binman

I was gunner say yes, but decided not to. It certainly the sort of night you might rin into a werewolf It's fair to say I was an excitable boy that night.

Speaking of Baxter tavern, one of my top 10 ever gigs was there in aprox 1990. Maybe top 5. Long story, but I had a mate who lived in baxter who I'd often visit. One of the all time great songwriters, Warren zevon was playing solo at, of all places, the Baxter tavern. I went to my mates place with the plan to see the gig with my mate and another friend of ours. Unbelievably, both friends ended up deciding to bail at the ast minute, even though Warren bloody zevon was playing just up the road. So I went solo, and flying high I might add. The first thing Warren would have done after the gig was sack his mananager for booking the gig. The Baxter tavern is a sketchy beer barn that is, or was, in the middle of bloody nowhere, surrounded by paddocks - and it was a freezing winter night I walked in just as Warren say down at a grand piano. There was maybe 15 other people there - and to be honest I felt embarrassed that so few people had comme to see a legend of music. But he was incredible. Played wirh passion and verve, as if there were 10, 000 people there. Masterful. I could walk to the bar, get a pot and back to my spot in under a minuter. And my spot was almost right in front of him, so I could see close up his piano skills and hear his voice direct from the stage. Noone bumping into me, none even close to where I was standing. It felt as if he performing just for me. He almost was. He played for nearly two hours, and never once flagged or went through the motions. Gave me a cool nod when he finished He was a brilliant writer, one of the sharpest and most intelligent in rock. Smart, funny at times, but also acerbic and often angry. And in that environment, so close, and just him and his piano, the lyrics felt so powerful and personal. And his voice was to die for - magnificent depth, so rich and emotive. I feel emotional just thinking about it now, some 30 plus years later. Transcendental experience.

So much to love about this post, I don't know where to begin. Brillianly funny. Try reading it aloud in the voice of Ted bullpit from Kingsford country - the comic genius goes up a level. I mean de Goey is 'certainly' finished as a man? Comedy gold. In my mind's eye I can see Rodney Rude, it's 1979 at the Baxter tavern, and he is doing a bit about male emasculation.

Don't blame George or i - blame Andy and his obsession with inaccuracy

Couldn't agree more Bbo. Max is so far the best ruck in the AFL it is not funny. As you say, you could make a case for him being the best ruck ever. I'd add that surely Gus is rated elite this season - he is number two in the AFL for marks, which is incredible given he has been in defence all season, and its not as if he gets heaps of cheap marks becuase we rarely chip it around in our defensive zone

Or used to - in 2014

Cue outrage

I don't Chris Tarrant from a bar of soap, and he is probably a well rounded, mature bloke. But, in my experience, being a successful businessman and developer is no guarantee he is not a immature [censored]

I always find it amusing that the AFL is bagged for its supposed incompetence - yet sometimes those same people think they are capable of organizing an ultra sophisticated conspiracy like having the umpires impact results or the (independent) tribunal doing its bidding.

Yeah, I see what you are saying. I took as top 4 or bust but that doesn't make sense.

Not quite sure that is what Scott was saying ie missing top 4 is not the be all and end of all. Be that as it may, im firmly of the view that finishing top 4 is absolutely critical.

That concept (only possible to peak twice a year) jags perfectly with the model that seems to be standard in the AFL. That's to say, do a big block in preseason and taper to be cherry ripe round one. Win as many games as possible in the next two and a half months. In that period, there is diminishing returns in terms of losing a bit of condition that was built preseason (because the match is the big load and training sessions focus on recovery and maintenance). Explains why we looked dominant early and then slowly came back to the pack. Then do another big block pre bye (which explains our obvious fatigue in our three losses), a little freshen up (and hopefully a win againstthe lions), and then another big block (which will likey mean more 3-4 games where we are fatigued), with a view to peak preliminary final day.

I suspect they would not veer too far away from the proven and accepted best practice in sports science. So whilst of course there is some variations, and AFL have a mix of different types of athletes (though all sports do I suppose - eg cycling, even with riders on a grand tour, have power riders, ie sprinters and those looking to place high in the race), I reckon the program would not be a hugely different to say elite runners competing on the pro circuit but also preparing for a 'grand final' eg the world championships

Id don't think that is true actually, at least if I understand the football Australia page linked above properly, which suggests you can tweak it week to week. After the Port win last year (which came after a six day break), in an on ground post game interview, basically said that's what they had done - ie block of hard training in the preceding weeks and then a deliberate freshen up for the Port game. We then went back intp a hard training block, as evidenced by our next 2-3 games. Though I guess that scenario doesn't contradict your idea of four week block and then recovery (that Port game would have been at about the 4 week mark of their initial heavy training block.

