Jaded No More

I’m even madder now that because of Kosi’s stupidity I now have to watch ANB stink it up. Bloody hell!

It has to be done. Given no social distancing at training or games is possible, all it takes is one positive test to shut down the entire competition. Say Pickett gets infected by the friend he visited. He tests positive and therefore everyone at the club and the opposition side we played have to be tested and quarantine. That means two teams at a minimum are out of the competition for up to two weeks, which means virtually the entire AFL has to close for two weeks. It’s a disastrous situation and I agree with the AFL’s hard line.

Agreed. How [censored] hard is it to follow simple rules?! Two players pushing for selection, one very much on the outer, who have just cost themselves a week. No excuse.

I am excited by the changes but also concerned by 2 things; our lack of experience with 2 debutants, Pickett off 1 game and Bennell who hasn’t played in virtually 4 years. I’m also worried that we’ve gone too short down back. I’m not sure why the dropped Omac (no need for haters to reply). It leaves us with one tall shut down player in May who will obviously take McGovern. We are putting a lot of pressure on Rivers and Smith to play serious shut down roles. We obviously think that with shorter quarter and the fast deck of Etihad that speed is the way to go.

For the first time in probably a decade I can look at our team on paper and not think “slow”. That is exciting. I sincerely hope Harmes plays on Cripps and not as a half back flanker, which makes no sense. We have a clear advantage in the ruck. Their back line is not great but our forwardline hasn’t been in form since 1987 so that doesn’t mean much. Our back line will have their work cutout for them. Where do we think Bennell will play? Half forward? Surely he doesn’t have the fitness to play wings for more than a few minutes.

Sure. But the difference is, police HAD to attend because the public did. No protests, no police presence. So it's slightly different.

You do realise that you can be asymptomatic and contagious at the same time? Who says this person wasn't already sick when attending the protests, and infected other people? He/she may not have known they were unwell, but that doesn't mean much if they infected others and only later showed symptoms. This is precisely why large gatherings is banned, because you may not know you are sick and spread it around to lots of people around you before you yourself realise you are sick. I am all for supporting this issue. I really am. I think racism is a humanitarian issue that has plagued our society for centuries, and it must be stopped. Do I think that protesting in the middle of a global pandemic is the thing to do? No. As someone who has suffered directly from the economic downturn that has come as a result of this virus, and someone who has experienced religious and ethnic profiling and racism, if we get a second wave because of these protests I would be furious. It is one thing to rally for social justice. It is another thing to do it in a way that endangers the health and well being of our population. This pandemic is still a massive global issue. You don't get to switch it off and ignore it when it suits a specific agenda, no matter how important that agenda may be.

To be fair, two of those 5 were always going to be out for the entire season, even with the long break. Petty is obviously an injury that requires patience as it keeps returning. Similar to Smith, who now appears to have recovered. Hore is an unfortunate training incident and AVB is a goner. We are in a damn good position. None of the guys on the injury list are walk up best 22 players. Yes Petty would probably get a game this week if he was fit. But he is not the difference between a win or loss each week. If we can keep this size list of injuries for the rest of the year, we are a massive chance.

Zero chance Salem doesn’t get a game unless he’s not fit. He would be one of the first picked in the side. I would suggest Hibbo is in some danger. He’s been ordinary for a long while, and Lockhart and River cover his position.

I suppose Carlton is the perfect opponent for Jackson. They are also a young team and their back line is not great. And without Kruezer it’s a good chance to have him ruck forward as well.

Wow big selection news. I’m hoping with Rivers in the side it means Harmes can go back to the midfield. He should absolutely tag Cripps. Nullify him and we are 80% of the way to beating Carlton. Also assume if Jackson is in, Weids isn’t.

Great news. Fingers crossed his body holds up.

It would be an absolute slap in the face when, fans are allowed in at minimum numbers, the loyal paid up members aren’t given first dibs. I along with many others pay hundreds of dollars for memberships each year. I haven’t asked the club for a cent back, although I’m out of a job due to Covid. I would be furious if I wasn’t given first dibs to attend matches, along with our other paid up members. Of course with less attendance available than members, it would have to be done at a first come first served basis, but members have to come first. Otherwise don’t expect people to sign up again.

Apparently good to go? Played in the scratch match from what I saw.

Can't be us, as we have already played West Coast in Perth in round 1. Lucky! It will have to be Carlton, Dogs, St Kilda and Collingwood if I'm not mistaken, as they are the only 4 Vic clubs who aren't playing any of the WA teams in this next block (or played them in round 1).

Anyone know why Oliver and Lever didn’t participate in contact training today?? (reported on channel 7)

It's about time we had an injury prone player on our list.

Dustin Martin’s stupid haircut didn’t stop him winning his club a flag. They must be running out of stories.

Such an exciting time... if we lose however I'll be wishing for a second wave of corona infections, so we all go into lockdown and they shut down the season again. Absolutely 0 excuses to lose this one. They have key injuries, we appear to have almost a full list to pick from. If we are serious about making amends for the disaster that was 2019, we absolutely cannot lose to Carlton.

Exactly. And given how much people have missed sports in general, and that there are currently no local league games or even any pubs open, there really is nothing else for anyone to do but have the game on during this time of the weekend. Especially given it's winter now and by 5pm it's pitch black in Melbourne and about 4 degrees, so most people will be home.

I think non members would be allowed in, but only if members don't exhaust ticket allocation. What will get tricky is for those of us with reserved seating at the G, and how you go about to ensure that all those members are able to get a decent alternative seat. I don't want to be thrown up behind the goals on level 3, when I paid over $700 for a seat I can't even use this season. There would be a lot of things to figure out before anyone is allowed into a stadium, including whether they perform temperature checks on spectators, how they distribute hand sanitiser and how do they police people social distancing at the game. And then of course we need to work out who needs to social distance at games. Can I sit with my father at games, even though we don't live together? Can groups of 20 people or 50 people sit together? Will we have to provide the ground with contact information for tracing purposes? There are a lot of questions that the AFL will need to figure out together with each individual state. But lets hope they do and we can all go watch a game this season!

Surely a better system would be for club members to get first dibs on 'booking' a ticket, rather than having masses of people lining up outside a ground trying to get in. Fingers crossed fans will be allowed back in for the last part of the season, or at least for finals! Would be a terrible shame to have finals with no crowds.

Great winnable draw. Very happy to avoid Richmond, Collingwood and GWS. Could be a great chance to get the season off to a good start (well re-start, lets ignore Round 1). Sunday afternoon is a good time slot for TV. Especially now the weather is mostly awful, and we are still living with restrictions. And to have 3 of our 4 games on FTA is a win. Saints get none!

Wouldn’t be too hard to social distance at a Melbourne game... Richmond games on the other hand....

Ripped off as per usual