Lucifers Hero

My conclusion is based on probable round 6 results: 1. North and Freo to comfortably win their games so one of them end up in the top 2 after their round 7 'showdown'. North will probably thrash Coll which will give them a huge %'age again (it was 201% before this week). 2. The Crows to thrash GWS building on their 178.1%. 3. Dees to beat Bulldogs but by how much? Not sure it will be enough to bridge the %'age gap with the Crows or North after round 6. 4. So I expect to go into the final round vs Crows with a larger %'age gap than now. Also, they are a formidable outfit and can't see them letting us have a big win when a finals spot is up for grabs. They will know they don't have to win. They also know we are not accurate kicks for goal. Defend, defend, defend, will be their mantra. 5. If North thrash Coll and gain a huge %'age we will have to better that (even it they lose to Freo) to make top 2. Hence the conclusion 'statistically possible but very unlikely' that we will make the top 2. I desperately hope I am wrong as we have been a very good side for the last 3 years and I think we deserve to be there. If it wasn't for the silly finals structure we would be.

Sadly, it will take a miracle for us to get to top 2 of Conf A. Ladder is: While statistically possible, it is very unlikely that we will be in top 2 of Conf A to play in finals. Its a crazy finals system but not much we can do about it.

I also take back what my earlier comments :-) we fixed the goal kicking: 5.2 in the second half. A good win and a 39 point win will certainly help our percentage. Big game starting shortly: Nth vs Crows. Hoping for a big North win - they have the first finals spot sewn up so a big defeat of the Crows will really help us in race for second.

We totally dominated that quarter but kicked 2.5. Many easy shots missed. We needed to nail some of those to get some % to give us a fighting chance of the second spot on the ladder. Just winning won't be enough to make finals.

For those yet to renew, I just saw this on club website: Renew by Friday 22nd March and be in the draw to WIN You could WIN: - Return flights and accommodation for 2 people to our Round 18 game in Alice Springs - 2 x Tickets to attend Round 18 in the Territory Lounge - 2 x Post-match access Change room passes for Round 18 - VIP training experience in Alice Springs It might help the cause if the club put that in a story on the Home page rather than buried in a tab on the 'Membership' page. Membership is now 37,856 - 4,500 up on same time last year and 7,200 to break last year's record. And 12,200 to get to the magic 50,000 members! I reckon we can do it, especially if the MCC/MFC campaign goes well!

AFL is activating the Heat Policy: https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-02-28/afl-to-enact-heat-policy-for-jlt-this-weekend The quarter-time and three-quarter time breaks will run for eight minutes (increased from six minutes), while the half-time changeover period has been extended to 22 minutes rather than the usual 20 minutes. Teams will also be permitted the following: Two additional water carriers Trainers permitted to enter the arena at any time during the match to deliver water (they must remain well clear of play). Only sensible thing to do! Edit. It looks like all teams in the JLT play with an extended bench. Tonight, Carlton have 5 on the bench and Ess have 8. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-02-28/final-teams-carlton-v-essendon

I see this thread is off the main board again. fwiw I thought the Round 4 thread got a good reception with quite a few 'non-regular' AFLW posters chipping with constructive comments and observations on the game. And approx 2,500 views is pretty good considering only 4 threads on the front page of the main board have exceeded that (excluding the pinned and No B$ threads). Or just an oversight perhaps.

It is very sad that the mental health issue loophole is being exploited. To my mind if you are well enough to play you are well enough to be drug tested. By condoning this loophole club doctors, AFLA, AFL etc are doing a great disservice to players with genuine issues. It may even get to the stage where such 'clean' players don't take time out for genuine mental health issues for fear of being labelled drug test avoiders. Can't help think that there are players with genuine and serious issues that are not seeking treatment. Majak comes to mind. This loophole does not help their cause.

The allegation is players are claiming mental health issues to avoid testing even if they have not stepped aside from the game. They keep playing without being tested.

Surprised at the general absence of Sydney and Hawthorn. I counted 7 who did not include either yet the same folk included North. Goodness me!! With all the woe befalling the Saints I wouldn't be surprised if they make a mad dash for the wooden spoon!.

