Lucifers Hero

Source: Champion Data Fixture Summary The Bulldogs have gone 'under the radar' in terms of media review of the fixture. They have an absolutely dream run re who they play twice, 5/6 day breaks, i/state trips etc. If someone ran an analysis of all the variables I reckon they could come out with the 'easiest' draw of the lot! The AFL is giving the Bulldogs every chance of be relevant again. Ditto Adelaide, they have a dream draw but travelling i/state makes it a bit harder. Both clubs have fared well given there recent successes in finals. Coll doesn't travel so much but lucks out with 8 six day breaks. Essendon is also up there with 7 six day breaks. Who is played twice is not a measure of how difficult 2019 becomes; some top teams slide, others come up. I expect Cats, Swans, Hawks to slide a bit. Question is who rises to take their spots - Crows? Bombers? Power? Our draw is very reasonable. I like that we play Sydney and Ess early in the season and if we win those we are off to a good start re potentially difficult teams. One thing is certain, it will be a very open season again.

Home games at the G vs Ess, Hawks, Tigers and Pies is huge for us financially. Also huge for fans to see us play some really big games at the G. Will be good for memberships. Lots of good value games to watch - a few may be sell out games! Edit: Not fussed that ANZAC and QB are 'Away' as we only miss out on hosting rights - the 'return' games will still get good crowds as fans come to the G to watch some damn good games.

Travis Auld: “We want to bolster Friday nights, we want to make sure that Thursday and Fridays are really strong that those feature events are there.” "We want to reward teams that have been playing really good football...West Coast and Collingwood are the two obvious ones but Melbourne and Essendon look quite exciting after trade period...So we want to feature them in the right spots as often as we can.” Melbourne and Essendon set to take centre stage Thursday and Friday nights here we come!! Hopefully a few are home games at the G as better for our sponsors and members!

Not sure if this is guesswork but here is a view of the Easter - Anzac weeks. Thursday 18 April: Easter Thursday (Brisbane v Collingwood?) Friday 19 April: Good Friday game (North Melbourne v Essendon?) Saturday 20 April: Four games Sunday 21 April: Easter Sunday, two games Monday 22 April: Easter Monday (Geelong v Hawthorn) Tuesday 23 April: No footy Wednesday 24 April: Anzac Eve (Richmond v Melbourne) Thursday 25 April: Anzac Day (Collingwood v Essendon) Friday 26 April: Friday Night Footy Saturday 27 April: Four games Sunday 28 April: Two games Easter and Anzac Logjam Presumably the AFL will keep the Rich vs Coll and Demons vs Ess as the games post ANZAC day. Hopefully, Melb and Richmond play their Pre Anzac games on the same day, ideally Sat April 20, altho the article suggests Rich could play North on Good Friday. I just hope we are not disadvantaged by having the shortest breaks during that 3 week period relative to our opps. Will put my hand up as being wrong about an Ess vs Carlton Good Friday Eve match. It was requested by Ess and endorsed by Carlton but fortunately the AFL had different ideas.

Heard the news? The AFL wants 'Carlton to be Great Again'!!! AFL general manager...Travis Auld: the Blues were never going to be stripped of the fixture privilege despite their struggles in recent seasons. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-10-27/afl-reveals-opening-round-fixture-for-2019 Carlton will get other favours one way or another: The new Good Friday Eve vs Ess game, also a stand alone, marquee Thur night game. They may have less Fri nights but will still get some, will have lots of Home games at the G vs big Vic clubs (good for revenue) and will get more than their fair share of FTA broadcast time slots eg Saturday night and Sun afternoons. Yes, some sour grapes on my part when it comes to Carlton's many privileges but mostly I feel for the likes of North, Bulldogs and Saints who are small and get few favours to help grow: Catch -22!!

