Lucifers Hero

What I've noticed about our set shots: Players don't calm themselves often players don't pace out their run-up or even have a regular run-up style. few take the 30 sec before the run up they don't 'line up' the ball with a target. they lean back when taking the kick The best set shot goal-kickers have a rigid set up routine: pacing, target, # of steps before kicking etc regardless of the state of the game. eg Kennedy, Brown, Gunston... For mine our problem is not in the kicking or even the ball drop, it is in the set up routine. The routines generally looks rushed and haphazard. That may be a byproduct of the manic, play on at all costs mind set our players have been indoctrinated in. Maybe they should be told to take the 30 sec. Train the set up routine (without even kicking the ball). As the routine becomes second nature the set shot kicking will improve.

Some comments: Huge game from Max. A tragedy that our team did little with his great work. And he had to do a lot of the work himself: 10 clearances. 9 from stoppages. What were our inside players doing at the stoppages? Wish he would learn to kick for goal. Not a decider but that last kick went left, again! Didn't like Buckley diminishing Max's game by saying Grundy played unfit. Now most reviewers are qualifying Max's achievement by quoting Buckley. Pumping up Grundy for AA ahead of Max but poor sportsmanship in my book. They won. He should have left it at that. It is an immense credit to Max that week after week he puts in champion level performances, sees his great work wasted but soldiers on. Our team are letting him down very badly.

And AFL undercover spotters claims the Richmond Cheer Squad. Surely the AFL has better things do than spend energy and money on stopping fans from cheering or cheering loudly. If these stories are even half accurate the AFL has lost the plot big time.

Correct we must use a first round pick but it need not be the original one based on ladder position. It can be traded for one or more lower first round picks or lower 1st round pick + player. For example if our final ladder position is around 4 pick and the players in that range are promising midfielders which we have plenty of so we are happy to trade it down. We could trade that pick for one in the 8-10 range plus a high second round pick. This would give us 4 picks in the top 25 instead of 2.

Our defenders were good yesterday but I feel there are structural/game plan problems there. We seem to be the only team that plays a few meters off opp and allows them to stay goal side. This is Goodwin's structural set up to attack when there is a t/o in our defensive 50. Problem is that t/o rarely happens as shown by the high opp goal to behind ratio and high goal to i50. Our defenders don't even have a chance to rush behinds or get back to the goal square. I would like to see us revert to less attacking defensive structures. At least until we can reduce the opp goals to i50 ratio.

A gaulling result as Coll were a long way from their best, Grundy played injured and they didn't get out of third gear. The narrative has changed from preseason/injuries being our problem to skill/efficiency being our problem. All true but are they the real problem?. Elephant in the room: Game Plan. Based on last night's comments by Goodwin and Jones everyone knows it but them. Opposition mantra: 'match them on the inside and we will beat them on the outside'. Translated as: let them 'win' the clearances, contested possessions and i50 stats because we know they will turn it over and they can't catch us going fwd to get easy goals!! That is why I no longer have faith in us winning those statistics. The opp are happy to 'lose' in those areas knowing they will belt us elsewhere. Akin to 'lose the battle but win the war' tactics. I don't want to lose faith in our leaders but I need to hear something from the club to say they understand the real problem and prepared to address what everyone else knows!!

Heath has been a depth player. He looks good and plays his role because of their system so is apparently in 'AA' form for just two months. Put him in our, very different, system and every chance he becomes another depth player. Walk away.

Viney must be playing injured - only 71% of game time yesterday. This is par for most games this year. Don't think we should carry him any longer. Rest Viney. We played some of our best footy in 2018 when Viney was out Oliver and Brayshaw were reading Max brilliantly and had great support from Harmes. Rest Tom Mc. We have Preuss to step in. Appears to have limitations but must be better value than Tom at this stage. Lack of full fitness is a reality but the time has passed fielding injured players who are clearly a liability. We can't play both Spargo and Garlett because one of them will always be mismatched against a bigger bodied player. Unfortunately, Casey have a bye this week so no chance for others to show their wares. Out: Viney (rested), Tom Mc (rested), Spargo or Garlett In: KK (if ready), Preuss, Lockhart NB. Dunkley looked good on Sat but a bit early for him. His turn will come before EOS

Not sure May should be giving Hore a spray. That is not my idea of good leadership and helping a new player learn. Hore has been here 5 minutes and played really well today. There are less aggressive ways to give him advice.

