Lucifers Hero

Fair go. @DeeSpencerput in a huge amount of work, was descriptive, constructive and not critical and all you can do is make pithy, cheap one liners. That post is a good reminder why I had you on 'ignore'. I don't know what possessed me to 'unlock' that post. Won't happen again.

kangaroos-move-12-players-four-staff-from-melbourne-lockdown-zones We are one of only 3 clubs that didn't have to move people from lock down zones last night. Roos had to move 12 players at a minutes notice. Imagine the distress and impact of that on players and families. Who knows when they will see each other again. Ditto the impact of hubbing for SA and WA clubs for the last 4-6 weeks. I reckon those factors equallise the impact of skipping the Ess game which will be played in due course, probably in a bye round. So imv, from now on we (fans) can no longer claim that postponement overly disadvantaged us and folks that do are wearing blinkers tothe hardships other clubs' players are experiencing. When we go into a hub so will all other Vic clubs. It is now back to a relatively level playing field. No more excuses.

You are a considered poster and that you think this worries me. We are 7 years into a re-build. Our top 10 players are 5+ years into their careers. It is the top 8 - 10 players that deliver premierships so we should be much further advanced than mid-table . Something has gone very wrong with our list management and player development if that is the best we can do. However, I fear you are correct which means we are a long way from the Holy Grail or even competing for it.

Max not handpassing to a fast running Kozzie who was just outside the 50m line, had an open paddock in front of him, dead in front had me screaming at the tv last night. Overall, I think it is a case of 'old habits die hard' sort of thing. Viney, Gawn, Jones etc have been bombing it long forever and fall back on old habits. Unfortunately, due to the chaos, play-on at all costs, ballistic style of the Goodwin years others (Hunt, Brayshaw, Oliver etc) have learnt same bad habits. It will take a long time to unlearn them.

Suspect that is most likely to affect bulldogs, north and ess players. Edit: Apparently about 50 people (players/staff) need to move out tonight. Only teams not affected at all are Cats, Dees, Hawks.

4 weeks down to 2 seems the most likely outcome according to media reports. Pies are playing the 'compassionate' card ie he went to visit his injured mate, Howe, in a 'caring capacity'. 'Compassionate/care' visits apparently are allowed for AFL players. Doubt that means they can spend hours drinking. But hey, it is Collingwood so anything goes that they and the AFL can put a 'plausible' spin on.

'Mitigating' factors!! Oh so predictable! My opening post: Wonder if we hear where he was between Sat night and 7.30 Sunday morning. I read on another forum that Wells is deeply religious, has a family and was teetotal at North so unlikely to be up for an all-night bender in his own home. Shades of the Jack Steven mystery with whatever 'mitigating' circumstances were found resulted in no penalty. Will Scott challenge Eddie to disclose all as he did over theSteven mystery. He who laughs last... ? Whatever Sidebottom did and wherever he went from what we already know, it was premeditated and deliberate disregard for the covid rules.

One of the cops barracks for Collingwood, perhaps

Yes, it seems they found him wandering around in a street in Williamstown at around 7.30am. Reportedly, he went to Wells' home (not sure where that is) sometime Saturday evening. Where had he been all night? What other covid protocols did he breach in those hours? Wells' home is an 'unauthorised' covid place. I suspect wandering around the streets is also an 'unauthorised' covid activity. He has breached multiple covid protocols. He is a vice-captain of an AFL club. He should be setting the example, at least for younger teammates. At some point the AFL needs to set punishments that send a message: doesn't matter who you are, break the rules and you don't play. Not negotiable. He has made it harder for the AFL to negotiate with state premiers to let Vic players in.

Apparently, the news was out earlier and Robbo certainly went OFF tonight altho I didn't see the show. He read Sidebottom the riot act!

