george_on_the_outer

The great AFL conference [censored]-up continues.... Melbourne beat North and are outside the 3 for finals contention in their conference, but North are in their top 3. Yes I know it is only round 1, but the same scenario can happen at the season end. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=aflw+ladder#sie=lg;/g/11h5kw1xy3;10;/g/11clhs143n;st;fp;1;;

In a printer?......It is only a bar code,either on your phone or a piece of plastic or paper.

Love watching the girls play, but unfortunately the AFL is destroying it as a spectacle, by bringing in too many teams too early. The quality and skills that were seen in the original Melbourne v Bulldogs exhibitions was first class, but now we have only 4 to 6 genuinely good players in each side. We know how good players like Daisy, Kearney, Harris, Paxman, Vescio are going to perform, because they have been playing the game for a long time, and can kick, mark and handball to the standards we are used to seeing in the mens game. Unfortunately, they have teammates who simply cannot do the basics at the moment. It WILL come, but in the meantime, the spectacle is being trashed.

Membership numbers as of today 7 February....31,519 This is 2808 down on the same day last year. The saints have 36,877 at the moment, while North have 31,910

While I'm in full support of a Tasmanian side, the AFL lost its chance years ago, when they were trying to force North to Queensland. Sadly, for the Tasmanians, the economics still don't stack up. $7-8M from the government? Clubs currently get $1M per game for those games in Shanghai, NT, NZ etc. So double that amount and you might be in the ball park.. Split between North and South? As DeeSpencer has pointed out, spending big bucks on an oval that will be used only for 7-8 games ( if they are lucky) in Hobart means either the stadium won't be built or the games in Launceston won't happen. Still with an election in the next couple of years, there is plenty of opportunity for pork barrelling ( again, and from either side).

With all the discussion about media coverage or lack of it, it seems we are not alone: Red & White Online: Swans Media stories of 11 day old interviews, pictures of new recruits not on the website, fluff articles etc......The Swannies have the same problems as us it seems, and they are sheeting it home to the AFL and Telstra, who own the websites....

But Richmond can now pay extra to other players on their list who would otherwise be pushed out by the salary cap, thus keeping their list intact. Or they can go chasing other players in the mid-season draft that they couldn't because of salary cap pressure, if they have a spot caused through injury..

The Age is reporting that Richmond and Rance have come to an agreement to pay out part of his salary that he would have otherwise been paid. One-sixth of quite a bit: Alex Rance leaves $1.4 million on the table The result is that Richmond now have buckets of $$$'s available under the salary cap for this year and next. If this is allowed by the AFL, then you can be sure that Sydney and Collingwood will exploit the same avenue for their 10 and 7 year signings, when they can't make it to the end of their contracts!

Might have something to do with paying his own bills? Until he is contracted, he is doing this for free. The club really has nothing to lose. It is only a rookie spot for 1 year....and it appears there is no-one else that we have seriously looked at, or they would have been at training. He will only cost us minimal $$'s and if it doesn't work out or we find someone else to fill the Neitschke gap, then there is always the mid-season draft....

You just know that the elevated walkway will be known as "The Magpie way"

“Imagine getting off at Richmond Station, not having to go up and down escalators or anything. Escalators at Richmond station???...shows how often Eddie uses the facility

Best day of the year to go skiing is Superbowl day. Everyone, and I mean everyone is inside in front of the TV, and the slopes are all to yourself...and the few disgruntled towies sitting in the cold!

There are no 2nds any more: https://vfl.com.au/developmentleague/ " With no Development League in 2018, the club structure for those eight clubs affected will move to one similar to that currently used by clubs such as Collingwood, Essendon, Geelong, Footscray, North Ballarat and Richmond, where players not selected at VFL level will play local football. "

That's the truth. We are not going to see the defensive structures and how individuals fit into those structures and the expectations of how they will act in certain scenario's at an open training session. Even more so on Gosch's paddock which is undersized compared to the grounds on which we play in the main season. ( ground size is one of the contributing factors as to why Geelong fail in finals ). Same for the forwards. It is not just Tommy at FF, Weid at HF etc. How they will run their patterns is unknown to us until the first game. One of the reasons for Maroochydore is to get away from prying eyes, or Casey or indoors at MSAC. Wish we were in Essendons situation, who run their sessions inside an aircraft sized hanger, with 2 ovals outside in size equivalent to the MCG and Docklands.

