Rogue

There's really no way we should be picking Warner at all. I get we're committed for the game vs India, but if he fails there I wouldn't pick him for the Ashes. I've been a fan, but he's been horrible for a long time in Tests (the 200 aside), and even at the peak of his powers has not been good in England

Hey mate, can't believe it's been 10 years! I do remember our Best Test XI draft was good fun. This is my first post this year*, and looks like @H_T, @45HG and @Biffen might be in the same boat - hopefully these tags get them back. If we can get people back on board I'm in! *I'm still following the Dees as closely as ever of course, and will be there on the weekend.

Unless you already think luck can have a lot of influence in close games (like I do). It always baffles me that people can be so negative after a close loss (or so bullish about drawing positive conclusions following a narrow win). Way too much is made of things like mental toughness or maturity when people talk about close games, because it's not really about the last few minutes - they make sense to us as pivotal plays or clutch moments because humans like narratives, but we too easily discount the little moments in the couple of hours before that

Back of the envelope calculations say that ~10 extra points would have us on top, but it'll depend not just on the margin but on the scores for/against in the last round - this is more variable than going into the final round of the mens comp, because in AFLW there are less rounds and lower scores, so margins in the final round have more impact on the overall percentage. One thing we have in our favour is that even though St Kilda struggle to score, they have managed to be relatively solid in defence. Hopefully they come out on Sunday keen to spoil Adelaide's top spot chances. We definitely need some decent conditions on Saturday night at Casey.

Yeah, Parry's been surprisingly disappointing. Tough to pick ins and outs given how rife COVI- I mean 'health and safety protocols' are.

I wouldn't be playing Hibberd with those four.

I actually think Tomlinson can come in to take May's lock-down role and May can essentially move over to Hibberd's role on a smaller forward, with Hibberd relegated to depth. Hunt doesn't use the footy well enough to be best 22 IMO.

That's a huge call. I actually thought Bannan was noticeably average when the ball was on the deck compared to Zanker, who's also tall (and one of my fave players). That's not a knock on Bannan, who's just in her second season as a raw and exciting young athlete Did the Dogs actually have a good side out there this week? I think the commentators mentioned that the Dogs had about eight missing this week, which is a huge amount given the smaller lists. No doubt all Clubs will be impacted at some point, given the Acting CHO is estimating 1 in 25 Victorians have COVID right now. Anyway, great start tot he game and a great start to the season - really hoping the season isn't too disrupted and we get to see what the girls can do this year. We look to be stronger than last year and a good chance to emulate the success the guys had last year.

No Goldrick (or McNamara) is interesting - are they injured/sick, or just pushed out of the side?

True, and even worse for any Dees fans coming from interstate

Mate, I've been a bit absent of late, but funnily enough I actually thought about messaging you and a few others (including 45) today! I was actually in Perth for the grand final and was at the game - incredible. Still can't believe we're premiers! I honestly don't know when it'll sink in...no matter what happens, we'll always have this flag! Shout out to @H_T too, all the guys who were in the Best XI cricket threads, the mods from way back including @Nasher, and a couple of guys who I enjoyed the posts of who now have different names, including @Pollyanna. We did it! Go Dees!

Why?

I'll be shocked if Williams gets it. I'd also be shocked if Williams turned down a head coaching gig, regardless of any public proclamations to the contrary.

I just watched Pickett's goal in slow-mo a couple of times, and it's even more impressive than I thought - super quick little steps initially to throw off the Saint in his face and the one on his tail. Hope I'm watching him kick goals for the Dees for the next 10+ years.

What was his reason?

Until I read this thread, I had no idea this existed - actually thinking of jumping on just for the player edits, and the heat maps sound really interesting too.

Blocking out the fugazi.

I can't see why people are ruling out Stafford as forwards coach just because he wasn't a forward. Coaching is about teaching, not about whether you are or were great at a particular thing yourself - and it's not like he has no elite footy background, if that's important to you; 204 games and 141 goals. Given he's been at the Club in ruck and goal-kicking roles for quite a while, we should have a very good idea of what he's like as a coach.

I'd say this may have something to do with it: 'AFL-mandated $3m cut to our AFL football soft cap expenditure'

Still convinced that's how Weetra debuted in 2008.

It baffles me when people say Woewodin didn't deserve a Brownlow because he did not have a great career. The Brownlow is not a lifetime achievement award, it's about how good you were in a given season. Woewodin had a great year in 2000, and even if he didn't get a vote in the final round he still would have won (tied with West).

Given the people of VIC already support AFL, they're going to support the AFL regardless, so we should probably permanently relocate the 10 teams somewhere there's a far greater potential for growing the game ;)

It's pretty amusing when people talk about Clubs needing to be being financially independent of AFL funds. It seems to me that they're forgetting that the Clubs playing in the AFL are the ones generating all the 'AFL' money, including the broadcast agreements - without the Clubs there's no 'AFL money' worth talking about. Split the broadcast money 18 ways and all the Clubs are looking pretty financially independent, even if COVID meant you couldn't have crowds.

I reckon most Demonlanders would have loved to have an AFL career half as good as Dunn's.

Fair call re: values, but most AFL players are starting from near scratch when they leave footy, and almost all will never earn anywhere near the same amount of money - not even in the same ball park. I think that's got to be taken into consideration. That said, if you're earning big coin for quite a few years of a 10+ year contract you could very easily have a nest egg that would give you say 50K p/a indefinitely. Out of interest, what makes you think Tom is one of the most likely to forge a post-footy career outside of footy?