Compare that to mfc rather meek reaction for Spargo "The AFL investigators agreed with the club that Spargo's punishment should be greater than Pickett's, given he was both the senior player and the one who asked Pickett to come with him. two-demons-set-to-be-suspended-for-breaking-afl-s-covid-19-protocols imv, that Spargo wasn't playing isn't relevant; it sets a precedent. Can't believe we asked for a higher penalty. Go figure. Manoney and co need to take a leaf from Eddie's negotiating book.

They may be tested this week vs the Cats. It will be an interesting game to watch. Scott has said they will tag Rowell. Fully expect Dew and teammates to give him a lot of protection. What I'm interested in is how Dew sets up his game plan for slow-as-treacle aging cats players. Would expect he won't let them go slow and chip the ball around like we did. Will likely tell his players to play on from the mark/free kick at every opportunity. And to play 'shoulder-to-shoulder' when Cats have the ball especially in GCS fwd half, then run and zone off as soon as GCS get the ball.

They let go all the players (3 of which were captains) who didn't want to be there and invested heavily to support their youngsters. They have a very clever coach with a good game plan that is easy to understand and deliver on. I suspect short quarters help their youth get thru a game. They look like a team that is galvanised and will give it all they have. And goodness when they see an 18 y.o throw (Rowell) himself around the ground how can that not inspire teammates. 10 coaches votes in each of the last 3 games. Not a fluke.

Both travelled in an Uber then Sidebottom travelled to a covid unauthorised Collingwood staff member. sidebottom-dunn-in-covid-hot-water-after-drinks-with-howe On the basis of Spargo got two weeks as he was the senior player Sidebottom should also get two weeks. However: "...it's believed rigorous negotiations continue between the AFL and Collingwood". No prizes for guessing if some 'mitigating' circumstances are discovered. But Sidebottom is vice-captain. He should get extra simply on the basis of poor leadership.

Firstly, head coach/coaches report to Mahoney. He participates in and signs off on coaching staff, game plan, trades and list management decisions. Mid 2019 he had a coaching restructure, then a full blown coaching/FD review at EOS. Coaches we have now is supposedly the answer to our disasterous 2019. Our opportunity to change assistants was end of 2019. We chose not to recruit a forward coach. We chose to let go the experienced coaches (Rawlings, Jennings, McCartney), keep the rookies (Plapp, Chaplin) and recruited Richardson. imv we didn't make the most of that opportunity: too many rookie assistants trying to support a rookie coach.

Nigh on 13 years, 10 years in football admin. From Wikipedia: Assistant Coach (forward) 2008 to 2011 In September 2011, Mahoney was appointed Melbourne's Football Manager after Mark Neeld was appointed as senior coach. In September 2013, Mahoney was appointed Melbourne's General Manager - Football Operations by CEO Peter Jackson. When Pert had the FD review last year, I strongly argued on DL that Mahoney should not have been involved in the review of his own department; a department where he had been party to nearly every coaching appointment/departure and overseen list management since 2016 (half way thru Roos' last season) and could not possibly be objective nor independent. The FD on and off field is of his making. Not sure the length of his contract but assuming it was 3 years it would expire this year or next.

SA just put another nail in the season. "... premier Steven Marshall announced on Tuesday morning that: “Any teams coming in from Victoria to SA will have to do that two weeks of isolation, any SA team that plays a Victorian team or goes to Victoria ... will have to do that two weeks of isolation on return to our state.” It would be tough to expect SA teams to again hub interstate. So a WA type hub for Vic teams is likely: Vic teams play each other after 7 days and after 14 days play the two SA teams. Sydney and GWS may be a big winner as the only state that lets teams FIFO and are unlikely to leave NSW for more than a handful of games as they can host vic, and qld teams and at some stage play the wa and sa teams somewhere.

It will not go ahead as scheduled. Rnds 6 and 7 to be revised.

