Lucifers Hero

? That is what I said:

I don't get the angst about the venue and the travel/disruption. Does the venue really matter? And regarding disruptions we have had a dream run so far this year: 5 i/state trips of 1 hr each, all fifo or overnight. Whereas, Syd and GWS left home at a moments notice to come to Vic, then moved to Qld and there they stay. Adel and Port told to pack for 3 weeks and went to airport then told to go home, then told to get to the airport. They've not been back since. Lions told to come to Vic to play and the next day told the game will be in Qld so they went back. Ess told to pack up and go to Qld and they are still there. Cats, Bulldogs and Saints have been to Perth at least once. Saints played several games in Cairns. Freo have had to play several Home games on the eastern seaboard. Cats and Pies had to endure the silly SA quarantine rules. Its not as if quarantine in Perth is a hardship. Teams quarantine at the Joondalup Resort - not a shabby place. It is the place the AFL has tentatively booked for finals contingency. Players leave the resort to train and play Eagles. In the meantime they can golf, swim etc at the resort. Cats, Bulldogs and Saints have been to Perth at least once. Saints played a few games in Cairns. Goodwin said he expects to play at Metricon. Max has said they expect to spend 8 days in WA for the Eagles game. Not cast in stone but as solid as can be in the everchanging covid environment. Just saw LN's post - every chance we fly from Qld straight to W.A. arriving midnight/1.00 am. Probably better than flying back to Melb then out to Perth the next day.

I don't know.

Votes: 9 Marcus Bontempelli (WB) 8 Caleb Daniel (WB) 7 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 3 Jack Macrae (WB) 2 Lachie Hunter (WB) 1 Bailey Smith (WB) Coach Split: 5/4 Bontempelli 5/3 Daniel 4/3 Oliver 2/1 Macrae 2/0 Hunter 1/0 Smith Surprised Bontempelli didn't get 2 BOG. Top 4 voting by both coaches so consistent. Leader Board 94 Marcus Bontempelli WB 92 Clayton Oliver MELB 85 Touk Miller GCFC 83 Samuel Walsh CARL 83 Ollie Wines PORT 75 Jack Steele STK 70 Darcy Parish ESS 68 Zach Merrett ESS 61 Rory Laird ADEL 60 David Mundy FRE 59 Hugh McCluggage BL 59 Nic Naitanui WCE 57 Christian Petracca MELB 55 Max Gawn MELB 52 Jarryd Lyons BL 51 Jack Macrae WB 50 Tom Stewart GEEL 48 Jacob Hopper GWS 48 Tom Mitchell HAW Oliver second. Possibly a two horse race but any in the top 5 can win it. Hope Clarry can keep it up. 3 players in top 20.

Some insight into Beveridge's tactics can be gleaned from this: every-club-s-cbas-and-kick-ins-for-r19 Libba attended only 58% of CBA's - the rest of his game time was fwd. Impact on us is less chance to tag him as his CBA's were unpredictable. Schache looked like he 'shadowed' Jackson (until Keath went off), coming on and off the ground, rucking and resting at the same time. It looks like Bailey Smith took up Libba's CBA's and they swapped roles. We kept our CBA's static with Harmes, Petracca, Oliver all attending 77% of CBA's. Viney was the main cover with 62%. I read somewhere that Hibbo had the job of picking up Bontepelli when he went fwd. If correct not sure that worked too well. Couldn't tell if someone or who guarded him at CBA's. Not sure that anyone picked up Libba when he went fwd. Without watching the game again, it is hard to tell if we picked up on the above during the game or if our tactics on Libba or Bonte changed.

From ABC Website: Gutwein on the AFL: Mask up, buttercups! Yeah, look, he didn't phrase it in that exact way, but he did say that masks would be mandatory at this weekend's AFL matches. The North Melbourne vs Geelong AFL match at Blundstone arena on Saturday will proceed, as will the Hawthorn vs Brisbane Lions at UTAS Stadium on Sunday. Mr Gutwein said the "onus is on the fans" to bring their own mask for use at the game. Up to 10,000 seated spectators will be allowed at each match. With Brisbane going to Tassie presumably because they can't get back into Qld without quarantine means we won't be playing in Qld either. Anybody's guess where we will end up. 1st pref is Vic but could NT open the doors in time...really hope not.

