Diamond_Jim

jumping forward to the 2019 season it will be an interesting discussion about the best 22. A couple of weeks ago I was tending towards Fritsch replacing Hannan thus allowing a strengthening of the backline. Hannan has had a very strong finals series and has certainly cemented his spot. The back story for Fritsch is so enjoyable it is impossible not to feel down by his non selection. Where to put Lever, Fritsch and Hogan... a fascinating problem.

Interesting Was Fritsch on Gunston? If so that is a good point.

The emergencies would suggest there is nothing in the O Mac being injured rumour going around this morning. If there had been something I think it would have been Dec Kielty on the plane as well.

so today we started with O Mac out and then we moved on to Fritsch out and now we are favouring Tyson out. Ah the joys of a good rumour

source please

Should not be underestimated what it would do for our brand (hate that word) to re-ignite the mystical nostalgia of '58 and '64. Could be the fillip to deliver another ten thousand members next year. Some big hurdles still to be overcome but no use dwelling on the negatives at this time of year.

Interesting that many people are almost writing Collingwood off. They were only beaten in the last quarter in the West and beat the seemingly inform GWS. Or is it that people think Richmond are so good. Sidebottom is elite and they have a dominant ruck in Grundy. Pendlebury delivers week in week out. Forward line is a little brittle and they seem to have patched together a decent backline. And of course there is that star player that Buckley discovered by switching him down back.. can't quite remember his name.

Hoping for a Collingwood win as a Melbourne v Collingwood Grand Final would be so right on so many grounds. Of course Richmond supporters would say we avoided them but there's always next year.

At the recent world cup in Russia the Colombians and to a slightly lesser extent the Iranians resurrected the vuvuzela together with the hand pumped air horn. It was not pleasant as a spectator I can assure you.

until a couple of years back it was around 75% that allocation From April 2017: "In a major step for club members and supporters, the AFL has today advised the 18 AFL clubs that an extra 4,000 tickets for the Toyota AFL Grand Final will be made available to members of the two competing clubs. The number of tickets available for purchase through event/corporate packages will fall by 4,000 to allow the revised match-day allocation numbers. The allocation of Grand Final tickets to MCC members, AFL/Medallion Club members and non-competing AFL clubs will remain unchanged. Members of the two clubs who reach the Toyota AFL Grand Final will have access to 34,000 tickets, or 17,000 tickets per club." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-04-12/increase-to-grand-final-ticket-allocation-for-competing-club-members-

Gold Coast will be a permanent drain on the AFL purse from an attendance basis. The only question is how much. At present the AFL are looking closely at GCS but not at their financial viability ... rather it's about their ability to attract and retain talent. Not hard to guess at the answer to that problem. GCS simply divides the small Qld market and makes it harder for Brisbane to establish itself after almost 30 years up north. I'm a little bit more upbeat about GWS simply because of their access to the Canberra market but let's face it, they have had 3 years of very solid onfield performance and their attendances are not exactly skyrocketing. When they fall off performance wise in 3-5 years the attendance drop could be precipitous.

cannot say for certain with MFC but I am reasonably sure that as a Richmond or Collingwood supporter the likelihood of being P3 and getting a ticket would be absolutely zero. Lotteries for non existent prizes were outlawed years ago. PS: Around $10 per member and we wouldn't need to play in Darwin .. ah it's just a few cups of coffee

wonder how many P3 people will go in the ballot .... there should be a little warning about your chances. Of course it's not just the ballot chances etc... if your team doesn't make it (50% of applicants) you've done your dough.

Priority 1 is guaranteed a seat. The standing room election is there because it has to be there for priorities 2 and 3 and obviously the software is not sophisticated enough to remove that election for priority 1. Hope we all get to enjoy it. I suspect if one were a Tigers supporter it's priority 1 only to get a ticket.

ah... don't you think ticketek charges the AFL for the service as well $1Million plus dollars per year to run a program... that is almost NASA pen charges Happy to pay cost recovery charges plus say 20%... if they want to open up the books

$200k at least per club (x four) to use a computer program that is used each year ... that is seriously expensive software. Bit like the $7 fee to print your ticket or have it sent to your phone. Oh the joys of transparency...

goal kicking and forward delivery will determine it in the end methinks. Midfields will make it tough and it will be who takes the chances. WCE probably ahead of us in raw scoring power

peanuts... peanuts .. shilling a bag

cannot really understand how a ballot works if you have both single and group applicants. Is an application for five people to sit together one ticket (chance) in the ballot or five. If it is five chances do only the selected persons out of the five get offered a ticket. It is a little ambiguous in the mailing. Strangely, probability theory would say you are best registering as five separate persons and not sit together if the group only has one chance. Oh such mysteries we must now solve as we enter this strange territory called finals.

bit like betting on the horse after it has passed the winning post. The last day was around round 18 or so.

These changes are becoming worrying: "The AFL Commission is set to abolish the "hands in the back" rule when it meets next week to consider recommendations from the league’s competition committee." .................... "If the move is rubber stamped by the AFL commission next Monday, the rule will revert to its original form where simply placing a hand on an opponent’s back is legal, until it becomes a push." https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/hands-in-the-back-rule-to-be-abolished-by-afl-commission-20180917-p504c1.html

Lucky it's not in the afternoon ! "High (80%) chance of showers, most likely from the late morning. The chance of a thunderstorm from the late morning. Possible hail. Winds northwesterly 20 to 30 km/h tending westerly in the morning then becoming light in the evening."

Not to worry ... imagine what you get if you're a Collingwood supporter ?

Probably would have been no change anyway but it has been unfortunate that the two VFL finals in which Casey participated were played in such atrocious conditions.

The Junction oval was special... everyone milling around not really sure what to do except cheer every player as they came out. We're all not so innocent anymore perhaps. Mind you they were late afternoon in those days and gave everyone a perfect excuse to get out of work early !!