tiers

Re: tennis ball and ball drop. I am gratified that at last this basic fundamental of good, consistent kicking is receiving attention. I highlighted Tracca's problem in another post in another thread recently. One aspect that is not fully understood is the influence of the feel in the fingertips. It is uncanny how often good kicks are able to win the ball in awkward positions (the ball, not the player) and, because of the feel in the fingertips, instinctively adjust the ball in their hands to ensure a proper ball drop and a good kick to position. Similar to tennis players who seem to instinctively and seamlessly adjust the raquet in their hands to hit the ball. The best drill (in addition to the tennis ball) is a session of kick short kicks (10-15 m) at fast pace with a another person. This will force the hands to adjust quickly and surely. It's called muscle memory. Long booming kicks at training is a waste of time to teach good kicking technique.

In order for this to make sense, I suggest that the names be restricted to those who have played since 1987, the first year of our resurrection after 1964. Should also exclude current players but struggling to find replacements for Jones, Oliver, J Viney, Jetta, TMac and Max. Consider Obst, Davey, Yze, Green and then run out of names. So many ex players played elsewhere. Liam Jurrah might have been a shooting star but he was still a star. Cat like movement and radar sharp anticipation plus he could mark and kick goals. Whether or not he deserves to be in this squad is a real question. Brett Lovett is a must. (He didn't play a senior game at dorks) The best hbf I have seen in 30 years. In for S Febey who would not complain. Gary Hardeman was also a champion but played before 1987. Otherwise a certainty even though he was only 187. Leaves Neitz as the standout for for chb.

His parents named him Darren. A champion full forward who was displaced by Jakovich. Went on to a stellar career as a kicking star in the NFL.

Saty gets it right. For the first time in a long, long time we have real choices for each position. Saty's list is only the talls. Wait til we add the smalls like Jeffy, Spargo, Tracca, ANB and whoever slides down from the centre and there are real, multiple choices for all spots. Good luck being on the selection committee. I will miss Jesse because his footy smarts were a standout and, in a strengthened forward line where he was no longer the only target, he had the potential to excel. Whilst we have replacements for his goal kicking, there is no replacement for his footy smarts. Posted before DemonDave's comments. I agree with his assessment of Jesse. He was that good when played up the ground.

If Lyon allows Jesse to be matched against 3 opponents every time he goes near the ball, he might be back with us. Apart from family, he didn't go to freo for the same garbage style. I hope Lyon has the good sense to free him up at CHF and never be forced to stand under the ball in the goal square. Find another FF and let Jesse roam the field like he was destined to play. If Jesse does well (except against us) I will be delighted to know that we did make a good decision to draft him and also because we taught him about footy. Kudos to coaching panel and a big tick for our programme. If he doesn't do well, we just blame freo for mismanagement.

Jesse is instinctively a much better forward than TMac becaus of his footy smarts and versatility in all forward positions. Both can be goal kicking machines on their day. TMac is our best classical leading and marking FF since Billy Bennett but is at his best from the goal square. The two of them together for a full season with Jesse at CHF and a roaming brief together with TMac at FF would have been a joy to see. Alas, never to be fulfilled.

It will all be fun but what happens when opposition teams work out the code? Will we have to change every week? What happens if the batteries fail? Will we revive the WW11 codebreakers? How many different plays can there be? Why doesn't some genius create mini headphones so that messages can be broadcast to all or be directed at one player only? Will the signs eventually be shown on the big screen and the game stop so that players can decipher the messages and the commentators comment? Will there be one for the umpires? What if the sign contradicts the runner? What if the game is spoiled as a spectacle? Who bloody cares? Why should we let the AFL, the supposed custodians, ruin a great game? We are footy, unique to our land and we should not imitate those other inferior sports. Another Shocking Hocking idea. Send him back to the back pocket so that we can reclaim our heritage. Long live footy..

Please delete.

The win for Broady when Travis pointed to the black armband. First final in 1987 against NM when Robbie played his first final. Watching the Ox with brute strength and footy smarts demolish lolly blues in 2000 final. Any game we win.

We taught him everything he knows but I hope we did not teach him everything we know. Still a champion.

40 symbols???????????????????? WTH. Will; they be televised for all to see with expert commentary on the big screens at the g?

I wonder if it is all in the hand dropping the ball. Spargo's hand is relaxed and gently moving away from the ball; Tracca's hand is contorted and bent towards his body and less likely to ensure a smooth and even ball drop. Might be trying too hard. Needs to relax and practice short kicks until the the muscle memory kicks in and the ball drop becomes more relaxed and natural.

He can run both ways, chase, tackle, win the ball and deliver long and quick into the forward line. He breaks lines and upsets opponents. He showed all these traits in bits and pieces over the years but got them all together last year. It's called development and maturity. I look forward to his continued efforts - like the others he adds to the overall strength, power and versatility of our multi talented midfield. 2020 Go dees.

Congrats to Daisy and family. We now have two new recruits that we can start developing at an early age. Teach them that there are only two colours of significance in the universe (red and blue of course) as well as the six times table. Too early for ball skills. Hope that when the AFL decides to introduce rules for mother/son and mother/daughter recruitment that any time spent on 'being mum' duty is counted. Hadn't seen the photos with bonnets when I wrote this post. Great start but now for the clothes.

Being in rehab does not mean that there is any problem. Maybe it is just to balance the loads and keep them at a level where the players do themselves no harm I am confident that all players have a target for their respective fitness and the loads that are required to achieve their required levels. Those not in the inner circle will have no idea what level each player has reached. I suggest that we leave it to the experts who do know.

