Lucifers Hero

With less goals there is less time for runners to deliver messages. Teams have to rely more on on-field leaders, something we are lacking. So we have suffered for this, especially in the first month this year. And, quite contrary to expectations fewer goals with fewer center bounces is reducing the importance of tap ruckmen and the flow on effect is to reduce the impact of a dominant inside midfield like ours. Perhaps, it is no coincidence that WCE stopped using 2 ruckman about a month ago. Interestingly, most teams geared up and recruited an extra ruckman on the back of the new rules and how WCE won its way to a premiership. Now, they may not be needed! Clearly, their have been unforeseen impacts of 6-6-6 and some clubs were better positioned with their existing defence oriented game plan (Geelong) or woke up to what was happening very quickly (Adelaide). Interestingly, Clarkson started the game vs GWS with the old tactic of flooding the GWS fwd line for the 1st quarter. 'Defence first' to the extreme. It worked - broke GWS's spirit and run! In the last qtr he went back to controlling the play with kick/mark to kick/mark and they had a trillion uncontested possessions. The 'penny dropped' for Goodwin after the Richmond game and our game plan changed toward 'defence first' and we won the next two games even with a significantly depleted team. Like many other teams we have been playing 'catch-up' and our players are finding it hard to re-learn 'defence first' after 3-4 years of a ballistic style of attack. Our poor defence in the earlier games wasn't only because they didn't 'run both ways'. By mid year most teams will have sorted it out and it will good to watch how strategies pan out. So Geelong and Adelaide may not be as dominant later in the year but they certainly have the early advantage when it comes to making the finals/top 4.

Thanks for finding that. There is some bad deja vu about this. ?

Question for the medico's on this site: Is 'mid-foot' another word for 'Lisfranc'?

The buildings and the oval are @dingmock up of what it would look like if we built our base there.

For every game that is close or low scoring and a good contest there are many more such games that aren't a good contest. eg our game vs GCS: one point on the siren win but both teams played rubbish. Or our win vs Hawks; played by two middle of the road teams. Low scoring, close but awful to watch. A close game does not mean a good game any more than a high scoring game means a good game. I didn't check the stats but I would guess the i50 count this year is well down across the board, so games are being played between the 50m arcs or with lots of shallow i50's so it is like watching ping-pong. The contests stifle player skills. Personally, I would rather watch a skillful game with few contests eg the excitement of a player running, bouncing the ball toward toward goal is the best part of our game ala Hannan in the Geelong final last year.

Just to add to our woes, a poster has reported in the Sam Weideman thread that he needs hip surgery ?

Please don't tell us he has been playing injured this year and in doing so has aggravated the problem...not sure I can cope with yet another player being played while under a serious injury cloud. On a different note, if he has played with hip injuries it is very commendable that he has played at all and helps explain why he hasn't played well.

I saw this article on the 6-6-6 Rule where Don Pyke: "...believes the six-six-six rule, introduced at the beginning of 2019 with the intention of creating flow and boosting scoring, has had the opposite effect..." He highlighted that there have not been many 100+ pt scores this year. So I put together a little Table showing the # of 100+ ptscores over recent years in rnds 1-8 Its no wonder games are harder to watch. This year there has been only one game where both teams scored 100+ pts, coincidentally when we played Ess. Given this (and other rules) came in because the AFL and ch7 thought 'not enough' goals were being scored and wanted to open up the game, the Table would not make them happy. iirc the AFL wanted to outsmart coaches by taking away some of their defensive tactics at centre bounces and kick-ins. Interestingly, Pyke also said: "...Adelaide simply had to adapt to the new trend and cast aside their reputation...for attack before defence". In 2018 we were proudly a fwd half team that relied on the weight of i50 entries to kick winning scores so we were about attack, attack at all costs. Perhaps it is not only our lack of two-way running that caused Goodwin to change and go back to the earlier Paul Roos strategy of 'defence first'. Lower scores are unexpected outcomes of the new rules and as Pyke says: "... I don’t know what the AFL is going to do about it.” I would say the rule changes have backfired! Over to you, Gil!

A bit harsh. Agree with your hunch that he had less mid time to make room for Jones who seems rather limited elsewhere. iirc Gus played wing for a few weeks when he first came back into the side in 2018 and struggled. Was then moved to the middle (I think Tyson made way and Viney was injured) and excelled for the rest of the year and started collecting Brownlow votes regularly. Goodwin is experimenting with player positions, perhaps forced upon him due to the amount of injuries and lack of player flexibility. Perhaps that is all there is to putting him on the wing. But if last year showed Gus does his best work in the middle. Hopefully, he is back there asap!

??? I like kittens ???

Crowd of 14,636 at Hawks game. Even allowing for it being an i/state opp and Mother's Day it was a fairly dismal effort by their 80,000 fans. Not winning games? Hawks fans = fair weather sailors, perhaps? Edit: OOps, just say SWYL and Dame Gaga's similar posts... As an aside the Cats/Roos game at Marvel Stadium up the road had 40,000+...

We had better get to and win some serious finals in the next two years as when this contract expires he is a Free Agent. He will be quite a prize for another club getting him free. He seems a loyal type but one never knows. Have been a fan since before we recruited him and is my equal #1 favourite player alongside Hunt. I know AFL is now a business but it is tough seeing favourite players go to other clubs. Salem is one I really want to be a one club player.

There is only one team that can confidently be predicted to win each week: Geelong! For the rest, complacency is the favourite's worst enemy. So nearly every game is up for grabs.

