george_on_the_outer

Only if you don't follow basketball ( the spelling is a bit different)...... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Giddey

Rule changes that are not Rule changes. Incorrect disposal and time wasting already exist. Ducking the head not allowed. It's just that the umpires have never applied the rules correctly in recent years, and as a result players are allowed to get away with actions that they weren't in previous years. Finally the AFL wake up! Now if they could wake up enough to enforce the rules around throwing the ball, and holding the man for the "3rd man in" type tackler, we will get the game a long way back to where it was.....

Love hearing all these stories...bringing back the bad memories of the toilets at Princes park ( still much the same) the ankle deep mud in the viewing areas at Moorabbin.... ...as an Eastern suburbs boy I ventured to the Western oval once...and vowed never to go there again. Obviously designed and built as an English soccer ground it still has straight boundaries on the wing. The coaches box was probably a discarded stewards box from Flemington, that was accessed by a ladder. A solitary pie/beer outlet down one end on the terraces, it just went on and on with aged and antiquated facilities. But the funniest thing was the Newport railway brass band trooping out at half time, with the cheer squad walking the boundaries holding a blanket into which people tossed coins. That sort of thing had dissapeared 30 years previously at other grounds. The whole place just reeked of decay. Very glad to go back to the civilised MCG.

…and Houli retired.

I watched the Collingwood v St.Kilda game to check out our opponent for next week. The Saints could only manage two goals late in the final term having kicked a solitary point to half time. Lucky they did get those goals because it was heading for a seriously major percentage boost for the Pies. The difference in quality of skills displayed was chalk and cheese between this game and ours. Collingwood are no great threat, without Bonnici in the middle, Livingstone down back and just a couple of others, they really lack talent. Yet they absolutely took the saints apart! Richmond had so much more on display. Disappointing for me was seeing the condition of Greiser for the Saints who should be one of the best in the competition now. Has gone backward in past 12 months physically.

And with its introduction it is going to cover all manner of sins that in the past were said to be....knee flu, soreness, groin, or just plain dropped....

Well George on the Outer was on the outer again at Casey this morning, since the gates are locked to prevent the plague ridden populace from entering... Still got to observe through the fence, which is as good as we football starved individuals can get, so we will take it. I counted 40ish players on the track, with Harmes and Rosman doing rehab of some sort, mainly running, stopping and restarting type of exercise. What sort of injury that means...perhaps more of the medically trained posters can help. Now it was difficult to see who wasn't there, due to this fence previously mentioned, and the wearing of bibs at times. However these days they all have numbers on their backs, apart from one unidentified player. Still I couldn't see Ed Langdon out there, although he does wear an invisibility cloak, which prevents opposition players from seeing him during the game. Perhaps he was wearing it today? Not sure if Melksham was there, but given the numbers of Covid expemptions reported from other clubs this week, it was quite literally a healthy list on the ground. Observations: God awful music being played through the loudspeakers. Screaching girl bands and moaning rejects from the Voice, Idol or repetitive rap could only make the players listen intently to the coaches. You sure as Hell couldn't listen to that other rubbish! Apart from the usual warm-ups, kicking drills with the Mark Williams striped ball, and another with huge foam goal posts erected mid-ground to do what I don't know, there was one which really took the eye. It was virtually a full match type game, with umpires, but the speed was simply incredible. Switch, switch back and then some more saw the ball move at lightning speed around the ground and from one end to the other. If this style is introduced through an already Premierhsip side, watch out opposition teams. There was little fixed position as players roamed wide to create opportunity, and then even more. Difficult to describe, but the team with the ball would rip right through the defenders and only a misplaced kick would see possession lost...then that opposition would do the same in return. The poor umpires never caught up with the speed and were trying to whistle 20, 30, 50 metres behind where the ball was. The only downside was the goal-kicking , but I suspect it wasn't the aim of the drill. Still an excuse could be they have moved the goal-posts at Casey, and players seemed to be kicking to where they used to be. Standouts were Oliver, Salem and May. Oliver just steps through defenders and just keeps going and going. Just when he looks cornered, he just bursts out again. Salem the same, how no-one can tackle him is amazing, and he always keeps bobbing up with ball in hand to deliver accurately. May is well over his hamstring injury from the PF, and just kept dragging down mark after mark. Another that took the eye was Majak Daw, playing forward. Really strong marking and leading, he was a challenge to be able to control in the air for May, Petty and Lever. All the new recruits were there, but with the viewing curtailed it was difficult to focus on what they were doing or not. And when the rain started, this wimpy reporter thought better of standing alone and headed for home, leaving the players to finish the session in peace.

