Pates

Look maybe it is going to be either of the two, but what I can tell you is I work on the broadcasting and I’ve been booked for the Sunday without being told anything about the Saturday. So if I was a betting man I’d be leaning towards that being the date.

Haha very true, I should have said the one thing AFL should be making paramount is fairness and integrity. But it’s one thing they CONSISTENTLY fail at.

It’s really strange, there are some rules that they seem harsher on (allowing opportunity to get rid of the ball) but then don’t punish rules the incorrect disposal enough. Something I love about women's footy though is they throw the ball up so quickly for ball ups. Keeps the game in motion as much as possible.

This one I can tell you, Sunday 27th November. I hope if we win through the powers that be decide it will be in Melbourne. If so Marvel seems the best choice for all involved, we’ve never played there so in theory the turf is neutral, and it’s the best location for fans to get to. Plus there is a strong Fitzroy following in Victoria evidenced from our finals loss.

Seems like scheduling ignorance or perhaps hope that it wouldn’t come about. I guess who’s responsibility is it to ensure this situation doesn’t come about? It’s definitely not the the GABBA or Metricon, they have every right to push forward with their own events. So surely it’s on the Lions and/or the AFL to make sure should this situation comes about. This job though them trying to make CA look like the bad guy for them wanting to hold them to their obligations of ensuring an international standard cricket ground. Does raise the stake a touch for us, win and we get a home grand final.

Ultimately just not what we’ve been doing for the last 18 months, and dare I say it a bit of variety with how we exit from behinds.

I’ll throw in something crazy just to make things totally bonkers (not actually saying this could possibly happen). How about we make 17 players on the field instead of 18, put that extra player on the bench. The reason I put this out there is the possibility of the odd number throwing out traditional positioning and match ups. The odd number could mean one less play in the middle to start (possibly opening up the game) but then the odd player can either be used as an extra forward or back depending on how teams would like to use it. There’s also been plenty if talk that there are too many players on the field so could this be an option to creating more field space?

I gotta say I’m hoping that when May is kicking in if they are both out there and in position to be there let’s get them on opposite HB pockets to reduce the predictability of our kick ins. Fair dinkum I reckon it was one of our biggest failings through the year and most importantly the finals series. Nullifying Max from taking contested marks went a very long way towards teams having repeated entries. I actually think Grundy could work as a great pick up IF USED CORRECTLY.

This is what bemuses me is why not take this opportunity to say no team gets a home game here. Port and Adelaide play each other on Thursday night to kick off the “monster magic round”, and then the rest of the round plays itself out with zero home ground advantage. Instead as you say two teams will feel hard done by with copping Port or Adelaide. Again, the single thing that the AFL fail at is fairness.

Hard to have ill feelings towards Jacko, helped us break the premiership drought when Max was having a poor game. I do have ill feelings towards Freo, they can go and bottom out for the next 20 effing years, and never see a bloody premiership. Sick of them putting time into snatching our players but not paying fair price, hope they get their worst injury run ever and finish bottom 4. We got bent over on this deal.

Totally respect the reasons and I hope it makes Goody and Co pay attention, reward effort and Casey form with real games not medi-sub selection (or not at all). Nibbler and Spargo both had very patchy form this year and deserved to be dropped for Bedford or Chandler, but GF exploits kept them in the team. Sad to see Bedford go, good luck to him.

Will always have the 2018 finals wins as fond memories. Wish him well, even if it is at Essendon.

The footy gods have cursed quite a few trades for Freo, here’s hoping it continues (though nothing against Jackson personally).

Can I just ask are there any out of contract next season players we can target to [censored] them right back?

While I wouldn’t like it I would accept Freo first round this year + next year F1st & F2nd. Then we pray that the footy gods give Freo their worst injury run in history next season.

I think he’s hoping to leave the club on good terms, if he doesn’t want to help us as well I’d say to him we let him walk and he can take his chances with potentially going to North. Maybe even start a rumour that North will take him in the PSD. Freo have put so much work into him that not getting him will be an embarrassment to them.

