Lucifers Hero

I thought about PJ being an AFL appointment (but not sure how much money they actually put in) and whether to credit them in my op. But. The AFL helped us but only after they crushed what little 'brand' we had with the 'guilty of not tanking' verdict. That verdict was the last straw that dropped us into the abyss. The least the AFL could do was give us a step ladder to get out. PJ and a few $ were that step ladder. Sure, I appreciate what they did but on balance the AFL have given us peanuts when compared to the favourable FTA time slots and big Vic teams opp at Home MCG games that Rich, Ess, Carl and Coll get. They have achieved nothing for years but still get fixture favouritism that brings millions into their clubs each year. And, lets not mention the favoured franchise clubs. The AFL put up some coin but its PJ et al that have dug us out of the abyss and now we are standing on our own two feet. I find it hard to give too much credit to the AFL.

A pleasure LaDvC. The ~$1m is for both the NT games - I'll go back an edit, thanks. If the link doesn't work maybe go directly to The Australian website - AFL. Re accessing behind the paywall: I find that The Australian allows 2 articles a day before the 'subscriber only' flag comes up. My browser is Firefox. I copy the article heading from The Australian website into the Firefox search box and click 'paste and search'. After the search click on the article title and it appears. It usually has a 'film' over it and a large 'subscriber box' on the screen. Click the x in the top right corner of that box and it and the 'film' disappear.

Lots of topics covered in this article. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/resurgent-demons-ready-to-reap-1million-windfall/news-story/4a719b44c0f14d07e32d2677749ff2a9 Our (off field) success In a nutshell: a healthy $1 million profit within reach this year. (Prior to Peter Jackson we had made a $1.7m loss) record membership figure of 41,500 average home attendances at the MCG are up by 23 per cent. NT deal worth almost $1m per annum. should also qualify for more Friday night action next year ANZAC Eve now a 'blockbuster' and will be our home game next year. Melbourne appear certain to not be disadvantaged again as they were recently by being dealt a harsh draw with four games in 18 days. Not a 'power' club yet but a far cry from the pre PJ era of a rabble, irrelevant club. I particularly like the predictions for next year's fixture; it bodes well. And with the NT deal expiring at the end of next year we may be financially strong enough to give it up. (But I doubt we will - Essendon tried to pinch it off us last year and part of NT is in our multicultural zone). On field, in 2013 we ended the year 17th with a percent of 54.1. Now we are pushing for finals with a percent over 100. An incredible turnaround in the 4 years of PJ's reign. Its hard to believe he arrived a mere 4 years ago. Lots of people have had a hand in the turnaround but it was PJ who laid out a plan for the Board and implemented it. It was PJ who hired the right people to hire the right people and empowered them do their job. As others have said before: we are in very good hands and thank God for PJ. And, when the likes of scathing Demon critics: Greg Denham, Damian Barrett and David King hop on the Demon wagon it is a sure sign we are relevant again!

Lever is the Crows danger man. The idea is for Plugger to distract and stop Lever not the other way round. Jones and Viney were pivotal to that and they aren't playing. Poorly worded on my part. The Jones, Viney was reference to prior posts relating to controlling the midfield not skill in fwd delivery. The Salem/Watts was reference to their skill and composure for good delivery to the forward line. Essentially, this is a very different game to round 8. Lever didn't play last time and we have a lot of outs who did. Same game plan, different tactics required.

To me that is our best strategy with TMac (as a defender) the best person to do it - a bit like the defensive forward but a tall version thereof. It is a strategy that has been very effective against Rance in recent weeks and Goodwin used it brilliantly with Petracca and Hurley in the 2nd half of the Ess game. Will be interesting to watch what Goodwin does. I'm sure they will dream up something quite innovative. One thing I'm sure of they won't let Lever roam free.

