Diamond_Jim

and of course Norm Smith and Jock McHale did it that way too. In those days it was them and the bootstrapper who probably doubled as the liniment rubber. Time and methodologies move on. Perhaps it's time we rethought our ways as well. As someone else posted it does seem that there are some posters (not you Nasher) that pot anyone who dares question our successful club.

As I said... analytics for example... working strategies for and against his team and various grounds. Not as though our gameplan is foolproof. Anyone can push a stopwatch.

Question for those who attend the pre season training often... Is Goodwin always there? I was a little surprised to see him pictured at a time trial for example. Is that usual? Would think that as head coach his time might be better spent elsewhere. Tactics, player analysis etc.... just strikes me as old school in these days of analytics etc to attend early stages of pre season training. I'm sure he does the analysis etc but you have to wonder if his continued presence at relatively meaningless training exercises adds enough value to warrant the time spent.

Captaincy of an AFL club has never seemed a big thing to me. Sure off field example is something and I expect it is more important than on field example which would be useful. There are so many coaches etc what really is the role of a captain these days anyway. More concerned that in recent times our captaincy choices have in the main co-incided with form drops that have been exacerbated by the captaincy issue. (ie you can't drop the captain ethos). Happy for Gawn to be a captain but not sure that it has done or will do Viney much good. On another note I'd like to see line leaders (forward, mid and back) that were used to vary the gameplan/ tempo etc in real time. These guys need to be the strategists and in synch with whoever is responsible in the coaching box for the gameplan. Footballers are often not as switched on as we think they are. My best example is a game at Casey midway through this year. The opposition ran a player off the bench rather than participate in the 6-6-6 rule. The MFC listed players complained to the umpires yet the tactic had been adopted by another club the week before at AFL level. Where was the communication to inform the players of this possibility and our reaction to it.

this problem is well known in workers compensation law and there are clear guidelines. Joint and several liability etc is your friend as long as you can prove it caused or contributed to the injury. The problem if there be one is the duty of care as measured by the standards of the time. The asbestos and tobacco industries were very good at running these arguments but ultimately lost. The other issue is which entity owed the duty of care... the club he played for, the VFL or the AFL and of course who holds the insurance policies.

4 out of 10 in the present top 10. Only Melbourne could say it was really happy with its pick that year and even then we would have taken Mills if available IIRC. Essendon two picks for little value and Carlton only lucked out because of Curnow. The draft is way too much of a lottery. Time to increase the age by a year or so. Three months each year for 4-8 years would be a good transition. Give the draftees a chance to study/take up a trade etc thus standing them in better stead for later life given that two thirds will not make it beyond 50 games.

Sun Yang, the poster boy of Chinese swimming is having his day in the Swiss courts starting this evening. Good article here from the ABC. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-15/why-sun-yang-case-watershed-moment-for-sport/11699528 It's being live streamed and is the first publicly heard case in 20 years apparently.

The ruck being worth the same weighting as each of the entire forward and defensive lines does tend to skew the table. Take the ruck out and include it in the midfield the ranking is about 11-12 with Essendon at 8

Obviously his best position is off half back but.. and it's a big but... Goodwin's game plan does not suit his style of play and to some extent Hunt's gamestyle does not suit the defensive tactics adopted by other teams. Credit to trying him upfront but not sold on him up there. If he is going to play down back he needs to break the lines and deliver the ball to advantage of a fast running forward.. ( a player we don't have.)

Points for and for that matter points against we were second worst in the league in 2019 so he could have ranked us worse. Looking realistically at out forward line who would you pick as a reliable forward. Melksham and then Petracca... add in Fritsch perhaps who has hardly ever played the position. Mc Donald had a purple patch but 2019 found him wanting. Weideman .. who knows. I'm far from sold on Hunt as a forward. Sure there's excuses but on 2019 form the assessment could be argued to be generous. 2020 will answer it one way or the other. Does anyone have a ranking for forward and defensive 50 entries and goals scored.

are we at Exodus or are we in Genesis ?? Then again we could skip straight to Revelations

German engineered but built in Thailand or who knows where these days. GM and Ford really left Australia with nothing if you reflect upon it. With the wonderful benefit of hindsight we would have been better concentrating on design and having the cars built elsewhere. Then again English designed cars aren't exactly smashing it on the world stage.

