george_on_the_outer

Same way they tried to fit Treloar, Jaidyn Stephenson and Atu Bosenavulagi into the cap......while keeping Grunday, Moore, De Goey, Pendelbury etc. ......

An unconvincing win, due totally to the poor kicking for goal. A win is a win, and scores in all games are dropping as the season goes on, but unless we fix the problems up forward, we might as well start engraving Adelaide’s name on the cup. I would like Daisy to move down back. She is not a natural forward, in that her first instinct is to give the ball off. Very useful in defenc, but not when scoring is so critical in the AFLW games. I think Bannan should move up the ground as another tall athletic target. And we need to develop someone else, since Daisy won’t be around forever. As @deeoldfart noted, Paxmans ability to move the ball by kicking it off the ground is exemplary, and others should be doing similar. Stop trying to pick the ball up when surrounded, just guarantees to be tackled. The real test is now coming with games against Brisbane, Freo etc. Good that we haven’t dropped games like we did the past couple of years. And can’t wait to see Purcell in the middle at the business end of the season.

An article in The Age today giving some background as to why Luke came to us, and some of the problems at the Saints: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/dunstan-shares-trade-period-stress-in-new-afl-documentary-20220209-p59v2x.html

@Its Time for Back to Backhas been in contact with the Membership department..... Today tally: 41,562. ..... we didn't reach this mark until 28 March last year If we disregard the pattern of sign-ups from last year, due to COVID, then the takeaway is from now on until season start we add about 1,000 per week. On the week of first game we add around 2-3 K, but the increase year on year is basically the increase over previous at this point in time. In other words, we are up by about 10K today, so the final number should be around 65K.

All will be fine @picket fence and earth people. Petracca, Spargo and TMac are all in the sick bay under the watchful eye of Dr. Leonard McCoy. Based on his medical skills, they should be back on the track tomorrow!

Match has now been moved forward to Saturday 7.10 pm. Shown on Ch 7 https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1053876/fixture-update-dees-clash-with-suns-brought-forward

@picket fencewould have the best idea, but Friday seems to be common.

Middle of the year. Ground under rebuild. All training at Casey. Girls training on Collingwoods oval.

Agree. She was put forward last year because we had no-one else. Now we have Harris and Bannon. Daisy doesn’t like set shots, not good for a forward. At HB she can read the play and position herself to defend. Hibberd, May and Lever aren’t sprinters, but they know where to go and when. Daisy similar. And her abilities aren’t used when , like in this game, the ball rarely entered the forward 50, but the backs were crying out for help.

It’s actually the way it has been used in the AFLW for the past seasons. Get caught with the ball, pinged. Prior doesn’t exist. But it is consistent.

We were seriously in trouble when Zanker and Paxman were unable to contribute in the middle. Putting Goldrick in there really showed others how to play football against seasoned strong opposition. Also was impressed by the first class efforts of McNamara who just kept getting the ball when others couldn't. I wish Mick Stinear would wake up in the same way as he did half way through last year. Short kicking was the go in the early years of AFLW, because players who could kick beyond 20m was rare. Now they can, and so it requires a territory game, not a possession game. And in the same line, kick the ball off the ground, don't try to pick it up....kick the ball as first option, not handball, especially in the middle. The game has changed and improved, what worked previously doesn't today. Especially when we have a good core of talented players who do have the skills to execute long and deep, and have the forwards to capitalise on that. Make no mistake. Adelaide is the SA state side and have been gifted this through AFL poor planning again. So no small wonder their girls are bigger stronger and more skilled than other sides, given SA is a football state.

No use complaining about the forwards… the ball isn’t getting in there. The inside 50 count tells that. while we move the ball though the short kick and mark game and attempted handball it slows the movement into the forward line.

Any chance we can play on? Instead of trying the slow possession game. Only allows Adelaide to set up.

They are the only team in SA, that’s why they have won a couple of Premierships already.

Shouldn't it be Ball... Yeah! not Ball...ah!

certainly was......

I wish Mick Stinear would teach the girls to kick the ball off the ground, rather than trying to pick it up and guarantee being tackled. ...except for Goldrick and Paxman who know when to do it and execute perfectly.

Just like all of us!

@Its Time for Back to Back was speaking with Membership department, and they said we had just passed 40,000 for season 2022. Plenty ahead of anything previously and well on the way to Perty's 65K!!

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....