No from me. I like to see the team rock up in club colours when representing the club. Arrival at games is part of that. And I would rather players focus on the game than their wardrobe and reactions to it. Talk about giving the 'social media' more fodder to work with. Trolls will have a field day. Not surprised Dangerfield said 'Yes'. He would say it is all about drawing a younger audience to the game ala the fan-fare of AFLX. For mine, there is enough fanfare in AFL already: after goals, half time etc. But then I'm not in their 'target market' group.

We scored well in the Coaches votes again: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2019-02-26/aflw-four-demons-poll-aflca-votes 6 – Emma King (NMFC) 5 – Kate Hore (MELB) 5 – Jess Duffin (NMFC) 5 – Lily Mithen (MELB) 5 – Emma Kearney (NMFC) 3 – Tyla Hanks (MELB) 1 – Karen Paxman (MELB) Interestingly, very different views among the coaches as to who the best/better performers were. No stand out player as viewed by them. Well done to our vote scorers.

No we didn't tag Kearney. It was obvious in the first Q that she was having a big day and I was expecting us to make her accountable in the second Q, even if she wasn't tagged all the time. Just make her earn her possessions like some not so gentle crashing and tackling, like everyone did to Daisy in the last few years. Tagging doesn't seem a tactic used in AFLW. Things to learn.

Q.1. Apparently, the Code allows mental health issues, as an exemption from testing. It doesn't seem like players need to supply medical evidence to such claims. It sounds like a big loophole in the code. One would think that if a player was too unwell to take a test, he is too unwell to play at AFL standard. If more than a few players at a club were claiming mhi to exempt from testing one would be concerned about the management of that club. Alarm bells should be sounding at the AFL long before 16 (or 10 or 5) players from one club used mhi as an out. AFL prefers to keep its head in the sand and hope it all goes away. After all, its the optics that count, right? Q.2. I don't know the history of the testing

Very good points. The newly formed sports watchdog (Sports Integrity Australia, which will absorb ASADA) has asked the AFL for info about player testing (sans player names) https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/watchdog-urges-afl-to-hand-over-drug-info-20190219-p50yoz.html Unsurprisingly, the ALFPA are anti; can't find an AFL response but suspect they would be anti as well. Personally, I can't see the problem with giving the SIA data without player names.

Just to clarify. The policy is currently 4 weeks out for second strike. Nick is saying 4 weeks for first strike ie zero tolerance. Agree with Nick and yourself.

JLT2 is vs Lions who also play their JT1 on Sunday, in the midday sun. The forecast up there is only 29 but with 90' humidity. JLT1 will be just as tiring for them so for JLT2 neither team is disadvantaged much as both have 6 day turnaround and poor weather conditions. Anyway, they are practice games - we can practice playing in poor weather... Hopefully sanity prevails and player welfare is taken care of when there are extreme weather conditions. Edit: Two SA teams scheduled to play JLT1 in 39' heat early in the afternoon so I suspect a few clubs will be talking to the AFL about starting times etc. But any changes may depend on what the broadcasters are prepared to do.

Not sure Nick has his facts right. Tom started playing forward in mid 2017. This time last year he was injured but when he did play it was as a forward. So he has been a forward (not a swingman) for the best of 18 months. Reckon there are some biases in his top 10 rankings. But he is right about Tom thriving this year being the main man. Agree that Tom can win the Coleman this year, especially if the high level of forward deliveries are more accurate than the past. Dittto don't see Jessie winning it especially as he seems to be playing a high forward/mid role at Freo.

