Lucifers Hero

Hmm, we usually don't get much from the umps. It looks to me that Mithen gets crunched into the ground, sat on and roughed up quite, a lot in part because of her stature. And it often goes unnoticed by umps and teammates.

And hopefully when she hangs up the boots she gets a gig as an Assistant Coach for our men's team. She is very smart tactically, game plans and how to neutralise opp strengths. Not sure our current club leaders value her as much as the PJ regime did.

Does anyone else get the impression that Mithen is targeted by other clubs because of her size? She has been really hard hit these last few weeks. To her great credit she bounces back each time but she must be getting battle weary. We need to give her a bit more protection.

Great news, thanks. Very happy that seating in the Redlegs area is possible. Not fussed about the actual seat, more the location: good views and protected from the rain and wind.

Do you mean the booking company? Is it possible to choose your seats?

That's disappointing. You pay quite a premium for reserved seats and to lose that right is fairly ordinary. One would think the ticketing company could program it so that the reserved areas are kept for those members - not necessarily get your 'designated seat' for Home games but at least be in those area which are better located in many ways. Not sure I want to risk a seat in the rafters or exposed to the elements from a random computer allocation.

Does anyone know if we can or how do we get our Reserved Seat which is part of our membership when using this new on-line booking system?

We should get off to a good start and win the first 3: Freo, Saints and GWS injuries are just as bad if not worse than ours. I don't really care what commentators say. Its our story to write. I have little doubt we can make the 8 and win a final or two. Will we? Who knows.

Not everyone follows mfc twitter feed. I It would be simple to put something on mfc website, preferably the main page. Failing that on the Casey page which sadly is embedded in the 'Team' tab so not easy to find. BTW haven't heard much from Ben Gibson lately. Anyone know if Is he still around?

I thought Hibberd's 2020 was average. That aside, imv others offer more this year so we can cover him with the players I mentioned. My insight on J. Smith is he is listed as 'Test' in the table earlier in this thread. Round 1 is about 3 weeks after the injury so 'Test' looks about right for him. Bowey is one I suggested in my post.

No perspective. Really? Which part of my objective assessment do you disagree with?

Yes, certainly some very handy ins. My guess is most teams will be lacking match practice in the early games in part because of the shorter preseason and in part lack of practice games. So we shouldn't be too rusty in comparison to say Freo or the Saints who we play in the early rounds. Not sure Hibberd is in our starting 22 anymore so I don't mind if he isn't available for a while. We play Salem, Rivers and maybe Bowey/Jetta/J.Smith until he is fit enough to play regularly.

Just to clarify - on March 1, I paid the full Redleg membership for two. The $1 'deposit', I think was to get an emotional committment. I think the only reason for that offer was because I had cancelled my automatic renewal as I wasn't happy with 2020. I suspect other members who hadn't paid by end of Oct, were given the same offer.

Sorry, I don't know the mix. I guess all membership provide opportunities for sponsors and broadcasters and give clubs leverage with the AFL. We did something different this year. I was offered a renewal of two Redleg memberships in Nov for $1 and they would send the full membership pack before Christmas which they did. And if I didn't cancel it the full amount would be charged on March 1. Needless to say I didn't cancel it.

And, Carlton have 74,000+ members and they've had far less success than us. North not far behind us with 33,400 members even tho they have been a shambles for several years. We are not travelling well vs those less performing Vic clubs who were similarly affected by lack of live games in 2020 due to covid. These comparisons should be setting off alarm bells at the club..

Some people seem to be laying the ground work for a 'pre-season, injury based excuse' in case we don't do well in 2021. And at first glance the injury list doesn't look good. But on closer inspection: 7 of our best/better players are 'Test'. . 4 of those: J. Smith, Salem, Oliver and May have completed all the pre-season. The other 3: Brayshaw, Hibberd and Melksham have many pre-seasons under their belt so match practice may be an issue for just the first few games but not a reason to derail the season. Brayshaw last week played and is playing in the VFL this week. Those 7 players and Viney are highly experienced and have played together for years so if they don't know and practiced each others games or know the overall game plan by now we are in a world of hurt. Picket, Weidemen and B. Brown have missed the second half of the preseason. Picket will take some time to get into the season and we will miss Weidemen and Brown for quite a while. The others are depth players who probably wouldn't get a game unless there were multiple injuries in their role. So, imv the injury list size and some players not practicing together in this preason are not a reason to start thinking of excuses for the year. Some perspective is required.

Thanks. I can no longer edit the post so will fix it with the next update.

Latest update for Daw and Smyth We have a complete list: 36 senior players, 6 A- rookies and 1 B-rookie. My understanding of the mid-season draft is that if there is a LTI a player can be selected to replace them. So we can do that with Hore and Nietschke, if we choose, particularly if there is a player we like that missed out in the draft.

