Lucifers Hero

Sutton's warning for new AFL season "While the permits will be easily secured should the virus be under control, Premier Dan Andrews said on Monday he would not hesitate to change the status of an interstate city from green to red within hours, potentially meaning teams would have to scramble home, thereby adding more fixture drama". Does not bode well. Having whole teams stranded interstate would be a terrible situation and would really derail a fixture, even a condensed one. As I mentioned in an earlier post the personal toll of the 2020 hubs may make it difficult for the AFL to get buy in from the AFLPA and the AFLCA to set up hubs again.

JK? I wish I had as much faith, od. Hawks investigating themselves can only serve to protect their own self interest. Not sure it would be much different if the AFL investigated. There is reason to think Patton's behaviour is not an isolated incident with AFL players so I would agree a big suspension is required to set a standard and send a message to others. Will wait and see.

Goodwin has completed the AFL requirements to be an AFL coach and done as much as other coaches have to educate and better himself. imv, it isn't lack of education (formal or otherwise) that is impacting his coaching.

If he was 'flashing' himself in real life he would be charged with 'indecent exposure'. Do it often enough to the same person and there would be an IVO on him. Unsolicited indecent exposure on the internet should still be a crime . On some reports this has been constant behaviour by him for a long time. It sounds really gross. Apparently he has deleted his social media accounts. Not sure if this means his shenanigans cannot be traced. Or if the Hawks 'integrity' investigation would even be willing to check the trail with the internet platforms. All to convenient. I can see a result of not enough evidence, some counselling and all move on. The AFL would certainly be pushing for a sweep-it-under-the-carpet. That seems to be the result of many complaints/issues even when police are involved. If a white-wash is the result it is terrible standard setting by the Hawks and the AFL.

I recall reading somewhere on DL that we can watch from outside the ground to ensure there is no contact with players. I saw a game there about 5 years ago and a 'cyclone fence' defines the ground so is transparent. Again, iirc it is about 20m from the oval fence so a fair amount of training, who is in rehab etc should be visible. Not sure if that configuration has changed in recent years. So I would be happy to venture down occasionally, have a peep and report back to fellow, news-starved DL's but I would like to know when sessions are so I can plan the trip. Wouldn't be much fun to trek down there and it be the wrong day. If anyone had a schedule that would be extra good.

Does anyone know when the next training session is and the start time?

Thought it worthwhile starting a new thread as many people may not see this in the Fixture thread. "The Department of Health and Human Services is encouraging anyone who was in the Great Southern stand, zone five of the MCG, between 12.30pm and 3.30pm on December 27 to get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result". To not be too alarmist: "Professor Cheng said the decision to list Chadstone and the MCG as possible sites where the man may have contracted the virus was precautionary, and that there are several other locations where he could have caught it".

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This will send shivers thru the AFL fixture planners: "A person with coronavirus has visited the MCG on day two of the Melbourne Test...making it an exposure site...Importantly, the state government says the man is believed to have not been infectious when he attended the test". "Anyone seated in the great southern stand at the MCG on December 27 - day 2 of the Boxing Day test - is being asked to get a test and go into isolation, the state government says". victoria-records-one-new-local-case-of-coronavirus If he wasn't infectious at the G not sure why they want people tested. Insurance, I guess, in case more info comes to hand. NSW take note for the SCG test tomorrow - should it go crowd less?.

So it was all my fault! ??

Apologies for abbreviating your excellent post. Wanted to focus on the above. 3 to 4 years ago Macca highlighted that under pressure our players revert to old (bad) habits. So we understood the problem. But unlike Richmond we haven't given our players the 'mind training' (mindfulness is the current buzz word) or if we have it hasn't been sustained or supported with techniques. Dusty is the perfect example of how a player well versed in and accepting of 'mind training' can excel. Not everyone will become a Dusty but training players minds as well as their bodies and skills would, imv see a marked improvement in our performances. If nothing else it would reduce/eliminate the quarters in which we go missing. A 'mind training' program needs to have full on belief and commitment by the FD and playing group and I don't sense we have that or that it is even a priority. Old habits are very hard to undo and I think this is the case for Clarrie. When he started he was told: 'see ball, get ball' and it becomes a hot potato for him. The team was told: 'get jumpers to the contest' and it is stacks on the mill and we get murdered on the outside. It all still sounds very familiar. So we need re-training of bad playing habits, training the mind in staying focused and dealing with pressure so that players can confidently 'let go of the rudder' and not fall back into old habits. We so often hear 'it is all above the shoulders' but rhetorically, do we have a program to re-train their minds?

Yes it is. Yet some posters want to just blame the AFL for imposing a travel schedule on us, and forget that going to Alice was our choice, when assessing the Cairns games.

We had one: 'Esprit de Corps' in 2018, borrowed from Norm Smith: "We have this spirit at Melbourne. It embraces loyalty to the team, to the coach and to teammates. It is the spirit essential for success". We seem to have lost sight of it since then. Don't hear it referred to anymore. Good discussion of it here:

LOL! ? Missed it entirely! Covid has numbed my brain!. Have gone into a voluntary mini lockdown as I live right in the middle of half the current covid active cases. With new exposure sites being listed each day some visited by a case 8 -12 days earlier, one never knows where is next. Anyway, that is my excuse. Or I could blame a typo ?. Just for the record post should have read $500k.

