Lucifers Hero

Half way thru the 3rd and Carlton haf a 5 goal lead and heading for their first win. If it ends like this they will be 14th on the ladder. ?

Salem: The Lone Ranger. Our best again yesterday. Consistently good in most games this year.

It is laughable! Just as laughable as when Goodwin played with no wingmen vs Hawks last year. And he had Jones play as a tagger on Mitchell in that Hawks game, just as he had him tag Billings in the first half yesterday. Jones is not a tagger, is not a wingman and is not a leader. Let's get to the bye then play the kids. Can't be any worse than playing retirees-to-be and VFL level players.

Well, I was right on one of these but wrong on the other: 1. Tick - the game was lost in the coaches box. 2. Cross - our coaches were not up to the challenge and their inexperience showed. Ratten would have brought all his Hawks knowledge to the Saints and especially how the Hawks thrashed us early last year. Did our coaches not anticipate how they might play and the impact of Ratten? Goodwin needs new assistants to help him. Rich, Coll and now possibly the Saints have been transformed with a change of assistants. Some of our key line coaches (Plapp and Chaplin) had zero AFL coaching experience and it shows. Many of our coaches have not had on field success, which I know isn't everything. But, overall our assistant coaching panel is fairly lightweight. And the 2018 finals series aside (was it only a dream...) they don't seem to be creative or flexible. I am very worried about our next two games: Tigers then Hawks. Could easily be 1-6 in 10 days. I hope Goodwin is looking for new assistants now (and not just Chaplin), otherwise Pert might start looking for on his behalf.

If that is so they took a very big gamble and at this stage it has not paid off. A flag is just one side of it. The other side is: Sponsorship (Jaguar is only a one year deal); memberships (thousands of new members joined this year that probably won't next), game attendances (who wants to see thrashings); broadcasting (there go our Thru/Fri/Sat night timeslots); funding for new facilities; etc. All these will suffer badly as a result of a 1-4 start. Yes, a very big gamble and very cavalier of them to flirt with the hard work put in by so many over the last few years to get some respectability for our club. If your hunch is right, they better have a plan to get us up and running soon or we will be 1-6 in 10 days after playing Tigers and Hawks at the G.

Viney: “They got more numbers to the contest – we’d kick it long or inside 50 and I just felt like they had more numbers there than us...that’s the part where I’m not too sure how it broke down..." It is scary that even after the game he still did not know. And I prefer he didn't tell the world he doesn't know. And, how could he not know? Does he not know the game plan well enough? As co-cap and on-field leader it is his job to know the game plan backwards and be alert to when things/players are not working to the plan and initiate changes in positioning, effort, moral etc. Jack's own work rate set the example but the rest of his leadership was terrible! His leadership co-horts weren't much better. It looked like Brown's cows out there! Had hoped that with Lewis back our on-field leadership would improve. Not so.

That the new teams are able to plunder existing teams is having a horrendous affect. Bulldogs have lost their captain who is their heart and sole player and also lost their current B&F. Carlton have lost their captain and the Lions have been plundered. This is unacceptable in a fledgling competition. The AFL should have done more to protect existing teams. I don't know where Rich is getting all the money to attract big name players. It has been suggested that some players are being offered 6 figure sums to change clubs. I am very grateful that our core players are sticking with us. But what is happening elsewhere is not good for the competition and does little to engender fan loyalty to a particular club.

Future Demons The club had 15 potential future stars come along for the day, including: Kynan and Ryder Brown – sons of Nathan Brown (146 games, 1998-2007) Jemma and Paige Rigoni – daughters of Guy Rigoni (107 games, 1998-2005) Noah and Jasmine Yze – son and daughter of Adem Yze (271 games. 1995-2008) Tex Robertson – son of Russell Robertson (228 games, 1997-2009) Logan and Jade Wheatley – son and daughter of Paul Wheatley (135 games, 2000-2009) Tegan Williams - daughter of David Williams (67 games, 1983-1988) Tigga Johnstone – son of Travis Johnstone (160 games, 1998-2007) Tom and Max McDonald – sons of Anthony McDonald (104 games, 1997-2002) Kate O’Dwyer – daughter of Steven O’Dwyer (84 games, 1987-1991) Rylee and Autumn Ward – daughters of Daniel Ward (136 games, 1998-2007) How proud for the mums and dads!

My apologies Dame Gaga. HWSNBN refers to Scully in the posts suggesting we should have made a play for him. That is a good point re Buddy being private and this is probably all media click bait. Edit: HWSNBN= He Who Shall Not Be Named when Scully became a .persona non grata

HWSNBN made it clear he would only go to two clubs from GWS - we were not one of them. Why make a play for a player who has no interest in the red and blue!!

Agreed. Is said to have various off-field issues not dissimilar to Jesse! No way we would take Buddy!

AFL Player Salaries Based on the table in the article the median is between $300k and $400k. A fair chance that it is around the average of approx $360. I don't think we have a player over $800k so a few of our champs are being paid 'unders'. I recall Lewis giving the players a pep talk a few years ago that if they want the ultimate success they need to grow together so can't be asking top dollar. So far players seem to have been paying attention. As and aside, supporters have a tendency to overstate what player x might actually be earning. Only 140 of 703 players earnt more than $500k.

Sorry, I just can't abide that comment. Ablett and Buddy loved their clubs, had played for them for 8-10 years and helped them win multiple premierships. Both highly respected inside and outside their clubs. No comparison to HWSMBN who played for a year then had a dubious knee injury. He made it obvious he did not want to play in the red and blue, didn't get on with teammates, walked out on a trip to China and showed no respect for our club, President or fans. No prodigal son scenario for him at the Dees, imv!

