Whispering_Jack

The problem is giving to the MRP the ability to upgrade the impact to high based on capacity to cause injury even when the injury actually incurred is minor. This has led to the ludicrous situation whereby any hit on a player can potentially be graded high impact and lead to a two or three week suspension. They are virtually turning the game into a non contact sport.

The night hasn’t started well for a death ride. Hawthorn want this Harley Reid character more than we do.

I think Sexton once kicked five goals against us. Suns AFL must be going well if they can afford to drop him.

TASMANIANS DRAFTED INTO THE AFL - THE LAST 10 YEARS 2013 Total: 8 National: Kade Kolodjashnij (Pick No.5, Gold Coast) Toby Nankervis (No.35, Sydney) Alex Pearce (No.37) Jake Kolodjashnij (No.41) Ben Brown (No.47, North Melbourne via Werribee) Brady Grey (No.58, Fremantle) Rookie: Eli Templeton (No.3, St Kilda) Zac Webster (No.48, Hawthorn) 2014 Total: 3 National: Lachie Weller (No.13, Fremantle via Southport), Josh Watts (No.65, Brisbane Lions) Josh McGuinness (No.81, Brisbane Lions) 2015 Total: 4 National: Kieran Lovell (No.22, Hawthorn) Mitch Hibberd (No.33, North Melbourne) Mackenzie Willis (No.52, Gold Coast), Ryan Gardner (No.59, Geelong) 2016 Total: 1 Rookie: Robbie Fox (No.32, Sydney Swans via Coburg) 2017 Total: 2 National: Hugh Dixon (No.44, Fremantle) Rookie: Brody Mihocek (No.22, Collingwood via Port Melbourne) 2018 Total: 3 National: Tarryn Thomas (No.8, North Melbourne) Chayce Jones (No.9, Adelaide) Fraser Turner (No.58, Richmond) 2019 Total: 2 Rookie: Mitch O’Neill (No.20, West Coast) Matt McGuinness (NGA, North Melbourne) 2020 2020 Total: 3 Rookie: Isaac Chugg (No.22, Collingwood) Patrick Walker (No.2, North Melbourne) Rhyan Mansell (PSS, Richmond via Woodville West Torrens) 2021 Total: 2 National: Sam Banks (No.29, Richmond) Mid-Season Rookie: Jackson Callow (No.17, Hawthorn via Norwood) 2022 Total: 5 National: Lachlan Cowan (No.30, Carlton) Tom McCallum (No.36, Port Adelaide) Rookie: Cameron Owen (No.15, Sydney) Seth Campbell (No.10, Richmond) Mid-Season Rookie: Jye Menzie (No.15, Essendon via South Adelaide)

One of the responses I received was from Ashley Browne who edits the AFL Record. He pointed out that while the AFL is putting in only $15m towards the stadium, it will contribute $100m towards football development in Tasmania. I think that’s all well and good but I’m still not so sure as to whether throwing money at the problem will be enough. My information from Tassie friends is that the problem in the schools is that while one or two generations ago, footy was encouraged by teachers and played by almost everyone, that’s not happening these days and that teachers are nowhere near as involved in extra sporting activities as they were back then. How much spending over how many years will achieve a return to the former glory days? Comments welcome from Tassie posters on DL?

I put this up a few days ago on FB:- ON THE MAP? The island state of Tasmania received a major boost yesterday when the AFL granted it a licence that should ultimately see a 19th club in the competition before the end of the decade. At last, the Apple Isle is more than just an afterthought in the minds of the football public and the concept of an actual team representing the estimated 570,000 population has become a reality amid the glitz and glamour of Gillon McLachlan’s big announcement. There are however, numerous elephants standing in the room and in the way of a successful Tassie team and it seems somewhat ironic that the concensus name for its mascot is an extinct marsupial. The cynical author of this article has his concerns that the stadium which underpinned the application for an AFL licence might never be built and there’s certainly reason, at a time of 7% per annum inflation and rising building costs, to fear that it won’t come out on budget or on time. These days you can’t build an outhouse on budget and on time, let alone a major stadium. But there’s more and it relates to the fractured state of Tasmanian football, bedeviled for years by north/south rivalry and cold weather. I remember an early visit to Hobart one weekend in the early 1980s when we were staying at Wrest Point, I shunned the casino and spent the morning walking around the nearby historic Battery Point. It was sunny in the morning and after lunch, I decided to head off to the football to watch the local club Sandy Bay which had been a powerhouse in the 1970s. Their ground was only a walk away but by early afternoon, the clouds were descending down Mount Wellington and the freezing wind came over us by quarter time. The attendance was in the hundreds but by half time it was already thinning out. The game wasn’t particularly entertaining and I left before the final break to find sanctuary and thaw out in the hotel sauna. Sandy Bay ceased to exist as a football club in the late 1990s. Other once strong clubs that operated in the major Tasmanian competitions like North Launceston and the Burnie Hawks are now defunct. Way back in the day, Tasmania used to produce champion players by the truckload. Baldock, Howell, Stewart, “Tassie” Johnson, Hudson, Hart and so many more. It worked both ways because we once sent a player there, Ray Groom, to become the state premier. But more recently, the number of players being produced into AFL ranks has declined dramatically. Supporters of a Tasmanian team point to Geelong as a smaller region that produces plenty of local talent to support an elite AFL team but the number of quality players coming from the Geelong Falcons annually dwarfs the number coming from the Tassie Under 18 team. Who was the last champion player recruited from Tasmania? There’s a lot more work to be done in Tasmania than to just build a 20,000 seat stadium with a roof. The AFL needs to fix the state of football there before it will have a club that can fare any better than the expansion clubs introduced in the past decade. My fellow Tasmanians, congratulations on our team (and the swifty we pulled on the AFL)

