Lucifers Hero

If the AFL went to a 17 game season, eliminate the mid and end season byes games would start on May 9. Even later if they have mid week games. At worst play to empty stadiums. It would be a terrible, depressing winter with no footy?

The government is aiming for a 'V'-shaped economic impact ie a sharp, short downturn followed by an equally sharp, short upturn ie the inverse of either coronavirus curves in the graph. In terms of timing of the economic impact I suggest it lags the two curves by a month or two. imv the government hopes we repeat the China experience and life is back to normal in 2-4 months. The government, rightly, seems very worried the economic impact will 'U'-shaped ie a long, slow and prolonged downturn which could last years rather than months. This will be far more severe than 'V'-shape as supply chains are being compromised and if producers can't get materials to finish products. The longer supply chains are compromised the long it will take for the economy to get going again especially if people stop spending. The economic package is to keep people spending. On the bright side, I think the government has a very good chance of delaying the peak virus impact and its dangers peter out quite quickly. There is anecdotal evidence the government is stockpiling critical items eg masks, sanitizers, medications etc initially for health practitioners and later for the public if it ever becomes necessary.

Confirmation: Grand Prix to be Cancelled Interestingly, it is the teams who want to pull the pin - good on them. Shows leadership the organisers and governments didn't have. This diagram shows what governments are trying to manage: delay the CV peak to not stress medical resources. Source: The Age Lets hope they can pull it off. I suspect a lot of planning is based on the timetable shown in the diagram: Estimating when the peak will hit and develop contingencies for when to run events. Re the AFL season, someone suggested earlier that the season be reduced to 17 games where each team plays each other once; a great idea. The fixture would need a little rejigging and maybe more mid-week games but that would be far preferable to no season or a totally compromised season.

Its a fine line the government walks. They need people to stay calm, society needs to keep going. If everyone panics the economic contagion will be far worse for families and communities than the virus itself. Sadly, the virus will claim a small % of people but if everyone closes their wallets, planes stop flying, venues close down, businesses stop operating we will have the mother of all economic meltdowns the like of which we haven't seen for nearly 100 years. A quick look at the ASX and Dow Jones shows what could be in store in the real economy, if governments do not get the juggling act right. The stimulus package is aimed at keeping us out of the economic quagmire while trying to manage the health risks. Having said that I'm with you on the health risks the government has taken, especially with not closing travel from Italy 10 days ago. There is little doubt they waited until the Formula 1 teams had arrived before placing the ban. As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm filthy they put Grand Prix $ before public health. Now they have FI crews in isolation and the likes of Lewis Hamilton saying 'what the hell are we doing running this race amidst a health crisis'. Lots of questions to be answered by the Formular 1 organisers and one Paul Little.

It was only a matter of time before someone publicly floated the idea of setting an age limit for access to critical medical facilities eg ICU. italian-doctors-propose-intensive-care-age-limit-to-save-younger-patients A terrible dilemma for hospital and medical staff. But it is an approach that makes sense. Lets hope we never get to that point. Stay healthy folks, especially older d'landers.

Source was: https://www.afl.com.au/matches/injury-list which covering all clubs. I had the impression that clubs report info to AFL for it to publish on the Tuesday, on the understanding things can change before the next game. Is the info 'officially' official, I don't know. Of course, clubs can 'fudge' reports eg omitting our Joel Smith etc. I doubt the AFL would tolerate clubs regularly reporting or not reporting injuries accurately. The 'Early Prognosis' section is where there could be a combo of club comments and author assumptions.

Harley Bennell Calf TBC Kade Chandler Wrist 1-2 weeks Kyle Dunkley Foot Test Mitch Hannan Groin TBC Kade Kolodjashnij Concussion TBC Harry Petty Groin TBC Braydon Preuss Knee 4-6 weeks Aaron vandenBerg Foot TBC Sam Weideman Ankle Test Updated: Tuesday, March 10 Early prognosis Weideman rolled his ankle against Hawthorn on Friday night but should be available for the season-opener against West Coast. But the luckless vandenBerg could be set for another stint on the sidelines after pulling up sore against the Hawks. Max Gawn played half a game against the Hawks and has declared himself a starter for round one, while Steven May also got through on his comeback from his own knee issue. Mystery continues to surround Joel Smith's fitness, given his absence from pre-season hitouts. - Jennifer Phelan

I'm guessing that is to reinforce to players that while Champion Data etc rate # of possessions, they mean diddly squat to coaches. Part of reinforcing a 'Team First' mind set rather than individual performance/rankings; something that has been or crept into a number of our players. As an aside I was pleased to see the 'Esprit de Corps' banner pop up a few times.

