Lucifers Hero

Their list sure is a shambles. It was when Scott left in 2019. They decimated it further 2020 (which gave us BBB). And have hardly set the world on fire with their early draft picks or trades in the last few years. I don't know anything about the three who have left but with that track record and no semblance of a decent list build it is understandable they are being held accountable. However, it is odd timing.

I recall reading they had big problems in the hub, altho Fantasia and Daniher had flagged a desire to move before covid struct bu the hub issues may have tipped them over the edge. The hub environment was one of the main reasons Saad left. Merrett was on the way out but Ess was desperate to keep him to stem the poor PR form the exodus of highly regarded players.. When they won a few games last year he signed up. He probably regrets it now.

Because I couldn't remember their location! Fixed!

That is one of the more sensible solutions to the Tassie team/North dilemma. Tough on North but can't see the majority of AFL clubs supporting a 19th club. Especially, when they are financially supporting GWS, GCS and St Kilda. With North going backwards, adding a Tassie team means 25% of the league will be on financial drip feed. North need Peter Jackson asap! If not him, the liquidators.

Reckon their confidence could be a bit shot from two demoralising losses. And they may have 'heavy' legs from two weeks of playing in the wet. A bit weary perhaps from a 6-day break. Not to mention the big psychological advantage we have of being so hard to score against, home ground, crowd support. They play a similar style to us and it should be a good game. Dees by 4 -6 goals.

Lets put that pre-season game in perspective! They benefited form a heap of 50m penalties courtesy of the new 'dissent' and 'holding up play' rules (...what has happened to the latter...) Remember we were the guinea pigs for those new rules. iirc they scored at least 5 goals directly from frees/50 m penalties. And they won by only 5 points. Sure they had Charlie Curnow, Jacob Weitering and Sam Walsh out but we had Steven May, Harrison Petty, Michael Hibberd, Trent Rivers, Christian Salem out ie 5 of our Premiership defenders. I think they will make a formidable opponent but that game isn't a reliable reference point.

Money raising by the Venues. It looks it will be dry weather so it should work out ok. By the way, your 2 club memberships give you GA entry at no cost so they don't need tickets. If you haven't already bought the tickets check the mobile apps for the two memberships. I have received some extra GA tickets in the app for this weeks game.

I think he/she was joking! I think he/she got it from some media musings. Unfortunately, there is no 'irony' icon.

Not much!! Of 10 pages on Bigfooty they don't seem to interested in the game or the Dees. They seem preoccupied with: coming to terms with losing two games in a row being ordinary in the wet and praying for no rain on Saturday team changes and Fyfe's unavailability Switkowski's Tribuanl appearance (predictions he will get between 1 and 4 weeks). But there were a couple worth listing: Super underdogs this weekend. Nothing to lose hopefully we throw everything we have against the dee's. We have games coming up against Melbourne, Brisbane, and hawthorn and if nothing changes then we're 7-6 and no better than previous years. Nice to go into a game as a underdog for a change. Feels more natural, less pressure.😂 The 'are they the real deal?' question has been answered in the negative and reallocated to Carlton.😉 I will check again in a few days for more worthy quips.

I thought it was the Lions...🤔 ...flavour of the week at play...

Make of this what you will for the teams vying for the last few spots in the 8. Eight into Three doesn't go!

Apparently, Fyfe not playing this week.

Ticketek is showing seats available in ground level bays: M53, M54, M4 and M12 in the Olynpic and Shane Warne stands. (See diagram below). The 'drip line for ground level bays in both stands is Row Y and the last row is NN so any seats between these rows should be fine, altho I suspect Rows Z to AA might get a bit wet. I think the Melbourne Cheer Squad is in Bay M4. @WalkingCivilWarmay confirm. To find them go to https://hotshow4.ticketek.com.au/events/MELBO1122/venues/MCG/performances/EMMB0000022F/tickets. and click on 'Find Public Tickets' and you will see this page. Then click on the bay you want, the available ones are coloured. This takes you to the page to select the number of tickets in each category. The system selects tickets for you and you will see this: You can change the seats in that bay by selecting from the layout on the left of the page. Note, I put in hypothetical ticket quantities to show how the system works. Not sure how you upgrade the memberships though and get all the seats together. Good luck!

