Watson11

It would also be equally despicable if Freo had the discussions that they have now refuted. The report is damaging to Hogan but also to Freo. Bell is a lawyer. If he is 100% in the clear he should follow the example our President set in response to gutter WA journalism and start defamation proceedings if for no other reason than to get a public apology from Hagdorn along the lines of “his source was unreliable and the story was incorrect”. If Freo don’t follow that path the damaging speculation, which is not helping Hogan’s mental health, will continue.

They did a rebuild via the draft mainly and focussed on defenders first. Shanahan has led the rebuild and had a good assistant coach record, but as an offensive assistant. But every team at the bottom has tried rebuilding so doing it is not easy. The 49ers used most of their high draft picks on defence which goes against the grain a bit. This year it has really clicked and paid dividends and their defence is unbelievable. Their offensive team is good without being great. They run more than pass which is safer (less turnovers), whereas Kansas will pass more than run. The 49ers really rely on getting the ball back in good positions on the field and have done it really well. The turnaround has been faster than expected. Most preseason pundits had them at 10 Wins best case, 4 worst, and 6-8 likely. Then they got off to a flying start and the confidence just grew.

I’m not sure if many follow American football, but I’m a 49ers fan and the last 5 seasons before this one have been shockers, pretty much sitting last or close to it. Last year, out of 32 teams they had the equal 2nd worst win-loss record, the second worst defence, and a bottom 25% offence. Their turnaround this year has been staggering, especially the defence which are now feared. Here’s hoping for a good result tomorrow, and a good omen for the AFL team that finished second last in 2019.

I think we have a lot of lock down defenders, but aside from 2017 and Hibbard we have not had anyone that can play the Houli or Laird type role, where they pick up 25 to 30+ possessions and are damaging. My guess is that’s what they want Harmes to be and he is more than capable of it. He’s a great stopper while also getting the ball himself.

The why not us speech was before the Queens birthday game in 2018 wasn’t it? I’d argue we dropped off for 4-5 weeks, not because of lack of effort but from a worsening of structures due to an overhyped all in to get the ball mentality. It surprises me that supporters continually harp on about players not putting in consistent effort. That is 100% not the problem on game day. Every player has a GPS measuring every heartbeat, metres covered, accelerations etc etc. How to you think they hide their lack of effort from the fitness staff and coaches? I’ll answer for you they don’t. The staff know how well they prepare preseason - cue members forum and only 2 players doing more than 50% of preseason loads. Last year it was clear, especially in hindsight to supporters who attended the forum, the team was overall not fit, probably had diets that were detrimental to their endurance, and to my eye looked like they lost strength. We will see how the 4 qtr efforts are this year, but I would expect a return to 2018 where we were one of the best second half teams in the league, rather than the 2019 version where we were the worst.

It’s pretty sad for KK. Does anyone who attends training know when and how KK got concussed? Last I heard he hurt an elbow at training in November and then hasn’t been seen again.

My key take away was the players were eating properly which allowed them to attack fitness and strength training.

At the forum, they had all the GPS stats up and only 2 players did more than 50% of the loads required last preseason. Max was the highest, at 80% from memory. The issue was only mental to the extent that players quickly had no confidence in anything due to their poor conditioning.

https://www.afl.com.au/video/364601/shifter-s-best-ever-pick-no-12-cyril-burgoyne-or-wanganeen?videoId=364601&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1577473200001 Hope Kozzie can add to the legendary indigenous talent taken at pick 12.

For me it’s all about fitness and Burgo. We were terrible last year. In fact, unlike 2018 where our 3rd quarters were our best, in 2019 our best qtrs were our 1st, and every quarter after got worse with our 4th the worst in the league. Get 22 fit players on the ground with the training loads done, and the difference will be massive. There will likely be 1 or 2 teams that create a gap on the rest. I don’t expect us to be one of them as I think we may take a month or so to click after our 2019. But I also think there will be 10 teams from 3 to 13 that are close and with a bit of luck we could be up there, but a few injuries to key players and we could be struggling. We really can’t afford TMac, Clarry, Max, or May to have injuries.

Of course if they have a horror injury run and slip down the ladder the Scott haters will be demanding he be sacked for destroying the players confidence by making them relive the dire 3rd quarter.

