binman

I reckon that is both very likely and a good move. Hibbo would have got him. But tomo is a good alternative. He's strong enough. Can sit on him - and run off him (stringer is not afl fit) and exploit stringer's lack of fitness. And stringer wont be able to exploit tomo's relative lack of speed and mobility And stringer is a good one on one mark when he can use his strength. Tomo's height will help negate that ability.

Strange isn't it. Made that exact point to them not that long after they started posting. I have vision of someone yelling at clouds. I'm actually really impressed posters who cop it mostly let it go through to the keeper.

Im just watching the replay now - it was actually Barass he outmarked! Sorry yeo - my bad

I'm watching the replay. Jeez Louise - not sure what the Eagles fans could possibly moan about. How many clear holding the ball frees were not paid to the dees!

Yep. I'm pretty sure it was yeo he outmarked after a pass from kossie, setting up one of his goals. Good mark, but my first thought was it was a hopeless bit of defending.

Yeah, but can kick a goal with a torp from outside 50. So watchable.

Yep. Goody's preferred set up for the last two seasons is two talls and the resting ruck. Essentially jvr is playing Jackson's role atm -albeit less ruck time. Petty has basically played bb's role- with a defensive forward twist. As you say, when maxy comes back, and assuming bb and tmac are both fit, a tall has to come out.

I agree Melk has been ok in the role (but lets not carried away - in his one game as sub JJ had 8 possessions, albeit playing as a mid, and crucially three tackles. Melk has kicked a couple of nice goals as a sub in his three games, but only had 7 posessions in total, albeit in a defensive forward role - and two tackles). And i don't mind Melk in the role - though i would have been really disappointed if he was selected ahead of JJ this week given how well JJ played against the swans. Personally, i think player should never be gifted a game - except in really rare circumstances, like getting a player to a big milestone when finals are out of play. But that's not my question (ie is it ok to gift players games). My question is whether an AFL club, a professional org in the elite competition, gift games in this scenario (finals well in play, milestone is 100 games with the club, plenty of alternatives). I guess to be more specific - would Goody do so?

I have a (serious) question. There seems to be a bit of chatter that the club is using the sub rule to get Melk to 100 games at the dees (though not so much after JJ got the nod against the eagles) - the inference being Melk has not been selected on merit. I understand giving a fringe player one, maybe two games to get them to the 100 game milestone. But would an AFL club really gift a player who has already achieved that milestone (and in melk's case also the 200-game milestone) 5-6 games to get them to 100 games for a new club (i assume the logic is by doing so it means any future father son/daughter rule is on the table)?

Your posts are exceedingly tiresome. Who can be bothered engaging with a troll - or having a trolls puerile teenage psyche clog up a thread. Not me. So I'll pop you on ignore. Don't worry about replying - I won't see it. See ya.

Yep. And i cant recall if he said it in a different context, or in relation to hibbo, but i thought it was interesting Goody made a point of emphasising the dees have a 'squad mentalilty'. I have heard pert talk about the thorough (standard) review of last season. A commitment to continuous quality improvement is sign of of a well functioning organisation. The have made a number of changes on the back of the review - and taking a squad mentality seems to be one of them. I like it because in helps address the challenge of having so many players on the bubble of senior selection. Last season the team changed so little it would have super hard psychologically on players like Tomo, Bedford and Chandler. And hard too for any player, like Hunt in 2021, that is in the ones only to get injured or suspended and lose their spot. And not get it back. A squad mentality should help all such players feel they are a reasonable shot at playing ones. So, for example, take no risk with Hibbo and a player like Laurie, Dunstan, Tomo or even Howes comes into the frame for selection (not all like for like - but they can shuffle positions if needed to get say a Lauire in). Or perhaps more likjley, JJ comes into the 22 and Melk is sub.

If I read goody's comments right, hibbo won't be playing next game.

Have decided to take a sanguine approach to footy commentators this year, such is the head exploding ridiculousness of most of them. So, for example, rather than getting wound up over how dermie is paid to mangle the English language, I have reframed him as a prophet that mixes speaking in tongues with the occasional flash of real insight. Taking that approach, i even found myself laughing at one of his comments from yesterday's saints suns game. In a good way. The suns somehow kicked a goal after a series of fumbles and near turnovers. Dermie said something along the lines of 'the suns score after chaos ball - and the saints never touched it'. Now have to work on learning to love the dulcet, rhythmic tones of hodge.

I posted after the trade went through about all the potential risks of trading in a super high priced player at this point in their chase for a flag. Particularly a player who is still 3-4 seasons away from his peak or in the short term even has even yet to master a specific role (eg nick daicos or Horne Francis) The rik of player discontent was high on that list of risks. And the vibe is, as you suggest luci, not real for freo on that front. One thing I didn't include as a risk, is the potential impact of potential discontent on how hard they train over the preseason. Hard to go the extra mile, pardon the pun, when you are jacked off. I'm not sure of course how well they trained - but to my eye they don't look nearly fit enough. They simply could not go with the crows, who look to have had a brilliant off season under Burgess. If true, freo are toast this season. There is no chance in season to get to elite fitness - at least not a whole team. And with the best teams keeping the ball in motion more often, freo will literally not be able to keep up. Compare them to the dees. We seem to be super connected and by all accounts trained luke demons on tbe preseason. And were super committed. For example the voluntary weekend running sessions the dees apparently did. Or the work the WA young fellas did on their Xmas break to come back in optimal shape (two of those boys, van ruin and jmac are in the 22).

Charlie should change it to treaty by yothu yindi

I wish I had been a bit less responsible.