Fair comments by those that suggest a crowd of 25K+ will break even/make money. But this for the majority of the season from smallish crowds vs i/state and small Vic clubs is not financially beneficial. But, my comment re financial impact of Home game opponents was that if the majority are vs 1/state or small Vic teams we are being disadvantaged. Imagine the difference to our bottom line if we played Ess, Hawth, Rich or even Carlton at Home at least once each season. Anyway, I feel we have earnt the right to host those clubs at the G. Will eagerly await the fixture to see how we fare. I bet Carlton do better than us at the G and they aren't even a tenant! Ditto Essendon but to a lesser extent.

The AGE: "The AFL...is set to reveal the full fixture on Wednesday" The Easter/ANZAC fixturing will be interesting to see which of the 4 ANZAC game teams get advantaged. Ess have pushed for a new time slot - Good Friday Eve game vs Carlton. So Ess will have the biggest advantage over that period. As we play them after ANZAC Eve I'm preparing for disappointing news on length of our breaks between games. Hopefully, we play Easter Saturday afternoon.

I'm not so sure it will. Remember we are now out of pokies so that revenue is gone. Sure, winning games will bring out our demon fans but not i/state fans and we need big crowds to boost revenue and to keep Home games at the G which means a decent number of opposition fans. Home games vs Port, GWS, GCS, Freo, StK, North, Syd, Brisb just aren't going to fill the seats and help us financially (and fund things like new facilities). We have now earnt the right to get a decent fixture that will help us financially and our Home game opponents is a key part of that.

Port is not a good start to the season financially. We will probably lose money or barely break even. Last year the majority of our Home games at the G were against i/state teams or small Vic teams both of which are terrible for our Revenue. Add to that our two Home games in NT and our revenue from Home games becomes rather meagre. In 2019 we will be relying on the QB vs Coll games to top up the coffers (ANZAC Eve is Away). Oh, and please no more gifting Carlton and Essendon 4 - 6 Home games each at the G. It is not their home ground. Let them play at Marvel!!

Yes, 5kg heavier (96 kilos) but 5cm shorter. That in itself tells a story. I have a niggling doubt - that he might be of the Watts, Hogan mould. Talent to burn, lauded as a star before time but struggles with motivation to do the difficult things to be the best he can be eg diet, fitness. Jessie leaving really opens up the forward line for Trac to kick more goals and find space. Hope that is enough motivation to step up: He would be aware that his contemporaries at the dees and elsewhere ie JDG have moved well past him. Time for him to shine, to cast away the doubts.

Mahoney said May will be the General of the backline. So it doesn't matter if he isn't in the 'official' Leadership Group. Lynch isn't coveting Cotchin's captain role and I suspect May to have the same approach and probably quite happy to have that burden lifted and settle into our structures and our culture.

Unfortunately, Essendon has already earmarked the Good Friday Eve game but against Carlton and to make it an annual event. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-proposes-good-friday-eve-blockbuster-against-carlton-for-2019-20180809-p4zwlb.html It is yet to be ok'd by AFL but wouldn't be surprised if it happens - AFL is still trying to get Carlton 'successful again...' As we will play Ess the week after Anzac Eve/Day - it gives them a big advantage by having a longer break before the Anzac games. Hopefully we get Saturday afternoon to even it up a bit. Will be filthy if we get Sunday twilight. As an aside, I just don't get this fixation of including Carlton in big games. They do not deserve the permanent opening season fixture and certainly don't deserve the Good Friday Eve game.

He still loves Jessie. ? The video of him hearing the sad news is in this link How many kids going this. I am especially thinking of the little guy in the pic below who is the son of @markc Hope your little fella and family find a new demon hero.

It was mentioned somewhere that Carlton tried to get him during this year for a similar job. Being a smart fellow, he turned them down but that was when there was much talk that he was a serious contender to replace Jackson. Hopefully, he and Pert become good mates. But he is such a good operator, for his career development he will move on at some stage. Hopefully, not before we deliver a premiership or two.

