Lucifers Hero

Thanks for a great write up D_I_O. Its really good to have all that info at our fingertips.

Richmond have a fistful of second round draft picks. In a draft that is said to be very even from 20 to 45 they have every chance of getting some excellent talent that can play next year, as we did with our draftees (LJ, Kozzie, Rivers and Bowey). I don't think they will win in 2022 but will be thereabout. Geelong also have a fistful of second round draft picks and could quickly rejuvenate their team to avoid a deep slide. Am starting to revise my view of them tumbling down the ladder in the next year or two.

The posters are both folded and I think the back of the right hand one says 'Bill', so it would be 'Kill The Bill, Dan'.

They are horrific images and totally unacceptable. Why were the props allowed into the Melbourne protest? The police should confiscate and destroy the props before they even get into the protest and arrest the perpetrators. There is no place for that stuff in our city or our society. Surely there is a law about provoking civil unrest or similar. Throw the book at them.

Agreed. Like all aspects of society people can choose to follow the rules or accept the consequences; in this case curtailed opportunities to partake in a large part of our community and its activities.

Happy for anyone to disagree especially one of my favourite posters like yourself. It was the name calling and a position on threats to freedom that I referred to as 'emotive and hyperbolic' not the whole post. Ok, conjectural if you prefer. But conjecture by definition lacks evidence. Conjecture can quickly become the mother of 'fake news' or misinformation and before we know there is a great hue and cry and the main purpose of any protest is lost. And some very strong descriptions and accusations were made of perfect strangers in a protest. It worries me that people are quick to draw parallels with what happens overseas with what is happening here. A small group of rent-a-crowd attract attention, then everyone is tainted with the same brush. Should we ban protests because there has always been and always will be a rent-a-crowd component? I'll leave it at that as If I add any more we run the risk of getting into politics and then all our posts will be deleted.

Crikey, binman. Where do you get things like 'bad actors', 'unhinged, dangerous bad actors', 'organising forces' type stuff from? And the 'perversion of the concept of freedom'; 'very real threats to our democracy and freedoms'? Fairly emotive and forgive me for saying hyperbolic stuff. There are a lot of angry people in Victoria for a raft of mainly covid related reasons but as you say they have a right to march and to protest. There is an element of 'rent a crowd' in most protests, as there was with the construction industry a few months ago. Just to clarify, the attack on the Shrine of Remembrance was during the construction industry march not the marches this week. I don't condone any rough stuff or violent intentions in any protest but we need to be careful to not over react to the 30 sec news bites and newspaper headlines or to imply there are evil forces behind every protest. But to be calling people names for exercising that right and raising unfounded fears is a long bow. By the way 10,000 in a protest is a decent crowd by Melb standards. The Melbourne BLM march was about the same. I think it is really sad that you have drawn parallels with the BLM march as that is such an important cause. But it was irresponsible, as at the time we were lurching from one covid outbreak to another and iirc we were in lockdown, and went against the express requests of the government and police. Let people march and perhaps tone down the rhetoric.

I'm pretty sure that was when he was OOC. Both Greenwood and Poled (and maybe others this year) were still in contract. Delisting should result in payout of contract and take the TPP hit. It will stop the manipulation of list management. Having said that clubs will be very circumspect about delistings after the Greenwood fiasco.

I would guess Prelim vs Geelong but only a guess.

Have we de-listed 'in-contract' players like North (Polec redraft as a rookie) and GCS (Greenwood to redraft senior list). Usually the delist-rookie strategy is to give a player a lifeline. In this day of Delisted Free Agents delist-redraft is a risky strategy as GCS just discovered. imv if a club deists an in-contract player they should pay them out and take the hit in their sal cap. Then redraft them. That will quickly stop these types of list manoeuvres.

Interesting prospect. But, I'm guessing we have the small fwd position covered with Premiership Players: Spargo and Kozzie and then there is Bedford and Chandler (who will be promoted to the seniors next year). All very young still. I would think there other positions that need high end, young players coming in.

Re Twomey's Top 35 Phantom Draft. These are the players he has linked to a possible Melbourne interest, in reverse ranking position as numbered: 24. Blake Howes. 190cm mid/fwd 23. Tom Brown. 186cm def 21. Campbell Chesser. 186cm mid/def 19. Sam Butler. 186cm mid/fwd 17. Darcy Wilmot. 183cm def He doesn't have us linked to a player higher up the order which is a surprise as it his view of ranking rather than who holds draft picks. And we have said we want to move up the order. But who for if we aren't linked to anyone higher up his rankings? Nor does he have us linked as having interest in a player in the 25 to 35 range, again a surprise as we hold pick 37 so one would think there is someone there we like. Maybe we are keeping our cards very close to our chest. Understandably, with his track record, rival recruiter eyes would be on JT and co. Maybe the 'move up the order' comment was a 'red herring'. He has mentioned other clubs who have interest in the players above but interestingly he has linked Brisbane to each of those players. The current respective draft picks are: Melbourne17, 37, 49, 57, 94 Brisbane 14, 18, 41, 60, 76, 90 There may be a bit of cat-and-mouse late in the first round.

Petracca said he respected Jones' decision to retire and respects how he has gone about it. That is not the same as Petracca supporting his stance on the vaccine, whatever that might be. Extrapolating your interpretation of what Petracca said to his 'mental capabilities' is a long bow to draw and makes no sense.

GCS planned for one pick at the draft but AFL rules require each club to make 3 draft picks or upgrade rookies. To achieve that GCS delisted Greenwood intending to redraft him late in the draft. They snookered themselves. Serves them right. How they thought no club would draft him before their late pick is beyond me. Carlton have been playing similar silly games in delisting players only to re-draft them. It is not what the draft is for. Hopefully the Greenwood heist stops those silly games.

Has The Cup visited the Jones family yet? I would have thought he would be one of the first to get a visit. Maybe it has but the pic has not been put up, which would be odd as he was part of it until the last week. Jones holding The Cup is something everyone would love to see albeit not on the ground after playing in the game but still a joy to behold.

If a miracle happens and he gets past 20 we have more than enough points to take him and Woewodin with some left in the kitty.

'Personal reasons' is an oft quoted one for longer absences and no one will ever know why they are away from the club.

By the length of the straight, it seems.

Some good points. Of necessity isolation policies of 'close contacts' and definition of a 'close contact' have been very tight. Once we get past 90% double vax the government will need to relax/redefine those two policies (among others). Nonetheless it would behove clubs to minimise risk eg ensure that their top players, or a complete line aren't in the gym at the same time, have some rules around how training is set up, more frequent testing etc. At least if someone gets it a club can demonstrate the risk or not of infecting others and only the affected player isolates.

Thanks. I don't know the draftees well enough - does anyone see any surprises, bolters or sliders? And would Howes be good for us?

I see Mazer has come and gone from this thread. Does he have it right already...🙄

That was quick...thank you!

Not sure all clubs know when the deadline is...Geelong seem to think it is Feb 18. Some clubs are being a bit evasive which is fine for public consumption but presumably their medicos are checking that all is in order. every-club-status-players "The AFL's COVID-19 vaccination policy required all Victorian players to have had at least one jab against the virus by late last month, as well as being fully vaccinated by November 26 as per the state government's Authorised Worker Vaccination Mandate."

@Demonstone More please - its very ho hum around here at the moment...

Two separate cases involving Hawthorn players hawthorn-covid19-finn-maginness-positive-test-players-isolating-club I guess all clubs will need to prepare for this possibility and have contingency plans especially in-season.