The 97 list had a lot of injured or rehabbing players so that, whilst on paper they looked good, on the ground they were a shadow of their potential. Remember however that in 98 we made the prelim final with the same group (+Trav and White) who had overcome long term injuries (Lyon, Schwarz, G Lovett, Tingay, Viney) and only failed to make the GF due to a novice coaching error by ND. It should have been our year having beaten crows in an earlier final. 2019 list is more balanced with fewer weaknesses and greater potential. 2020 Go dees.

Comparisons like these are odious. They disclose nothing about the innate skills and abilities of the players. The only measure I have used in the past has been whether or not the player is better than most in doing what others do on the field or can he do things that no other player could even dream of doing. The classic example of the second was our Robbie. Most of the recent Brownlow medallists, Cripps and Bont have been examples of the first. At times I have seen Clarrie do things that others could not do. His vision when under pressure, his ability to not only win the ball but to deny the ball to the opposition and win the ball back is beyond others. Think how, in the final against the dorks, he denied the dorks in the centre square scramble, won the ball and delivered it to a running Gus (I think) who kicked to the contest where Melksham swooped and goaled. No Clarrie, no goal. That some of his magic is not apparent does not detract from his ability. At times, he is playing his own game.

Polly Farmer too.

To dworship Thanks for the reminder. No disrespect intended but given the numbers this year, I am finding it harder and harder to remember all the names while writing on the run. Apologies to Gus, Harmes and also to Hannan. Adding these three brings the running total to 31 who have all shown that they can make solid contributions. As I have said in another post, the hardest task for the coaching staff will be to find the best combination. 2020 Go dees.

I see things differently. Modern footy is a real team based game where teams select a squad so as to be able to mix and match and use players in their best positions to suit the game being played - not somebody's idea of how a player should be played. Whether Fritter will play back, centre or forward will depend on the team structure for the particular situation. The teams that will prosper will be those that have a range of abilities and capabilities in each part of the ground. For any combination of our back six we will have a stopper in Nev, running defenders and play makers in Hibbs, Salem and Fritter, cunning on field captains in Lewis, gorilla busters in May, interceptors in Lever and talls in OMac and Frost - a total of nine to select from to suit the weekly game plan. Similarly for our mid six we will have rucks in Gawn and Preuss, inside grunt in Jones, Viney and Oliver, outside runners in ANB, AVB, Stretch and Hunt, occasional fillers in Tracca and Spargs - a total of 11 to select from. In our forward six we have Weids, TMac, Jeffy, Melks, Smith and Smith and any of the above who rotate through the forward line - a grand total of 28 at least. In my opinion, we will lose very little in any combination of 22 from the above lists (we even have Weids and TMac to ruck if necessary). Not many teams can match this evenness and versatility and it should give us a dominant edge. So long as we pick our 22 for each game based on our game plan, not as a response to their game plan as used to happen in the past, we should have great prospects. 2020 Go dees.

Just noticed. Fritter, Salem and KK are being mentioned as half back sweepers with real potential. Their value might also be that they are all left footers. Left footers, as a minority group, have a natural, but marginal, advantage because they turn clock wise to get onto their kicking foot. Right footers naturally turn anti clockwise and, when chasing, can lose a bit of contact with left footers. The dorks exploited this with Lewis, Gibson, Rioli, Franklin and others. Add Viney, Lewis, May and we have a core group of lefties that could deliver an advantage.

It's like the chicken and egg question. Which comes first? The height of zoning influence was in the 70 and 80s and started to fade by the mid 90s when draft and salary cap took over. Regular exclusive access to top quality footballers in large numbers (eg Matthews, Scott, Crimmins, Langford, Mew, Brereton, Ayres, Knights, Wallace, Kennedy Jr, Tuck, Dipper, Moore) who develop together will make any club good and will force good management to respond. And with their success they could go out and recruit Buckenara, Judge, Platten and Dunstall from interstate. We have had one 300 gamer whereas the dorks had multiple just in this group. Carlton also did well (Keogh, Ashman, Southby) but they could not match the dorks talent pool and so went on a buying spree interstate. Kernahan, Bradley, Dorotich, Motley, Bosustow, Fitzpatrick amongst others. The doggies squandered their good fortune (losing Quinlan, Round, Templeton and Wilson) and no other team in a 12 team competition got close. There were other well run teams but they had no chance. No matter how good the management, if the supply of players is poor then it will make little difference. Please excuse any errors as this list has been hastily complied from memory. If I have missed anyone, please add.

Apart from Garry Lyon, Melbourne received no champions from its country zone over a period of two decades that corresponded with the darkest period in our history. By the time that zoning was abolished, it had distorted the competition as it had highly favoured certain clubs with prolific country zones eg. dorks (Berwick, Mornington Peninsula before they became metropolitan areas) , lolly blues (Bendigo) who had exclusive rights to a long line of champions that allowed them to dominate over the same two decades, recruit the best from interstate (Kernahan, Bradley, Dorotich in one year) and win multiple premierships. Consider how many dork players have played over 300 games and how many were gifted to them by zoning. Even Michael Tuck had to wait his turn. The effect of zoning still lives on through the large memberships and profiles that clubs were able to establish and maintain even when the lists were not so good. It was a massive failure that has never been recognised.

Google search for the meaning of coqnescent leads back to this site. Congratulations, you have made your first entry to the ever growing language of footy. And you can ascribe any meaning you choose and no one can contradict you. But be quick as language moves on at warp speed.

I have previously explained how I came to determine that 2020 will be our year. If, as Deeoldfart suggests, it happens to come sooner, I can handle the excitement. But I believe that whilst we may have the talent this year, we may still need more development. As someone once said in a different context, the future is so bright that I need my sunglasses.