deejammin'

It’s difficult to know what to make of last week. Clearly we were smashed around the ball, in every phase of stoppages and made many uncharacteristic defensive errors, including allowing players to get free 20m out from goal. Something we haven’t done since 2019-20. At the same time we were missing 3 incredibly important players, both for their ability, x-factor and structurally. I can’t see the same defensive errors happening to that extent with May leading the backline. Tomlinson did a serviceable job but Petty has looked under enormous pressure during May’s absence, which I think is because while Tomlinson is good one on one, he lacks May’s ability to goalkeep and structure up what has been a relatively inexperienced backline group. With May back I think we’ll see Petty back to his best as second key defender. Also in Kozzies absence we lacked pressure around contest, his X factor is also missing but his physicality, pressure and speed were a key ingredient in our midfield and up forward in round one and we suffered without him. I had hoped Viney would pick up the slack but he looked a bit off. We looked sluggish and let Brisbane move the ball outside the contest with little pressure, that would not happen with Kozzie in there. Lastly losing Max hurt and will continue to hurt. He’s huge around stoppage, he’s our number one contested marking option forward and behind the ball, he helps out the defense, he kicks goals and he worries opposition. I think it’s easy to forget but this is the best ruckman of this generation, possibly all time, he dominates games in a way no other ruckman does and he plays a selfless team brand that makes us better on every line. He’s also a brilliant leader, an onfield coach and the spiritual heart of our team. I have no doubt if Maxy plays out the game last week we win. How we cover for him will be a huge challenge, the inclusion of May behind the ball will help cover Maxy a bit, it’s also clear we’re hoping JVR will offer us better contested marking down the line and Grundy will cover the stoppage work. But it’s a huge challenge for us. I’m not too down on last week, take the FB, the explosive X factor forward mid and the number one ruck out of any team and they will struggle, let alone our team where these three are in our best 6 or 7 players comfortably and on field leaders for us. Imagine Sydney with no Ladhams, Papley and T McCartin, they would struggle. Our depth makes it feel like we should still be very good, and we should, but we’ve had huge outs throughout this early season and if we get through these three weeks with a couple of wins that’s a massive result. Ultimately if we can reach round 8, when Max should be back, at 5-3 or better, we’ve done well. Our best team, with Max, Kozzie and May all fit and in form will belt almost everyone the way we did the bulldogs. The challenge we failed to meet last week is without these players can we still eke out a win against good opposition. Hopefully we can do that against Sydney this week. For me it’s: Out: Tomlinson, Harmes, Gawn, McVee, Melksham(sub) In: May, JVR, JJ, Hibberd, Laurie(sub)

This is the point when it comes to footballers. Not only are there the medical reasons you list in this and your other post on ketamine, but these players work in an environment where the slightest change to diet, a weight regime, 2 minutes extra at training can make an enormous difference to their performance during the year. These guys work in an elite performance environment and the challenge of that is if you slip, even slightly, in your preparation you can ruin a game or even entire year, for yourself and the team. The medical reasons you list, as well as the most minor disruptions to your bodies performance that would be negligible for the rest of the population but huge for athletes and also the fact this substance could be cut with something banned that sees you before ASADA and out for a year make it a very stupid thing for a pro athlete to be doing. I’m sure I’m certain football player circles they make arguments that these drugs are better than alcohol as you burn them quickly and can take them in a way that doesn’t wreck your skin folds but the risks outweighs these relatively minor pros. It takes a certain disregard for your conditioning and health to take these risks and while these players operate under huge stress and deserve a chance for relief, anything that risks their career and health should be avoided and that’s the way the clubs should be educating their players, which I believe they are. Stupid from Ginnivan.

I’m really enjoying the discussion on this thread. It’s respectful and informative despite opposing opinions. Very refreshing in the internet age. I would just point out that the internet and social media is facilitating far less “seedy back alley” deals. There are entire sites and delivery services that are far more formal, non contact and professional than the old school, it’s still illegal and not my thing but you’d be surprised how easy and professional some of this stuff is. The recent international police operation where they invented a social platform for selling dark web material was aimed at precisely this market, delivering hundreds of arrests and thousands of kilograms of product. These operations are more akin to Uber eats than an 80s Scorcese film.