I actually think we are very good at moving the ball quickly out of opp forward line. Where we fall down is lack of skill and composure in delivery to forwards so it often goes in high especially in recent weeks without Salem, Watts, Jones, Viney. Its easy to say not do this but that is how it has been in recent weeks - perfect for Lever. If we let them lock it in their forward line Lever will have a very relaxed night in their backline rather than 'zone off and pick up easy marks' in defence. The problem with 'having enough at the contest' is that the way Adel play in defence is that there isn't a contest - Lever is allowed to run off his man. Quite right, Lever isn't going to out muscle Hogan et al that is the job of Talia et al so it frees Lever. I still see a need for a specific strategy to stop Lever if we are to win.

Yes, ideally, we find targets up forward but in practice we don't have the composure yet and with Salem and Watts (maybe) out we don't have the skill for pin point passes. And if as you say we can't dominate the midfield how do we stop Lever?

Last week like many prior weeks the opp defenders more often than not, marked high balls coming into our forward line. That is a tailor made chance for Lever to be BOG. Why opp coaches allow him to roam free is beyond me. In round 8 he did not play!! This week if we can't neutralise his free roaming intercepts it will be very hard to win. In a different way, he is to Adel what JJ was to the bulldogs - the guy from whom their respective attacks starts. Have given a bit of thought on How To Stop Lever. This will sound odd and a luxury but what if we play Tom Mc on him with a brief to wear him like a glove and take him out to far flung pockets or at least to the pocket on the opposite side of our attacking forays. Lever has to go with him as Tom is a dangerous forward. It sacrifices Tom's game but also takes Lever out of play and allows Hogan, Pedo/Watts etc to kick the goals. Other suggestions on How To Stop Lever?

The Cats want to play round 23 on the Monday night. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-12/cats-want-giant-monday-clash-to-end-season Reasons: 1) Geelong are notoriously poor after a bye. They can minimise the length of their time off the park, and a Monday night fixture would do that. 2) The second driver is the evidence thrown up by the 2016 finals series - The prevailing wisdom from that experience is that any attempt should be made to shorten gaps between matches. A Monday night rnd 23 gives them 9 days from rnd 22. I bet the next thing the Cats will ask is for their first final to be played on the Thursday night again to get an 8/9 day break and continue on from there. Then a Saturday etc etc. I believe one of the reasons the Bulldogs won the GF is because they had 8 or 9 days between every game - an ideal break to freshen up players but not so long to 'loose touch'. Geelong are getting in early but I hope the AFL is wise to it and not allow any team to have the advantage the Bulldogs had last year. I actually think it was a deliberate plan by the AFL last year. I hope (somewhat forlornly) that they mix it up this year so that no team has such an advantage. I say forlornly as the AFL is likely to gift this advantage to GWS to help them to their maiden flag. I always thought the weekend finals scheduling was relatively fair to all teams and the higher you finished the better the draw. Not the case anymore. Its at the whim of the AFL.

...and it looks like Bernie has a few more games in him after this year https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/melbourne-veteran-bernie-vince-says-he-would-accept-playing-at-vfl-level-in-final-years-of-his-career/news-story/864fefdaf72fa845323e439c11cd22b0 “I’ve had really good chats with Goody (Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin) ... he just said I’m not going to put a restriction on your age or how many games you can play...You just keep playing as you’re performing. And whether that means I play on for another couple of years, that might mean play VFL if I’m not in the best 18 or 22.. And I’m fully accepting of that.” Bernie gets criticised a bit on here and like all players he makes mistakes but the 'protection' he gives our youngsters cannot be overestimated. Never moreso than this year when our stronger players (Jones, Vand, Hogan) have been out of the team. Really, he should have been rested rather than endure great pain and injections in his toe but because of other injuries we couldn't afford to. Bernie is as brave as can be. That Bernie is happy to play at VFL level if necessary speaks volumes about him. Glad that he will get another contract with us.

