Skuit

You sound unusually grumpy AmDam - like me on here last week. This place will do that to the optimists among us.

It's almost spooky in its prescience. Anyone seen [censored]-Bullet lately or is he off gallivanting around the country? Expect him to pop up somehow and influence the coming federal election - perhaps by teaching Bill how to properly drop the ball. Early club-house leader.

This has become ultra apparent in recent weeks when Jay Lockhart has marked himself as basically our classiest finisher.

'Goodwin said on Saturday May would not want to make the same mistake next pre-season.' - from the Hun. It's second-hand and I haven't checked for the source, but yes, this would seem to indicate that the club wasn't pleased with May. Anyone know of the direct quote and context?

Not a bad effort Rusty. Do I want to know what it predicts for this week?

Cheers for the new nickname deefella.

Happy to do so - except I don't think I saved them and would just have to go through the same process as posted plus send them. But, if you're having trouble finding them @Neitz Blitz I can have another look for you and send them across. Shout out if so.

So I was kidding, in part, but Hibberd has always had a bit of headless chook about him as well - run and break the lines first and then work out what to do with the pill. I don't think he has the same natural spacial awareness as say Jetta or Salem. If he's down a yard on pace, and the outlet options aren't presenting, then he's going to struggle to find the space to run and the kick is going to be under much greater pressure. Never been the greatest aerial defender either. Still, we have such an acutely balanced defensive game-plan, that the (relatively) poor form of Oscar and Frost and the introduction of May, Hore, Wagner, whoever, will ultimately disrupt that mix - and it ripples down the chain. Both he and Lever even struggled when first thrown in together, and unfortunately we're a long way from our best back six finding some cohesion. Would love to see a win-loss or points conceded graph as measured against our number of weekly back-line changes.

I found a link via a SuperCoach facebook (I think) post which circumvented the paywall - and could download the pdfs from the HUN article. Hope that helps.

Poor man's Frost.

"Then it clicked. Just as Tom McDonald hobbled from the field after rolling his ankle following an awkward landing in a marking contest, Melbourne's small brigade came to life." - AFL.com We lowered our eyes, began locking it in, and found space in front. And then it unclicked . . . when Tomald returned. We've seen the same thing happen with Hogan's absence in the past two years. Out: KK and Tomald - send him to CHB if you want to keep him, can't be worse than his brother. And we could undoubtedly do with some leadership down back. Jones should join him there as well, and Fritsch who can jump and mark can play up front. In: Keilty and Garlett

We looked the goods when Tomald was off the field.

The MFC and Rupert Murdoch and his lackeys sit at the exact opposite ends of my love scale in life - in fact I still have Demonland warning points from a couple of years ago for saying that I wished he would die. Despite that, I'm emotionally detached from this story and its surrounding intrigues and just want the information - which is difficult to get to, obscured by a Hun paywall and all the arms up in the air on here. You seem to be on the same page. If you have a means of access to them I'd be grateful if you could share.

WJ - I don't have access to the documents/reports and don't know what is going on. Can you elaborate further on your response?

Are these documents available outside of the Murdoch domain? If not, why not? And why does Newscorp have them? If they were leaked from AFL House, I'd argue that that would constitute bringing the game into disrepute.

Yup, and with Lewis, Garlett and May out that leaves only Melksham as a 100-plus gamer in any sort of form (excluding Gawn and Viney). We have a massive experience vacuum as it is - especially when Garlett and May are being added to that list as outs - and those with experience are wildly underperforming.

The smoking gun? It's the Hun, so I'm not so sure. It doesn't feature a direct quote, and as a journalist myself I'd want that revelation coming directly out of the mouth of the subject themselves. Reporter: did you dwell on the preliminary loss? Goodwin: the game was pretty clear in my head . . . Copy: Goodwin did not watch the game. But, if we're to move on - it leads directly to the next one: Contention: Goodwin's game-plan was found out by the Eagles in the prelim. I live away from Oz. Was this ever discussed with footage on any of footy shows or in print? What was it that the Eagles supposedly did to undermine our game-plan that hadn't been done before and can it be clearly evidenced on the replay?

I've always thought we should introduce blades to football but missed the announcement. Finally, Gil gets something right.

I like what he does here.

Supporting evidence: Jack be nimble and the shaved chicken ran up the clock at half past seven.

Not sure how this thread devolved into arguments? Contention. Find source and supporting evidence. E.g Contention: Several years ago the MFC put a massive contract offer in front of Josh Kennedy (Syd). Did the club ever hint at or confirm anything of the like? Or was it just a rumour from a supposed insider?

That is the premise, hopefully through objective measures where possible rather than just subjective ones. For balance, I should have written that some reasonable posters have suggested he is fat (and I'll go through later and compile a list), whereas others have said he isn't. It was just to highlight that there appears some conflict between the photographic evidence and some eye-witness reports. For those contesting the use of the word fat - clearly he is not fat by any definition. But it's fun to call a footballer fat and makes us all feel better about ourselves. Yes, the debate surrounds around whether he is in the appropriate shape as an athlete/for his role.

Hehe. Could be straight out of a gym session or flexing for the camera though? I was convinced by this photo that he was in good shape. Some reasonable posters who have attended training sessions have suggested he's not. I'm not sure how this one can be resolved?

Good one Hell Bent - this is on my list also. It's also a good one to demonstrate my own confirmation bias. I strongly disliked Neeld, love Viney, and wish we had selected Ollie for some midfield explosions. Hence, I've accepted it as true that Neeld overruled Todd - but think I've never read about it or heard any real evidence. Interesting that you've added another element - if there was a heated discussion, who's camp was Viney in?

Is there a public record of him having said he/the coaching staff hasn't - even if that isn't irrefutable evidence in the first place. This is what this thread is about - getting to the source. From Michael Gleeson in the Age: "The Demons coach did not spend long dwelling on the preliminary final blowout, because his side was so poor they didn’t resemble Melbourne at all." "The Demons did not do a regular play-by-play review of the game with their players because it was futile when they had played so far outside the way they know they should play, and outside the way they had been playing." Goodwin (as quoted): I certainly didn’t dwell too much on the way we played because it was nothing like the way the Melbourne team plays. But you do reflect on the things in our program (sic?) we keep addressing and learning from." Dated March 7 2019: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/grand-final-was-the-real-lesson-for-the-demons-goodwin-20190307-p512hl.html There's also another google reference to Goody not reviewing the game but it's behind a Hun paywall, and I recall he may have said something in a post-match interview or elsewhere about not reviewing. If it was future tense in the preliminary final post-match, I think that can be rejected as a pretty unreliable source. Anyone else have anything?