Dr. Gonzo

They're doing that again? They did that when Fox Footy relaunched and we got every game without ads on Fox - it stopped after a while though as the AFL must have told 7 to pull their head in and stop acting so childish, Fox $ are just as green as 7s. Easy solution is to make the radio commentary available as an option through the fox service particularly for games simulcast from 7. Can't see it happening though.

The NFL earns $1 billion a year from ESPN for Monday Night Football alone (18 games now, previously 17 games). $4bn a year total (probably more now). The AFL will ultimately move down the path of selling off different packages (eg Thurs Night, Fri Night etc) - they pretty much do this already and have done so since 9 and 10 entered the fray in 2002 - they just announce it as one package. The only difference is there has been only one pay tv provider involved to this point so people don't worry so much but it is inevitable that there will be multiple pay tv services involved down the track. I'll happily pay for it too if it means less of the boofheads on 7 and we actually get some production that treats the game with respect

I thought that ta the time too - big pressure goal considering the number of misses to that point. We then kicked 3 or so goals in the next few minutes and iced the game.

Runs on the board mate

These days I expect it

We play Brisbane at the Gabba in round 23 so we may be playing there to decide where we play week 1 finals

I don't even worry about the first half anymore - unless a team gets 8+ goals up on us by halftime I just calmly wait for the 3rd quarter where we put the opposition to the sword. If it's relatively even at half time I have full confidence we will run over the top in the 2nd half.

We'll probably lose 3 or so through the middle part of the season when we up our training loads. It happened last year and not to teams we would expect to lose to - Collingwood, GWS, getting pushed by Essendon.

Or Tomlinson. But I don't think we have to worry, Lever should be a certainty.

I reckon next week will be different.

🤣🤣 So very true.

You'll get shouted down for being spoilt but I agree. I watched the 3rd quarter from last week several times but the rest I haven't really felt compelled to go back and watch. I put it down partly to the wins and getting that flag - in the past I'd obsessively watch trying to identify areas for improvement etc because I'm a maniac who acted as though he was in the FD. Now I'm just enjoying banking the wins til we get to the business end of the season.

Plus Lynch's first goal was an absolute gift.

Agreed, we were very fumbly all over though and part of it is down to the pressure from the Tigers. They went all in on making sure we couldn't dispose of it without pressure but they didn't have much going back the other way. Once we got the game played in our forward half they had nothing really other than those 3 quick goals at the end of the 2nd quarter. Agree with the sentiment here, that really was a 10+ goal win we just didn't convert so many that we usually would, ANB x2, Gawn, Pickett, Petracca, Harmes - I'm sure theres probably some others too. Both teams seemed to play as though it was quite slippery which was weird considering how beautiful it's been in Melbourne this weekend but walking out after the game it felt like the temp dropped at least 5 degrees on exiting the stadium so perhaps there was plenty of dew on the grass to make it a bit tricky. Players falling over and fumbling uncharacteristically on both sides.

On the Deebrief podcast they mentioned one of their mates was at a business lunch with Kate Roffey and he told her he was a Melbourne supporter. Apparently during the discussion he made a comment along the lines of "it's great but still waiting for it to fall apart" - she looked him in the eye and said "we are not that club anymore." Demons by 40

Disagree, he's taken contested marks against Essendon and GWS.

I like the decision to keep in Weid He has been ok in his 3 games and needs some regular games to build consistency and synergy with his teammates. He has started clunking marks which should be the main aim at the moment. Do that and the rest will follow. TMac may feel hard done by but can bang down the door in the 2s to demand a spot back. He was brilliant early last season but hasn't been to that level since probably the Port game last year.

Pefect timing for when Maxy is looking at retirement 🤣

My kids are wearing their Demons guernsey's/hoodies everywhere they go these days. They get upset when they have to go in the wash! Only solution is to buy more 🤣

Ever since I've been following the game, players who ducked their head were not rewarded with a free kick. Not sure why that's changed in recent years, if anything it leads to further encouragement of players putting their head/neck in danger by milking free kicks. It's simple, if you duck into a tackle or initiate the contact it is not a free kick and you will be deemed to have had prior opportunity to dispose of the ball. If you don't and the tackle sticks it is holding the ball against you.

You'd be wrong. The AFL commissioned a report into this and that came in as 8th on the list of reasons at 6% of responses. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-12/afl-umpire-shortage-in-community-australian-rules/100903628

I'm not talking about my view or your view though, I'm talking about the difficulties faced by umpires that have contributed to the crisis in umpiring in community footy.

The concern is that the contradictory rules and "grey areas" particularly around interpretation makes the game extremely difficult to umpire. Combine that with having to be an endurance athlete to qualify as an umpire and having to master a skill (bouncing the ball) it is one of the toughest games to umpire in the world. The AFL exacerbates this with their rules and interpretations.

Long term it leads to disengagement though.