tiers

What is truly offensive is using offence (a foreign usage) as a substitute for attack. Our great game demands its own terminology.

How many flags will it take to get rid of these pathetic responses? For me it is one. After 57 years it will now sustain me to the end.

Tracca and Clarry are nothing but class. We should be honoured to have them represent us.

You might be right (statistically) but it seems to me that the distribution is abnormal in that we always end up on the wrong side of the bell curve.

1. Of course there is no rule that the free kick count has to be even but in any contest between two reasonably even teams it is not an unreasonable expectation that the free kick count will be less unbalanced. 23 to 9 is a margin of 150%, far too high for any two party contest. 2. The heavy reaction is to hopefully alert the umpiring coaches that there is a problem with their coaching and interpretation of the game. I accept that this will be an unlikely and forlorn hope but so what? It needs to be stated.

We seem to have lost the ability to take strong pack marks (note not contested) around the ground and get outmarked regularly. Even with Maxie. Why. There seems to be a theory that we don't care so long as the ball hits the ground. If the only two options are that the oppos take a mark or the ball hits the ground then we lose control of momentum and an easier path to goal. Let's find a fix.

Weid did what he had to do - he contested hard in the ruck. Goody made the sage comment that although was lost the tap count by 40 we won the clearances by 5. Admittedly that is mostly due to Tracca, Clarry and Viney but without Weid's constant challenges it could have been much worse.

I watched the replay after reading about these umpiring decisions so watched a bit more carefully. This is my take. Mitch Brown - a clear and obvious mistake. The umpires seem to have been instructed to look at the eyes and automatically assume that if eyes are not on the ball then something illegal is about to happen. Displays a compete ignorance of the needs of contested footy at boundary throw ins. Of course Brown has to check where his oppo is to prepare for the contest. Clarry - even more obvious than the miss on Kozzie in the GF. What game are they watching? May - high tackle against the texan. After several rewinds it is clear that May's tackle was OK but another crow's arm was visible over texan's shoulder. May's tackle was righteous. Brayshaw? - dragging the ball in. The replay clearly shows that a crow tapped the ball in with his foot and Angus did nothing wrong. The umpires often use the excuse for missed free kicks that they were blindsided by the multitude of players around the ball but taking guesses when they are not sure is even worse. If not sure, then ball it up or play on. No matter how the frees are analysed, there is no escaping the fact that a 23-9 count is seriously unbalanced and should not happen in our great game. It is a sign of poor coaching and application of the rules by the umpires and perhaps, more significantly, a poor understanding of the game.

Even when he is playing, Maxie is not the great tap exponent and our three warriors mostly win their own ball in congested and contested battles. They will prevail even without a winning ruckman. Maxie's great contribution is contesting the ball ups and throw ins but not necessarily tapping down their "throats' whilst denying the oppos ruck. It is because of his contested marking, his mobility, goal scoring and ground play that he dominates. Maxie and the boys are not the same combination as Jeff White and Todd Viney were before they changes the rules on White.

FWIIW. The last player I can recall who went from a struggling full forward into the ruck was Graham Teasdale at South Melbourne. Won a Brownlow in a dominant season. Not saying Weid is as good but what's the harm in giving him a run. He has footy smarts just not enough oomph.

My guess is that it is similar to the practice of tapering in swimming. Train hard and then rest up leading into a contest. One game in three weeks offers the opportunity to rest and recover.

As I recall, it was Malcolm Blight, when he was at Adelaide, who first adopted the concept of loading in the weeks before the finals. Because it was successful and he won two flags it should be no surprise that other teams have followed his lead. For former players since the late 90s to not be aware of this possibility, strikes me as either ignorance or simple mindedness. One the other hand, unless the commentators know the coaching regimes at each club, it is still a bit of guesswork for them and us. Nevertheless to not discuss it as a possible issue is negligent. I note that even though our bye period was not the full two weeks, playing only one game in almost three weeks with longer recovery periods in between did not seem to hurt our players last night. GO GOODY GO DEES

All this tells us is that Champion Data are NOT champions of data. Time for them to get a life or, better still,to open their eyes.

