DeeSpencer

Thanks for that, very interesting. It looks like from Hinds' article that Fitzroy would go close to ticking all those boxes. Makes me laugh when they're probably more diverse than the councilors pushing these initiatives. A small increase in fees might not be unreasonable but they've picked such an awful time to do it coming out of Covid with local sporting clubs really struggling. It would've been better to announce either a freeze on fee increases or a possibly small rise this year, followed by giving clubs 12 months to meet targets to ensure they aren't disadvantaged next year.

They've relented for now. Will be interesting to see if they try to push this through again in a few months or if they come to their senses.

Name the ovals. I'm happy for Fitzroy FC to have BSO a few nights a week for training and all of Sat/Sun during games. They'll use it and use it well. $6500 seems about the right price too, not $30k. If that's 4% of maintaining an oval and changerooms for a winter then someone's getting ripped off. Same goes for the cricket club at 31k per season. That seems about right given maintaining the pitch is costly. 100k a season would have to be the MCG, there's no way it's a 500k a year facility. If the ovals are too busy it's because they councils keep gladly adding apartment after apartment without sourcing additional green space.

The amount of new apartments in Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy should see the council absolutely stacked with funds. Somehow they aren't. Lack of parking fines money has created a huge deficit in their budget. People build 1000's of new homes in Casey and they've got enough money to build a whole new Casey Fields complex. Obviously they have the land for that expansion, but the same kind of benefits in Yarra should mean upgrades and wonderful facilities at the ovals they maintain. They've also introduced a glass only bin that is completely unfeasible. It's led to people putting tonnes of paper and plastic recycling in the garbage because they have no room for it in their smaller recycling bin. They've ignored the fact that most people buy milk, juice, soft drink etc in plastic or cardboard food boxes and that to fill a glass bin you'd have to be an alcoholic. That's the kind of ideology over reasoning this council loves.

This notion of discounts for diversity and inclusion just staggers me. The clubs have thousands of kids playing. That's your inclusion. Diversity should be fostered and the clubs should be punished if they aren't abiding by codes of conduct to allow everyone who wants to join to join. There should also be some kind of program for kids of lower socio-economic backgrounds to be covered. Usually most junior clubs do this informally without any fuss. Everyone knows the kids who's parents can't or won't pay. But what process will they have to count the diversity? Are they really going to go around and count the number of kids with a certain skin tone or surname? To me that's beyond a joke. That's pushing a political ideology at the expense of thousands of parents and kids just trying to play sport. And their solution of jacking the rates just seems incredibly stupid. Clubs will have to pass some of that on to parents which will in turn mean there's more of a barrier for new kids joining in. Absolutely shooting themselves in the foot.

I thought Ratten was pretty honest saying the Saints made a lot of forced and unforced errors on 360. Those unforced errors put team mates in terrible positions and lead to huge swings. We know that as much as anyone. The question we don’t know is whether our pressure caused the forced errors and the unforced errors by creating a perceived pressure on every kicker. The other thing Ratten said was Pickett changed the momentum of the game and then pretty much said the second half was a holding pattern. I hope we don’t have to rely on it but it’s nice to have both game changing talent and also a structure that makes it hard for teams to find easy answers.

We did 8 for 26 and a future first. Then did 8 for 10 and 28. Pick 8 was really just a placeholder as we moved up a year in the draft. Assuming we did the first trade with the second trade in mind the whole time we really shouldn't even worry about Serong. We can also likely assume we would've taken Rivers all long with the 2nd round pick. So Pickett vs Tom Powell who North took this year and will be a very good player. Who knows how it works out but it looks like we made a clever move to get in to the draft at the right spot and target a needs based selection that was also the right price. I'm hoping our list is more balanced in the future and we don't need to make needs based picks with high picks but if we are to do it we did it the right way.

I hope this thread isn't the reason you never come back here HFF. People like to disagree but you aren't unwanted. You don't see a link between the friend offering you mateship and your courage to battle on? Even if he couldn't provide the help you needed if he offered you a connection, a reason to keep going and a space to talk without feeling helpless that might've been a good thing. No one is saying don't get professional help, but sometimes going to a friend is the best way to get the confidence needed to either keep fighting or go to the professionals. As it stands a lot of men won't seek help from the professionals so the campaigning is about breaking down that stigma. It's that stigma that holds a lot of us back and the only way to really get rid of it is getting it out in the open.

I'm not going to change my opinion on him after he played well on Alex Peace for a half/no one against Freo and McKernan against St Kilda. He was well and truly beaten in preseason against good sides and opponents and I'll wait to see more. I've lifted my opinion of him but 2 games is not enough to be fully convinced. I agree with the first part of your post and I'm still not convinced by a number of players nor am I all that impressed by those outside the best 22. Hibbo, Melk, Petty and some kids is about it as far as I can see.

Max wasn’t there - he dived 5m forward. May didn’t mark it.