Also, because of his knee injuries he can't get down low for the ground balls so defenders only need to contest and bring the ball to ground every time it goes near Patton and let the small guys go to work.

We need: Saints to beat the Blues - possible Lions to beat Freo - likely Bulldogs to beat Pies - possible us to thrash Eagles - anything is possible ? These results will put us even with Freo and a step or two ahead of Blues and Pies. ? I suspect the final placing will be decided in the last round of the season.

We have moved toward the Eagles and Hawks 'control' game style. My post from the Post Game thread: A clear change in our game style was to switch and chip the ball around our back half (Richardson influence?) - very much the Hawks and Eagles 'control' game plan of recent years. Will be interesting to see if we have enough skill to carry it off when opps develop counter tactics. Hawks seemed awake to it quite early and let us chip the ball around while they flooded our fwd half making it hard to get thru traffic. We inevitably had to bomb it long over the pack to outnumbered forwards. Inevitably they marked and the ball came out again. In the 3rd quarter we started to find ways to get thru the forward half congestion and it was good to see we reacted to what wasn't working in-game. As a result we kicked 7.3 in the second half vs 5.6 in the first half. Someone on the field or the coaches box responded well and the players implemented the changes well. While we played attacking, aggressive football there was less of the manic 'chaos ball' game style which imv was good as it tires players, and draws too many around the ball with no one to receive. Saw Langdon hovering outside a pack a few times which was great to see. I like these game plan changes. Some work to do on moving the ball more efficiently between the 50m arcs so we don't need to bomb it in and some work to do to make sure the opp don't force our 'switch and chip' in defence to become like the kicking in circles of 5 years ago. As an aside, Hawks have changed their game plan from slow chip and control out of defence to moving the ball out quickly thru the corridor. Watching how game plans change across the league and how opps react will be an interesting side show this year. Re your quotes from Goodwin's presser. He has been the same thing about 'a recongnisable brand that supporters can be excited about' since he took over as senior coach. He needs a new script.

Can't believe the media is creating a bit of a frenzy over Viney's 'risky sling tackle' on Stratton. Stratton's shoulder hit the ground first, he got straight up and the umpire who was right there didn't even pay a free! Must be a no-news day but I bet it will be played over and over this weekend and someone will demand the MRO penalises Viney under the apparent 'new' sling tackle rules. Wouldn't put it past the MRO to look like he is doing something, penalise Viney and proceed to ignore similar or worse tackles for the rest of the year. Shades of May last year...

@binmanAn curious as to what made you angry about post #148. I don't mind, just would like to know what you saw differently.

^ Great to see Gawn and may get thru unscathed. Wouldn't be surprised to see them play some quarters in the Casey game next weekend to catch up with game fitness. May looked a bit rusty, Max looked good.

^ If the Suns keep this up someone else will own the wooden spoon. Early contenders: Carlton, Adelaide or even Sydney...?

A clear change in our game style was to switch and chip the ball around our back half (Richardson influence?) - very much the Hawks and Eagles 'control' game plan of recent years. Will be interesting to see if we have enough skill to carry it off when opps develop counter tactics. Hawks seemed awake to it quite early and let us chip the ball around while they flooded our fwd half making it hard to get thru traffic. We inevitably had to bomb it long over the pack to outnumbered forwards. Inevitably they marked and the ball came out again. In the 3rd quarter we started to find ways to get thru the forward half congestion and it was good to see we reacted to what wasn't working in-game. As a result we kicked 7.3 in the second half vs 5.6 in the first half. Someone on the field or the coaches box responded well and the players implemented the changes well. While we played attacking, aggressive football there was less of the manic 'chaos ball' game style which imv was good as it tires players, and draws too many around the ball with no one to receive. Saw Langdon hovering outside a pack a few times which was great to see. I like these game plan changes. Some work to do on moving the ball more efficiently between the 50m arcs so we don't need to bomb it in and some work to do to make sure the opp don't force our 'switch and chip' in defence to become like the kicking in circles of 5 years ago. As an aside, Hawks have changed their game plan from slow chip and control out of defence to moving the ball out quickly thru the corridor. Watching how game plans change across the league and how opps react will be an interesting side show this year.

Did anyone see what happened to Fritsch in the 3rd quarter (I think). He was on the ground for a long time in the foetal position with a Hawthorn player hovering over him. (Stratton?). It was visible in the background as play went on? Looked nasty. To Fritsch's credit he was ready for play next time the ball went forward.

