Go Ds

They had a big game against the Indigenous All Stars. If they were a real team that had time to gel as a team they'd be top 4, at least. I suspect that that game was a better 'blowout' than a match simulation against lowly North. On top of that it was hot, we'd flown across the country and virtually were one player down the whole game. ( Was there a sub? I didn't hear) Freo probably should have been fitter.

Some downside. Even more upside. This wasn't a great spectacle and I'd tip neither side for the flag off today's effort. But the formula is pretty straightforward: get into the final 8 - especially the top 4; be fit; be in form and play like demons (pun intended) for three or four games. Both sides could still do this and I doubt we say at 14th.

Like I said it would be preferable. But no one will care long-term about the result a few months .... weeks ... down the track. Look how Melbourne and others dropped away last year and Hawthorn and Brisbane had almost perfect 'half-seasons' after worrying starts.

It'd be preferable. But if Freo thrash us in the next 5 real matches even if we beat them by 30 goals in each pre-season match during that dominance it'll mean nothing. (That said good team and player performance today is preferable.)

Given one in eighteen is a pretty small proportion (rounding down) virtually no team wins a flag. Of course one must win but it's a big challenge and stats suggest flags normally are few and far between. I agree completely with your post. Maybe I could have refused to watch Melbourne again circa 1982 until some alerted me we were 9 goals up in the grand final. But that would mean I'm not a real supporter , or even a footy fan. While there's been frustration the last three years has been among the most three-year periods since the mid60s. Most teams would envy us

Unless the offseason was much shorter there's always gonna be lots of anticipation by now. Unfortunately footy fans want to hear stuff as we approach the first real game. I'm not sure it's a good idea for football clubs to go completely silent over summer. And take note the Goody interview is one of many Ch7 are doing with clubs at the moment. If the PR isn't complete BS I'm fine with it. For at least another week clubs can't 'talk' so this is the main thing they can do. Besides I'm sure more people buy memberships after hearing all the fluff compared to when the last message over summer was "Merry Christmas"

Honestly I get the message and tend to agree with it. But I am reminded of this. https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxRnq4zueuxKLfs1wYoeBhEASrOgjWnJ9N?si=tXQpB6gHdQAJonO-

Yeah.... I'll be loudly protesting outside the president's office. If the beloved McDonald is not un-instated I'll be microwaving my membership card on TikTok.

Hell no. But usually wouldn't Hall Of Famers be first-mentioned when asked about best players?

It is. But I just looked at the team of the century thread. Not everyone had him in their best 18 or even 22/23.

You mean you'd be reading someone's post and suddenly suspect/realise it was actually just AI? I don't want that either. As long as we're forewarned that threads are about AI or dont open threads only to find they're infested with AI responses I'm fine with it

Huh? If you're not interested in jumper numbers you wouldn't click on on a thread called Jumper Numbers. If you're not interested in best looking Demons players ever you wouldn't click on a thread called Best Looking Demons Players. If you're not interested in ChatGPT ....... I guess if 15 topics in a row mention AI I'd agree with you. But unless AI becomes amazingly good at predicting or analysing AFL I think we're pretty safe

It said at the top Chat GPT. Unless you didn't know that is AI why bother with this thread?

Was this a surprise? He was a heart-and-soul role-model kind of player. But wasn't he always at least a rung below the most talented players?

True. It's good there are practice matches. I kinda agree with your last sentence. But it's more the teams that know this info and a sample of one is often insufficient . If an opposition player is unfit, sick or injured they can make a player look way better than they are. It can even work the other way where a much-improved defender makes a forward look inexplicably ordinary (but will end up doing that all season). I know there's a correlation of sorts between pre-season form and the real one. But often it's hard to know which bits correlate (even for the teams' brains trusts)

It's so hard to know what to take out of these games. A lot of times in the TAB* when an unexpected horse won a race the punters would rush back to the form guides on the wall to check whether there was a factor they had missed. Usually this wouldn't improve one's punting; but the same during the year if, say, Kako kicks 40 goals or Geelong drops down to 12th we'll then overrate hindsight. As for watching these games I'm sure I'm not the only one who likes to have these kind of things, plus other sports, on in the background. I suspect if I was born in America I'd be spoiled for choice for nightly sports viewing (assuming I liked their biggest sports in this parallel universe.) * This is ancient history. I'd guess the only people still in TABs are tragics who either can't afford pay TV or are Luddites who even resisted using email for years.

Yep! My first 30 years were this neck of the woods. I'd say the famous beach houses/boxes nearish to where Dendy St meets Beach Rd would have a connection to a lot of these well-to-do and their holiday houses.

I'm pretty sure my late father told me that maybe about the time the VFL started in the late 1800s that Brighton, Melbourne was considered a country town and the rich would take the train there to stay in their holiday homes.