They just don't stop their whinging. Again it is about venue - playing in Hobart this week. "Geelong coach Chris Scott has labelled it “a bit strange” his side could travel with North Melbourne to Tasmania next week to play in Round 20...As far as we’re aware. It’s a bit strange that we’ve got two Victorian teams getting on a plane in this environment but that seems to be the program.” We shared a flight with North in the last covid lockdown on a FIFO basis. Fair to both teams. So Scott should get with the program and do their bit. Unreasonably selfish - their last 3 games are at GMHBA and are complaining about a one hour flight to Hobart and completely oblivious to the '000,000 dollars North will get for the game.

Totally agree. Just for clarity the ATAGI for inconsistency in age group recommendations I was referring to in my last post was initially they said it was for 60+ then for a while they said 50+ then they changed it back to 60+. Those recommendations have driven the communications on AZ and I agree ATAGI don't seem to be aware of the role they have played in the confusion.

1) that quote was primarily in the context of 60+ and was two days before the ATAGI endorsed AZ for all age groups in NSW. A rider or not I would expect a PM of any political persuasion to protect as many citizens as possible with a vaccine that has been successfully used internationally across all age groups. 2) As would the families of the 21 people under 60 with covid in NSW hospitals. As would the the family of the 30+ female who died of covid on Saturday and the family of the 57 yo mother who died with covid last week. Hopefully not, but soon we may have as many under 60 deaths from covid as there have been overall deaths (6) from AZ vaccine in Australia. 3) Some of the responsibility for the PR 'nightmare' is with the Feds but it also goes back to ATAGI for inconsistency in age group recommendations, State Premiers and CFO's pushing their own views. Most of these have chosen to ignore international experience. Not to mention the media sensationalising AZ issues. As you are in health it staggers me that you want to make covid a political issue on DL. To my mind it is an issue that should stand above politics and discussed as objectively as possible.

The run home: I think the top 7 are set with only the order to be decided. Unfortunately, there is a very good chance that we meet Geelong in the first final if they are 1st and we are 4th or they are 2nd and we are 3rd. Lets hope decent sized crowds are allowed at the G for finals otherwise Cats will be lobbying for the game to be at GMHBA. Two consecutive weeks of playing them at Geelong is more than I could bear. The solution: Beat them in round 23!! We either finish above them or get the game at the G. Altho I'm not sure the G is an advantage as we have lost our last two games there.

Not sure Prof Fisher's views will carry much sway with state Premiers. While he talks mainly of Victoria, if followed thru crowds would be banned in all states for all events. Perhaps worthy but not going to happen.

Thanks for elaborating. Share your concern about loss of a key player. Ch 7 put up a chart last night that compared the depth of the two teams. I think we had 6 players that had at least 1 AFL game this year. The bulldogs had about a dozen. It backs up your point on lack of exposed talent. Its a bit scary how thin we are. Very fit list with limited depth.

No one has said AZ is 'totally safe'. in fact great pains are taken by the ATAGI, politicians, medicos and others to say it has risks. Risks widely advertised by the media. ATAGI has understandably taken a cautious stance with vaccine use and AZ, at all times weighing up the risks of a vaccine and its benefits vs the risk and severity of contracting covid. They now have 6-9 months of international AZ use across various age groups so have better data on which to weigh up the risks/benefits. My read (paraphrasing) is they have concluded the Delta variant shifts their risk assessment of contagion and severity. And that AZ is better than no vaccine in high risk areas, hence why their recommendation is for NSW. To my mind they are continuing to be cautious and responsible. The medical industry has pushed back on the ATAGI on its risk/benefit assessment of AZ in light of the Delta variant. So has the PM. They have every right and in fact have a duty to ask for a reassessment by ATAGI of risk/benefit when circumstances change, as they have with Delta. The first covid was dangerous for 'older people'. Delta is now equally dangerous for all age groups. It is tragic the number of <40 y.o in NSW hospital's with covid. The ATAGI has recognised this in its latest recommendations.

