Lucifers Hero

Twomey goes on to say he doesn't think any of the clubs with 3, 4, or 5 will move. It sounded like there was a lot of pick manoevering going on with some clubs.

The guessing games begin as to who we are chasing in the top 5/6!! The following players are consistently mentioned in the top 6 in the main Phantom drafts. Ashcroft Wardlaw Cadman Sheezel Tsatas We sure aren't chasing a tall KPD in a move up to 3, 4, or 5. Unless of course there is a late Oliver type bolter!! With the exception of Cadman the top 10 in Twomey's phantom draft are midfielders between 180cm and 190cm and nearly all are Victorians. If nothing else it certainly rattles the cage of all those thinking the top 10 club selecions were pretty well set.

Pick 19 carries a premium so it would cost better than whatever other teams are prepared to pay. There is no way of knowing what other offers might be until draft night as pick swaps are not allowed before then.

Any idea why we don't get a training run there. Surely the club would fly up Thursday or at the very latest Friday to give us a chance to adjust to the weather so there would be time to fit in a session or two?

Media reports are saying it is a F1. If we are able to get #19 before the first round of the draft is over we will have some leverage to get value for it from other teams by on-trading it at the end of the night. If GWS hold it until the end of the first round I don't see us getting any more value for it in an 0n-trade than GWS would get. So I'm not sure where the value of #19 is for us. If a player we want slides or we want another pick in the late 1st early 2nd round I would think we target their pick 15 or 18 or WCE #20 which don't have the premium #19 does. .

Our two F1 are most likely to be in the 14 - 18 range. Doubt GWS will accept just a F1 for pick #19. They will want something else which could be a F2 depending on which of our two F1 is offered and what other clubs are offering. Unless they get an 'offer they can't refuse' GWS will hold on to #19 until the first round of the draft is over when they will have all night and next day to negotiate the best deal. So doubt there will be any news before the first round of the draft is over. As an aside, draft pick swaps are closed until the start of the draft itself. Lots of wheeling and dealing in the meantime...

It looks like we may not even see the oval before the game: Melbourne midfielder Maddison Gay said the Demons weren’t worried about only accessing the ground on game day...It would be nice even to just see the ground but if not, that’s OK as well...We’ve played home and away games and not been on the field before the game day anyway so it won’t be too different.” aflw-grand-final Gay towing the company line nicely but not too convincingly🙄 I thought I read somewhere that Lions will be training there this week. Can anyone clarify? Surely, both teams should be given equal access. I have been accepting of Springfield because the Lions won the right. However, if they train on it and we don't I will be really cranky about it. It is within the AFLW's power to ensure equal access to both teams. Hopefully, our leaders are pushing for this.

I wonder how many tickets were actually available to the public! The 600 grandstand seats would mostly have gone to Sponsors and VIP's. Hopefully MFC got an allocation. Greg Swan's dummy spit over the criticisms of choosing Springfield included comments about marquees being ready for the game. If these are inside the ground they would take up space that should be available for the other 7,000+ tickets. However, they will be filled by Corporate groups and other big spenders. If marquees are outside the ground will they set up temporary seating like they do at the Grand Prix for such groups? Regardless of the facilities for them a fair chunk of tickets would have been reserved for them. A tell tale sign of that: "Tickets for the grand final sold out hours after going on sale to the general public, with the Lions saying, should further tickets become available, they will be released via Ticketmaster on Thursday from 2pm (AEST)". Of course, 'further tickets' can only come from Reserved tickets not taken up!! AFLW GF tickets So how many tickets were available yesterday for the rank and file fans? Precious few I suggest.

It should be Kozzie...

I guess Springfield is better for us than the Gabba/Metricon where the Lions have more experience and maybe get 10 to 20,000 fans and be much louder. While it will be hot and that favours them, the humidity is forecast to be low so the ball won't be slippery and should help our skills. The ground itself doesn't offer them any advantage. It looks short which might help us in attack. We can still use the width of the ground to our advantage. Their best bet is to shut down our ball movement by attacking the player rather than trying to possess the ball. Adelaide did that and so did North but we found a way to overcome their effort. Can anyone offer some insight into what is their strengths are that we need to negate from the get go?

I had already read the article but won't give the answer away. Might note the article focuses on players from each club who have already played AFL games which reduces the options somewhat..

According to this article we have nominated him afl-draft-2022. Interestingly it shows the latter rounds of the drafted truncated to a few teams. Not sure the logic behind it. But anyway, it shows our picks as 13, 37, 78 (round 5) and 83 (round 6). While it was reported we would take two players at the draft (and promote Chandler with our last pick) there is scope to take F-EB with pick 78. Edit: I have reservations about the accuracy of the listed NGA nominations as it lists Keeler as Adelaide's nominee and they have chosen to not nominate him albeit he was eligible. Also, they have shown Kyah Farris-White as an NGA nominee but he joined us as a B-rookie. So NGA nominations are still bit of a mystery.