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Not seen a lot of love for Fritsch. Thought he played his best game of the year. A way to go to get back to his best but a really consistent game. Cut off a lot of offensive efforts. Was clean in marking and disposal. Will only get better from here.

Was it Goodwin being arrogant or the players. In particular the mids kicking i50? Jones, Stretch, and Viney were the worst offenders and kicked to advantage of the GCS defenders who continuously marked. Hopefully, high bombs are not coaching instructions but just lack of skill or footy IQ. I thought our fwds worked hard to try and make good on the rubbish delivery. Goodwin had a +1 in defence as per last week, until Dew decided to even up the numbers. And we played more man-on-man than zone, so less goals over the top (at least that is how it looked on tv). Having said that 3 defenders had shots on goal (Lewis, Frost and Hore) so clearly they were pushing far up the ground. Again not sure if it was the game plan, the GCS fwds taking them there (Dew crowding our fwd line) or our players being stupid (other teams keep their defensive arc around the middle of the ground when opp crowd our fwd line). While I'm on it why on earth was Frost taking a set shot for goal from outside 50 when a shorter pass was in order. Its not as if kicking is a strength. Would agree with a line thru Stretch and Oscar but unsure on Hore. Really liked his coolness to slot that goal and his modesty in not even thinking to celebrate his first AFL goal - he knew there was not time and need to keep focus. A lesson some of his more seasoned team mates can learn.

Not sure this is the right thread. I'm a bit worried about Sam. I can no longer find the tweet but a few days before last week's Casey game a footy scribe tweeted that Sam had closed his twitter and instagram accounts. Anyone have any info on Sam's 'soreness' from that Casey game as he is not on the latest injury list? Coincidence? Hope Sam is ok. He is young and all the noise and negative attention around his contract could be quite disheartening. Hopefully, he is back playing soon and can get some confidence up. And tells his manager to pipe down about the contract to media folk. Change manager even!

Fed Govt money to AFL Clubs It is like an episode from Yes Minister! Criteria for funds: Influential politician connected to club or electorate. Social causes: Ethinic groups, Indigenous groups, disabled groups Other sports: AFLW, local footy, Community use of facilities. Research projects. Quotes: ‘‘Didn’t we give money to Richmond and Collingwood in the last few weeks, too?’’ ‘‘We did. They both got the standard $15 mil. Frydenberg was involved. Richmond were doing something with their Indigenous learning centre – they’re naming it after William Cooper, and I think they threw Bachar Houli in there, too. Indigenous AND multicultural/Muslim. They’re smart. Dan Tehan’s a Richmond man, by the way. ‘‘The Pies got the money for some kind of research project with Monash – and of course, they’ll spend it on their Taj Mahal as well. Always get looked after by Labor. Shorten is a Collingwood convert. He used to barrack for the Swans. Convenient". All, too sad to read really. Melb the only Vic team not mentioned ? Others not mentioned. Freo, GCS, GWS, Port. Our disadvantages: Not having an inner suburban home ground to piggy back on to get funding. We are late comers to all the causes other clubs use to get handouts and it will be hard for mfc to come up with something new to back our cause. We don't have an electorate that connects emotionally to mfc nor do we have an influential politician connected to our club. Casey connection because in government's eyes it may compete for funding to an mfc city base. Time for our 'big end of town' members to get on their bikes and cultivate some Spring Street and Canberra relationships. BTW, does anyone know MCC's position on this? Are they in their batting for us or they don't care? I will now go back to not reading this thread as it is far too depressing...

It was ugly. But: We dominated the game. We lead on the scoreboard all game, except for a few minutes in the last. We deserved to win. However, our i50 entries are still rubbish. Mids, please lower eyes!

Everyone is entitled to an off day which are few and far between for Gus. He'll be back.

Unfortunately, in my working life I have seen several corporate HQ/Divisonal moves. If not properly done it can rip the heart out of an organisation. If we only use the oval where do all the offices, gyms, pools and other facilities go? Where is the parking? WP sounds like a fantasy...

RN, WP might work as a training venue but not as a whole of club base as we have several hundred full time and part time staff who live in all parts of Melb and rely on public transport. They have good transport links to mcg precinct with trains and trams. Many would not or could not readily get to work at WP and we would be faced with potential $ payouts, recruiting and training new staff. Not to mention loss of valuable experience. These are the same reason why Casey won't work for us. Also, Mirvac are heavily involved in WP surrounds and are in the throws of their 'finale' development. Fair chance it will build more housing on land other than the oval. And HFC have a freehold over the park and own some of the facilities. Last thing I want is for our training base to be under the eyes of the Hawk's supporters who live around the boundary of the oval. Enemy territory. Edit: just read your latest post: 'Beggars can't be choosers'. We already are beggars. We would just be moving our cup to WP. Would rather stay begging at Gosch's.

I predict that if we lose watch the 'Sack Everyone...', and 'Sack X' threads be resurrected with a vengeance! In which case a self imposed holiday from DL for a few days to avoid the meltdowns will be a good idea.

A feel good story about Lockhart's path to AFL: From Docks to Dees He has missed only 2 games since debut due to injury. Last line of the article sums it up very well: He won’t be back on the docks any time soon". It seems he has taken ANB's spot in the team, having been selected ahead of him several times. Will be interesting to see who goes out when Hannan comes back. Given the huge wrap Hibberd gave Lockhart for being 'hard as nails and one of the toughest guys he's met in footy', I doubt it will be Lockhart.

They must have heard it early at end of 2nd qtr as it looked like the Syd player kicked the ball before the siren went.