Macca

It's not theory, it's fact You play in front you'll receive a far greater proportion of free kicks especially if a player knows how to milk frees. Playing from behind and what are the chances? Holding the ball for a player you are tackling? How many frees are awarded for holding the ball? Not many so it's a bad percentage play ... especially if you are a forward All the yelling for 'Ball' by the masses often ends the same way ... abject futility However, backmen often play from behind or on the left or right shoulder of their opponent so as to keep an eye on their opponent (but not always these days because of the zoning) Good backmen are also adept at not giving away free kicks And a good backmen will know when to take the front position especially against a forward who is weak playing from behind Certainly not many decisions (holding the ball) in relation to high contact, in the back, chopping of arms and holding the man - all decisions rewarding the player in front If one has ever played they would have been told to fight for the front position 10-15 times per week by their coaches. So 200 games = 2000-3000 times the coaches will tell you to play in front. It gets drummed into you for good reason But you don't have to have played to know the value of playing in front. Just watch the games without any anti-umpire bias But there's no bias, umpires do the best they can in a very difficult sport to adjudicate and they don't cheat The whole free kick count differential is a furphy. Just more numbers that doesn't tell us much exceot for the 2 outliers (and those 2 outliers are easily explained) For instance, last season our club was overall -16 free kicks for the season proper. That's less than 1 free kick per game What does it matter?

Man City put on a clinic against Newcastle and I'd be surprised if they were to drop points in their run home ... maybe a draw could happen but they are 3 points ahead so they are going to have to lose a game to surrender the title. And then there's the goal difference Just too much talent and their passing to set up the goals yesterday was absolutely supreme. First rate in fact

And which player might put the biggest dent in our premiership chances if they were somehow unavailable? Gawn? Oliver? May? Petracca? Langdon? Salem is a star but we haven't looked like losing a game without him I'd say it's Gawn but it might be May? But Oliver & Petracca are absolute gun players

So if we include Brayshaw we've got 11 bona-fide AFL standard backmen on the list ... T-Mac being reserve to the tall back-ups (as Mitch Brown is to the KPF's) Langdon is another who regularly picks up possessions on 1 half back flank May, Lever, Salem, Rivers, Petty, Smith, Tomlinson, Bowey, Hunt, Hibberd & Brayshaw make up the 11 4 years ago we didn't even have 4 defenders who were AFL standard (and ongoing) What a remarkable turnaround!

The eye test says we are happy to close down attacking play in the final quarters (after building up a decent lead by 3/4 time) ... we tend to not use the corridor and are happy to progress around the boundary line. Not always of course but there is a trend that way The opposition team then needs to switch play away from that congested wing (and flanks) ... but unless those teams can switch quickly (with clean possession) they then end up facing the same wall on the other side of the ground. A bit like how Clarkson's Cluster used to work If the opposition want to use the corridor they run the risk of turning the ball over. So we play risk-free footy and leave it up to the other teams to take the risks And if teams want to progress through the congestion they are playing into our hands. Another boundary line stoppage often results while time is eaten up In the end, we are saving our legs as well (playing along the boundary late in the games) All year our 4th quarters have been quite identical

In other words, we may not have that many fair-weather supporters who could jump on board anyway! Fair point and good on us if true It could also be that many who frequented Demon games previously (who weren't members) are now members and are still frequenting games in the same way But I do believe the other side of the argument has made good points As is often the case, the answer probably lies somewhere in the middle

Blue and deep red (traditionally) Surprised you don't know that with all that Spanish history attached to your home country And if you are very vocal at the footy how is that you feel lonely? Try standing in the outer in the mid to late 70's following the Demons ... the only company I had was Henry Coles' old man. Still, the beers were enjoyable at least!!

Depends on what one's definition of a Demon family is. Me, I have different red & blue teams Redsox, Barcelona ... even West Ham (kinda,sorta) Canadiens? Not sure on the Clippers haha And if you're feeling lonely at the footy perhaps you could get involved in the game, chat away to your missus or even logon to the barrel-of-laughs game-day thread on 'land Or hit the grog, have a few bets or bop along to the mindless high decibel music that we are subjected to these days (at the games)

You've certainly latched on to the lingo quick, gringo You sound more like a dinky-di How are those Red Devils travelling back in Mexico?

Once upon a time attendances were everything and broadcast rights were token Over time, the broadcast rights has become the biggie with attendances seemingly a lot less important (in comparison) The other biggie these days (and a big money spinner) are memberships. We now have through-the-roof membership numbers across the League but attendances are falling in relation to those membership numbers The at-the-game day experience is still big but more so for the participating team's supporters ... the neutrals have dropped right off in my view So let's not beat each other up over this as there are many varied reasons why the attendances are down. Across the whole League

Dr Who always shows the same tell-tale signs ... an off-tap entrance but ultimately, the motive is to denigrate Demon supporters Latches on to those who might be saying the same sort of thing (but with more sinister intentions) Needs to get a new schtick as he's easily spotted. Not Dr.D either As for the attendance debate, both sides of the argument are making good points Not sure it's related to membership alone though. I reckon many now buy a membership knowing that they are only going to attend a few games. A type of donation (and a worthy one)

Looks like Dr Who has re-entered the building! haha Actually, there might even be 2 guises of the incarnation here

Could this be the year where an absolute dominant ruckman wins the Brownlow?! At 50-1, Max is way overs if he maintains the form that he is in Max winning the Brownlow with the Demons winning the flag is showing 170-1 (with a boost) That's got to be worth the price of a coffee outlay (or 10 coffees!!!!) I'm on!!

