Macca

Yeah we don't want to be doing the work of an opposition scout, mono! But seriously, going through the exercise highlighted to me how complicated the game has become and how much the players need to be totally educated on the whole game plan ... and of course, they also need the ability to carry out all the tasks. It's a big buy-in There are also all the midfield structures and plays as well as all the linking up and stoppage work And then there is how we cope and act with regards all the opposition forward forays (inside 50's) There's still a fair bit of old school stuff involved but it's a very complicated game these days Interesting how we attacked through the left HFF a lot of the time too. I would never have know that beforehand

Good point, Satan! (that's the first time I've ever said that ... I think?) I knew I'd miss a few bits and pieces due to not wanting to spend too much time putting it all together For instance, when a player made space for himself in the forward line, I was assuming that the player had created separation from his opponent and thus was playing in front (sort of) We know he can't have just bobbed up by accident ... he's worked hard to get to that position But I just used the GF as a trial run to see how long it would take! And it took a while! Too long if I'm being honest! My motive is/was the season proper and round 1 but I quite literally need about 4 to 6 hours to do it (per game) So, we'll see The alternative is to jot down a few notes and give a quick overview (player entry highlights and target numbers etc) ... but again, that's not the full story (as you've highlighted with the pressure that Kozzie exhibited that led to the 3 goals scored) Or, we're stuck with just the total inside 50 count and how many goals & points we scored ... which doesn't tell us a great deal

Certainly was a great race ... and if Nature Strip doesn't botch the start it probably wins But that's racing and JMac is the gun and he jumped on the right horse. 7-1 was excellent value, all things considered

2021 Grand Final Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs Final Quarter 19.35 Sparrow → Brown (Front Position - Left FP) ... Mark → Goal! 13.11 18.46 Spargo → Fritsch (In the clear - Left HFF) ... Mark → Goal! 14.11 17.55 Petracca → Running shot from CHF, outside 50 ... Point 14.12 17.38 Salem → Jackson (Front Position - Left HFF) ... ball spilled free Bulldogs clear 15.14 Langdon → ANB (Front Position, in the clear CHF) ... Mark → Goal! 15.12 14.26 Oliver → (CHF Scramble) ... Bulldogs clear 13.04 Fritsch → Langdon (Front Position - Left HFF) ... Mark → Goal 16.12 11.13 ANB → Fritsch (Front Position - Left HFF) ... Mark → Point 16.13 08.40 Oliver → Into Space (FF Area) ... Bulldogs clear 08.11 Petracca → TMac (Front Position CHF) ... Mark → Goal 07.05 Petracca → Brayshaw (Left HFF) ... Runs inside 50 → OOF 06.16 Bowey → Jackson (Front Position - CHF) ... Scramble → ANB → Jackson → Salem → Goal! 18.13 05.43 Sparrow → Jackson (Front Position - CHF) ... Mark → Goal! 19.13 04.48 Gawn → Runs inside 50 → Rushed behind 19.14 03.05 Brayshaw → Fritsch (Front Position - Left HFF) ... Mark → Goal! 20.13 02.12 Gawn → Handpass inside 50 ... Bulldogs clear 00.47 Gawn → Bulldogs Mark (HFF) then cleared 00.26 Oliver → Handpass → ANB → TMac (Front Position - CHF) ... Mark → Goal! 21.14 (Bulldogs 10.6) Premiers!

2021 Grand Final Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs 3rd Quarter 19.58 Gawn → Kozzie (Caught Behind - CHF) ... ball spilled free → Fritsch → Snapped Point (Poster) 5.10 18.00 Petracca → Kozzie (Caught Behind - Right HFF) ... Bulldog mark then cleared 13.04 ANB → Scrambled Forward - Bulldogs clear ball out Not long after Bontempelli puts them 19 points in front! Concerned? ... read on 10.47 Brayshaw → Brown (Caught Behind - Left FP) ... Bulldogs Mark then cleared 09.22 Harmes → Fritsch (Front Position - Right FP) ... Mark → Goal! 6.10 08.36 Petracca → Gawn (Front Position - FF Area) ... spilled free → Fritsch (out the back) ... snapped Goal! 7.10 08.21 Petracca → Brown (Caught Behind - Right FP) ... slight legal nudge - Mark! → Goal! 8.10 05.40 Brayshaw → Into Space (Left FP) ... OOB 05.09 Brayshaw → Petracca (Loose ball get - Left HFF) ... Scramble → Bowie → Brayshaw (LEFT HFF) ... Mark → Goal! 9.10 03.28 Sparrow → Gawn (Front Position - FF Area) ... Rushed Behind 9.11 00.58 Brown → Pack (Left HFF) ... Petracca (out the back) (Kozzie Block) → GOAL!!! (of the season) 10.11 00.39 Sparrow → Goal! (From outside 50) ... shepherded through by TMac 11.11 00.24 Jackson → (Handpass) Oliver (CHF) ... kicks from 45 → Goal! 12.11 (Bulldogs 9.5) Bang Bang Bang!

