Lucifers Hero

All this chat about OUR offence, defence and contest sounds like we play in a vacuum. Nowhere near enough credit is being given to the impact of opposition game and tactics. Sydney's tactics were brilliant. imv those tactics rather than fatigue, loading, injury, missing personnel etc. were why we lost. Their tactics may have contributed to fatigue or skill errors but they outworked us and outsmarted us. Goodwin didn't identify Longmire as one of the hardest coaches to coach again for no reason.

A summary would be appreciated. A choice for whom?

Well, that isn't very exciting🙄. I thought you had a new name to give us.

Clues please 🙃

Thanks Andy. Excellent leadership by Max. I wish the AFL would put mics in the audience for press conf so we can hear the questions. So frustrating to try and guess from Max's answers.

Someone asked about CCTV. Entrecote is a fancy establishment so it is unimaginable that the restaurant doesn't have security cameras inside, especially in reception (where the desk was allegedly damaged) and outside its premises being so close to a train station. And there is a fair chance the staff would have filmed the scuffle on a phone if only for insurance claims . The tabloids would be at work trying to dig up the videos! Sadly more trash reporting likely to come. Based on some reports in this thread Entrecote's management is far from impressed so hopefully the guys have come completely clean on what happened and they and the club apologise to Entrecote quick smart. It would have been a good move to do so before and in the press release.

I'm guessing none of our leaders were there. We know Viney wasn't. And it is a safe bet Lever, McDonald and Gawn were home with their families and bubs. So May and Melksham were probably the most senior players attending..

Who is telling the media what May said to set Melkdsham off? Hopefully, none of the other players there nor someone at the club. Before we hang May for his barb to Melksham about the GF we don't know what came before it. It is unlikely May or anyone would throw that into a conversation out of the blue. I can think of some friendly sledges toward May that may have prompted his retort to Melksham. Then it all went pear shape. Nothing excuses all the things that were wrong about those events but context is important regarding what started it. Whatever started it, the right penalties were given.

They both have to do community work to atone there mis step.. May gets the added penalty of a suspension because he was drinking while injured which is a big no, no.

She takes up the coaching role at the end of the AFLW season when she hangs up the boots. "Pearce has one of nine positions across the AFLW, with the successful women able to take the up the minimum two-year role between now and 2025, allowing the Demons star and other AFLW players to continue playing if desired".

Probably as unhappy as this: Any chance we can get Alan Richardson to get the beers into Petracca and Oliver so they can bash the cr@p out of Fritsh.

Not much until the Steven May news dropped. Then it turned decidedly more optimistic. tough, tough game. Pies by 62 Best ruckman in the league Darcy Cameron to take Gawn to the cleaners When Sydney got up over the Dees I thought that made our task nigh impossible but now I'm thinking their confidence has taken a hit and if we get the jump on them it might create some negative mindsets. Pendles played brilliantly on Oliver at the SCG against them last year, would like to see that matchup again. Petracca looks injured… Sidebottom may have the tank to run with … Gawn is dominating aerially, but Cameron is a top mark for a ruckman, so should at least be competitive against him. The vibes are looking good for this one which means....Dees by 52 points!! Can't see us winning this one, I can only hope that we remain at least competitive and put a fight and it doesn't turn in to a flogging. Hahaha I’m trying to stay positive and I hope they prove me wrong! I think if we bring our best game like we have the past few weeks and maintain all game then yes we may be a chance! If it is fine I think our pressure may get us there. Frothies May strikes again xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Excellent news!! What? Unravelling at the Dees, they don’t feel comfortable being winners We are a sneaky chance of winning this game now. I think we are, been ordinary without him, still would rather beat them without the excuses. We were already a good chance in my opinion. Up to our eyeballs now. duck me. That's Collingwood-esque. Huge bonus for us, as without May the D's back six definitely struggle, as they don't have anyone who can really play his role.... Fritsch is Maynard’s b-tch The Dees would be furious about this, considering the whole build-up to this event is based around The Big Freeze and fighting MND, not fighting your teammates. Daniher would be so gutted with this effort. Expect a flat and half-hearted club to take the field while they work out what the hell is going on inside their heads. My favourite: Any chance we can get Alan Richardson to get the beers into Petracca and Oliver so they can bash the cr@p out of Fritsh. Oliver pays pretty much no attention to his opponent (prob because he has the ball all the time).

One report has it they were at 'Entrecote' which isn't exactly the local 'parma and beer' place. It is a pricey french restaurant in Prahran. If they were dining in either the bar or the restaurant and the scuffle was on the premises the management and other patrons would not have been impressed. If they were at 'Entrecote' just as well the players self reported. The club would have heard about it, pronto!

That may be so but binman said at least 2 weeks in his comments supporting last year's loading program which wasn't correct.

Is everyone going home today and watch the GF again to get the good vibes back!

But they don'! Last year they had 11 days between rnd 13 and rnd 15 games. This year the break is 9 days.

All we need now is for the 5 second video of Hunt and Brayshaw having what looked like grumpy words in the Syd game, for the media to really go to town and declare: the wheels have fallen off!!

May gets the suspension for drinking while injured which is a big no, no. It was a repeat offence. No option but to suspend him. "Steven and Jake will also complete community service through one of the club's community partners to ensure they understand the responsibility and impact they have as role models within the community". Penalties look appropriate.

If he was going to drink while injured he should have just done it at home - ALONE!!

Another reason for the media to dig their boots in... ...we are now giving them the ammo! When it rains, it pours! Not good for May, with the bye coming up he will not have played for 4 weeks.

That is probably true but there are so many other facts staring us in the face, that we know have affected our players over the last month that I find attributing the losses to 'loading' a tenuous link. And what no-one has explained yet is why 'loading', at any time should lead to losses at all.

Fatigue could be due to illness, injury, post covid, step up to AFL when players missing. 5 players coming back from injury. Poor skills could be due to opp pressure and replacement players not having the skills or knowing the system as well as those replaced. For the fatigue of rounds 11 and 12 we would have had to start loading around weeks 9 and 10 which would be bizarre given that is when players had covid .

Adelaide: umpire made a mistake in the dying seconds of the game, admitted to by the AFL. Collingwood: Buckley's last game as coache so they were up and about. Every chance that in 2021 we started a 3 week training block pre the Coll game ie round 12 (where we are now in 2021) through the bye and to round 15. Partly in lieu of no game in the bye week. That would be consistent with what Max said post bye last year. I think it of it as a mini-preseason rather than something mysterious like 'loading'. Not directly related to your post but whether it is called 'loading', 'extra blocks of training, mini preseason or whatever no one has so far shown why that should or does cause losses. fwiw we did extra training during the first finals bye.

fwiw Brad Scott no longer has umpiring in his remit: "Lisa Lawry has been appointed to the newly created position of General Manager Umpiring within the Football Operations Department." https://www.afl.com.au/news/768093/afl-football-department-appoints-general-manager-umpiring Maybe this reflects the fiasco of Scott's introduction of the new 50m rules for 'dissent' and 'holding up play'. The former has been (secretly) modified and the latter seems to have completely disappeared. Scott confounded everyone with these rules then tried to dig himself out of the hole by having a '5 bob each way' saying the umpires should enforce the rules but it was their discretion to decide dissent.

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