And I've had 2 very prosperous weekends so I'm all in!! Be good if it was like this all the time! Even got a roughie up at Hawkesbury (Exotic Ruby) and that is rare. I generally don't ever back roughies! So next weekend we've got the Sangster & the Hollindale. Both races are sure to attract very good fields and both could end up being good betting races

Off-season Group racing always keeps up the interest 2 races tomorrow that standout ... I like Daisies (and Mamounia for a bit of value) in the Aust Oaks as well as Count de Rupee in the Victory Stakes (Niccanova for the exotics)

Even with the 4 outs (as well as Salem & Hibberd) it's still a very good team, chock full of talent. Run your eyes across the team looking for the good/top players and they are everywhere. And our system will stand up as well And there are about 6 players who will be desperate to hang on to their spot in the side Someone mentioned to me that if LJ, Kozzie & Sparrow aren't effected too badly by covid, they'll get the chance to get away from footy for a week (another bye?) ... all 3 are still very young and their replacements will be going at it anyway. But covid can also be quite debilitating ... even for young & fit athletes. Fingers crossed the players affected make a speedy recovery Petty being out is different as he has just got back in the side but we're well off for tall depth with Tomlinson still being an emergency. Adam hasn't done a lot wrong 5 goal victory and we'll shut down the last quarter again!

So what is it going to take for more people to take up the stance that you, mauresy, myself and a few others have taken up? Or are we pushing the proverbial uphill?

As a general rule those who play in front have a much better chance of winning a free kick ... anyone who has ever played the sport will know that to be true. It's very difficult to win a free kick playing from behind An example of that is the Weideman free kick on Sunday ... questionable but he was playing in front. He doesn't get that free if he is caught playing from behind. Did the team thing and got rewarded But as for the winning & the losing, there are numerous other factors including the biggie ... talent levels across the team (and good coaching) An example of that is Melbourne vs Essendon in 2013 ... we could have won the free kick count by 20 or more that day and we still would have been smashed So a free kick is a factor but it's often a small factor ... for instance, the Tigers were happy to give away professional-like free kicks in their 3 premiership years.

We can only hope that the the AFL finally start to realise that this issue (playing for free kicks) is unique to the Bulldogs (as well as a fair smattering of individual players across the league, including Weightman) But will they (the AFL) address this issue wholly? They might, but I wouldn't bank on it

New Season of 'Better Call Saul' released 2 episodes available with episode 3 out shortly

Still only 1 point in it and both teams (City & Liverpool) could both win their 5 remaining games ... so 10 wins combined without a hiccup? It's possible but some other result is likely in 1 of the 10 games Maybe my Hammers can help your blokes out when we are at home (May 16th) to Man City? haha

As for our 4th quarters, the game plan might be ... 'You (the opposition) will find it hard to score against our pepped-up zones and defensive structures and if you play into our hands, we will be able to score' Done with a decent lead of course and that breakaway lead often happens in the 3rd quarters (or earlier) So the days of running up the score (for percentage) could be looked at as less important than saving the legs

We were clearly the superior team on the night but just didn't kick straight - which would be an issue if that sort of thing happened all the time And I don't believe it's happened for quite a while either (where it has been costly) The last time that springs to mind where it did cost us a win was late in the season in 2018 against Sydney You'd hate for it to happen in a final but again, unless the problem is a frequent one, we should be able to reset the next week Just checked and we kicked 10.18 in that loss against Sydney in round 21, 2018 then followed up with 16.12 at the Eagles (Win) and then 15.12 vs GWS (Win) And as we all know, we then played finals where we kicked 10.15 (hmmmm) to 6.10 against the Cats then 16.8 to 10.11 against the Hawks There may well have been other instances since but none stand out like the Sydney game (which could have, but didn't cost us a finals spot that year) And that's 3 and a half years ago anyway Footnote: I know a few Tiger mates who were at the ground and they never thought they were a chance after quarter time .... very impressed with our relentless style and our all-over defence (not just the backline) Fitness and running ability was commented on as well as 2nd & 3rd efforts

Plenty of Mexicans in Victoria but if NSW wants to build a wall, we won't be paying for it!

I recall thinking that the Richmond win was a real turning point ... we held them to 6.12 for the match and that might have been why so many were so enamoured with our performance Not sure they were ever in the game after we held them goalless in the 2nd quarter So scoring freely is one thing but stifling scoring appeals more to those who regard that as being really important (or more important) And the Tigers were sitting 5th on the ladder going into that round 6 game against us ... they were also the reigning Premiers