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We will be lucky to be vaccinated by finals time. We are always careful to sanitise and social distance. Masks when too close to unfamiliar people. its all a debacle, just as likely to get hit by a bus as die from Covid. i want front line workers and incoming tourists etc from overseas to be inoculated, tested and quarantined if required.

Yeah had one last yea and Joy watched two games so gave it away. im hoping to get down and get value for my membership this year and prepare for finals.

I like that you have considered the opposition. i would like more options for team selection to be based on the makeup of the opposition. Geelong is an older, harder more experienced and brutal team. We need a team that has greater resilience, physical and mental hardness. Speed perhaps not as important as ability to retain feet and deliver to a teammate calmly. Defensively need to run ahead of players who double back. May obviously has all the attributes to match Tomahawk. Does ANB match up Biclavs, Viney defeats Touhy, Try and keep a mix of defence and offence from the likely matchups.

Having watched matches to date plus AFLW I was looking forward to watching Dees prime time only to discover its live on NSW only. And guess what here in Murmungee I get My to cover from Shepparton. My nearest neighbour across the paddock gets us coverage from Albury. Hes a Collngwood supporter so no joy. it would cost me too many beers to watch the whole game with him

Update on generational supporting. My Dad 95 this year has lost his passion for supporting the Saints. It may be he has been enjoying lving with my sister and brother in law in Queensland for too long. BiL is a great bloke but is a lifelong Pies follower my sister professes a liking for the Hawks. Dad would not like to cause any offence and is having enough difficulty keeping up with the nags he follows. With constantly following weather reports to schedule his swimming program and the opportunities the Queensland perfect weather allow thers just too much stimulation for him to be interested any more. So I'm reassured as I hit my 70s that perhaps there's more to life than worrying if the dees forward structure is ok or if the mids need greater flexibility or even if Goody is the right guy. While I can wile away hours trawling the many enjoyable, thoughtful and interesting threads in this site. I do miss the usual wit and philosophical insights which used to explode in this thread. So I can now understand given the old mans reaction that perhaps as we get older our ability to become emotional about anything let alone the fortunes of the demons will recede into meaningless while the price fluctuations of bananas can become all consuming. i appreciate that such obsessions restrict contact and the general byplay that ha occurred for many years within this thread. i am loathe to call time but the general paucity of aforementioned wit and philosophical discussion is leading to that conclusion.

I've posted previously he also seems to be in the wrong pocket for a left footer. Not sure if he is following opponent, leadership Ng to that pocket or the side is attacking down that side. He did kick his one goal from the offside pocket and did miss his one shot from the on side pocket. He gets the ball that much that the coaches should be addressing the problem. All he suggestions on technique , ball drop, falling away, approach may be relevant but I'd look first at the pocket he usually finds himself in. If he is on the wrong side dish it off to a right footer who runs past on the inside, narrows angle and improves distance.

Put him in the right pocket for a left footer.. if he's in the wrong pocket have a right footer run past him and take the kick. in saying that his only goal came from the wrong pocket so perhaps he just needs the practice.

Less punishment watching the game on tv this week. My old man will get a call tomorrow, he supports Saints as he played with Eric "the tank" at Dromana. i defied his best attempts to get me following the saints but he always said I was a bloody demon.

Ah just needed a few more spaces and it would have been excellent for me. Probably understood as intuitive to other readers, (Anyone under 30).

Too cryptic for me Rusty

Got to the game, but the separations created by the bizarre ticketing allocations meant our usual group were at opposite ends of the ground. The club missed out on our celebrrity contributions as we retired to home base and enjoyed beers and wines from our own cellars while we enjoyed the replay. If we are to continue these winning ways the club needs to make it easy for supporters to meet and celebrate. It must be known that we will buy more drinks and raffle tickets when overcome with the euphoria of a win

A leader often emerges. appointing and anointing often fails as there is not always internal group recognition. I believe there is merit in the quarterback model but as Nev points out Max really needs to be able to direct his tap. That may be difficult with the unpredictability of the bounce etc. offensive and defensive tactics also have to have a number of options which are flexible again dependent on the variables of bounce, opposition and the speed and excitement of our game. But certainly the dynamics of the mid field need to be instinctive and collective. i just despair with the lack of protection to some of our players provided by blocking and shepherding without reference to umpires.

I suggested on another thread that our mds all have different styles. Gawn as dominant ruckman should be like quarterback in Gridiron and call play to match the specific attribute of the key player on each stoppage. egs one play drop ball at feet for Viney. Other mids protect him by forming a wedge to shepherd his collection and then spread and run forward to get to drop of wild kick one play tap to left where Oliver receives in a ring of protecting players who shepherd him and spread to receive handpass. one play tap to right for protected Brayshaw who then side steps around blockers to deliver low ball to leading forwards one play tap backwards to Trac who charges through with outside runners and releases next disposal to best advantage There are more plays that can be added and the ruckman captain calls it at the huddle before the bounce. Defensive role for midfield commences as soon as play fails and involves pressuring opposition release to assist downfield deep defenders.