Brown is one of those players that you don't notice, he just does his job and at the end of the game he will have kicked a couple and you would ask when?.....He is training with the forwards and just fits into the scheme of things. He may play as a 3rd tall, but should any of the main forwards get injured he will be into the side post haste. He kicked 21 goals at Essendon last year which was only one less than Petracca, our leading goalkicker. He is tall, and can probably fill a role down back as well, if needed. Very nice pickup for us, and still baffled as to why the Dons got rid of him considering the situation with Daniher and other injuries in their forward line.

Baghdad Bob may report soon, but the internet was down at his home base...and photos to follow from Hardtack and son... In rehab: Tomlinson, Baker, Spargo, May, Oscar with Smith and Petty joining them when the contact stuff in the main group began. No sign of KK, Hannan, VDB, Neitzke, and Chandler. Melksham came out and was doing only kick to kick for a short while, but only on his left, then worked with the physio for an extended period....abdominal? back? impossible to say. May was only walking post surgery, but should be back with the main group and running, very shortly. Bennell had a couple of light runs and was kicking both feet without ever missing, either at goal or to another player in the rehab group. So I counted 32 in full training, but given the ease of movement from Tomlinson, Spargo and Baker in their exercises, they should be back in the very near future. Oscar and Smith and Petty looked to be only a minor step away from the main group today, and joined in the final bit of match simulation with the main group. I'll leave it to others to report on the goings on, but really this was similar to other Wednesdays, with plenty of practice of ball movement and positioning, with lots of "keepings off" in various forms. Not much match type stuff. over to the others......

A proper training base and home for the next 100 years.....not some stopgap measure in a public park!

No

2019: Watts 2 games 0 goals. Kent 13 games 12 goals.....not much in the way of goal kicking sources.

Today was a "quiet" return from the Christmas/New Year break, compared to the exhausting, relentless sessions that we saw before the break. Having said that, the players had already run a 3 km trial before starting the main exercises which lasted until nearly midday after a 9.30 or thereabouts start. The rehab group consisted of Tomlinson, Jones, Spargo, Baker & Hannan, who all seemed to be running freely with Jones and Tomlinson certainly at full stretch. They must be very close to return to the main group and with multiple pre-seasons behind them it would seem not so critical to their overall fitness. Viney, Jetta and VDB were running their own 3km around the oval ( perhaps they arrived late to go with the main group) but they still had to do it. It really gladdened the heart to see VDB absolutely "street" the other two, and was a good 300m ahead of them at the end. Not sighted today were Joel Smith, May ( who apparently was in the gym inside) and of course KK ( mmm..) and Neitschke. I can't say that I noticed Marty Hore either, but others may be able to confirm that. Bennell turned up for 5 minutes, but didn't participate (mmm...) Brayshaw was wearing the number 43 which confused the watchers for a while, especially with a hat on to disguise himself even further. We even saw "the invisible man" Kyle Dunkley, called such because he will get 25 touches in a game and nobody notices..... he does the same at training! And that is the main observation from today. Of the 44 on the list 35 were on the track in full training. What a comparison with last year!! It means that the coaches can run nearly 2 teams in match simulation, something that was never done in 2019. Now I haven't much to report about the actual session, because it was just a series of drills with a small half ground match sim for only 15 minutes or so. Scoop Junior has covered off most of this in an earlier post. Just another observation in that Chandler has stacked on the muscle, and was heavily involved in all the midfield exercises. In sharp contrast Preuss has lost a heap of weight and for those that can't get to training, when you see him during season proper you will simply not recognise him from before! It was good to see Lewis and Stafford running goal kicking practice at the end with a final competition to see who didn't miss. I won't steal BB's thunder, so he can let you know later......

8.13 and 22.30 for some rippers in terms of distance.....

This:

Unless KK comes out in full training, post the Christmas break, this won't be the question....

It wasn't surprising that the opposition during that period were accurate......we had little in the way of defenders! With little pressure, easy shots ensue. During that period we were missing Lever and Jetta for the whole time. May - all the period except for 1 game. But we also lost Hibberd, Salem, Lewis and Hore at some point for a couple of weeks. So it wasn't bad luck, we just didn't have the cattle to hold out the opposition. One would think that putting Lever, May and Jetta into those games in 2019 would have seen the opposition kick a couple of goals less. It was remarkable how close we were in those games..... The positive is (as you have alluded.)...it shouldn't happen again with the players now on the pre-season track.

I'd love Jason Taylor to be picking my Tattslotto numbers because he knows who is going where before it is called......