Over the last week there have been a lot of claims and counter claims: - players using 'mental health issues' to avoid testing. The implication is they don't actually have a mental health issue. This excuse was used by 16 players from one club according to Ross Stevenson from 3AW. This was rebuked by Eddie, AFLPA, AFL. - Grant Thomas was told (after his coaching finished at the Saints) that unbeknown to him, drug use was 'rife' among the players during his reign. Strongly rebuked by Nick Del Santo and Spider Everett. Now Nick Reiwoldt says: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/a-free-for-all-riewoldt-lashes-players-over-afl-illicit-drug-policy-20190225-p50zzs.html “The AFL, by their own admission on their own website, what the policy is designed to do is to identify players with substance abuse issues and place support around them to protect their health and wellbeing...the vast majority of players don’t have substance abuse issues, they’re taking the [censored] because the system allows it. "It depends what your definition of out of control is. I would say it’s out of control.” Riewoldt called for players to be hit with a four-week ban on the first strike. “What I would say, if they’re serious about getting the number closer to zero, remove the safety net,” he said. “If players do have a legitimate substance abuse issue, then getting a suspension on their first detection is probably the least of their worries. They need to get their life together". How often do we hear of a player having an injury, personal issues, mental health issues or glandular fever and are out of the game for 4 weeks. Without casting dispersions on people with those issues, its hard not to think a '4 week suspension is being played out' for a second strike. I agree with Nick: first strike and 4 weeks suspension. No excuses for avoiding testing either. The AFL has said it will review its drug policy. Code for getting it out of the media. I certainly hope that the club with allegedly 16 players using 'mental health issues' isn't the demons. I reckon Mahoney and or Goodwin would get wind of it somehow and make sure the culprits are weeded out one way or another. So doubt it is us.

Yes. By their own stats female participation is where the growth is. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-02-24/females-lead-big-rise-in-footy-participation-rate AFLW is already being played internationally and it will do more for AFL international exposure than AFLX ever will. An anecdote. My niece lives in Hong Kong and her team won their local AFLW comp last year. I was surprised they even had a comp. It was made up primarily of expats. The expat's kids are playing the game and the families will eventually go back to their home country. This is what will help spread the game internationally not AFLX. (My delight was not only that her team won but her team wears our Demon colours and she is a staunch Pies supporter ? )

AFL spruikers and media have changed the narrative (spin) on a Conf ladder vs a Combined ladder. They are now saying the best two teams will still play in the GF effectively acknowledging that the top two Conf B teams will lose their finals. This conveniently ignores that two of the best 4 teams may not play finals at all and they would be worthy contenders in the GF. So AFL please note, no we won't necessarily get the best teams in the GF so stop treating us like idiots who unthinkingly absorb your spin!!

The Run Home: Conf A: Can't see North loosing top spot with one game and good %age over others. It then becomes a race for second. To help our cause North need to thrash Adel and Freo. And we need to win all three. Its doable but challenging with Adel now finding form. What a tantalising rnd 7: 1 vs 3 and 2 vs 4! The top two will go down to the wire. But will North rest players, etc and just let Freo win as they are much less of a threat than Melb or Crows in the finals. As a comparison, think Crows vs Eagles last AFL game of 2017 which kept us out of finals by a whisker. Finals for us will most likely be decided by our last game vs Crows. Lets just hope we don't miss on %'age, again! Conf B: Nothing to say except on current performance no team deserves to play finals and it will be tragic to see two of the best teams miss out because of the warped conference system where the top two teams of each conf play finals. For those that don't go to AFLW Board there is a thread on the Conference system farce here

Robbed by the umpires! Those 3 dubious frees within 20m of North goals at the 7/8 min mark in th elast Qtr from which they kicked the winning goal. And, the missed frees in our favour all game. OMG! Terribly deflating to have a really good game decided like that.

Of course they should be called out. I would think the Crows have the police and the social media platform the post was made on track the real person. Eddie has dignity, skill and patience. Feel for him. A much respected person of the game. Deserves better. I would be over-the-top livid if this happened to our equivalent: Jetta.

Qtr Time: Dees 1.0.6 North 1.1.7 Not much sign the wind is having an impact. Low scoring but good quality game. We need to make Emma Carney accountable - getting too much of the ball. And btw she has gone to the Joel Selwood school of milking free kicks: lifts the elbow and hunches the shoulder to draw a high free. For some reason we seem to be pushing our forwards a long way up the ground so difficult to get the ball into scoring range. We played a more balanced field in recent weeks.