Lucifers Hero

The AFL is reviewing NGA rules and zones. There is a push to include Pacific Island descendants in the new rules. The new rules/zones will be effective in the 2026 draft. We can still draft him but use a higher pick than we otherwise would. The frustrating thing is this will be the third time in not many years we miss a key player due to on-the-run AFL rule changes. The others: Noah Anderson due to GCS getting pick 2 as a priority pick. He is now their captain. We did get Jackson so not sure we lost out short term but probably did long term. Mac Andrew due to the silly not being allowed to match under draft pick #40 rule. No prior warning. That rule was quickly rescinded. Too late for us. Now one of the highest potential players in the league. I'm not suggesting an AFL conspiracy against us but last year Carlton (F/S) and Essendon (NGA) did a fine job of lobbying for the new bid matching rules to not take effect until 2025. Maybe we just don't lobby enough.

No problem. I would rather believe you and your sources who are usually quite reliable than Morris. Actually I think it quite funny that he has been caught out; hoisted by his own petard so to speak!

There may be some miscommunication/misunderstanding with what Salem said as the post above indicates that something similar to Tom M's X report did happen. What station was Salem on and is their a link?

I had a quick look at 'The Punt Road End' forum. Similar tone to that in the o.p. Found a couple with a bit of humour: Petty coming into form w/out Van Rubber Band and Bailey Selfish playing. Who can stop him? Dow kicked a goal - that'll guarantee him another 5 games at least. I am not buying the Gray love.... Same, raw as sushi. No Dylan Grimes that’s for sure.

Too sensible for me! At least the Pies version of this thread gives us plenty of ammo to fire back. Some argy bargy is good but looks unlikely from Tiggy fans. No fun at all. btw, I tried to PM you some info but received a msg was you aren't accepting PM's

These threads can take a bit of time so really appreciate you starting them up again😁. They are a rather unimaginative lot: No derision. No sniping. No faux arrogance. No humour. Not much for us to push back on! They are no fun at all!🤷🏻‍♀️

Thanks. So the club has lost the sponsorship $ from Darwin and lower gate takings from Marvel vs the G I'm pretty sure our membership cost went up for that extra Darwin game at the G. Taking it to Marvel disadvantages members further as we don't get the Home ground benefits the G provides. Others can advise if we need to pay for a reserved seat at a Marvel Home game. Ok so we play a Home game at Marvel but it should not be at the expense of the hard one Darwin G game. They should take it from another venue. Who cares what Ess and Carlt want - we had an agreement to play 10 games at the G.

Is it to be assumed that was with the blessing of teammates?

Checked the club and the Alice replacement game is rnd 23 vs Hawks. No idea how we got to THREE games at Marvel this year. (2 x Away and 1 x Home) iirc correctly, when we gave up the Darwin game (and the sponsorship $) Pert did a spiel on us getting that Home game back to the G (as well as the replacement game for Alice). Somehow it seems we have lost that. Is that how others remember it? I wonder if the club tried to negotiate the venues.

Me too. And enjoyed reading it twice.

loving-my-time-kozzy-s-all-in-as-demons It reads as if Kozzie is still going. BUT Does that not bring a tear to the eye.. Not an easy decision for Kozzie. It will be a very sad parting.

Yes, I remember some strong comments from you. Being close to the club you would know better than most what went down. I find it heartening that you are now a fan. Good on you!❤️💙

Thank you. That gave me goose bumps! And a slight 🥹. My belief in him has never wavered.

Didn't notice their fans He was at the end of the ground so couldn't see the detail. Fend off or Peace sign, either way it was fun to see.

That clarifies why he came straight in without a game at Casey.

I reckon a lot of families treated it as a day out. Met a family on the train in from NZ who had never been to a game and wanted to experience one at the G. The little kids were in demons gear so chatted to them a bit. I was particularly happy for them as the game went on as I was for us all and especially the little ones. They can go back to school feeling proud again!

Talking of the crowd. Demon fans take a bow: Small in number but gigantic in sound and enthusiasm. It felt like a packed stadium.

Two special moments: Viney's side step before acing a goal. Great composure. Kozzie in the goal square with his arm behind him and hand up as if to fend off a Freo player but he knew there was no one there😁. Very cheeky but the crowd loved it.

@Ghostwriter Is @ghost who walks your alter ego 😁? I do say there are some subtle but uncanny similarities in writing styles, humour etc ... 😁 No voodoo dolls please!

Yes, I said we didn't and still don't have the right players. Yet we didn't learn from that WCE experience. At least WCE brought in coaches to help, We didn't. Longmire brought in someone who was able to develop a system to suit their list.. We could have learnt from both and maybe tried something that had a better chance of working with what we have. We could have recruited an assistant coach that had the relevant experience.

Agreed. Simpson said they liked how Port attacked so got Port folk in but their attempts at a system change still failed as they didn't have the right players. Longmire on the other hand got the attacking Don Pyke to 'balance his own defensive' leanings (paraphrasing) and they went on to play in GF, albeit it they wilted badly when they got there.. Who did Goodwin get to help implement a new system and 'balance his own defensive' leaning? No one! And we didn't learn from WCE of a new system without the players needed to execute it. And really if we look at the CV of our assistant coaches they are rather Meh! Haven't looked too closely at the assistants at other clubs but reckon ours, collectively would be close to the worst in the league in terms of variety of experience and directing change. No wonder we are where we are.

I get that fwds haven't been performing but each week we've had at least 2 fwd changes sometimes to players who appear to be in form. It was a bad look last week when only one tall fwd was selected and he was also to ruck then at half time Goodwin said Petty was moving fwd as we needed the aerial presence, something that was obvious at selection. So coaches need to share the responsibility for our fwd line not performing. My main point was the 'revolving door' of fwds isn't helping The New Plan. I'd prefer we select a fwd 7 and stick to them (except for injuries) and persevere until it clicks. It couldn't have been any worse.

I'm glad Goodwin is sticking to The New Plan. It is often said for a team to click (gain cohesion) they need to play together, play together, play together. The fwd 7 players are a revolving door! How can that possibly help executing The New Plan.

tbh, I prefer Fritsch played a full game at Casey to gain a bit of confidence and show form. Very difficult to earn a spot back in half game. As to your question: who knows with selections! It looks random to me with the fwds being a revolving door without apparent rhyme nor reason. Fritsch has his best two weeks in a while and gets dropped! Go figure! btw, I didn't like the heat put on him for the babe-in-arms gesture after his goal last week. I loved it; a nice touch to honour his little one. It is no different than a player kissing their black arm band or pointing to the sky after a goal to honour someone who has passed away.

I calc the average cost to be $190 so the drop in revenue is close to $1.875 ml. On a slightly brighter not, to offset that, the club might make special membership offers to help. And ANZAC and KB being Home games will also help offset the lost membership revenue. It is next year that the $ pain will be felt!