Lucifers Hero

That might be a bridge too far. But I recall a discussion around adding a B rookie type category so clubs can carry an extra ruckman or two on their list. It ididn't go anywhere.

I guess there was a press conf this morning petracca-100-per-cent-playing-but-forwards-give-goodwin-a-headache Interesting comments: Goodwin said the midfielder would play his normal role but admitted the side’s forward woes were causing him some selection headaches as they contemplated including key forward Jacob Van Rooyen on debut or Tom McDonald after he returned from a foot injury in the VFL a fortnight ago. Goodwin conceded that on reflection Max Gawn should have been given more time in the ruck with Luke Jackson spending more time forward.

Our game plan is built around 2 ruckman. We can cover the odd short absence with pinch hitters like TMcD or Weidmena but if one of our two main ruckman have a lengthy injury where do we get the other ruckman from... I would venture to say that if we still had Daw we may have given Max or Jackson a rest at some stage late in the season.

Presumably in case BB and/or Spargo don't make it.

It will Jackson or Grundy not both.

Twomey also says: "The Dockers do not want to trade Meek even if they land Jackson to partner ruck star Sean Darcy, but the Jackson situation has seen other clubs look at Meek as a potential pick-up". It could be posturing but they don't want to trade anyone but have been trying to entice players from other clubs to join them when they have little trade currency. Other teams mentioned with interest in Meek are GWS and Eagles. That he is a Victorian puts us a bit ahead. Even if Jackson stays I wouldn't mind getting Meek. Most clubs have at least 3 ruckman on their lists. .

Some clubs never learn to keep Mad Monday 'celebrations' private: zaine-cordy-mad-monday-photos-western-bulldogs-postseason-drinks Given their off field issues over recent years the bulldogs could have done without this sort of publicity.

Thanks for the info. Is the line referring to mfc coaches?

Not sure why people question @Ferghus31. He has had 4 posts in two years with no history of trolling or making stuff up. I accept that what he has related is what he was told. How much is accurate he has no way of knowing but it was good of him to report to DL. Happy to hear this info and we make up our own minds.

🤔 we did.

Dangerfield and Bailey Smith make huge amounts of $ from sponsors for their instagram followers. As do any number of 'influencer' AFL partners. Not sure the AFL can do much about these supplementary but essentially private arrangements.

Very impressive demon effort given the number of i/state teams we play at the G and limited capacity for our Alice Home game.

Start with the misspelling of 'demons' perhaps...😉🙂

Not from the fans but players re the impact of the Zorko incident on this game. Starcevich said he expected emotions to run high at the MCG, but not be over the top. "I think it'll be pretty fiery," he said. "I think the intensity of the finals will ramp it up a little bit, it always does. May: "...Goody sort of sat us down and just said we're not going to be that club that run their mouth all the time and get personal...We just want to play footy and beat them on the scoreboard ...people will probably be thinking that we'll be coming after him in that sense, but nah, what's most important to us right now is we need to win otherwise our season is done". Vastly different. Makes for interesting dynamics and viewing. Lions will lose focus if they get lippy. Much prefer our focus on the scoreboard.

Undoubtedly we need to make the most of the next few years and have our 'dynasty'. But then do we face a Geelong proportion cliff later this decade if we don't get pointy end draft picks (Jackson trade aside) for 5/6 years from 2020? The age/quality challenge is partly brought about by having 6-8 players on long term contracts into their 30's which is unusual at other clubs that have had dynasties. They have tended to have fewer long-term contracts giving them more flexibility in the out years. I get why we have offered those long-term contracts but they will hold back keeping a balanced age/quality profile.

I guess each club can offer only a limited number of GFG inclusive memberships or a GFG option so with so many members they need to make those premium memberships pretty pricey. I'm guessing the number is fixed at around 10K to 12K GFG guarantees. Our similar membership kicks in at about $530. I suspect our GFG memberships will be almost impossible to buy as when you have one you get the first right to go with it the following year. They were all sold out this year. Would expect most if not all our membership prices to go up next year.

Is the $900 for a membership which includes a GFG or for the GFG option when added to a regular membership?

Some commentary with the diagrams would help. In isolation do the diagrams mean much? It would be more useful if there was a ranking of teams vs the average. I mean bottom teams are going to turn it over a lot more than top teams so comparison to just the average is of limited use, imv. And to balance the story, what about turnovers 'won'...

I thought our drafting last year was quite good but only time will tell. The 'ins' were much better than the 'outs'. Hopefully, they can find their way into the 22 next year to show what they have. Not sure the delist/keep decisions last year would make much difference to the age/quality challenges in a few years time.

It seems we are in agreement on the age/quality trend of our list. Not too many clear options for us to get ahead of that trend. Tradeable players aren't likely to bring in good picks. While we can trade those picks up the draft other clubs also want to and by regularly trading out our future 1st it doesn't leave a lot of currency (the Jackson trade this year aside) to work with. The best 'ageing/quality' replenishment scenario would be Sydney but they have the Academy to top them up. Then Geelong who have done very well replenishing their list, then Richmond and worst is the Hawks who have really bottomed out. Hopefully, we have our 'dynasty' before the aging of players kicks in.

Very soon we will have an age profile and quality gap in our list of 18-22 year olds which will become a gap in the 23-26 age group and so on. We have players in that age group but not many have found a way to break into the team and only a couple have prospects of doing so in the next year or two. So quantity is ok but quality is a ? This is happening while we have list deficiencies in critical positions. In 2-3 years quite a few of our stars will be approaching or over 30. Many players go on to play well after 30 but how do we replace the quality of so many before their contribution starts to wane? Because we are successful and tend to trade out our future first pick we are unlikely to have access to the top dozen or so players in each draft. And we are unlikely to trade out our best players as they are on long-term deals. Our list will age rapidly. To some this may not matter as 'we are in the premiership window' with a star midfield, defence etc. however if we don't start getting access to the pointy end of the draft I'm not sure we can sustain finals participation/be in contention for flags in the latter part of this decade. As much as Taylor is a star he needs picks to work with to keep our list age/quality profile balanced and I'm not sure where pointy end draft picks are coming from in the next 3-4 years.

Most clubs will max out their A rookies as a chunk of their salary doesn't count for TPP hence why Jordon, Chandler and Turner were given hybrid rookie/senior promotion contracts.

I agree. It would be like leading him on then pulling the pin. Their cred would be shot if ithey got 'cold feet' at the last minute. Which is what makes me think that Freo 'changing their mind' is to do with Jackson not Freo.

I've copied this in from the Grundy thread. It could be face saving by Freo if Jackson has decided to stay/ If he decides to go to WA it opens the door for WCE to make a play.

Which part sounds unlikely? Do you have a new avatar ready?