DeeSpencer

Sports that through greed or desperation put everything behind paywalls will suffer as well. Free to air TV still reaches the widest audience which then keeps it relevant and makes more money in the long term. The question is how much longer free to air tv will even exist and if everything ends up owned by big tech in the end. The thing I'd like to see is members rewarded with a free or discounted streaming package. Pay $300 for a membership, here's a link to access all 22 Melbourne games streamed to you.

The kayo app is up and running, it's purely the discount that is new. It's already $15 for telstra customers, now it's $5 for existing AFL Live customers. The AFL app had streaming restrictions that banned it from full size. Kayo's fine to chromecast, connect to a laptop via hdmi, with an apple tv and I think with telstra tv's, samsung tv and android tv.

Good point. Telstra should make kayo unmetered for customers. The size of data plans are escalating pretty quickly though. I'm looking at an ad right now below this reply box for $30 for 36GB. And it's well overdue that gyms start installing some proper wifi.

Kayo has replays, but it's a very good question about the pro version of the stats. Which really isn't all that pro anyway but at least offers more insight than the basics.

The bad nba teams are awful to watch and juniors should probably be made to watch top quality college sides not the pros. That’s very true. But the pros are so deadly on the fast break and a second true big is often a defensive liability. So the big man waiting for the offensive rebound is usually clogging the lane and getting exposed in transition. The spread them out game is still fundamentally sound and fantastic to watch when it’s the Spurs and Warriors of late, even the Raptors tittle team. And LeBron is LeBron. If I were coaching juniors I’d be fine with them shooting 3’s if they can make them. It’s sure better than long 2’s. The most important thing and the biggest issue I have with the nba is teams that don’t pass and cut. The James Harden iso step back 3 is a problem.

I wouldn’t say dramatically but the crew cut pairs nicely with added definition in his arms and shoulders now he’s fully matured. He’s always been super fit and really only suited to the high half forward role so I wouldn’t expect a change. But hopefully he can stick more tackles with a more aggressive approach to the contest and tackling. Legally this time too.

Have you watched basketball in the last decade? Read anything about analytics? The entire sport has changed to find the most efficient shots which are: - 3 pointers - Dunks and layups - Free throws Apart from freakish midrange scorers like Kawhi everything is designed around efficiency. 3 > 2. 35% from 3 beats 50% from 2. Anyway, back on topic. Pressure has drastically changed afl footy. It’s no longer possible to just string multiple regulation hand balls together and get anywhere. Teams will flood the area and force bad turnovers. I hate the Hollywood handballing and thing it often should be banned, but the umpires have allowed it. So in the right moment it absolutely has its use and should be trained. Lewis was good at it. Salem is good at it. Jones probably not so much. But if we keep our shape around the contest and know where the outlets are it’s actually not all that risky. It either works or it gets turnover but it’s in tight and we’ve then got a chance to pressure and cause a more costly turnover.

Why haven't they got in Max's ear and told him to stop being such a clown and just chill? We don't need captain funny man. Makes me want to throw up.

Put me down as someone less convinced by the 'systemic' part of this. That's a result that happens when you get academics in to study the real world through their fantasy land lenses. Yes the constant self praise can be tiresome but the AFL industry is one where Indigenous people are far more represented, respected and well paid than almost any other in this country. Every club surely has an Indigenous welfare and community representatives too. Spare me the need for quotas across the entirety of the club, 'truth telling' and auditing the board. The biggest issue at Collingwood is having an unchallenged leader with massive blindspots. The only system that needs to change is to make sure there's accountability at the top. More diversity could help, it's hardly a surprise that a white male of his generation has the blinkers on but if Eddie is picking yes men or yes women it doesn't matter what their backgrounds are. 17 other clubs don't need special reports and 18 recommendations just to keep on doing the right thing.

Are you thinking of Sparrow? Jordon played 15 games in 2019. That’s a good amount for a first year kid. Still very hard to make any judgments when he was a raw draft pick and will be a much different player now.

It's 30k across each of the 3 zones at the tennis, which should mean about 50% capacity for the major courts. The Margy Court zone might actually be the best deal rather than the biggest courts. 50% and therefore 50k seems like the right number to start with for the MCG at this stage, so for most games the problem with be less about the availability of total tickets and more about the priorities of how they are divided and who gets their regular seats. Level 4 Row ZZ might get a work out but I guess you might get the fresher air up there! In many ways I expect this year to be more frustrating than last when it comes to the footy. Hopefully everyone can just embrace the challenges.

Zanker did kick our first with quality forward craft, dropped a few as the game went on and the knee jarring might’ve got to her. She’s close to tearing a game apart and her ground level and ruck abilities make her really valuable. It will frustrate if she misses chances but I think she’ll put it all together soon. Scott was still involved in some nice patches but was just messy. I think if we get a bit more pressure from the smalls we’ll have the confidence to go direct and can stretch teams. 5 might be hard to fit in like today, but minimum we’ll have 4 talls that will be hard to stop.

Some of the marking is very good and yes I’d agree the ground balls by comparison are poor. The tackle pressure is huge. And the ball bounces around a lot because there’s a lot of hacked kicks and smothers. Apart from that I’d say there’s still a lot of basketballers and netballers used to catching a ball more than picking one up. Meanwhile even those who have come through the juniors haven’t dealt with nearly the same pressure. Men’s draftees take time to make the adjustment to the massive leap in pressure too. Hanks stands out because she has excellent ground ball technique. She goes low and hard and is comfortable evading on either side. It should improve as more natural footballers come in to the system.