5. Zanker. What can you say? 183cm runs like the wind, natural footballer and can kick 40m+. Stood up when the side needed it with Karen and Lily off the ground for long periods 4. Hanks. Also took up the reins when needed. Just tough and skilled. Look at her tackling and run from the back pocket in the 1st which eventually created the goal. 3. Birch. Saved the bacon time and time again. Had to do it all on her own at times. 2. L. Pearce. Clean out of the ruck, and then follows up and then some more. A nightmare for opposition 1. Kate Hore. Did what she needed to do when needed. Just keeps bobbing up at the right time.

How about by a kick after the siren after being 7 goals behind at their home ground , to deny them top spot on the ladder at season end?

Colvin and Goldrick if available would be certainties. Heath would be under pressure, with these two looking for a spot. Paxman was off the ground for a long time…hope nothing wrong.

Not as convincing win as it should have been, especially after the Dogs lost Huntington. we also lost Paxman to the bench for a long time…something wrong there, hopefully nothing serious. Coincided with our reverting to handball instead of kicking, which was so productive in the first quarter. Still, without Goldrick, Colvin and McNamara we should be much stronger in coming games.

I wish we would stop reverting to Handball as the first option. The physical strength is not there across the board. we gave up on it half way through last season, successfully. Kicking for distance is critical in AFLW, especially when we now have tall marking targets in multiple locations. And if it’s not marked, then contests result, where we are superior.

…..and Smith and Turner…..etc. trying to get into a Premiership side isn’t easy, probably injury the only way. Petty and Bowie have shown what is required if the opportunity presents itself.

Trouble is the WWC happens in July 2023...18 months away. No announcements about any build, and even if that happens, how is something built in that period of time?

@picket fenceWhat is the best way/day/time to find out when training is on?

Cannot believe we got her from Carlton.....She is only 24! Still North gave up BBB and that worked out rather well.....

After watching all those goals, I don't know if he kicks left or right foot. Gets the same distance with both and snaps equally off either foot. Just brilliant!

Will need @Supermercado to let us know....

6 years in the system, and he is still fringe. Unless he alters his marking techniques, he won’t go further. He is trying to replace 2 forwards who take pack marks and win one on ones. And most importantly he has to develop 2nd efforts. Can that be done? I’m not hopeful, as that is an attitude thing, not confidence.

Kayo… $25 per month, turn it off after footy season, turn it on for next. Cheaper than a membership!!!

While William Webb-Ellis picked up a soccer ball at Rugby school, this is probably what @daisycutteris talking about, which is still played today in Italy…Calcio storico:

Or they just keep fighting each other..... This is from 2020: https://www.afl.com.au/news/442065/watch-punches-thrown-as-crows-come-to-blows-at-training

Probably in time for the Polo season at the Manor? Are the ponies being readied by the equirries BBO?

The knife to the heart was BBB's goal in the final quarter within the first minute or so. While we had blown them away so easily in the 3rd, the message Beveridge would have had for the team at 3/4 time would have been 'we are only 4 goals down..., we overcame that deficit in the second...., we can do it again". But the ease at which that first goal was scored, would have just deflated any enthusiasm that they might have hoped to regain. After that it was a one-way procession.

Most of the GF prizemoney goes to the players: "There was a $4.7m increase in player payments, including $0.5m relating to the players share of AFL prizemoney as a result of winning the Premiership." Now for the stuff to keep an eye on: $2.4M in prepayments for merchandise and memberships paid for before 31 October. That alone wipes out the profit. $34M for sale of Leighoak and Bentleigh club. $11M went to paying debt. That is why we are "debt free"...we sold assets. What is yet to be explained is how a Future Fund will generate the $2M of profit in the current environment, that these venues did for us, on a capital base of only $23M. i.e. a 10% return each and every year!