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What you say makes perfect sense but as one of the commentators on FOX (I think it was) said, players are weary these days of getting rubbed out. If one of those players did go a little side on to protect themself, not only did they risk the possibility of hitting their opponent in the head with the full force of their body but they were also perhaps looking at a 6 week holiday. Players are now more weary than ever about the culture of protecting the head and of the rules to the point that they are not going in body on body as much any more (in front on situations) and there will one day be a very serious injury because of this. The AFL in it's efforts to "clean up" the game is in some ways putting players in more danger.

I originally used the phrase "PACE IS EVERYTHIGN" but I knew I would be inundated with posters taking that too literally and argue other apsects of the game so I decided to change it to "PACE IS CRITICAL". Unfortunately the damn page kept timing out and I could only refresh it when opting to delete not edit so I did.

I agree with your observations Mo but you once again show a lack of acknowledgement or understanding of how the speed of the game has outgrown our current midfield. PACE IS CRITICAL in modern footy and Essendon is a clinical example of this. Last year they made clangers left, right and centre in an effort to run the ball and be as quick and potent as possible. This hurt them going the other way but Knights kept it simple to what their strength was and this year they are working on other aspects of their game. They were not favourites against Collingwood, Hawthorn or Carlton for the simple reason that people don't rate them as a footy side as far as individual talent goes. However all three teams were caught out because Essendon ran all day and had the pace from centre breaks or from half back. They are in tip top condition and now that some of their link play is coming off and their defensive pressure all over the ground is improving they are going to continue to be a hard team to beat. We have a fundamental problem in that our midfield is a slow and one dimensional squad. It is certainly tough and they try hard but the lack of running speed is not just killing them it is killing our whole team. This is not Bailey's fault. Another issue which I think is worth considering is our conditioning resources for players and the size of our football department. Essendon would be in the top handfull of clubs at a guess with respect to these areas while we need to reinvest in our club deperately.

Inspiring yet sad indeed. I think we all believed it to be a very brave thing when we found out at some stage that Clint had played under those circumstances (against the Crows). For me though it wasn't until I read about all the human elements of it all that it really comes home. Not just a player of the footy club you support but a young man. You just can't say enough how brave he was to get out there and play that day. It also sinks in how a young person like Clint and his family (or any family for that matter) have to deal with a loss like this throughout the future while life goes on for so many other people.

Official crowd: 10,294 according to the AFL website match report.

Maybe he was used sparingly - it seems contradictory I know but given the club gave Watts a fair bit of leeway maybe they had a few conditions. Until we get some more match details it is hard to make a claim on this I suppose.

Yeah, it was always an "out there" suggestion I guess (at 3am lol) but nice to see that some posters can embrace open communication/ideas even though they disagree with them.

Cheers for sharing that, I can't help but be excited whenever I hear about the positivity and focus the club is taking.

IMO Knights introduced to them a one dimensional game plan of running and attacking last year. They have the young mids with pace to persue this. This year it appears they are working a little more on their defensive pressure as well. Essendon are quite simply a dangerous team because they have pretty good pace where it matters. Their skill set as a group seems to have improved slightly as well but then again with their running ability they don't put themselves under the pump as much (as we do). With JMac in his twilight and Moloney, Jones and McLean all being of average pace at best, our midfield is a fair way behind IMO. As others have said, the Dons have had a couple of years head start and the midfield is where we are yet to blood youngsters such as Blease + Strauss (and promising Rookies) so we have a lot of development ahead of us in that area. IMO our defence is in front as a group although once Hurley comes on the Bombers will look better. Just as long as they don't poach Wellman!

lol

Going by this thread, it might make everyone cringe. However that is actually not too bad a marketing suggestion. Carlton had a light blue M&M guernsey and whilst that was hideous, light blue numbers on their normal guernsey wouldn't have been anywhere near as bad - the only question is would that be enough to get sponsors on board (I doubt it).

True. Fair point. If it is something that nobody beleives in then you're right it wouldn't have any meaning. The idea was more an altervative to giving the captain a certain number without changing the look of their guernsey too much but in itself (as you say) a yellow number doesn't have any real meaning. I see where you are going with that one...