Today’s weather report for the Gold Coast. Sunny with a high of 23 degrees (and currently 18 degrees?

Pies to win that one with a goal seven seconds before the siren. Take it to the bank.

The West Australian Under 18 team has been named and Sam van Rooyen (brother of Jacob) has made it ~ Western Australia Under 18 squad announced

Note in the Outs ~

GOLD COAST SUNS vs CASEY DEMONS Saturday 6 May, 12:05pm, Heritage Bank Stadium Head-to-head: Casey Demons 3-0. At Heritage Bank Stadium: Never Met. Streak: Casey Demons 3 GOLD COAST SUNS B: B. Uwland (32), C. Graham (46), J. Farrar (50) HB: M. Andrew (31), J. Stein (42), S. Brock (45) C: O. Faulkhead (37), C. Constable (33), J. Sharp (20) HF: H. Oea (47), J. Jeffrey (40), A. Sexton (6) F: B. McLaughlin (43), S. Day (12), C. Burgess (29) R: N. Moyle (49), E. Hollands (36), C. Blakely (26) INT: J. Tsitas (21), L. Johnston (38), J. Eckersley (56), M. Corbett (54), W. Derrington (51)* EMG: C. Harrington (52) IN: M. Corbett, J. Eckersley, A. Sexton OUT: T. Berry, S. Flanders (AFL), J. Anderson (managed) CASEY DEMONS B: J. Adams (26), A. Tomlinson (20), D. Smith (34) HB: M. Buntine (71), D. Turner (42), B. Howes (22) C: T. McRae (56)*, B. Laurie (16), R. Steele (54) HF: C. Spargo (9), J. Schache (19), J. Melksham (18) F: A. Moniz-Wakefield (45), B. Brown (50), M. Jefferson (21) R: J. Bell (73), M. White (52), T. Woewodin (40) INT: M. Gregory (57), G. Grey (68), K. Farris-White (43), O. Sestan (38), J.Smith (29) EMG: R. Valentine (65), M. Shepherd (77), C. Peters (63), H. Neocleous (75) IN: T. McRae, A. Moniz-Wakefield, J. Schache, C. Spargo OUT: L. Dunstan (knee), T. McDonald (injured), J. Harmes (AFL), Z. Duursma

I think the article accompanying the Team Selection mentioned specifically mentioned that Harmes was playing for Melbourne tomorrow and was subsequently edited.

Virtually confirms that James Harmes is the sub for Melbourne and/or that someone is out of the selected side for the main game.

The team is out ~ Spargo is in.

The Casey game is at 12.05pm.

Well done to the team at the DeeBrief for their reminder to Cornes of his Kozzy gaffe. I believe it wasn’t mentioned on Monday night’s Footy Classified. Wonder why?

Well, Warner Brothers have been smart enough to have the copyright of the Tassie Devil registered as their property so if the AFL want that name it’s a question of whether, as a matter of goodwill, they will release it to the team representing the state. I wouldn’t be surprised if Eddie Everywhere gets involved here because the current CEO of Warners is a Collingwood fan who Eddie knows well.

I haven’t been listening to SEN lately and therefore I’m not sure as to the basis of Cornes’ list. If it’s his best five from Round 7 then it has some merit. If it’s the best five of 2023 then he’s more than a little off the mark.

