BoBo

Just lean into it. I’m choosing to believe Tracc started doing the nut bush and everyone in the rooms followed suit for 45 minutes straight.

That’s just a very weird thing to lie about if it didn’t happen, it’s so specific 😂

The best speech to never happen

100% Willie Rioli got an immediate and indefinite suspension from the AFL for 18 months until his urine tampering investigation concluded. Ended up being a 2 year backdated ban. So Rioli was out from September 2019 until August 2021. Effectively banned for about 40ish games. Noah Balta got a 6 game ban from the club and signed off by the AFL (2 of those pre-season games) and was eligible to play before he had even been sentenced. 40ish in season games out VS 4 in season games out. So what Rioli did was 10 times worse than what Balt did. LOL.

Agreed. This is exactly like lynch mobs in the 1930’s. I remember all those AFL lynchings that happened in the 30’s. I’m just really glad a guy like Damian Hardwick, coach of a Queensland team, a state in which the assault didn’t occur in and a team in which Noah Balta doesn’t play for, isn’t sticking his nose into an issue that doesn’t involve him. That’d be pretty inappropriate. You’d be furious at Hardwick if that happened yeah?

That’s 1/3rd of the 18 month CCO length that the magistrate imposed on Balta so you’re asking for a reduced sentence which I don’t think is your point. Suspended sentences were also abolished in NSW in 2018 so it’s not even an option. If he breaches the CCO in the next 18 months then he can be re-sentenced for the assault.

Jailing people doesn’t work as a deterrent in the vast majority of situations and in a lot of instances it increases the likelihood of those people people committing more crimes. Criminality is largely a social and economic issue.

The magistrate issued an 18 month community corrections order which can mean being monitored by a corrections officer, a curfew and/or community service. So it’s at her discretion. And this is in lieu of going to prison after all. She also apparently mentioned that the 6 game suspension by the club/AFL was not substantial enough in light of the seriousness of the assault (higher end of medium threshold) and that the whole point of the curfew was that it was punitive.

Windsor was graded as careless conduct, low impact, high contact (he did get him in the head with his shoulder albeit not hard), which by the grading system is a fine. Ok cool. No worries. Bailey Smith should be graded as intentional conduct, low impact, high contact. By the current grading system, that’s a week, because it was intentional and high.

I am a bit nervous about May going down in game to be honest. Do we need to make a contingency for this? It’s either Petty back, to which we need a tall target to replace, or we select Adams so Petty stays forward?

Well that’s it, I think it’s only lower paid/contracted players that receive match day payments too, which Balta wouldn’t be on, so there’s virtually zero financial impact to him.

Even if the magistrate took into account the effects on his employment, he isn’t in danger of losing his job, isn’t being impeded to work outside of those hours at all (which is the vast majority of his working hours), loss of income will have no material negative impact on any dependants and in the case of convicted drunk drivers, losing your employment (a fairly common outcome) is never a valid reason to not lose your licence. There is zero reasonable arguments that a 3 month curfew is too punitive. It’s at most inconvenient, which is the point.

Hmm interesting round of footy. Us V Tiges. Tiges play a pretty consistent standard from what I’ve seen. It’s not a super high standard (yet), but it’s clearly enough to win if you don’t take your chances. This is ours to win or lose and I’m putting faith into the team that we won’t regress to full blown trash. Us but it will be close. Coll V Ess. Coll. Obvs. Freo V Adel. Crows haven’t beaten them in WA since 2016. Bad signs for Freo if they drop this one. Can Adelaide become a Top 4 contender? I’m backing the Crows. Saints V Fitzroy. Saints doing their yearly ‘oh wow saints look amazing’ to ‘oh, wait what? Do they suck?’ Why does it feel like for 5 seasons, saints have the biggest gap between their best and worst footy of any team? Fittezroy. Port V North. Port. GWS V Doggies. Darcy out is just too big for Doggies. I expect GWS to bounce back. I don’t reckon they’re playing at their best either and these 2 obvs dislike each other which is GWS advantage. The meaner GWS are the better they are. Suns V Sydney. Expect Dimma to have the Suns coming out breathing fire after the Richmond loss. King had 2 kicks for the game I think. Big day out for him. Carlton V Geelong. Geelong but, I feel like Carlton are going to smash a good team out of nowhere soon, go back to being mid. Wouldn’t be shocked if it’s this game. Hawks V Eagles. Hawks.

Out of all the AFL players that have played 5-6 games this year: Xavier Lindsay is rated 5th for disposal efficiency (1st for kicking efficiency) Ed Langdon is rated 7th for disposal efficiency (5th for kicking efficiency)

Yep I totally agree. Rubbish delivery for yonks. And yup, probably being judged harshly. But amongst all that rubbish, he also found ways to kick goals which has dried up. Which indicates to me, that something has changed about his game and he needs to find that again, because our delivery has never been great like you say. What I can see is different, especially this year with him, is when he gets the ball at ground level, he is apprehensive and he burns players in better positions when he should handball. He’s been caught, corralled or gives the ball off too late and gives the defenders time to close down players near him. He looks low in confidence to me and in two minds. And I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said in your post about his skills and need for space. I personally think a couple weeks in VFL are a good opportunity for him to find confidence again.

UWOTM8?

I don’t think anyone is jumping off him. Nobody is saying ‘Fritta is done’, on the contrary, I think a lot of people recognise that he’s been low on form extending into last season and a few VFL games can be a chance for him to find some form. On top of that the reality is we just achieved our 4th score of over 85 points, in about the last 50 games, in a team that has found scoring incredibly hard. Will we score that again 1-2 weeks in a row? I dunno! Probably not? Worth seeing IMO. And Fritsch is a gun, so scoring 2-3 goals a week for a couple games at VFL level should hopefully be easier for him than averaging 50+ for years and years at shield level.

It’s decided. He’s staying. I’ll call Kozzie tomorrow and let him know.

Yeah I lean towards what you said. Keep him for another year at least but in that time just let him play his natural game, communicate how important he is for the team and we can build a team around him. More money on a contract extension? Sure, let’s talk. We also have an issue with 100 game players: Kozzie, Rivers, Spargo, Sparrow are our 100 gamers. If we let Kozzie go then that bracket is extremely bare. Spargo and Sparrow are role players and that’s all. They won’t win us games. Rivers is definitely a bracket (or two) above those two but his ceiling is way lower than Kozzies. Kozzie is a superstar. Our list by games: 200-250 - 5 players 150-200 - 7 players 100-150 - 4 players 50-100 - 5 players 0-50 - 24 players

Urgh, l really hate this. We’re moving towards a style of play that suits Kozzie more than any other player on our list and he’s coming into his prime.

Might try and get a job with the suns. Be a mail boy for $450,000 a year, haha

Now that you mention it, T-Macs kicking has improved quite a bit over his career. He’s much more reliable than he used to be.

Welp, Richmond will beat you if you’re off. They like to make it a scrap

Yeah fair. Relief rather than elation

Hahaha, WTAF? I mean, he’s played 40ish games, probably in the top, 20? 25? Maybe? Defenders in the league, so when you look at it like that, I guess it makes sense to give him millions of dollars a year for 9 years. 🫠🥴🫠🥴🫠🥴🫠🥴