Lucifers Hero

Can't help but think the AFL is trying to help a team make the 8. Not Collingwood but Essendon. Ess have an away game vs GCS in round 22 which is their only game out of Victoria from round 14 to 23. The Tiwi Islands and parts of northern NT are their NGA zone. On that basis alone It should be Ess going to Darwin to play GCS. A good northern NT promotional game. From round 14 we had i/state games in Adelaide, Perth and now Darwin (was Qld). Our NT, NGA region is Alice. From what we know, I just can't see any justification for it being us and not Ess heading to Darwin (unless there is a very significant $ benefit to us). I would have thought being top 2 on the ladder for virtually the whole season would give us some rights to a say in scheduling. Not to be. Hopefully, we are given some rights to the scheduling of subsequent games so our player recovery is not disadvantaged.

While different physically, I reckon Spargo is keeping Melksham out of the team. Has equivalent or better vision, footy IQ, finds time and space and usually hits targets with low, flat kicks that are difficult to intercept. Can be quite handy at scoring. And he has 10 times the defensives of Melksham.

While both teams played off a 5 day break we looked as fresh as a daisy and Port barely gave a yelp. Huge for us to play 4 quarters with 5 days, travel and in enemy territory then convincingly win. While 'just' 4 points, it was an enormous performance in terms of entrenching us in the top 4 and embedding belief in each other and the system.

The shortage in Victoria is because they used their allocation for first doses and didn't keep enough for the second dose. Poor planning or deliberate? Who knows but it was of their own making.

For those that doubt how the club sees Weideman: "Foxfooty.com.au understands the Suns have prioritised a key forward to partner Ben King in this year’s trade period and would be willing to offload their prized draft asset...currently Pick 3... Melbourne has the highest rated out of contract key position player on its books in Sam Weideman, while other lesser valued forwards such as Taylor Walker and Mason Cox are also without deals for 2022. Pick 3 would be too heftier price for the latter two, but the Demons rate Weideman supremely and would surely not lose him for any less". 2021-gold-coast-suns-trade-players-out-of-contract I can hear people say take pick 3 and run! However, we would need to find a young replacement for him. Doubt there are many mid 20 yo options out there. And, at what cost? While some on here devalue Morris he still has good contacts at the club so I give credence to his claim that we value him 'supremely'. And regarding Sam's mind space. He went thru a torrid time when his contract was last up for renewal in 2019, saying he was so down he didn't want to go out of the house due to the social and mainstream media pile on. iirc correctly he went off social media at the time. Thankfully mainstream media isn't getting stuck into him this year so hopefully Sam can take comfort from that and I'm sure the club would be working really hard to keep his confidence up.

The club would have much greater success with a fund raising campaign this year than 2020. Supporters will know that losing Alice and QB is sheer bad luck of timing. The current outbreak happens a fortnight later than it did and we get both events in. And this year we are winning! I would certainly put in.

Updated for Turner and Declase, our mid season rookies contracted for 6 months. They are replacements for our LTI players Tomlinson and Nietschke. Also updated the Free Agency status of affected players.

Club website says: "Joining the club as rookies, the duo will provide instant depth to Melbourne’s backline stocks, while also looking to impress at training and secure their position beyond 2021". I have them as 6 month contracts.

Except he has been adding mayo on the infectiousness and speed of infection of the current virus type. Very poor to use fear to justify the lockdown extension. national/scientists-find-no-evidence-strain-is-fast-moving-beast-2021 "The government justified yesterday’s extension of the lockdown by claiming what is now being called the “Kappa” variant of the virus is more contagious than previous outbreaks and infections are occurring more readily between people who only briefly came into contact. University of Melbourne Professor James McCaw, an infectious disease expert and member of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which advises the national cabinet, said this was not supported by the data he had seen. “There is no epidemiological evidence that this virus spreads faster,” he said. “There is no clear reason to think this virus is spreading in different ways. “We need to be very cautious. We are on an absolute knife-edge in Victoria about whether we bring this under control rapidly or it develops further. But I don’t think it is helpful to seed alarmist or doomsday-type thoughts into the community.” Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, who has described the virus strain at large in Melbourne as an “absolute beast” that was spreading “in settings and circumstances we’ve never seen before”, toned down his language yesterday, as acting Premier James Merlino detailed the state’s next stage of COVID-19 restrictions." Scare mongering by the Vic gov't is not what we need.

Records vs other states.

And we are front runners to get Taylor Harris - back where she belongs!!

Apparently, Case 5 who is the case zero in the current outbreak was eligible for a vaccine but hadn't decided to have it. I was told the Flemington vaccination hub, in the northern suburbs ie the epicenter of the current outbreak, had been virtually empty as over 50's weren't getting vaccinated. No wonder the vaccine roll-out has been slow - people choosing not to have it. The silver lining in the current outbreak is that it has shaken people up and we are now setting vaccination records in Victoria.

