george_on_the_outer

So is Ryan a ranga beneath the blonde bleach?

I'm no expert on this so we have to bow to @Lucifers Hero and the list and contract status thread: My reading is that potentially we could use pick 42 now (3 in total), but have one less Rookie pick ( now 1.) The big advantage of rookie over primary list is that $80K of Melkshams salary is removed from the cap. That can be used to front load someone elses salary for next year. But using 42 means longer contract and salary obligations AFAIK. If we were to use 42, there would have to be a good reason, since the individual will in all likelihood be available ( and cheaper) in the rookie draft.

And that is why we now need to win next week. Cannot afford the ridiculous home ground advantage that Adelaide gets from the umpires. North should have been paid a chopping, around the neck free in the final 30sec, but nothing.

Go North. win this and we have home finals guaranteed.

The men's side should donate their side of the Trophy monies to the girls. They are already well remunerated ( 10X on average now) and they would only be handing more $'s to the tax man than any of the girls would be.

All ours now! Thanks Saints.

Go Sainters. They could give us $1M if they keep going. 20 points up!

What a fantastic result in this match. Playing the then 4th side in a match where the winner would go to top of the ladder, with only a couple of games remaining. Really, really telling for me was that this win was after coming back from a 6 day break, after travelling across the country and having played in 30+ degrees. In one sense it was not surprising that we only managed 2 goals in the second half, but our defenders were magnificent to keep North goalless after the mid point of the 1st quarter. ...a team challenging for top spot! Most of all I love our mids. Liv Purcell, who nobody seems to notice racks up 28 touches, and just monsters the opposition. Tyla, of course everyone notices and she is just sheer talent. But also a shout out to Eliza West who provides so much grunt in there and doesn't stand back at any point. Then the tackling and tagging provided by Lily and Heater against a player like Jasmine Garner who only managed 2 clearances for the game, neither from the centre, when she is the one of the league leaders in this area, was exemplorary. The best part of watching the mids, was if one didn't do damage, the next would step in, then the next, then the next. They were relentless, which is exactly what Adelaide did to us, and what we need to bring the next inevitable game we will play against them. I thought we would struggle with rucks this season, with LP having knee issues in the past, but Georgia Campbell has really blossomed, and held out Rhi Watt this week from selection. The other one who has shone unexpectedly has been Tahlia Gillard, who had a blinder in this match, and is developing into a real problem for oppositions as she has gained confidence, and certainly knows when to punch and when to mark. Can North do us another favour next week against Adelaide as we finish the season against Brisbane, and those results will once again shape the top 4, but more importantly, where the finals especially the GF will be played.

We will keep 42 because it is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe and Everything! As @Slartibartfast can attest.

No doubt to cover for the stupidity of awarding the Gather round to an AFL state( in S.A.) for the next 3 years, where AFL doesn't need promoting.

This weeks game against North is the most important match of the season. Beat them and we lock in 2nd. And this week Adelaide play Brisbane in Brisbane. Then the following week Adelaide play North. We could be top of the ladder even this week and so avoiding having to face Adelaide in Adelaide for finals. The dodgy draw and limited season that the AFL concocted looks just awful now. Essendon 5th best side? Give me a break. They were simply appalling against Richmond, but still won. Take away Prespakis and Toogood, and they would be the same as WCE.

2 Ovals, Our own gym not shared with 3 other sporting teams, meeting rooms of our own, indoor training facility at the same location, not 40km away in Cranbourne, ice baths that can fit more than 2 people, pools that again we don’t share or have to book with others, physiotherapist rooms bigger than a broom cupboard…and meeting rooms and offices for more than 1 coach.……and administration in the same building. ,

And we still haven't got the equivalent of Cooparoo or Waverley, and we have only won 1 Premiership in 57 years! State of the art training facilities do make all the difference, especially when you lose finals games by 7 points and 2 points.

When coaching in junior competitions a couple of years ago, the Sandy Dragons asked for "likely" players to join their squad. But the recruiting staff asked us not to put forward kids who wouldn't grow much more, no matter how good they were in juniors. To stand out at the next level you had to be big. They already had a 14 year old ruck who was 210cm. They also pointed out Nate Fyfe was 190cm and Patrick Cripps 195cm....they said this was the size of mid-fielders in the future, as proved to be the case (3 Brownlows). So a player like Caddy is not a tall by the AFL standards these days. In fact they are all tall when you get to meet a group of them in real life.

And that is just the "public access" component. They will also be contributing $millions to the Adelaide FC component: https://www.afc.com.au/news/1206857/new-facility-update

Mick finally took Mithen out of the middle in the final quarter, and put Goldrick in there. Small wonder we started getting the ball in the final quarter. Lily was simply pushed aside by the big Adelaide mids for 3/4's. We missed Paxy big time. We fell into the old trap of insufficient ruck coverage, again against the best other side in the competition. Pearce cannot run out a whole game, and we have to pilfer Harris from the forward line to cover. Campbell should be an automatic in. And we run the same silly tactic of playing the ruck a kick behind ( same as the mens side) when defending instead of rucking. It meant Gillard had to take the ruck in the backline, leaving the Adelaide FF free to operate unattended. Great game from Eden. Especially against the best defenders in the league. Even more so because we had to use Hore and Harris up the field to cover the other holes.

The Podcast team will be there....

(from the 'Red Fox' by Ben Collins.....) After defeating Collingwood in the 1955 GF the team sang the following: " Hugh McPherson also changed the lyrics of Collingwood theme song, Good Old Collingwood forever. 'When I sang this to Noel McMahon', McPherson recalled, ' he loved it and soon had every Demon singing it". The altered words were: Good Old Collingwood if ever they knew how to play the game Side by side they fell together To the might of the Demons fame Hear the barrackers a 'squealing Like their barrackers do For the Premierships a cakewalk For the good old Red and Blue

This comes up every year. Because it is a survey about which team you support, when the survey is run through NSW and QLD guess which team everyone claims to support.......surprise, surprise Sydney and Brisbane! Those numbers are then converted into Australia wide percentages. Trouble is in both those states, the people who are surveyed have NO interest in AFL....they just answered the survey question. That is why the conversion rate for both those clubs is so pathetically low at 5 & 6%.

Amazing that in a 10 game season, and having played only 4 games, that we could be 1 game clear of 3rd and 2 games clear of 9th spot!

Some of the most amazing things actually sit outside the ground. Walk through the car-park and there are aboriginal scar trees ( a couple if you look hard). The Wwurundjeri used to camp there, as the swampy areas where the rail yards and Richmond station lay today provided fishing, food and water. More intriguing is that Tom Wills used to have a property on the Jolimont hill, just behind. Aboriginal people were still camping there during his time, and there is a suggestion that he first observed the game of Marngrook there, while other scholars suggest he encountered it when he moved down Geelong way. It is fitting that the first rules of the Game that Wills wrote are inscribed on the walls/ceiling in the Olympic stand, and not far from where he may have first seen the pre-cursor to the game of Australian Rules.

1964 Premiership side.avif

This is the poisoned chalice handed out by the AFL. Need to get 6K to a game or we don't expand the season. Not much chance of that when teams are sent to Frankston at 5.00 on a Friday night, or Mordor on a Thursday, or Wigan oval in the Adelaide suburbs, or Warnambool.......

I think it more to do with the strapping she has had on her calf in the past 2-3 weeks. Probably been kicked there, so has not had the free movement, that she is renowned for.

Blaithin has been absolutely fantastic with her run and carry....and Aimee is supposed to be better! Wow!