Macca

The better question might be what we need to do to stop giving away needless free kicks. Mind you, giving away a few professional free kicks deep in the oppositions backline can be a sound strategy sometimes (worked very well for the Tigers with their recent 3 flags) I've seen our players bomb it so far towards the left forward pocket that the ball has sailed out of bounds on the full. Resulting in the opposition often being hemmed in with no easy outlet with the switch of play being covered. A set plan? Maybe But when we lose games we have no one to blame but ourselves (unless we get a rash of injuries to say, our forward line players like we did last year)

Not sure how reputable the web site is in this link but in it, they make mention that AFL players have exceeded 20k's per game How far do AFL players run in a game

Well, as far as I'm concerned he does a hell of a lot of running in order to get to any number of contests (and that includes stoppages) His style also includes a number of burst plays but all of Oliver, Viney, Brayshaw & Kozzie can display those traits from stoppages from time to time It's just that what Petracca does stands out which might lead people into thinking that, that's all he does And my original post was in response to one such person who was suggesting that he's only a burst player He's a lot more than that

Do you want to post up a link as I'm not inclined to take your word for it And it's not like Petracca fails to run out games if that's what you are suggesting. He's quite often full of running in the last quarter's of games. Racking up possessions He's not just a burst player either but it might look that way to the untrained eye

Well he might have averaged 13.5 k's for all you know. Yours is a guess, not fact So around 13ks - 14ks is still a lot of running. And that would put him into an area that a lot of midfielders would be in

AFL players run 12-14 kilometres per game and some have been known to exceed 20k's Midfielders especially need to get to a stack of contests as well as flooding back and pressing forward. All that 2-way running. Stoppage after stoppage So Petracca being a midfielder would mean he would do a lot of running and in bursts, a lot of sprinting At a guess I reckon he would exceed 15 kilometers per game and that's every week. You've got to be very fit to do all that So imagine being an 18yo coming into the AFL system? It would be quite an eye-opener. It's any wonder we often hear that draftees need 2 or 3 years in the system to be AFL ready As for soft tissue injuries, players need to be managed to the minute to avoid But even so, running 15k's in a full-on contact sport with all the physicality involved is quite a task. Every week So Petracca would need to be as fit as a Mallee bull (and in my view, he is)

@Dee Zephyr @layzie @DeeSpencer @titan_uranus @Dr. Gonzo Don't forget your tips Games are on tomorrow from 8am

Both of us can be right but these days, I tend to focus more on the technical aspects of sport For instance, I reckon GB's only chance is if Love can complete a large amount of passes and with it, gain lots of yards. Plus, we'll need the 49ers to make a few errors I'd be most surprised if Jones is allowed to run into the backfield frequently... but you never know! And how do the Packers stop the Niners run?

I still reckon that SB was more about the incredible comeback by New England more so than Atlanta losing control of the match. Still, hard to cop even 7 years hence, JV They (NE) played lights out and everything went right for them. It took a champion team to do it and enormous self-belief. No other team could have done it So if you get Belichick, that's what he will bring. It will be an exciting time for the Falcons. He's still got it To me, he's the best coach I've seen across all sports. Better than Alex Ferguson or Jose Mourinho or anyone else But he does need a talented roster, any coach does

McCarthy is too QB-centric. He was the same at GB but because Rodgers was so good, it always looked like it might work And it did work early (SB win) and then we'd get close but ultimately our all-round game (lack of) got found out And I'm not sure that Prescott is as good as Rodgers so it is a flawed strategy To me it's when it gets to crunch time or the big moments. McCarthy leans on the QB but here lies the problem, the opposition know it so the bluff is taken out Dallas passing yards was 3rd in the league and they were 14th for rushing Run defence was 16th and passing defence was 5th So not too shabby but do SB winning teams lie mid table on rushing & run defence? You'd maybe expect at least top 10 for both categories in order to win big By contrast, the 49ers are 3rd in rushing and 3rd best on run defence. Passing yards 6th & pass defence 14th

Houston @ Baltimore (7-12) Green Bay @ San Francisco (1-6) Tampa Bay (1-6) @ Detroit Kansas City @ Buffalo (7-12)

Dallas to Retain Mike McCarthy

Jackson Irvine breaks the deadlock after an hour Prior to that, it has been a real arm wrestle with very few shots at goal (apart from Syria slamming one into the the right upright early in the game) In other news, Roma have sacked Jose Mourinho and now he has been linked with Chelsea (again) Edit: The Aussies finished strong in the end and could have scored a couple more So 2 wins puts us at the top of the group and we're through to the next round with 1 game to play* *Australia play Uzbekistan in their final group game next Tuesday at 10.30pm (Ch10)

