Diamond_Jim

For a brief magical moment there we almost got presented with a rails run but we will now have to switch to the outside. No one on one sit for us .... out in the death I am afraid

Sounds better than the C407 end ... perhaps we should name them ... a poll perhaps ??

I was starting to have some serious optimism there for a while

yep... what a tease that was !

who is Brody Mihocek

Promise I'll listen to the Dockers theme song at least twice on YouTube if they win. Do they have a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Version?

8:8 a piece Brother !! a big last quarter coming up

A lovely day at Casey with the faintest Zephyr blowing towards the (what do you call the end furthest from the sea.) The first half was close with great and frequent tackling by the Demons preventing the Seagulls from breaking away. Garlett played well and honours were shared between both teams. At half time it seemed that the Seagulls switched into another gear. They found space around the packs and their short kicking game started to take its toll on the Demons. In fact in the third quarter the Demons had few forward entries. The opportunities for Garlett dried up but the Demons managed to stay in touch until the last ten minutes or so when it seemed that it was free kick Seagulls time. What was particularly disappointing was the ease with which Willy got into scoring positions from behinds kicked by Casey. In the last quarter Williamstown took control of the air as well as the short kicking arena and kicked away. I'll leave it to the experts to discuss the finer points of who contributed what but I would say the Garlett's first half was good bordering on very good. His second half was much quieter but that reflected the team as much as him. A good first VFL final could see him back in the mix. The bacon and egg rolls weren't bad but I'm afraid I must rank them behind the Burra burger and the Frankston sausage sizzle. My first time at Casey Fields. Could do with some more trees but otherwise a decent ground lacking the heritage atmosphere of many of the old VFA grounds. From my time walking the field the ground was very soft which surprised me given the lack of rain. It was one level off near mud in some spots. I look forward to heading out again next week (especially since I now know where to turn off the main road to avoid what was a very pleasant drive through the new suburbs) and with the return of some key players

Very interesting

sure will young Willmoy. I consider that the savouring of culinary delights can sometimes exceed the pleasure of watching the football. The famous Burra Burger will however take a lot of beating

As I understand it free agency was bought in as the quid pro quo for the AFLPA not challenging the present restrictions on the basis of restraint of trade. Anything that reduces the ability of a player to maximise his wage will be resisted. Your suggestion which sounds sensible could in practice reduce the amount offered by the higher ranked clubs so it would be resisted unless it was part of an overall renegotiation including reducing the number of years before free agency applies. It's time for the AFLPA to perhaps become a little more transparent about its longer term goals. There are so many competing interests and it is hard to believe that it can be even handed when representing all those interests.

The way Peter Gordon explained it is that it is designed to give the lower clubs a better chance of getting a good player. He likened it to basketball where with one draft pick you can get a star player and because there are only five players on court you can dramatically change your success rate. Out of interest are there father/son and academy picks etc in the US sporting system?

On my way to Casey Fields (shades of Elysium Fields perhaps) for the first time. Looking forward to partaking of the mythical egg and bacon roll. Go Demons

They continue to talk up Essendon but they are 8-12 at best. Could never understand the hype but not to worry they will get the prime time games again next year

I am kind of used to having 3 or 4 rows to myself... would be weird to actually have to sit near someone

But according to Gil it's good for the competition........... "AFL boss Gillon McLachlan has been concerned about the time it takes clubs to rebuild from the bottom and of the impact of free agency and trading on lower teams. He mentioned that the English Premier League had lost television rights revenue in the last deal, in making the argument to CEOs that the poor teams could drag down the financial health of the competition."

The conspiracy theorist in me suggests that it is a way to soften up the objectors to the priority picks. In other words accept our discretion or we'll adopt the nuclear option. Marvellous how one can change the "norm".

MFCSS says to me the moment we even look like challenging for the pointy end of the ladder they look at changing the rules: https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-floats-radical-draft-changes-20180823-p4zzf7.html "Under the first model - which is unlikely to be in place even for 2019, though it has not been ruled out - the top 10 picks would remain in the current format of reverse ladder order, with selections 1-10 going to non-finalists. The eighth-placed team would receive pick 11, then the bottom side would receive pick 12, the seventh team would receive pick 13 and the 17th side pick 14. Under this "alternating" model, the order of selections (after No.11) would continue to alternate - pick 15 to the sixth side, pick 16 to the 16th club - until pick 23, when the 12th placed side would have the choice, rather than the losing grand finalist. Teams that finished 11th, 10th and 9th would follow (picks 24, 25 and 26). The top two sides would end up with picks 27 and 28."

no...not performance enhancing... like the Saad energy drink ... different rules

Peter Gordon on ABC: Drug was banned on match day only... Defence may be that it was not taken within 24 hours of playing

Loved his highlights clip... especially the shot of the cars parked around the boundary. I am starting to think you need three or more designated ruck rookie positions. These rookies are tied to the club within reason but are then farmed out to non aligned or next tier clubs for their development. I'm sure we can come up with a set of rules to make it work. If not I am lost as to how you develop ruckmen. Remember there is some discussion about getting rid of the reserve competitions we know as the VFL.

after the last fifty odd years you have got to enjoy it while you can

Out of interest who do the Giants usually rebound through. In the case of Sydney it was Aliir whereas against the Eagles it is Mc Govern who before being moved forward was manned by Melksham. Lobb is quite important to them in that strong down the line marking set up. Richmond has showed that a side like GWS and Adelaide can be relatively easily beaten by driving them very wide and owning the corridor. We seem to rely upon the switch which is reflective of our high press that leaves the opposite side of the ground free. Would love to see some alternative tactics adopted if only for a short while on Sunday.

Perhaps that is why Confucius' mate always had a bucket of sand handy

Good idea but they are few and very far between and as I mentioned we will only attract the journeyman VFL level player. Perhaps look at who rucks for the non aligned VFL clubs and the SANFL equivalents etc and then see what you can find. Rucks as a specialist position will die a natural death in the next 10 years unless a revolutionary approach is taken to their development. Bradtke has about a 1 in 5 chance of making it... (that's about average for the whole of the AFL and probably even less for a ruckman.)