Lucifers Hero

Doubt the club would announce anything, good or bad, this week to ensure nothing overshadows Jones 300th. AS it should be.

Without trying to re-write the fixture, they could have Tigers vs Giants (replay of 2020 GF) on that round 9 Friday night, move Saints vs Geelong game to a graveyard time slot. Then play Melb vs Adelaide (top 8 teams) on round 10 Friday night and move Lions vs Tigers game that week to Saturday night. I suspect there are other options to better schedule (and reward) performing teams.

How can that be when we are 5-0 and don't have a Thru or Fri night game to Round 10. As usual AFL speak with 'forked tongue'!! And on the Round 9 Saturday night Tigers vs Giants (2020 GF replay) and Port vs Bulldogs play at the same time. I don't know whose agenda the AFL is beholden to but hat is crazy scheduling for fans and broadcasters Oh, Gil is a Saints supporter...

You might need to SHOUT, Mr d.

I sense she was in agreement with the MCG precint but even if she or any other board member wasn't they couldn't come out and say so as their President was so strong about it. I wonder whether her style of negotiating will be better received by the Government than Bartlett's which in itself could open doors and get things moving. Also, I wonder with Max and co saying part of this year's success is training on an MCG sized oval at Casey will influence our facilities project. They could scale it down so that some training continues at Casey a day or two a week and the rest at the new facility where admin and FD would be.

I agree with you but Bartlett pushed the MCG precint very strongly in just about every interview where the question was asked.. I don't think there is a logic in being close to the G. I wasn't suggesting we will get fans if we are close to the G. My point was it is easier to get/upgrade facilities if the local community is on board. We don't have such a local community around the G so it has been and will continue to be harder to get an MCG Precinct facility happening. Maybe Kate will soften on the MCG precinct view.

I know that. My point was we don't have any local leverage for the MCG Precinct..

That doesn't help our cause for land/facilities in the MCG precinct where we don't have a supporter base or local clubs/residents that will lobby for us or lobby against the objectors. All other clubs do have that local fan and community support which is why they keep getting all sorts of government funding to improve/extend facilities and we are still talking about it and 'homeless'.

Looks like the Bulldogs have landed themselves another training facility in their heartland. a-huge-opportunity-western-bulldogs-find-second-home Because it is in their heartland they are able to harness local support and put a big emphasis on community benefit. Placing ourselves in the MCG precint denies us the same persuasiveness with local greenies, coucils, other sports etc. Hopefully Kate can work thru that for us.

Report on Goodwin's press conf: dees-defender-set-to-face-tigers-but-only-one-big-forward-will-return M Brown did only bike work at training so he certainly won't play. This was interesting: "Nathan Jones and James Jordon were among midfielders to train in the 'B' side, however four players from the extras will be required to make up the starting 22 for Saturday night". I can't imagine we would start Jones on the bench. I think he should start and end his 300th on the field. But there is a hint that his games thereafter may be limited which is as would be expected. JJ may be heading for a rest at Casey soon or medisub this week; I think it is good to manage the young guys.

At Casey last week B.Brown took some shots for goal on a shortened run up. iirc didn't make many long leads to the ball so it was hard to tell if he had his usual speed to break away from his opponent. He wore light bandages around his knee which is a good sign but I have concerns about his mobility which will be lethal vs Tigers. And, if his knee isn't fully recovered it would limit his ground and defensive work which hasn't been one of his strengths even at the best of times. And, while B. Brown may have spent some pre-season working on cohesion with mids and other fwds Sam has had a few years working with our game plan so is a much lower risk this week. So I can see why he may not be ready and we prefer Sam.

I agree. I'm a TMac fan and think he has many attributes but he doesn't have the footy smarts and composure that Brayshaw generally has. So they both keep their current roles. I don't see the value of moving players out of roles that work well for the team.

A strategy that Sydney used very effectively vs Tigers was to 'divide and conquer' their defenders. Several Sydney forwards would lead in different directions so the Tiger defenders couldn't get across to intercept. If we have two of Weideman/Brown/Fritsch we can very effectively use this strategy. Even with one of them and TMac we can still make it work.

