Webber

If AI is asked to do the same for each club’s female supporters and a replica of @WalkingCivilWar isn’t the Dees rep, we should just shut AI down.

I remember watching Fritta in his first year at Casey, and thinking what a pity that this kid, who is such a beautifully innate and clever footballer, the kind born that way, will never play AFL footy cos he’s just not built for it. To my mind then, the days of Robbie Flower types being up to the current game’s physical rigours were gone. I kept those thoughts to myself, cos I hold to the idea that publicising any negative judgement on any player’s future is frankly presumptuous and arrogant. It happens A LOT on here of course, only because some people are thoughtless. I guess it’s a form of attention seeking. Obviously, none of us know how any player will develop. What we know for sure is that professionals much better equipped to make those judgements have brought them to the club. That we presume to criticise those players for ‘slow’ development, propensity for injury and perceived flaws in ability and personality (this really makes me shake my head) while they’re still kids is just pathetic.

Hilarious. Goody coached his team to the minor and proper premiership in ‘21, finished 2nd last year, top 4 (or better) this year! Doesn’t matter how unsexy he might appear to media (and he really doesn’t excite them), by sheer performance over a 3 year period, he HAS to be top 3. I reckon the other reason they don’t rate him is that in this world of goldfish attention spans, he’s just old news. They’re already bored with the MFC/Goody being successful. Incredible, but true I reckon. Put that together with a perception that MFC’s list is blessed with talent (albeit they’ve become bored with talking about our stars too), and Goody becomes irrelevant to these utter muppets.

I’m not going to argue with you JCB, but anecdotal perception in this case is meaningless compared to decades of measurable evidence, experimentation and analysis. Needless to say, the game today is also very different from Don Scott’s era. Skiing is a singular sport, in that it requires a rigid, locked in boot-ski combo. It also doesn’t have anything close to the ground impact forces of running, jumping etc, so the foot is spared loading forces. The rotational payoff of this locked foot and ankle, even with quick release boots, is a huge number of knee injuries. ACL’s meniscal tears, collateral ligament tears, and joint surface trauma.I know this, I rehabilitate them.

And high ankle support. Modern boots sacrifice support for flexibility and mobility The old chestnuts. It’s a clinical and evidential truth that high ankle support boots are pointless, cos they don’t offer ANY support. EVERY player has both ankles strapped EVERY game and training session, cos it’s the only evidence-based (external) intervention for ankle injuries. As to the stiff boot/sole/hard cap toe idea, these are a unmitigated disaster in a fast running multi-directional sport. What you limit in movement through the foot (which only creates areas of specific load, thus habitual stress risk) is ultimately born higher up the chain - ankle, knee, hip. The foot and ankle are mobile structures, so we try and protect them from extremes without immobilising totally - flexible orthotics for the foot, strapping for the ankle.

Can be quite the spectrum of severity, Red. Depends on the degree of disruption. If it’s just ligament tear without any joint displacement, the whole thing just needs immobilisation, whence it heals up, and on away you go. Surgery will sometimes be chosen to make sure of the ligament ‘attachment’. The worst situation is a full dislocation, what we have called a career killer, because it’s hard to stabilise multidirectionally. It’s the weight bearing arch, so all push off activities rely on it. Surgery is the only option, but outcomes aren’t perfect, though much better in the last 10 -15 years.

Ah, the 19th century.

Yep. The bone that allows up and down movement of the foot (at the ankle) is the Talus, kind of a cubic shaped bone with an articulating dome. That dome is ‘clasped’ on either side by the fibula and the tibia (the two lower leg bones). That clasp is held together by ligaments, i.e. they join the tib and fib together. That’s called a syndesmosis. To say that someone’s got a syndesmosis injury (and it sh**s me blind when they don’t say ‘injury’) means that join has been disrupted, thus the ankle becomes unstable (the ‘clasp’ runs from totally impatent to insecure). Depending on severity, means time off in reduced weight-bearing or at worst, surgery (to resecure the clasp).

If the 5-6 weeks being rumoured is correct, that’s an enormous win, could just as easily have ruptured ankle medial ligament, inferior tibio-fibular syndesmosis, or fracture (the things I was worried about). The way he injured it, with the ankle in dorsiflexion, meaning toes toward knee, is very unlikely to cause a Lisfranc disruption. It almost always occurs with foot in plantarflexion (ballerina ‘point’ direction). As a dweeby aside, the Lisfranc injury is named after Napoleon’s cavalry head honcho, Générale Lisfranc, who reported the injury occurring commonly to soldiers who were knocked off their horse, only to have a foot locked in the stirrup in forced plantarflexion. Ouchy. Too much nerdy-know? Not if you want to win your next pub trivia night!

Yep. JJ and Sparrow were v good (after first quarter) as usual. Harmesy ran around a lot with some horrible decision making and beyond awful disposal. He’s in a category all his own at the moment. in the end, a decent correction after quarter time, but that first quarter was indescribably bad.

Baffling, isn’t it. You get what you deserve I guess.

Wow. Can’t say I’m surprised. As Craig McCrae said, it’s so much between the ears. We’re not winning this cos we didn’t come to win with the effort it truly takes. Not harsh to say this is pathetic.

Both Murphy and Daicos injuries were contact-tackle related, so couldn’t be attributable to fatigue, just the vagaries of a contact sport. FWIW, I reckon other than the first quarter, when the Pies were NOT mentally ready, and in a truly bizarre fashion, I reckon it’s the Pies game style that Hawthorn exposed, not any very obvious fatigue - pressure at the contest source and for the next release, then a willingness to go risky bananas into attack. Only works if everyone’s committed of course, and frankly Sam Mitchell has got his troops eating out of his hand in that respect. In summary, and despite media fawning, Collingwood’s game has now been proven vulnerable, and what’s more significant, they know it.

Be even more impressive WITH Frosty.

Yep, it’s official. Garry Lyon is a HORRIBLE commentator. FMD!

This is the Hawks GF, and they’re catapult for next year if they win. They’ll have to reverse their late game fatigue to do it. SO DO IT!!!!!!

Here’s hoping….

I think they’ve just learned the danger, corrected, and will win this very easily. Sadly, obviously.

No ‘just about’ about it. Hawks would be 7 goals up if not for him.

I see. Those horns must be awkward then. Not to mention the hooves.

I’ll just take it Andy that you do resemble a youthful reverse-eyebrowed Mr. Spock, and George a wiser version of Harry Beitzel? Presuming also that binman’s Garry Baker-alike, all shimmering hair and beard, is just wishful thinking?

Fine pod again, boys. Excuse me if I missed something, but are the three (obviously handsome) caricatures on the web page header ‘actual’ representations of you three?

Spot on. Was always going to be our next key forward, but I guess only some of us knew that. 😎

Try the demi-decade

Yes I bl***y well did! Patience and time, BA.