Sounds a bit like an 'ambit' play by Cotchin but I understand it is a difficult decision for players to leave young families. There are millions of mothers and fathers who are seconded to work in another state/country for many months so really AFL players are no different. But some will chose not to go. So be it. But, I suspect the AFL will understandably have byes to enable clubs to move from one hub to another when players can return home for a short stay. Also, some Vic teams can FIFO to NSW. Play the two NSW and two Qld teams there. Play other Vic teams in Vic. That is about 6-8 rounds and there will be only half a dozen rounds left to end of season. So I suspect consecutive weeks in a hub will be a lot less than 6-7 WCE have in Qld. As a fan, what will be unacceptable is if some teams play others twice and others not at all. I can see the sands starting to shift: The Age: "The AFL maintains that it wants to stick to the stated goal of having every team play one another once, for a total of 17 rounds. It would be much easier to finish the season and keep the broadcasting bucks if the league backflipped and allowed some teams to play twice over 17..." If that happens there is no way the AFL can call this a premiership season. imv each team plays each other once. How they structure the "Finals" is a different matter.

Angus gained 7 Coaches votes (4+3), not bad for 2.5 quarters! Really underrated by some on this site. coaches-votes-r4

That may happen very quickly if the Qld gov't sticks to this line: "The alteration requires that any Queensland or Queensland-based team who plays in Melbourne or against a Melbourne team in Queensland is required to quarantine after the match for 14 days if they are remaining in or returning directly to Queensland". GCS play in Melb for round 5 and 6 and Lions to play in Melb in rnd 6 and they may not be allowed back home. Probably hub in Melbourne. What the AFL cannot juggle is if all the compromises mean some teams have to play another twice and others not at all. Bound to happen. At that point games can no longer be for a premiership, as we know it. The AFL will probably dream up some wanky round-robin games and/or weird finals structure ala the AFLW before it was cancelled outright.

It amuses me that opp coaches and players have for a long time openly flagged how they will/did beat us and we don't seem to notice. Last year Coll, Rich, Brisb openly said 'match them on the inside, beat them on the outside' and they didn't mean our lack of wing men. They meant 'let Oliver, Viney et al get the clearance and we get it off them' in the next disposal, from either HTB or well placed players to take advantage of our poor disposal. Collingwood are merciless at exploiting Viney's no right side and get him HTB then play on. Oliver's dinky, blind handballs go into a pack with an opp waiting on the outside who quickly plays on. WCE, Geelong, Hawks and Sydney use the chip/possession to beat us. Selwood said after the game they deliberately 'ramped up' that side of the game. That is nearly half the league know how to beat us and they use it mercilessly. Works 9 times our of 10. Others are learning the same tricks altho not used as consistently. In the meantime, we do not respond on the field and our coach makes banal comments like when we click 'look out'.

I would say Viney and Oliver have the same limitation. At least Brayshaw can find space and kicks goals occasionally. Not enough goals but more than some others. And has better disposal again not great disposal but better Oliver and Viney. There is no obvious reason why Brayshaw spends 30-35% of the game on the bench for all of our 2020 games.

Better get ready tochange the heading. We are likely to play Richmond next week as Qld gov't won't let Rich in due to the Victorian covid spike. richmond-west-coast-clash-in-doubt While, I wouldn't mind a Thursday night FTA game the Rich vs WCE game was scheduled for Thur night. Will be tough for us if we play that time slot on a 4 day break. More likely the Syd vs WCE game gets that time slot and we keep the Sunday aft slot.

The reason Geelong were able to chip the ball around our fwd half is because we don't man the op. This allows them to sprint a few metres into space and take easy, uncontested marks as we are constantly chasing them. It looks like we are playing zone defence in our fwd half. That will never allow enough time to intercept the short chip kick. Geelong (and WCE and Hawks) consistently play that chip/possession game in defence, against us so I was shocked that Goodwin said that next time we come against that style of team, we will be ready. Hello! They have been doing it for years. Who does our opposition analysis? And what about counter-tactics? The frustrating thing is we let them do it all day. The coach didn't change tactics.