Are we Narrm again this year?

The new AFL CEO in waiting Andrew Dillon was asked about whether he thought a 20th AFL licence was now inevitable once Tasmania was admitted to the competition. His response was that the AFL had, in the past, fielded an odd number of teams so he wouldn’t be drawn into a definitive position on AFL Team 20. I personally believe that the 20th Team will happen simply because of the additional revenue that a 10th game in every round will bring. But from where will AFL Team 20 come? The Northern Territory, Canberra, perhaps another team from Perth or Adelaide or one of the regional centres of WA or SA?

The long-awaited issue of an AFL licence to Tasmania will create a 19 team competition later on this decade unless a club falls by the wayside or another licence is granted. The odd number of teams will create other issues as well. The Gather Round won’t work with an odd number of teams and the fixture will have to be coordinated in a way that all clubs have two byes. And we already have the debate about the unfairness of the fixture when teams play some teams twice in a season and others once. So this raises two questions ~ • Should there be an odd number of teams? and • If not, from where should Team 20 come? This thread is about the first question. I will open a separate thread for the question about Team 20.

The selection order has changed over the course of the season and, now that we’re seven rounds in, we can see the effect of both ladder position and the trading of future picks:- ROUND ONE 1. West Coast Eagles 2. Hawthorn 3. GWS Giants (trade with Richmond) 4. North Melbourne 5. Melbourne (trade with Fremantle) 6. Gold Coast Suns 7. GWS Giants 8. Sydney Swans 9. Western Bulldogs 10. Essendon 11. Adelaide 12. Geelong 13. Carlton 14. North Melbourne (trade with Port Adelaide) 15. Western Bulldogs (trade with Brisbane Lions) 16. St Kilda 17. Melbourne 18. Collingwood ROUND TWO 19. West Coast Eagles 20. Sydney Swans (trade with Hawthorn) 21. Richmond 22. Adelaide (trade with North Melbourne) 23. Fremantle (trade with North Melbourne*) 24. Melbourne (trade with Fremantle) 25. Gold Coast Suns (trade with Brisbane) 26. Adelaide (trade with Gold Coast) 27. Sydney Swans 28. Hawthorn (trade with Fremantle) 29. Essendon 30. Gold Coast Suns (trade with Adelaide) 31. Brisbane Lions (trade with Geelong) 32. Collingwood (trade with Carlton) 33. West Coast Eagles (trade with Port Adelaide) 34. Western Bulldogs (trade with Brisbane Lions) 35. St Kilda 36. Melbourne 37. Port Adelaide (trade with GWS Giants) ROUND THREE 38. West Coast Eagles 39. Sydney Swans (trade with Hawthorn) 40. Richmond 41. North Melbourne (trade with Fremantle) 42. Fremantle (trade with North Melbourne*) 43. Port Adelaide (trade with North Melbourne) 44. Gold Coast Suns 45. GWS Giants 46. Sydney Swans 47. Hawthorn (trade with Brisbane) 48. Essendon 49. Gold Coast Suns 50. Brisbane Lions (trade with Adelaide) 51. Fremantle (trade with Carlton) 52. West Coast Eagles (trade with Port Adelaide) 53. Brisbane Lions 54. St Kilda 55. North Melbourne (trade with Brisbane Lions) 56. Gold Coast Suns (trade with Carlton) ROUND FOUR 57. West Coast Eagles 58. North Melbourne (trade with Fremantle) 59. Richmond 60. Fremantle (trade with North Melbourne) 61. Brisbane Lions (trade with Adelaide) 62. Gold Coast Suns 63. GWS Giants 64. Essendon (trade with Sydney Swans) 65. Western Bulldogs 66. Carlton (trade with Essendon) 67. Gold Coast Suns (trade with Adelaide) 68. Western Bulldogs (trade with Brisbane Lions) 69. Carlton 70. Port Adelaide 71. GWS Giants (trade with Hawthorn) 72. Gold Coast Suns (trade with St Kilda) 73. Western Bulldogs 74. Collingwood * compensation pick The order will continue to change as the ladder positions change with each round.

We’re currently sitting on pick 5. Can’t see the Dockers showing too much improvement so worse case scenario for us is 6 or 7.

Bah … humbug … Melbourne is sabotaging the Freo deathride by destroying North Melbourne. How can we expect them to finish ahead of the Dockers after tonight?

Not quite Half Time in the Carlton VFL game, the Blues are 4 goals down. Harley Reid’s stats - 4 kicks, 0 handballs, 0 marks, 2 tackles.