If the clubs I mentioned want a replacement for a tall fwd there are a limited number available, so I don't agree they need a reality check. Regarding Sam's performance/potential, I'm not sure who you might be comparing him to. I compare him to other tall players in his draft year: Hipwood leads the field for consistently good performance but he wasn't available and may end up being the pick of the crop. Curnow is getting a lot of kudos but he has stalled this year. All have had fluctuating performances as has Sam. None of the draftees have stood up in a big game like Sam did in the finals. imv he is as good if not better than most of his peers. I have little doubt when Hawks, Cats, Pies, Ess, Sydney go hunting for a fwd they will look at that pool. What other choices do they have? I don't wish to buy into what Sam's $ worth as Mahoney has great control over our salary cap and keeping players. But we supporters shouldn't underestimate that he would be in demand.

I'm rethinking 'not worried' of a few days ago. This game may be won or lost in the coaches box. Saints have some decent new Assistant Coaches: Brett Ratten - a Clarkson protege, ex Senior Coach and premiership captain, Brendon Lade - premiership ruckman. They seem to have their players up and about each week with fairly consistent, albeit not great performances. I think our comparatively inexperienced coaches are up to the challenge but it is shaping up to be quite a different game to last year.

It is a shame there have been some unsatisfactory experiences with the membership department. I need to put in a good word for them. I thought during the finals series they were outstanding helping people thru the ticketing process. Ditto during the early days of the membership renewal to get reserved seats together. They were also inundated with requests for memberships, upgrades and reserved seat requests in Sept/Oct. November is close to peak period - the team was trying to satisfy all member requests and update their info for it to go to the mailing house in time to get packs out promptly. @pewpewpewsend an email to the membership department and mark it for Tracy's attention. I found her to be outstanding.

Not sure if it came via email or I found it on club website. 2019 Heartbeat

Chugging along nicely at 47,174. 6,600 ahead of similar time last year. On last year's trend we should end up at around 52,000+, a 15% increase on 2018.

It was a special goal at a crucial time to event he scores. Well done. Look forward to more. Vote for him here: GOTY Vote That should go some way to build his confidence and trust his instincts.

Coaches Votes: 9 Max Gawn (MELB) 9 Nathan Jones (MELB) 4 Oliver Florent (SYD) 4 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 2 Jayden Hunt (MELB) 2 Christian Salem (MELB) Not sure we were that dominant but I'll take it. Allir Allir and Heeny a bit unlucky to not poll. Well done to all the guys. Interestingly, Salem has hardly rated a mention in this thread. He is silk but not flashy so he goes under the radar a bit. Good to see he is attracting the coaches' eye as he has now polled their votes in 2 of the 4 games so far. Our quiet achiever.

As Casey have a bye I wonder if the club will organise a practice match for them. Then Lewis and May can have a game-type run as they have had next to nil game time in the last month. (Jones, Viney and Melksham played Casey practice matches just before the season proper). Also a good chance to have another look at Garlett and others, maybe KK if over concussion. Just a few quarters each and modify their training and have them all cherry ripe for ANZAC Day. More generally, we play 3 games over a 13 day period which is similar to playing 3 games with 2 consequtive 6-day beaks. Our fitness staff are used to this sort of stuff. Didn't we have 3 or 4 consequtive 6 day breaks with interstate trips in the middle of 2017? Lots of options available to the club so I don't see the 4 day break as a problem especially as we have an extra 2.5 days extra rest than Rich this week and they also play ANZAC Eve off 4-day break. They need to manage the return of Houli, Cotchin, Dusty and Riewoldt if they are to play ANZAC Eve. So their player management issues are similar to ours. So ANZAC Eve will be a level playing field. Just to note: After ANZAC Eve we have a 10 day break so plenty of recovery time before playing the Hawks who have a 6 day break. So we are doing ok with time between games.

I was thinking an extra 3 days of recovery from niggles and bruises for the players, not extra training. To my mind the extra 3 days rest is a considerable advantage to freshen up, especially if we are wanting to curtail Saint's speed. 3 extra days rest should also enable us to run out the game better. As for the 4 day break to ANZAC Eve. Rich have the same 4 day break but they have two days less recovery than us this weak having played yesterday. No excuse for either team not turning up ready to play ANZAC Eve. It will be a level playing field. Potentially we have quite a few players fresh for next week or ANZAC Eve. Casey have no game next week and by all accounts Garlett and Petty played well so they are available vs Saints or ANZAC Eve. Lewis, May and Jetta probably won't play vs Saints as they are coming back from injury and a 4 day break may not be enough. So they will be very fresh for ANZAC Eve. Plenty of flexibility there to rotate players and keep the team fresh. Richmond are in the same boat to manage the return of Houli, Cotchin and Riewoldt.

We have an extra 3 days rest over the Saints. If we can't beat them with such a head start then we don't deserve to compete for finals. The players and coaches will not have forgotten how we let that game slip last year: too little, too late. We will win.

Goddard calls out Brown on flopping for frees: " ...just stand up and play like a man". Ouch, Ouch!! Not a fan of Goddard but good on him for calling Brown out albeit rather brutally. There are enough umpires on the ground to keep an eye on Brown who is a serial offender.

I didn't see this match but bulldogs and pies tried to copy the eagles control/possession game in the first half. Neither looked very skilled or confident using it and they also fell down fwd of centre. The first half was like backyard footy playing kick-mark. Awful game to watch. Pies dropped this style after half time. WCE usually go fast into i50 once they have the ball fwd of center and do it very well. Interesting that freo may have found the way to stop that. Good observations W11 - will be interesting to see how the styles evolve this year.