DeeSpencer

Which parts? I can't remember anything insightful at all from watching that.

He broke my heart by throwing away the win in the final game of the season against North.

Who says they can't afford it? The AFL right now is one big get rich scheme for the executives of the league (and clubs) and for the players. If everyone involved in the AFL industry took a 10% pay cut they'd all be perfectly fine. The greatest threat to the game is over-commercialisation and not lack of funds. That said, there's very little benefit to adding a 19th team that doesn't improve the leagues finances and 20 teams would spread the talent terribly thin, hence the best way to achieve a Tassie team is to build it from the ground up and demand inclusion on the back of people power.

I love that they form a commission who comes back to report that they need: 1. 7-8 million per season in Government funding - which in fairness they currently get rorted for by Hawthorn and North. 2. I'm guessing at least 500 Million for a 30k stadium in the middle of Hobart because the recently renovated 20k stadium a short paddle away is suddenly inadequate. Even though they confirm games will be split so it's probably 7-8 games in Hobart per season. Tassie should have a team but I'm against 19 teams, against merger/relocations and every year that the Suns and Giants exist for makes it very unlikely they get moved. My advice - get Tassie back in the VFL and build a footy club with fans, volunteers, depth players, local heroes. Build something organic from the ground up rather than everything based around big chunks of cash.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/tigers-plan-to-be-top-victorian-club-20100303-pizq.html Our players were well and truly humbled last year. A strong team with belief that they will be successful should come out and say it, rather than be fearful of failure. You can't get ahead of yourself but the idea that our players should be dwelling on last year like we need to pay some penance for it is ridiculous. After the early years of his career Cornes didn't win a thing.

Aren't the 2 suggested plans for Goschs: 1. Build next to the freeway off ramp at the South end of the oval = no shadow at all over the park 2. Build in the car park next to AAMI = would possibly block some afternoon sun but as long as the building is lower than stadium I'm not sure it blocks anything that isn't already shadowed.

If he doesn't have some money saved up from 9 years on AFL lists then he's in big trouble. The CBA says it's a minimum $1000 per week for uncontracted players, which should cover expenses. Richmond found 2 players with the feel good factor in the preseason and midseason periods in Stack and Pickett. 800 players nominate for the draft each year, being conservative maybe only 400 of them are viable in terms of playing in the right leagues/junior system/showing at least some talent.. Only 100 or so get picked up. There's plenty of diamonds in the remaining 300 viable options. Bennell's played 2 games in 4 years. If he were to do a 2nd calf injury in the next 4 weeks that's surely when you pull the plug. We won't have the option now.

Doubt he was doing it for free, I'm pretty sure there's an allowance to pay train on players for the time they are training. I'm hardly upset we've signed him, I just would've waited until closer to the deadline. If he does 2 calves in 2 months then the odds of him ever playing might drift from slim to very slim! At some stage the (rough guess) 2% chance of finding a good player who just went undrafted has to outweigh the chance Bennell gets it together. But at least they've taken the time to get a grasp of his attitude and of his body. Hopefully both he and the club get lucky.

Would love to know why now and not closer to the deadline. The idea of taking pressure of his rehab just doesn't make sense to me. If the emotional toll of being without a contract was going to snap his calves then how's he meant to deal with playing week to week? I know we have the Nietschke spot free as well but I'm a little nervous we'll find out we've lost another player to a long term injury or some other bad news now.

80k at Boxing day, plus Big bash, plus usually some decent ODI's. Plus all going to plan they'll set the record for women's attendance in March. Crowds will improve with no rain delays, no more sitting out in 35 degree weather. The same for wet winter days. The Vic Government and AFL lock in the Grand Final every year at the MCG for 50 years, that allows the MCG to go out and borrow money - and at a cheap rate. The Government is happy because it's tourism year round and it's a lot of well paid construction jobs when the project kicks off. The Southern Stand was fantastic when it opened. The Northern stand has done the job nicely but it's boring and a missed opportunity.

1. Train access: Absolutely. Richmond station is a mess. Whether you add a stadium station or simply upgrade the current station depends on the economics, but no one - not even those going to the Royal - should be crossing Punt road and Pedestrians should be filtered towards different platforms. I always cross one of the bridges - love the blue rickety one - and go in via the Olympic Blvd entrance, saves so much hassle. There's a tip for demonlanders, but keep it quiet! Let the lemmings keep going in the main entrance. 2. Car/pedestrian fly overs of Punt road. Absolutely. 3. Keeping Brunton Avenue open - nope, sadly the terrorism risk is so large that unless they build the new Southern Stand with enough concrete to sustain a nuclear blast I can't see them allowing traffic to drive under 50,000 people during game days. 4. Roof. Hell yes! Climate change is going to make a mess of cricket in summer and also make the early and even late rounds of footy uncomfortable. Transparent vs retractable? Why not both??? Or go transparent and leave the sides open or retractable to allow for ventilation. If done properly it will last for 50 years.