Glad you kept it confidential. Josh is too smart and too ambitious for such a puny job. His horizons are surely national if not international mixing with the movers and shakers of high political and so called intellectual pursuits.

This is only an issue when the team being awarded the free kick seeks to play on. The play on rule is open to abuse. Players take possession of the ball and run a bit and, if they are on the infringing team, so long as they don't kick the ball there are no 50m penalties imposed. If they are on the infringed team, they can get an unfair advantage because they are not tackled as play has apparently stopped. Until the rules are amended to allow only the player infringed upon to play on this will remain a sore point.

Our backline was so effective because they played as a team, not as a collection of individuals, to direct, support, encourage and gang tackle the oppos. Injuries and other issues to May, Petty, Maxie, Lever, Hibberd, Salem and Tomlinson have a way of unsettling and reducing the effectiveness of the group. It is unfair to single out one part of a group. Let's hope that they all overcome their issues and come together to dominate as before.

+1.

Didn't lollie blues use Silvagni as a ruckman? Just stop the oppo ruckman from delivering and marking. Maybe height doesn't matter as much if the game plan is adjusted to revolve around mobile contesters in the ruck. Perhaps tell dogga to play small and become a proper midfielder. Weid can also play mobile. Time to change the plan.

They have not spoken yet.

Goody smashed them. Just too good and too smart. How lucky are we to have Goody and Gawny. GO GOODY GO DEES

This should be over. That it is not is a consequence of media madness and Gill wanting to be seen to do something. Time for the middle finger to the AFL and the media 🖕

Some lessons to be learnt. 1. Team mates should watch out for each other and prevent the breaking of team rules eg. the others should have been able to step in and stop May from drinking and should have stepped in sooner when it became nasty. 2. A strong leader makes all the difference in picking up the pieces. Need not be the coach or admin if the on-field captain is more than good enough. 3. Why are players allowed to drink during the season? Absolute ban is required. 4. Perhaps the club should implement a chaperone system for those who might need it. 5. I realise that this suggestion might infringe on players' freedom but maybe it is time for players to be directed by the club to spend nights out at certain approved and acceptable venues where they can let their hair done in a monitored and controlled environment to prevent occurrences like this. 6. It is time to start preparing for Maxie's successor. Select a small group of younger players and coach them in the dark arts of leadership. CP5, ANB are first nominations. 7. All of the above.

Maxie is the most impressive captain and leader in the AFL by a wide margin. It is simply amazing that he could grow in stature by so much this year. No other captain in recent times has shown his level of sophistication and intelligence as a leader, both when we won the flag and now when the club is under some pressure. I would follow him anywhere. Lead on Maxie.

The form drop can be explained by tiredness, shorter pre season due to late finish in 2021, injuries, loading and any number of variables that are plucked out to explain why the media over cooked our performances to 10/10. I would like to believe that it is predominantly the result of loading and injuries leading up to the QB game given that Monday's game will be the only game we play for nearly 3 weeks thereby allowing a extended period for tapering and resting. Note that this is all pure amateur conjecture but it makes me reassured that it is nothing worse.

Correct. In 1964 we won by 4 points against the filth with an aging team at the end of a 10 year premiership window. Then RDB left. We won the first 8 games mostly by relatively small margins and last minute escapes (our % was nothing like 147). Then we were smashed on QB by St Kilda who were on the march to a grand final that year. And then Norm Smith got sacked. 2022 is totally different. Dominant 2021 finals campaign, 10 game 2022 winning streak, settled administration (forget the HS garbage - that was last year), team filled with a mixture of outright champions still in their prime as well as emerging young players, a confident, capable coach nearing his peak and the same captain to inspire and lead. GO GOODY GO DEES