Lucifers Hero

Is the $900 for a membership which includes a GFG or for the GFG option when added to a regular membership?

Some commentary with the diagrams would help. In isolation do the diagrams mean much? It would be more useful if there was a ranking of teams vs the average. I mean bottom teams are going to turn it over a lot more than top teams so comparison to just the average is of limited use, imv. And to balance the story, what about turnovers 'won'...

I thought our drafting last year was quite good but only time will tell. The 'ins' were much better than the 'outs'. Hopefully, they can find their way into the 22 next year to show what they have. Not sure the delist/keep decisions last year would make much difference to the age/quality challenges in a few years time.

It seems we are in agreement on the age/quality trend of our list. Not too many clear options for us to get ahead of that trend. Tradeable players aren't likely to bring in good picks. While we can trade those picks up the draft other clubs also want to and by regularly trading out our future 1st it doesn't leave a lot of currency (the Jackson trade this year aside) to work with. The best 'ageing/quality' replenishment scenario would be Sydney but they have the Academy to top them up. Then Geelong who have done very well replenishing their list, then Richmond and worst is the Hawks who have really bottomed out. Hopefully, we have our 'dynasty' before the aging of players kicks in.

Very soon we will have an age profile and quality gap in our list of 18-22 year olds which will become a gap in the 23-26 age group and so on. We have players in that age group but not many have found a way to break into the team and only a couple have prospects of doing so in the next year or two. So quantity is ok but quality is a ? This is happening while we have list deficiencies in critical positions. In 2-3 years quite a few of our stars will be approaching or over 30. Many players go on to play well after 30 but how do we replace the quality of so many before their contribution starts to wane? Because we are successful and tend to trade out our future first pick we are unlikely to have access to the top dozen or so players in each draft. And we are unlikely to trade out our best players as they are on long-term deals. Our list will age rapidly. To some this may not matter as 'we are in the premiership window' with a star midfield, defence etc. however if we don't start getting access to the pointy end of the draft I'm not sure we can sustain finals participation/be in contention for flags in the latter part of this decade. As much as Taylor is a star he needs picks to work with to keep our list age/quality profile balanced and I'm not sure where pointy end draft picks are coming from in the next 3-4 years.

Most clubs will max out their A rookies as a chunk of their salary doesn't count for TPP hence why Jordon, Chandler and Turner were given hybrid rookie/senior promotion contracts.

I agree. It would be like leading him on then pulling the pin. Their cred would be shot if ithey got 'cold feet' at the last minute. Which is what makes me think that Freo 'changing their mind' is to do with Jackson not Freo.

I've copied this in from the Grundy thread. It could be face saving by Freo if Jackson has decided to stay/ If he decides to go to WA it opens the door for WCE to make a play.

Which part sounds unlikely? Do you have a new avatar ready?

Is that a way of saving face if LJ has decided to stay at the Dees.

I'm with you 100%. The only reason for buying Redlegs memberships for the last 20+ years was to sit with Demon fans. It real spoils the experience when an opp fan is carrying on or their kids are kicking the back of the seat because they are bored. They should go up to level P where the club has an area for members who bring guests. Unfortunately with digital barcode entry that can be forwarded it is not possible to police the 'non-transfer' of memberships which wasn't policed well in the past anyway.

From The Age: "The club is actively trying to move him to another club, but Grundy is desperate to stay. He had a positive meeting with Melbourne, which was attended by Simon Goodwin and Max Gawn, but he still believes his future is at Collingwood".

2022 AFL MEMBERSHIP LADDER 1. West Coast 102,897 (2021 tally: 106,422) 2. Richmond 100,792 (2021 tally: 105,084) 3. Collingwood 100,384* (2021 tally: 82,527) 4. Carlton 88,776* (2021 tally: 81,302) 5. Essendon 86,001* (2021 tally: 81,662) 6. Hawthorn 81,494* (2021 tally: 77,079) 7. Geelong 71,943* (2021 tally: 70,293) 8. Melbourne 66,484* (2021 tally: 53,188) 9. Adelaide 63,009 (2021 tally: 60,232) 10. St Kilda 60,172* (2021 tally: 55,802) 11. Port Adelaide 58,643* (2021 tally: 56,532) 12. Fremantle 56,105* (2021 tally: 50,342) 13. Sydney 55,394 (2021 tally: 50,144) 14. Western Bulldogs 50,941* (2021 tally: 46,541) 15. North Melbourne 50,191* (2021 tally: 46,357) 16. Brisbane Lions 43,319* (2021 tally: 40,289) 17. GWS Giants 32,614* (2021 tally: 30,185) 18. Gold Coast 21,422* (2021 tally: 19,460) TOTAL - 1,190,671 (2021 tally: 1,113,441) * Club membership record in 2022 https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-membership-numbers-ladder-2022-afl-club-membership-by-team-club-records-most-members-west-coast-richmond/news-story/fb533d3e5f05e6f9f757dabf4b77b0a6 Doubt we have been in the top 10 before. Great achievement!

