Diamond_Jim

Prescient so far BB.

Woke up to the Blood Red Moon over the ocean this morning. Must be an omen for something.

sorry might be another team but in any event the thought of the Bombers making the finals like last year and we don't is not good for my psyche

nah.... Essendon has an easy run home and we need to stop that momentum

Buddy has next year at most by the looks of things

2 goals in 40 seconds before half time...... and I thought we were bad. And before it happened Bruce said ... the Swans know exactly how much time to ?go

Shows the problems of appointing an untried coach. We were his lab experiment. Hopefully the current coach doesn't repeat the exercise

Spartacus was Thracian.... a complex area in today's political system akin to drafting a full forward from New Zealand

yeah a little linear in his approach to the game. Mind you when he got together with Archimedes on the wing the game really flowed. Certainly never sank in my opinion.

unfortunately while our VFL team may be a winning combination at VFL level it has been a relative failure in the area of skill improvement for its members. Other than Weideman in respect of whom the jury is still well out and our two additions this year in Petty and Baker(too early) hard to pick a player other than Stretch who has genuinely put up his hand for a spot. JKH's form improvement in the VFL was only recent. Five or six weeks back you can read the posts about him going through the motions. Would like to see much more emphasis next year on skill improvement even if it comes at the expense of losing a few games. The days of rejoicing at a win in the reserves are well and truly gone albeit on a nice day there is nothing more enjoyable than going to an old suburban stadium with your comfortable chair.

yep....the old midfield cupboard at Casey is remarkably bare

so we win 4 out of 5....as the great man Kerrigan said..... "Tell em they're dreaming"

think they will win three of those... Essendon, Hawthorn and one other

you can't blame Richmond .. everyone wants to play them at the MCG.... funny that's what Collingwood always used to say ?

sorry .. after last week I haven't really been into this game.For some reason I assumed it was Sunday

Lewis won't be dropped. Two reasons. His form has been best 22 and there is no one at VFL level pushing for his spot.

crowd numbers as a percentage of population are trending down year on year. Revenues go up to some extent because of greater corporate revenues and ticket price increases. Of course the bulk of the revenue comes from the media deals. A sustained corporate downturn such we saw post 1988 would seriously challenge today's AFL revenue model.

Hard to see where the three wins are going to come from. Gifts like Geelong gave us in the third quarter don't often repeat themselves. Combine that with our repeated failure against the better teams and MFCSS rules. I have the complete opposite feeling to last year when at this time I thought finals a relative certainty. Who knows

I think he played half forward for Athens against Sparta ?

Agree Earl As I said in my OP I found the mix of topics strange indeed. I think the VFL is a good program although it has a few obvious weaknesses.The obvious concern with it is how the non aligned clubs will survive longer term both from a competitive and financial viewpoint. Then there is the cost of maintaining facilities at places like Coburg, Box Hill etc

Scott Thompson of the Crows 308 games.. 39 with Melbourne and as you mention Neitz. It's a very select list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_VFL/AFL_players_to_have_played_300_games

the argument seems to be that the game is "overcoached" and players are not performing to their natural best

Strange article in the Age about the AFL considering: 1. Increasing the draft age by 6 months (sounds sensible I think) 2. Decreasing the number of coaches 3. Decreasing the number of players on a club's list. Why I say it is strange is that it reads like they want development to occur outside the AFL system and a natural affect of decreasing list size is that the clubs would not be able to field a reserves side. The concepts are muddled but need to be discussed. "The AFL is considering changes to the draft age and cutting the number of players and coaches at clubs as part of an overhaul of football departments. The number of coaches at clubs or the number permitted to work at games on match day could also be cut as part of the changes being discussed. The option to increase the draft age by six months and to trim the number of players on club lists to a number yet to be determined are among options being canvassed by the AFL as a way of overhauling club lists." "The argument for cutting lists sizes isthat with fewer players on a list you require fewer coaches at clubs and that it is the least talented players that take up most of the time of development coaches at AFL level." https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-considers-cutting-number-of-players-coaches-at-clubs-20180725-p4ztgg.html

Last year we had significant long term injuries and just missed the 8. This year Lever and Viney aside we have been relatively injury free to key players. For that reason alone standing still, let alone improving should have seen us make the 8 this year with relative ease.

okay not home grown but it is a real milestone and we should be proud that it is occurring while at our club. For those who question his worth my comment re Jordan and Vince all year has been that their spots are there for the taking by any member of the VFL side. Congratulations on joining a very exclusive club.