I've had a good day so far (about time!) ... 2 winners & 4 x same race multis and I've got Yonce going into a couple Once Mr Mosaic was out I went with Yonce with 2 others in 2 later races. Yonce was probably overs at 2.50. Looks a decent type

Nice win DZ and very impressive by the sounds of it ... a blackbooker! Black type races ahead ... Matriarch Stakes on Super Saturday could be next up

After all 4 quarters are covered it will be interesting to see the patterns that will have emerged For instance, it will come as no surprise that Petracca was involved in 19 Inside 50 forays ... either as the players releasing the ball into the forward 50 or as the target Fritsch was targeted about 10 times for 6 goals and should have had another in the first couple of minutes of the game Brown was another target (9 t,imes) and on 8 of those 9 occasions he worked his was to the front position ... a proper forward And there are other standouts such as what was noted by Cyclops above ... Salem 6 forward entries in the first quarter and a bit

2021 Grand Final Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs 2nd Quarter 19.10 Salem → Jackson (Front Position - Right HFF) ... Mark → Pack (FF Area, GS) → scramble → Oliver → Snapped Point 4.6 17.56 Viney → Space (Left FP) ... ball cleared 15.51 Jackson → Brown (Front Position FF Area) → Mark → Goal! 5.6 15.02 Petracca → Brown (Front Position - FF Area) ... ball spilled free then cleared 14.38 Petracca → TMac (Pack - FF Area) ...ball spilled free then cleared 14.00 Brayshaw → TMac (Caught Behind - Right HFF) ... Bulldogs mark then cleared 13.37 Harmes → Gawn ( Front Position - Right HFF) ... Mark - Set Shot → Point (Goal?) 5.7 11.14 Langdon → Brown (Front Position - Left FP) ... Scramble - Bulldogs free kick (?) ... ball cleared 08.30 Viney → Petracca (Front Position - Left HFF) ... Scramble - ball cleared 07.52 Gawn → Jackson (Caught Behind - FF Area) ... Stoppage - ball cleared 07.28 Bowey → Petracca (Front Position - Left HFF) ... Stoppage - ball cleared 06.15 Brayshaw → Jackson (Caught Behind - Right HFF) ... ball cleared → OOB ... Jackson tap → Spargo → Snapped Point 5.8 05.45 ANB (loose ball get - 50m arc) → Run on Point 5.9 04.31 Kozzie → Fritsch (Front Position - Half-Volley - Left HFF) ... Turnover - ball cleared

