostensibly, I'm saying that the best time to do a post hoc analysis on your performance, isn't directly after you've worked your [censored] off and fatigued when playing a match for 2 hours...

Did Tom run over your cat @Turner?

Whilst this is true - how nice it is for a change to not look back at this 3 games at the end of the year when we are premiers, and think that we lost a match when we 'should' have won. Ps... we still haven't beaten a team above us on the ladder....so we are still pretenders eh? ?

bump.... There was a great mark in the first quarter last night (against GWS) I believe, whereby Trent would have been expecting heavy contact, but was able to be composed, sustain the hit from his opponent and then mark and hold on to the ball. To me, the signs are great for him, in his sense of composure, and his willingness to demonstrate commitment and put his body on the line for himself and his team mates.

Broad questions If a team loses a match, and we are due to play them, why do supporters say 'they're going to come out fired up' - but not hold the same view when Melbourne loses a match? If a team has a better first quarter, why does that mean we weren't switched on? Surely the other team has agency? Surely they're skilled and drilled as well, we're not playing against schoolboys...

Also, on the subject of seeing something on TV and making assumptions, judging by this image Clarry's not going anywhere, due to his mutual respect with Simon Jones has just been told his is to retire effective immediately, and has taken it with good grace and is looking off into the middle distance...

What's all this palava about TMAC being unhappy? FMD - some times it's a grind... he contributed with tackles in the forward 50, and took some telling marks. He's playing the big dog at the moment, when he is best suited for number 2 and 3 forward.... GWS flooded back, it's pretty hard to take marks in a pack of 5... Is there an expectation from some that he must jag 2 goals each game and dominate the forward 50?

Spin the wheel... Who's more uncomfortable with the favourites tag, the players or the supporters?

Or what? So many definitives. They've already proven that they can kick copious amounts of points and still win... yep that's right, like all good teams, we can play poorly and still win If the 'must's are about helping you relax during the game, then that's fair enough.

that's one way to skin a cat I suppose... you can only play against the opposition -banking wins where you can. seriously, there is only a marginal % that a team needs to be off (see Richmond today) that makes them winners, to losers to getting smashed... week in, week out... It's a marathon... so treat it like that.

Could you give a synopsis @Whispering_Jack?

My secret bet (not so secret now) is that no doubt someone on here will complain that he drifts in and out of games, only has single digit possessions thus we wasted our time in recruiting him...

This could probably go into the Burgess thread, but with the acknowledgement on AFL360 of Max's aerobic impact around the ground on Monday night, it led me into thinking about the impact of Burgess on the group. As dedicated fans on this site know - our 2020 campaign was curtailed (amongst many reasons) due to shorter quarters on the assumption that with Burgess on board, he would transform the players aerobically. Now the reality is this... You can work in elite sport, and not be elite in your field. I'll say it again... you can work in elite sport and not be elite in your field, I know it, as I have lived it. So if there are 17 other High Performance Managers within the AFL system, what is about Burgess's planning and frameworks that are markedly different from what the players were exposed to before (or other teams are exposed to).. And the inference is that if/when he heads to Adelaide, then they get to drink the magic Burgess Elixir... but it can't simply be Burgess's IP that no-one else has... as HPM's operate in such a small niche world, they all know one another. So, as pundits, are we legitimately seeing an aerobic difference in our players? Are we drinking some of the kool-aid? Attributing improved aerobic fitness, when it may not be there? I mean, it looks to be there... but is that due to his frameworks, or is it the age bracket of some of our players, compared to two years earlier? Any input is good input... post script I know that Burgess spent a lot of time in the EPL - their athletes historically have run more km per game than AFL - but now (I believe) we surpass them...with the high collision impacts as well (which is pretty incredible as a sport to bare witness to). However the media and coaches for many years have been recruiting 'athletes' to turn them into footballers, or acknowledging how aerobically large the game is now. My point is - surely it isn't mere exposure to working in the EPL as Burgess has (have other HPM's in the league spent time there?) - that the penny has dropped for them to add in more aerobic work (to come from a simplistic perspective). Any High Performance Managers in Demonland want to add their 20cents worth?

Hasn't the AFL (or at least individuals within) matured. I commend Gary Pert for the way the letter was written. There was no way this would have been written to the public 5 years ago... Also mods - can we please change the title of this thread to reflect the situation more accurately.

It's strange that the media have always downplayed or invalidated Oliver. From 'taking a dive' as a 19yo or preferencing Cripps, it has always astounded me the treatment that Oliver receives as a midfielder both from the umpires, and the limited recognition from the media due to his statistics. He's not a dirty player, he backs up game after game after game... It can't just be as he plays for Melbourne - because the counterpoint to that would be the adulation of Pickett.

Ohhhhhh, so Goodwin is funny.

The evidence is, that due to an individual games experience, and continuity playing together with the same players, it gives a team the greatest opportunity to replicate performance consistency, time and again throughout a season.

Absolutely I don't understand - clearly he was pushed into it by the other Freo player...

He's a natural athlete... rather than a natural in a particular position. Hence the commentary about him being a prototype for a particular role within a team.

Did you end up having a nice glow after the win? What were your thoughts on the game plan and then the execution of it? @JimmyGadson

you are relentless ?

I'm surprised someone on here - didn't mention Dean Kent and then draw a bead to Goodwin and his retention strategy.

Oh! 100% - it makes no sense to me, it was one of the weirdest things I noticed when I first joined this forum. Do these people actually talk like this when they are discussing football at the pub? Because, that would just be weird.

I havent checked the fixture - do we get them twice this year?