Lucifers Hero

Following on @MSFebeypoint on injuries. The scary team is Hawthorn. Grant Birchall Knee 2-4 weeks Harry Jones Shoulder Indefinite Ben McEvoy Cheekbone 3 weeks James Sicily Wrist 4 weeks They will have Birchall, McEvoy and Sicily back for finals. Virtually a full list and certainly all their top 30 to choose from. Hawks are the real wild card in the finals. They will have everything going for them: Master coach, healthy list, hardened finals campaigners. Beware the Hawks come September!!

Bugg actually got a lot more than 6 weeks - he has played only 3 games since and it seems he is unlikely to play for us again. Maybe the Mills incident dented his confidence. Maybe the club's NDH policy has sidelined him. Gaff is a much better player than Bugg so not sure if mfc would apply the same NDH policy. I would like to think we are consistent. Given last year's delist/trade decisions and this year's (non) selection decisions there is every indication mfc still values the NDH policy. Notwithstanding how distressing this is for everyone involved, I doubt if it would affect the club's decision on Gaff. It seems more of an aberration than a character flaw.

Very true. For what is facing us: Sydney are playing with a lot of their players injured and are inconsistent. WCE are not playing well and without Kennedy, Nic Nat and Gaff will struggle. GWS have big outs in Greene and Dawson. Not sure when HWSNBN retruns. We should get Hibberd and Melksham back in coming weeks and I think we have good replacements for Smith. We certainly miss Viney and Lever but we have learnt to play and importantly learnt to win without them. So on the injury front we are doing ok vs our last 3 opponents. Probably, better than most other teams in the finals race. The bye after rnd 23 should give everyone a chance to freshen up so the injury landscape will look quite different for the finals. Fingers crossed for no more major injuries for us.

Five bob each way, L36??

State of Play: Of the top 8 teams only Tigers don't have an 8 pt game Among 2-8 who are all on 12 or 12.5 wins, 15 of their 21 games are 8-point games!!! A bonanza for the AFL and broadcasters. Outside the 8 are Cats and Roos who have the easiest run home. Cats will make it?. Not so sure about the Roos as Bulldogs and Adel will challenge them. Due to their low % they only need to drop one game to miss the finals. Ess and Crows are out of the running for finals but expect them, Lions and Bulldogs to have a big say in who makes the 8. They are all playing well but inconsistent. Get them on an 'on' day and it could mean dropping out of contention. Who will drop out of the 8? Anyone's guess! The most vulnerable are Power and Sydney (difficult run and lower %). Its amazing to say this but a team on 14 wins might still not make it. How even can it get! Spots 2 to 10 on the ladder will go right down to the wire! Top 4 up for grabs! Nail biting stuff. Hopefully, we get one of those top 4. Failing that spots 5 or 6 as would love to have a final in Melbourne. That would draw out a lot of closet Demon supporters. A home final would be fabulous for the club. Yes, I know. One week at a time but gee its hard not to get really excited!!

So many things to like about how we played this game. Something that stood out was the composure in front of goal, especially in the first quarter. A number of times a player could have snapped for goal, instead they looked for a player in a better position - at one stage Petracca kicked the ball about 25m back out of the goal square. Nearly every time a player looked for someone else it resulted in a goal. Hence the 9.3 at qtr time. It looked as if this was a very deliberate plan on how to play today - almost a 'test run' of a modification to our game plan: Don't snap, stop and look! Huge learning curve for players. It worked very well. Very unselfish play by the team.

Why on earth did Jones fight Oliver for the ball just then. Oliver was off if Jones let it go, instead Jones gets caught HTB!!!

And 2 years after McCartney left they became a rabble again in 2017. Still are. Not necessarily the coaches - Club culture, I reckon. Coaches come and go. Culture just hangs around. Along the way there was a two year hiatus when they managed to fluke a premiership.

Good to see Goodwin is embracing some of the more 'sensitive' approaches to player performance and well being. A page out of the Roos/Tammy and more recently Hardwick play book perhaps but I'm rapt that he is shifting a little from that uber competitive, tough at all costs approach. Both work side by side and a much more balanced style of player management. It shows how much he is learning and that he can be flexible. It makes him a better coach. The article behind the tweet https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/brayshaw-knows-all-about-taking-risks-20180803-p4zvdt.html includes some neat anecdotes from and about Gus.

Suns can't afford to win as they will go from 17th to 15th and give up draft picks 2 and 3 (Lynch compo) for 4 and 5. Doubt they will take the chance of Lions/Saints losing games so they can stay on 17th. They can do some decent trades with pick 2/3, especially SA clubs as apparently this draft is stacked with top end SA players. Lesser trades with picks 4/5. Adelaide seem very keen for a top 2/top 3 pick. ...we will win and a repeat of the record i50's last time we played and much more accuracy will make for a very good result!