SFA

Some top shelf prognostications there stu. I hadn't thought much past the lions game, but I thought similarly for that game ie we will look to be as fresh as possible. It's one game back from the port game last season, but it seems similar in terms of freshening up to play a top 4 contender, and possible finals opponent, before going hard again. Scott's comments in his presser were fascinating. Pretty clear from his comments, they have long loaded, but never got it quite right in terms of peaking at the right time. But are now going harder than they previously have - and damn the consequences in terms of the risk of missing the finals Really reinforces the point made in that football Australia pages I linked to that periodisation is incredibly complex. So many variables, like game style and mix of different types of athletes (eg power v runners) and physiology. And that within each program there must be a range of philosophies and approaches, albeit within a pretty narrow framework of what is accepted, and proven, best practice. Also, as you suggest, during this block of aprox 7-8 games, clubs will freshen up for specific games they want to maximise their chance of games. Like you my gut feel is that will include the lions game, and I suspect they will also freshen up for (unless that doesn't fit with the program they have mapped out).

I looked up the definition of a backhanded compliment and that is what i read

My response to a similar question in another thread was: It's a good question. The AFL listed players all train with the seniors and do all the same fitness work. I assume VFL teams - and non AFL players - also load, but presumably their training is not at the same level of professionalism as the AFL, so the demands are perhaps not as great in teams of how taxing it is (though, its probably not far behind - i wonder if they have GPS trackers for all sessions and games as is the case in the AFL?). Have we seen a drop off after half time in the last 3 weeks? Hard to say because the weather has been variable, and we have had so many more AFL listed players than our oppostion, but on scores alone you could make an argument that yes we have - in two of the games at least. Against Frankston on 29 May we scored 8.4 in the first half and only 2.0 in the second half (from memory the second half was wet - that said Frankston had 6 scoring shots in the first half and 12 in the second half). The following week against the swans we scored 4 first half goals and 8 second half goals - so no drop off there. And last week we scored 11 first half goals and only three second half goals (the pies kicked 2 in the first half and 4 in the second half). It should be noted that it hammered down in the third quarter for a while. But it was sunny for the last i think and we could only manage the one goal.

Well, i don't think that is entirely true. Plenty of posters (this year and last year) dismissed the idea completely. In any case surely the debate whether loading is the primary reason (by which i assume you mean the main factor) is also over. There are many factors involved in our current form slump, but the evidence makes it clear to me that loading is the main one in terms of casualty and impact (by the by i'm happy for people to disagree with this opinion, but can't be bothered entering into a debate about it).

Based on the chart EO has posted, and the evidence Vipercrunch posted about the performance of the 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017 premiership winners in the five games either side of the bye, the periods of higher training loads (volume and intensity) is quite long and goes from aprox round 10 right though to round 17 or 18. So a full two months. This jags with our performance trajectory last year. We didn't look like we were running at full rat power until the round 20 game against the Sun's on 1 August. Dees fans should buckle up because it is very likely we will have to endure another 5-6 weeks of sub optimal performance.

Ultimately the highly paid Head of Strength and Conditioning, Selwyn Griffith, makes this decision. And it is very much a science.

I found this fascinating page on Football Australia's website. I was going to post it a few a days ago, but didn't get 'round to it, with a caveat that i wasn't posting it to make the case for loading happening in the AFL (it doesn't speak to a mid season hard block of training specifically). I just thought it might be of interest to posters who were on board the loading train. It is a pretty basic page, but has some fascinating info that helps explain how heavy periods of training can impact performance and puts our recent performances into some context. For example it talks about supercompensation, which is defined as: 'Supercompensation theory states that any given training stimulus elicits a fatigue response, which decreases our preparedness to train or compete again. This fatigue response is generally related to the intensity and work we are required to do. When we allow our bodies time to recover, we adapt beyond pre-existing levels, thereby increasing our levels of preparedness [2]. Placing the next training stimulus too soon, before we have fully recovered, leads to fatigue levels increasing and preparedness decreasing. Placing the next training stimulus too late means supercompensation adaptations are lost [2]. Selecting the correct training dose and allowing for adequate recovery is therefore vital for optimising training gains'.

I don't think gambling is a factor in why loading is not discussed in the media. For one thing it has been happening for many years, and the practice predates the boom in sports betting. Another is that discussion of it would have zero negative impact on footy betting. In fact, it may even have a net benefit on betting turnover as once people accept that the top say 6-7 teams (ie those with top 4 aspirations) are vulnerable in this period, they may be more likely to back an outsider at the line or to win and/or more interested in betting in game that has an overwhelming favourite. And the business model for bookies, in both horse racing and footy betting, is giving the punters as much information as possible - you only need to look at their websites to get sense of this. They don't want punters to be keep in the dark - they want engaged punters and try to support this with a huge amount of relevant information to help them make their decisions. And besides, the big pools are driven by the pros, who don't back with their heart - and the pros know about loading (which is probably what we are still the clear favorites to win the flag). My take on why it is not discussed in the media is two fold. As i have posted before, i think it is related to the culture in footy of never being seen to make an excuse for poor performance, and to provide any reason for sub optimal performance is a sign of weakness. That same culture explains why there is a collective minimization of the impact of injury on a teams' performance and chances of winning a flag (see demonland circa 2019 for plenty of evidence of this phenom) I think another factor is that, unlike the bookies, the media and AFL have a vested interest in keeping footy fans in the dark. The AFL and media (particularly the radio and TV broadcasters) don't want to promote the fact that there is a couple of months where the top teams won't be playing at their best and/or half the games will be riddled with skill execution errors, fumbles, poor decision making, turnovers and clearly fatigued players.

The post was encouraging responsible gambling. By winning