“Cashin’ in Jackson”

I care, I want Freo to finish stone cold motherless last in 2023 so that in addition to another flag we get the number one draft pick! 🤪🤪🤪

I think we have different ideas of what “doing a Tomahawk” is. For me it’s sniping players faces with your elbow and pushing opponents in the back. Are we hoping Schache or JVR will do this or are you thinking of something else? 😈😈

Unless the plan is Darcy forward Jackson ruck?

Love the interview. What’s going on with the pronunciation of “Petracca”, we saw Christian mouth “it’s Pet-rah-ca FFS” at the Brownlow but in this interview Max says “Petracka” about 30 times. Is he baiting him?

I think this is a very simple deathride. Injuries to Brayshaw and Pearce lasting more than 4 weeks and Freo are done. They have a good coach, a good defensive setup and some guns but they fall away after their top five or six players and without Mundy, Acres, Lobb, Logue and a few others there’s a lot of pressure on very few. Lose Brayshaw and a Pearce and it will all fall apart very quickly.

Deemania I was loving the posts and comparisons. I’m excited by all our draftees, the position of our list and our potential to win more flags in the near future. I was enjoying how positive things get about every player at this time of year, it’s only a matter of months and one loss before all the negativity returns. I was enjoying it not lambasting it!

You gotta love the pre-season. The only time of year an unknown recruit playing school and country footy becomes a Gary Ablett Jnr/Leigh Matthews clone in a matter of two or three posts. Thank you to Kev and all the posters for your brilliant training reports they are so appreciated!

Damn, that sucks. Ben has been great in his coverage of both AFL and AFLW, his work on Gus and Gawny and Ben and Lil and has clearly been a huge part of the marked increase in quality and quantity of our online content. You’ll be missed Gibby! Whatever “Bursty” is is lucky to have you!

I don’t disagree. I do disagree that the bulldogs had “average” wingers last year. That was my point.

They lost Dunkley and Hunter, they wouldn’t have looked at Oscar last year, which is the time period we were talking about. I know you didn’t mention Bailey Smith, you just said that the bulldog’s wingers were average and you were worried about Hunter as a result. I was pointing out they have close to the best winger in the game, that two excellent mids(including the eventual B&F) and a number of strong role players pushed him out. I was disagreeing with the idea that the dogs had average wings last year. With the exception of Langdon most of the mids you mentioned and definitely the mids you didn’t mention, would’ve been playing on our wing. We picked Hunter up to play, it’s his spot right now, that’s why he came across and what we pitched him. I’m not a big fan either but he’s an upgrade on what we had. Sure he needs to earn it, every AFL player does, and I hope Woey and Howes go past him, but right now, he’s playing wing round one.

Yikes. Average! Bailey Smith is close to the best winger in the competition at his best, I’d have him on our list in a heartbeat! The dogs had the problem of too many quality mids and had Treloar, Dunkley along with Roarke Smith (who is decent) McLean, Williams all rotating on the wing, that pushed Hunter out, not a lack of quality wingers, an oversupply. The reality is our competition for wing spots is much less than the dogs. Brayshaw and Jordon both did incredible jobs but aren’t natural wingers, Oscar Baker didn’t come on, Woey and Howes were too young last year and will still be developing. Hunter should be aiming to walk onto our second wing if he brings quality skills, application and effort. I’d have Woey a sneaky chance to take Hunter’s spot if he wavers as I really rate his improvement and if he continues his trajectory he’ll be pushing hard. But it’s Hunters to lose atm. The question is what we do with Brayshaw, Jordon, Sparrow, Harmes, Bowey, Salem not all of them will play and while a few of them will be walk up starts I think there’ll be some different roles for them this year.