Yay! Really happy for him. Thrown in the deep end when he first joined us and I'm not sure it did him any favours. In a fresh environment where he isn't expected to be a 'save the defence' he can settle into becoming a very good, reliable footballer.

Did anyone notice that TMac was competing with Max when May was kicking in? Spoiled him a few times and one time ripped the ball from his grasp? iirc it was primarily in the first quarter. Did I hear someone say they would play 'selfless' football? Hmm, I wonder what TMac thinks that looks like. Another example was when Baker took a low % shot for goal when there were players in better positions. Maybe some players need reminding of what 'selfless' looks like.

We may have had our best midfield out yesterday but the game was almost a replica of the 2020 game: we won the hit outs but lost the clearances; they waltzed the ball out of defence and sailed down the ground often for repeat goals. We kept up until half time and in the third quarter they put the foot down and took off. The game was done. That 2020 game was a critical, critical game. It was before the demanding travel schedule to NT and Carins. There was no reason to be lethargic. Had we won we would have made finals even with the same results at the back end of the season. The bulldogs know how to beat us. I'm not sure we learnt much from that 2020 game. And tbh even with our 1st choice midfield yesterday I really doubt we would have won or come close. The scoreboard flattered us: 31 scoring shots to 18. If yesterday is what our new game plan of 'front half play, keep the ball in' looks like, it failed against a team that move the ball out of defence well. It failed last year against teams that hold onto the ball in our fwd50 ala the Geelong game. It is a practice game but I'm hoping there is a lot more in our kit bag than getting our midfield back - a midfield who regularly won the hit-puts last year but lost the clearances.

Year 5 of Goodwin's reign and the talk from the club is still about 'attitudes' and 'selfless''. These are are mandatory in a team sport. It is an indictment on club, coach and players that we have yet to 'walk the talk'. What happened to our 'Esprit de Corps' of 2018!!! Was it just talk. Was it just for show? Two aspects of the article stood out for me: "They will have a different game plan, built around the team’s strengths". Isn't this coaching 101? A game plan to get the most from the cattle you have (ie to "maximise player strengths"), was the fundamental base of a Roos' team. "In 2021, teams will need some of their mid-sized or small forwards – and potentially even defenders – to expand the number of midfielders who take their turn to 10; some teams already do so". When Roos joined he made his priority to rebuild the midfield and he talked about 8 - 12 'on-ballers' who rotate through the midfield. Until late last year we relied on a few to spend most of the on-field time in the midfield. The result was players played out of position and frustrated players who couldn't achieve their best. I'm beginning to wonder whether Goodwin was paying attention to Roos. Here we are 7 years after Goodwin joined and he is now adopting Roos' game fundamentals. I recall Pert saying late last year that we have the list and put the heat on Goodwin to create a game plan that makes the most of player strengths. I really hope Goodwin fully adopts this and not just play lip-service to it.

We are 6th on %. The top 4: Freo, Pies, Lions and Crows are a lock to stay there (in some order). 5th and 6th for finals will be from: (Likely wins in Green) 5th: North: 4/2, 165.9%. Will play: Bulldogs @ Hobart, Brisbane @ Gabba, Freo @ Arden St. 6th: Demons: 4/2, 125.7%. Will play: Crows @ Casey, Freo @ Freo, Lions @ Casey 7th: Bulldogs: 4/2, 107.3%. Will play: North @ Hobart, Crows @ Norwood, Richmond @ Whitten 8th: Blues: 3/3, 112.3%. Will play Freo @ Ikon, GCS @ Metricon, Giants @ ?? My thoughts: There is a big 8-point between North and Bulldogs which will impact our chances of finals. North have a good enough % that if they beat the Bulldogs they are in. We need to win at least one game and maintain % to keep Bulldogs out and stay ahead of Carlton. The last two games should give Carlton a % boost. They have had a dream (imv a manipulated) easy run vs lowly and newbie teams, to try to get them into the finals. It will probably work. Could well be at our expense as it was in 2019. I don't think we will make it. ?

As this follows my post is it referencing my comments?

I'm a female member and am not losing sleep. The choice of venue is up to the coterie. As long as it is a mixed event I don't have much of a problem with it. Sure the optics aren't great: male member only club, stuffy establishment types etc etc. but are the optics enough for our leaders to refuse to attend? Should they refuse to attend a fan function at a female member only club? Most would say they should go to be inclusive and help support the female fan cause. I simply do not feel comfortable for decisions based on 'optics' without considering the substance, especially if based on an article which doesn't give the full picture and to me implies exclusion of and a lack of respect for women.