La Dee-vina Comedia

Because Gawn is an onballer he can fulfil the role you see a captain playing more easily as he gets to all parts of the ground. But do you think someone who plays full back or full forward could be a successful captain?

Don't Moz the Ros.

I'm interested in whether people agree with this comment. I don't. That might have been the case when footballers were part-time, but with today's professional footballers, I think captaincy is more about setting standards of behaviour and character the rest of the week rather than how a captain performs on game day. Granted, the captain has to be a good enough player to be guaranteed selection each week (other than when injured or "rested"), but I expect the 22 players to respond to the coach on game day, not the captain.

Kudos to Deespicable not just for his excellent report but for his stoicism in hanging out in Casey in inclement weather. Also, I see Demonland re-named this thread as "TRAINING: Friday 29th January 2021" and in doing so avoided the temptation of going the cheap humour route of writing "RAINING: Friday 29th January 2021". Well done to both.

"Training the house down" or has it just been washed away by flood waters? (For those not in Melbourne, it's absolutely soaking here today.) I genuinely hope we are training outdoors today. We have been really poor at wet weather footy and today would be a great day to work on wet weather game strategy and skills.

Reading through this thread and there's a wonderful sense of excitement. Yet it's like he's been selected as a "project player", like a Category B rookie, rather than someone picked in the 30s in the draft. Any player picked in the 30s should be considered a reasonable prospect of being a great success, not a "project player". I'd be disappointed if we picked anyone in the 30s who we thought was a high risk, high reward prospect. I expect him - like any player picked in the 30s - to be a player who might need some time to physically develop, but should otherwise be skilled enough to play in his first year.

I agree that CS failed. I'm not sure, though, if it was his ideology or his execution. Nevertheless, we've come a long way since then, both on and off the field, but both areas still need significant improvement. I've always believed that to achieve sustained on-field success any organisation needs to get the off-field right first.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean here. Are you saying that CS believed that good on field results will follow once the off-field operates correctly? As opposed to the idea that if the club starts winning, the off-field can then be fixed? If so, I happen to hold the CS view.

It would be good if the club could come up with a tangible benefit for all the members that have stuck with the club as fully paid up members over the last 12 months. I haven't got any firm ideas as to what that ought to be and I accept it needs to be something that costs next to nothing. Perhaps something like inviting these members into the clubrooms after a game (once we're back to both games at the MCG and post-Covid behaviours)? Obviously the club can't invite everyone all at once, but a rolling program over time might be welcomed. Personally, I don't want the invitation, but I suspect there are many others who would jump at the opportunity.

You may have misinterpreted me. The issue of clarity is about the number of voices, not who the individuals are. For example, if there are co-captains with different perspectives on the same issue, there could be confusion among the players. A single captain, giving a singular position avoids any such confusion. I agree with you that leadership is something that some people have and other never will. However, I don't understand your reference to dummy spitting. Is it because I suggested that players not chosen by their peers to be a member of a leadership group may feel alienated? Also (and unrelated to your post), the captain doesn't necesarily have to be a star of the game. Nick Maxwell was an excellent captain of Collingwood but I doubt anyone ever thought he was a "star" of the game. Same with Tom Harley at Geelong and (ducks for cover) James McDonald.

This. I'm also surprised how much of this thread appears to discuss on-field leadership and seems to ignore all the off-field leadership requirements, most of which we don't really appreciate because it's invisible to us. I would have thought on-field leadership, while important, makes up less than half of the "duties" of being a club leader. I'm therefore not in a position to say who the leaders ought to be but stick with my earlier statement that I prefer a single Captain, Vice-Captain and Deputy Vice-Captain to ensure there is clarity among the team as a whole as to who is in charge.

I like the simplicity of a single Captain, Vice-Captain and a deputy Vice-Captain. I don't like Leadership Groups because I believe it alienates all those who aren't chosen to be in it thereby causing more harm than good. I know that's how I felt as a schoolboy many, many years ago. (I realise that says more about me and my then fragile ego.)

Neitz has been in a good paddock, though. At first glance I thought it was Jason Dunstall.

That's exactly what it's for. (And a bit of fun, to boot.)

Demonland has its share of posters who appear to be list experts after the fact. I think it's time for people to show their skills beforehand. I'd like people to predict who will no longer be on our list at this time in 2022. In effect, who' going to retire, be traded, take free agency option or be delisted. Here's your chance to show the rest of us your predictive skills. I'm not asking for justification, nor am I seeking a wish list of who you might like to see moved on. Here's my prediction of who won't be on our list as at January 2022: Nathan Jones (ret) Neville Jetta (ret) Michael Hibberd (ret) Kade Chandler (delisted) Austin Bradtke (delisted) Aaron Nietschke (delisted) Jayden Hunt (traded at his request) Oskar Baker (traded) Mitch Brown (ret/delisted)

I'm extremely grateful for the reports from all our trackwatchers. Long may you continue watching. If it is not too presumptious to put in a request, I'm particularly interested in knowing in which part of the ground a few specific players appear to be training. Already we have reports that suggest Tom McDonald might be training as both a forward and a back. I'm particularly interested in which positions the following appear to be training: Tom McDonald Harry Petty Jayden Hunt James Harmes Aaron vandenBerg Luke Jackson and anyone who appears to have changed position (purely hypothetically - if ANB were to join the onballers, for example)

I don't wish to be cynical, but I assume he's being paid to be an assistant coach. Nevertheless, I'm very glad to have him with us.

Unless they're what Dr D sees.

What adds to the interest in this topic is that in today's game, if a player is tackled and then kicks a drop kick to dispose of the ball, it's considered to be an incorrect disposal because it hits the ground before the boot. I always remember Barry Davis (Essendon and subsequently North) as a wonderful exponent of the art.

I agree about how difficult it has been to cut people's livelihoods, but I wonder whether in the longer-term the cutback of football departments forced on all clubs will benefit the game. I suspect in the last decade or so there has been too much over-coaching and over-strategising of the game. Perhaps the cutbacks will do more to alleviate congestion than any rule changes brought in by the AFL.

Wouldn't it be great if the mantle gets taken by neither Oliver or Petracca but by one of the even newer players on our list?

Good in theory, but the way the VFL is run these days, it might take him 6 years to reach 99 games if he were to play in every available game.

If you feel you need to, go right ahead. Permission granted.

Is it too late to suggest that this thread be retitled "Eddie, Set (to) Go"? I'm not sure whether this should be categorised as McGuuire's greatest succes or greatest failure, but in his time as President I believe he's transformed Collingwood from the team most hated to the team most pitied.

I'm sure someone else has asked this question, but I haven't seen it answered: If a player is invited to train with us from January 6, are they only able to play with us or do we still have to compete with other clubs for their services through another draft?