Skuit

I stumbled across this article yesterday. It's a review of Time and Space by James Coventry, which Dee Man mentioned early in this thread - written by Russel Jackson (who I've been told has moved on from the Guardian due to a dispute). The review alone covers some interesting tactical developments and their surprise originators, which I was probably too young at the time to care about or have picked up on - though I think most wouldn't be aware of these aspects of AFL history. I'll be looking to pick up a copy now. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jul/15/understanding-afl-tactics-russell-jackson.

This may sound counter-intuitive (especially to egalitarian Aussie minds), but I don't believe a 17 or 34 game season makes the competition any more equitable as some ideal we should strive toward. Teams have runs of form, injuries, suspensions etc. - when you come up against a team and the strength of that team at the time is partially a matter of luck. Yet, the longer a season goes obviously increases the sample size and thus a more equitable result in the end - so I believe there's some room to add a few extra matches without necessarily striving for 34 and weakening the game. It shouldn't be considered as a dichotomy. In practice, the AFL has probably hit upon the most equitable fixture in a practical sense. Playing more games against your previous season bracket. That would be easy to expand to the top and bottom halves of the ladder (17 + 7) and would create a greater sense of formal fairness for fans, as well as accommodating more of the big-money games without sacrificing the ideal. I feel that a 24 game season plus a bye or two feels about right.

We’re getting killed in tight tight and off half back and we were still in front at the half. Turn that around a bit and we should coast home. Our movement is relatively good. Tough match though. Also, stop kicking to Tomald. C’mon Dees.

I hate playing against the non-glamour Victorian clubs: North, St Kilda and the Bulldogs. We invariably lose against mid-table rubbish and it's not nearly as satisfying when we do win. But today would be very satisfying against a strong midfield outfit.

I agree with the sentiment. But that would be 55% of Sparrow's time on the ground I'm presuming - which last week was just 55% of total match time. So he's obviously mostly rotating on to give our other blokes a breather - effectively overall one less, but a solid player helping to maximise the output of our champion mids. It looks like he's mostly taken Harmes' minutes too, maybe also allowing for greater back-line stability throughout a match.

Had no idea that Whitten Oval was on Barkly street. That's almost as good as the bloke who recently got done for 500kg of cocaine in PNG - David Cutmore.

As imported from another thread: Dimma and Dimmer.

John Trotter: ex-Deloitte Global Managing Partner for Risk Services and Managing Partner of Deloitte Victoria. Seems a pretty safe pair of hands. "Chair of the Club’s Risk and Audit sub-committee. He is also Chair of the Bentleigh Club sub-committee. He has particular involvement at the Board level on the governance structures, risk management and finance operations of the club". Given our recent history it's almost impossible to imagine we're in a strong financial position. But he may be a clue.

My ex-girlfriend is still super-hot but when she starts talking about crystals again I know I made the right decision.

Goody confessed to as much last year. They were underdone at the start of the season, the confidence quickly evaporated and then the pressure came on: the end result was a series of aimless weekly tweaks.

I hate being a stick in the mud sometimes but whichever teams make the finals probably deserve to be in the finals. Channelling Ethan here, but if we lose an elimination final then we likely don't deserve to be in the finals anymore.

We will be doing so.

Summary here: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2020-afl-finals-afl-grand-final-premiership-odds-predictor-champion-data-premiership-profile-2020/news-story/d1ce45ef3111bb82cad8d2157664b922

Just that it's seldom recognised that the Port teams while offensively creative were between roughly 2015-2019 actually the hardest to score against. I would have to go back and look at some footage to pick up on any notable pattern though as to defensive set-ups. It may just be a result of fitness, belief and two-way running. The shortened quarters muddy the sample, but we do seem to be developing a 2015 Port last quarter vibe.

Yep. The super-high-press was both exhilarating and wildly frustrating. We backed ourselves in in a shoot-out and accepted leakage - with the notion that if we could shave off a couple goals defensively we would come out on top. One issue is that we never had our preferred back-six in together (and we were obviously recruiting accordingly), so we won't ever really know if we could have pulled it off. Goody already loosened it in mid-2018, and with our early-season offensive impotence this year he's had to remodel completely. I like where we're now at. It's curious though to look back at the Port teams when Burgess was at their club and after. I think we have scored some- back-door Hinkley IP.

I've been a backer of Goodwin (and remain so) since day one - despite having reservations about some aspects of his game-plan. Because type A. He sold me on a vision and I want to see it play out even if I'm not sure it will ultimately work. It's true that the brains-trust on here is usually at least a few matches ahead of Goody on the required adjustments, but these are probably the easy calls. He may come across as stubborn, and it's probably cost us some H&A games, but that's the mark of a successful innovator - to give any idea room to grow. When it hasn't worked out, he has in the end made the right changes.

In a rare instance on Demonland I've come around on Aaron (noting, again, that I once thought he was the second coming of Carey). Didn't think he was much chop. Clichés such as the team standing taller, barometer etc. didn't persuade me against kicking efficiency. Now I'm completely sold. I want this bloke in my team. Not only his hardness but his persistence is probably inspiring for teammates.

Going to bed with Vanders is a frightening prospect. Get crunched in a hug and then he probably misses the intended 'target'.

Gave me the serious love-vibes* https://www.carltonfc.com.au/video/797688/eddie-s-special-afl360-montage?videoId=797688&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1597792488001 *For lack of a better place to post.

Haha. AVB knocks a bloke out and then starts making moves on his girlfriend. Old-school legend.

Which one is Josh? I remember once thinking one of them was okay. I think it was at the start of 2016.

Did Gil or his minders respond bin? I have a few suggestions around the holding the ball rule and could do with an inside line.

The potential list-size squeeze is not just a challenge but a huge opportunity. Chances are a number of mostly untried players will get cut (think Baker for example). I'm not remotely across it. Anyone on here have any idea of who might be in that category from other clubs and worth a delisted free agent looksie?

I once read some scientific reasoning behind this phenomena but have forgotten the basis. Something to do with cars from memory. Can't be bothered googling but it's probably in the internet aether somewhere for those keen to investigate.

I agree with this thread. Binman has been getting unfair plaudits for being the concept originator. I knew it was someone else who first floated the idea and actually thought it was me. There's no evidence to support my own case though. I'm mostly too lazy to post what I think half the time without the encouragement of whisky. Anyone want to hear my radical finals shake-up idea again? I posted it on here once for time-stamped posterity if anyone else ever hit on the same idea or stole it.