And Gus is now doing full contact work and if he is up to it will return to VFL after their bye in a few weeks! Tyson, Watts chances for the Top End Go Gus! Melbourne injury list: round 16 Angus Brayshaw (concussion) – indefinite Lochie Filipovic (hip flexor) – 3 weeks Colin Garland (knee) – season Jeff Garlett (hamstring) – test Jesse Hogan (testicular cancer) – test Nathan Jones (quadriceps) – 3-4 weeks Pat McKenna (hamstring) – 4-5 weeks Christian Salem (hamstring) – 2-3 weeks Tim Smith (navicular bone) – season Dom Tyson (knee) – test Aaron vandenBerg (heel) – season Jack Viney (plantar fascia) – 4-6 weeks Jack Watts (hamstring) – 1-2 weeks

We all agree! Problem it is that it is at the umpires discretion and the AFL are not going to change that. I fear what an 'unfriendly' umpire will do in circumstances like Sunday. Just look at unfriendly umpiring in last year's GF. As I said players need to get smarter at disguising it like they have with DOOB and deliberate rushed behinds.

I couldn't get to the game so was one of those screaming at the tv! The camera was focused on ANB and he was very fidgety and seemed to look at the clock every other second. I held my breath hoping the umpire wouldn't call him on 'time wasting'. Still 35 secs to play. I wasn't so nervous with Lewis as when he it was obvious he was running down the clock there was about 15 sec to play. Two weeks ago, Higgins was told to play-on when the 30 seconds expired. Problem was there was no shot clock for him to see. The AFL policy at the time was no shot clock in the last 2 minutes of a quarter. Thereafter the AFL revisited the shot clock and decided to keep it up for the whole game. To answer your question: They also reinforced the umpires right to call play on before the 30 secs expires: "AFL football operations manager Simon Lethlean confirmed umpires will have the power to call 'play on' if a player is clearly seeking to delay the resumption of play by running the clock down". http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-06-29/afl-backflip-on-the-shot-clock On tv it seemed obvious what ANB was doing but the umpires let him have the full 30 sec. It was the right thing to do given the delicate balance of the game. Had the Carlton players been more alert and gestured to the umpire the ball may never have got to Lewis and they would have had about 35 seconds to score the goal and win by 4 points. I got the impression that while everyone is aware of the 30 sec rule they are not as aware that the umpire can reduce it if player is deemed to be time wasting. For mine that is dangerous because umpires make mistakes and I would hate to see a game decided by it. Nonetheless, players need to be smarter: put the ball down, do up their laces, pull up socks. Going forward I think umpires will be more alert to ANB somewhat poorly disguised (but brilliantly effective) tactics.

While players have 30 seconds, if umpires think they are running down the clock they can call play on before the 30 seconds is up. It was pretty obvious what ANB and Lewis were doing but we got away with it. It would take a brave umpire to call play-on in such a tight game in the last minute but I think they will be be reminded of the rule at their weekly meetings. That aside it was a delight to hear the siren. That is 3 recent games we have won from being aware and clever in the last minutes of play. Edit: part in itallics.

Clarrie has apologised. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-10/afl-probing-olivers-verbal-stoush-with-fan "I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did and I apologise for that because I've taken some polish off the team's win," Oliver said. "Moving forward I'll learn from this and it won't happen ever again." It is understood Oliver has conceded the Blues fan did not use a profanity in his comments to the player Please don't shoot the messenger, I am just reporting from press releases. If Clarrie embellished what the guy said, that is poor form. I love Clarrie as much as everyone on this site but he does need to let his football do the talking. Speaking of which he received 4 Coaches votes

It seems the club has apologised. I doubt it would have if Clayton hadn't overstepped the mark in some way. https://www.triplem.com.au/sport/afl/news/melbourne-football-club-apologise-to-carlton-blues-fan-over-clayton-oliver-verbal-altercation There is a lot of abuse in the last few pages based on assumptions, the guy's appearance and his fb page. Maybe we should wait for more info before people take their angst out against the club for apologising. Lets just hope that counselling is the only thing that happens to Clarrie.

Thank you. And fully agree with your comments about injuries to young players and the stress it causes them and their families.