What better way to start a thread like this than with the Grand Final victory! The detail is from a replay source of course as it's near impossible to do this sort of thing live Hoping to be able to do this on a semi-regular basis but time constraints will mean that others would need to help out. Or, I'll just post up a summary whenever possible. Much will depend on the need (or relevance) But be warned, this exercise takes a bit of time if you want to try your hand! Complete accuracy is difficult as well because some of the descriptions are opinions. Happy to be corrected! If anything, the detail is a bit of a companion piece when watching replays Anyway, here goes (just the 1st quarter for now, the other 3 quarters to follow) And we were certainly switched on in the 1st quarter ... should have been further in front, given our opportunities 2021 Grand Final Melbourne vs Western Bulldogs 1st Quarter 18.08 Petracca → Brown (Front Position - Left HFF) ... No mark, ball spilled free then cleared - OOF → ANB - Set Shot→ rushed behind 0.1 16.43 Oliver → Brown (Made Position - Left HFF) ... Mark - Set Shot → Point 0.2 15.22 Rivers → Brown (Front Position - Left FP) ... No Mark, ball spilled free then cleared 15.06 Salem → Petracca (Made Position - Left HFF) ... Mark, then played on → Goal! 1.2 13.41 Sparrow → Fritsch (Made Position - Goal Square) ... Mark - Set Shot → Goal! 2.2 11.51 Petracca → Fritsch (Made Position - Goal Square) ... No mark - Questionable free kick not awarded (Fritsch) - cleared (delib OOB) 11.34 Salem → Gawn (Front Position - Left HFF) ... No Mark, ball spilled free then cleared 11.13 Rivers → Petracca (Front Position - CHF) ... No Mark, ball spilled free then cleared 11.02 Salem → Gawn (Made Position - Left HFF) ... Mark - Set Shot → Point 2.3 08.21 Langdon → Fritsch (Front Position (2nd in line) - FF Area) ... No Mark, ball spilled free then cleared 07.21 Gawn → Into Space (Right FP) ... Bulldogs pressed (Kozzie) → Jackson → Spargo → Goal! 3.3 06.59 Harmes → Gawn (Front Position - CHF Half-Volley) ... Ball spilled free then cleared 05.54 Kozzie → Hand Pass smothered (CHF) ... Ball spilled free then cleared 05.41 Harmes → Fritsch (Made Position FF Area) ... Kick fell short - Bulldog dropped mark - Fritsch gains possession → Goal! 4.3 04.57 Salem → TMac (Front Position - Left FP) ... No Mark, ball spilled free then cleared 04.31 Salem → Petracca (Front Position - Left FP) ... No mark, ball spilled free cleared but - OOB → Petracca → Right FB - OOB - Ball cleared 03.59 Lever → Brown (Front Position - Left FP) ... No Mark, ball spilled free then cleared 03.19 Petracca → TMac (Front Position - FP) ... Ball spilled free → Brown → Snapped Point 4.4 01.28 Petracca → Langdon (Front Position - Right FP) ... No Mark - ball spilled free → Langdon Snapped Point 4.5

Well if we win, we'll be winning early ... and it's always nice to win early!! The treble with our picks is paying 50-1 whilst the early double (Mr Mosaic & Yonce) is delivering a 12-1 dividend Good luck punters!

It's interesting (and notable) that we haven't heard or seen one Western Australian D/land member speak in a disparaging way about McGowan's historical decisions to keep covid out of the WA state ... not a word, nothing (as far as I can see) And we have a number of WA members here and many of those WA 'landers post in a fairly prominent way Why should they have their lives disrupted just because our lives have been disrupted in the Eastern States? They were in a unique position to be able to isolate so isolate is what they've done. Good on them, I say. Health comes before sport We'd do the same if we were in their position and in many ways all the States have acted in the same way on occasions throughout the pandemic anyway Plus, from what I've read they don't really have the hospital systems to cope with a large outbreak of covid anyway So with the 177 cases in WA today they could be in a better position to cope with a covid outbreak after holding out for so long. I hope so anyway

Best Bet Saturday R5 No.4 Socialist (Win) 4.50

You've now won 14 'Virtual' medals ... Michael Phelps like! It's quite amazing how the years have flown by. And I believe the thread is the 2nd longest running on the site

That makes sense then ... a bigger sling for JMac (in advance haha)

More than interesting ... jumping off a gun horse like Nature Strip is a tad questionable (unless it isn't!) Jamie Kah would have to be happy though! Nature Strip has won 9 from 15 over the 1000 metres

