Diamond_Jim

yeah ... you have to match the dollars.. what makes you think we can match the dollars that a desperate club will throw at him. Freo has way more free salary cap than we have as do many other clubs. We will be in the same position as WCE are with Gaff. Sure they could have matched the Dee's salary offer but no way can they match the North salary offer. That's why WCE are murmuring trade in the sense they want to scare off all the other clubs bar North and make it that much harder (successful v unsuccessful club etc) for Gaff to leave. RFA shifts the balance dramatically in favour of the player. Of course the manager says he'll stay.... his pay day is next year not this year. Our bargaining year is now. Why not sign him up now if he is so certain to stay ?

Miles better than the compensatory pick of around 15 that we would get if he leaves under restricted free agency.

there is a lot of old fashioned logic in that question but in these days of "loading and deloading" it seems to be no longer the preferred route. Playing him for a half would seem to be very logical but I suppose the theory goes that it adds nothing to his skills and reaction time while not playing him allows them to load him in a controlled manner.

Goldstein is 30 ... why would you leave to be second fiddle to the all Australian ruckman who is now 26. The second ruck has to be able to play as a KPP or he just fills in at Casey. Hell clubs prefer no ruckman over one who can't cut it around the ground. PS.. I see he's been passed by a younger guy at VFL level

Richmond v Hawthorn a sell out according to the Age

I ranked a successful season as being sixth with one finals win. We've bettered my first KPI and I am anxiously awaiting the bettering of the second.

Tickets are $15 and can be bought online if you don't want to queue up. Never had a queue at a VFL game. Will probably head on down after breaking my Casey duck last week. A few degrees warmer would have been nice. Probably sit at the newly named Berwick end !!

would be amazed if the contracts didn't have such clauses. Have never seen a sponsorship contract (and I've seen a few) without bonus payments for hitting certain targets. The question is what those targets are. Certainly finals would be a key as in simple terms it's more weeks of high level exposure. Friday night games could come into it as would ratings in key markets and amongst key demographics. Quite possible we sold ourselves low but I hope not.

Will be very interesting to see the selections for Saturday's match. Top of 13 with winds to 25kph and a possible couple of showers

they publish the availability of AFL walk ups as the game gets closer. I think the Richmond v Hawks game will almost certainly be an all ticket affair. It's worth checking as you can just go to the unreserved section and spread out.

it is certainly worth considering. The other problem is that of actual worth as against perceived worth. As one of three forwards what we are willing to pay JH may be a factor less than what a one forward club such as Freo might pay. Not much use if we assess him at 4x $1M and Freo offer 6 x $1.3M. Then we only have the we might win a flag card to play.

the alternative of course is to ask JH to re-contract now...... it's all about balance and next year the balance moves dramatically his way.

and that is a big reason why you trade this year. Other than taking the compensatory pick (around 15 assuming we finish top 4 next year) we would have to match and then trade.... assuming we could match. Even an offer of $1.2M x 6 would be a hard task for us to match I suspect.

GWS tried the numerous talls route with Lobb, Patton and Cameron plus Munford in the ruck. They were all high quality. Did it work... most would say no. Adelaide did much the same and were found wanting against Richmond but it did take them to a GF. When we started this thread the big question mark was over Weideman. That question mark is still there albeit that it has decreased significantly. Nice problem to have.

AFL full membership includes admission to all the finals (silver membership to the first two weeks). The amount paid ($21) is for reserving a seat. Much the same as the MCC but a fair bit cheaper for the annual sub. If the AFL members does not sell out (quite common) you can just go and sit in the unreserved section of the AFL reserve. Overall AFL is potentially a good deal as it gets you into three games a week every week plus the finals (assuming you use it.) Even just going to a game a week makes it a decent investment.

Wonderful contribution. Worth remembering that ultimately it was injury that caused his retirement and no one could permanently displace him from the senior side. Hope he continues at Casey for next year assuming team balance lends itself to his inclusion.

you're probably right but I don't think they liked the optics of the lowest finals crowd ever that GWS drew last year. (GWS v WCE).They are lucky it ended up between the two Sydney teams.

GWS v Sydney will be a test for the AFL. Could be embarrassing if it's not a sellout

10 day forecast for Friday week looking mediocre: 60% chance of showers with a maximum of 14 with winds of 24kph. Thursday looking quite wet

Got the tickets... tried for level 2A but nothing so down at ground level... Be surprised if they get many more than 70k there ... will be interesting to see if the holders of the series tickets turn up. Does anyone know how many guest passes per member they were allowing for sale in the AFL reserve

waiting on the ticket site to buy my AFL members tickets.... as others have mentioned amazing that it does not give you a queuing time estimate. Just encourages people to try and open multiple sessions which further overloads the system

something suggests to me he will stay and get a pay rise unless some other club makes a drop dead offer for him

Watched that Tyson collision on the replay today... looked so innocuous. Here's hoping

bit like the census... strangely enough the World Cup manages to sell around a million in the same way and it works okay. Mind you they did stuff up the subsequent mail out.

Great to hear... obviously the old fashioned ways can still be the best