Skuit

I still think Viney is easing himself back in as well.

Could probably just copy & paste one of the responses from the Changes vs Bulldogs thread this week: no changes. But there's no harm in a brief reminder of the following: 1st Contested 1st Contested Differential 1st Centre Clearances 1st Scoring 1st Inside-50s 1st Marks Inside-50 1st Goal Assists 1st Least Opponent Marks 1st Least Opponent Kicks 1st Least Opponent Inside 50s The areas where we are still letting ourselves down 2nd Clearances 2nd Metres Gained 2nd Turnover Differential 2nd Intercept Differential 2nd Goal Accuracy 3rd Contested Marks 3rd Total Tackles

My recollection is that we were last denied for two reasons, one official and one less so. The first, publicly discussed, was that we'd had a number of close games in 2014, and so were adjudged competitive with some decent young prospects. The second, was that despite it adhering to the AFL free agency formula, our compo for Frawley was deemed sufficient reward, and it would have been a bad look for the league if we were awarded a bonus pick on top. Mostly, in my mind, it was Roos and co going through the motions to secure concessions in other areas, but 2013 should have been the year - and if we didn't deserve one then, then the bar has been raised to a serious degree. Still, I couldn't care less if the Blues get one or not.

There's some talk of us starting to shape as a destination club. This is all good. But what's more exciting is that there's evidence that we're now perhaps considered a Rookie destination club with a strong development programme and clear pathway as demonstrated by Maynard and Smith. It's great if everyone in the AFL wants to come to us, but we will still need to pay for them and juggle the cap - so it's even better if we can keep getting first dibs on potential top-line young talent for free.

Also, on the broad subject of incestualism (Collingwood supporters), I had separate boyhood crushes on both mother and father growing up as a sporting lad in the 80s. Makes for supporting Austin now a little bit awkward - although I certainly wouldn't have chosen the name Austin for our fantasy spawn back then. Phileas Provis perhaps, or maybe Bradbury Bradkte (hint: I also liked fantasy sci-fi as a kid).

Collingwood supporters generally cry into their porridge rather than cornflakes. It's a dental thing.

Thanks fellas. This hadn't occurred to me at all. On another absolutely completely unrelated note, is there any chance we can add a tongue-in-cheek Demon emoticon @Demonland?

Kent will play in the bye week? Perfect conditions for him with the opposition at home with their feet up playing Playstation. I hope he kicks 3000 goals. No excuses.

You'd think de Goey would be a better fit with West Coast.

I was meaning to update a couple weeks back so it's not just a fair-weather bump - but I do hope others can help to keep the numbers fresh and add their own bits and pieces when they come across them. Anyway, at the end of Round 9: Scoring: 1st Scoring 1st Inside-50s 1st Inside-50 (Differential) Intensity 1st Contested 1st Contested Differential (by a huge margin) 2nd Clearances (1st Center - 3rd Differential) 3rd Tackles (3rd Most Tackles Against) 5th Tackles i50 4th poorest D/E% against/most Turnovers Against/most Clangers Against 3rd (!) Contested Marks! (6th least Contested Marks Against) Space/Territory 1st Least Kicks Against 1st Least Marks Against 1st Marks i50 3rd Metres Gained (2nd Differential) 4th Intercepts (2nd Differential) 2nd Least i50s Against 17th Rebound-50s 18th Bounces Notes - again, most of the stats are telling us exactly what we're seeing - although I don't think we're entirely appreciating the extent of our various multiple areas of dominance (possibly because we're still not consistently and fully capitalising on-field). We're top-notch at the coal-face stuff but we're also forcing the opposition to play our close-in game - i.e high tackles against. We're also putting a lot of pressure on the carrier and it's telling in the opposition turnover/DE%/clanger stats as well as the least kicks against figure. And we're smashing the territorial battle. The big surprise for me is in our continued contested marks statistics - a huge improvement on last year, and we've also properly balanced our kick/handball disposal ratios - another common grizzle from last year. The most pleasing thing for me - we're doing all the hard stuff and proving a dynamic forward threat. If I had to build a team game from scratch from a fan perspective, and could choose aspects of dominance by compromising in other areas, I would probably take contested/high-scoring/forward territory over high possessions and DE%. The Roos to Goody transition may have been an unintended masterstroke. We're both a hard and attacking football team in an aggressive and pressurised modern era. But disregarding my own personal footy fan-boy preferences - is this the formula for success? Manic, contested footy, a high-press, and thrusting the ball forward as the first priority?

