Pates

Melbourne is a great example of how these board spills and tickets for new presidency can be an absolute disaster for a club and leave them in the wilderness for 10+ years. It’s hard not to have a little schadenfreude about it, particularly when it comes to the pies. Eddie should be feeling a lot of responsibility for this, which in some ways is a shame because if he’d read the tea leafs right he could’ve left the club in the best position but I get the feeling he is a person that loves the feeling of power so being selfless was not in his character. On the outside this tumbling house of cards started when he forced Mick Malthouse aside for his favourite son. They were on the verge of a dynasty with Malthouse, but that move clearly created discord in the club and it’s just been bubbling in the background ever since.

I know it might be unpopular for people wanting to go to the game but I really think if it’s possible we should rearrange the GWS game to be in Alice. Perhaps we can negotiate to have the Essendon game as a replacement for members. Losing both the QB and Alice will be such a massive hole in our budget, we should try to salvage at least one of them.

I’m in the UK but getting back in July, my MFCSS is telling me that when I return they’ll turn garbage again. I haven’t seen a H&A win live for about 7 years I reckon.

There were quite a few that he got his hand on that I can understand him not pulling them down, pack marking is something sometimes it just happens to stick but largely they go to ground. There were a few of one v one, two v two situations, that he got a big enough piece of that I was disappointed he didn’t pull down. I don’t expect him to take all of them but even just one out of three in those situations would be good. I don’t like potting him, but he needs to start clunking again. We can’t have a player that is largely ineffectual for large parts of the game, has a flurry of 5 minutes, but then after that is just “bringing the ball to ground”.

Harmes definitely plays his best footy when he has a run with role, the beauty of him is that when he’s doing that role it actually gets him more involved in the play and can become damaging on the other side. His game on the weekend was outstanding.

I’m surprised he qualifies, I swear he played plenty of games last season. In any case it’s very well deserved, he’s an absolute ripper.

The criticism he cops isn’t unwarranted, most people who vent their frustrations with him point to lazy efforts as his biggest deficiency. He rarely tackles properly, and it was very evident against the crows that he was a weak link in the zone which allowed the crows to get out of defence. As a goal kicking forward he’s doing a great job and should he continue with his current form he’ll have a really good (even great) season, but he needs to buy into the team mentality as well.

We’ve been playing in Alice for long enough, I don’t know how people don’t know this. Quite often the conditions there are absolutely perfect.

I feel like this is how TMac became the player he is now, he stuck with roles and knuckled down to make sure he was contributing regularly. He just seems to be a deer in headlights when he plays at senior level.

Having a think about the changes, will a bit of it depend on which ground we play at? If it's at the SCG, being a smaller ground, the idea of having a player that can run all day on a smaller ground might not be so required. I think at the SCG Hibberd would be really suited to the wing role, he has a penetrating kick and has an amazing ability to get himself out of trouble.

Exactly my thoughts. At home that game will give us very little revenue, in Alice we get our $700k. With no Queens birthday this year replacing the game in the NT needs to become a priority.

I doubt the AFL would do it but for the sake of fairness and integrity they should be forcing both teams to fly on the same day to have equal conditions. It’s also worth noting that the match is a night game so it wouldn’t require getting up at sparrows fart, they could be on a plane at say midday and go to the ground early for muscle warm ups or have nap at the hotel.

Well reasoned. Would they allow crowds at the game? You would have to imagine all players/staff test negative before entering the territory.

It will be either way, we won’t get anything close to a profitable game anywhere else. This is going to be another tough year for the bottom line. Thankfully memberships will help. One of the first challenges next season for our new president, petition that next years QB be ours again. I’d settle for splitting it in half though.

Just another aside, does this put our QB match with crowds allowed in jeopardy? I’ll be ****ed off if that happens and they get the gate next season. And a different point, if the NT indeed doesn’t happen for next round I would not be against us giving up the Giants at the G later in the year to play there. It’s low drawing anyway and there are no GWS fans on Alice so the crowd would be firmly in our camp. As for Fly in Fly out, we just don’t seem to be able to bring it under those circumstances. I’d prefer we play in Sydney, personally prefer Giants stadium but I know from my brother it’s a pain to get to.

The only deal I would do (aside from those dollars as well) would be that in the event of a final this year against us no matter who’s home game it is, we play it at the G. Would be a big gamble on the Lions part. I agree that would definitely be something Seven would have to clear, but on the other hand Monday night footy actually rated quite well last season. An opportunity to give it a really big match. Fact of the matter is that someone will be put out by all of this whether it’s us, the Lions, or Seven. I would also only make it Monday night if it allowed the game to be played in Alice, otherwise we relocate it.

I would consider Mitch Brown for Weid, just to throw a different mix in for the forward line. I won’t mind if Weid gets another go but he really has to start showing something. I think Baker will come it for Langdon, similar to how Petty got his chance through injury, Oscar can get his from Langdon’s concussion.

Just as another thought pattern, would there be any chance of the NT changing allowances by a couple of days? Just getting creative we could get the match moved to Monday night giving us a week to prepare for the Pies the following week. Might not help tourism wise but we still get the chance to play up there.

I totally agree that they aren’t consistent with calling players around the ground to play on when they go back behind the player on the mark. The first one that I remember Max doing I though he had literally straight-lined it from goal, the second I thought was harsh but I could understand it. The balancing act is that the AFL is trying to make this player standing on the mark rule have a bit of both ways about it to stop the marking player from taking too many liberties. In contrast I though TMac had clearly gone off his mark for his long-range shot at 3 quarter time. I really don’t feel like the umpires are given good instructions, particularly when it comes to HTB/incorrect disposal. I feel like they’ve been told if there has been a sufficient attempt to get rid of it in a legal way it doesn’t matter if the ball comes out improperly. The doggies players in particular do A LOT of throws and they were wrapped up in tackles where they were spun twice and given an eternity to get rid of it but still not pinged. Annoys the hell out of me.

Personally if we can’t play it in the Alice (really hope that isn’t the case) I say we play it at Giants Stadium. Neutral venue, but we actually played quite well there last year, then look to shift our GWS home game there on 3rd July. EDIT Also under no circumstances should we accept it being played in QLD.

Very tricky player to cover for, there’s very few players that have the tank he does. One thought is move TMac into a wing role as he had trained in that manner all summer. Another is shift Hunt to the wing role, he has the leg speed but does he have the tank? Baker is the most obvious choice to come in as it’s like for like (in terms of role), but Baker hasn’t done a lot to give me confidence. That said it’s about taking your opportunities when they come, this could be his. I think Gus has to remain as the defensive winger, his role in the team has been stupidly underestimated by some on Demonland.

I'll be completely honest, I didn't see that coming. It looked weird seeing us play with no crowd and I think in a low of ways that helped us. The dogs looked unable to get "up" whereas I think we were always going to be up for a fight after the shock loss last week. I'm not able to really do much rundown but Gus and Brayshaw deserve a lot of praise. Did great jobs this week.

Always take a 19 point lead going into half time against anyone, but against the dogs it’s very good. Couple of lapses gave them an in back into the game.

Why was Max called to play on then, he went straight back. Suddenly rushed kick makes it hard.

Is there something going on with the ball, Jackson and Weid both struggling to take a mark.