Lucifers Hero

At first reading three first round picks makes one go WOW! But 2023 has a few early Academy and potentially F/S players. So a 2023 F1 in the 14 to 18 range will likely become late teen/early 20 picks. Not really that exciting. I doubt Ess will do it.

👏 It is like picking the scab off an old sore. But 10 years later!...Weird.

While Bell is right about our 'narrow' entry i50 he could have kept the criticism to himself and simply talked about how Jackson's role will add to their team which is primarily as a forward. That wasn't his role for us so how we deliver i50 isn't so relevant and didn't need mentioning. He 'won' the trade by some margin No need to prove himself (again) as a snarly, little man.

I wasn't talking finances. It was more that if the 'Magic' round is our Home game then the return game vs that team is an Away game for us which could add an extra i/state trip as we will likely play some of Lions, Freo, Sydney, Geelong twice. That return game will be in addition to the usual games we play interstate. As sure as the sun rises we will play at GMHBA whether we play Geelong once or twice.

Each team plays 5 teams (or maybe 6 with the 'magic' round) twice. If a top 6 team the double up could include up to 3 of the other top 6. The fixture will be less fair than usual as some sides will double up 5 times and some 6 times. Some bottom half teams will get a very good tilt at the top 8 from an easy draw ala Collingwood and Carlton this year. I'm always cynical when it comes to the fixture so wouldn't be surprised if we get hit with 3 double ups vs the top 6 teams while higher finishing clubs (Geelong, Collingwood, Lions and Sydney) get only two and/or get an extra double up vs a bottom half club. Given that QB is our Home games we will most likely have a return match against Collingwood. I reckon we will play a 'Home' game in SA in the 'magic round'. 7 -8 teams will so why not us! 😬 Unless it is declared an 'Away' game for all clubs🤔 so it won't affect membership rights. Not looking forward to the fixture release☹️.

This is the article Dee-liverance! A nice balance to the rest of the stuff we have been reading about the Lions. Interesting that Lion defenders like to play high up the ground. Normally, I would think this would help us 'out the back' or down the flank with our ball movement and running speed. But because the oval is so short (5om line touches the centre square) their defenders won't have as far to run back to position to cut off our attacks. All the politics around the selection of Springfield aside from a straight football point of view they should play the GF on a 'standard' sized oval in its key dimensions.

I don't mind that if it is Geelong's Home game but I bet it will be ours! Which means we may also end up playing them at Geelong🙄

If we pass on Jefferson I wonder if we take Keeler at our next pick, currently 37.

Ratten is joining Clarkson at North. Very happy for Ratten. Unbelievably shabby treatment at the Saints!

Given some of the reports of club interest levels in players rated 6 - 10/12 a few very good players could slide out of the first round. There are also a few reports of 'bolters' into the first round: "A Tom Papley-like small forward is attracting ample interest from clubs with first-round picks, with Sandringham Dragons prospect Charlie Clarke looming as a possible night one selection...The Giants, which hold two late first-round selections and the first pick of the second round, have been heavily linked to Clarke and put work into him across the past month. Rival teams expect the Giants to target a small forward with at least one of those picks... Collingwood, which holds a first-round selection sandwiched between two Giants picks, had also been linked to Clarke" With a few 'sliders', some 'bolters' and unknowns whether F/S Davey and Fletcher go in the first round suddenly make pick #20 very valuable and would attract a pick swap premium, not as big a premium as #19 but still a very handy pick to be holding at the end of the first night! It is currently with the Eagles.

Eagles may rue the Rioli deal where they gave up him and pick 2 for pics 8, 12, a F2 (Port) and F3 (Port) as GCS seem quite keen on Gibney who by all accounts WCE were going to take at pick 8. But that could be posturing by the Suns Eagles got an extra 1st round pick but it was a big slide from 2 to 8 when it was known there are 'player' cliffs around pick 5/6 and another around 9/10. So they may take Jefferson at 12!

To me it seems there has been a consistent media bias all year toward talking up our opponents no matter who they are. Would even say they barrack against us! It carries over from the print media during the week to commentators before and during a game. It really does my head in! We certainly go in massive underdogs even tho Harris is playing this week which she wasn't when we lost to the Lions earlier this year. Hope we can show everyone up on Sunday and bring home the 🏆

If Ess take Phillipou at #4, Tsatas will slide setting off a domino effect for other highly touted top 10 players: Humphrey, Clark, Ginbey, Mackenzie, Hollands and will be looked at by Hawks, Saints, Carlton and WBD making it more likely that two or all three of the other WA players slide into the 12 - 20 range where WCE have pick 12 and 20. . WCE first pick is #8 and Twomey has them taking Gibney.

It could be a red-herring planted by WCE to get us to take him @ #13 instead of Allen or Hewett, making it more likely they get at least 3 of the 4 WA players ranked by Twomey in the top 15 (Ginbey, Hewett, Allen and Busslinger) with their picks 8, 12 and 20. Lots of ducks and drakes being played out...

I find it staggering that we may not have been offered a training run on the oval. So I'm starting to think that we may one on Saturday...assuming we fly up on Friday.

You made up for it by the success in @Demonstone's quiz. 👏

Gee, Tigers and Cats are a surprise!

Not sure whether accidental but there is also a clue in this post...

I think the rules are different for the finals: Geelong wouldn't be allowed that ticket allocation in a final. For the AFL GF an even number are allocated to members of each team for each participating team. It would seem grossly unfair if this wasn't the case for the AFLW GF.

Do you think Lions refused us a chance to train on at Springfield or we chose not to? And why wouldn't we fly up Thursday?. It all looks very rushed for us given the oval is at least an hour or two from Brisbane

I'm surprised the club didn't get a ticket allocation. Surely the club could use them to link up with our Qld fan clubs to 'rent a crowd' and bus them to Sprinfield. Its a GF! For our team to fly up on Friday, not train on the oval, not have time to adjust to the hot weather and not have many Dee fans at the game seems like we are taking it all a bit too casually for my liking...🙄

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?