Diamond_Jim

should not be too hard for some boffin to tell us the median and average injury rate per club and across the comp for the last twenty years. If it really is 25% (and I have no idea) that's nine players which would give you only 27 players to select from...cue the reduction in onfield numbers to 16 and three on the bench.

just posted much the same in another thread although my suggestion was one thousand attendees. Very important that they involve fans in some way. Strangely enough I think the canned crowd noise is almost disrespectful to the fans.

crowd involvement is great and at first glance I thought you could do this in the park around the MCG sans cars with byo chair but then you start to think logisitics..toilets , limiting the number of entrants etc and it all gets too hard. How about a lucky thousand lottery so you could have one thousand at the MCG all sitting ten seats apart or similar

Love it... we need to trade mark the concept

As I understand it most sports have an active senior list (bigger than the number required on game day) and then the rest go to another comp. In soccer they will lend out say the fourth goal keeper etc. Baseball... the teams have another team in a lesser league. However there are players on the active list that are effectively getting no game time but they seem to manage. I suppose what I am saying is that match fitness is retained in many other sports without actual matches... why is AFL different

There seems to be a concerted move to end the reserves/VFL comp as a cost saving measure. This would come with a reduction in the list size to the mid thirties. Assuming an injury level of 2-3 players that leaves around 10 players who don't make the senor team. Perhaps 12-14 if you reduce the on-field team to 16 with 3 or 4 on the bench Interested in peoples thoughts as to whether you would just increase the training loads of these players or would you put them in different clubs,the one club or even loan a group of five (subject to recall)to one or more clubs.Traditionally we have always assumed that a player needs match fitness but I wonder whether this is now a thing of the past.

One of the worst examples perhaps as it is of course the official song of the US marines. I suppose it can be defended on the basis that they stole the tune from a French operetta. Probably even worse is the Fitzroy/Brisbane theme sung to the tune of the French National Anthem.(Given their defence of almost every wine and cheese name known to man I'm surprised the French haven't sent Brisbane a please desist note.)

One of the best if not the best in his position but he does not dominate the game as you would expect an elite player to do. This is not his fault ...it is the declining role of the ruckman. I think Jeff White for some years had more influence on the team than Gawn has had. Jamar was probably as dominant as Gawn in the ruck but it did little good. TBH I have always been surprised and disappointed that our coaching staff have not come up with a few set plays to leverage Gawn's dominance. Hitting to space is an obvious one but I suppose that tactic goes against the possession and control mantra prevalent in today's game.

Agree or putting it another way is consistently in the teams best 5 and is the top 5 on ground every second or third week with a BOG performance once every five.

Gawn....very good but not elite He excels in a dying position. Our inability to leverage his ruck dominance is a great disappointment but it reflects the modern game. The others are mere potential with Oliver the closest to elite followed a fair way behind by Petracca. Perhaps our definitions of elite differ... To me there are probably around 40 elite players at present across all teams.

But that's the problem...it's not our song. Bit like hanging on to God save the Queen but changing the words to God save the GG

An interesting aside to those that think all we need is success on field and all will be well is that the Hawks had a golden period in the 80's that stretched into the early 90's but by 1996 they were on their knees financially. Different times but it does show how important sound management is along with on field success.

The Age is reporting that the Victorian Health Chief has said no mass spectator sports until 2021

Seriously though wouldn't it be great to have a song like the NZ or South African anthems ...one verse in English and one in an indigneous language Yes I know there are hundreds of indigenous languages so pick the one of the Wurundjeri people on whose lands the MCG sits

Might upset some but I'd love a new song. It's a jingoistic knock off of an American patriotic song. Time we had our own

Can anyone recall the money offer from AFL for a merged team?

that seems to be a particular skill of some Melbourne players. In their defence it is a legitimate tactic to avoid being called for holding the ball. Left field..what about allowing throwing of the ball. The Bulldogs came close to it in 2016 and it did open things up a little

if you are referring to the post 2005 era (the Clarkson years) you have to assume we would have made the same coaching and player selections....why would we do that when as I pointed out Melbourne was the dominant player in the merger. The decisions were likely to be similar to those we did make and not those made by the Hawthorn board.

you can divide this into several categories: Financial Coach selection Player selection On field performance Membership Other than membership there is no real reason to think we would have been drastically successful. The so called glory years of the Hawks ended in 1991 as their players aged. In 1995 the year before the proposed merger the Hawks were near the bottom of the ladder at 15th. Fascinating discussion as one of my pet loves is alternative histories.

well I suppose it's not as dumb as listing the Tour de France complete with spectators for late August. Talk about a rolling disaster. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/apr/16/august-tour-de-france-recipe-for-disaster-says-public-health-expert

You have to remember that it was an MFC lead merger where Hawks were the target club.It is reasonable to think we would have had the usual suspects leading the club and we would have been the basket case we are anyway. (MFCSS requires no other response.) What is interesting to speculate upon is what our membership numbers might now have been. I suspect about the same as Carlton 55-60k

you don't need to send any of the Melbourne teams interstate for a while if you base all the Melbourne teams in Melbourne and the interstate teams together somewhere else...say Adelaide. That way you have seven rounds until any of the Melbourne teams need to move To complete the season you would then need two moves from both hubs of four teams at a time. (Some how there are two more rounds needed which I'm sure the spreadsheet people can work out. Under this plan all teams would spend four weeks in the foreign hub.) The complicating factor is the first round as it was an uncontrolled mix of the hubs... all the more reason to cancel that round ?

the kick backwards or across the ground is an excellent attacking/defensive move. I could live with limiting it to one kick thus avoiding a chain but as other have said the other team is employing a zone and should suffer for not manning up. The problem with the last touch rule is that the free kick is too big a penalty. We would end up like soccer where players are skilled at playing for a corner. Happy with the fewer rotations and throw in a reduction of the bench by one while we are at it. 20 metre kick .... maybe but if the other side is using zones the short kick can be a good zone breaking strategy. Most importantly these rules should be trialled in other comps for at least one season before coming over to the AFL where they should in their first year form part of the preseason comp only. The last set of rule changes were an absolute failure

This is why the VFL is endangered. For reasons that are beyond me VFL form rarely converts to AFL form. At best it delivers an injured best 22 player a few weeks of match practice before rejoining the main team. This can be done reasonably well by an alternative training program at far lesser cost. Finally the AFL has largely killed off the community spirit aspect of the VFL competition. It has always been a pleasure going along to the standalone clubs and seeing their supporters passion for their club but in the main they are a mature declining group. Long live the Burra Burger !!

Virgin airlines a major sponsor of the AFL and a big media buyer on FTA coverage of AFL are investigating going into formal administration https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/14/virgin-australia-considers-going-into-administration-as-labor-calls-for-government-rescue