Lucifers Hero

Just had another look at the rest of the fixture. It seems the other club that will be on 9 games is Freo but they have already played Bulldogs so there is still a problem... Maybe the fairest thing to do in terms of both teams having skin in the game is they play each other again in round 10 as @Whispering_Jacksuggested. That way both teams are playing for premiership points. Oh well, I guess we will know soon enough when the round 10 fixture is announced.

Not sure who works harder as they play different roles. Oliver is in the thick of it to get the ball, Petracca is the burst player to go forward. Yep, great to have the two. Who is better? Depends on criteria and one's emotional investment in each player. But, now that Oliver has learnt to hold his ground in or run out of a pack, instead of treating the ball as a hot potato and blindly hand pass out of congestion, I reckon he has a few more levels of improvement. Now that is a truly scary thought.

In the latest Gus and Gawny, Gus describes Oliver as "...looks like superman, no-one can tackle him". It will be scary for the opposition to have two immovable forces in the middle who can both turn on the jets at will.

I think the AFL have snookered themselves. To keep the season going they rescheduled games but also mixed and matched teams that weren't originally scheduled to play each other. Somewhere in those mixes and matches they have miscalculated the number of games. The result (according to my summary of the season) all teams will have played 10 games except the Bulldogs who will play 9. Can't see a way of fixing this that will be fair to all teams. The teams they haven't played are Lions, North, Saints and Carlton. It wouldn't be fair to the first two who will be in finals to play another game for no points. And it wouldn't be fair to teams in the finals for them to play Saints or Carlton for whom it will be an exhibition match and virtually gift the bulldogs 4 pts. The best thing that can happen is that after round 9 the Bulldogs are well and truly out of contention for finals or cannot progress higher up the ladder if in finals, so the 10th game doesn't matter and it is forfeited. I assume someone at the Bulldogs has alerted the AFL to this rather glaring anomaly.

By late cancellation of the Geelong vs Freo game the AFL seem to have woken up to the problem. You have answered the mystery by noticing the extra Geelong game and that a Freo vs Bulldogs game will fix the problem. It can be played in round 10 as both teams currently have a 'bye' according to the afl website. Bulldogs are playing well so it could be a key game to determine the final ladder order. Edit: I just noticed that Freo and Bulldogs played their round 10 game on Feb 1 which Freo won. So there must be a mismatch elsewhere in the fixture, at least in the one published on the afl website. Hopefully, the clubs know who they are playing...

At the time DIO made her post the round 10 fixture had not been announced.

I recall in an interview last year Goodwin said something like: Petracca's knee can blow up after a game so he doesn't do much with it at training on a Monday. Going on his burst of speed from centre bounces, displayed brilliantly in the GF, he isn't impaired by the knee in games. Probably all part of the Burgess mantra of building 'physical resilience' and not resting players with 'niggles' from training or from playing.

I know. The point was that the club has shown it is willing to re-contract players if they show what the club is looking for so it challenges them to do so. I was musing that the club could be doing that with Gus, albeit the different back story.

I'm a bit more optimistic. I can envisage that if Gus is looking for X of $/term/role the club says ok, shows us this, this and this. TMac and ANB were in a similar 'show us this, this and this' situation last year and the club extend their contracts by several years.

Wondering if the fixture on the AFL website is the latest? Bulldogs have played 6 games and by my count are scheduled to play 3 more in rounds 7 to 9. That is a total of 9 games for the season. (They round 10 game vs Freo was brought forward and played a few weeks ago). However, I can't find a substitute game for their round 2 postponed Lions game...

Gus doesn't seem the type to be motivated by money and doubt he would be looking for a FA type windfall. He would know he won't get what he is worth at the Dees but will most likely have a minimum $/term/incentives he would sign for. On the other hand, as much loved and as courageous as he is, the club may feel he is the easiest on-baller to replace with the range of players waiting in the wings. His 15 minutes in the 3rd quarter helped turn the tide in the GF. A cameo? Maybe. But the spoil then mark and goal were inspirational. He gave us the lead and team belief went up. His defensive wing role limits him showcasing and using his talent. Is it satisfying enough for hm? Does he want to be a role player for another 5-7 years... A different (midfield and perhaps a leadership team) role might be enough to entice him away. Would understand if he left. Hope he stays.

Robbie. Would love to see him hold up the cup.

