Diamond_Jim

AVB was effectively signed to Sydney for family reasons and we changed his mind so we certainly wanted him. His ongoing injury is just bad luck and in the scheme of things something every football club endures. We may need to make a decision on AVB over the summer. There is salary cap relief for paying out long term injured players. Like many I would be disappointed if he stays next year and the injury is ongoing.

was there not a year when 3 or 4 players kicked over 100 goals

Oh.... we had such dreams then....... pity we have now returned to the norm of the last ten plus years

Pity about Lever's absence. I was interested to see how he fitted in with Hore playing more or less of his intercept marking role. Time to get some stability into this team but it seems that each week brings a fresh (or extension) injury. Give's Petty some exposure in the meantime. Big three weeks for him.

For those who watch these things what is the usual time on ground for our tall defenders. Does that require a "spare" and if not when one is off how do we match up? thanks

Had forgotten about Petty but very good point. Notice that Collingwood are facing a somewhat similar problem with Reid and Cox.

The intersting question going forward is what role Oscar has to play assuming Frost, Lever and May are fit. All are 5-6 year players and given that Oscar has had a solid taste of senior football I could not imagine that he will be happy to play back up to these three. From a club viewpoint it's great to have depth but it's very much a double edged sword when you have players on the cusp.

Not sure that the Victorian public have quite caught onto the growing strength of the Eagles and Crows balance sheet wise. They both have closed membership lists and waiting lists for reserved seats. In addition they have strong stadium deals. The only saving grace is that their licences are owned by the respective State leagues and they are obliged to invest in the local leagues (WAFL etc). Freo and Port are not in the same boat but they will benefit over time from the fan lock out of the two bigger home teams. The Tasmanian team position is interesting. By appointing their inquiry/commission the AFL have kicked the can down the road for a year or two but you really have to question the role of the Suns not to mention GWS who aren't kicking any goals on the attendance scoreboard despite their relative success. (GWS will survive simply because it is Sydney but you have to wonder why they cannot attract the crowds.) On the Suns, I heard their CEO arguing on radio that a team like the Suns needed permanent structural drafting/salary cap priority to obtain equalisation.

The Hawks sample is one game only that was played on Mothers Day. The other games against "non local" teams by the Hawks are played in Tasmania and therefore outside the table. Bulldogs figures include their games at Ballarat which has a max capacity of 10k.

In the first quarter I counted three marks that he missed. At his level I would have expected one or two of them to be taken. On a happier note the pack marking by Melbourne players in the last minute or so was wonderful to watch.

Agree... it's the likely scenario and what footballer wouldn't seek greener pastures if not reasonably guaranteed a game. (See Tyson) Now is he worth a high or low first rounder given his potential?

Was at the Casey game on Sunday. The absence of the runner makes for some agitation on the interchange bench when it comes to getting players off. Lots of screaming by the players waiting to come on. How they manage at a packed ground like the MCG would be interesting

With Kennett running Hawthorn and a State Labour Government there is an opening for some wedge style politics but our Board perpetuates the silver tail myth so that probably wouldn't work.

that summed up the game for me. Glad you saw more form from the various players but advancement wise for me it showed little. You have to wonder about VFL as a training ground if games are to be such low quality. (I love the atmosphere but many of the games are very underwhelming.)

True but I was thinking more of the outer arc ... Berwick to Frankston for example. Gosch's will be out of date within ten years by comparison to what other clubs will possess. There is no doubt Collingwood are already positioning for a mega move. And watch out for Carlton whose plans will spark an all out battle with the local moneyed NIMBY's.

Praha... when was the last time you were in this area. If you spent some time there you would see that along with the western suburbs it's the fastest growing area of Melbourne. No AFL club has claimed the Dandenong/Frankston arc. The smart money says it's ours for the building over the next twenty years. More memberships in a week to be had than in the NT over five years plus a load of increasingly marginal seats.

Time for the MFC to develop a twenty to fifty year plan that sees it relocate to Casey with a intermediate (ten year) CBD option. Uber sky transport will take the latte sipping players out there in a few minutes in not that many years.

The Docklands has two big issues... First is the cost of land.. sure we get it as a gift but the tendency for training facilities these days is exclusive other than invitees (Essendon and their disabled athletes alignment for example). If the land is gifted it is very hard for an argument that it be exclusive and not public parkland. Second is the community benefit argument. Hard to get much sympathy for the Docklands community if there is one. (They are mainly wealthy retirees, airbnbs, overseas landlords or cheap student lets if the stories are to be believed.)

We left the control of the MCC because we were an afterthought in their eyes. Whether it would have made a difference to our power base if we had left earlier is hard to say. The MCC isn't the way forward unless we want to be a big second in the relationship

I think it's part of player management. They did the same with Spargo. It's a big drop and takes time. It's the new football and if there is no pressure finals wise.. I have no issue

More half back but hard to distinguish these days. His goal was the result of a bad fumbled mark by a Casey player who then had an excellent recovery to handball to KK who slotted it from around 30 straight in front. I thought KK had a better game against Collingwood but few players got in the clear today

So in the context of this discussion what would you do with Sparrow, Jetta and Melksham re the remainder of the season. Personally I would probably rest the lot of them in prep for 2020. These are the latest injury reports for each player: Neville Jetta | Knee – 4 weeks “Neville’s going really well. He’s started agility work at training, and he’s done some fast running, so we’ll look to fast-track him a little bit.” Jake Melksham | Foot – 4-6 weeks “It’s pretty slow progress for Jake. He’s now out of the boot but his foot is still very stiff, so he’s probably got to wait another week before he starts running. He’s going to be a little bit longer rather than shorter.” Tom Sparrow | Knee – 6-8 weeks “He’s pulled up really well from surgery and he’ll start running next week, so our aim is definitely to get him back playing before the end of the year.”

yes but he also made a famous quote about it's location

Finishing this season at Blundstone arena is somewhat fitting. The southern most AFL ground in the world.. what was it that Paul Keating called Australia ?

not disgraced... kicked a good goal and was prominent around the many packs. Sat near the dugout for a quarter or two and it was almost comical listening to the players trying to run the interchanges without a runner. Lots of name screaming.. it was like old fashioned tag. PS: just noticed he had 27 possessions but like Lewis' possessions they were not memorably damaging. (Not to say that Lewis did not have a good game but other than once when he took a courageous mark that in the end was called out of bound the possessions were mainly of a link up nature. At one stage I noticed him in at a centre bounce which I thought strange.)