Agree with your point that we can’t be relying on him, although of course we shouldn’t be relying on anyone to make a significant impact outside our top players. As for what position he should play - I think all players should train for their best position and develop their strengths. There’s 45+ spots on the list to field a team, get each player to do what they do well first. What does Smith do best - move incredibly well with good size, where’s that best utilized - the backline. As for team balance: Frost is out down back, Fritsch is in forward and Petty is forward. -1 back, +2 forward. I was a Petty down back fan but he lacks speed and doesn’t seem a natural contesting for position, where as his marking and finding front position are strong traits. On the theory of developing players at what they do best it makes sense to try that marking/presenting ability as a forward, even with a packed depth chart.

OPI before the half was suspect, let that one play in playoff football. Chiefs had a couple of sneaky holds as well. But at the end of the day they 49ers had plenty of chances to sustain a game winning drive when they had the lead and couldn’t. Either too much faith in Jimmy G or they couldn’t protect him and let Jones get pressure and deflect passes up the middle

If the Giants want to sell a game for cash and have decent crowd they should just move a regular season game in to Albury or Wagga

Nope, only someone like Skip would go with that. No doubt Dad has played a role but this is Kyle’s team and game plan

You get the ball in the second half. It’s often hard to score on the first drive of the game, better to have the ball to start after half time when you can make adjustments. Plus the team that defers often ends up with the ball to close the first half as well so you get 2 goes in a row either side of half time

1. Hired a phenomenal coach in Kyle Shanahan who had done a long and varied apprenticeship in many spots but hadn't got the credit he deserved due to concerns about nepotism, youth and failure to see how well he did in bad circumstances. 2. Paired him up with a former player and TV broadcaster as GM in John Lynch who was Shanahan's preferred hire. Together they've made plenty of mistakes but they've also stuck fat to a proven philosophy - invest in the big bodies who move the trenches and in good culture guys. They've gone after the guys who fit the coaches system and vision. 3. Got lucky in a few ways. a) didn't rush in for a QB and instead traded for Jimmy G at quarterback when he became available and got him cheaply because the Pats wanted him to go to a good home b) had Jimmy G miss most of last year and so without a starting QB they were very competitive but not winning, thus got the number 2 draft pick and took Nick Bosa who has made immediate impact. c) picked up a gun ageing player in Richard Sherman when he was keen to be in the Bay Area The lessons for an AFL side I think are: 1. Find a coach with a proven record and a vision 2. Stick to that vision - use it as a recruiting advantage and invest in the culture 3. Make your own luck! The Chiefs are actually somewhat more like Richmond because they live and die based on speed and are taking the speed and spread to a new level. The 49ers are a power based team. Everything they do is based on dropping bodies, but not in a dumb run straight in to a wall way, but in using angles, motion, predictability etc to get guys out of position then sitting them on their backsides.

If we have that debate on here another 500 times this year I think we’ll really start to get to the bottom of it

7 weeks from the start of the season isn't the worst time for a 6 week injury. Get well soon big man. Also note it's a sprain not a strain if I'm allowed to be pedantic.

And Steveaux going with the same

Hoping it’s only minor and injuries are bound to happen but I have been saying for months they’ve been going very hard. Gawn’s the type of player who shouldn’t need much more than fitness and skill work. Anyway, just hope the big fella is ok.

De Goey is one of the games most dangerous forwards, he has height, pace and dual sided skills around goal that make him incredibly hard to stop. The goal kicking record is there to see. Petracca battled really well in an awful forward line, often playing closer to goal than ideal and getting awful delivery. As a forward he’s at his best higher up the ground where he can turn a 50/50 contest in to a clear scoring chance. He’s not nearly as dangerous one on one. So don’t knock him for last year but don’t compare him with JDG either. Both are wrong. The way the game is played half forward is a bit of a devalued position, it’s a lot of unrewarded running. Tracc can be a B+ or A- forward, but to be a true A grader he needs to bring his ball winning, tackle breaking and spearing kicks to the midfield.

I wonder if the club got caught up in the facebook pivot to video lie. For those not familiar the numbers on facebook videos were inflated, causing many media organisations to focus on video coverage instead of text only to later find out the numbers were rubbish. I'd rather watch an interview than read the quotes, and the video footage is better than any description of training but I do miss the job the diary did of providing some behind the scenes stories about the players and coaches. Hopefully we get some of that in the documentary.

Announced today he's joining a Wednesday night footy classified with Eddie.

Roos offered so little OTC he made Brown and Lyon sound interesting. Sadly nothing could save Healy. At some stage to get paid to talk about football you should probably offer more than defend, defend harder and have good culture.