He will be 28 at the beginning of next year. Ha, ha - the club must think we are in premiership mode!!. We would only chase another tall defender if they were concerned about Lever long term which I doubt. The article talks about May going forward so maybe they are concerned about TMac's foot. If we want a fwd I we should go after a genuine forward rather than turn a key defender into a forward. Adelaide will want our first round pick and they know we will cave in. Walk away.

Very moving to see Brad's two little boys run out with the team. He looked very proud. Undoubtedly, their Mum also was.

This game will give a good idea of where we are at. We are evenly matched: only Jetta and Melksham of our best 22 out; Coll have 3-4. Lever and May will be rusty but so may a few of the Pies players. Pies haves smashed us with the same method in the last two games: Beat us on the inside, get the ball outside and run it fwd. This is partly because they take Viney out of the game as he has no right side. Since this game last year they have adopted more of the WCE 'controlled' kick/mark game, a style which continually brings us undone. Win or lose this will tell us how much our game plan and tactics have evolved in the last 12 months. But we have had plenty of time to prepare for them so really no excuses for not winning today.

Take Yeo out of the middle and Hurn out of defence and Eagles are half the team - they can't get the ball into their fwd line and no-one marshalls the defenders. And McGovern is lazy, he refused to chase Buddy and kept asking teammates to do his job. That 'straight line' drop punt goal form an awkward boundary position by Buddy after the siren was a thing of beauty.

I think it is time to put that 'folklore' to bed. Without checking exact dates, in 2018 key injuriy outs were: Tom Mc out for most of the first half of the season, Viney out for 2/3 of the season, AVB out for 3/4 of the season, Lever for all of the second half, Hogan out on and off. KK and May weren't on our list so they are 'virtual' outs in 2018 when compared to this year's 'missing' players. Undoubtedly, injuries and interrupted preseasons have have hurt us this year. But I believe that card has been overplayed and a review of 2018 injuries/outs shows it was also a bad year. Certainly the 2019 injuries/preseason have caused us to lose games but it alone cannot be the reason we have lost so many and why we have an appalling %age. And, our game plan is no longer the same as last year. The 'brand' Goodwin talks about is still contested footy and still manic/chaos but our structures changed from a attack to defence focus after the St Kilda game when to quote Goodwin: we are too easy to score against. In the next, Richmond game we went all out defence to stop the bleeding ala Roos style when he first arrived. Since then we have been refining that defence focused game. If we believe that all our 2019 woes are solely because of a poor preseason/injuries we run the risk of papering over other issues that lie beneath.

Not so silly. When Kyle was drafted his dad was asked who he would barrack for if the demons played bulldogs and both sons were playing. He was a bit surprised and said something like 'maybe one day they will play for the same team'. Dad has opened the door! Either way, I'm delighted we have young Kyle. And we got him for zip!!

The telecast starts on Ch7 in 20 minutes.

Please link to where Goodes said 'Invasion Day' on or when referring to Australia Day.

I think the campaign is to change the date from January 26 rather than eliminate the celebration. But unfortunately the campaign was politicised as Invasion Day and Goodes became the lightning rod for a campaign which he had nothing to do with. Federation of the existing 6 British Colonies comprising the Australian continent, occurred on Jan 1, 1901, our first federal election was on March 30, 1901and our first Prime Minister elected. My view is March 30 would be a very fitting Australia Day as that was the first time we had self rule, true independence and our democracy as one nation was formed. For mine it is more fitting than Jan 26, 1788 being the day Cook hoisted the British flag on our shores and claimed us as a British colony.

The HS website shows an article of a Max Q&A with May. Can someone who can get behind the paywall summarise the gist of it please? Edit: Should have posted this should be in the Rnd 12 thread. Nonetheless, would still appreciate it if someone could post summary. Cheers.