I wonder which bright spark at the AFL approved these jumpers: Even if one Ess (Away team) wears white shorts it still won't be easy to see what is happening. Haven't seen Tigers jumper but assume it will be predominately yellow.

Don't we already have 2 or 3 Mac Andrew threads started in the last few weeks...

Weird that Laurie is out for 6 weeks with a fractured eye socket but May is out for 1-2. Hibberd must have really knocked Laurie around. Was hoping we might see Laurie get a run in the seniors before too long but not likely till at least well after the bye.

Without going into all the attributes Robinson discusses I think yes we would be doing some things differently.in the sense that the Brayshaw role would be tweaked to suit the strengths of Smith or McDonald and perhaps our kick-ins/structures/ball movement coming out of defence would be a little different on that side of the ground. Having said that I don't think the essence of our game plan would change except for 'natural' evolution during the season.

Here is an outstanding article by Mitch Robinson on the wing man role. why-allaustralian-panel-made-a-mockery-of-players-by-not-selecting-genuine-wingmen With Langdon and Brayshaw we have wingmen that fit his description with each of their roles having a different emphasis that suits their respective strengths.

````Unfortunately, Oliver and Petracca will 'take votes' from him and each other which makes it less likely that any of them will win it.

Many thanks. Found it! Couldn't work out how to put the 5 game series together but that is ok.

Not saying ANB doesn't have attributes nor that he should be dropped this week .- just that his position imv is most in jeopardy at some stage. I've based that view on: In most games this year he has been in the bottom 1/3rd he ranks 4th in i50 tackles behind TMac and Pickett (equal first in the league for 2021) and Spargo there are others in the VFL who will soon push for selection (Bedford, Chandler, Bowey, Laurie) and when they do ANB is the small fwd most at risk. Goodwin mentioned him on 360 last night as a leader supporting Max, which he has been for a year or two. But being a leader hasn't protected him from being dropped in the past nor should it. he isn't in my best 22 for finals and soon we need to start playing the team that will be there at the pointy end of the season. Anyway, raising ANB was a thought/option for selection changes in the near future. I'm now repeating myself so will refrain from any further comment on him.

May I ask which app or website heat maps are found? Cheers

The bar code is a 12 digit number and is shown on the back of your membership card, just above the scanning bar. It is different to the membership number. fwiw I received the email on March 5, titled: Important match access information for 2021

As I mentioned above, I don't think ANB will be dropped this week as we already have a few inexperienced players and we, will be bringing in non-match fit players and/or recently injured/recovered players. Other than the Saints game I'm not rating ANB's defensive work this year anything better than average. One good game out of 5 isn't enough to keep his spot. If he doesn't lift his game this week then he may not play in one or more of the next three games vs North, Sydney, Carlton. They are games when we can experiment a little with fringe/unforced selections. Bedford had an outstanding game without the ball yesterday. Keep that up and he would be a worthy replacement for ANB. Harmes will be available in a few weeks and while he may not be a direct replacement for ANB he could pressure on spots that force ANB out.

Coaches votes: 10 Max Gawn (MELB) 7 Christian Salem (MELB) 4 Tom McDonald (MELB) 3 Christian Petracca (MELB) 3 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 2 Jaeger O'Meara (HAW) 1 Jake Lever (MELB) Coach Spli 5/5 Gawn 4/0 McDonald 4/3 Salem 3/0 or 2/1 Petracca and Oliver 2/0 O'Meara 1/0 Lever Agreement for the first Gawn and Salem not so on the others. This is three weeks running that coaches have agreed the top 2 but little if any agreement on the others. Leader Board 32 Max Gawn MELB 28 David Mundy FRE 28 Taylor Walker ADEL 25 Jack Macrae WB 23 Dustin Martin RICH 23 Clayton Oliver MELB 21 Ollie Wines PORT 19 Toby Greene GWS 18 Travis Boak PORT 18 Marcus Bontempelli WB 18 Josh Dunkley WB 18 Rory Laird ADEL 18 Christian Petracca MELB 18 Christian Salem MELB Max is the clear leader! What a champion 4 Demons in the top 15! Edit: Based on votes rather than the alphabetical list portrayed, Oliver is equal 4th on 23 votes and Petracca and Salem are equal 7th! on 18 votes.