Big Col

Games off or reduced playing time? 4 managed rest games, in addition to the bye, might be hard to swallow if it's perceived that resting a 6x AA player would have tipped the result in any game he's 'managed'. 1 'managed' game and lots of 50-60% game times (shared with Grundy) might be better.

Wasn't that Fritz? But heh, I've only watched it 500 times and I may have got confused ...

In the end I don't think he will really choose a new team, but the response from Hawthorn will play a part in him remaining engaged with the sport (along with the final washup after Clarko and Fagan and Burt have their say) I guess what struck me was the way he regarded this as above his loyalty to his team (and he's a big fan) and even considered swapping teams.

A Hawk friend rang me this morning devastated. In a long conversation he said he could no longer support Hawthorn and asked me to prepare a pitch for Melbourne. He'd be choosing a new team. And much as I'd love to recruit a Dee, I told him to take caution because sadly Hawthorn may not be the only club (eg we know about problems in Collingwood) to have behaved like this and the events of today may lead to others speaking out. I would be appalled if something similar was revealed at Melbourne FC. This is bigger than football.

It's modest, but I think the extra 2 rookie spots will really help, in conjunction with the 2nd and 3rd round picks. Nth's VFL side was regularly getting smashed, which is not a good place for their young players / high draft picks to develop. The two extra rookie places will make their VFL team more competitive (VFL salary cap is just $120k, so these 2 rookies will earn the equivalent of the entire VFL salary cap) as well as provide a larger pool for the Roos to find a player. While they could end up trading the picks, I think a good crop of young kids playing a season in a competitive VFL team (with the VFL cap being used to recruit some mature players) would be better for them. Thankfully, they didn't end up with a 1st round pick. Their 2nd round is still #20 which is a decent pick.

Wow, and we didn't even make finals that year.

I'm warming to the Grundy recruitment idea after initially being highly sceptical. Having him with the Dees would feel a bit like (NFL references coming here...) the 49rs in the late 80's that had all-time great Joe Montana as quarterback and the 2nd best Quarterback in the NFL at the time Steve Young as the backup. (Or perhaps it's more like Stuart McGill playing in the same team as Shane Warne) How could they work together? It has been suggested in the media that they could split their roles as 'forward half' and 'back half' ruckmen. We would have a ruckman always one kick ahead or behind the play while the other competed. I think this is a better type of idea than 'rest as a forward'. Max a kick behind play is where he plays some of his best footy. Splitting ruck duties 50/50 would likely extend Max's career instead of 80/20. I can also envisage kick-out scenarios where we split our two ruckman between left and right sides - or perhaps left and centre. We send Gawn one way and Grundy another. We then draft a young ruck to replace Grundy and we have 4-5 years for them to make good, rather than 2-3 with Max.

Regardless of the reasons, it would seem ludicrous for any team let alone an MCG tenant to develop a game plan not suited to the home of the Grand Final.

Great mark and goal to JVR.

Can't believe I missed that thread! (when all I do is stare at DL all day)

While not definitive about what constitutes hardest draw, I think you can discover something about how many Top 8 teams were amongst the five teams that each team played twice. By this definition, Melbourne, GWS, Stk and Essendon had the hardest draws (4/5) and Richmond the easiest (0/5). Also worth noting is how many of the teams played BOTH North Melbourne and WCE twice: Adelaide, Gold Coast and GEELONG. Finishing 2nd this year is fine IMHO. Adelaide (1) * Brisbane -(1) Carlton - (3) Collingwood - (1) Essendon - (4) Fremantle - (1) Geelong - (1) * Gold Coast - (2) * Greater Western Sydney - (4) Hawthorn - (2) Melbourne - (4) North Melbourne - (2) Port Adelaide - (3) Richmond - (0) St Kilda - (4) Sydney - (1) West Coast - (3)

Yeah, I'd imagine someone like Mitch White might be on a contract, but most players would just get match payments.