Both Bont goals came from being left unguarded goal side, also his deadly left side for kicking. It doesn't take rocket science for someone to man up his left side/jostle a bit instead of all dive for the ball. Terrible lapses in concentration by us.

An interesting thought. Is that because we haven't given the non 22+sub players chances at AFL to provide the depth or we just don't have the talent? We've had chances to do the former via the medi sub or some judicious experimenting/resting here and there, so interested in your thoughts.

6th gets a Home final vs 7th. 5th gts a Home final vs 8th. But who knows where finals we be - they may all be in Perth...

Where do you keep hearing this? Max said they loaded up during the bye but there has been nothing other than DL conjecture to support that loading has continued. I think the 'looking slow' has as much to do with decision making and confidence as it does to 'fatigue'. Our ball movement just isn't as sharp as it was earlier in the year. There are many reasons why players look fatigued: injury, soreness, youth, lost confidence leading to slow reaction times, opp tactics to interfere with ball movement, a long season etc etc. Having said that, I agree with posters saying 'managing' players, particularly those that are young, sore or 'tired' should have happened in recent games. By 'managing' I mean rested from games not just reduced game time. Whatever, the reason for our ball movement going off, lets hope we get our zip back very soon.

He has 'blinked first' with with selections, is rolling the dice and flirting with his system. Will be interesting to see if his selection gambles pay off. In a way I'm surprised that he has left changes to his fwd set up this late as the trend was there before the Sydney game exposed by Dees and Cats. Bedazzled by their big wins over Eagles and North perhaps.

100 pts it often a de facto cut-off point when AFL score comparisons are made in the media/AFL for high/low scoring trends. That aside, my post was highlighting the drop off in their fwd line performance both in terms of high scores ie > 100 and conversion in the most recent games. To make the comparison clearer: In the first 10 games bulldogs kicked 100 or more in 6 of their 10 games. They won 9 of those 10 games and in each win they had positive conversion: more goals than points. As per my post, since then they have kicked >100 in one of 7 games and positive conversion in two of those 7 games. In the first 10 games they had 3 scores of 90+ and they have 3 since so no change there. Interestingly, it is the last game we played which changed their scoring momentum. Coincidence? I don't fear their fwd line or their back line. Tipping us to win.

Apology. On first reading it didn't sound so. Time for to get another espresso!

Isn't that what my post shows? Altho I wouldn't say 'crap', more that they are not as dangerous as it is lauded to be; at least not vs better teams and not in the last part of the season.

For their supposed dangerous fwd line, the Bulldogs have had kicking yips with more points than goals. Last few months form line: vs Dees they kicked 8.11.59 for a L vs Freo they kicked 13.15.93 for a W vs Geelong they kicked 11.12.78 for a L. vs Eagles they kicked 13.20.98 for a W. vs North they kicked 16.12.108 for a W. vs Syd they kicked 8.12.60 for a L. vs GCS they kicked 14.6.90 for a W Those aren't like the very high scores of early in the season, with just one game over 100pts. Vs top 8 sides they have kicked 59, 78, 98 and 60 and lost 3 of those games of which two were at Marvel. If their weakness is supposedly defence Bevo must also be worried with the fwd line's inability to score well vs the 'better' teams and imv the evidence shows it isn't as dangerous as many believe. We have every reason to be confident of a win this week.

Some bulldogs fans think Schache will play in defence. We are taller and more experienced this time with Brown instead of Weideman so the idea makes sense but I doubt that Schache is a good choice. Given he has played only one or two games this year it is hard to see him influencing things in defence or as a fwd. In defence I would think our fwds could run off him and leave him exposed. As a fwd and maybe a negating player It would be low risk for Lever to play off him. This may sound harsh I don't think he has the nous nor the motivation to stick to a role. Even so, Beveridge clearly has a plan, be it a late change or rolling the dice some more.

Teams in an hour. Any known changes?

It looked like you were laying the groundwork for another political bashing so I felt it important to not take the bait and play it with a straight bat. That aside, Vics and in particular in Melbourne we have learnt the hard way, having endured 185 days of lockdown so are more accepting of the need to follow the rules! 6 months of on/off stress!