I think this is what I would be asking of Jackson as a way of upping the ante to Freo. Say to him we are wanting to get him to his preferred destination but Freo are the ones undervaluing him. If he really wants to ensure we are getting fair compensation for him the least he can do is tour WC facilities and have a sit down with them to make Freo actually move towards a fairer deal. All he needs to do it is for show, and who knows by doing it WC could actually make something happen with their pitch. I really don’t want there to be bad blood with him on this departure but if he doesn’t want that he should be willing to play the game. Otherwise he will forever have soured his time at the club. Don’t get me wrong, his third qtr in the Grand Final will go down in MFC folklore but people have short memories and how you leave a club can trump those happy memories.

Agreed, it’s one of the reasons I will struggle to have any ill feelings towards Jackson when we play him next year. He helped to break our premiership drought, as did Benny Brown. I also think that used correctly BBB has value to the team, but he is not a big pack marking forward. Could Bruce be the same? Maybe, I dunno. For a straight swap for Tommo would it be a disaster to try it?

We have made it possible when needed, they have the tools available to do it, they are choosing not to. Simple as that. I am at the point with their [censored] poor trade deals that I would say to WC fire sale on Jackson. Next years first round pick, plus this years 2nd round. He said he would go to either club, see if that was genuine or a crock of [censored].

Wow, I errrr….wow. Not sure how I feel about this, I mean he was starting to kill it for the dogs before he got injured but…is he the answer to our forward problems?

To be fair I have very little respect for any of the managers anyway, they play the game to get the best deal for their client, it’s their job. But the way they tend to conduct themselves is very much painting the players as victims in all of this when the truth is they have chosen a highly lucrative career which is country wide. High draft picks represent big investment for clubs, so when they say they want to go it sets that club back more often than not (us getting May is the most recent exception to this I can think of for us). So when the managers come out and say, “(player X) has given great service across the two years he’s been at (club Y), he just really wants to be close to his home town and desires a deal be done soon” it sounds incredibly disrespectful to the club who has drafted him, put time into his development, helped him through injuries, and helped him become the player he is. Scott Thompson is the best example of us getting royally boned by putting time into a player, then seeing them go to another club and getting set back in progress.

I wouldn’t go so far to say that’s the right thing, it’s a responsible thing to do as he was under contract. However, if he wanted to do right by the club, and he was already feeling that it was a high probability of him heading back to WA, then he would put us in a hugely better position had he pulled the trigger last year. FWIW he seems like a pretty good and simple bloke, so I’m not sure he’s got it in him at this stage of life to think that far ahead. So it would’ve been more on those around him to be advising him on what to do, I’m sure his manager would’ve been saying “hold out until you’re out of contract to maximise your return”. Did we as a club put the question strong enough to him regarding whether he wanted to stay with us long term or head home?

If he ends up at North it won’t be on a crappy salary, he nominates his rate and it’s up to the club to facilitate it. It’s how Jack Martin ended up at Carlton. Surely North of all clubs would be able to do it though, and they’d be mad not to.

It does appear that way unfortunately, he said at the start happy to go to either club but if he were true to that then he would’ve gone through the WC tour and pitch, and heard their offer. He hasn’t done that so he’s basically done it for show. I wonder how his management would react if we said we’re done with dealing with Freo, he’s going to WC. I imagine the tune would very suddenly change. He could’ve pulled the trigger last year, instead he’s waited until our bargaining position is significantly weaker. To me he and his management have put on a show of good faith dealing, rather than genuinely doing the right thing.

Is it me or does it feel like clubs are playing much more of an unders game when it comes to trading picks this year? I feel like in the past there has been at least an effort on the recruiting clubs to trade in fair practice, but this year clubs have been much more on the side of “take what we want to give you”. We’re in on it as well with Grundy tbh, although that’s a lot to do with the Piea desperation to get Grundy’s contract off their books so his value is lower.