Bit of an over reaction there. My comment was a tongue-in-cheek response to dc's cheeky comment, which I quoted. Maybe be I should have put the icons in to show it wasn't serious.

karma dc eye for an eye 3 weeks for 3 weeks

So many deserved tributes to Nev in this article: https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/neville-jettas-clutch-performance-against-carlton-underlines-his-2017-allaustralian-credentials/news-story/d4e78c96c035c174d2ca12f8dd34eae0 Just a few: -"That entire passage of play (yesterday)— from Jetta contesting the aerial ball with Thomas to Neal-Bullen marking — took 22 seconds. Jetta’s involvement — from contest, to fall, to recovery, to winning the ball and dishing it off — took just eight." -" has made his mark with his combination of smarts, skills and toughness, becoming a consistent steadying presence for the Demons across half back". -"his impact now goes beyond his role as a lockdown defender.. it’s how he impacts the play that matters": averaged 1.7 intercept marks per match — rated elite for a half back notched up an average of 5.9 intercept possessions across his 15 games. This season, Jetta has the seventh-best kick rating of the 265 players to have recorded 100 kicks this year. since 2010, Jetta has the third-best kick rating of the 400 players to have recorded 500 kicks. The two players with higher kick ratings? Bulldogs skipper Robert Murphy and games record holder Brent Harvey. Not bad company at all. And the conclusion we would all agree with: Jetta’s name floated in this year’s All-Australian discussion. Hope someone on the AFL AA committee reads that article. Continue like this and his name should be in the conversation at least for the AA squad. (I would say the AA team but selectors tend to stack the back-line with all the mids they don't know what to do with).

Hogan dropped or rested? Seriously? None of the posters criticising Hogan are calling for Max to be dropped and he has had 3 ok games. Max should not be dropped...just saying the double standard applied to Hogan. Realistically, our good players (Gawn and Hogan) are coming directly into the seniors after long absences rather than a run at Casey. The same will happen with Jones, Viney, Watts and Salem who also will need a few games to blow out the cobwebs! Or do the Hogan critics want them dropped after one not so good game. Get a grip and perspective, Hogan critics!

That is why Nibbler will continue to get a game - he does the team things. Other players might have been selfish and tried to be the hero. Nibbler followed the 'team first' rules. The trust that gets from teammates cannot be overestimated. Its amazing how quick some posters are to put down our middle of the road players. This from TMc: “Some of the smalls like [Alex] Neal-Bullen is doing a great job down there and they’re putting me in the right spots...". There is just so much we don't see that players and coaches value. Anyone notice how Nibbler rarely blazes away at goal these days and even when inside 50 looks for a team mate in a better position. I reckon he has quite a bit of 'footy smarts' about him. This stuff is what would get his name on the board pretty early in selection meetings each week.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2017-07-09/rd-16-simon-goodwin-postmatch The bit on culture was a real 'don't mess with me' speech. The reporters must have been spellbound as there was a hush afterwards for a few seconds where you could hear a pin drop. Huge respect earnt by Goodwin from the media today.

In the video his mate's hand is in front of the guy having a go at Clarrie, virtually saying 'steady on mate'. There is also a lack of reaction from others. They are having a laugh and sit down as as Clarrie calmly runs off. So oubt what Clarrie said was really bad let alone threatening. Also on the video, the umpire is right behind Clarrie. Just more media histrionics. As an aside, Goodwin didn't sound too happy about the working over Clarrie got from Carlton players. Maybe the media should write up how they went after Clarrie who got no protection whatsoever from the umpires. The media are just stupid people who like the sound of their own voices.

Goodwin's response to the culture and discipline question was priceless and showed that he has a very steely resolve. I was in awe listening to him. A class act in every way. Compare that to the pithy, sanctimonious cheap shots by Bolton before the game. He said: "...We haven't crossed the edge there and had ridiculous reports or anything...Our players are human and they understand what went on last time, but our players are not only disciplined, they are professionals..."We need our team to play on the edge, but just as importantly we need our team to stay disciplined, which they have all year." Complete lack of class by Bolton. And stupid for a coach to buy into media histrionics. I don't know whether Goodwin saw Bolton's comments. But beating Bolton's so called 'disciplined and professional', sniping marshmallows and Goodwin's staunch and passionate comments were a perfect response.