"Western Australia has set a goal to re-open its borders on the weekend of March 12-14. The tentative date, which a WA government source confirmed as the state’s preferred scenario to foxfooty.com.au, would be a huge win for the AFL and Cricket Australia. Both organisations are awaiting official confirmation but have always been confident the WA border would ease by mid-March at the latest". WA to open borders mid March That's a good start!

Yes, it does matter. The rest of the competition will improve this year as we must. If we expect players to improve the rest of the club and the resources around them need to improve. And we owe it to the new players coming through, that may not be as elite as our current top 10, to ensure they can be the best they can be. Facilities will play a role in reaching their potential.

Teams in the AFL go thru long periods of being in the bottom part of the ladder and not being competitive with the top sides. We know only too well in the men's game. The new AFLW teams get enormous draft benefits and it takes time to build a winning team/culture/game plan to get towards the top. Again as we know only to well in the men's game. I don't think re-drafting is a good idea. It will bring the top teams down with no guarantee the bottom/new teams will lift. That would not be good for the competition given that the initial teams are just becoming to play good football.

They could help their cause if they lifted the minimum games from 10 per season! One wonders if their cause is too actually identify the best/better players or generate clicks and discussion/controversy. imv it is the latter. Not much will change.

That was a good question, giving the limitations placed on candidates have been questioned elsewhere on this forum. I had a sense a lot of 'curly' questions never saw the light of day. Not a curly question but I would like to have known what Nathan Jones is up to career wise. I'm sure he is busy with his family but his adoring dee fans would like to know a bit more now that it s nearly 5 months since he retired. It saddens me that you are losing respect for the Board. I'm not at that point yet but am having doubts about their methods and direction. If they stay unified it may not affect the players or the football department. That may be a big 'if' given the leaking that is going on.

Absolutely not and not sure how you inferred that I thought there should be comments on the HS articles. Last year's success does not remove our need and interest for progress updates. Yes, we are told the state government will make the announcements. Even then it wouldn't hurt the club to get some sort of overview/ big picture commentary from the state government. It wouldn't hurt to be given some info as to what stage they are at. eg What are the stages/project plan, in general terms. Has the 'scoping' stage finished. A loose 'time line'. None of that is difficult and it would all be well known internally by now.

The club will put a link on their website today.

To me it was like a warm fireside chat, albeit seated at tables. Are dee fans so satisfied that no 'curly' questions were raised? Disappointed there was no update on training facilities. It was good hearing Selwyn Grffith chat about his plan for fitness and it sounded like he would continue the Burgess philosophy of building 'physical resilience' in players to not always rest them from training and playing when they have an injury. It was a key strategy in our successful 2021 season and flag.

Disappointed there was no update at the Member's Brief last night unless it was during one of the spots where the live feed dropped out.

Scott wanted the bye to be before the Prelim instead of pre GF. Postponing it for 'health and safety' reasons would have given him that breathing space. As if a 6pm game could be cancelled/postponed at 1pm that day. On the interview it woud have been nice if he had said Melbourne were the better team instead of referring to us as 'the opposition'. He did similar in the post PF press conf. Just couldn't bring himself to acknowledge it was the Demons that thrashed them. Faint praise was the best he could muster while 'not making excuses'.

Yes, all 4 coaches voted him BOG. "Petracca was the only player on the list to play what the coaches deemed to be a ‘perfect game’ this season, earning 40 out of a possible 40 votes in the Grand Final after a Norm Smith Medal winning performance". 2021-best-and-fairest-all-the-winners I couldn't find GF votes for other players. What we can guess is that Max (3 Finals average of 30 votes) scored very highly in the PF. Oliver was consistent across all three finals and averaged 31 votes. Petracca was in the same range (average for two finals of 31 votes) and excelled in the GF with a 'perfect game'. Not far behind was them Salem them (Finals average of 29) who probably polled highly in the GF.

I assume so. But defenders usually don't get a lot of it. Understanding of our game plan and positioning should help in that regard.

He sounds like Christian Salem but perhaps without the footy IQ: "One of the smoothest operators in the draft pool, Judd McVee is the kind of player you want rebounding the ball out of defence. He handles the ball cleanly and is efficient in his use by foot, showcasing class to manoeuvre out of tight spots and keep cool in a crisis. With greater consistency and enhanced midfield craft, McVee has the tools to become a tidy player at the top level". STRENGTHS: + Class + Clean hands + Kicking + Rebounding IMPROVEMENTS: - Production - Consistency Very happy with this selection. Edit: I just saw the write up at the club which mentions his 'footy smarts'. Maybe he is more like Salem than I first thought.