Yeah, I heard that too. The salary cap for VFL is $110,000 which has to be spread amongst a small humber of non-AFL players (it's double for stand alone clubs ie $220k). Metro and country leagues typically have salary caps between $100K and up to $300K but I imagine those caps might typically be swallowed up by only a few elite players. I guess you play VFL footy to give you the best shot at being drafted by an AFL club, rather than money.

loved it

I'm loving this thread - even though I'm safely within Melbourne suburbs with my tickets booked for next week and hopefully more if needed! In 2000, I was teaching English language in a school in Valencia, Venezuela. I managed to reserve a 'spot' at an internet cafe (in the middle of a busy bar/nightclub area) to listen to the game late at night Valencia time. When I left the cafe I was swearing and kicking things over after our loss to the Bombers but failed to notice that I was alone in a what is normally a busy street. Unbeknownst to me, there had been a shooting close by and the police had 'cleared' the area. I still wonder to this day what those people nearby thought as I cried and screamed out in anger (f..king Bombers etc) as I walked along this street. Did they think I knew (one of) the victim(s)? It's a lot easier today to watch the game than it was back then, but I'm feeling for you and sending out all my ex-pat tourist luv stuff. Go Dees.

I have so much nostalgia about the past and all the players you mentioned WERE champions. But we are witnessing something very special here. If Clarry wins another Bluey this year, he'll be on 4 (or 3.5 if you only count his joint win as half) which will put him equal with Stynes (4) who I think is #1 (stas gurus correct me if I'm wrong). Clarry is only 25 and is only just hitting peak age now. He's winning these Bluey's ahead of 6(?) time AA ruckman Max Gawn and 2020 Bluey winner and 2021 Norm Smith medalist (and persistent top 10 AFLCA champion) Christina Petracca. Clarry may win a Brownlow this year, but if not he'd be a good bet to win one eventually. If not more. In 20 years time they will build a statue for this kid, outside the MCG, alongside the other champions there.

Home Final!

I smashed our outdoor furniture chair that day.

I'd rather play the Pies in a GF than a PF where their crowd dominates. In a GF there's enough neutrals to remove that advantage.

AFLCA votes in the last 2 rounds are held over as secret. After RD21, the leader board was: 88 Miller, Neale 86 Oliver, Petracca 75 Cripps, Rozee I don't think Neale would have received votes in Rd22 and certainly not last night. GC got thrashed last week, so I doubt Miller was in the votes I'd be confident that Oliver got some votes last night, and maybe some against Carlton. Trac possibly too. I think Cripps and Rozee are too far behind. If Miller doesn't get in the votes this week (GC are playing Nth, so easily possible), then I'd put money on Clarry taking home a 2nd consecutive award.

True, but an MCG final will save me lots of $$ in airfares and accom in Sydney.

Given that percentage IS important (we get to see the Dees at the MCG!) let's f*&ng [censored] them. No mercy. Go the kill.

With the whole fam in Covid ISO, it feels eerily similar to the final round 2021. I'm hoping for something a little less traumatic on the heart. Go Dees. Go big time.

and no Bowey, so 3 missing (Jordon in)

Not really a huge amount of work but thanks for engaging! (I float these sort of things in my head all the time and only occasionally put them in writing when maybe someone is interested) I'll concede that the way I described it - by making it sound complicated and confusing - was terrible. I think I was trying to come up with a system that was more like a series than a knock-out comp. It's born of years of disappointment as a Dee. So when you finally make the finals you know you'll at least get to see them because (at least) one of their games will be at home. "My team made the finals, I'm buying a ticket" . "Oops, it's an away game in Adelaide". If you have a final series (rather than award the premiership to the top team) then you have to accept that any team that qualifies has a chance to win while presumably you still give an advantage to teams that finishes higher in the H&A. [eg In the NBA it's knockout with the only advantage being a slightly better home ground advantage based on your seed. (because they're multiple games, all fans get to see them at home at least once. The higher ranked team will host games in 1,2 5 and 7 of a 7 game series.] What is the appropriate advantage to give to for ladder position? Under the proposed BigColFinal9, form tends towards PF with 1 v 4 and 2 v 3. The current system trends towards 1 v 3 and 2 v 4 for the PF.