Lucifers Hero

Two of those teams are out of the 8 only on %. If we lost those 4 games those teams would be 7th, 8th, 9th and 11th. They are where they are on the ladder because we beat them and in doing so we hurt their %. It is worth noting that two of the teams we have beaten played in 2020 finals and one in the GF. I guess if we lose on Sunday and go 5-0 we can add 17th to that list and you will say we still haven't beaten any decent teams! I fully understand your reticence but maybe its time to give credit to where credit is due.

Two points on beating Tigers: 1) From what I've read Sydney used the 'divide and conquer' strategy - they spread their defenders so that they could not get across to help each other out and intercept. We can copy that strategy 2) Last night Tigers appeared to not defend the mark or the free. I read somewhere their plan is to defend the 30m arc around the opp which forces a 'long bomb' kick over the arc allowing their defenders to intercept or their small players to activate their ground ball tactics. We need a plan to neutralise this tactic as defending the 'long bomb' has not been a strength of ours. Nonetheless, I think we are part of the way to doing so: Last week Jackson and McDonald would take the front position when fwd of center if they couldn't mark (or sometimes even when they could) and made two handed taps straight down into the waiting hands of a demon player, who was facing our goals. The two-handed tap down prevented interference from behind or the side and the ball falling to some random spot. I recall one time when McDonald was only a step in front of his opp and took a small leap and tapped down - didn't even try to mark. These looked like set plays and iirc worked every time in that we scored or the ball was delivered to a well placed fwd. For example we could have an arc about 15m behind their 30m arc and our fwds spread their defence across our fwd50. A combination which makes it very difficult for their players to get back or across. We will not play anything like the Saints who put up zero resistance. We have a steely resolve and am expecting a very different game when we play the tigers and hopefully a different result.

Not sure - Hawks have no decent defenders of note anyway.. Let Max follow McElvoy around if he goes down back to support them. Then again, a miracle might happen and Melksham steps up...

My optimism is still strong: 6/0 or 5/1 after the tigers game. Then who knows.

I was serious. After waiting and supporting with memberships for so long we would need to find a way to get you there.

If we make the grand final we may need to enclose @old deein bubble wrap? so he can come to the game - who knows when we might get to another one.

Let me guess - the initials of the obstacle are GB?

I meant FA as inferred by the description.

Congratulations on the little man's arrival, Adam. And good to see you managed to keep him away from supporting his Mum's Hawks

The stat would be more meaningful if it showed scores from kick ins. eg if it was '# of scoring shots/kick-in' I'm guessing we would rank quite highly. We have been very good at end to end movement but we often kick points so '# of scoring shots/kick ins' is a more meaningful stat.

Not many examples where a non RFA, out of contract player's club has forced a high trade price by playing hardball. Kelly to WCE is one of the few I can think of in recent times.

Initially I thought the pre GF bye was a good idea. Then I heard an interview where the comment 'there are always hard luck stories at GF' was made. And seeing this amazing position that Chelsea Randall has taken convinces me there should be no pre GF Bye. chelsea-randall-concussion-ruled-out-of-adelaide-crows-vs-brisbane-lions-clash Such a gracious, thoughtful person showing great leadership to the AFL community and trust and inspiration in her team. On the back of that the Crows will win the GF

Thank you. If Hibberd doesn't play much this year he may struggle to get a new contract. Agree with others but the club may want to keep options open and offer 1 year in some cases. I would probably put Jordon up there on priority signing especially as he is an RFA this year (due to being delisted then rookied last year) and depending on how he plays I would like to see Weideman continue with us but right now he wouldn't be a top priority.

Update for Oliver 2 year contract (and spelling of Smith's name) @GarboI update this table based on info in the media at the time a contract is signed. I notice footywire has Langdon's contract expiring this year which I highly doubt as he wouldn't have come on a two year contract. Let me know if you have seen other info on his contract and I will update accordingly. We may have a few extra players unsigned this year but I suggest not many are 'must keep'. Now for Salem's signature!

Awesome first post. Thanks for reassurance that Salem will sign.

Except that Dodoro does the wheeling and dealing as GM List Management. Mahoney is GM Football so I think they are peers. .

Oliver hasn't been with us for 8 years. He won't be an (R) FA until end of 2023, if he re-signs for two more years. If Oliver requests a trade we can ask a very high price but the player holds all the aces and once an OOC player nominates a club we have little choice but to get the best deal we can.

I'm pretty sure he is an RFA as he has been there 8 years and would be in their top 25% earners. If he isn't in the top 25% he would be an FA - altho that would be very unlikely. So Ess can match.

Ess love trade time drama and would match just about any $ offer and demand a trade (ala Cameron @ Geelong) to extract more than the AFL compensation draft pick and or players. Dodoro will do it just for the sport.

We are in the queue port-adelaide-eye-bombers-star-merrett "Melbourne are another club to have shown strong interest in Merrett, who would add run and ball use to a formidable ball-winning midfield". If we get him we must be planning to trade some reasonable players out to make sal cap space s I doubt the players that are likely to not have contracts renewed this year, will free up anywhere near enough $ after their replacements are recruited. Not to mention our talent need to be rewarded. Will be an interesting trade period. We would be looking very attractive to him and any other FA's looking for success.

What is it with Goal of the Year this round? Whoever nominates them has a preoccupation with flukey, dribble kicks from the boundary - one of the three nominees was even described as an accident by the commentators. Meanwhile, Max roosts one from the center square at a critical time of the game and crickets!

I didn't see the incident. From what Clarkson said last night I doubt they will appeal.

Mitch Lewis suspended for a week so won't line up against us on Sunday. MRP decisions have favoured us this year,

Such a heart wrenching plea, ding. Simply and beautifully said.

Correct. The coaches votes split after Petracca and Gawn were: 4/0 Oliver 3/0 Langdon 2/0 Lever 2/0 Salem 1/0 McDonald 1/0 Pickett Pure guess work as to which were Goodwin votes and Scott votes. They certainly saw the game differently.