RalphiusMaximus

Still wondering what he did wrong with that bizarre call against him when he spoiled the ball over the line.

Speculative rookie pick?

That got done really quickly. I would take that as a sign that he never even considered going elsewhere. I would also guess that the club put a pretty good offer on the table right from the start.

The point hit the post too, so could easily have been 4 straight. He's completely overhauled his kicking style on the set shots. Low ball drop and a much lower trajectory kick. I think he spent a few hours on that over the break. Things I noted in particular: Kossie right at the beginning of the game was involved in our back pocket chasing and tackling. The ball then went to our forward line on the opposite corner of the ground, where remarkably Kossie chased several players through a handball chain before forcing the stoppage (can't remember if he tackled the guy in play or over the line). It took me a while to realise that he's been on the opposite side of the ground for the beginning of that passage. Great work ethic from the little guy. Lever took three great defensive marks early to steady us down. His kicking wasn't great though. Oliver seems to be hesitating and it caused issues a few times. I'm wondering if his instructions run counter to his natural game? Jackson struggled and he's not taking the ball first grab yet. He did show a few little flashes of awesome though. He had one spectacular moment in the ruck where he timed his leap just right and rode on top of the other guy. Weed fought really hard. The ruck was always going to be a problem today and he managed to neutralise a number of contests and even win some. Langdon is going to be gold for us on the wing. He ran all day and crossed contests at speed to be the receiver. Very solid game. Didn't notice Tomlinson as much. I did notice Sparrow in the second half and he looks like he's going to be pretty decent. Good pace and a great build. There were a lot of fumbling players out there for us too. A few more games to get the pace and touch back and we should see another step up in quality as those little issues go away.

Ump pays a Mark even though he dropped it. Score to Adelaide.

Half time and the umps have stepped up to have a real influence. Certainly in contention for BOG for the Crows. For Melbourne, Kossie had a Moment but missed the goal at the end. Langdon continues to impress. Sadly our kicking ability continues to hurt us badly. Lots of turnovers at HB and the traditional bomb into the f50.

Decent first quarter. We're still bombing to the hotspot, so obviously Goodwin hasn't figured it out yet. Brown looks pretty decent. Langdon can move. Pickett has great pace and pressure, but needs to get some ball too. Spargo ignored the obvious handball, u-turned into trouble and gave a crap blind pass that went out of bounds. Lever has already taken some outstanding defensive marks, but also had a disgraceful clanger kick out of defence.

Stunning day out here.

Today's random question. Do they sell tickets to the grandstand or clubrooms at Casey? I'm taking my octogenarian father along to the game and it's a bit much to ask him to stand up for two hours to watch it all.

What sort of price are you looking at for that? I did a little digging around the AFL site and it doesn't look like tickets are available just yet. Have to keep an eye open for that.

Hey all. A quick bit of searching fails to give me an answer to this. Do our memberships get us into the game at Alice Springs or do we need to buy tickets?

The AFL has set a precedent already in these situations that the contract still counts towards the salary cap. It would be a stretch, even for them, to not at least count his entire salary for this year. After that becomes more debatable.

This is great news. No matter the outcome, the club has finally shown that they are willing to take a risk on some elite talent. If we're lucky and patient we may have our own Shaun Burgoyne out of this.

That sounds awfully like a four to six week timeline...

We sold him on the black market.

Happy New Year to all the Demonlanders. Whether I agree with you or not I respect the hell out of every single one of you for the dedication and loyalty you show the club through so many hard times. Let's hope that 2020 is the year the curse is finally broken and we see a long overdue flag.

At least this time they're only changing some administration-type things. Maybe they've finally gotten the message to stop messing with the game itself.

If he works as hard as Harmes did then he'll get there. It would be amazing if he got to that level.

Also the frees that should have been paid but weren't. Those can have just as great an impact on results and how the game is played. Imagine how different the game would be today is Scott West was called for throwing the ball.

Petracca wins his first B&F. KK retires before the end of the year. Dees make Semi-Final. In other news: The Saints make finals but bomb in the first round - They have recruited a bunch of B+ types but lack real quality and there's only so much The Rat can do. Adelaide have a horror year. Age wearies the Pies. Fremantle culture problems worsen. Geelong go downhill as their aging core players fail to maintain their previous levels.

There's a #1 pick over in the NBA right now who is renowned for his inability to shoot... Max Gawn did it over two seasons. His set shots have improved out of sight. Richmond did it with their whole squad not that long ago. They identified low trajectory passing as a skill that successful teams had and made a concerted effort to teach the technique to their entire squad, resulting in improved accuracy and ball movement. I for one am 100% in favour of using the funny-looking balls. Who cares if they are meant for kids? If they help improve kicking then they're worth having.

IF it works I'm all for it. Out of curiosity is this the coach or the guy who played for Hawthorn? If the latter, he was a bloody good kick, so there could well be something in it.

I've given us a B- for the draft. While I didn't want us to go that direction, I accept that Jackson is a legitimate pick at three, so can't fault that one. Rivers was by all reports a bit of a steal, so big points for that. I have to take points off for Pickett though. At that pick we had access to other much better-credentialed players (Kemp) and went in with blinkers on intending to target only one player. Looking at the draft/trade period as a whole I think we're an easy A+. The club chased three players through trade and FA and landed them all, then traded themselves into a position to get the two young talents they had targeted and picked them both up with the picks they brought in specifically for that purpose as well as picking up a bonus AA HB. Taken as a whole it was a flawlessly executed plan that has so far been 100% successful. Further to that, despite my repeated insistence that we'd be better off with Young and Kemp, I can't fault them on the choices they've made given that I was also very vocal in pointing out our habit of drafting safe players with great character and leadership but no x-factor or ability to turn games on their own. We've certainly smashed that image this year. Jackson, Pickett and Bennell are all in the risky but with a massive reward if they come off category. If all three come off we'll be in for some very interesting times.

I can safely say that in a team completely devoid of willingness to work off the ball for each other, his liking for bumps and shepherds will be a standout trait.

Reading that just makes it hurt more that we didn't take young.