Lucifers Hero

"Upcoming byes won't be at the same time and are likely to be scattered across three or four weeks but Melbourne and Essendon won't have one". aflpa-boss-presents-contract-ultimatum-to-afl-on-fixture I don't mind that. Normally players would take a bit of a holiday etc. during the bye. But now they are stuck in the AFL 'bubble' effectively in lockdown at their respective hubs. They have and will have plenty of downtime between training and games for r and r. For those with a bye, 10-14 days without structured work is a lot of time for golf etc As long as there is no flight involved for the Ess game or at either end of the game we should be fine. What I wouldn't like to see is the Alice game to before or after it.

You may have missed a key word in my post: "threaten". I didn't say Adelaide did match the Geelong offer. I said they threatened to match: "ADELAIDE CEO Andrew Fagan has all but confirmed the Crows will match any offer made for restricted free agent Patrick Dangerfield, ensuring the club gets the best possible deal". crows-set-to-match-any-offer-for-dangerfield If Ess are faced with a comp pick around #40 I have little doubt they will also threaten to match to get a better deal.

That is like saying we would have won by a greater margin if: Lever and May hadn't spoilt each for the mark GCS wouldn't have got the goal out the back (2nd qtr I think). Max hadn't tapped the ball into Rankine's lap in the last he wouldn't have got his third goal. Max didn't turn the ball over with a OOB around their 50m arc King wouldn't have received the kick-in to run into an easy goal. So Max's mishaps directly cost us two goals. Not criticising him; he was mighty. Just saying lots of players make mistakes; some directly cost us goals and some don't. I could pull various other examples that cost us a 'much greater margin'. Every week there are moments that cost us a game or the margin. Not yourself, but others on here have questioned Petracca's coaches votes on the basis of his mishaps. If coaches used that in their assessment then Max would not have got 5/4 as he directly cost us two goals and had a few other clangers.

For the relatively low salary he will command they are likely to get a 2nd round pick comp. With all the academy players this year and finals that is likely to be around pick 40 +/- (unless the AFL pull a swifty ala Ablett). No way Ess will accept that pick - bad optics with members etc. So I reckon they will threaten to match thus forcing a trade ala Adelaide with Dangerfield. Last year they wanted a top 10 pick plus a player (Heeney or the like) from Sydney. They won't demand that this year but they will make life hard for the bidding club. Members will demand it. On all counts it is caveat emptor!

Not sure post game comments are a good guide to voting. Petracca may have butchered the ball but his impact on the game and the result was huge. Glad to see he featured well in the votes as many on here didn't give him much credit for what he did do and focused on what he didn't do.

Apparently Hardwick contacted Longmire straight after the rant to apologize. That didn't go down too well either...the genie was out of the bottle. unnecessary-and-unwarranted-horse-hits-back-at-dimma-comments Poor form for Hardwick to blame Longmire for their crappy game when it was in his own control to change it.

Jones has been loyal, stoic and a stalwart for us during our darkest days. But there were others who stayed loyal and worked hard to keep us going: Gawn, Jetta, TMc and others who we have chosen to move on were there for 186, for the Neeld years etc. Everyone loves Jonesy but I can't see that the club owes him and not sure what sacrifices he has made that others haven't. Sorry if that is unpopular thinking. His one game this year was a shocker. I for one do not want to see us miss finals this year or next, to get someone to a personal milestone if that person is a millstone in the 13 games to get there. Mahoney and Goodwin have made tough decisions on fan favourites and they will with Jonesy if the need arises. The angst with Jr was he was blindsided and it was done brutally. Most people new it was time. I trust Mahoney and Goodwin to have had and to continue to have those discussions with Jonesy so when the end comes it will sit comfortably with everyone.

Coaches votes: 9 Max Gawn (MELB) 7 Christian Petracca (MELB) 4 Jack Viney (MELB) 4 Charlie Ballard (GCFC) 4 Izak Rankine (GCFC) 2 Clayton Oliver (MELB) Looks pretty fair to me. Vote split looks like: Max: 5/4 Christian: 5/2 * Viney 3/1 * Ballard 3/1 * Rankine 4/0 Oliver 2/0 Whoever gave Petracca 5 gave Oliver 2 or from the other view whoever gave Petracca 2 gave Oliver zip. * Votes could be switched between the three players. On the Leaderboard best placed Demons are Petracca at 11 th spot (20 votes) and Brayshaw at 13 (19 votes). Overall leader Neale (40 votes). At this rate Petracca may win his first B&F. Edit: had the wrong Brayshaw. Thanks for tip @Bring-Back-Powell

Had our coaching panel not experimented with a short forward line we probably would have beaten Geelong (lost by 3 pts) and a lot closer to Richmond so have a better overall %. In both games our DE i50 was 32.6%. tbh I was surprised we experimented in a key part of the ground (fwd) and yet to get wins in the bank. Those experiments may cost us finals.

Ironic that Hardwick is blaming the swans for their own low score and 'farcical footy'. Claims Swans had a spare in defence all game and they couldn't score. Well their scores this side of the covid break have been: 36, 39, 67, 79, 34. Not exactly flash. Maybe the problem is closer to home. He had the option to man up the spare defender but chose not to. Coaching?? I think Hardwick's lack of coaching prowess is returning and they miss Rutton and Caracella who were the cornerstones of changing their 2016 fiasco to their 2017 flag. It is no coincidence that they are both at Essendon who seem to be on a roll. They are an aging team without the talent coming through. Methinks we may have seen the end of the Richmond Era. Quite happy if that comes to pass.