For those who do not recognise Lily's name: The Mithen name is MFC Royalty. mithen-name-lives-on-at-melbourne Her grandfather’s cousin is Laurie Mithen – a Melbourne great: won back-to-back Melbourne best and fairest awards in 1958-59 was a 5 time premiership player in 1955-56-57 and 1959-60. played 153 games from 1954-62 topped Melbourne’s goal kicking in 1962 named in the club’s team of the century. I believe she lived/s in the Geelong area. As another post said she had the chance to join their inaugural AFLW team but turned them down to stay with the Dees. That is loyalty. Criticising Lily for going to the football with her Geelong following friends/family is churlish. Didn't Nathan Jones go to the last Swans grand final to barrack for his brother's Swans? He certainly wasn't their to barrack for the Bulldogs!!

Shameful by that president and that club. Makes a mockery of the AFL + 18 club apology. On your friend's experience it was 17 clubs at best + 1 dissenter but the majority won carried the day. Furthers my view that the apology is shallow and opportunistic. I wonder how many non-anglo people were in the room watching the video. The president's excuses would have stung them - one doesn't need to be indigenous to experience and be hurt by racism.

We might find out on Monday how much our coaches have learnt from the way Cats, Pies and WCE play. If we stick to our manic 'chaos' game we will be in strife. Pies beat us in rnd 23 2017 and QB last year using that style. I will be keenly interested in the respective styles employed on Monday.

Tigers were certainly undermanned but were they an 11 goal worse side? I suggest not. I suggest it had more to do with a superior game plan. Tigers won the GF two years ago with manic 'chaos' football. The Bulldogs did the same 3 years ago. A lot has changed since. Geelong's win is imv a big statement on how effective the kick/mark, slow tempo, control the game style is. Geelong has always been a 'defence first' team. After their semi final loss to us Scott said he and the club would sit down and revisit every aspect of their list and how they play the game and their game plan. In effect saying to devise a way to counter a manic 'chaos' style. WCE showed them the way. They have copied the WCE 2018 Finals methods (and Hawks) to perfection. May have even improved it. Both teams have shown that it will beat the ballistic and manic 'chaos' style that Tigers, Demons and Bulldogs play especially if the latter have some key players missing. The goal:behind accuracy of Cats and WCE is a direct result of controlling the ball and opening up the fwd line to allow fwds to mark in good positions. It was a masterclass in the slow 'controlled' game plan. Hope our coaching staff were watching.

As some posts have mentioned gambling it may be worth noting that on FC this week, Matthew Lloyd said bikies turned up at training at an AFL club. He didn't name the club but suggested their presence was a 'shot across the bow' type message for a player(s). The panel went on to discuss how rife gambling is among players and is a major concern to clubs and to the AFL. Of course, the concern is not just the impact that gambling can have on someone's life and family but fall into the wrong crowd and who knows what pressures may be applied. Not suggesting this relates to Gibbs or anyone else, just that gambling is increasingly an issue in the AFL and any club can be affected.

Yesterday the AFL released an Apology to Adam Goodes for not standing by him. For the final years of Goodes' decorated career they receded into the background and did nothing while he was being vilified by crowds at games and by 'personalities' in the media and effectively hounded out of the game. The AFL has had 4 years to apologise but has not. This week two docos are released on Goodes last years in the game. They are docos in which the AFL and some key people in the industry, by their own actions and words are complicit in and added to the trauma Goodes endured. I haven't seen the docos so can't comment on them. But I will say they AFL should be supremely embarrassed that it has taken 4 years to apologise. Its hard to think there is much sincerity let alone contrition in the apology and its timing suggests it is to preempt the docos tarnishing of its 'reputation' and divert attention from the docos. The AFL are controlling 'the optics' as usual!! Whatever one thinks of Goodes or how he played the game its hard to accept how he was neglected by the AFL and those it can influence. I find the belated apology shallow and opportunistic. I would have applauded the apology had it been made when Goodes retired. Not saying the AFL should be the moral flag bearers of our society. But it should stand up and be counted when it comes to any of its players let alone one of its champions. How does the saying go: the standards we walk past are the standards we accept. Now, the apology is, imv too little, too late.