I saw that. Was also a little (pleasantly) surprised about Jackson, as other more experienced ruckmen get talked up in the media. Shows what they know! Ryder was a little modest not putting himself second. Nonetheless, second or third it was very high praise for Jackson, coming from one of the best, who knows what he is talking about.

Excuse my ignorance but what is a 'money kick'. Has another americanism crept into our great game?

But he can't be perfect...

For those in this thread complaining about Petracca's goal kicking you might like to note he received votes from both coaches again this week: 6 votes in total. He is now 3rd on the Leader Board.

Votes: 10 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 6 Christian Petracca (MELB) 6 Tom Sparrow (MELB) 4 Tom McDonald (MELB) 2 Luke Davies-Uniacke (NMFC) 1 Aidan Corr (NMFC) 1 Charlie Spargo (MELB) Coaches Split 5/5 Oliver 4/2 or 3/3 Petracca/Sparrow 4/0 McDonald 2/0 Davies-Uniacke 1/0 Corr 1/0 Spargo Leader Board And Oliver takes the lead : 61 Clayton Oliver MELB 53 Patrick Cripps CARL 50 Christian Petracca MELB 49 Lachie Neale BL 47 Andrew Brayshaw FRE 41 Callum Mills SYD 40 Bailey Smith WB 39 Jack Crisp COLL 38 Touk Miller GCFC 38 James Sicily HAW 37 Charlie Curnow CARL 34 Jeremy Cameron GEEL 31 Hugh McCluggage BL 31 Darcy Parish ESS 30 Max Gawn MELB 30 Sam Walsh CARL 29 Shai Bolton RICH 27 Jack Higgins STK 27 Jayden Short RICH

Oliver is often spoken about as the best player in the league. But he doesn't get the general plaudits he deserves like Bontempelli, Cripps, Petracca etc because he doesn't present well in the media or for sponsors. It is wrong but that is the reality. But maybe he is like Dusty and doesn't like media work and lets his football do the talking. All credit to him if that is the case. Hopefully, all is put right when he wins the Brownlow. Maybe Max and Petracca can take a low profile for the rest of the year and let Oliver get the umpire's votes.

Langdon missed round 12 last year and we beat Brisbane 14.13 to 11.9. Because of covid it was played on the neutral Giants Stadium. He was tagged out of the game last month vs the Hawks and we won.13.13 to 11.15. It was at the MCG With or without Langdon our system will prevail. It doesn't mean we will win but if we don't it won't be because Langdon is missing. And by the way, what an unbelievable effort to kick that very difficult goal after having his ribs smashed into.

Generally, I like Gleeson's articles but his commentary in this is a bit off the mark the-player-carlton-cannot-afford-to-lose He may be right in that Carlton can't afford to lose Weitering but he isn't the 'best defender'. There are a few others around. "Weitering is the best defender in the competition at the moment. He is as hard to beat one-on-one as any player. He is confident to intercept mark high up the field but also enjoys being the deepest defender. He uses the ball well but likes to share it. His numbers are fairly mid-table. He is not the most prolific intercept marker and does not pick up the most intercept possessions. He does not tackle crazily. He does not amass volumes of the ball. He is good at spoils – he is third in the league – but it is not the only feature that distinguishes his game. He is a not a player who is quantifiable by stats other than to say he just does not seem to get beaten". Weitering is a star and he may be Carlton's most important player, if only because their defence is shaky but that does not make him the best defender.

Fair enough. Tbh, I haven't read much that concerns me but agree there is always room for improvement. Nonetheless, as Goodwin says: we embrace imperfection; we don't try to play a perfect game. As to what other posters 'concerns' are, I'm in the people 'suffering old-fashioned MFCSS' camp.

May I ask what is there to be concerned about? Genuine question.

Yes, if Langdon is out we have some interesting options for the wing role. For mine a 75% Salem is better than a 90% Baker. If we want speed on the wing we could move Hunt there, he also knows Langdon's running patterns again spent 2021 linking up with him before becoming our lockdown to small forwards. And Salem goes back into defence. Another option is Spargo on Langdon's wing as another player familiar with ball movement. We would miss him in the fwd line but Bedford's defensive work yesterday was excellent. With this option Salem doesn't play. This week's selections will be a bit more interesting than usual unless Langdon is able to play which would be good against his former side.

Thanks. I'll go back and correct post.