Classy player

Lions will win tonight. They will phyiscally go after the pies, in particular the daicos brothers As i noted ahead of the last round, the way to beat the the pies and swans method is through intense pressure on the ball carier and shutting off corridor options (which has a two fold effect - continue to take the ecorridor on and turn it over more often, don't take it on and lose your one wood). The dees did both of these things brilliantly against the swans. On the former we continualy harrased and pressured their key kickers and as a result scored 6 goals from turnrover. On the latter, think how often swans players at half back looked in board for an option, even shaped to kick into the corridor and then changed their mind and went down the line instead. The Mcartin brothers must have done 10 times between them. Blakey too. The Lions will surely look to take a similar approach in this game. I think the humidity wil be a huge facor because the Lions game is built around contested footy and the Pies one wood is their ball movement and ability to hit targets with high risk kicks. The lions model is less impacted by humidity than that of the pies. One, a slippery ball means more contested footy and ground balls - which suits the Lions (the pies imnproved contested numbers nothwistanding) Two, assuming the lions bring the pressure, a slippery ball makes it is more likey the pies' chains of possession will break down - which is what happened in the first quarter of their game against the tigers when the ground was wet. And three, the foundation of the Pies game is the crazy amount of all team running they do (eg to create outnumbers, multiple leads to hit up to control the ball - somethig we have really adopted - that wave of players following the ball in transition etc etc). If it is as humid as it was when we played the lions, the pies will really struggle to maintain that sort of running to the end of the game. The other factor is the Lion's record at the GABBA suggests that behind the cats at tax payer's park, they have the biggest home ground advantage of any team in the AFL. They certainly have an imposing record there. Lions by 27 points. Betting suggestions: Lions to cover their +2.5 line @ 1.90 for 10 units. Lions to win by more than 39 points @ 7.50 for 1 unit

There is ZERO chance Spargo and Nibbler won't be in the starting 22 (unless injured of course). I'm not having a shot at you, but i honestly don't get how any dees fan who is passionate enough about the club to post on Demonland, and therefore i assume watch us play regularly, could fail to understand how important Spargo and ANB are and how incredibly unlikely it is either will be dropped or made sub. Even if someone doesn't understand how important Spargo and ANB are, surely the fact that the last time either was dropped from the ones was 2020 should be enough evidence they are both absolutely best 22 locks and are going nowhere (maybe ANB was dropped once last year? If so, that is the only game he has missed in two and a bit seasons).

It can mean, which i think is the case for some WC players listed as TBC, that they don't actually know yet how serious an injury is or how long they might be out.

My first ever face palm!

You don't think there is chance that is how they have been instructed to play when the opposition has momentum? You know, be prudent with the risks you take (like the play that set up the Chandler goal that stopped their momentum and triggered our more attacking play from that point on). Why? Because whilst risk (eg an aggressive kick to the corridor) can lead to reward (ie we score) it also significantly increases the chances of the opposition scoring. As Goody has said any number of times (and pointed out again in his post match presser, about both this match and the round one match) the oppo will inevitably have the momentum at some point in match but the critical thing is to limit how much they score when they do. Weather the storm and all that. Like a boxer protecting the head when their opponent is on top and landing a knockout blow when the momentum swings. Most other teams would have given up 4 or 5 goals - and the lead - during the period the Swans had the momentum. Not us. Once we wrest the momentum back, we put the pedal to the metal, increase the risks we take and look to make hay whilst the sun shines and score heavily when WE have the momentum. And put the game to bed. You know, exactly as happened, as you yourself note, on Sunday. And has happened so many other times under Goody. We have played three games this season and it has already occurred twice (ie the oppo have momentum, we ensure they can't take advantage of it, we wrest it back and blitz) I watch with both eyes open, and because i do i know that this hold and surge method is one of our key strategies and has been deployed so many times under Goody it's not funny - the GF being the most famous example. But hey, as you say, you look at the game your way I will look at it my way.

I don't post in games day threads, or even if read it - even when watching live on TV. It distracts me I don’t talk much to anyone when watching the game either. I'm concentrating. But I'm guessing there is a community of sorts that regularly post in game day threads. And they enjoy it - even the silinness and hot takes. What happens in the game day thread, stays in the game day thread. Each to their own. And posters get a pass for most hot takes given the passion and high emotion (which I completely share too). But three days post game leaves plenty of time for more sober reflection. So I'm happy to say 80% of this post is absolute rubbish. Case study one: 'They still have a problem with transferring' Total bollocks. In fact we are NUMBER ONE in the AFL in this exact stat. Four slots above everybody's fast transfer darlings the pies, even though they have one more win than us and in our loss to the lions we were well down on that stat.

Maybe. Maybe not. Would have tomo really added much more than an injured Lever? Who else could have realistically come into the team? Maybe disco, but same question applies. The big one was jvr. By all accounts he was very close to replacing maxy. But again, he would have made little difference. Talk is of up to 11 players carrying things into the finals. Realistically Bedford, Chandler, tomo and jvr, were really the only possible ins. Even if all came in that would not have been enough to move the dial. We were toast. In weighing up whether it was the right call not to make changes, the outcome of selecting them needs to be assessed in totality. Let's say we did bring say jvr and kade in. What impact would being smashed in a final have made to their development - particularly JVRs? He had a brilliant debut on Sunday. What a perfect way to commence a career- at the g, dees crowd. a big performance and a big win. Everyone sees a player who is ready. Not a youg'un who bounces in and out of the side like ugle Hagen, Philthorpe, Amarti, Logan McDonald, the Tex Walker wannabe at the crows, Darcy etc etc. And mote importantly JVR knows he belongs and is ready. Same story for Kade. Huge summer, impressive preseason, rewarded with a round one senior berth and looks to be a lock. Maybe that doesn't happen if he plays last year because he has a poor one and wonders if he is up to it. Deckchairs on the titanic last year.