Don't disagree, just saying the AFL isn't to blame for the travel schedule. So many fans are quick to blame the travel schedule for the Syd and Freo losses - imv there were other very significant contributing factors which are on the club/coaches/players.

Money influenced mfc as well. We didn't need to play in Alice just a few days before Cairns, but there was $500m at stake. We chose the money. Had we played the game in SE Qld it would be a whole different story: not sure we would have beaten Sydney, just that we wouldn't be lamenting the travel schedule. I think we lost the Syd game because we didn't play to the conditions. Sydney's research and preparation appeared better than ours: They defended at all costs when we had the wind (1st qtr) and attacked like there was no tomorrow when they had the wind (2nd qtr). Game over at half time with the score: 7.2 vs 2.4.

The HS website has an article on how AFL clubs are rewarding member loyalty. Can someone who can get behind the paywall report what MFC is doing and how it compares to other clubs? Thanks in advance. btw, I didn't see or hear that there would be a 'reward' of some sort from mfc. Some people here reported receiving a pin with membership packs but neither myself nor my niece received one in our 'Redlegs' packs.

Very plausible. I still feel the onus is on the coaches to get the message across to a player and if co-ordination is required between two fwds eg Weidemen and TMc that the coaches communicate and train such co-ordination. I'm not trying to put it all on the coaches. Players share some responsibility. From the outside it looks like Sam has been seeking help eg May now J Brown. But at the end of the day he (and others) need clearly defined and consistent roles that are clearly understood by themselves and their team mates and coaches that train those roles. From our 'Brown's cows' type fwd line performance in recent years not sure that has been happening.

I prefer no hubs. And, I wonder whether the industry would accept another year of hubs? From known and rumoured tales the hubs took quite a personal toll on some coaches, some players, absent family and solo attendees. Not to mention rumours of unreported and unsanctioned breaches of AFL and covid protocols - the old its ok just don't get caught! The AFLPA and AFLCA may take some convincing to set up hubs, especially clubs from NSW and Vic who had no opportunity to get home during the hub regime. Lets hope the vaccine arrives early and is effective (and Premiers get sensible on border closing) so that the season can continue as featured without hubs, even with reduced crowds.

Well, State Premiers have shown in the last week how trigger happy they are with borders. What are chances of getting a remotely 'normal' season played? The biggest risk to the fixture is WA: To get unquarantined entry a State must have zero local transmission cases for 28 days. No chance of all the eastern states achieving and maintaining that. They retrospectively imposed border/quarantine restrictions to people already in the state. They are dead set stubborn on trying to make (any type of) sporting fixtures work. Wouldn't be surprised if the AFL is doing a deep dive into where to place the hubs for 2021. Hopefully, sanity prevails and state premiers find a way of allowing people movement without shutting borders every time a dozen people get ill. Not optimistic on this at all. Well, I like our fixture: while it lasted ?

This fixture is already in jeopardy. With WA's rules that anyone coming from a state which has not had zero locally transmitted covid cases for 28 days must quarantine it is hard to see how games can be played in WA or how WA teams can re enter the state. Other state rules are somewhat less onerous, altho Vic looks a bit draconian atm. No one is allowed in. Hopefully, that changes soon. Unlike the AFL, AFLW is still a part time comp which makes it very difficult to create hubs without taking away the livelihood of many players. Hopefully, sanity prevails and state premiers find a way of allowing people movement without shutting boarders every time a dozen people get ill.

Agree with your comments and the last sentence is the hub of the matter. He hasn't had anyone to learn from! And I can't see where/how the coaches filled the void. So he turned to May and now turning to J Brown. Good on him for showing initiative. imv it is part of the coach's (head, line and development) job to identify requirements of a role (in this case key fwd) and put in place a development program to teach him. In absence of an internal player role model/mentor/fwd coach, getting external help for him 3-4 years ago would surely make him a better player than he is now.

And a decent, consistent game plan that is consistently trained and drilled into all players. Not to mention putting players in the positions that maximises their strengths. We have the 5th eldest and 7th most experienced list. A list built under Goodwin's watch. If he doesn't have the cattle he has only himself to blame. Its worth noting that about 10 of Collingwood's 2010 premiership playrs were rookie recruits. Its what a coach does with the cattle that counts.

Separation from op and running patterns would be fairly essential tools in a key forward's kit bag. It beggars belief that going into his 7th year the club has not provided this (or if it has, not sufficiently) and he feels he needs to seek it out for himself. He said in another interview that he was trying to learn what to do from Steven May which has some merit but not a substitute for good coaching. It all makes me wonder if we had a development plan for Sam or it has been left to chance. One could be forgiven for thinking his development has been collateral damage of not having an experienced forward coach nor a consistent one for most of his time at the club. Its hard to develop confidence if you aren't very sure on what to do or how to do it. Hopefully, this is a turning point for him. And hopefully, his up field teammates learn what Sam's running patterns will be so they can anticipate ball placement.

There will be covid outbreaks. Probably on the East Coast so a 'footy frenzy' may depend on how 'trigger-happy' state premiers are in closing borders. Right now they are very twitchy so it is likely we will see rescheduling of some sort. Hopefully, it is just location rather than wholesale change to the fixture. And, if there needs to be a hub it will be in Victoria so (selfishly) we can still get to see games. And while I'm talking of 2021; may you all enjoy this festive season, say goodbye to a horrid 2020 and look forward to good health and an exciting and successful year for our beloved Demons. ???