What on earth could the SA be asking for if they have agreed to FIFO for Collingwood. Not much chance of the QB game at AO if that is how the SA are going to negotiate dictate. Too much grandstanding going on by Premiers. As I said in earlier post SA is a key reason why we in lockdown. They should stop being so stubborn and step, up not for the AFL but for Daniher and the MND cause.

Gerard Whateley suggested the QB game be played in Adelaide. I thought it a good idea as Neale Daniher and the MND cause deserve to have a full house and it would be quite a spectacle at AO. Collingwood could stay in SA instead of FIFO this week (or go to Sydney) and we could stay in Sydney for 10 days before going to play in Adelaide. Then both clubs return home for their byes. We would lose a Home Game at the G but I reckon we get a Home Crowd advantage as 90% of the crowd would barrack for us; 100% of the Port fans! SA gov't needs to be more flexible, after all it is their quarantine management breakdown that is the main reason we are now in lockdown. Also, Neale would be better known in SA than the northern states so it is the best chance of fund raising on the day. Edit: Just noticed there is a separate thread for the QB game and much of this post is covered there. Didn't mean to duplicate.

The Vic gov't has put itself in a catch-22. By shutting down the whole state, before having a + case outside Metro Melbourne, it has upset regions. And, Vic police are strongly saying they will not agree to a 'ring of steel' around Metro Melbourne which apparently the Vic gov't is thinking. They want a 'spot check' system like they have for .05 testing. What the AFL is experiencing with business disruptions, lost revenue, worried families etc is being played out all over the state. With low daily case numbers it is hard to justify level 4 shutdown. Surely level 3 shutdown needs to be introduced this week. I won't hold my breath but some easing back is necessary. If the contact tracing system is up to scratch then lockdown decisions need to be risk based.. Will be interesting to see how the catch-22 pans out.

My point is still valid.

We should return on Saturday as we play Collingwood and no reason that game can't be in Melb then both teams have a bye. So if baby Lever and baby McDonald wait until the weekend to arrive both dads should be in town and available for upcoming games. ?? . I doubt either will want to go into a hub as their babes from last year are barely toddlers so it would quite a challenge for them and other players with personal committments.

Reports last night were that quite a lot of players have pushed back on i/state hubs again. Last year players were told 3-4 weeks and it turned into months. Very wary of the "3-4 weeks" line again. AFL is aware of it and unlikely to go into hubs. This is probably why there is talk of the season being delayed. If it is delayed it could also be shortened as clubs are concerned about this years the injury toll after a short preseason and would push if it was extended deep into October again. If shortened we are exceptionally well placed being 2 games clear of 3rd on the ladder. Assuming it becomes a 17 games again we would not have repeat games vs: GWS, Hawks, Bulldogs, Adel, Cats. The teams we are yet to play are Lions, Coll, Ess, Port, GCS, WCE. Very good chance that we would end up top 2, especially if we beat Lions this week giving us a 3 game break on them. Either way, Friday night is looming as a huge 8-point game.

I would fly interstate and suffer 2 weeks in quarantine to watch us play in a GF. Who knows when the next would be. Won't miss the first chance in over 20 years.

May talks about how good the hub was for us last year. i-did-have-a-few-worries-about-my-vision-may-opens-up-on-hawkins-hit so it can work to our advantage. I would prefer a hub in Sydney than Qld. I reckon it will hurt the Cats as they are playing poorly and relying on Home games to stay in touch with the top 4. Apparently we went 7 W - 3L in the back half of last season so while we missed finals we did very well in the hub and with all the travel. We drew the short straw last year on hub location and travel because the prior year we were 17th and had early losses in 2020. This year we are at the top and we will receive some decent draws and travel schedules.

Coaches Split: 5/4 Oliver and Gawn 3/1 or 2/2 Harmes/Lever 3/0 Petracca 1/0 McDonald Interesting that Beveridge said he didn't see a 28pt loss as something to worry about. That he couldn't find a single vote for any of his players in his up till then top of the ladder team, suggests he has quite a bit to worry about. Only 2 defenders on the leader board: Lever and Salem. Our defence is certainly getting a lot of respect from opp coaches. Of course May deserves to be there but there are only so many votes available.

It is my guess we have a different set play for each kick-in player and whether the kicker takes a short kick (which May sometimes does to Salem) or takes a long kick to one side or the other. So that is at least 6set plays (assuming May, Salem and Lever are take the kick ins) that players know how to position themselves.

I can't see it being in Qld unless their goverment changes its policy. They stopped GWS boarding a flight to Brisbane on Friday because they played in Melbourne 13 days earlier. They had to leave the next day ie day 14. Big turnaround if they let us or other teams play in Qld next weekend.

Thanks for correction, yes 10 days. I will go back and correct. The AFL should require Brisbane to go on a FIFO basis as well.

I would hope they allow crowds. If both teams FIFO the risk is miniscule as other than bus drives and other necessary folk there will be very little contact with local residents. First vs Third would be a rare treat for them, one they may not see again for a very long time. That is why I think it is narrow minded of the NT government if they don't allow the game to go ahead.