Have said before each of our mids has a different attribute. This should be recognised and used rather than change. Gawn can be like a quarterback calling for a different style of attack based on which mid attribute he will use

He certainly seemed to hod it longer looking for a better option than just an immediate hand off. He had some difficulty at times as he had a player hanging off him most of the time. No doubt he initiates some of the attention he gets but clearly the umpires allow him to be scragged. This seems an increasing tactic used on all elite players by most teams. We seem to be the only team that allows an opposition to run free. Last week was Fyffe, will watch who it will be next week. sheperding and blocking would seem a necessity unless the player is a bull like Trac, who can carry his way through tackles, this could be practised at training. Bradshaw seems to still be able to gather the ball and step through the pack. Viney of course has always been criticised for his charges through packs and indiscriminate blind kick. Maybe our midfielders have different techniques and rather than training that out of them for a homogenised pattern we need to use the different approaches with a technique to negate opposition responses. With a superior ruck in Max we can get more systems than other teams and have a reliance on attack at stoppages rather than defending. We can have an assurance that we can defend deeper if we lose the initial mid field scirmish.

Thanks to all contributors

Without criticising any one who puts up a team. (In fact I admire the effort and knowledge that they all display) I would like to see a team selection matching and beating the opposition player. ie not just Weed at Ch

The government will make the decision it seems so Casey or Docklands may still be favoured.

You do make sense Macca. i am just disappointed that a Port Melbourne option has not been vigorously pursued for similar reasons. The govt seems to want to exploit that area.

Tasmanian financiers should just announce that due to Covid uncertainties they will place all funding into a future fund to assist the emergence of a Tasmanian based AFL team. It will be an indicator of the financial strength of current AFL teams.

Due to recent retirement notice there is no T$ but the no B$ component has always been seemingly ignored thankfully. B$ is always called out usually through insightful commentary. Many useful and more not so useful facts and ideas are unleashed and exposed in this thread . Long may it continue

Leadership and captaincy are different roles and are not necessarily complementary. The captain tosses the coin and takes interviews, represents the club in official capacity. It is wise to have a captain and a vice captain to share the duties especially when one is unavailable. There may even be an opportunity to assign official roles to players eg Jetta to comment on issues relating to indigenous matters or a player to officiate in fund raising, member liasson, etc. Leadership is required in a range of situations , in a range of fashions. Again that range does not necessarily come in a single package or at a convenient time. Some leadership tasks are almost routine and can be an assigned role which is usually expected of the captain. This role can sometimes conflict with the formal dignitary role and is why the best leader is often not best titled captain. Leadership is most regularly required as an inspirational act at a significant time. Leadership obviously implies that there are followers, both roles must be understood and recognised. Leadership is often just an ability to recognise the moment that followers need leading. Melbourne captains and players have consistently failed in this aspect. I do not know enough about the structures and capacities of the club and individual players but make these comments based on information gleaned from my limited observation and comments of others in this thread. Max is a great personality as well as one of our most significant players. He can inspire through performance but being such aan apparently lighthearted positive character, can often not recognise the significance of an occasion. Viney is undoubtably inspirational with his attack on the ball, but again often is unable to recognise the significance of his actions and I think has been disappointed that others who cannot match his aggression do not follow him. His simplistic response of aggression is not always appropriate when often strategic absorbing and calmness is required. May did seem to step up and displayed real emotion and desire to lead by example. His teaching and direction seemed to increase which was a reflection of his experience and desire. Lever has always presented in match interviews as a coherent and articulate character. His on feild direction and ability to work cooperatively with May and others was positive. I have not seen any consistent performance of leadership or captaincy from any of our forwards in the last few years,( perhaps since Lyon , Schwartz, Green,) . I thought that TMac had potential but now look for the emergence from our list. Trac definitely seems to have taken the next step up perhaps learning from Jones example. Jones himself was flawed only due to the lack of capacity around him to follow and his own skills limitation which were a consequence of him being forced to undertake too many tasks.. I hope the clubs new coaching structure can identify an improved model but more importantly can communicate this in a positive fashion to players and supporter sports so we are all united.

That is certainly still relevant. Thanks for sharing

That is a great analysis and reference. Can hardly disagree with the luminaries quoted. I still say however the coach is the most significant role to prepare the players to respond to the things that are beyond the coaches control on the day.There is an amount of individual instinctive response but the most important feature of our game is the teammates responsibility and faith in each other, that team includes the coach. Thanks for the excellent response.

Partly agree not totally Goodies fault, but it is his responsibility to get the players in the right spots, with the right match ups, and the right attitude to win. He also has capacity to remove players and move players to exploit opposition weaknesses and counter opposition strength. The coach and the players need to have faith and n each other and themselves. It's a team game and the coach is the most significant part of that team. He may need individual players to inspire and create but he must also teach the team to respond to that individual act.