So after succumbing to our strange 40 point roadblock again for two weeks in a row this month, we seem to have broken the hoodoo and kicked on with it in the past two consecutive weeks. Coincidence? Irrelevant? Turning point? For me, there has been an obvious intent within the team to do so in these past two weeks, and some of the language coming out of the club suggests that it's an area which has been addressed. Does this put to rest the question re. our potentially unsustainable game-style - or is it something which requires a longer-term measure? Will we be able to crush better teams when we dominate (such as Adelaide last year?) vs. Essendon 43 points (4th Qtr 9.10 mins) 48 points (19.29) 36 points (Final) vs. St Kilda 43 points (3rd Qtr 25.5 mins) 48 points (4th Qtr 4.18) 39 points (Final) ....................................... vs. Gold Coast 38 points (4th Qtr 7.1 mins) 69 points (Final) vs. Carlton 37 points (3rd Qtr 0.34 mins) 73 points (4th Qtr 4.15 mins) 109 points (Final)

As an aside, I live in Europe and have travelled a fair bit in my time. The vast majority of people I speak to overseas, from every corner of every continent, have derived most of their cultural understanding of Australia from Masterchef. And forget official figures - go on an illegal streaming site and you'll often see the show among the 'popular' content. This show is simply huge. For the most part these people will probably never care much about football. But in terms of international exposure, this is a massive coup - in fact, I can't think of a single, promotional effort that could bring as much widespread attention to our football club - especially one as easy and inexpensive as this. Masterstroke.

I still think he has depth-perception issues. Maybe we can shift one on the o's on Ooscar's $50,000 contract offer and he won't pick it up?

'We have looked at the game as an opportunity to improve all all aspects of how we go about things, including how we can better communicate key messages to our players when the opposition gets a run on. It is easy to forget how young our list is and we have two key leaders in TMac and Jack out so this week we are going to have Macca, who is definitely in no way disaffected and is really happy about the move and he and Goody get on better than ever and have a fantastic working relationship, you could even say a personal relationship, if you consider that time Macca went round to Goody's house for a BBQ, go back to his role that he played so brilliantly for the last 3 years as a key person communicating directly to players on the bench and conveying messages from the box. Which he is happy about.

Was vaguely concerned after reading the general thrust of this thread. Not so now. Thanks for sharing Cards. While there may be a kernel of truth somewhere in the story, it's a shame modern journos feel the need to sensationalise - whether it be internal media pressure, pandering to a mindless audience, or plain simple ego to break something big. I'll be taking a grain of salt with that kernel. And if there are a few minor internal problems, it's clear then that the club is moving to address them. A modern workplace.

I've been mostly concerned over the past couple years re. his capacity to gain clean possession off the deck. The weekend wasn't a time to judge but was again his biggest problem. Got to the right spots but fumbled or overran.

I'm certainly no expert, but assuming there's no further set-backs or especial caution I would expect players of Viney and Tmac's ilk to be available within the month.

I don't condone violence in any shape or form. Except where it concerns a five-foot football recruit in their first outing for our club and then it makes me smile.

I'm rather disappointed to hear he'll miss our first two premierships but maybe we can squeeze him in for our third?

I'm usually too absorbed in the ruck contest to register our ground set-up on TV or who's even present at our breakdowns - like the umpire is some magician distracting me with the ball - but I did notice this a couple times last year. Usually it spelled trouble though. A vast paddock opening up after a tight contest - Geelong and Hawthorn in the last quarters spring to mind.

This would appear the most logical deduction. Our kick to handball ratio has improved and we're probably clearing it a bit quicker from the breakdowns with less handballs around the pack - two of the biggest gripes on here last season. It may be the Goody quietly addressed the tackled numbers in the off-season - which would certainly add to fatigue within a game and additional wear across the season - and while it's difficult to quantify among other measures, we seem to be closing out games fairly well. Goody also strikes me as a man of deep statistics. I made the point in the post-match thread of Lewis's curious post-match on-field interview, where he somehow already knew the match stats for contested and centre-clearance differentials. Obviously a focus to win these numbers to the point where our leaders are being constantly updated.

A variety of sources wherever I can find them - which still sometimes requires some extra digging to navigate the sites. Primarily afl.com, afltables and footy-wire. Would love to know of any others. Always appreciate @Rafiki's subscriber Telstra additions, and I think the Hun may print some unique ones. I imagine the betting agencies might have some obscure stats on occasion as well. The ones above are all pretty surface - so hoping others can dig out some more curious figures.

This always turns my brain around as well - like a double-negative through connotation. To clarify; we're the seventh-most tackled team. 2016 we were the most tackled team and last year we were on track for one of the top-most. Curious as to what has caused this drop? Also, I'd love if someone knew where to find the attempted and broken tackle stats to see if there's any variation.

We held our stat-line quite well for a good portion of last year until the injuries began to bite and the midfield figures and then scoring dried up (as a rough and ready figure; we scored above 100 points 7 out of the first 12 matches until we played West Coast. Only once thereafter). I think we'd be pretty short odds to end up top-four for contested and centre clearances this year and so then inside-50s as well - though we have a fairly young midfield brigade still which might fade a fraction.