binman

Rubbish. If we go though the season unbeaten the dees would almost certainly lose the Granny. Coz that would inflict the most pain

I might have to put this into google translate.

Higgins and Smith bring their average age up! Both are 32, and surely are past peak fitness. Cameron will help a bit I guess, but given he is a key forward he's not going to be giving their dad's army midfield mids a chop out.

This is the headline etc on the AGE at the moment: No change: Bombers clash with Hawthorn to remain at Marvel The AFL have rejected Essendon’s request to move their round one fixture with Hawthorn from Marvel Stadium to the MCG, meaning less fans will be able to attend the match. Shows where where are in the pecking order i reckon. As it should read: The AFL have rejected Essendon’s request to move their round one fixture with Hawthorn from Marvel Stadium to the MCG, meaning less fans will be able to attend the match BUT DEMON FANS CAN WATCH THEIR TEAM AT THEIR HOME GROUND NOT TH E OLD SOULESS JOKE OF AN AFL GROUND - JOKELANDS

I think a huge factor this season will be aerobic fitness. And it is a factor that works in our favor. We were super fit coming into last season. Unfortunately the 20 min quarters took away our comparative advantage. I think it is a reasonable assumption that we have at least maintained, and hopefully improved our fitness. If this is the case we will be well prepared for the change back to 30 minute quarters. 20% more game time, 10 minutes a quarter of 'red time' and a reduction in interchange rotations will make a huge impact. You could see it in the tigers practice game how the game opened up at the end of each quarter. And just as was often the case last year, even with the shorter quarters, we were at our best late. I thought the Cats would do ok last year, in large part because the shorter quarters would mitigate against having such an old team. I predict the converse will be true this year and they will be found out big time. I don't think they will make the eight.

I guess not. But given we were so close to making the finals last year i would have thought more would have us in the 8. For context the bookies currently have us at 2.50 to make the eight. That's not far off even money.

Fantastic

Wow. Rock bottom confidence about the dees.

Correct. With one exception. MFC is not on the list at all

But this isn't politics. This is football. Football is passion.

I could have saved myself 20 minutes of writing .....

I respect your opinion on this, and I consider myself someone who is pretty civic minded and supports fairness, but in this instance i couldn't disagree more about moving. In addition to the points I have made previously I'd at the following ones: Its our home game at our home ground. The bombers are talking about moving their home game from their home ground. Makes no sense at all. The bombers made a decision to make Docklands their home ground. IIRC they had the option of making the G their home ground but chose the Docklands because with the deal they brokered they thought they would make more money there. Erroneously as it turns out They chose the Docklands over the g knowing that full well that with a capacity of 50k there would be occasions where their fans would be disenfranchised and no be vale to secure tickets. IIRC this was the cause of a fair bit of angst from bomber's fans and comes up as an issue whenever the ground is likely to sell out - and has come up again for much the same reason The docklands is the bomber's bed. A bed they sought out for profit. They can lie in it. How would people go with the idea of the Cats asking for a similar swap away from Kardinia park? We are the oldest football club in the word and have played at the G for 140 odd years. History is important. In reality how many extra fans would actually be able to attend? We might get say 35k people to the game if it is played at the G. In that scenario only 15k extra people would be able to attend. The MCC members should be factored into the equation. It is their ground. And the majority of members are dees fans. Why should those members be disenfranchised? (note: i'm not a a member) Grand finals are played at the G. not docklands. Our record has not been great at the G in the last few years and we need to take every single opportunity to play games there The Docklands is a soulless, rubbish venue that most fans hate going to. I certainly do. Why should i and other fans have to have a lesser experience because the bombers want to play their game at our home ground The AFL should recognize the fixturing rubbish we put up with last year and shut down the talk about a move Why is this only coming out now - two weeks before the game? Surely the time for the bombers to address this was prior to the fixture being announced, or if not then soon after (ie last December). People, businesses, the MFC, the MCC etc etc have made plans based on the fixture. It is just not on to make any changes this late in the day. On the above point, like many fans, the thing I missed the most is watching the dees play at the G. And have been waiting a long time for this day. I have made plans. I have been waiting with keen anticipation. Now two weeks out the bombers want to mess with this because they couldn't get their act together to advocate for the change three months ago? I will be furious if there is a change and we have to play docklands. Furious. And I suspect I wont be the only MFC fan to feel that way. If the club does a deal that fury would directed at the MFC and in addition to causing reputational damage would very likely impact on membership sales, offsetting any financial benefit a 'deal' might bring us. No likely financial deal or any compensation would offset the impact of a move Who knows what might happen this year. What if there is another wave and the clubs have to go into another bubble? Say the wave comes after round one. And we don't get another chance to play at the G all season. Bird in the hand. Fury magnified. Football is tribal. And if there is one club i have no desire to 'help out, it is the bombers who were guilty of the most comprehensive, systemic program of cheating in the history of our sport.

Sorry buck, but the MFC should not even entertain any discussion at all. In fact pert should take the opportunity to publically shoot this down today. Go on the radio or whatever and make it crystal clear there is no way we will move. Doing so would sene a message to members that club understands the importance of this game, the first live proper game we can go to since 2019, being played at our spiritual home. The message should there is more important things than money. As all the members who didn't ask for a refund last year know.

Donald Mac gel?

I'm with you kev. He's got something i reckon. Personally i'd play him as a forward.

Even if agreed to a concession or financial compensation beforehand there would be no guarantee the deal would be honoured by the AFL. But to be honest the real issue is that if the AFL decided to move the venue of our round one game they wouldn't even bother negotiating with us, or do anything other than pay lip service to giving us some sort of compensation. The problem is two fold. One, we are a struggling club with little power or influence. The tigers, pies and even bombers might be able to extract some deal. But not us. Two, the first problem points to a huge issue for the competition. It is just one more example of the unequal playing field the AFL has created by making profit their absolute priority. Sure income is important, but the number one priority should be creating a fair competition. And continually favoring the 'big' clubs and treating the other clubs like poor cousins is an anathema to equality. It is a short sighted, short term approach and entrenches systems such as equalization payments.

It is a very specific rumour. Your source doesn't work at a hospital by any chance?

A gesture of goodwill? You have to be joking. I will be beyond [censored] off if this game is moved. No other club got as badly treated as us last year with the fixture. Some of that was plain bad luck (eg the Eagles game - though, even that is marginal - they should have postponed that game) but most were shafted. As a gesture of goodwill we should play all 23 games at the g.

Jackson is going to br an out and out star

How was that a free to arts?

Not sure about best three, but he has been pretty good. As you say working hard and created a goal from nowhere with his effort and then good kick to Jones. Intersting that he is on ball. Really, you'd have to say if he can't get a game as a mid he doesn't have a spot given how out of sorts he looks down back.

Lever looking terrific. Seems to have put on some bulk too.

Goodwin is Latin for designated period of time without a goal

Their goals have come from: turnovers from rubbish kicks. And small/medium forwards. Some things never change.

It is hard not to dislike Lynch. So I won't bother trying not to. He [censored] me to tears.