Exactly! This makes me wonder if our judgements on here of how loud other teams are comes from us watching them on TV. Whereas our judgements of how quiet we are comes from being at the ground. Maybe other teams' fans aren't as noisy at the ground as they might sound on tv.

Questions: How did the noise level sound to those watching on tv? Does the location at the G influence how the noise sounds at the game? I was in M13 and while it was quiet to start I thought the noise was pretty high once the crowd warmed up. A few Mel-bourne chants got going but probably not as many as the Pies have. I ask as in The Age Podcast they mentioned how loud the noise was at our game. I'm guessing they were watching on TV so wonder if we are comparing how the Carl, Rich, Coll games sound on TV to how ours sound at the ground. I'm guessing TV will always sound louder.

From Alan Richardson: “The fracture poses no further risk to Christian and will not impact his ability to play. “What will pose more of a challenge for Christian is the corky he sustained to his calf in a collision that occurred in the first quarter and hampered his movement for the majority of the match against Sydney. Reckon Petracca will play.

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While preparing the 'What They Are Saying...' thread, I noticed some chat about McStay being a bit worse for wear after playing in the ruck for the Tigers game.

Serong gets 10 votes, Andy Brayshaw zip. While the stats wouldn't support the votes both coaches saw it the same. Looks like it was the clearance work by Serong. Perhaps the clearances were critical times that turned the tide. Reckon Andy would be disappointed to not be in the votes at all given that 7 players got votes.

FTB, if you see bays of unused Corporate tickets come on sale it would be greatly appreciated if you could post on here. Cheers.

I'm confident we will make the GF. But will not be disappointed if we bow out from the PF.

lever-backs-star-teammate-to-push-through-and-face-lions Answers to above question: Lever played down fitness concerns over Charlie Spargo, who spent Friday night in hospital after a hit to the throat, and Bayley Fritsch, who played through a knee issue. Both players were only walking laps on Monday morning, with Fritsch's left knee strapped. Other fitness news: Lever was on a modified program and trained inside instead of with the main group, but Melbourne officials said he would be fit to face Brisbane. Petracca completed a light session with his teammates at Gosch's Paddock on Monday morning, albeit with a slight limp and with tape around his right calf. Lever: "I think he'll have a bit of a lighter week. But he'd have to tick off a fair few things". The defender was confident forward Tom McDonald could make an impact if called on, despite having just one VFL game to his name after a long-term foot injury. Melksham also had a knee issue. Add those to BB and Jackson's bandaged knees, Oliver's thumb and Max looking so so we seem to be a team of the 'walking wounded'.

From Bigfooty: All a bit ho hum, really. Looking forward to taking Melbourne out of the finals. We can’t pressure like Sydney is and we won’t get Melbourne so off. Plus we have no idea against Melbourne whatsoever Melbourne look very fragile, skittish even. Blueprint to beat melb is clearly shown by pies and swans this year. High pressure and switched on defensively as a whole team. Whether we are capable of producing that consistently across 4 qtrs is the big question No way we can play Mitch and mathieson on the G. Need runners on the G. Let’s see if we’ve learnt our lesson Playing smaller in the forward half critical I think Sydney just showed as well you need a **** tonne of pressure so Melbourne's wingers can't frolick away Melbourne lost all structure in their forward half tonight. It was beautiful to see. Bring on the Demons. We have nothing to lose. We lose, and it is what it is. Melbourne lose, and it's straight sets in a year they were meant to have their dynasty. Melbourne have been very beatable all year, it’s really only us that have made them look like invincible. Zorko to rip the Deamons hearts out by playing his best game for the year and totaly refusing to engage in the niggle. The only difference with the Dees is they defend, Tigers don’t. Only slight spanner in the works for us. One of my biggest observation was the Swans ability to stop the ball at the source. Constantly intercepting their handballs in close, not allowing the release kick. You need to be there to pressure them not necessarily with a tackle, but deny that first link in the chain. Swans did it all night. They didn't wait for Dees player to take possession. They literally crashed into them so there was no clean exit at all. Who would've thought. Melbourne struggle against teams applying pressure... FWIW they aren’t overly confident on Dees board. Because of the kerfuffle last game I reckon this is going to be a nasty game. If we are in the game at half time, I will back us in. They're too busy arguing about the % of Dees supporters in the crowd from last nighy Always, there have been soft kills everywhere last few years and we’ve missed every one of them. The fact that they've belted us every time is going to do their heads in if the game is competitive into the last quarter. My favourites: How am I supposed to concentrate at work all week? We have no smart small defender that can go with the skinny Melbourne bloke. Forgot his name. Kicked 6 in last years GF. He's going to chop us up.

Any update on Spargo's and Fritsch's injuries?

Wasn't the club's concern for Petracca the corky/contusion rather than the fracture? And it could be the former that caused him to be limping. If he doesn't play it is more likely to be the corky that keeps him out.