I don't usually post in this thread but I do enjoy reading it, um most of the time... I thought Cat B rookie list was only for (academy players not taken in the main draft) and Players from other sports, who have not been registered with an Australian rules football club for three years. eg Bradke, Irish players. I did read somewhere that Hird was so disgusted with the AFL handling of the drug saga that he wouldn't let his kids play aussie rules so they played soccer. Is this a sneaky way of hoarding talent and getting a F/S without going thru the draft...

...and Daisy? Daisy played for Darebin in the VFLW league. This is her record: ...Pearce is a ten-time premiership player (seven as captain), six-time Helen Lambert Medallist (VFLW Brownlow equivalent). In her two completed AFLW seasons to date, Pearce has twice been voted AFLW Players' best captain, and is a dual AFL Women's All-Australian (as captain in the 2017 team and vice-captain in the 2018 team) and dual Melbourne best and fairest winner. She also captained Victoria in the inaugural AFL Women's State of Origin match in 2017, where she was adjudged best afield. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Pearce She has captained our AFLW team since the beginning and had a number off-field roles for the club. She is a huge draw card to games and memberships. What else does someone need to do to make it to the DL banner?

FI organisers have said if any team is prevented from racing they'll cancel the Grand Prix. That is a huge amount of tourist dollars lost to the Vic economy if it is cancelled. imv the government is playing a high risk game in putting $ before health, especially as Ferrari's location and perhaps it's major fan base is in northern Italy. Wouldn't be at all surprised if a ban on travellers from Italy is activated as soon as the race is finished.

Brisbane and Richmond also do not have any injuries. This is exceptional given they played in the Prelim and Grand Final respectively. Other Finalists with minimal injuries are Giants (4) and Eagles (2). Here is a summary of all clubs (excl those listed as 'Test' on AFL website. Carlton (3), Sydney (2) and Port(3) are also in good shape from an injury perspective. While we are rightly proud of our improved injury list and pre-season I'm wary of how much of an advantage it is for us as many other teams have improved and lists are healthy.

Too early? Conference B Ladder and Fixture Black: Conference B teams, Red: Conference A teams; Blue: 8 point games of finals contenders. Top 3 in Conference B play finals. Top team goes straight to Prelim. 2nd and 3rd play a semi and that winner plays in the Prelim. Winner of the Prelim plays in Grand Final vs winner of Conference A Prelim. Fremantle: Freo were extremely lucky to beat the Saints. They won only because of a really soft 50m penalty to take them to the goal square with less than a minute to go. Freo have tough games ahead: Lions are top of Conference A ladder; Bulldogs a mere shadow of their former selves so Freo should win that. Then they play 2nd and 3rd. Will make the finals but don't have top spot sewn up. Demons: Technically we should beat Eagles and Suns but then we should have beaten the Saints but kicked ourselves into a loss. They are must win games. Then need to beat Freo and/or Blues. Blues: Very similar fixture to us. Pies: Their challenging game is vs Lions. Win their other 3 games and they can play finals. Depending how the '8-point' games go they could do a 'Bradbury' and make finals by 'default'. I would say Bulldogs, Saints, Eagles can't make finals but given they each play at least 2 of the top 4 they can really determine who does.

I suspect the result will be less meaningful than most preseason games as the Hawks will want to practice their new go-fast-thru-the-corridor game plan and to work out how to cover Hardwick in defence. A win will be great for our optimism, confidence etc. Nonetheless there will be a lot more to this game than meets the eye.

Dunkley, Gawn and May listed as 'Test' on the Injury Report. Fair chance they will all get a run vs Hawks even if it is only a few quarters each.

Harley Bennell Calf TBC Kade Chandler Wrist 1-2 weeks Kyle Dunkley Foot Test Max Gawn Knee Test Mitch Hannan Groin TBC Kade Kolodjashnij Concussion TBC Steven May Knee Test Nathan Jones Corked shin Available Harry Petty Groin TBC Braydon Preuss Knee 5-7 weeks Updated: Tuesday, March 3 Early prognosis The Demons have a few that are a while away with Bennell and Preuss working their way back from lengthy complaints, although the former has stepped up training in an encouraging sign he might finally be putting his calf issues behind him. Gawn and May are expected to play this week against Hawthorn while mystery surrounds Joel Smith's fitness, given his absence from the first two pre-season hitouts. – Jennifer Phelan Source: https://www.afl.com.au/matches/injury-list As an aside, while this shows injury list as being in the 'matches' tab on the AFL website I couldn't find the lists that way. This new site leaves a lot to be desired - so much good info has simply disappeared or impossible to find from the menu.