Diamond_Jim

Feel a bit like Jordan Lewis' last year. If our team is on the up a youngster will push him out. Will it happen.. no one grabbed Lewis' spot

Hope you're right.

Unless we have some major performance lifts from our 5-15 ranked players finishing around 10th is likely. There won't be any sacking simply because the club has had too much bad press. A managed exit would be my guess in 2026. Anyway let's hope 2025 delivers some fun matches

Not so sure about the game day thread...👺

A perfect example of a player that should be used on a rotational basis. His body will not make it through a 27 game season

Great news

As Taciturn Demon asked... what is the right number of teams in Melbourne? But perhaps you need to ask two questions first. 1. How many teams do you need in the competition. (I think most would say at least 16 and an even number avoiding rolling byes.) 2. Assuming you need say 16 teams where are any extra interstate teams best located. (A much harder question. Sydney or Brisbane... no pressing need but perhaps FNQ and/or Albury. Adelaide and Perth .. Maybe) So assuming one more team in Qld/NSW and one more team in Perth or Adelaide (plus the Tasmanian team) you have 11 interstate teams. Putting Geelong to one side (arguably not Melbourne based) that gives you four teams in Melbourne. For those favouring an 18 team comp you have 6 teams in Melbourne. The above is purely an economic assessment and assumes that additional teams (GCS and GWS especially) "pay" their own way in increased television rights. It won't happen but it's interesting to theorize.

Suspect you are right. NT would be a stretch and require enormous NT gov't investment similar to Tasmania. The reasons we have GWS and GCS simply don't apply to NT. I'd like to see a summer (wet season) comp in the NT played by two conferences of indigenous teams supplemented by say 6 VFL (SANFL etc) players for each team. Comp goes for 8 weeks plus two weeks of finals. Outback grounds featured with finals shared between Alice Springs and Darwin. Federal Gov't money would flow and the TV coverage benefits to the NT could be massive

A very good season. Has the makings of a dominant and dare I say elite forward if he can find the mystical "forward connection" with our midfield

Great to see he has re-signed and he is pivotal down back to our structure post 2026. 2025... will he be forward or back or even half way... I have no idea but best of luck Harry

I really thought North would be a hard team to beat in 2024 with around 8 wins and a few close ones. Maybe in 2025 but who knows

You could have all that if you were Geelong. The only team with a "clean stadium".

On the surface appealing but hard to execute. Also if you have corridor teams playing each other it often becomes a turnover feast between the arcs. My preference is Collingwoods angled plays. Not 90 degree switches but more like 30 degrees ground covering kicks. You have to get the ball in front of the masses running up and down. Having two very good wingmen doesn't really favour the central style. It will definitely be a challenge especially with Salem slowing down.

That's a curate's egg of a sentence if ever I saw one. Looking forward to seeing how it plays out.

The Age draft predictions have Smith going to MFC The top fifteen are: Sam Lalor (Richmond) Levi Ashcroft (Brisbane matching Nth Melb's bid) Alix Tauru (Nth Melbourne) Finn O'Sullivan (Carlton) Harvey Langford (Adelaide) Jagga Smith (Melbourne) Josh Simile (Richmond) Leo Lombard (Gold Coast matching St Kilda's bid) Isaac Koko (Essendon matching St Kilda's bid) Sid Draper (St Kilda) Xavier Lindsay (St Kilda) Harry Armstrong (Melbourne) Tobie Travaglia (Richmond) Jobe Shanahan (Richmond) Bo Allan (West Coast) https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-afl-draft-is-just-weeks-away-here-s-what-you-need-to-know-about-the-top-40-prospects-20241024-p5kl0v.html What I found interesting is that Jagga Smith was ranked 1 by the Age poll in August and has now slipped to 6. These are the comments on Smith: Smith is a lightly framed midfield marvel who is an expert ball-winner with quick feet and rare agility that he uses to escape tight spots. He gathered an incredible 50 disposals and 24 contested possessions against Western Jets in a game this season, and is renowned for almost always hitting his target, particularly by hand. Smith has performed against boys and men, and recruiters were pleased to see him kick more goals and be more damaging with his disposals towards the end of the season. He is the safest pick in the draft, but recruiters believe his ceiling as a player is lower than some peers. If it’s not Smith here, the Demons may take Sid Draper instead.

Where's that emoji when you're looking for it Like you I'm over it for 2024 Merry Christmas fellow supporter

TMac staying did surprise me as I thought it would be Petty down back and Jefferson into the forward line. On reflection I can see Jefferson not debuting until Round 5. That probably gives him two VFL games and a chance to ease into the long season. On Petty... he had developed into a good backman and... we all know what happened

Saty sometimes you need to read between the lines but this time the lines are as wide as broad gauge railway lines. Anyway as I said let's see what the future brings

Chairperson and CEO both gone within a month. Both left under a cloud. Not great by any score You could feel it coming from the moment he reportedly shopped Oliver around. Anyway we move forward but hell we are great at turning what should be a glory period for the club into a shambles

Obviously they all read Demonland. It will be approved. Once you have a willing sponsor it's not hard to construct a role. The one protection is the Corporations Law but in reality it only imposes brakes on listed companies in that all payments need to be in the interests of shareholders and properly characterised. The answer is to have a prohibition on all non football payments unless positively approved by the AFL. It's not that unusual as many employment contracts prohibit outside employment unless approved by the employer. While strictly speaking the AFL is not the employer of the coach or players but they are the regulators.

Watched the 2021 finals a few weeks back (yeah I'm desperate to see a winning final) Could not help but notice that Bowey often found space due to comparatively slow movement into our defensive zone by other teams. Can he deal with super fast corridor or zig zag style now favoured by many teams. Not sure. It's probably a question that applies to many of our defenders

The Hawks new training ground had a cost (not sure if it included land) of $113M. They got $15M from each of the State and Federal governments plus $5M from the local Council leaving $73M to raise themselves. (Albanese was at the shovel ceremony in early 2024). The oval at Waverley Park is owned by Hawthorn and the last grandstand is heritage listed. (Hawks still own it but can they sell it or raise money against it?) Would be interesting to know how the final $73M was funded. Hawks site has a donation target of $5M for the project at the moment. By the way the training centre sits on an old waste dump and has been "tested and treated" for methane gas leaks. ( Cue the hot air puns) It has not been without controversy https://www.sen.com.au/news/2023/08/03/hawthorn-urged-to-continue-with-dingley-project-despite-escalating-costs/

When will we learn. If you want funding you have to push the community involvement angle. If we have one we're not great at publicising it As a separate note MRC want a return on the land so who funds the rent on the admin centre, gym, oval etc. It won't be cheap

I've always assumed picks are unlimited until you pass so perhaps we even go into round 6 as in reality it will only be one or two picks after our round 5 pick

Over 500 youngsters have nominated for the draft. Just over fifty will be selected. Of those fifty perhaps 30 will play 50 games and ten make it to 100. AFL is a tough world