It can get things horribly wrong. I've asked versions of it about champion 80s sprinter Placid Ark and each time not only was its answer miles off it kept giving weird new answers (some even with bizarre declaration such as PA coming 1st and 3rd in the same race(!)) Then a few days ago I asked Deepseek about actors in Brit TV shows and even after correcting it over and over it did the same 'new-wrong-answer' routine as the previous AI did.

Hmm. I expect Hawthorn to drop, but rebuilding? They almost made the prelims. I'm assuming the prediction is that at least 12 teams finish above them. That's bold. Sydney is in the very unusual circumstance of having a new coach despite coming 2nd last year. It's almost a cliche now that sides thrashed in GFs have a horrible follow-up year. Maybe a new coach will help buck the trend. But maybe it won't. Thus there is some chance they're not finals certainties. (Off their '22 GF thrashing they arguably shouldn't have made the next year's final (remember THAT Adelaide behind and the umpire not bothering with the replay?) so maybe this time they do miss.) I can also see GWS off two harrowing 'snatching-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory' straight-set finals losses and their Mad Monday controversies being vulnerable. And I'm sure many of us are asking if Melbourne were that inconsistent. Before the first worrying signs we were 6-3 with a 1-point loss in there. Even after the Freo debacle and Petracca's last full game we were 7-5. Often from there sides will go deep into September, such as ... I dunno ... Brisbane who were 4.5-6.5 en route to their flag. Football is so hard to predict even computers can be made to look stupid. Hopefully at Melbourne achieve that this year.

Footy is not the be-all and end-all in my life but I realised how grateful i was when it came back in that weird Covid-affected 2020 season after a few months of humdrum footy-less winter. We're now at that stage of pre-season I'm getting excited for the new season. I've heard the podcast; i saw some of the other match simulations, I saw ours. Cripes, I'm now even looking forward to watching some of the early footy panel shows! Hurry up March 6 and March 16 (and thanks George, Andy and Binman for being another step in the pre-season wind-up.)

I sure hope you don't accidentally post your honeymoon snaps. 🙄

Did @binman mention Arden St? Someone did on the latest podcast. AFL Tables is a very handy website. It looks like 1985 was when the last VFL/AFL match was played at that venue. https://afltables.com/afl/venues/arden_st_gm.html

A couple of things: There are plenty of times when players are rested/injured there is a silver lining. Maybe I have misremembered but when Gawn was injured in 2017 I got the feeling the midfield knew they had to step up, and step up they did! And that accelerated their progress into becoming the best midfield in the league circa 2021. If Gawn gets rested maybe it will help someone on the fringe of the leadership group to show he'll be a great future captain. (And similar to Rivers last year and with some in 2017 Gawnless games may improve players or team strategy.) Also re Gawn I don't think being nasty works well anymore for coaches. I hope Goody and co will tear strips off players when absolutely necessary. But I'm glad he doesn't seem to fly off the handle. I know personally I hate being aggressively criticized (choose some other method.) As long as Gawn is critical when needed I think someone whose worst season when captain still managed almost 50% wins and whose best year at the helm had him holding up the premiership cup is welcome to continue as captain. Finally how often does 14th or 5th last finish with so many wins? (Or with 10-10.5 wins in 22 games). It wouldn't have taken too many tweaks in that final round for Melbourne to finish a few places higher. We would have still been exactly the same standard with these scenarios. But suddenly our draft picks are 2 or 3 positions worse and maybe even our fixture this year is noticeably harder.

A couple of things: There are plenty of times when players are rested/injured there is a silver lining. Maybe I have misremembered but when Gawn was injured in 2017 I got the feeling the midfield knew they had to step up, and step up they did! And that accelerated their progress into becoming the best midfield in the league circa 2021. If Gawn gets rested maybe it will help someone on the fringe of the leadership group to show he'll be a great future captain. (And similar to Rivers last year and with some in 2017 Gawnless games may improve players or team strategy.) Also re Gawn I don't think being nasty works well anymore for coaches. I hope Goody and co will tear strips off players when absolutely necessary. But I'm glad he doesn't seem to fly off the handle. I know personally I hate being aggressively criticized (choose some other method.) As long as Gawn is critical when needed I think someone whose worst season when captain still managed almost 50% wins and whose best year at the helm had him holding up the premiership cup is welcome to continue as captain. Finally how often does 14th or 5th last finish with so many wins? (Or with 10-10.5 wins in 22 games). It wouldn't have taken too many tweaks in that final round for Melbourne to finish a few places higher. We would have still been exactly the same standard with these scenarios. But suddenly our draft picks are 2 or 3 positions worse and maybe even our fixture this year is noticeably harder.