Yes, he had a very interrupted preseason with soft tissue problems which have continued into the season despite the long covid break. In total its been nearly a year to get his body right for AFL level football. Just can't see his body holding up for another year. I really hope he gets to play his last (farewell?) games in the seniors. Hopefully, he knows when it is time to hang up the boots and makes the call himself rather than the club having to make the call.

He needs 13 games. 12 Games left. Unless we make finals and he plays every game then he can't get there. He has missed 2 of the 6 games/scratch matches. Played 1 senior game so far. Little continuity or match fitness. Doubt there is a regular role now that Hannan and Avb are back, Bennell is in and Rivers and Lockhart seem to be the preferred small backmen. I just hope he doesn't see out the season running around a paddock in mock teams playing scratch matches. That would be tragic. If/when we get to the stage where we can't play finals he should be played to give him the dignity and respect he deserves to see out his career in the seniors.

Thanks. I couldn't find a kicking efficiency stat. Yes, he probably would acknowledge that he butchered some chances. But no-one has a perfect game. What I liked was he didn't beat himself up over mistakes and just kept going, contest after contest. He was one of our best which a lot of posters last night failed to acknowledge. Like you I wouldn't be surprised if he gets votes from coaches and or umpires.

Still a spine-tingle, emotional moment. Happy tears. As much as I hate Geelong their supporters (well those in the Southern Stand that night) were pretty decent, congratulatory and wanted us to destroy the Hawks the following week. We duly obliged. Oh to experience winning finals again!

Just going on the DL comments that he isn't at the hub.

If so, why would Bartlett do his own thing, as his comment suggests?

Well done Bartlett to get on the front foot so quickly to support Harley. He also said: “I am already in discussions and intend to follow up key Federal and Victorian Government Ministers to explore what can be done to strengthen laws to make people accountable and stamp out this abhorrent behaviour". Shocked that the AFL hasn't already done this on behalf of all clubs and really all sports.

Lots of comradeship shown last night and little of the selfish play that had crept into our game this year. Players also seemed free to play their natural game. How much was coaching related or player motivated (maybe they had enough of the media blowtorch) is hard to know but it was really good to see them rally around each other. They played for each other and played 'team-first' footy, reminiscent of 2018. Much better balance of play-on and control.

Two of which may not be on the list next year (Jones candidate to retire and Sparrow candidate for delisting if lists shortened)

WOW! 3 anti-Brayshaw posts in the last few hours, just in this thread. Clearly he is your whipping boy. Let up a little will you.

Can't believe the amount of criticisms of Petracca's game. Sure he had an 'airey' in the goal square but for the rest of the game: 25 Disposals - Best Demon 14 Handballs - Best Demon 6 Clearances - 2nd Best Demon (Oliver 8 ) 5 Unontested Marks - Equal Best Demon with Lever 15 Contested Possessions - Best Demon 11 Uncontested Possesions - 2nd Best Demon (Langdon 15) 3 Marks i50 - Best Demon 5 Score Involvements - Equal 2nd Best Demon with Oliver (Bennell and Gawn 6) 2 goals (Equal Best with Weideman and Fritsch). There is no count of how often he broke a tackle but it was a lot. Rarely gets caught HTB; the ops just can't pin him down. Stats aren't the only thing. His was a high impact performance. The best midfielder for mine. And, he showed great leadership to wind down the clock before his last goal. Settled the team. I know people have their favourites and I also love Oliver and Viney but some folks are wearing blinkers if they can't see how good Petracca's game was.

Loved the way the team got around Kozzie in the first quarter when i50 could have had a shot for goal. Instead a pass to (I think) Hannan??? who kicked it. Did the same at the end with his pass to Harley. Really good team first play. If that was an area for him to work on he is a fast learner. The team getting around him would have been really confidence building.

Pertracca showed really good game sense and leadership at the end. Checked for time left to play. Put the ball on the ground to wind down the clock. Smart lad. Nailed it but even if he didn't he protected our lead. Am beginning to think he has more footy IQ than anyone else in the team.

This week the fixture for the next block of games is released and it is expected games will be on 4/5 day breaks. So there may be quite a bit of player management and it could start next week. For mine, no changes.

This week the fan and media storm is akin to that we rightly got after the shellacking by Hawthorn in early 2018. Jackson got on the front foot and said (among other things) 'the players trashed our brand'. He understood that it is important to control the narrative. Everyone knew a lot of it was coaching decisions/lack thereof (played no wingmen, players played out of position, let Shiels run amok, a bewildered coaches box) but Jackson's talk put everyone on notice to lift. We did. We went on to play in the Prelim. And it quietened the media somewhat. Sometimes a carefully worded public 'put-down' or wise words can go a long way to placating fans and settling the media a bit. Silence can also give a message, often the wrong message such as the performance status quo is acceptable, that mfc bashing is ok, that Oliver bashing is ok, lights on but no-one home etc At the moment we are fair game in the media because no one stands up to them.