Grapeviney

I think the Jones twins are due in September. And Gawn Jnr is due in October if the season is delayed. It's that old saying - 'don't count your AFL players' babies until they've hatched'.

Enough with the politics and media. Most people don't care and this is a thread for footy-related covid news. And yes I'm aware there's lots of politics posts but mods can't be in here all day. Please stick to footy talk.

It's the Pink Lady match this week in support of the BCNA breast cancer cause, which the club has been involved with since 2005 iirc. The connection is personal for the Dees on a couple of levels. Oskar Baker's mum was a breast cancer survivor, who sadly lost her life to bone cancer a few years later. And the ambassador this year is Fraser Rosman's mum Trudy, who was diagnosed just before COVID hit, and whose past year has included 16 rounds of chemotherapy, surgery, 15 rounds of radiation, Fraser finishing year 12 and then him being drafted by the MFC. From the HS article: As Covid hit Melbourne, Fraser waited until after 10pm – once everyone had gone home – to do his running training at a local football ground to keep his immune-compromised mum safe. They spent his 18th birthday together with a supermarket cake at the kitchen table, because Ms Rosman was so sick after chemo. “He was my absolute rock. I had times when I was certainly down, and days where I just didn’t want to go to treatment,” she said. “He would tell me, ‘you got it early, you can do it, you’ll be all right’.” For Fraser, knowing his mum had finished treatment when he fulfilled his football ambition as pick 32 in the AFL draft, helped atone for the tough year. “When my name got called out I was ecstatic. When mum was told she was cancer free, that was spectacular as well,” he said. Ms Rosman said while news of being cancer free didn’t instantly erase the lingering worries and treatment side effects, she was looking forward to turning her attention to Fraser’s football ­career. “I do feel some guilt over the last 12 months and what he’s had to go through. It’s not really fair. He was only 17. It was a lot on him,” she said. “I can’t wait to sit back and see where this footy journey takes him.” You can donate to BCNA here: Pink Lady Match

You're in the Redlegs section (similar vantage point on the opposite flank) so the seats are fine. Ticketek has been grouping Redlegs, Tridents and Legends as one category, and then as each bay is exhausted, you get shuffled to the next area. Now that's OK for Redlegs and Tridents, but Legends really get shafted under this system, as they pay top $ for the very best seats in the ground (a few feet in front of the coaches box). Not sure what happened today because, unlike previously, I wasn't able to select a bay this week - all those seating areas, which are usually highlighted, came up as unavailable, even though i was on there at 1.01pm. Thankfully ended up near my normal seats but can't wait for this hassle to be over. Got a Hawk supporting mate coming with us this week, but he's already promised to sit quietly. To be honest, if I'd seen us win 74 premierships, I'd also be pretty chill.

An extra quarter would be good, too. 5 x 40 min quarters.

Me making breakfast this morning

My highlight is the same week after week. It’s watching the opposition stalled at defensive 50, looking sideways, backwards and every which way, with nowhere to go, before an eventual dump kick under pressure which invariably lands in our hands. I wasn’t fussed that we started poorly - our defensive game was on from the first bounce and as @A Fpointed out, when that happens we usually win.

New bub is healthy and well, and even visited dad at work today, as per MFC twitter. Unfortunately, Jack Viney's little one was also there, and the Viney family don't play well with others, which led to this.

It's not so simple. Some great players have either flourished despite their anxiety / fear, or used it to their advantage. Nev Jetta has spoken of the fear of letting his team-mates down being a motivating factor. Glenn Archer was so sick with nerves he sometimes used to throw up the night before a match, even at the end of a long and distinguished career. All he could think about was failing. "I spend a lot of time sitting at home [wishing] I didn't have to go to the game, because of getting nervous." Of course, there's a balance with these things, but those kinds of anxieties are probably quite common in elite sport.