I was thinking of it more as symbolic way to signify the honour of the captaincy but you make a good point all the same - actions do speak louder than words (or in this case colours)

The issue of designating a certain number to the captain has arisen before. Richmond do this with #17. My question is would it be good to give our captain a yellow number on their guernsey? Instead of designating a number, they would retain their original number and hence keep their own history but having the number in yellow would designate them in a similar vain to the yellow strip in the Tour de France - but in this case obviously as captain. I don't think yellow would look too bad on our guernsey and it is just one player. Your thoughts? Please note it is late and I am tired (but can't sleep) so if you think this is a stupid idea go easy on me.

Well we've reached record membership so you must really be putting in the hard yards

Good question. The better the tap ruckman you are, the greater your ability to spoil your opponent or tap to a 50/50 when the bounce/ball up/throw in favours your opponent. Jamar (who IMO is easily our best tap ruckman) doesn't have the highest effeciency in taps purely because he gets his hand on the ball more often (with his reach) in situations that don't favour him and this stops his opponent whilst mathematically hurting his numbers as far as efficiency goes. The more he spoils his opponent in situations where they are advantaged by the bounce that is a win to Jamar and needless to say this is of more value to us than not getting a touch on it at all and the opposition ruckman winning the tap - stats do not reflect this. PJ IMO mostly gets taps in situations that favour him and naturally you are more likely to tap it effectively in this situation where it falls in your lap. The moral of the story is that you should judge a ruckman by how their opponent performs as well.

Another correct assessment. The reality is that these occurences where PJ roams around doing a few things here or there can easily be performed by any other player. First and foremost PJ is in the team as a 2nd tall or ruck and we quite simply have not received the benefits from him that a tall player should deliver. In effect PJ has no niche or MO when he runs out on the field and it hurts us severely because he is taking up the place of a tall player who should be giving us the benefits of a tall player. PJ rarely takes a pack mark, his hitouts are poor, he doesn't use the other players effectively the way a tall player should and he plays heavy ie doesn't have an adequate leap or fluent movement apart from the odd straight line run. I don't know whether it is poor coaching/guidance or if PJ is not playing smart football or if we just don't have enough system but PJ is in situations beyond his ability or role too often and he just seems to do his own thing. A tryer no doubt but we have other players who can do what he does if he isn't offering anything on top as a handy tall. PJ will never be a good bigman for the simple fact that he doesn't play as a bigman. He is a big man that now and again plays a half decent game as a utility with rare occurences of putting his height to actual use/advantage.

2 Questions: 1) Is the nature of Blease's injury such that we could put him on the LTI list? 2) If we could put Blease on the LTI list for this year, should we and if so who should get elevated in this case?

I concur, Frawley has been a shining light so far. On top of everything you have said I also would add that he holds his ground quite well and mentally he appears switched on. It doesn't really matter who he is on or the situation he laps up challenges like a bulldog with a bowl of custard and I reckon he would be good for morale amongst the younger defenders.

This makes sense. We also have to beware of not putting the cart before the horse. We are kidding ourselves if we think a good core group of players will just fall in our lap. We need the best possible spread of talent we can get in order for a solid core group to emerge. We are still a fair while away from having that core group IMO and keeping hold of fringe players or non-performing players will be to the detriment of achieving one. Sure if we had the blue print in place like the Saints or Cats we could speculate on a few players and see how they go but when you are building from the ground up you need to use clay not [censored].

Great write up and interesting stuff. The "no compromises" approach seems to be from the top down and not just a slogan but a universal commitment.

hmmm, strategy.... It's a shame Wheatley isn't playing, everytime we get the ball we could have given it to him and he could have booted it out of the stadium - they would have run out of footballs eventually. On a serious note I think we have to keep it simple and just be competitive as possible. Give our forwards the best chance possible by getting the ball down there quickly.

No I didn't know - my comment was meant in good faith though. I think all the people like yourself (and partner) who chipped in (and everyone else at the club) all add up in helping the club achieve this membership tally. I know that you and your partner volunteered for the love of the club and don't need a pat on the back either but 30k is still a milestone for the club and it doesn't hurt to recognise the behind the scenes work that helped bring this about. Good on the people who signed up as well. I wonder how many more members there are from last year that haven't resigned and the proportion of first time members or at least previously dormant members that have resigned this year.

Speak for yourself, I take my hat off to them as far as the pure number of members acheived is concerned. I agree that the next part is sustaining this and moving forward and on field performance will be the key here.

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