binman

Maybe. But it would leave us a bit light for a lock down defender you'd think. Bowey is a beautiful kick, so i'm loving that aspect of the selection. And at Casey he has been kicking out and playing a a similar role to Salem. But surely they are not moving Salem from HB, so he is not playing that role Rivers might be totally gassed - he looks like it. But you'd think they have him in the finals best 22 team. Can't think of one off the top of my head but i wonder if is there a scenario where harmes comes out?

Rivers would be the more like for like option you'd think.

Changes they should make: choose their own adventure Changes they will make: One (Harmes out for Sparrow or Melksham). Or None

And a dead heat at a middle of winter Thursday meeting on the synthetic track at Geelong

This is the way

I've gone from obsessively checking infection numbers and related info to refreshing twitter feeds and checking demomnland for any information on where our game in 3 DAYS is going to be played. Please let it be Metricon

Symptom not cause goffy. Everyone of those players have poor technique. Fatigue exacerbates poor technique. High training loads cause fatigue.

True. But the same goes for ignoring positive past events and trends. By that i mean clubs are looking at history to see what are the trends for teams that win flags. if you fail to remember the past you are doomed not to repeat it. For example, one clear trend, is teams that peak during the home and away almost never win the flag. Look at last year Port and Lions had barnstorming seasons and finished first and second. Neither team even made it to the big dance. Another is that every flag winning side of the 13 years, bar the hawks in 2013 have hit a flat spot like the one we have. And remarkably the Hawks were only minor premier in that period to win a flag was that 2013 hawks team. Surely those examples are statistical anomalies. They are more likely evidence of trends that should be followed. As we seem to be. At least the flat spots part. You don't worry when your Melbourne Cup horse finishes mid field second up over 1600 metres.

All demons fans who have written us off should not be able to celebrate the success thst will come this year. Joking. Not joking.

I didn't blame the umpires. I said they were terrible.

You. Have. To. Be. Kidding I can barely remember a game umpired so poorly and so inconsistently. And i remember a lot of games where the umpiring has been woeful. It was 11-4 at half time. Our fourth free kick happened on our half back line with 5 seconds to go. So it was essentially 11-3. And as always, it was the frees missed that were significant than the ones given. Sure we lost the game, and that's on us, but there is absolutely no question a big factor in their 21 point lead at half time was the rubbish umpiring. Simply not good enough.

Yep. Its funny spot up there on the bluff, but beautiful Am i going crazy? Am i right that Frankston are no longer in the VFL? What a powerhouse they were.

They do. Which is exactly why all teams are struggling at the moment. Happens every year around the half way to 3/4 mark of the season. Which is why scoring has completely dropped off a cliff. Again happens every year. And explains why there are some many rubbish games, littered with errors, turnovers and brain fades. Again happens every year. Also explains all the crazy results in this phase of the season. Sure we have dropped some games as favorites but there has been any number of upsets in the last few weeks. Of the top teams only Geelong have avoided an upset. Again happens every year. What is weird is this is not a new phenomenon. But every year it is like footy commentators and fans have collective amnesia. And so are shocked when around the around the half way to 3/4 mark of the season scoring completely drops of, there are so many rubbish games.....

Agree. The most beautiful ground and location in Melbourne? I would love to play cricket there. But when windy makes Casey winds feel like a zephyr!

We dont get extra point from a specific kick. But WE DO get extra shots at goal in total (and the opposition less), so the effect is the same.

True. To an extent. At the elite down to semi pro level in basketball every team takes a really high number of 3 points shots. And there is pretty much no poor three point teams at NBA, just some much better than others and osme who shoot really high volume. In teams that don't have a range of good three point shooters they always have at least one or two guns and engineer it to get it in their hands. Like Ingles at the Jazz. Our equivalent should be Fritter who i'm guessing takes a really big percentage of our shots near the boundary line. If he could increase his percentages even a bit over the course of the season he might kick say 10 more goals. And we might win say one more game as a result. In the scheme of things that would be huge. And poor three point shooting teams can mitigate that impact by having great rebounders and winning the ball back from the missed shot. And getting another crack at scoring Similarly the other part of the puzzle for us, which super alluded to is that our model of going to the boundary line actually creates more scoring opportunities (ie we mark it, hits the ground and we rove it, we get a stoppage or force a dump kick out - win that and get a reentry) and is less likely to result in the opposition going coast to coast. So it is a winning tactic. But would be better still if we we more accurate.

Yeah, nah. Some good points super, but goal kicking accuracy is an important stat. For one thing it is measure of kicking skill and technique. You could apply all the same arguments by in large to basketball. In fact in basket ball individual shots are less significant given a team might have 100 per game. But in basketball, at all levels shooting percentages are part of the DNA of the sport. Percentages win over the long run And it drives an approach to skill development and coaching that is all about building strong technique and stress testing it. Shooting is the building block. Footy needs to take that same approach. Our kicking is woeful. And our inaccuracy is a measure of that. One furphy is kicking from the pockets skews our percentages. Sure it is harder to score from closer to the boundary. But our poor technique makes it even harder. Similar to three point shots in basketball. Ignoring the issue means it is not properly addressed.

I actually don't mind callum twomey mind either. He knows his stuff about draftees and the draft. But nev, that article is hopeless. As you say he is a journalist. His job is to apply some rigour and analysis. I agree, I much prefer articles that analyse stats than opinions. But regurgitating stats isn't journalism. He might have well just copy and pasted the stats and not bothered with any linking paragraphs. Not sure if you are having a crack with the I reckon, I thought comments, but what I want in an article written by a journalist is some I reckon. As in an attempt to try and provide some answers to the questions posed. Some critical thought. To be fair, probably the critism should be for the editor.

Spot on. The gps data would be brilliant and take a hell of a lot of guess work out of things. The eyes say we are fatigued and not covering ground. The gps numbers would conform or contradict that impression

Which will be ironic because it will be another wet game where the poor fella can't mark the slippery pill

Yep, some of the stats are of interest. I thought it fascinating we are being more direct for instance (ie using the boudary line less). Seems counter intuitive. But surely his job is to provide some context and analysis for the stats. For example why are using the boundary less and the corridor more? As i have posted in any number of my very long posts, i suspect fatigue is the key factor in our slump. And old mate cam doesn't even mention it! And i reckon fatigue might be a factor in us using the corridor more. When we are up and about and transition it along the boundary line, it usually involves us running in waves and multiple players providing overlap options. As i noted in this (long) post , at our best that we generate a lot of our scoring from overlap run from half back, where we run in waves and swarm it forward, with lost of quick handballs. But atm only hunt and nibbler seems to be able to run and carry and offer overlap options. With no overlap running we are more static and more likely to kick from contest to contest more centrally. But yeah, some nice stats from cam. Perhaps he is doing a student placement.

What a bizarre article. Is it missing half of it? All symptoms and no cause.

Makes living in a democratic, western developed country a bit tricky! I wonder what the North Korean equivalent post is on their one state sanctioned football fan forum is. Perhaps: I hate dictators and unelected health officials. And i'm not thrilled about not having a functioning health system. Anyway back to the footy.......

All depends on your perspective i guess. Stubborn? Or confident?

From the dees website. Nibbler was one of our best and is much more than juts a running machine. He aint going to be dropped BEST Melbourne: Oliver, Petracca, Neal-Bullen, Lever, Gawn, Hunt Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Daniel, Macrae, Smith, Hunter, Liberatore, Schache