Brodie Grundy is very quickly becoming one of my favourites without even playing a game. Seems a ripper bloke and the way Bowser talks about his training and athleticism is incredibly exciting. Also, yep, Matt is not short, Brodie appears to be leaning over slightly, but Matt is more than big enough.

Welcome Matthew Jefferson! Very excited for this pick although patience will be a virtue. I’ve been solely AFLW focused for the last little while so read this whole thread in one go and it makes interesting reading. My overall impression is that many are suffering from MFCSS or not remembering where our club is at. Sure our finals were underwhelming but we were right in both games and with a little luck and one of our best players and Norm Smith medalist not breaking his leg in the first quarter of our first final I’m confident we would’ve been in at least a prelim. The dissatisfaction is a sign we’ve come a very long way, tell me ten years ago that we’d be worried about taking the second best tall forward in the draft after a premiership and a semi-final and I’d have laughed at you. The comparisons to Cook and Watts are also strange. Both came in at a time where the club was a desperate basket case with few star players, fewer who would get games at the best teams for the time, terrible leadership and culture, a revolving door of coaches, a recruiting and development team that had almost no successes and the worst financial and facility situation in the AFL. Max Gawn was still smoking on the way to training FFS! Compare that to now, our development is elite, watching our VFL team for the last few years the improvement in our young draftees is marked, do they always tear their way into the AFL side, no, but go back and compare Woewodin, Turner, Chandler, McVee, Laurie and JVR’s first games this year to their finals campaign, it’s night and day! Jefferson will come into an environment with two of the best players in the league (Trac and Clarry) will train against the best defenders in the league (May, Petty, Lever) will watch the best rucks in the league (Gawn, Grundy) and will have to fight his way into a team that had BBB, TMac, JVR, Fritsch, Schache and even Petty all ahead of him as forward options. He’s unlikely to play this year not just because he’s light framed but because there’s at least five forwards a swing man and two rucks ahead of him for KPF spots, and that’s not even including the potential for Smith, Tomlinson to change roles or Melksham to get his round 21-23 form happening. I don’t want to re-open the development vs talent debate but I’d bet that a Watts or Cook coming into this program would get a lot closer to elite AFL standard than they did. Also I have a problem with the way Sam Weideman is, for the main part, talked about in this thread. He was not a total bust like a Cook, he was an almost. Both our AFL and AFLW premiership teams talk about how important the whole squad is and they mean it! Sam was a huge part of pushing BBB and TMac in 2021 and played a big part in our second place finish this season. His games against Essendon as FF, Brisbane as second ruck and the Bulldogs were ALMOST great. He also wasn’t always a terrible contested mark, he was a confidence player who lost confidence and got the fumbles at AFL level. Go back and watch how many almost marks he had this year. Watch his great contested mark against Freo just on half time when we were dominating in round 11. Go back and watch his first game against Hawthorn, his finals campaign in 2018. Watch his contested marks on Harry Taylor and Mark Blitsavs in our first final in donkeys years in 2018 against Geelong. Sam was almost what we needed, he didn’t quite get there, but he was also a key part of our premiership squad and deserves our respect. I hope Matt Jefferson is willing to work hard at VFL level this year and is pushing for selection in 2024, then we’ll be looking very good. My player to compare Matt to is Jhye Amiss, similar height and weight, similar attributes, good kicking, good marking, goal sense. Jhye played finals in a key position at AFL level this year. Those writing Matt off on a weight number should take note. Rip it up Jeffers!

YESSSS!!! So well deserved. Not happy with the lions receiving BOG, the only reason their backs had a chance to be in the game was the excellent work of West, Hanks and Paxman getting the ball forward, BOG on the losing team should be reserved for absolutely stellar performances. Anyway, you bloody beauty! What a performance, beat them away, on a weird new deck, with the umpires giving us nothing. Go Dees!

