Nasher

Another +1 here for coming around to the Gabba idea. I love the brazen arrogance of it. We don’t care if you’re third on the ladder and on your own dunghill, we’re not afraid and we’ve got you covered. Thanks for the gate receipts, see ya in September. Then the pies get to come visit us at our new Gabba fortress. *beats chest*

Yes, sorry. That question was a brainfart.

How does it offer no tourism benefits? Someone on here said recently they tried to get accomodation in Alice for the game and there was NOTHING available. I find it hard to believe there are NO benefits, or otherwise why would they do the deal in the first place? I do note I get an “Explore the NT” ad every time I watch video content on the MFC website, for starters (I can hear that catchy fluty song in my head now).

Can anyone explain why we are “no chance” to play in Alice? Hard Vic-NT border?

Don’t know about that RN - it’s obvious to all and sundry that it’s our initiative. Organising it for an Essendon home game doesn’t make it any less ours. The AFL are shady but not *that* shady. The most important thing I think is that the Big Freeze occurs on as big a stage as is available I think.

Does it absolutely have to be our home game? Could still do all the hoopla like marshalling the troops at Federation Square and so forth. All the coin raised goes to Fight MND anyway. Obviously Essendon would need to agree, but why wouldn’t they?

Exactly. You would also think there’s a high chance this won’t be the last disruption to the season thanks to this gift that keeps on giving. Calling a bye round now creates a risk of making future outbreaks more difficult to manage.

Yes - no doubt we’ve benefitted from not being at the centre of international travel and lower population density. We did have a cluster very early though, visible in the graph, and it was shut down hard and fast. Irrespective of Tasmania having a lower degree of difficulty than Victoria or NSW, if one solitary case in 12 months doesn’t warrant at least a pass, and an admission the premier has at least two active brain cells, enlighten me on what would. Note: I feel completely filthy defending a Liberal premier that I voted against pre- and post pandemic, but the bottom line is our state government has kept us safe in this pandemic, and I’m extremely grateful for that.

The SWYL topic has been answered and is closed. Further posts on that topic will be deleted.

I’m pretty happy with how our premier and his one functioning brain cell has gone managing this pandemic ?‍♂️

The thing that sticks in my head is a post match interview is Gawn saying “Lynden Dunn kicked a torp to the middle. Unfortunately he forgot to tell us he was going to do it.” I saw another quote from a player (didn’t hear it first hand) which might have been ANB, saying their forward connection has improved because they’ve had years of learning where each of the forwards wants the ball kicked, and that they haven’t developed that with BBB yet. What that tells me is that players want predictability from their teammates. Rather than being a negative, it’s a must have. The players receiving the kick-in have to know how and where to set up. It doesn’t necessarily mean he has to kick in exactly the same way every time, but the playbook can only really have a couple of items in it, otherwise it will be too complicated and hard to get right. The way the opposition set up from one of our kick-ins is going to be largely determined by how we set up anyway. Their backs will position their wall wherever they want, but their mids and forwards are just going to go wherever our mids and defenders go, because they know that’s where the ball will go, irrespective of whether they knew it in advance or not.

I think our indigenous players and supporters would have found it a lot more meaningful to wear it this week, though, given the nature of the week - that’s what I infer from listening to interviews like May did on Yokayi Footy, and that a celebration opportunity that is important to them was robbed from them as a result. I’m not indigenous so I don’t know where that actually sits on the big deal scale for them (I would like to know, though - any indigenous Australian Demonlanders want to comment?) and even within the community there would be a range of views, but it’s why I felt annoyed about it.

Who are you to bring these pesky “facts” in to the discussion?

Interesting choice. On gut feel I like it. Does he have the tank? @big_red_fire_enginemade the point about the team being based on roles and that Langdon’s replacement will come out of the wing role pool. It’s spot on but I disagree with his conclusion that it has to be someone from the VFL team. Brayshaw has said on the podcast that all players have a second role that they train and practice in, even if they don’t necessarily use it in AFL matches. I wonder whose second role is “wing”? The pool of players available to replace Langdon are players currently in the side who are nominated as capable wingers, and the full time wingers in the VFL. We don’t know who is in the former group, but what I’m absolutely certain about is that they won’t play a player in there who hasn’t previously trained for it, which may exclude the likes of Rivers, but who knows?

Any thoughts on Hunt to the wing and bringing in another half-back instead?

You must be new here.

Tricky problem. Langdon is tough to replace. Don’t know the answer but I don’t think it’s Baker. Whoever it is though has to be a “can run all day” type. I think I’m choosing between Sparrow coming in and Neal-Bullen to the wing, or Jones coming in as direct replacement. Either way it’s an obvious step backwards, but anything is going to be. Not too many spare Langdons sitting on the shelf. No changes other than the forced one.

It's a conversation starter. Cornes' job is to start conversations. It really beats me why people get so uptight about this kind of thing.

It's a pretty good tactic though. I'd employ it too if it were an option.

Exactly. We will find out in due course whether or not he's available and if not, how long he's out for. I don't see why it's pressingly urgent for the entire membership to know the gory details of his injury, on a Tuesday afternoon.

Will join the 3 Brownlow votes in a losing side club.

I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. Although to be honest, I’m not even that disappointed. It was a hot contest, we were below our best, and it was bound to happen sooner or later. Bring on the Dogs.

To be fair hardtack, the form line is WWWWW vs LLLLL. I don’t reckon they’re any good. We haven’t yet shown the capacity for giving teams a hiding, so that might not be on the cards, but I give Adelaide absolutely no chance whatsoever of beating us. The boys will be preparing for Adelaide’s best though, and rightfully so. Goodwin talks about how they’ve reset after every win. It’s self evident and they’ve earned my trust that they will do that, and take this challenge completely seriously. If they do, they’re a vastly superior side to Adelaide. That’s why I’m so confident about the result. The only way we can lose is if we’re complacent, but that’s not this version of the Melbourne Football Club.

I’m experiencing this odd feeling about this game. I’ve never felt it before. A strange sort of... relaxation. Like I’m not worried, at all. There’s no incoming calamity. I’m even a little excited. Is this the elusive... “confidence”?

I loved the way Cornes scoffed every time Brown opened his mouth and more rubbish escaped. I listened to Cornes interview ANB this morning too. He’s articulate, asks good questions and knows what he’s talking about. It’s a real pity he plays the role of hysteria-generator so much; he has the potential to be a legitimately good footy journalist if he cuts that out, in my opinion.