No, this thread isn’t a whinge about the lack of a ‘big win’, it’s a place to celebrate our miserly backline and team defence. Bang on again last night, conceding the standard 59 points (including only 2 goals after h/t) and racking up eye-popping intercept numbers. One of the things I’ve noticed in how we defend the ground is the position of the player (usually one of the wingers or half forwards) nearest their ball-carrier when the opposition is clearing the ball from defensive 50. We don’t press their player hard, but nor do we push all the way back, and while at first it appears they have time and space to clear, it kind of splits the difference and puts doubt in their mind. We’re set up well anyway, but it gives the rest of the team that fraction more time to get where they need to be. We’ve ‘guarded grass’ before, but not as effectively as this. The positioning is just right. One of the other tactics we’ve perfected this year which BT picked up on was holding the ball up for as long as possible at stoppages before giving it back to the umpire or player. We’ve been doing this all season, and again, it gives us a few more crucial seconds for everyone to get in position. We have more than enough talent up forward to match it with anyone, but it makes it fairly easy to kick a winning score when you’re restricting the opposition to just 60 point a game. Roosy would be most pleased.

Everything's going to be fine.

I’m so confident these days I don’t even bother to check who we’re playing. Are our opponents today any good?

I wrote a song about him. It’s called ‘Up There Kozaly’.

Up There Kozaly

I and three of my friends just completed the survey, but only 2 of us voted yes for Thursday night team announcements. Based on that, does the percentage go up or down? Asking on behalf of @Sir Why You Little Edit: removed appalling grammar

Magical evening at my favourite place in the world. It felt like pre-covid days, with all the MFC supporters crammed into the northern side of the ground and a great atmosphere. Memorable night for many reasons, but Spargo’s pressure, tackling and chasing was off the charts early. This tackle midway through the first woke the team up and helped turn the game.

I’ve decided not to go to the Anzac Day dawn service. Much more exciting to attend tonight’s gawn service!

Lol - the same Peggy O'Neal in this #changeourgame video, calling for more women in footy?

For all intensive purposes, this is a great thread. I literally die every time someone mis-spells a player's name. Schwartz is the most irritating, along with the laconic Gary Lyons.

^^^ All valid points, Macca. Interesting that you mention overseas matches, including here, as that was one of the points of real hostility on the spurs forums I’ve been browsing - that it would become a travelling circus through Asia and the Americas, not all that different to the pre-season tournament that’s played now. I probably have ulterior motives, though, too; as you say, someone would have to finish bottom of the SL, and I didn’t fancy opening up Spurs’ schedule and seeing our next 4 matches being Barca, City, Inter, Liverpool et al. From a personal perspective, I just want as many games as possible - it keeps me going when the footy season is finished, and I haven’t missed any of the 241 games we’ve played across various competitions this year.

It's hard to tell, Macca. The fact that it got out the night before the announcement of the new CL format suggests otherwise. It was an ambush I reckon, poorly executed. There's also talk that UEFA have found extra $$ to basically bribe the rebels back into the fold. I'm surprised at how quickly the Prem clubs caved; surely they would have anticipated a significant backlash given the hostile reception it's received when canvassed previously. And it was always hard to imagine FIFA following through with the threat to ban SL players from the WC - their mates in Qatar would not have liked that idea one bit. Anyway, it's over now and I'm glad. They joy of watching, say, Barca v Juve comes, in part, from the fact that it only happens occasionally. Start fixturing them 5 times a year - including some dead rubbers - and the romance and hype will dissipate pretty quickly. Poor Jose - the only super league manager to be axed, without a ball being kicked.

Same thing happened to me in round 1. I think what happens is that Legends, Tridents and Redlegs are all grouped together as one premium group, and from there it's first in best dressed. That's how @Demonlandhas been upgraded to N49, and @Cal7B relegated to N52.

Given all the speculation about him not being happy, it's interesting that he's not smiling in that video. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still meeting with Carlton.

Only Jack himself can pardon you. I'd be careful about approaching him at training, though. You don't want to end up in the Jack Viney Made Me Cry Thread.

Even illiterate people know Mea Culpa isn't French. Evidently I'm not going to get too many laughs..