Positives: - McNamara: She does a mountain of running, gets to the right spots and whilst her disposal needs work it's decent enough. AFLW Eddie Langdon in year 1 pretty much. - Hanks: I think that was her most prolific midfield display. Her footy smarts and skills are a step above and she'll find more space as the team gets more cohesive - Paxy: Yep. - Reinforcements: Downie should come back and give the backline more height and defensive ability. Anyone know what's up with Gay and Lampard? A couple more Irish girls to get in to the side as well Negatives: - We got lucky with the free kicks and 50's delivering easy scoring chances. Without them the game is closer - Over handballed around the packs especially early - Few too many are still very one sided and can only cough the ball out when tackled - Rushing inside 50's. Scott was a culprit. When they trust the forwards to win one on ones it works better - Forward pressure. Thought it was ordinary and they possibly had to swing Heath forward. 4 talls, Scott and Hore is top heavy. Petrevski got one lucky holding the ball but generally looks a step behind. - Birch had a shocker Neutrals: - Bannan and Fitzsimon both showed a bit without having great days. Bannan might take time but I can see the upside and Fitzsimon has some smarts and they trusted her to rotate on ball - I'm still not convinced by Cunningham and Parry trying to share the full forward role. Both a little one dimensional. Cunningham had her good moments but can't rely on marking it over the top as much as she wants to. Was nice to see her punch occassionally - Lil Mithen, great warrior, but needs to be less reliant on taking tackles and hacking the ball out.

Missed 3 weeks with a similar problem in 2017 after attempting to play through it. But then it threw out his foot and ankle for 2018, and then had him on a restricted preseason for 2019. So at some stage in 2017 he was in a similar predicament as this one and it cost him playing at his peak for 3 years. It's unlikely that happens again, but it can't exactly go down as nothing to worry about. I hope this is a new medical team learning from previous mistakes and getting ahead of the problem.

I wonder if it was the same foot as his previous plantar fascia troubles? Hopefully this is getting ahead of an issue and we give him time to recover for once. The difference between a healthy Viney in 2020 and the one who hadn’t done a preseason in years in 2019 was chalk and cheese.

A little too much excitement over some time trial results and a natural runner here. The wing is such an important structural position we have to see if he can get to the right spots at stoppages and when defending, that's challenge number 1 for any winger and isn't easy. After that we can't even be sure he'll be a good ball winner. Then the final step is probably how he uses the ball and thumping left foot boot means little if it's not going to a team mate. It's probably more likely at this stage that we'll see Tom McDonald at 28 on the wing rather than Rosman at 18.

The leadership group model does run in to challenges. Someone's going to be upset they missed out. Someone might not deserve to be in. Etc. We've seen Essendon with Zach Merrett run in to that kind of trouble. But a designated group of players to agree on standards and to raise issues with the coaches makes sense to me. 2 players isn't enough for that in a list of 44 of various ages and circumstances. It sounds like they had a leadership group last year with Lever, Melksham and a few others. Seems odd to not just put the group out there and have it be known.

We might only go with 4 inside mids, but if we go with 5 and rotate them either a little forward or through the 3rd wing spot then I'd say the current order for spots is probably something like: Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Harmes, Jordon with Sparrow 6th and Brayshaw still rehabbing. Harmes might not be a walk up start. And whilst I think Viney's actually got to the stage where a few people on here are very much underrating him if he doesn't play to the instructions Yze sets out he might have to go backwards to go forwards too.

I've thought our midfield ball use and backline structural soundness have been as big an issue but for those who think the forward line has been the main culprit the last two years the positive is we've now got options. Tommy Mc is giving it his all. Jackson coming on. Ben Brown on the list. Spargo's had a good preseason from what I've read, Chandler doing well, Pickett going strongly and Laurie coming in. I'd love a bit more established all round talent but that competition for spots should be better than we've had in a long time. The wing is likely in a similar situation. Probably even more doubt over the established talent but at least if we've got Melksham, Baker, Nietschke, Rosman, Vanders all fighting for a spot the competition should push them all along.

Doesn’t apply enough pressure or win enough of the ball to be a forward, we’ve got options there now. I thought they’d get him super fit and give him an extended run on the wing but half back is a similar option. Our depth is certainly lacking after Salem and Rivers it drops away. Teams have dropped defenses back and played safer with the ball. That nullifies Hunt’s run and carry. But one team in Richmond haven’t and they are the team winning flags. If we park Ben Brown inside 50 then we’ll always have a target for the break the lines and run play. And if Choc Williams can get Hunt’s kicking to a sound and reliable level that is a vital step too.

He’s had awful injury luck and skills aren’t great but I’d have Ed VW. He’s a great competitor and gives his all. We can’t trust Tomlinson, Lever or Petty to play defensively on a good opponent. We need another mid sized defender who can do a job

Burgo’s injury update had him on a modified program due to last years injury and then an illness knocking him around over summer. It’s likely he’s been in and out of drills and they’ve just told the reporter he’s coming back from groin issues. If he’s doing a decent portion of the sessions that means they aren’t too worried. Any real concern would have him back in full rehab

Gawn needs to do less media, needs to stop bagging team mates with silly jokes that aren’t funny, needs to kick the ball less - especially short, and needs to bowl a few players over rather than be the victim. He’s the right man for the job but needs to be reminded why he got the job and what it requires.

Is there any evidence for this? He could be in the rehab group for a niggle or because he’s done a lot of work and needs to be held back. Lewis says he’s tearing up the track. That doesn’t exactly correlate with remedial fitness work.