He was better than average in 2017 too Wiseblood. If he, like 90% of the team, is fit and gets his confidence back he will do his role as he brings something different and runs hard both ways. He has his limitations but if he gets back to 16-18 possessions, 5-6 score involvements, and ~5 tackles, then I’ll hope he reduces his turnovers from 4 a game but I accept he has flaws but still brings more than he costs. His role in doing the job on half back running machines seems unrecognised. Think the round 22 game against GWS in 2018 where he cut Whitfield out of the game. Whitfields 2018 Stats

Good grief. You’ve only compared 2019. ANB would have been selected in round 1 2019. ANB v Castagna 2018

If ANB was at Richmond, he would be in front of Castagna by a mile, who is picked every week. Same kind of half forward role. Castagna is picked for his pressure. His best tackling season was this year at 3.1 average per game. ANB has averaged 4-5 a game for 3 years. Tackling is one of the main reasons why he is picked.

Is anyone thinking he is the messiah? I’m not sure anyone would think he could do anything other than play a role. But hey, wouldn’t it be great if we had a forward 6 who all knew what their role was and played it. There are a few articles written around the draft combine time by Cal Twomey and others that said Jackson would be ready to play round 1. And if he plays forward it will be to play a role which hopefully includes bringing the ball to ground, competing for ground balls so it isn’t waltzed up the other end for a goal like last year, and improving our forward 50 stoppages. His recovery, ground balls, and clearance work seem to be a strength. He is an athlete though. Very quick, good leap, and really good endurance. But whether he can read the play well enough to play forward in his first year and do a role remains to be seen. It will be a bonus if he can.

https://m.afl.com.au/news/2019-11-27/who-would-you-have-taken-at-pick-no3-we-ask-the-recruiters Sorry if this has already been posted, but this is what 4/12 other clubs recruiters said about who they would take at 3. “I'd be taking Luke Jackson every day. And I'd be taking him at pick No.2, too, behind Rowell.” “He (Jackson) just might be so good that you have to take him at that pick, even if he's not exactly what you need right now. I like that he gets involved around the ground, he averaged nearly 20 touches in the colts this year. The Brodie Grundy comparisons are right." “We would take Luke Jackson. We think it's just so hard to find a player like him and with his qualities.” “Luke Jackson in a heartbeat. He's a rare player.” “I would definitely be tempted to pick Luke Jackson, but it would take a lot of courage to do it. He intrigues me and it's rare what he can do at his size." 6 would have taken Young. 2 are definite but maybe 4 are qualified and the rest because of his elite kicking.

The article is not saying the real science is flaky. The real science is sound, but the problem is real scientists didn’t get involved in sports and so stuff that was published and used was flawed. If you read the article, real scientists are getting involved and pointing out the problems. The organisation’s that started following real science got a leg up. Boston Red Sox say hello. It’s also kind of indicative that sports nuts who didn’t have the science background got into data analyst roles and came up with the fads probably to justify their jobs. I’d not be confident that they know what they are doing and use data to confirm their biases. Clubs like Liverpool FC employed real scientists that knew nothing about soccer, and the data they come up with is unbiased and valuable. It played an important part in their champions league win.

https://m.afl.com.au/news/2019-11-07/get-set-for-draft-night-drama-why-clubs-are-holding-fire-on-pick-swaps Did the memo go out after the above article?

We nominate Green. GWS trade pick 6 to say GC for 15 and 20. GWS get Green at pick 3 using points from pick 15 plus other picks. We now effectively have pick 4 and 9.

We obviously are not doing enough. Alice Springs (our zone) has not been a good zone lately. It’s probably similar to the Kimberley in WA, lots of talent. The Kimberley zone has seen lots of talent drafted recently. Alice none.

I’d love to see him play 22+ games in 2020. He has really good leading patterns imo, which is what our mids need to see more of when going inside 50. If he can improve on the 1.5 goals per game average he had in 2018 is definitely best 22 and with no injury issues I would expect he could improve on 2018.

They’ll still do the pre trade stuff. I suspect why MFC were so happy to trade out next years first for this years pick 8 is we are stocking up on 2nd and 3rds next year knowing it will be easy to trade back down to a 1st rounder next year with all the trading that will go on with nga players. I bet we end up with a decent first round pick next year in a diluted draft.

They need to not allow live trades on NGA bids. If GWS have pick 6 and green is worth that or better, they should not have 5 minutes to trade that for picks 14 and 17 or whatever. They should be forced to use pick 6. The AFL are allowing the draft to be rorted. If it is allowed next year with 15 if the top 40 NGA picks it will be a complete farce

SANFL is not open. They are generally a slog fest. 6 goals each is not uncommon! A couple of 4 goals each last season. Open games are the exception.

If we don’t draft from states where we had previously drafted duds then all we can draft is 6’11” ex kiwis?