A few Fritsch specials, a couple of Petracca wild set shots from 50, a couple of the same from Tommy, a bad Jackson miss and a few snaps that probably could’ve had an extra handball. Less space to find that extra kick to a leading player at Marvel hurts too. A contested marking key forward is handy against the Saints especially and we don’t have one right now

Pretty sure Gawn played the entire second half and spent most of it camped in the backline. McKernan got him once out the back for a goal. Apart from that he stayed down and let Lever drop a simple mark all by himself. In the second quarter we went in to our shell and part of that was Max dropping too deep. I agree with that. We also needed to shake up the stoppages and Jackson did that. Not to mention the embarrassment of the quarter time siren with an obvious block by May and big Maxy staging. May can’t easily out mark Max King types. Lever had his hands full on Membrey. It’s the perfect situation to sit Max back. It’s all about versatility for Max but there’s no way he’s not a crucial part of the defensive system.

I’m still not entirely convinced by Tomlinson, Jetta, Hunt, Rivers (form not talent), Brayshaw, Jordon, Sparrow, Jones, Tommy Mc and Jackson That’s a long list. Defenders: All around the mark and the system is working, just want to see a bigger sample size Slow mids: Gus and Nath can play the game, it’s more can the succeed in the role Young mids: Jordon and Sparrow absolutely doing their roles so far Talls: We’ve got reinforcements if needed

I loved it when he tackled one guy, forced the ball out, pushed through the tackle and nailed the next guy. He’s always had smarts but it was a display of aggression we haven’t seen.

I thought it happened late in the game in to the season. Turns out first quarter of the first round. My mistake on that one. Yes it’s pedantic but I still think we shouldn’t over do him. My original point though was that I love how he’s keen to stay on. He doesn’t seem to tire. I’ll argue over his disposal but never his will to run.

Which part of it? He's a very limited kick with little penetration. That's a fact. Does he use the ball well within his limits - absolutely. I'm not knocking him, but Freo fans didn't invent the idea that he's not a good kick, they probably just overvalued it. His tank and game running is phenomenal, I think we should just be a little careful with using him 100% though. The last midfield player to consistently play 100% was Scully who then broke down and lost his passion for the game. Just because someone can do something doesn't mean they should. We're rotating all our on ballers to spread the load, Langdon shouldn't be exempt from that.

Paton is a lovely player but really they were missing both rucks, we were missing both key forwards. A better question is to ask how much last weeks tough win in the wet on Sunday took out of them. But midway through the second is a bit early to hit the wall.

He has no touch or penetration. It’s a 20-40m chip and that’s it. Sat an awful hospital kick on a team mates head in the first quarter. Handballed a shot on goal from 45 off to May further toward the boundary. But he plays within his limits and his team mates are starting to work it out. They know to link up for a 1-2 handball or to lead up at him. Personally I think we should be a bit careful playing him the full 100% tog but what I loved was him doing all he could not to get a blood rule. He really wants to be out there.

Men have the same access to health care as women in this country. So why is the rate of suicide so much higher? Of course it’s more than 1 thing but the biggest issue appears to be women are comfortable talking to their friends and family about their feelings and men aren’t. Theres a number of people like Spud who are open and still end up in tragic outcomes - the OP is somewhat right he needed his doctors more than his mates. But the mans legacy is getting more blokes (and women) talking to each other. Removing that stigma. That first step is a lifesaver for many.

I’ve posted this before but stats insider says his expected score last year wasn’t too far below what he ended up with. Although he’s skilled enough to be well above it IMO. He seems worse from what should be the left footers best side. That tells me he falls off his kicks. https://www.statsinsider.com.au/afl/shot-charting

I reckon he's gone up a notch in his contests and defensive work and his leading and presenting is first class. He keeps taking marks and linking up in play. He was 32nd in the comp for score involvements last year and is on a similar path so far through 2 games. The only concern I had today was him giving a shot off to a player in a worse position. Was really glad to see him settle and kick an important goal.

His first set shot he ran out way to the left and then missed a mile to the right. Took him until shot 4 to go straight at the goals.

There was one where Oliver somehow got a kick with 3 guys all over him that fell to Tracc 15m forward of the play. Another where Viney was tackled without it and Gresham swooped in for a Saints goal. We still have to be more defensively minded at times. Spread is good but it has to be spread back to defend rather than just spread forward. What was really promising was to see times where mids weren't even picking it up but would just tap it through and draw a tackle and then leave the next guy free. Oliver had a couple of special plays like that over to Viney.

Commentators that praise Hill and Isaac Smith's kicking are the most obvious give away that they have no idea what they're watching. Both butchers who occasionally find enough space to lace a kick out or kick goals because they're in a mile of space. Neither can consistently hit the side of a barn. Brett Ratten's done a great job at the Saints but the plan of sitting Hill back loose to try to mount counter attacks just meant they never had equal numbers in their own 50.

The thing I like about him is he seems to play within his means. He's happy to move the ball backwards or sideways from congestion and take a pause. Even things that didn't work out for him - lofted little kick to Salem - I still think was the right idea. Kick just needed a fraction more juice and Membrey made a great play.