binman

He is an emotional fella who I suspect often, despite his exterior bravado, often doubts himself. Confidence is a common word used when discussing trac. Yes he could get to elite levels if fitness. But I reckon his main focus should be getting his game time psychology right. He gets good numbers. Which is really important in terms of a foundation. If he can find a way to consistently get really mentally prepared he will go to another level. I would love for him to get more aggressive and be encouraged to go for goals more. Cage him in the 50 meter arc and tell him to kick 3 goals a game. I am confident we will get the elite player with x factor we all hoped for. He is a gun. And if does go up a level next season that will go a long way to softening the blow of losing Hogan. Which will be important as even with may in the team Hogan is a huge loss.

Agree AFL clubs do an amazing job developing wold class athletes, arguably the (all round) best athletes of any major sporting code. But i don't think it is true to say it is on a shoestring budget. AFL football department budgets spending is in the millions after all. Sure the football department budgets of even the biggest spenders (West Coast, Adelaide and Collingwood?) are a fraction of the equivalent teams in the NBA, NFL, Premier league, Serie A etc etc. But i suspect there is pretty significant diminishing returns for investment for those clubs once they expend what our budgets are (does that make sense).

Yep. Top 4 is pass mark. That said a lot has to go right and not much wrong to achieve it.

Strange isn't it. When we secured lever some on here said that would mean omac going to Casey for his "development' having been 'gifted' games in 2017. What happens? Plays almost every minute of every game in 2018. Including the 8 -9 lever played in. Having played all b as r one the previous season. And frost. Only got a run at it once lever went down and only after he had worked on his weaknesses. Omac is well ahead of frost.

Not sure I agree. We need outside pace and skill.Let's ask josh

Im a bit worried i might have got the track wrong. its been upgraded to a good 3 and the wind has got up and so there is bit of headwind in the home straight. Both factors suit on speed horses with a bit of cover, but he win will make it hard for leaders, Funny actually because i almost always favour on pacers. My one exception today - ie i mainly selected run on horses - is Thinking Big as i figured he is the best stayer. Conditions will help him now

Oh Damn. Lets go with Thinking Big in the derby

My best is Osborne bulls. Race 3 no 1. Its run on rubbish ground in the Everest was huge (cost me the trif - which I thought I had from the vision). Redzel form is primo and ob is a winner. Also suspect track will suit run on horses. Which I hope is right as I have made my selections based on that.

Of course the TV networks have some pull. Like der. I never said they didn't. That pull can be seen this year. 7 would have made it crystal clear they wanted good, evenly matched top teams scheduled in the marquee slots. And no carlton. But having some pull is a long way from the control you have previously suggested on multiple occasions (but seem now to be walking back from) tm7 and fox have.

Got it wrong? Are you still seriously suggesting channel 7 advocated for blues to get Friday night games? Not a single person in the world would have expected them to be competitive last year. Even if you knew zero about football all you would need to do is look at their record and points for and against for the preceding decade to know that. But you think a station that has been covering football for 40 odd years got it wrong. And the television era? Please.

What the? You maintained Channel 7 controls the scheduling and used that power to ensure the blues got multiple Friday night games, because of the old boys club , them being power club, the 70s and 80s yada yada. I said that was ridiculous as they are a commercial operation, answerable to their shareholders, interested in ratings and profits and if they had the power you have maintained they do they certainly wouldn't use it to have Friday night games that no one watches. Passing on memos?. What memos? memos from Channel 7 to the AFL telling them to schedule the blues on Friday nights? Please refresh my memory.

I do too. I assume they have done the maths. Have we singed up for two beyond this year? The issue isn't really financial as we are compensated obviously. The issue is does giving up home ground advantage make it harder to win games (ie the 2 NT games and the ones after because of the travel, heat and humidity)? Last year we won both NT games, flogging the crows in a massive performance that really got us rolling. And am i right in thinking we won the next game both times? If we repeat last year's performance then you have to say we have done ok from the deal, particularly if the heart of the country game in the Alice gets similar exposure again. But given we play two top teams, who we most certainly would have a better chance of beating at home, winning both is pretty unlikely

SYWL what's your explanation for carlton not getting a single Friday night game? Perhaps the AFL didn't get channel 7's memo telling them that carlton HAD to be scheduled for multiple Friday night games because they are a power club and channel 7 is interested only in seeing them rise up the ladder. Or maybe they did and realised it was dated 4 October 1979.

We don't 'agree" to play two home games in the NT.. We choose to.

Very tough last 5 games though. But an advantage of playing other contenders is winning against teams competing for top 8 ladder position, and potentially top 4. Lots of 8 point games!

Deservedly tough draw. We are a top 4 side. Other teams will not look forward to playing us. Huge from a financial perspective and brilliant for sponsors. Some huge games against big Victorian clubs will make for some terrific games and big game atmosphere. 13 FTA is massive as is the fact we gte get six stand alone FTA games (3 Friday nights, a Thursday night, the ANZAC eve game and QB). That's a brilliant result.

We'll i don't think that is true this year. We will get FTA exposure for this game and it is one that is likely to rate well, particularly given the thriller last year down there (how many times will we see 2EES goal in the pre game coverage? And by the sounds of the orchestrate leak we will get plenty of plumb FTA night games this year. Lets see on that front but given where we have come from in terms of coverage i would suggest we are winning the battle for exposure.

That's frustrating we have to play them there. Means I likely won't go. We better get a second game at the g (I'm sure we will). The upside is that game will FTA

Agree

On the NT games i had thought bubble. Would it possible to play those games back to back? Say fly to the Alice on the Friday, play Saturday, then spend the week in the NT before playing in Darwin the following Saturday. Use Alice as training base and do all the community stuff during the week between games. i understand routine is super important and there would be logistical challenges but they exist for both games already. And in terms of routine they fly up on the Wednesday or Thursday i think to do community stuff so they already a it out of wack. Might help with recovery as less travel would be required and could be pumped up in the NT as the Demon week.

Bingo

I'd like to know if my assumption they will put a premium on foot skills and outside run in this draft period is correct. He is probably unlikely to answer that question directly (or give a one word yes or no answer)so perhaps the question could be are we at the stage of filling needs (as opposed to best available) and if so what are those needs. He might well say they will aim for both. Fritter was arguably the best available last year at that pick and absolutely met a need. A fantastic selection that they obviously targeted. On fritter, he will be huge for us next year as he will have a second afl preseason under his belt and with may in the side and lever back he will surely play high half forward, where he belongs. Having him kicking regularly inside 50 will improve our entries enormously and this combined with his sure hands and accuracy kicking for goal will go a long way to offset the goals we will miss from Hogan.

Bingo

Well I hope being a bloody good kick is #4

You must be a plumber