He retired two years ago so came back as an Unrestricted FA so could chose his club. As an aside, Brisbane will be greatly improved with McKenna, Dunkley, Gunston, Ashcroft and Fletcher.

Maybe no announcement on list size is because the new CBA that has just expired has not been finalised. Theoretically, increase in sal cap means more players. However, players may want to 'catch up' what they lost during the covid years cut backs so the list size may not go up in 2023. patrick-dangerfield-reveals-covid-reward-clause-he-wants-written-into-the-next-afl-cba Also, given that clubs have managed fine with the current list size (42 + 2 B-rookies) and a Tassie team, the AFL may not increase list sizes at all... I would be surprised if list sizes weren't as per 2022, next year.

I'm pretty sure Ellison nominated for the National Draft a few years ago and wasn't picked. Therefore, we or any club could have signed him at any time and can do so after this Draft as part of the spp. He was in this year's mid-season draft but not picked up. I hope he gets picked up by someone as he had a very good year.

It is yet to be confirmed whether it is 2 or 3 B rookies. This article talks about list sizes. how-your-club-is-placed-ahead-of-the-list-lodgement-deadline-and-upcoming-afl-draft The underlying assumption is the status quo remains ie Seniors + A-rookies should not exceed 42 and the max B rookies is 2. According to that article, the clubs you've listed currently have zero or one B-rookie. As mentioned in an earlier post we can take FE-B as a senior player if we nominated him or even if we didn't, if he gets to the end of the draft with no takers. Hopefully, the AFL produces a list. And that list sizes are confirmed.

I may be overly cynical but that sounds like 'window dressing' in the same way Jackson said 'Freo or Eagles' but everyone knew he wanted and would get to Freo.

Nothing official to say we have or haven't nominated him. If we have, we can take him as a senior player rather than a B-rookie. As I understand the list size rules a club can have up to 42 players comprised of Senior and A-rookie (36 to 38 senior players and up to 6 A-Rookies. In 2022 our combo was 36 senior players and 6 A-rookie players. We can change this mix to take FE-B We currently have 34 senior players and 3 A-rookies. So 5 potential list spots to fill. It has been said we will use two draft picks + our last pick for Chandler promotion. The other point is having draft picks. We have 13, 37, 90 and 118 the latter two will come into the 60-70 range. One will be used to promote Chandler the other could be used for FE-B if the bid to match is late enough in the draft. Having said all that the pointers are that we won't be taking him. Nominations have closed. But if we have nominated him we can get him - see comment above.

I've searched high and low for any reference or 'talk' that in 2023 list sizes and sal cap will revert to pre-covid levels. Would very much appreciate seeing something more about it. TIA.

From Fox: "... the Herald Sun also reports two games where Pell was an emergency have received scrutiny". "Pell was the emergency umpire in the Collingwood-Melbourne Queen’s Birthday game in Round 13, where Brody Mihocek was the surprise three-vote getter, ahead of Neale Daniher Trophy winner Clayton Oliver and the impressive Mason Cox. Pell was also the emergency umpire in the St Kilda-Sydney game in Round 23, where the Saints became the first team in 16 years to lose yet poll all six votes. Dan Hannebery, in what is likely to be his final AFL match, polled the three". The 3-vote winners in those two games would have been hard to predict as they surprised most people.

Pell is in real trouble. It wasn't a momentary lapse. The Age is reporting that the bets-were-allegedly-laid-on-more-than-10-matches-michael-pell-umpired. Can't see him ever umpiring again. And if convicted I hope he has a 'day job' that won't be affected.

Piece of cake!

I guess they base their case on Cairns being used during the 2020 covid hubs and the Saints play a game there so it is 'fit for purpose' from a playing point of view. But in a way Cairns helps us. iirc we were slaughted there by Sydney in 2020 because of the rain and the wind...sounds just like Casey😉 Not sure how much advantage they get in Carins. The only difference would be is they fly for two hours and we fly for four. Terrible for the AFLW comp if the AFL hide the GF in some aussie rules 'back-water'. Someone, should remind Brisbane they won top spot by one point. Hardly the resounding right to host the GF. And they have played a GF at Ikon. Marvel is a neutral ground, sort of. If they want a very neutral venue perhaps the SCG. They will get the 'anti' Melbourne (the city) rivalry fans.

Thanks for all the awesome work, Kev! 👏

I dpn't get why Brisbane want Cairns or Townsville. Sure they are in Qld but the flight to Melbourne is the same or shorter. We/North would have a longer flight but not sure its much of an advantage for them. At least in Melbourne they would get a decent amount of fans rather than neither team have any fan support. Can't see how it gives them any sort of 'Home' advantage. But they are spending a lot of energy thinking about it which might be a good thing.