BW511

Veering off topic for a moment, If I ever turn on the TV and catch some form of motor racing (F1 or V8's) I am always impressed with the information they provide viewers. If the general population of the world can understand what is happening in these events with strategy, tyres and car performance, then the AFL can be a little more analytical with their presentation and actually teach people about the game. That would be refreshing

Cycling is where my (limited) knowledge comes from. To put it in context for the football followers, those athletes race their bikes all year, although for most of them they target only a couple of specific races each year (Peaking). They compete in many races during loading phases and are often doing extra riding after races whether to or from venues/finishes. It is widely accepted that you can only peak twice in a given year and that is a much more difficult thing to manage for the second time.

I see this kind of sentiment a lot in this thread and am not singling you out. Surely Jacko's worth to teams from the west (or us) was decided in last years GF and on future potential. The monetary figures would be sewn up. If I was his manager, I would be nervous that this period could jeopardize that

I should add, the 4 week block is the general training principle but it is not necessarily exactly what they follow at AFL level. The loading phase would certainly be at least 2 blocks though. It takes 6 weeks for any adaptation to happen

It could be done in a way that the 4 week period had a greater amount of training stress overall, just not in a linear way, although large jumps in load between weeks would greatly increase the risk of injury/illness. It's a very delicate balance. With Covid and the Flu running rampant in society, I would not want to be sitting in Selwyn's seat!

You can certainly tweak it from week to week but you have to be applying more load as a general trend, so a 4 game period of heavy load one week, light the next and then repeated would offer little benefit. This image is describes it in it's most simple form, although it would be more complicated and specific to peaking in then holding that through September

With the way a training cycle or loading phase works, the on/off method suggested above would likely not be the answer. Generally it is a 4 week block and then recover for a week. I would anticipate the current bye break being used as a recovery period and then another loading phase through rounds of 15, 16, 17, 18 (around 4 weeks) then pull it back and come out breathing fire for Bulldogs in Round 19.

I’ve tried looking at this from differing perspectives. 1. If the numbers or term are close to true, Jacko would be absolutely insane to turn that down. The average AFL career would only be 3-4 years, making it through another 7 years would be no guarantee. (See how Collingwood feel about their 7 year contract with Grundy right now?) 2. If the numbers or term are even close to true and he takes it, our return on investment would be big. There’s some serious capital coming our way in the form of players and picks to get that deal done. He was a high draft pick, he’s been a part of a flag, his potential is endless however he may not become any more than he currently is - a handy backup ruck. 3. If Peter Bell was such a [censored] and or so astute with the Hogan deal, I find it hard to believe he’s recklessly overseeing a 7 year contract Interesting times for sure. I said earlier that I am unsure whether Jacko ever becomes a permanent ruck or a permanent forward. If he was to leave, you could hardly blame him with that sort of deal in front of him. I also don’t think it’s a bad result for MFC. We’ve broken a very long premiership drought and even if we are ‘in the window’ for a few years to come, i don’t think Jacko staying or going will define our chance at more flags.

I may be alone in thinking this but I feel like Jacko might be a bit of an inbetween guy for his whole career. Not tall enough to be a permanent No.1 ruck and not damaging enough to be a permanent key forward. He had a decent game on the weekend but has been down on late 2021 form so far in 2022 If it netted us a King brother, McStay etc, I'd be wishing him well in pursuing a move back West.

I would look at specialist coaches. Fitness is definitely important but I feel like the skill level of AFL players is often below what you would expect of fulltime, professional athletes - this is a generalisation and not specifically based on us. There’s still plenty of players across the competition that are sub-par kicks, plenty of players that can’t mark above their head, a fair amount of players that can’t handball to save themselves and set shot goal kicking is still a raffle. if Jacko is hanging around, a specialist ruck coach would be very useful - I’d offer a gig to Goldstein if he retires.

This would be utterly terrifying

So if we were a little sluggish due to training loads, that would effect our ability to apply the 100% committed pressure we built our premiership on?

It looks like he did a boat load of work putting on size over the last 12 months. I think he might lean out a little over the coming years and start to become a pinch-hit mid/hff

He was very good. Lot of link up play very deep in the backline at times too.

I went along yesterday, which I rarely do. I don't know that Collingwood could have played any better than that, as is typical of the QB game, that was their Grand Final. They are not yet a side that will do any damage in September. They had us for height with Disco off and Max out of the game for long periods of time and their talls had a day they won't replicate again. Cox & Mihocek wouldn't get off the chain like that with May, Lever and Petty in our backline. It felt like had the game well under control until Max's long stint in the rooms, typical of many of our games over the last 18 months, absorb the best they had and be patient and it will eventually turn. In this instance it didn't but I don't have any concerns heading into the second half of the year. We are running on fumes at the moment and still had the game on our terms for long periods of time. Bit of a freshen up over the bye and some from turning for key players and we will hit September at full steam.

Petracca tries to do it all him self, Clarry actually does it He genuinely looks like a man playing against boys with how well he wins contests

For an elite athlete who trains 5-6 days a week, recovery is one their greatest strengths. 9 days to an elite athlete is probably the equivalent of a month for a regular Joe.

I think the shorter pre-season would have played a huge role in where we are currently at. Started the year fitter (higher up the peak) due to less rest, dropping off a month earlier and starting the progression again, a month earlier. Will be fascinating to see whether we can time this year as well as last year. I would expect maybe a heavy load now and possibly another period a few weeks out from finals - provided we are in the right position with games won

The holy grail of fitness and form coming together at the same time is not sustainable for long periods of time. Absolutely no doubt that AFL clubs mix up loads depending on periods of the season. Fitness and motivation roll along in peaks and troughs throughout a season, we have been 'up' for a long time, a lull was inevitable. What matters is that the players are getting the work done now to make sure that magical form/fitness period is late September. I'll also add, we have had a very disrupted start to 2022. Continuity has been a real problem with lots of injuries

System can’t help when there are that many players down from each line.

Was going to say something very similar. The defensive structures team employ are the launch pad for their offense. Whilst the chaos of tagging 3 players could disrupt us momentarily, our system would still overwhelm the opposition quite quickly because they have 3 less offensive contributors. Man on man across the ground could be an approach to try, although I don't think too many blokes can defend well individually these days

The defensive marking from Gus was a thing of beauty

I reckon it was one of those little ‘nice guy’ Cotchin specials, where it was quite deliberate but he seems to escape scrutiny.

This is how it felt watching, we were in control from start to finish and Richmond were flattered by our poor goal kicking and their fluky accuracy. Petty had a huge game, was controlling the air with ease. His timing with ball in flight is superb. Sparrow was very good Clarry is looking like a man playing against boys at AFL level now, he is so strong and powerful and he’s just making good decisions consistently.

Very vanilla, in my opinion. Dunstan offers the additional depth and we didn't have any real expense to grab him