Lucifers Hero

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?

Is that a way of saving face if LJ has decided to stay at the Dees.

I'm with you 100%. The only reason for buying Redlegs memberships for the last 20+ years was to sit with Demon fans. It real spoils the experience when an opp fan is carrying on or their kids are kicking the back of the seat because they are bored. They should go up to level P where the club has an area for members who bring guests. Unfortunately with digital barcode entry that can be forwarded it is not possible to police the 'non-transfer' of memberships which wasn't policed well in the past anyway.

From The Age: "The club is actively trying to move him to another club, but Grundy is desperate to stay. He had a positive meeting with Melbourne, which was attended by Simon Goodwin and Max Gawn, but he still believes his future is at Collingwood".

2022 AFL MEMBERSHIP LADDER 1. West Coast 102,897 (2021 tally: 106,422) 2. Richmond 100,792 (2021 tally: 105,084) 3. Collingwood 100,384* (2021 tally: 82,527) 4. Carlton 88,776* (2021 tally: 81,302) 5. Essendon 86,001* (2021 tally: 81,662) 6. Hawthorn 81,494* (2021 tally: 77,079) 7. Geelong 71,943* (2021 tally: 70,293) 8. Melbourne 66,484* (2021 tally: 53,188) 9. Adelaide 63,009 (2021 tally: 60,232) 10. St Kilda 60,172* (2021 tally: 55,802) 11. Port Adelaide 58,643* (2021 tally: 56,532) 12. Fremantle 56,105* (2021 tally: 50,342) 13. Sydney 55,394 (2021 tally: 50,144) 14. Western Bulldogs 50,941* (2021 tally: 46,541) 15. North Melbourne 50,191* (2021 tally: 46,357) 16. Brisbane Lions 43,319* (2021 tally: 40,289) 17. GWS Giants 32,614* (2021 tally: 30,185) 18. Gold Coast 21,422* (2021 tally: 19,460) TOTAL - 1,190,671 (2021 tally: 1,113,441) * Club membership record in 2022 https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-membership-numbers-ladder-2022-afl-club-membership-by-team-club-records-most-members-west-coast-richmond/news-story/fb533d3e5f05e6f9f757dabf4b77b0a6 Doubt we have been in the top 10 before. Great achievement!

Exactly! This makes me wonder if our judgements on here of how loud other teams are comes from us watching them on TV. Whereas our judgements of how quiet we are comes from being at the ground. Maybe other teams' fans aren't as noisy at the ground as they might sound on tv.

Questions: How did the noise level sound to those watching on tv? Does the location at the G influence how the noise sounds at the game? I was in M13 and while it was quiet to start I thought the noise was pretty high once the crowd warmed up. A few Mel-bourne chants got going but probably not as many as the Pies have. I ask as in The Age Podcast they mentioned how loud the noise was at our game. I'm guessing they were watching on TV so wonder if we are comparing how the Carl, Rich, Coll games sound on TV to how ours sound at the ground. I'm guessing TV will always sound louder.

From Alan Richardson: “The fracture poses no further risk to Christian and will not impact his ability to play. “What will pose more of a challenge for Christian is the corky he sustained to his calf in a collision that occurred in the first quarter and hampered his movement for the majority of the match against Sydney. Reckon Petracca will play.

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While preparing the 'What They Are Saying...' thread, I noticed some chat about McStay being a bit worse for wear after playing in the ruck for the Tigers game.

Serong gets 10 votes, Andy Brayshaw zip. While the stats wouldn't support the votes both coaches saw it the same. Looks like it was the clearance work by Serong. Perhaps the clearances were critical times that turned the tide. Reckon Andy would be disappointed to not be in the votes at all given that 7 players got votes.

FTB, if you see bays of unused Corporate tickets come on sale it would be greatly appreciated if you could post on here. Cheers.

I'm confident we will make the GF. But will not be disappointed if we bow out from the PF.