Its Time Again

Love your work. There was a lot of that wind around Domain on Saturday night but it didn't seem to harm us.

This is why I had a look. It's interesting that we are doing better on narrower grounds this year but worse on our home ground. It seems to me that zone defences like ours and Eagles are much more suited to narrower grounds like Domain and Etihad and get opened up on wider grounds like the MCG. They might be good in theory but might be causing us to have such a bad home ground record this year. You would wonder why we're doing it if that is the case as IMO any game plan should be developed for the final game of the year. The Swans also tend to play a zone defence because of the smaller SCG so we shouldn't be disadvantaged tomorrow night although we seem to get opened up on wider grounds and Buddy has the capacity to rip us a new one with more space. Ironically the SCG probably doesn't suit his strongest attributes.

I compiled the list below of all grounds dimensions. I didn't know a lot of them and was quite surprised by some of them. For instance the MCG is virtually the 3rd shortest ground in the comp but the widest. The Gabba is virtually the same dimensions as the SCG. Domain, Blundstone and TIO are virtually the same length which is 20 m's longer than the SCG & Gabba. Simonds is 26m's narrower than the MCG which is more than the difference between the shortest and longest grounds. I've done my best to verify the accuracy of these measurements. I even rang some of the venues. They all might not be 100% accurate. The AFL website has them on there but some are definitely not correct and I verified that with some of the venues. AFL Ground Dimensions MCG 160 x 141 Etihad 159.5 x 128.8 Simonds 170 x 115 SCG 155.5 x 136 Spotless 164 x 127.5 Adelaide 167 x 123 Domain 175.6 x 122.4 Gabba 156 x 138 Metricon 160 x 134 Manuka 162.5 x 138.4 Aurora 165 x 135 Blundstone 175 x 135 TIO 175 x 135 TIO Traeger 168 x 132 Cazaly 172.5 x 149

Stats are dangerous in the wrong hands. They have to always be seen in context. I don't think there's much point in comparing these stat's at this point. Kelly hasn't had any injuries that I know of. Tyson has played many of his games initially coming back from a serious injury after a lost season and then other injuries on the way through. Wait until they are both injury free with full preseasons if you really want to compare their raw ability as players.

I wonder if there's a point where Hibberd's manager says to Essendon. Come on do the deal or we'll go to the grievances tribunal tomorrow and you'll get nothing. Time would be getting tight and he'd end up in the draft and we'd have to get him to do a very high one year contract that no one else would touch ( a la Luke Ball) and then do a two year extension for very little to average it out.

Dodoro said on Trade Radio today that he thought our pick 26 was fair for Hibberd. So expect this deal to be done first thing Monday morning. Hibberd can get stuck into pre pre-season training straight away under the guidance of MIsso.

Nah, I think that's the Theatre of the P#nis boys.

B & F "Benny Matthews who is obviously the midfield coach. Some of the vision I go through with him over the past three years. I think that's why you see we are one of the top four midfields in the competition. Another one of the reasons is I'm palming it down their throat. Which helps. It won't take a genius to work out the top two are midfielders and there's a reason they are there."

At the B & F "Mark Jamar who didn't let me win a hit out in six years. Which was his way to teach me. Russian taught me everything I know today. And finally the guys at list management decided to give him the flick and give me a go. Which is good."

At the B & F "To Sammy Peach who said tennis wasn't a good idea 4 months after a knee reconstruction. Thanks Sammy."

B & F on Jim Synes "He lived his life on the motto Whatever it Takes which for him was quite severe. He drank his own urine to stay alive. I'm not going to be doing that at quarter time. I promise."

On coming 3rd at the B & F "You might think its arrogant that I had a speech and I only brought it out thinking I was going to be getting up a bit later."

Just smiled at the thought of Clarry deciding to get on here and have a quick look at what Demonlander's are saying about him and his response. WTF!!!!

I'm also in there when I get down there. Sense of humour?

No. 3 is underrated and something the really elite midfielders seem to have. Think Judd, Ablett, Selwood. Very hard to tackle and knock off their feet. As others have pointed out this isn't Parish it certainly looks like it is Clarry.

Where did you see or hear this? Any idea what the something most draftees don't have is? Maybe his looks?

Are you being serious? He said he didn't expect to be drafted and went at pick 4. Now he's saying he' s not AFL ready and would be happy with a couple of games. I wouldn't read any more into it than he appears to have a lower opinion of his potential than many others. He looks to me to be a kid who will let his footy do the speaking. He'll probably still be speaking like this when he's accepting his first Brownlow.

I'm going to do my best not to take notice of how the Toump goes this year. I wish him the best and a great career, I just don't want to see it happening away from MFC. As for Clayton Oliver, I'm not going to spend his career comparing him to Parish. I've already given myself enough angst doing that with Toump v Wines. These comparisons are irrelevant to the team out on the field each week playing for the MFC. Everything I've read from the training threads so far seems to be saying that not only is a beast of a competitor but he's got a nice burst of speed to break open games and his skills sound like they're better than I'd thought. Looks like a very solid all round package. Who to compare him with? My mind kept wondering to Dangerfield when I first saw footage of him. Last year I thought the trac and Brayshaw were the surest midfield picks we'd had in this rebuild era. I'm feeling the same way about Oliver even though he came from so far back at the beginning of last year. Time will tell.

Surely that's all in keeping with being a Dr Gonzo. Not relevant.

Turner compares him most directly with Joel Selwood who is 182cm. 181cm would be even more effective at doing that Joel Selwood arm raise to get the highest high tackle count in the league. Mind you Parish is 13kg's lighter.

If he gets picked at 3 it's because they believe he'll be able to produce his best consistently enough to be worth it. Frankly who has a clue this year other than professionals who have watched them over a number of years. I trust in Taylor & Co. The more I read the less clear I am. Our picks are a lottery this year. Any of a number of players could end up being the best in this draft and others could be dudds. We won't know for about 3-4 years. Big bodies like Oliver and Curnow might impact early while we might have to wait a few years for Parish. Actually that sounds a hell of a lot like Toumpas. Aaahhh! I rest my case. Who knows.

Any idea how accurate he has been in the past couple of drafts. His choices are interesting. Not sure I agree with them but frankly who knows in this draft. You'd have to have watched them personally to have an idea. I trust in our recruiters. Seems nearly all of them have question marks. Gotta trust in Taylor & Co to work out who to gamble on. Seems to me Parish, other than being small, is the least gamble in the 3-10 range of the non Academy boys.

That's my one fear about him. Sounds just like all the reports of the Toump as a junior. I remember seeing him sitting on the bench in the Darwin game year before last in tears. He just couldn't get into the game. Something didn't look right then. I reckon he was very hard on himself and destroyed his own confidence with pressure of being no. 4 pick and it's importance to MFC. He'll probably come good with that monkey off his back. That outstanding talent as a junior doesn't disappear. Anyway try again with Parish and hope he can bulk up enough to be competitive as a senior. I figure the fact he's got pace which we need so desperately will put him ahead of any others at 3.

Given the crazy money that's starting to be thrown around for teams to trade in Key Forwards. Think Boyd & now Dixon, who is an ok but not outstanding player yet & the play for McCarthy you'd think if Weideman was there we'd probably take him to set us up for the future as at some point we're going to have to get another key forward.

Don't think it will make a difference in the end. Either pick would have been used for Bugg. We wouldn't have had either left over.