Lucifers Hero

What I find really distasteful is this is just one week after Clarkson made what looked like a sincere and impassioned declaration of his loyalty. There may have been an element of: I've got my principles so I'm not going to walk the plank. If you want me gone you have to push me. If so good on him for not letting them hide behind some smokescreen. Whoever initiated this weeks player meeting with Reeves and Vandenberg could have waited a few weeks to the end of the season and given Clarkson some sort of dignified exit. The Board could have said to the players: we hear you but lets see how it goes for the next month. Couldn't wait to EOS. Instead they have hurriedly pulled down the architect of their success for no apparent good reason. Thrown his loyalty back in his face. Shameful by all concerned.

If it was the other way ie supporting Clarkson he botched it. If he was asked by management for the positives and negatives, he misjudged the agendas very badly and or didn't do a very good job of selling the positives. Without yet knowing the ins and outs, it seems that Reeves and Vandenberg were ready and waiting for a reason to bring down the guillotine. McEvoy didn't read the tea leaves.

The Age: "Captain Ben McEvoy was one player who told senior staff that the situation was impacting on the playing group". Clarkson plucked McEvoy from a career potentially slogging away at the saints. He has two 2 premiership medals on the back of Clarkson and a handy group of champion players. Clarkson made him captain. I wonder how he and the other senior players spend their '30 pieces of silver'!

Up to pick 20 doesn't make sense. In the first round ie pick 18 with no F/S or whatever seems fairer (or whatever it ends up being with F/S. Pick 20 is just another way giving the bottom 2 teams priority over top talent.

Gobsmacked, after his impassioned commitment a mere week ago. "The decision was reached on Thursday after a meeting between the Hawthorn board and Clarkson’s management in which the two parties agreed that the coach would receive a full payout. The arranged marriage between Clarkson and Sam Mitchell was further-eroded earlier this week when a group of senior players confided to club bosses that the situation was proving untenable". Senior players. WOW. Machiavelli would have been proud of how it has all played out!! Terrible way to treat a 4 time premiership coach. Hope it comes back to bite them for decades to come.

The selections mean that both TMac and Lever have chosen to play both i/state games rather than stay with their young family and new bubs. Credit to them and partners for making those sacrifices.

I've heard this a few time this week. How could they do that at CB with the 6/6/6 rule. At least in the middle we started with even numbers?

Good point about AVB and Smith. Hope I'm wrong but I feel if Jones isn't on the plane he may have run out of time to get back in and play finals. It is a long time since he played either because games were cancelled or injury. His best bet to play AFL finals may be to play really well in Casey finals and hope a spot opens up in the seniors (and we are still 'live').

Anyone not currently in full lockdown won't be on the chartered plane to Qld and won't be on the chartered plane to Perth. We won't be able to fly players from Melb to Perth. So we need to look at this group of 26 being those that play GCS and WCE. Every chance they will rotate the i/change players and the emergencies next week. If that hunch is right, I like it as it gives us a nice little squad of 26 preparing for finals. And it gives some players a weeks rest, not just game time management. The club may add a couple more and take a 28 player squad to Qld and onward to Perth. For players not on the plane won't have many chances to audition for finals; just rounds 22 and 23.

I didn't say anyone would. I was clarifying the picks GCS and North have this year. While a club may not trade a high first round pick on its own, they might trade it with a second round back. Lots of possibilities.

I agree. Rather than return to Melb after Perth, if we are able to go straight to NT and spend the week there it significantly reduces travel fatigue and allows plenty of time for recovery and preparation between games. The main problem I see with a Qld/WA/NT/Vic round trip (approx 2.5 weeks) is player time away from young families and some may choose to not go for that long. But I can't see any player missing all three games altho they might miss one leg to be with family which we should be able to cover.

GCS first pick will be around 5/6 which they have said they are prepared to trade for the right player. North will probably have pick 1 but I doubt they will trade that as they are committed to re-build thru the draft. But they might trade next year's first round pick.

AFL site: "NORTH Melbourne is tracking the prospects of the key forward who has lost his spot to former Roos forward Ben Brown at Melbourne. Sam Weideman sits on the Roos' radar as a potential target at season's end as they weigh up the need for extra support for Nick Larkey in attack. The Roos have been scouting the out-of-contract Demon throughout a season that has consisted of five AFL games but none since round 13. It is understood Gold Coast has also shown a level of interest in Weideman". I think Sam will benefit greatly from a change. He wouldn't be the first player who can't get a game at his club and fulfils his potential at another. Would prefer it be with us but he needs regular games to be consistent and build confidence. For various reasons: injury, form, competition for spots, he has rarely played more than a handful of games in a row.

Lets wait to hear it from someone with a bit more authority!

? 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.