Interesting. There's certainly a few vacancies All the more reason why Belichick is now saying that he is "Targeting talented but underachieving teams" Bill gets to call the shots with his fantastic record. He might only have 3 or 4 prime years left but teams can rise quickly in the NFL And there's a lot of teams that would like to taste SB success (Some for the first time)

How would Hardeman go as an intercept mark specialist these says? Without having to worry too much about his opponent! He would absolutely dominate

What can happen when a team is in contention is that a team can have a gap year. Happens quite a lot So even though I believe we're good to go for the next 5 years, we may have a year or 2 in there where we don't perform to our best. Or we have a rash if injuries or we don't have luck on our side For instance, for years people kept writing off Geelong off but they kept bobbing up And I've been keen observer of how the best teams have gone about it. Their window often just stays open as they keep recruiting well So if Jason Taylor isn't the most important pillar at the Demons, who is? He keeps recruiting good players and if you keep adding 2 or 3 good players to the team, year after year, you'll remain in contention That stands to reason So last year we added JVR, McVee & Hunter to the team along with Grundy who was by no means a poor player Along the way you have to add A grade talent and that's where the savvy recruiting comes into play. Free agency, trading and somehow working our way up in the draft is the way to go about it And that's what we continue to do We're just not going to win the premiership every time we're in contention. The key to it all is to remain in contention

Atlanta have interviewed Bill Belichick and the Chargers have interviewed Jim Harbaugh (Harbaugh just coached Michigan to the college championship and formerly coached the 49ers)

This young bloke Alcaraz is very impressive. A tremendous all round game and a killer drop shot And the commentary from John McEnroe is excellent ... supreme knowledge along with dry humour

@Go the Biff @titan_uranus @BDA @Dr. Gonzo @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @Dee Zephyr @Dappa Dan @Gorgoroth @layzie @JV7 @DeeSpencer Leaderboard Post Season Tipping Comp 6 - BDA 5 - Go the Biff, JV7, Gorgoroth 3 - Dr.Gonzo, Dee Zephyr, Clintosaurus, DemonDave 2 - layzie, DeeSpencer, Macca So, next week, each win is worth 2 points plus 2 points for each correct score bracket (1-6, 7-12 or 13+) Interesting lines Sun 8.30am Houston @ Baltimore (-9.5) Sun 12.15pm Green Bay @ San Francisco (-10.0) Mon 7.00am Tampa Bay @ Detroit (-6.0) Mon 10.30am Kansas City @ Buffalo (-2.5)

Given our stellar record with recruiting, we might end up with real depth in our forward line, 58er We've extended Jefferson's contract so the MC must see potential in the lad JVR will only get better and what if Fullarton can hold down a spot as a forward ruck? T-Mac & Brown will probably be gone at seasons end so we might need to recruit another key forward anyway (although Jefferson might come on) I suppose we did recruit May with the no.5* pick so we could do that again with another full back but we'd need the currency. We might even have our eye on a free agent key forward to facilitate Petty going back. Or a free agent Full Back So, a lot can happen between now and when May hangs up the boots but Petty is an option if we've got real depth in our forward line And we are addressing that issue with the recruitment of McAdam & Billings and Tholstrup looks like he is being viewed as forward/mid. If he shows a bit early we may see him debut early So Petty going back would need a few things falling into place, but it's definitely a possibility *That 17 loss season in 2019 worked out alright after all! (we got Sparrow as well in that deal for May)

Our premiership window can well and truly stay open and can do until at least 2028 The only 2 great players that possibly/probably need to be replaced immediately after 2025/2026 are May & Max but do both replacement players need to be A+? Petty is an ideal candidate for full back as long as we can keep him and a Nankervous type rickman is not such a bad thing And if we continue to recruit as well as we have done, there's no reason why we can't stay in the window (allowing for the odd year where we may finish in the bottom part of the 8 or just outside)

Oh, thanks for the correction! What a big win that was against Miami!

As expected, the Bills won comfortably So, they'll be at home against KC next Monday at 10.30am (AEDT) 2 points for quite a few in the comp too!

It can't be assumed that we won't be addressing the issue of our forward line connection So, I'm assuming that we will be addressing the issue because we have to But as @rjay correctly pointed out, long kicks into the forward line has its benefits if we're able to retain possession on those long kicks. And whilst all that is happening the opposition aren't scoring But that system is no longer going to work against the good teams in my view so we need to change tack But again, sometimes we don't have a choice with long kicks in as the midfield is often under pressure. In those situations, kicking to a 1 on 1 instead of a pack (or the left forward pocket) would be preferable So if we have better schemes at the centre bounces and stoppages, we'll have a much better chance of delivering the ball with more efficiency to the forward line So it starts from the midfield (and also from half back on the rebound or from turnovers in our favour)

I inadvertently stumbled into the territory of @Demonstone