Diamond_Jim

Interesting to see that Liverpool's new training facility is costed at much the same as Hawthorn's. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/nov/20/liverpool-hope-50m-kirkby-training-facility-will-inspire-academy-players "Liverpool are on course for next summer’s move to a new £50m training facility in Kirkby that manager Jürgen Klopp believes will inspire the club’s academy prospects in their pursuit of a first team place. "

Lot of truth in that... big failing at the MFC in 2018/19 is that no one really pressed their claim to dislodge Lewis or Jones for that matter. The flip side is that experience at VFL level is increasingly becoming irrelevant as an indicator that a player can make it at AFL level. As a one year contract I cannot see much downside.

Imagine if we stated that as our goal... the scary thing is we know they're not stupid goals for the hawks.

Timely article in today's Age on Hawthorn's new facility at Dingley "After recording another multi-million dollar profit Hawthorn say they are on track to build their elite training, administration and community centre in Dingley by the end of 2022, with close to $29 million already gained via fundraising to pay for the ambitious project. The Hawks have declared the next six months as being critical to realising their vision as they look to secure planning approval and further funding for the initiative which is budgeted to eventually cost the club $110 million. The club says the Kennedy Community Centre project will be transformative by establishing the premier sporting and community precinct in the south-east of Melbourne as they work towards realising their goal of winning 20 premierships by 2050 and two premierships within the next five years."

perhaps but why ? Of course the cop out is see 1 but why if so did we have 4. Interestingly 1964 was the year of the Dragon... which comes around again in 2024. Not sure it's that auspicious as the last year of the Dragon was 2012 and we finished 16th with only the newly admitted GWS and Suns beneath us.

with a "training" camp in New York https://www.afl.com.au/news/2019-11-19/international-rules-is-back-ireland-series-locked-in-for-2020 I'm not against these hybrid games but I do question the way that the AFL reserves the market for it alone. Need to build up some base support via lower level leagues etc. The way that the AFLX concept was botched (it should have been grown in the schools like touch rugby and rugby sevens etc) gives little confidence. I hear that the AFL has cancelled the Inter League Cup (not sure what it is called) because clubs have not had the resources to travel. (Nice spin is my take.)

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.