Regular Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Silver Bronze 2021 Go the Biff Clintosaurus DemonDave JV7 layzie Gorgoroth -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020 titan_uranus Gorgoroth Go the Biff Clintosaurus --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 JV7 Go the Biff Gorgoroth Macca Dee Zephyr Clintosaurus --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018 DeeSpencer Clintosaurus Gorgoroth Dappa Dan Dee Zephyr Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2017 Clintosaurus Go the Biff Dappa Dan --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell Clintosaurus DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 Gorgoroth cowboy_from_hell Macca JV7 DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 Dappa Dan DeeSpencer Gorgoroth --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013 cowboy_from_hell pantaloons Gorgoroth Strafford Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post Season Tipping Competition Year Winner Silver Bronze 2021 DemonDave Gorgoroth Clintosaurus Macca -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020 Go the Biff Dee Zephyr Macca -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2019 DemonDave Go the Biff Macca Dee Zephyr Gorgoroth JV7 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018 Gorgoroth Go the Biff DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2017 Macca Clintosaurus Go the Biff JV7 Gorgoroth --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2016 Gorgoroth JV7 Clintosaurus Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2015 JV7 cowboy_from_hell Gorgoroth Macca DeeSpencer --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2014 JV7 pantaloons Gorgoroth Go the Biff Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2013 titan_uranus DemonDave cowboy_from_hell Macca --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overall Medal Tally Gold Silver Bronze Gorgoroth 4 3 7 JV7 4 3 1 Macca 4 2 6 ---------------------------------------------------- Go the Biff 3 4 2 Clintosaurus 2 3 4 DemonDave 2 1 1 titan_uranus 2 0 0 cowboy_from_hell 1 3 1 DeeSpencer 1 2 3 Dee Zephyr 1 1 2  Dappa Dan 1 1 1 Strafford 1 0 0 pantaloons 0 2 0 layzie 0 0 1

2 Mini-series that are above average good for their genre. Both best described as meandering horror with some real mystery thrown in 'The Outsider' (Stephen King) & 'Midnight Mass' (Mike Flanagan)

The post-season tipping comp has been decided and the winners are DemonDave (and myself) Well played Dave and thanks to everyone for your participation. Open to more suggestions but I reckon we've got the points system just about right. Gives everyone a chance and the backmarkers are never really out of it ... (cough) Final Leaderboard - Post-season Tipping Comp 24 - DemonDave, Macca 23 - Gorgoroth 21 - Clintosaurus 20 - Go the Biff 19 - JV7 14 - layzie, Dee Zephyr 6 - titan_uranus So here's your prize, Dave ... to the victor go the spoils! The Tipping Comp Hall of Fame to follow!

@Dee Zephyr @Gorgoroth Crack field in the Lightning! Thoughts? Gator has tipped Masked Crusader (8-1) and the horse does look ideally suited to the Flemington straight ... all about the timing. Reckon the other runner at very good odds is 'The Inferno' (25-1) Racenet form - Flemington Race 7 Lightning Stakes

I'm not too fussed if a QB wins it the majority of the time But you make a good point re the Brownlow so I suppose the same sort of rules do apply. However, I reckon Kupp was the best in the NFL this year!!

Good points but the biggest problem is that they don't count the playoffs (the most important games)

The issue is that their criteria is woefully poor ... so poor that they haven't got Gawn as elite. However, it's not like the evaluations are from someone or an organisation without any credence. This mob are supposed to be able to evaluate the numbers so that it makes sense Accurate evaluations can only be taken seriously if the base criteria is close to being entirely accurate It's like they don't watch the actual games and just look at the numbers For instance, Before T-Mac hurt his back he was at one stage running 3rd in our B&F (round 17?) in a team full of gun players Why? Because in my opinion the MC would have been very happy with his disciplined forward play (playing in front) thus bringing our small forwards into play on a constant basis ... as well as impacting the games with marks, kicks & scores Does CD measure all that? I doubt it

Also reckon the MVP awarded for the season needs to include the most important games for the season - the playoffs And there is a way to do it instead of just taking the lazy option of separating the seasons All votes or points could be collated prior to the SB by a panel of 12 hand-picked experts and those 12 can then allocate extra votes (or points) once the SB is completed ... would take 10-15 ,minutes If that was done then Kupp wins the MVP for the season (in my view) Or perhaps even Stafford (who was very good throughout the playoffs) Rodgers was a worthy winner in the regular season but again, the playoffs need to be included in order to find the overall winner

Agree on your 8 and Fritsch makes it because of how well he played in the finals (esp the 6 goals in the GF) But Viney has to be classed as elite because of his stellar performances in the finals ... worth triple points or more, all things considered Missed 10 games because of injury but if we're judging a player before the ball is bounced in a big game, your 8 plus Viney are elite. And the proof of that is the PF & GF ... smashed both teams unceremoniously!