Lucifers Hero

So proud that they had no sponsor boards? Sure Eddie!

Is the 'top 200 players' a typo and you mean top 20? Top 200 is not much to right home about...

So they accept all 18 recommendations. Great on the face of it. But, will they implement them. It takes determination and a will to change to do so. The report is by external advisors. Lets see what the internal people do. Put the report on a shelf and let it gather dust? The cfc response so far seems like lip-service. I doubt they even have the right people to implement the sort of culture change required to implement the recommendations.

They took 'Side-by-Side' off their website before trade week but not sure when exactly. Since the change the website has shown 'Made by Many' as their mantra/motto, which seems a bit meaningless for a football club. Sounds a bit too abstract for the typical Pies supporter.

Both Ess and Carlton are pushing for more games at the G on the basis of membership size. Guess who is the minnow of the MCG Home Clubs, and who will end up paying the price with fewer G games, if we don't get our act together. Fast!!

In the meantime our numbers are falling... Those of other clubs may also be falling but I see Carlton as our reference point given our performances over the last 4-6 years. We can't blame covid for the differences with them. I'm sure their prime time, FTA fixture helps their sponsors and to get/keep fans. As I said in another thread they are AFL favourites. The AFL mantra: make Carlton great again

All very fair and good comments. I would like to judge May on his time at the Dees. He certainly got off to a bad start in 2019 but in 2020 went a very long way to redeeming himself. He was 2nd in the Bluey, won the Leadership Award and the Most Consistent Competitor award. All are voted on by the coaches. I think it is important to maintain leadership stabilty. Lord knows we have chopped and changed so much in the last 4 years. So I wouldn't put May in the Cap/Vice-Cap roles but I do feel he is in front of Melksham, Lever, Langdon and Petracca in the leadership stakes. And if the 2020 coaches votes mean something for the awards he won he should be in a leadership role; formal or informal.

Can't wait till the WA election is over - we might get a touch of sanity to their border controls...but won't hold my breath!

Being of the generation when it was VFL I dislike all Vic teams. My whinge was about the AFL consistently favouring a team: unsuccessful Carlton. There other AFL favourite to promote is unsuccessful Essendon which I put into the 'loathe' category!

Thanks all for your comments. I just felt like having a Sunday afternoon whinge ?

So Carlton get to open AFL, AFLW and the AAMI seasons in prime time. They are still the AFL's favourites when it comes to fixturing to maximise sponsor exposure and member interest! Jealous. Some will say we need to win games to get better fixtures. True. But for years we have done a lot better than Carlton in all forms of the game...

I did say what a great win it was particularly with the challenging travel. And will take a win over a loss every day of the week. I really like all the positives you highlighted but my MFCSS prevents me from being too optimistic. I share your doubts about Stinear. Aspects of our playing style need attention. I think he has changed the emphasis from play-on to keeping control of the ball more. But he may have gone too far as like you I felt there were plenty of times the ball could have been tapped or a ground kick, forward instead of trying to pick it up. More often than not there was a GCS player on our tail who ran us down and we were caught HTB or ran off with it. The next few weeks will tell us more.

While the prior plantar fascia injury was to his right foot I hope we are really careful with this injury to his left foot. His left is his kicking foot and as he has no 'right side' an early return risks his effectiveness on the field. I'm not fussed if he misses some early games, we have plenty of coverage which we didn't have 3-4 years ago. Better that he is 100%.

Absolutely rapt that we won so well under challenging travel arrangements. And how much more accurate was our goal kicking this year! I noticed we didn't have the play-on at all costs, 'chaos' football as much this year and were happy to go back and take a mark. A good change which reduces turnovers especially when our players have moved into attacking positions and the opp score easy goals. Overall both teams were very aggressive and it was a really enjoyable game to watch. I'm hesitant to be too optimistic. Yeah, I know MFCSS extends to the Women's game! My reservation is that 3 of our 9 goals were from 50m penalties and 2 from free kicks so we weren't able to beat GCS, a much less experienced side, with our style of play. I feel we need significant improvement in our ball movement fwd of centre to kick winning scores because we won't always kick straight or get so many goals handed to us on a platter. Having said that it is only round one, difficult travel arrangements and cobwebs to clear out. I look forward to next week at Casey and see how we fare when the odds are in our favour. Talking of next week, Richmond didn't win a game in 2020 so will be keen to win especially with Katie Brennan as their captain. We need to sort out fwd half play, start well and have a big win to set up our season because it will only get tougher.

