Diamond_Jim

Assuming the odds in any one year are one in two of being positive or negative, the odds of 17 years positive are around one in 65,000 (I think)

there's four players at least that could go either way during 2020.. Best 22 or delisted/traded for low value Hunt, Hannan, J Smith, O MacDonald Cusp players also in that group are Spargo and J. Wagner

The mind blowing stat in that table is what in the hell happened with GWS in 2019. It is an outlier that blows the bell curve wide open. You would also expect teams to go positive and negative on a year by year basis. The ones that don't are the ones you need look at. Other than North and West Coast (both positive) and GWS (negative) the rest on a quick look appear unremarkable.

Makes you wonder where we would be without Casey radio. Sure the club can't cover everything but it needs to think about how it features itself in a crowded market. With this game. Perhaps Livestream a quarter with a short background video. Not rocket science. Done on YouTube all the time.

well he did write his own history which helped a lot but then again so have a few others, Napoleon included

didn't end well... failed to take the power brokers along with him

On a slightly related note wouldn't it be great if the AFLNT (or whatever is its name) could become the face of summer football. I can see southern based players who are NQR flocking up north to play with the local teams. Think Big Bash..... Frankly the NT govt would be much better funding such a comp with Federal government help rather than the peripatetic likes of ourselves and the Gold Coast.

Co-emperors usually didn't end well in Roman times. On a more serious note your excellent examples do not perhaps reflect the roles of an AFL captain. What if any power do they wield. I would suggest very little unlike your examples all of which directly influence outcomes. The comparative weakness of the captaincy system can perhaps be seen in the Essendon drugs scandal and to a lesser extent in the camp debacles suffered both by the Crows and the MFC.

For those who follow these things which individual MFC players went up in the rankings during 2019. Thanks

a lot in that I can see the Board when we are 0-2 with all the usual spin but if we are say 2-4 it's almost season over... it certainly would be at say 3-6. That was what was so disappointing about 2019... you could see the season was lost relatively early. 4 -2 and I'm on the bandwagon

MFCSS by Joseph Conrad... "I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed somber under an overcast sky--seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness." Heart of Darkness

"Disgraced sports scientist Stephen Dank has been charged by Northern Territory Police with offences relating to his time working at an anti-ageing business in Darwin. Mr Dank, 56, is facing fraud offences and charges of recklessly endangering serious harm and causing serious harm, NT police said in a statement." https://www.9news.com.au/national/dank-charged-over-time-at-darwin-clinic/33d81b04-2c7f-4993-a256-fb5ad8dee72c

From today's Guardian.. A society dedicated to preserving the “much-abused” apostrophe is to be shut down as its chairman said “ignorance and laziness” had won. John Richards, who worked in journalism for much of his career, started the Apostrophe Protection Society in 2001 after he retired. Now 96, Richards is calling time on the society, which lists the three simple rules for correct use of the punctuation mark. “We, and our many supporters worldwide, have done our best but the ignorance and laziness present in modern times have won!” https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/dec/01/laziness-has-won-apostrophe-society-admits-its-defeat

Given the gameplan it is difficult to envisage a forward line including Fritsch, MacDonald, Jackson and Weideman. If we played with all of those in the forward line it could resemble a trampoline with the speed that the opposition will rebound.

any sign of KK

yeah that is when they are supposed to play that but their argument for VFL games was that they had to finish 20 plus minutes before to allow for warm up umpire inspections etc etc So if you allow for Auskick as well the curtain raiser would probably need to start before sunrise

think of the turf OD.. and of course they'd need to finish 30 minutes before the start of the senior game to allow for .... (not sure what)

you need an extra five minutes at a MFC game to find the food stall etc because they close most of them. You're right though it's certainly not stadium driven. Then again it's up to the stadium to provide an atmosphere that gets people there 30 minutes early so they can sell their bad food. Wait I have a solution.... let's ramp up security so everyone gets there early to avoid the long lines. Last year in Russia at the World Cup it needed about an hour before kick off to get through security comfortably. Standing in a long snaking airport like line with Colombian football fans blowing vuvuzelas in your ear can be off putting.

Never realised that the quarter and three quarter time breaks are only 6 minutes. Had always assumed they were ten. https://www.aflonline.com.au/afl-news/how-long-is-an-afl-game/

ok ... we're up

I usually go for a dab of garlic butter but I am very glad to see that all have steered way from the pepper or mushroom sauce which seems to thrive in Australian pubs as a way to cover up what is too often a bad steak. Sometimes I find the American steakhouses oversmoke their steaks by hanging them above the grill for a few days. Come out like a cross between ham and steak. Interesting but not classic flavour. probably would have gone for the bernaise. The other sounds a little spicy. But why not have them in a side dish and you can have both.

okay I'll play Pies v Tigers 2019 first round. Pies played a wonderful tactical game that beat Richmond who were at relative full strength. Cannot remember Goodwin trying anything different all season.

Interesting to consider historically why we have four quarters rather than two halves. European games including those peculiar to the UK such as rugby are two halves. American games however are in the main four quarters. The real problem as many have identified are the AFL rule changes themselves.. each is arguably good for the game blood rule, concussion stoppages, score reviews etc etc but cumulatively they add up. In reality it is however TV... they just lose too may viewers during half time. Bet you I am not alone into switching to a netflix or similar at half time and coming back 40 minutes later to see if the game is worth watching score wise.

well the multi colored seats at use at the Gabba and some other grounds are there to deliberately trick the TV cameras into thinking htere are people there so why not. The thoughts of a CGI roman gladiator like crowd could be a start.

obviously television driven... suspect the ratings show a lot of drop off at half time particularly on night games. Strange decision though ...........out of nowhere One thing is does emphasise is that we are a TV game... no way the stadiums or ground fans would have wanted this