rpfc

The backline needs all the help it can get to transition positively. Taking out the soul of that change is not the decision I would advise. We’re fine through the middle anyway.

I expect it, it’s others that need to check their expectations. And we shouldn’t budge from being defence first. That is our identity until Lever and May cease to be what they are (and while we don’t have good enough tall forwards). I can see what they are trying to do and where we are coming from. I’m comfortable at the moment because I know it takes a while and at least we have taken our first step.

I have been bleating about how boring we have been since halfway through ‘22 when we were kicking to the pocket to save the mids legs. At least this year we are trying to play footy again off halfback. Work in progress but at least it’s getting back to what we think of when we rummage through the sepia toned memory banks of eras that live on through highlight packages and not the dour slog of a full game with amateurs and part timers and sporadic talents.

McAdam is in our best 7 forwards on exposed talent and historical performance. He is coming from an interrupted pre-season and season. We need him as we need to evolve toward our medium forwards which are far more effective than our taller forwards and also more impactful in our new gameplan of quick transitional movement off the backline to short options across half forward.

No one. Ball was down the other end.

Glad we have you around to say something then.

Who for? Drop the kids to play the kids? This was always going to happen - a completely inert performance from a bunch of blokes playing a new way off defensive transition. Progress isn’t linear.

Maybe he thought he was going to the effing bench? Either we have rules against the nonsense off the ball or we don’t, but just because you may play footy to snipe blokes when you might get away with it - doesn’t mean the rest of us should put up with it.

You say ‘play on’… Sometimes the dim require things to be personalised for things to make sense; your son/brother/friend is playing footy and someone 15m off the ball makes a beeline for someone you give a s$&@ about and lifts their shoulder into the jaw and breaks it. You’re umpiring, you see it clearly, and you say ‘play on.’ Hmmm. Ok, sure…

Mate, the ball is 15m away, he is trying to get to the contest and should safely assume that every other player is doing the same. This is what the advocates of this new world what to see changed - do players have a duty of care to each other or not?

Do they have a tribunal process in the VFL? 4 weeks is insufficient. lifted slightly to get him high. Shoulder breaking his jaw. This should end your season, doing this in late May.

The false economy, Jaded. The false economy

The alternative being? I think if you gave Fox the opportunity to take an exclusive Friday night game instead of the dead Sunday twilight for example - they would take it. And what do we care as fans? We still can’t watch it on FTA. I still haven’t heard a good ‘the broadcasters want it’ argument - at the end of day… the long Sunday of 8 straight hours of senseless footy… the broadcasters want eyeballs and subscribers. Don’t think it’s met with NM v ESS having ‘room to breathe’…

We are talking broadcast times here and schedules and feel free to merge with something similar but I want to talk about the ‘overlap’ of games that the football media is so consumed by. Am I the only one who doesn’t give a flying? I don’t care if there are overlapping games - I am a fan of MFC not the AFL. The footy media might groan about having to go and watch a replay of a game to do their job but surely no one gives a flying?! Personally, the product needs to be protected from too much NM, Haw (lol), WC, and Essendon. Having Thursday night, Friday night, sat night, and Sunday 3.20 and the rest can be whenever Fox want them to be or just Sat and Sun at 2pm like families would love them to be. Am I alone here or are you like Rob Lowe…

Well, Geelong got flogged. Can’t imagine there isn’t a very good reason. NOT AN EXCUSE, ITS NOT AN EXCUSE But I do wonder the reason for it… illness, distracting troubadours, whatever it may be… BUT DONT YOU DARE SAY THAT THESE ARE EXCUSES These Geelong people will attack you upside the head with reams of public money. Public Money

His career mirrored the turn the club took into professionalism, elite performance, and sustained excellence. His legacy is yet to be finalised but it will make quite a story if it ended today.

Such a lovely story, I hope the club keeps this design for a few years. Or gets Mali to do a series. There has been a disturbing recent trend on social media with our indigenous members of our community having their identity questioned from the ignorant overseas. Won’t go into more because it isn’t relevant to my next point but I am really proud of the club that they do this and that we just make it a part of this storied club. The best time to start a tradition is ten years ago, the second best time is today. I think that’s the saying…

Petty can go in there.

Don’t watch enough Casey to know who comes in with Brown. Maybe go smaller in Perth and against the Saints. Its not immaterial but the bigger concern is first use, rebounding quickly, and hitting up shorter targets around the 50.

So you’re saying to not let them lead 36 to zero?? …

I didn’t mind it because that’s the best midfield and we were 6-2… you don’t get any chance to test yourself if you move away from your sets and go defensive. I would do that in a final, but guys hate it because you spent all week preparing and then you get the call that ‘nah, let’s not bother’ - it sucks a bit of life out I feel. In terms of our stoppages, I am ambivalent because the guys know they can get great clearances, chest facing goals, front of stoppage clearances, I just don’t think we put a great deal of focus on it because time is precious and I would prefer Clayton understand how he can use his endurance and smarts to get us going on defensive transition than do basketball like set plays that come off 4 times a game because that is life in the centre where a 208cm bloke has to palm it unseen into a slot for an ‘action’ (as the yanks would say) to be executed in a phone booth.

Fair enough. I am more thinking about the first quarter where I felt a level of inertia but I get your point. The pleasing point is when we needed 3 goals in 4 minutes we entered the forward so well for two of those - lowering eyes and hitting up the right option with confidence from up the ground.

Last night was a good example of progress not being linear. We were ‘punched in the face’ and our plan quickly went back to dump kicks and boring movement. It’s a good thing to learn from and recommit to the plan but it can be frustrating… We need to put away the Eagles though and stay out of our shells doing it.

There’s nothing more tragic than when a joke loses its context…