Watson11

Very true. And although it’s good that some posters who previously were scathing on Viney now see his value, he was a scapegoat for a lot of posters and some even relatively recent comments were ridiculous. Viney has always given the ball off to others in a better position, but often because of our structures there wasn’t anyone on the outside. He has always had a different approach in the contest to say a younger Oliver who was handball happy. Viney never handballed to no-one so got caught HTB more while the old Oliver often handballed to no one and turned it over. Viney’s approach was always better, and Oliver has adopted it, as defending against holding the ball is a lot easier than defending a handball turnover to an opposition player on the outside. Oliver now bursts out of stoppages and stands up in tackles as well, and occasionally gets caught HTB but who cares. As a team, our stoppages were probably the best by any team ever in the finals, as we sorted the structures and it all clicked. But Viney didn’t change his approach, it’s just the team improved and he had support on the outside to give it off to. Full credit to Yze. So give Viney credit for his unbelievable final series, but posters shouldn’t try and justify their previously ridiculous comments by arguing Viney changed his approach.

Not always. Definition from champion data is Disposal clangers are any kick or handball that directly turns the ball over to the opposition. So I assume includes a point kicked no matter where from, and even Max Gawns kick that led to Spargo’s goal in the GF, as although it was a brilliant kick (50m on left foot to open forward line) it directly led to the dogs possession (even though they were under pressure).

Sam Frost doesn’t even make top 50! The champion data definition is useless. “Disposal clangers are any kick or handball that directly turns the ball over to the opposition. Frees and 50-metre penalties against, No Pressure Errors, Dropped Marks and Debits are all included in clangers.” We all watched Frosty for long enough to know exactly what a clanger is. Yet Champion data decides tearing out of the backline and missing an easy handball to an open teammate that results in a stoppage doesn’t count, yet Tracc bursting out of a centre clearance and kicking a point from 60m does. Go figure.

The dogs need to sort their defence out (and their mids defensive structures). Not sure how the mauling will affect them, but with their flakey defence they will find it extremely difficult to win 3 or 4 finals in a row. One team will get a run on and they just can’t stop it. We were similar in 2018 and I suspect they need to go backwards before improving.

Great review. Signed up and worth the subscription. Great to see Harmes get some recognition for his important defensive work. The dogs would have loved him on their side on gf day. He is much maligned on here at times.

Or maybe the question should be “how many times has a team won after winning their first premiership the year before”. Because we are talking about us going back to back which is a 1 in 5 chance based on the last 25 years, and clearly after we have won 2 in a row the 3rd is easier (1 in 2 chance).

Adelaide’s first was 1997 so that’s 25 seasons. Ironically, it was done only 4x in the prior 25 seasons as well.

Google search AFL Grand Final Christian Salem

No that’s not right although it’s surprisingly rare. I’m pretty sure Hawthorn in 2014 and Richmond in 2017 kept all the premiership starting team on their list. Brisbane in 2001 also. So good omens for us. But it is correct that the same team who played on the day have never played together again.

It's not that uncommon. Tigers were favourites in 2019, Hawthorn favourites in 2013, Collingwood favourites in 2012, Geelong favourites in 2009. Pretty much anytime the favourite for the previous flag unexpectantly loses the GF (or prelim), the bookies tip them to bounce back. If the dogs had been clearly the best team in 2021 but we won in an upset, then they would start this year as favourites going by history.

Obviously didn’t follow us much in 2021. Far more likely to start 5-1 with a loss to Gold Coast.

I think rjays argument, which I agree with, is if you take a round 1 draftee, you expect them to become a good afl player, and if they don’t play at least some afl games in year 1 it’s an anomaly. None of your examples were first round. Expectations in year 1 for a KPF if they get picked won’t be high, but they should be good enough to push for selection and inevitably get an opportunity to give them a taste. If we have no injuries or illness to key forwards, then so be it, but if we do you would expect JVR to be demanding an opportunity. For JVRs profile, where I don’t see a freakish athletic attribute, expectations should be pretty low if he gets picked as it will take 3 or 4 years to develop the endurance and strength to be a good afl player and longer to be elite. More like a Josh Kennedy than a Buddy Franklin.

You must have been in a foul mood after the Hawthorn draw!

This was posted at 3Q time of the GF (not prelim), but I can definitely relate to that poster.

Ed Langdon 94% TOG for 15.30km per game (normalised to 16.27km for 100%) Jake Bowey 76% TOG for 13.33km per game (normalised to 17.53km for 100%)

You can add unbelievable endurance. In his 7 games, he averaged 13.33km per game, which allowing for his 76% game time is better than Ed Langdon and basically equivalent to Sam Walsh who led the league. He is a gun. In my opinion the thread title should be Hunt v Hibberd v Tomlinson

According to this 2019 article (Telstra Tracker) "North Melbourne’s Ben Brown was the player with the highest average distance covered per game across the entire season, moving 15.6km per game". In 2018 he was at 15km per game. I am not sure what brand he was playing at North or how it changed, but he was clearly getting up the ground and back a lot at North when he was playing well.

SUrely the easy ones were 2, Mudhsuden Singh Panesar (Nickname is Monty and Panesar - Apes and ran) 11, Butler although the double r's had me confused until I realised it is Buttler

It’s taken me a while to work up the courage demonstone, but I’m sure the sentence below needs a comma! 😬

Silly me. Not the grammar mistake, but to believe I could respond to one of your posts without ridicule :-)

Yes. If it had of been Hunter he would have ducked.

Great article that sums up the situation really well. https://themongrelpunt.com/afl-season-2022/2021/10/12/where-the-dees-get-even-better-in-2022/ Quote “In successful teams, there is always someone knocking on the door, and with Dunstan’s move from St Kilda to the premiers, he has made no bones about the fact that he wants to prove himself and make his way into this rotation. It puts the others on notice – step it up, or step out of the way.” ”Whilst a lot of the attention when talking about the Dees goes on the Petracca/Oliver combination, and rightfully so, however, the designated roles and the discipline to adhere to their allocated roles are an absolute strength of this Melbourne team that simply does not get the attention it deserves.”

You guys are all too hard on the cats. They are just super unlucky. WA had only 1 flu case in the entire 8 week period leading up to the prelim, and despite being in isolation they managed to pick it up and have it run through their entire team. You wouldn’t read about it. https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/~/media/Corp/Documents/Health-for/Infectious-disease/Notifiable-diseases/2021/Week-38-statewide-notifiable-disease-report.pdf Or maybe they heard about the 1 case of leprosy in WA for that period and thought it was one of our players, as they didn’t seem keen to lay a finger on us.

Another one worth listening to is https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-q88es-e6b7e7 Burgo rates Brett Emerton (former socceroo) as one of the best athletes he has been involved with. From 3 mins. It is what prompted the discussion on ACL rehabs as Emerton returned to the premier league 6 months to the day after the injury.

The AFLCA must be a good indicator for the B&F considering Goody votes. Below is the number of games our players polled coaches votes in. Kozzie has not had much love in this thread, and TMAC polled in a relatively high percentage of games. Oliver (17) Tracc (15) Max (12) Salem (10) Lever (9) TMAC (9) May (5) Kozzie (5) LJ (4) Langdon (3) Viney (3)