Macca

Yeah, I didn't mean to do that (clumsy editing)

Ginnivan has lowered his body at the precise moment he gets tackled. Hips lowered and knees bent ... 25 cm's is all it takes as the tackler is trying to pin the arms Besides all that he has conned and fooled the umpires so they won't be doing him any favours. Effectively he has embarrassed them and now an umpire has been individually embarrassed Weightman didn't get a free kick for a good month after all his cheating ... just desserts

The tacklers arms are waist high in reality ... Ginnivan has lowered his body by a foot or more that's why the tacklers arms look higher If Ginnivan hadn't lowered his body the tacklers arms would be waste high in relation to Ginnivan How about I book an appointment for 'you' at the local optometrist?

He's a known cheat so has forfeited his benefit of the doubt To get rid of all the cheating there has to be some collateral damage That's how it works ... zero tolerance to the duckers and we've got a better sport And the game becomes easier to umpire

The tacklers arms and hands are waist high only so he's not targeting the head is he? Ginnivan's body lowers in anticipation of where the tacklers arms are going to be

The way I see it he's already lowered his body as the contact is coming (look at his knees) ... and the leaning of the head comes soon after What he isn't doing is standing tall in the tackle Plus, he isn't going to get the benefit of the doubt because he's a known cheat So he's probably received 20 or 30 lucky free kicks in his short career so can we have all them back

And the AFL have created a bigger issue for themselves by letting the little cheat off the hook Stand by for inconsistent rulings on high contact frees, left right and centre

Ginnivan could have stood tall in the tackle (as players used to do) but his first thought was to initiate lowering of his centre of gravity in order to milk the high contact To me it looked like any Selwood indiscretion with a few suble differences He's a cheat and that's all there is to it ... no more benefit of the doubt either He's like the little boy who cried wolf Again, go back and have another look

Watch it again and watch Ginnevan's knees and watch his hips ... and take note of how he leans his head against the tackler As previously stated ... only about 25cm - 30cm of lowering is required to milk high contact And the umpire was on to it A great decision

The AFL admitting the so-called error (Ginnevan high contact) is just bowing to public pressure in my view Another typically weak way of dealing with the cheating that has been going on for decades now To counteract against the new ruling players might want to free both arms above their head, take the tackle in the midriff and then release the ball with an effective handpass ... Geoff Raines was a specialist at doing the above ... Robbie Flower as well (on occasions)

Spot on, JCB He quickly lowered his centre of gravity by about 25cm - 30cm as well as leaning his head into the tackler ... 100% the correct decision Most tackles are around the elbow area (pin the arms) which is about 25cm lower than the neck area The lingering high contact? All Ginnevan's doing ... he plays for frees and is a cheat The bleating is just typical ... any excuse to blame the umpires. It's quite pathetic

How many forwards all-up across the league? 100+? So we occupy positions 1, 2 & 9 in the worst stakes. Not good but not entirely surprising Fritsch, Weideman, Brown & Melksham just don't lay enough tackles, certainly on a consistent basis - the eyes have that one Before we finally started applying defensive pressure on a regular basis in 2021, defensive pressure in our forward line was a major weakness for many years Perhaps we've reverted to kind but dead last? For the reigning premier? I wonder where Neal-Bullen, Spargo & Kossie sit on the list?

Could be that Freo got in first with a big offer and there is an in principle agreement on the table because of the offer (via his manager of course) Money talks with these sorts of things so it may be that the offer ties in nicely with the go home factor (not the other way around) Therefore, West Coast may not even be a factor at all But I'm only speculating as I know about as much as the next person (3/5ths of stuff all)

I seem to remember that in early 2019 (the year that Jackson was drafted) there was all this talk that both Freo & West Coast were going to draft this new 'Wunderkind' player that was this tall ruckman/utility/midfielder (Jackson) Of course we gazumped both WA clubs by trading up to pick 3 in the draft to secure Jackson ... in that same draft Freo had picks 7, 8 & 9 so maybe they've had their eye on getting him back since that time (the one that got away)

You may be right about the amount but 10 years ago Scully got 6 million over 6 years with $2Million in his first year (a signing on bonus?) My opinion is that Jackson has got a big offer on the table (who knows how much?) and it's more a matter of closing the deal (between the clubs) I may be wrong but there's a lot of smoke so the fire can't be far away Remembering that we got what we wanted from Freo in the Hogan deal (pick 6 & 22 turned into May & Sparrow) so the relationship is established with that club (at least somewhat) Langdon was secured from Freo for a swap of 2nd round picks and we gave them a future 2nd rounder ... the deal was done with a minimum of fuss as I recall What's your opinion? Is Jackson going or staying?

