Go the Biff

Yeah, you did. And you just did again. The sum total of the post made by @Beetle was "Players will be offloaded at years end". That's it. No mention of top players or any others for that matter. That was all you misquoting him. I'm done with this. Suggest you take some time to sharpen up the old reading & comprehension skills. Perhaps if you weren't in such a rush to pump out your own drivel you might actually take the time to absorb what you're responding to. Y'all have a nice day now 😄

Good point Dazzle. Great to see his role being recognised for what it is - defence first, not the run & carry of his early years. In Goodwin's post-match presser he confirmed that Hunt had been trained for the small forward defence. I'd never have thought he'd be a likely candidate but he's taken on Nev's old job & he's making a fine fist of it to date.

Liked for the Deep Purple reference

Say what you like mate. I really don'rt GAF. Just don't misquote other posters to make your point

I don't hate Frosty but must admit I enjoy watching him have goals kicked on him. I do hate Essendon - everything about them. But, the 22 blokes in those hideous black & red jumpers deserve credit tonight. That was a tremendous win under the circumstances. Even found myself barracking for them. Time to give myself a shower & possibly disinfectant treatment. I feel very dirty.

I thought he had them playing decent footy without wining many in the back half of 2021. It's gone to tripe this season. One thing is certain. No club is as reliant on one player as Norf are on Ben Cunnington. Rudderless without him.

Where did he say top players ? He just said players. Jesus, learn to read

Harmes has stuffed up plenty of attempts at goal without TMac's input. The whole TMac mark on the line has been overblown here. Fritta did it to Sparrow in Q1 of the GF. That turned out ok !

Brown's return was complicated by logistics. He came out of iso on the morning of the game. Would then have had to get to the airport & fly to Adelaide & have limited prep time on the day. This was also at a time when every second flight out of Tullamarine was being cancelled. I reckon ANB plays if he's suffered no ill effects

A bit the same. I thought he was fantastic early on at the Giants and was hoping we could prise him out of there. Unfortunately he was playing a lot better at 19 than he is at 29. Still has talent, pace & power and could be a significant asset in the right environment. It appears that's not Essendon. Economically, it can't be us.

Which one ? You can't have both

I don't think it is unless you take the legs of the tackler. Then the old Jimmy Edmonds/Peter Foster rule comes into play. Ducking usually gets called as play on rather than a high tackle. There was some discussion of this in the MRO thread. FWIW, my two cents worth : The AFL missed the boat on this a couple of years ago when they decided to call "play on" should a player deliberately duck and cause high contact to himself, rather than paying a free kick for high contact as was previously the case. What they should have done was made that a free kick against the player who ducked. In that way, there's a penalty against the team Players would soon have that action coached out of them. And if they don't, they don't get a game

Yeah I know but I thought I'd leave that one alone after his charade leaving the Eagles

So was Pendlebury. Buddy Franklin as well. Decent trifecta

Just heard it No !

Enjoying this. Would like to see Freo go beast mode in the last and put some big numbers up. I know a lot of Bluebagger fans. Related to more than my fair share as well. I've rejoiced in their disappointment and would like to continue to do so.

Looks to be based roughly on the NFL model of officials in designated areas. They also work in crews (teams). I can see where he's coming from but it seems like overkill to me (much like the dissent rule). Good luck getting 8 umpires per game at local and junior level although I doubt that the flow on effects entered Ed's mind

Nah - this bloke would be copping 50's left, right & centre

Yes ! Early last year I thought they worked together really well at Casey. There was a game where Weed got the lion's share of the goals but I thought Brown had much the better, more effective game. The following week their roles reversed & Brown got 7 goals whereas Weed was close to BoG. The caveat here is that both games were thumpings of rubbish opposition. One of the questions we face is are we looking strictly at the "now" ? If that's the case I think TMac gets the nod. But if we have an eye to the future perhaps Weed gets another game for his development & TMac is "rested". It's going to be tricky plotting a path where we can continue to develop Weed but we need to. He is 24. Next cab off the rank is JVR at 18 / 19. When TMac & BBB next unwrap their Xmas presents they're both going to be 30 years old and post 30, the end can come quickly for an AFL player. So we need to be prepared and have a plan around succession planning for our key forwards.

I have no wish to understand why Essendon don't defend or aren't working hard enough. My wish is that it long continues

Macca you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that I'm posting about umpiring in general. I'm not - my posts are entirely on the subject of this thread. I believe my views are supported in the article & statistics posted by @sue and the Darren Goldspink interview posted by @John Crow Batty. In short, the AFL have created a situation which has backfired & umpires are being viewed with greater disdain as a result. And they are quoting a shortage of umpires as justification for their ham-fisted approach. And that on field abuse is the driver for this shortage.To pinch a line from Dennis Pagan "don't [censored] down my leg and tell me it's raining" Umpiring in general, rules, grey areas etc would be a fine topic for a different thread which could generate some decent debate (in amongst some emotive tripe). Happy to chuck in my two 'penneth worth there should that eventuate

And we wonder why we have "grey areas" We question why Andrews gets pinged for raising his arms yet Holman & Hewett don't Again, this is not on the umpires. They are trying to make the best of a steaming pile that's been dropped on them. It's entirely on the AFL administration

That's where we differ on this Macca. You're happy to accept what you'd have thought whereas I would prefer some evidence. FWIW I have a few mates who umpire at local level. Juniors up to 17's as they are getting on a bit & keeping up with the play at senior level is a bit taxing. So I canvassed a couple about on-field abuse. Both reckon it's virtually non-existent in their experience. One said that occasionally a player will question a decision but he merely reminds them that he is the umpire, they are the player & let's get on with the game. He reckons it always ends there. Both reckon they cop it from over the fence but are able to ignore it and stress that you should never engage with any off-field "feedback". Both were critical of umpire T&D. One is in the ENFL, the other does ENFL and school comps, private & public during the week.

I don't think it's clear at all the abuse is the driver of umpire shortages. To my knowledge, no data has been presented by the AFL to support this. I'll give you another reason why there is a shortage of umpires. In the past five years or so, the number of women's teams playing competitive football has exploded. With that has come a shortage of grounds, facilities and yes - umpires. But if the AFL can produce meaningful, well researched data that the shortage is driven by ON FIELD abuse, I'll shut up and move on.

We can. But as I said earlier, the AFL is putting out a fire with gasoline Talkback radio, social media etc indicate that the level of respect for umpires has fallen further as a result of this approach. And as I also said earlier it's not their fault. I suspect the nett effect will be to drive more umpires from the game at local & junior level. @Supermercado makes a very good point a few posts above yours. Given the AFL has taken over the sport rather than just its own league, I'd be interested to know what they are doing of a practical nature to attract, retain & develop umpires at local level