Webber

Ooooh, that’s just perfect.

Why do teams forget that Collingwood always look to break toward the corridor on the turnover? Defend the corridor, push them wide, slow their run? And don’t allow them to out-number at the breakdown and muscle the outlet possession. Essendon are willing, but basically as dumb as a bag of bricks - Merrett and a few others notwithstanding.

Great article*. It’s obvious to say that a succession of short breaks, the most egregious this season being St. Kilda’s 3 games in 11 days -a patent unfairness - is the key issue. The media aren’t interested, or are in some cases I suspect are directed not to comment on fixturing unevenness, which means the GP, who have no insight into the physical extremes these guys endure anyway, think short breaks are irrelevant. That’s assuming they think about it at all. Add to this the “no excuses” mantra at a coaching (and player interview) level, and the “we’ll take whatever’s thrown at us” dogma, and rank unevenness ensues. Then there’s the 18 teams spun into 22 games each raffle. Needless to say, NOT AN EVEN PLAYING FIELD. There needs to be a complete overhaul, but it won’t happen til the 20th team arrives, and even then, commercial interests will dictate the changes. I feel like an old fart longing for the simple and FAIR predictability of Saturday only fixturing. Obviously we don’t need or want that, but there IS a better way. Problem is, that’s not where the AFL’s interest lies. *interesting to note in this article that we’re the only team who doesn’t play an oppo off the same break length once.

I said in the game day thread at half time that our kicking was so bad it was ‘almost funny’. Apparently it was ‘actually’ funny. Oh well, half right.

Richmond’s lowest score against us since the week before Kevin Bartlett played his first game. Gotta love our defence.

Just what I was thinking. It’s almost funny.

At the game. Gotta be some kind of record for kicking to the oppo. Just never seen anything like it. It’s literally like they’re trying to do it. Can’t possibly continue, can it?!!!!

Your entire criticism is based on this, and it’s statistical nonsense. His hitout percentage to advantage is elite across his career. Yes, compared to all other ruckman. The other truth is that hitouts to advantage are never a high percentage stat, for anyone ruckman ever. It could be said you’ve got no idea, but better to just imagine you’re angry and misguided. Do us all a favour and pick another target. Have a long think about it before, though.

Fair to say none of us saw this coming. It’s that bad. Pre-2021, and then some. It’s like they’re all crook. Really really hard to watch. Urgggghhh.

Robbie was a great mark, Chook. He could take a ride for a screamer, and dive to take marks or one-handers that nobody else would. Knew to never get involved in a body contest, cos didn’t have the body-work skills of say, Fritta (similar build). I’m resuming my judgment on Caleb’s overhead skills just yet, only cos hasn’t been presented yet. Would complete the picture, no doubt.

Been trying to keep the lid on, but this kid is a freak, simply going to be an enormous star, and he DOES remind me of Robbie more than anyone. (There, I’ve said it).

It’s free, with no ads, is utterly comprehensive, really good-hearted, long enough for a listen on a big drive, long enough to be broken into daily commute or brekky chunks, calls out Demonland community members (which is great for those of us who enjoy the personalised, ‘community’ aspect of Demonland), takes on callers (non-judgementally), and sometimes provides great interviews. Um, really the podcast is just critic-proof.

That’s our binman, the pearls you hardly notice. And he’s here all week!

I wonder if the OP is now thinking about some umble pie? Great work guys, just about to listen to this week’s pod, anticipating a cracker of a highlight akin to binman’s quote from last week …. “MFCSS is like herpes”. (harsh, but oh how true). 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Jack is the epitome of the tough, loyal and fair footballer. A perfect club man, and I don’t doubt the standard for fitness, dedication and sheer uncompromising game day approach that every player across the AFL tries to attain. He’s easy to undervalue of course because he’s just ‘there’, every game. And his footy now is the best it’s ever been. Taken with Max (and I don’t really separate them) as leaders of the team, it also makes all this questioning of culture seem frankly ridiculous. Well done JV7. You’re the total MFC package.

I might be optimistic here, but I think Verrall (for his age) is showing outstanding signs as a future ruckman. Despite the underwhelming Casey game on Sunday, he showed (to me at least), surprising physicality and competitive spirit against Meek (a man-mountain), and exceptional endeavour in second efforts. He is however raw and clearly learning every minute, but to me, as a potential no. 1 ruckman, he’s got me excited. Don’t forget how Maxy presented as a 19 year old.

Great pod again, boys. Your consistent level of detail is hugely impressive, across the podcast spectrum I reckon, not just footy. Perfect accompaniment to a Tuesday morning exercise session! Thanks @george_on_the_outer for the shout-out on medical/injury stuff. I am indeed a physiotherapist (not an orthopaedic surgeon….don’t have quite the ego for that 😉), of 35 years and counting in sports/orthopaedic work. Am basically the wallpaper at a Melbourne practice that specialises in knees, including a huge amount of post-surgical rehab. This includes long relationships with all those surgeons you hear about in the AFL media. As such, I’m happy to throw my expertise around Demonland FWIW, particularly if it helps to counter misinformation, panic and sheer speculation (all of which hardly ever crop up on Demonland of course).

True that, DeeZone. Maybe the worm is turning. Either way, I’ll keep riding it until he’s acknowledged legend status.

Fancy Nibbler getting 4 votes from the coaches when he got next to zero mention on Demonland! Shocked. 😳

Semantics, Redleg. Crack is more commonly used when referring to a fracture that doesn’t go ‘through’ the bone entire or is ‘undisplaced’. In other words, if you didn’t see the fracture ‘line’, you wouldn’t know the bone is broken. A ‘displaced’ fracture, of which there’s a spectrum of severity, means the bone is not aligned as ‘normal’ either side of the crack/s. Jeremy Howe’s arm last year was a displaced fracture. Very. Nobody’s calling that a crack. As to Maysie’s return, the issue will be pain. Playing won’t make the situation worse. The contrary situation to this would be if someone had a crack in their navicular bone (arch, or midfoot), which is a vital weight-bearing, structural bone. Crack might be there on imaging, but without pain. No way that player plays until the crack is fully resolved, regardless of pain. Reason being that the crack can turn into a bigger crack, and career over. Not the case with ribs, or transverse process.

As they say in the classics….’it ain’t nuthin’. Is a small bony projection off the side of the back of the vertebra that functions as a muscle attachment. The kind of thing that plenty of players in the past would crack from an impact injury, and if not scanned/xrayed (this happened a lot in the past), would just be put down to bruising. When it feels ok, play as able.

Given my (irrational) fear of flying, I would have s**t myself to death on the way down, so might be first on the barbie. But thanks anyway, Skuit.

Flying blind tho, Jaded. Either way, here’s the thing … I’m presuming the vertebral ‘crack’ is however ‘non-structural’, meaning not part of the weight-bearing vertebral body, or the arch protecting the spinal cord. If so, recovery and game-readiness is determined by pain. If pain allows = play. With the rib fractures, assuming they are ‘non-displaced’, meaning not mis-aligned, he’ll miss the next 3 games, then look to first game after the bye. Doesn’t really matter how many ribs (excepting the acute pain factor - OWWW!), but is affected by the fracture position on the rib. If it’s easily exposed to knocks and/or movement, means longer to recovery, and risk of aggravation.

For a moment there George, I thought you’d written ‘empathetic’ 55 point win. Sign of a great culture I reckon, the empathetic win.

As their anthem itself says …… Collingwood FOREVER.