Quite the opposite: "Jesse Hogan has taken a significant pay cut to get back to his family in Perth and play for Fremantle". https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/hogan-accepts-pay-cut-to-join-fremantle-as-stars-switch-clubs-20181017-p50aa2.html It makes his decision to go to Freo even more baffling: leaves a team on the brink of success for one at the bottom, takes only a three year deal and a pay cut. Baffling. Its no wonder we weren't able to get a better trade deal - much easier to get top picks if player is on a long-term multi $m deal. Mahoney did a great job getting the deal he did.

Heartfelt and classy. Well done, Jesse. As an aside it seems Jesse demanding an 8 year contract was rubbish. He signed for three!

The overall picture is: We have 7 senior list vacancies and 7 pics if we need them. We won't need them if we run with less than 40 players on our list or we take a delisted free agent. I will update the 'Contracts' thread after pick trading closes in a few days and we know about the length of May, Preuss and Kolodjashnij contracts. Edit: Just heard we have done a pick trade with the Saints: 36 and 46 for their 28. So the above table is picks: 23, 28, 54, 62 etc Not a bad hand given our earliest pick was 36 ? Who knows there me still be a player trade to be done...certainly there are plans for pick 23 and 28!! Go Josh!!

There is a lot on here of Jessie's shortcomings. Many on here happy to pot him on his way out. I loved watching him play and he was an important part of our team while it was being rebuilt. He was our only key forward for a few years (Clarke and Dawes always injured). He deserves recognition for sticking around when he could have left and spent more time with his dad. Thanks Jessie for sticking with us during our tough times. All the best at Freo. Hope going home brings you the happiness you are seeking.

Yes, pre-recorded interviews - virtual live reality!!

Still looks fine to be - If 6 is acceptable to GCS for May and KK it doesn't matter that it isn't #5. Whatever gets the deal done.

This is the result when nothing of note happens in the trade period. Reporters just make stuff up! https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-trade-whispers-young-fremantle-players-could-be-circuitbreakers-for-jesse-hogan-deal/news-story/6d5dbe87393d2fb06af54e56b7e89861 The excommunicated demon fan, Tom Morris hypothesises that a young gun Freo player might be part of the Hogan deal. It is an embarrassing article as it is so obvious he made it up (par for the course I guess).

For those wondering how we are going to fill our list vacancies: if the Hogan trade goes down as mooted (May, Kolodjashnij and #23) we will have 7 vacancies and 7 draft picks between 23 and 91. Options to fill vacancies: use the late picks to make rookies (Keilty and T Smith) senior players then replenish our rookie stocks in the rookie draft have a senior list of < 40 players (38 is the minimum) take delisted players, which don't require draft picks so some draft picks remain used. If 3. the unused picks can be traded to a team needing draft points for a higher pick. Pick trading can happen on Thur and Friday. Then again during the draft as we have Live Pick Trading this year. How many picks we take to the draft is yet to be seen but we have plenty of options to fill our list.

Agreed, I kept quiet but was shattered when there were rumours on here that he might be up for trade. Couldn't cope with he, Tyson and Bernie going simulatneously!

That we are essentially replacing Hogan with a backman says Hogan is superfluous to our needs ie there really isn't a role for Jessie in our team. That there was talk of playing him in defence (with or without May) reinforces that. We are moving Jessie at the right time and three players for one: May, KK and #23 is a good deal. Assuming, we find a temporary/permanent solution to outside speed with who we have or get, there is every chance we will not have any real weaknesses in our team next year. Sure performances will vary but the team overall will be very strong.

" Port Adelaide – which hold picks 6 and 10 – and Adelaide (8 and 13) were both working on ways...to acquire pick five". https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/no-5-is-alive-as-sa-clubs-try-to-claim-local-talent-20181016-p50a10.html So who will end up holding pick 5: Lions, Freo, Demons, Suns, Port, Crows? I wouldn't put it past Freo to trade Neale for #5 + something (mooted to be a Coll 1st round pick for Beams), then cash in #5 with Crows/Power or keep it for themselves. Freo can't lose: Get Hogan on the cheap by offering a lower round 1 pick from the SA club (plus something) or take the SA picks to the draft.