Those JLT games or whatever they call the comp will have some real meaning next year. As I have mentioned on other posts I see the first two rounds as one game selection wise with it being essential that we deliver one win. I'd be guided by the weather forecast. If it's 35 degrees or the like predicted for Perth make the selections accordingly. The list is really flakey on so many counts particularly up forward.

sometimes the world is not fair... to others it's about winning. MFC are shafted every which way.. (for example we should have had pick 2 this year) Anyway some are content with mediocrity. Others after 55 odd years would like to see success. BTW GWS who are similar to GCS never did us any favours and I expected none

Carlton and Martin are being smart. Can't understand why we didn't do the same thing with Langdon tbh. It's one of the few advantages you get after a disaster year and in a way it is the obverse advantage to that which the destination clubs enjoy with the powerful free agents. Don't feel sorry for GC... they will keep receiving priority picks and money until they are successful. Meanwhile .. us.. well we know what we get.

Not sure how the VFL level players feel but I would prefer to play for a non aligned team as one could not help feeling like a secondary level player as part of an aligned team. At least the non aligned teams train together and you are selected purely on form. The flip side is that if on the fringe you might feel you had a better chance of being noticed and have better back up at an aligned club. It really is a compromised competition which underscores the problems it faces. Imagine what a shake up there would be if we had relegation !!

SANFL and WAFL have ten teams with eight non aligned teams in both leagues. VFL has 15 with five non aligned teams. Are you suggesting combination of the AFL "back up teams" or removal of the non aligned teams. Not sure it would help but certainly worthy of discussion. Perhaps just drop to 16 on the field and perhaps 3 interchange.

Goodwin playing Fritsch down back didn't help.

Jetta's form on return late in the season was like much of the team. 2020 is his chance to show that he still has it or he will finish 2021 at Casey. Weideman has a similar length contract but if his 2020 is like his 2019 he will most likely be a bust. Not saying either of them can't continue but merely that 2020 is a very big year for so many. You can add AVB, Joel Smith and KK to the list.

But who wants it. It's a spectacle and as long as the output is controlled who wants to pay for more actors. Now if the AFL had as its mission the maximisation of player development as distinct from $$$ (or circuses) you would have an excellent point. BTW... I agree with your sentiment

Dr Bruce Reid wrote to James Hird and then football manager Paul Hamilton in January 2012 expressing his concern over the supplements program. His communication was revealed as part of the list of charges levelled by the AFL against the Bombers. https://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-08-21/full-text-of-dr-bruce-reids-letter Should he have copied the Chairman or the CEO... probably yes. Here's some brief extracts from that letter: I am still not sure whether AOD/9604 is approved by the drug authorities in Australia at this stage. Just because it is not classified as illegal, doesn’t mean that it can be used freely in the community, it cannot. I am sure Steve Danks believes that what we are doing is totally ethical and legal, however, one wonders whether if you take a long stance and look at this from a distance, whether you would want your children being injected with a derivative hormone that is not free to the community and whether calf’s blood, that has been used for many years and is still doubted by most doctors, is worth pursuing.

with no records of who what and when.............. yes, lucky he is only villified.

I agree with your logic but the money would need to come at the expense of something else. The obvious source is the the players wages in the senior team but that is going the other way. The non MFC players at Casey would be paid very little. What worries me is that VFL form is increasingly meaning little when it comes to determining whether a player can make it at AFL level. They play the same zone style and in the main the games are scrappy and rolling maul in their nature. Casey have been at the top pf the ladder for many years but few players have come out of the system. I know some point to Fritsch but he was only there for a year and was ready made when he played his first game for Casey. Lockhart.. maybe but hard to think of a Casey player (MFC listed or otherwise) who made it. Mind you I don't think the success rate is much different for most AFL teams. Why.. I have no idea. I'd like to see 16 players and perhaps some different tactics employed to open up the game. 16 players would reduce costs slightly but more so it might see more open and skilful play. As an aside the whole VFL salary cap (for all teams) is probably not much different to what the AFL pump into the one game in Shanghai each year.

Another player whose long term playing fate will be determined in 2020. We have so many of them... Hibberd, Jetta, Weideman and the list goes on. Would be nice but like many my expectations are not high.

I suspect the blueprint is to dumb down and/or phase out the comp. Many of the clubs complain about the cost of running their VFL team but given the arms race nature of the competition clubs see the VFL as a necessary evil. There's not just the players and support but the costs of maintaining the grounds to the required standard. It's no longer a development league but simply somewhere where your depth players get a bit of simulated match practice. A shame it is so because it could be a much better competition but AFL money men dictate that expenditure should be elsewhere.