So what do reckon the offer might be? (if indeed, he is getting an offer elsewhere)

He's still only 20 years old and if the $10.5Million offer over 8 years is real, he'll know he's going to get that sort of money as it's then only about getting a deal done And those offering the money have almost certainly told him that a deal will be done - somehow So, at 20 years old, with that sort of money forthcoming, how is it not a distraction? It would be for a RFA who has been in the system for 8 years I believe you are right, rjay, because if anyone at the age of 20 had 10 x 1st Division Tattslotto prizes on the way and guaranteed, one would be like a cat on a hot tin roof He won't want to get injured either but he doesn't appear to be avoiding contests Trouble is, he's not getting to enough contests At his best he has a very good (not quite manic) attack on the ball. We're not seeing that apart from in the Lions game We can all be persuaded by big money and I know how I'd be if I had that sort of money coming my way

It's not as good as 3 wins if Freo finish half a game behind a rival in a vital spot in the 8 Before the weekend's games Freo were 4th and now they are 5th If one is only looking at Freo & Demons in isolation then half a win is all that separates both teams ... but it is about all the other teams vying for spots as well

Not that I believe that the following scenario will happen, but I'm quite prepared for a run at the big prize from an Elimination final onwards (too many things need to happen for us to miss the finals altogether) We'd be the real danger in the race if the above was to occur So once you get your head around the worst case scenario position, an optimistic view from that position isn't too bad at all Realistically I see 1-3 wins from our last 4 games ... so it probably won't be 0-4 or 4-0. We are not playing that poorly to not win any of the last 4 nor are we playing well enough to win all 4 If we make it hard for ourselves by not securing the double chance, so be it. Everything is a challenge anyway so we might just have a more diificult challenge ... a team still needs to win 3 finals to win the flag

No, but I might take a look, layz Just watched the 1st episode of 'The Old Man' starring Jeff Bridges & John Lithgow and I'm hooked already ... Action/Mystery/Thriller The 2nd series of 'Only Murders in the Building' is out ... it's a lot of fun esp if one likes Steve Martin & Marty Short

The other concern where the numbers are racking up is us losing from winning positions For the most part of the first half of this season, we'd get out to a comfortable lead and then lock the game down in the last quarter's. Smart footy and we saved our legs when we did that Could it be that the MC were reading the signs of fatigue early? A fail-safe move? But in the last 2 months we've done the same but then we've got overun in the 2nd half's (on 5 occasions)

You've taken me out of context with my comment that a team can't accept that a loss isn't too bad. I meant it in the sense that that sort of thinking 'can' occur So we haven't developed a defeatest nature ... our issues are of a technical sense (right now) The issues I believe the team has (over the past 2 months) is that we often look slow and tired and our forward line structure is often dysfunctional I'm not concerned about our backline & midfield because we know how good those areas can be The ladder tells us we are still 2nd on the ladder and that is a position of strength So we need to go out and defend that position We're not done yet but again, we just have to win against Freo

So much depends on whether we win next week against Freo ... win and the numbers are in our favour. We'd gain confidence from a win on the road and suddenly, our last 3 games won't look as difficult Win and we'd probably still be in a top 2 position and be in a position to defend that position But if we lose the numbers will be against us and we'd then need to win our remaining games (or at least 2 of the 3) and be relying on other teams dropping games Lose and we could (in theory) slip to 5th by the end of next week's round of games. Forget the ladder predictor, we cannot assume that the good teams will lose games (unless the good teams are playing each other) Lose and that will mark 6 losses from our last 9 games. Do teams win flags with that sort of mid year win/loss ratio? We are still top 2 and we can't be happy about settling for a top 4 spot instead ... that's a defeatest attitude. Once you start believing that a loss isn't too bad, you've lost the battle

Salem will regain his best form, he's just not there yet Nothing to do with his role because what is missing are his first 2 steps. Right now he's a bit slow out of the blocks It's a problem right across the team ... in various games this season we've looked a bit slow & tired But not always of course. I don't believe in excuses but I do believe in reasons. In simple terms the team needs to rediscover it's best form Teams that play that manic style with 2-way running from all the players will eventually run out of steam What did happen last night was that the Bulldogs finished full of running and we didn't ... same story when we played Freo, Syd, Pies & Cats And all that has happened in the last 2 months

Salem needs to regain that quick 2 step he previously possessed that created time for himself to deliver the ball without being under undue pressure Since having that injury he's often looked slow and rushed. Those penetrating kicks of his into the forward 50 are virtually non existent But he's not on his own in that area ... a number of our players just aren't playing to the level that they were last season Tonight we kicked 1 goal in the last quarter when the game was up for grabs. The opposition ran out the game and looked fitter and faster as the game went on As someone else mentioned here earlier, that's now 5 games where we've been overrun in the 2nd half. Over an 8 game stretch Big game next week. It will be like a final with a lot riding on the result. If we don't win we're in trouble