george_on_the_outer

I hope we have learnt from the last time we played the Aints, and with what we have seen in their JLT games.....just stick someone on Stevens!.....someone....they don't have anyone else of any damaging ability in the middle, so sacrificing 1 player to stop their clearances will win the game.

Well they didn't have any clout as it turns out: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/supplements-saga/essendon-supplements-saga-push-for-senate-inquiry-rejected-says-greg-hunt-20170303-guqeyl.html

For the younger ones who may not know about ..."clearance Clarence"

Caro has come out this morning telling them to move on: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-20170224-gukxno.html If that isn't a message from Head office, I don't know what is. But listening to the tape it became obvious that the fools at Essendon thought they had a deal with the AFL, and they probably did. Trouble was ASADA is the prosecuting and penalty authority. If this was their "leadership" then all....players, coaches, supporters and sponsors have been severely led astray. And this was the same leadership who got them into the situation in the first place.

Thanks SWYL...this was soooo much better than the original commentary, and it made viewing this for the ( insert number here)th time just so much more enjoyable! What I particularly liked about this sequence of play was the outstanding contributions through a wide range of individuals, who when called upon, actually delivered. Watts with his passing and critical intercepts when Hawthorn were attacking. Hunt running down Smith to stop a near certain goal. Brayshaws mark on the wing in a tough one-on-one, that kept the ball moving forward. Stretch's swift hands in tight situations, not to mention his running when others would have stopped Pedersons ability to hit packs and provide a target when there were no others Vince's calmness when all around was a storm. Petracca and Vandenberg just bullocking the ball forward when the contest was critical Omac who while not finishing his effort all that well, had run the length of the ground to provide an option for others. Bugg popping up all around the contests and finding space when there was none. I could go on, with Oliver, Tyson, Viney and Gawn all making major contributions when needed, but I cannot remember a game in recent memory where we had so many contributors in what was a truly tight and epic clash.

Or zones. They put in a centre square to stop congestion. Something like minimum 6 players in half the field is simple. Emergency umpire is doing nothing for most of the game, so they can administer it. 16 a side just means 32 players around the ball instead of 36. Problem not solved.

Sorry, I don't know what is the problem? The surface at Casey is simply first class. The conditions for viewing...similar to the same as at Box Hill, Footscray, Princes park, Holden centre, Punt Road etc. These are 2nd level locations for the 2nd level ( VFL) sides. Environment....dependant upon what comes from the sky...there is no such thing as a rain belt outside mountainous areas. What's worse? Try North Ballarat in winter, or Williamstown on a windy day, or North Port after a storm.

People still streaming through the gates. Cars banked up outside. Will be chockers by first bounce

Most honest and interesting interview from a coach in a long time. Highly recommend you listen to it. The rap on Petracca is something. "some of the things he does...you just go wow!" Also I was heartened by this video from the club site: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-02-01/training-day If there was any doubt about the stability of Petracca's knee then look at 29-40 seconds.

I can't find any statistics, and they may be hard to find because of the small number of ruckmen in the game and the time of survey...but here is some anecdotal reporting on the matter: http://lakehealthgroup.com.au/pcl-injury-a-ruckmans-curse/ to quote.. ."In the AFL there is now a 10 metre outer centre circle which limits the run up distance available to the ruckman. This rule change in 2004 was bought in as a result of many AFL ruckman sustaining PCL injuries by extremely high impact forces as ruckman clashed knees from a long run up. Since this rule chance the incidence of PCL injuries in ruck contests has significantly dropped." Also, many ruckmen now are using a tibia brace to lessen the impact, or rather spread it across a larger area, reducing the pressure on the knee and the PCL. I think Jeff White was probably the first to utilise this?

see the annual tally thread

This is exactly what other teams used against Max last year. It's not so much as 3rd man up, but holding down the ruckman so that another (3rd man) can get to the ball. So Max will be hugely advantaged by this, but so will Sandilands and other bean-poles.

Really love this one: R 20 1991 v North Melbourne Jackovich at his best. 11 goals, including 10 to 3/4 time, bringing his total to 50 for the season, but having kicked 60 in the reserves in the same season......Stynes dominating. Luke Beveridge on the wing with Tingay....what could have been!

Enough.....thread locked

From the Demons supporters at BF this is probably the best compiled list of Melbourne games available to be viewed on the net, including comments on the contents: https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-melbourne-replay-archive.1144478/ This should make the off-season easier to endure....

When Telstra first got the contract for the AFL sites, each club was limited to the amount of content that they could submit for change each day....unless they wanted to pay an absolutely extortionate amount extra. So if you look at any other clubs site ( except Essendon, who were not party to the agreement, and perhaps Collingwood who have spent a bucketload to alter things) you will see the same format and the same layout. And they all have the same restrictions about content limitations.

Great photos 666! Max looks positively evil in photo 19 as he is about to tackle Neville.

To make top 4, a team has to be seriously good. To make the finals, just more than average, or with a bit of luck. Hawthorn in 2016 made finals based on winning 6 games by less than 10 points. They scraped into top 4 after beating a miserable Collingwood by a lucky kick in the dying seconds by Jack Fitzpatrick. North scraped into finals by winning just 2 more games than they lost. If a Billy Stretch kick had gone to the other side of the goal post, the Saints would have been playing in lieu of North. Now good teams win the close games, but the margin between making it or not can come down to that luck/fortune factor. We were in the race for September but for 2 appalling losses against Carlton and Essendon. We weren't lucky against North, we were against GC the second time. Without changing all that much, or improving just that fraction, we should be playing finals in 2017. We now have the talent and importantly the work ethic to win games. Like North, Hawthorn and even WB in 2016, winning just a couple of those tight games will get us there. Injuries....well that's another story. Particularly if our AA ruckman gets hurt.

And our womens team has an oval on which to play their games, at Casey.

If my hopes for the future of Petracca and Oliver in particular are well founded, I don't think we will need to chase "saviours". Keeping the talent together is more important, ala Geelong and Hawthorn in their premiership years. One player however talented, is insufficient, as Carlton (Judd) and Collingwood (Buckley) found out. They eat up salary cap and get surrounded by low priced and low capability players.,

Done and locked

Confirmed in this article by John Pierik. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/greater-western-sydney-giants/greater-western-sydney-giants-fined-100000-for-lachie-whitfield-affair-20161222-gtgp81.html " This means that if they were to finish fourth next season, as they had this year, their draft selection No.15, worth 1112 points, would slip to No.63 (112 points). " Effectively they have had their first round pick taken away.

...Or the financial payout that was negotiated was less than the financial cost of keeping him on the list for another 12 months..

I was watching the rehab group before the main session and was liking what I saw with Mitch King. He has certainly built up considerably, to the point of looking like he has a ruckmans body now. There is no doubt he has put on a couple of cm since being signed as he stood well above Filipovic when together. Can he kick, run and mark.....couldn't say as he only did rehab type work with the ball and not under pressure. One to watch in this space, and opportunities are open to him to serve a good apprenticeship under the best ruckman in the game at the moment.

This thread has been de-railed so now locked.