This is the real crux of the matter. Gaming Brownlow betting is one thing, but there’s been serious question marks on the AFL umpiring department professionalism and integrity growing every year now. We always get told they’re mistakes, or vague justifications of howlers, or blaming technology, it’s too hard to get umpires we can’t make it full time and pay them a good salary, having part timers is fine, nothing to see here. But if an umpire will risk 10 years jail for a few specific Brownlow bets, why not throw a few 50/50 decisions in a game, why not help an underdog stay under the line? Why not miss a few holding the ball decisions? I’m no conspiracy theorist, I think the majority of the time umpires are doing a good job and mistakes are genuine accidents. It’s a slippery slope though, and the veneer of integrity that the AFL relies on is quickly coming off, the lack of true umpire accountability, professionalism and an integrity unit with integrity and teeth means when something like this is exposed, the whole thing comes into question.

It’s also yet another reason to make the umpires 100% professional, salaried and tied to the AFL. To have outside contractors have such influence over the games results and the competitions biggest award is just asking for things like this to happen. It may not completely stop it but at least having someone whose primary profession and source of income is as an umpire increases the incentive not to do things like this. With the number of lawyers who umpire AFL as a side hustle I’m sure this umpire won’t struggle for representation, might even represent themselves 😜!

If Adelaide and Port play interstate teams in this round then the competition becomes even more hopelessly compromised. With the league so even atm it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the ‘magic’ round could be the difference between an Adelaide team making the finals and not. That would be yet another ingenious way for the AFL to lack fairness and integrity. Insane.

I think the AFL should call Geelong’s bluff on the whole home final thing. At the moment they’re having their cake and eating it too by complaining about not having a home ground advantage but playing at grounds big enough for all their supporters to attend. Call their bluff, give them a home final at HMBA but set strict limits on tickets 40% allocation for Geelong members, 30% for the opposition, 10% for AFL members, 20% general admin. Watch Geelong beg for an MCG home final when their members realise less than half of them can attend. As to Marvel for the GF now that both the Gabba and Metricon are unavailable it’s a no brainer. Not only is it the only suitable venue left for the GF it also has the advantage of a roof to avoid the shambles in Adelaide today with crazy weather. Brisbane have strong support in Melbourne, if they make it, and at least one Grand Finalist has to be from Melbourne (it better be us). Too bad Brisbane, can’t get a decent ground, you miss out. Plus there’s a history of playing GF’s in Melbourne regardless of contestants in the mens game, let’s bring that into the AFLW as well. Go dees! Thrash those Kangas!!! (I’m slightly worried about this one, they should’ve beaten us at the G earlier in the year, we’re in better form but so are they, this won’t be as easy as some in this thread think). Go Dees!

I think this graph shows how enthusiastic crowds tend to be in their team’s first year. With the exception of Hawthorn (who have many problems ATM) the top 3/4 are new expansion teams whose audiences are enthusiastic for their first year. You would think their numbers will fall a little next year as we get a realistic idea of their true believers. This makes it a remarkable result for MFC as we continue to have the strongest non-expansion crowds and clearly have the strongest support for AFLW of any club. The teams high profile players, excellent play and strong amount of AFLW content on our platform all contribute. It’s also our super dedicated supporters who have been their since the beginning at MFC. It’s even more remarkable given for a lot of our supporter base Casey is so hard to get to (I drive an hour each way to go)! Hopefully we can get a flag to go with it!

Just another reason to hate Collingwood. Great win girls! Bring on Adelaide!

Yep, it was pretty clear that us, Adelaide and Brisbane had the toughest. This fixture grading also doesn’t seem to take into account where we play, I think if it did ours would be the hardest, Adelaide in Adelaide, Freo in Freo, Gold Coast at Metricon. We’ve travelled a lot. We did lose to Brisbane at home, though that was less about fixture more about the ridiculous Taylor Harris suspension. I love AFLW and have been on board since the exhibition games but until the administration gets serious and has every team play each other once per season it will always be deeply compromised. We’ve been through conferences, lopsided draws and this years insanity where almost half the comp don’t play each other. If the AFL admin cared about integrity (which it shows again and again they don’t) they would’ve held off adding the final four teams and instead had a 13 game season + 3 finals with everyone playing each other once. It would also help all teams get experience and challenge all to raise the standard. Alas the almighty dollar wins again.