Thanks. A great read and some terrific anecdotes, especially his first meeting with Jones where private school boy meets bald-headed, tattooed tough guy with the big black ute! I really like that Gus didn't nominate playing after concussion as his 'big risk'. His story is now so much bigger than that story. What I also really, really like is that Goodwin is embracing some of the more 'sensitive' approaches to player performance and well being: " In the era of mindfulness, vulnerability and story telling as coaching styles, Simon Goodwin had asked his players to reveal a moment they had taken a risk". A page out of the Roos and more recently Hardwick play book perhaps but I'm rapt that Goodwin is shifting a little from that uber competitive, tough at all costs approach. Both work side by side and a much more balanced style of player management.

I'm not so sure North will make it. Next two games are Bulldogs and Adelaide and based on yesterday's results their run home looks harder and could easily drop both games. Higgins will be back for them which will help but I wouldn't count North in the 8 just yet!!

Luke Darcy just said that Jenkins thought it hit the post. Honest but seriously dumb by Jenkins. Should have said 'umpire was in the best position to decide'.

The way Geelong played is a bit of a lesson to us: We have lost only 3 games by more than 10 points - Hawks (67pts), Tigers (46pts) and Pies (42pts). What do they have in common? They were at the G and we played almost exclusively down the wing and the members wing at that. We still play the wing in most games and works against a lot of sides. Geelong showed that to have a decent chance against the Tigers, playing the wings plays right into their hands so other coaching tricks are needed to beat them.

Geelong played high risk football down the corridor for much of the game and it nearly worked. It was a good surprise tactic to which Hardwick didn't respond. Richmond enjoy getting the opp to play wide and running the ball down the wing. The cats denied them that. Geelong playing the corridor won't surprise Hardwick again and any team trying to copy it might just play into the tigers hands..

It seems quite a few of the young Suns are angry at Lynch's defection and told him so in no uncertain terms. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2018-tensions-high-among-gold-coast-suns-playing-group-after-tom-lynch-departure/news-story/51496c9832adfacf7628a3d42315afdc They may well vent their spleen against us on Sunday. We need to be switched on from the first bounce - none of these slow starts of recent weeks.

It seems some KBW took to social media to condemn Balic's decision. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-stars-slam-comments-on-social-media-criticising-melbournes-harley-balic-for-early-retirement/news-story/d8e9ccaff4a01ce241de667601d62c26 Some younger AFL players twitted in support and it seems Harley took the 'clueless' tweets gracefully and made a classy twitter response: "There’s a higher purpose for everyone, stay true and the negativity becomes nothing but foolishness and ignorance not heard but seen in the background ???? Good on him for being true to himself and having the courage to take another road.

The media can't - they are beholden to the AFL's favours. That is why I so admire that Daisy more or less said 'to hell with that, I'm saying my piece...Stuff Gil!!'

Not sure where to put this article. It is info only - not to remotely imply a need to target anyone. 16 of 18 coaches participated in survey. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-08-03/is-it-the-tigers-to-lose-coaches-pick-premiers Can't disagree with that rating. Clarkson really worked us over earlier this year. That is why I really hope they don't make or we don't meet them in the finals. As an aside, I read today that Clarkson is waiting till end of year to progress his contract talks. Would be very surprised if he leaves Hawks.

Too often the AFL lurches into something and then has to back track. Recent examples are: testing new rules in so called 'dead rubber' AFL games in season; trying to 'modernise' club songs (sacrilegious), and now revamp of the AFLW fixture. All display complete and contemptuous disregard for the people delivering 'the product': players, coaches and clubs! Damn shame Gil didn't talk to the likes of Daisy in the first place.

She is the leading voice in the comp and universally admired across the AFLW and the AFL. Very compelling reasons she puts up against the 6 week/2 finals comp and against a 'conference' structured comp. She has called the AFL out on their stupidity!! I reckon either have a proper comp or don't have one at all. Daisy is as courageous off the field as she is on. So rapt she has taken the AFL on over this with no fear or favour! Go Daisy!!

Have to give a nod to Swan's Alex Johnson. 5 knee reconstructions and 6 years out of AFL. Huge achievement to make it back. Testament to his commitment and resilience. Wish him well.

VdB may take some time to adjust to AFL footy again but the aggression at the ball and the ball carrier that he brings is phenomenal - second only to JV in my book. VdB's contested ball work will help keep the ball in our fwd 50 and make us a better 'forward half team'. Wouldn't be surprised to see fewer i50's simply because he doesn't let the ball out!

He has played 11 games and is still 18. Give him a bit more time to show what he can do. Our fwd line is still a bit like Brown's cows. I reckon Charlie will improve as those around him sort themselves out.

That is correct - we have the second highest conversion rate of supporters to members. Problem is we don't have a high number of supporters, relative to other clubs. We have the 3rd lowest of number of supporters in the league. Sadly, it is these figures that Ch7 also consider when deciding their broadcast premium slots. Lots of supporters means lots of tv audience. Helps explain a bit why Carlton get so many games and the AFL want to 'make them great again'. Not that I agree with them one single bit. In many respects we punch well above our weight.