bing181

Still a half to go. Lions are a very good team, not going to roll over. But at least we've had a glimpse.

Make Viney captain every other week. Tearing it apart.

I like Jordan, but needs to get better at hitting targets, both by hand and foot. Turning it over too much at the moment.

Lever looks so much better with May back in the team.

Langdon and Salem both not the same after their injuries.

I'm guessing your pronouns are he/him.

If we lose, it'll be confirmation of just how hard it is to win back to back flags. Also, how much luck you need to do so - especially with injuries.

I don't think anyone's excusing him, nor is he excusing himself. He cuffed up and he admits he cuffed up. As for your first point, getting a diagnosis like that as an adult can be hard enough to work through on a personal level, yet alone doing so publicly.

No, but it wouldn't help. One of the main characteristics of ADHD is impulsiveness, and it can lead to poor decision-making, which I believe is the point he's making in his statement. "Late last year, I was diagnosed with ADHD and I am trying to become more aware of why I make mistakes that I do ..."

Worth a listen as Lyon (who seems not to know about any of this, which says something), asks Buckley to clarify what he's talking about. But this isn't the long-term loading over months that some are referring to here, it's extra sessions over a week or two (on one of the shows, Chris Scott referred to a 14 day period). Buckley is also specifically referring to bye weeks, which is about the only time in season when you get a chance to recover from any extra (hard) training. Interesting that Buckley mirrors Burgess's take on in-season training, that it's basically all about recovery. But I feel that Buckley has misinterpreted Selwood. "Big month coming up" surely refers to Geelong's upcoming matches against teams in/around the top 4. "We did a couple of hard weeks to prepare us for a big month of matches" makes sense. "We did a couple of hard weeks to prepare us for a hard month of training" ... not so much.

Maybe think about why that could be and why there has been so little commentary (outside of this thread ...).

Yes. But we can probably use the word 'compete' fairly liberally. Sure, they're working/trying, but the objective is to reach specific load targets, winning is secondary. Equally though, from what I've seen of pro cyclists, a lot of the loading phase happens out of combination: training camps, altitude camps etc. etc., I'd also question your "many races". Tim Kerrison changed all that when he came across to Sky from elite swimming. But agree with what you've said, though note once again, this is an individual sport where you're not competing (= trying to win) week in week out. Data supporting these kinds of approaches in team sports (and not talking AFL) is minimal.

Well, mea culpa, I was wrong, at least one team is going for it. Will be interesting to see what this throws up in terms of what other teams might acknowledge. Amongst all this, I've wondered whether or not teams were reluctant to even discuss it given the dim view the AFL takes of anything that could compromise results, whether it's from over/under training, team selection etc. The T word rears its head (see above). Equally, would be really intrigued to see just what data/studies there are to support a "heavy mid-season training block" in June leading to a peak in September.

Surely they're trying to send Weideman a message? Last chance saloon and all that.

Some damming footage in those videos. Sure, forward line not functioning all that well ... but not being helped by what's going on up the field or by the entries. Goodwin (and others) often talk about connection, and there it is - or rather, the lack of it. As for the footage re Max and his defensive efforts across half-back. Going to be a huge loss, he was the key to our impenetrable wall. Tough times ahead.

So why aren't the other possible flag contenders loading? We've just been beaten by 3 of them, presumably it would cancel out. (If it were happening of course ... cough, cough). Fairyland.

The majority of people on here rabbiting on about loading don't even know what it is, yet alone have any actual (i.e., factual) evidence that we're doing it. In the post-match interview on Monday, ANB scoffed at the idea that our current losses might have something to do with fitness. i'm with ANB.

"After multiple interviews and review of CCTV vision from the night, the AFL is satisfied the initial club-imposed sanctions are appropriate and will take no further action." https://www.afl.com.au/news/780678/afl-statement-steven-may-and-jake-melksham

There's fitness ... but there's also freshness. If you're fatigued or banged up, or even coming back from being banged up (Salem, Langdon etc.), it doesn't matter how fit you are, you won't be able to fully exploit it. There's no reason to believe we aren't as fit as last year (see ANB in post-match interview).

No it didn’t. They weren’t pushing through injuries. “you can build them up and push them through those periods where they're a little sore, a little bit tender and a little bit fatigued … ”

The cupboard is bare. So hard to win back to back flags, especially with a young group. The finals themselves take so much out of you, then you lose 4 - 5 weeks break in the off-season. Lots of players look drained, and not just the younger ones. I always wondered how long Ed Langdon could keep on being the running machine - starting to find out. Hopefully the bye helps, but not holding my breath.

Some ridiculous comments here. We're losing matches because we're not able to kick a high enough score, or any sort of score for that matter. No firepower up forward, and good backlines are doing us over.

Don't disagree, but with May out, Lever is being asked to play as a KPD - which was never his go. He's never been a great one-one-one, lockdown defender, he needs the freedom to use his ability to read the play to intercept etc. But then this comes back to what's going on further up the ground, where we're not able to prevent quick ball movement into the oppo forward line and especially, quick transition from opposition back line - which used to be one of our great strengths.

Hmm. I'd question that.

Amongst all that, they're battling it out - but injuries knocking us round, both in available players and on game day. But, issue remains the forward line. You're not going to win matches kicking 8 and 9 goals. Not even sure what the answer is, especially with McDonald out for the season (effectively).