Especially with the foot history that Viney has had to contend with. Whatever it is, I just hope he controls his gungho-ness (or coaches control it for him) and plays when really ready. We have plenty of inside mids to enable him to take all the time needed.

Thanks for the info. Great to see Petracca there. Always felt he has leadership qualities beyond his playing capabilities. Bit of a rhetorical question: What does May have to do to get onto such a committee/leadership role: 2nd in the 2020 Bluey. Won the club Leadership Award in 2020. Ex AFL captain who imv has proven his leadership credentials at mfc Been a role model in recent times and taken young players eg Weideman, Rivers under his wing. As I mentioned in an earlier post I would have him as a VC but see the benefit of no change in Viney's position. Having said that I have him way ahead of the 4 names you mention (even allowing for each person being in a different part of the field). And what is a 'Values Committee?

Thanks for the great report, the banter therein and tor hanging in there when the rain came. Respect. It sounds like you were allowed into the ground rather than view from outside the cyclone fence. Is that correct? If so how did you manage to get in.

When I was at training a fortnight ago the rain started at about 10 and I left as it was very heavy like today. Not sure how long th rain lasted at Casey but from club reports they kept training which was a good sign. Like you i hope they stick at it today.

Very moving. Thank you.

Anyone have any insight into the latest figures for 2021?

And another Richmond breachriewoldt-reveals-tigers-were-worried-about-secret-covid19-breach “I don’t know how this never got out and the AFL have done an amazing job of covering this up (because) at this stage we were wearing masks coming out of the airport, to the airport, to the bus. “We weren’t allowed to come into contact with anyone, but next thing you know we were crammed like sardines into a lift". Naturally the AFL says nothing to see, move on. Of course they couldn't ban more Richmond players, could they? Pity for all those who were caught/outed for a breach and had the book thrown at them. Lots more covid skeletons in the AFL and Club closets, I suspect

In the last 4 years we have had co-caps, then C/VC with significant leadership group changes each year both in the size of the group and the members. A bit all over the shop. It was like the coaches couldn't make up their minds. Last year we didn't have a formal leadership group to back up Gawn and Viney altho at some stage Melksham and Lever were said to be the leaders of their area but no formal announcement from the club. This may be controversial and sacrilegious but imv May is a better choice for VC than Viney. Nonetheless, for the sake of consistency I would go with the 3 (maybe 4) person leadership model with Gawn (C), Viney (VC), and May. No one else stands out on both performance and leadership attributes. All other players need to focus on their own games to become the best they can be and don't need formal leadership duties to distract them. This is the year for consistency: Consistent leadership, consistent game plan, consistent selections. Time to bed down our team and our style.

I don't know yet. Will be very disappointed if we can't get into the ground. Having watched a training session from outside the cyclone fence it really isn't worth going to a real game if that is all that is on offer.

On the one hand I'm really pleased with what Yze is doing. On the other hand I'm disappointed that in the 4 years of the Goodwin regime, the coaches collectively, weren't able to get an A-grade midfield to gel as a cohesive unit and to do the 'attitude-adjustment' required. Hopefully, Yze sorts out the midfield roles of Oliver and Viney who seem to play or want to play the same role.

Thanks for the insight. Oliver strikes me as someone who, rightly or wrongly, if he respects his coach ala Macca he will do as told. Sounds like Yze is commanding that respect. He will need to undo some 'ingrained' training from Oliver's early days of: 'see ball, get ball' and teach other tricks. At first I was surprised to see Viney in the list but on second thoughts I'm not. I fear that because of his status as past co-cap and current VC and having a 'bull' reputation he played to his own tune, often competing with our mids. Good to see we have a coach to straighten him (and the others) out and that he is one of our midfielder team. As VC he needs to set the example of 'team first' and be a leader in that regard for the midfielders and the rest of the team to follow. Selfish play begets selfish play.