Diamond_Jim

Lions v Crows shaping up as a season decider for the Crows. Not sure who I want to win between Port and GWS. Probably depends on how we go tonight.

Pies showing how it should be done so far. A big win today will really get the Magpie army on the move.

Listening last night to 3AW pregame show. They were discussing what the commentators generally agreed was the basket case known as the Gold Coast Suns. Not sure which of the commentators said that a number of their high draft picks would be leaving this year after failing to cut it at the senior level. It prompted the group of commentators to say that GCS had no structure for bringing in the young players and it was a death wish or similar to be drafted into such a club. So much was the same at MFC... no structure , no leadership etc etc. Would the various players have made it.. who knows but they had little chance in our system.

how do you determine who makes the conference. When determined is it immutable like the NFL? I can just imagine our conference... MFC, Dogs North and the Saints Conference B: Pies, Tigers, Bombers and Carlton

could never understand how people had us at the same ranking as the Saints given that Riewoldt and Montagna were such fantastic contributors week in week out. Mind you we did lose to them so perhaps the pundits were onto something.

Realistically we said goodbye to the top 4 when we lost to Port and confirmed our absence with the loss to the Saints. If we win three of the next six we will have done well. Assuming we do have the three wins the best we can hope for is that the cards fall our way and we do not have to travel in week one of the finals. We would be unlucky if we ended up in Adelaide playing Port or the Crows. It would be even nicer if the next few finals fell our way at the MCG, assuming we overcome our present absence of form on that ground.

I'd accept the 17-5 concept if the remaining five were random. Not sure if you could run the five over 3 plus years to remove the randomness (is that a word?) . Admittedly there is still a luck element as to whether you play a team on the way up or down but that is there at the moment because of injuries and form to at least some extent.

I don't think people pay enough attention to the draw in the sense that it ensures that the less powerful clubs such as ourselves remain with little exposure. Sure we have our blockbusters but really they promote Collingwood and Richmond as much as ourselves. We are in a position of constant catch up. Our double games this year were against Dogs, Saints, Crows , Cats and Suns so we cannot complain really about who we doubled up against. On the other hand it shouldn't be a lottery. (or perhaps it should be and the draw should genuinely come out of a hat.)

Makes you wonder if it is about time to revisit the draw. If the so called blockbusters keep growing the draw will become almost immutable. BTW is the rule that the top 6? of 2018 play each other twice in 2019 etc still applicable or is it merely an aspirational goal.

jarred knee according to the report that came along with the team selection on the club website

Not sold on J Smith but there does not appear to be much of an option. Does anyone have the Geelong side?

The AFL have released some key dates and concepts for the 2019 fixture and have asked clubs to provide their wish list by early August. One thing is that there will probably be more Thursday night games and according to the writer less night games for Carlton. "Carlton also looks set to be phased out of Friday night games after surprisingly playing four of the prime-time fixtures this season, with AFL general manager of clubs Travis Auld confirming the League would again look to reward on-field performance when completing the 2019 schedule." https://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-07-19/afl-reveals-likely-key-dates-for-2019-fixture

we talked a little about this last year. The general idea as I understand it is that the zone is set 60-70 metres around the ball carrier. You would need to be a very powerful kick to break the zone but if you can run 15 and then kick 50 ...perhaps. Far easier with two quick precision kicks to achieve the same result. Remember the chaos ball of 2016 that the Dogs perfected. Not sure if it is still in vogue. A genuine and reliable goal kicker from 55 metre on the run would be a powerful weapon. Imagine if the defensive outriders had such a player amongst them.

obviously I've been reading two many novels about ancient Rome recently ?

Is there such a place as the wing these days. It seems to me that there is only the player with the ball surrounded by a moving phalanx of 35 players

Interesting concept. I was thinking while watching the Bulldogs game that the concept of a line breaker has changed greatly in recent years. We used to think of it as a player who would run and carry for at least 20-30 metres. Now because of the hard press a player need only run 10 metres before he can effectively break the press or the line as it used to be called. Equally delivery has become even more important than before when the line breaker could usually rely on his target having some open space. Watched Hunt several times at VFL level earlier in the year and he was completely ineffective at any appreciable form of run and carry. I suspect that the press has effectively ended Hunt's former style of play. Not sure if he is able to adapt.

One can just see this season slipping away like the last two. A win at Geelong was always going to be a hard ask but it just got harder. We may still win the three games needed but a win at Geelong would surprise even the greatest optimist. I see that Saturday is predicted to be windy with Sunday much stronger. Might make it hard to score and we could win the lottery in a low scoring game.

find a post by me that says it caused the injuries ... no you won't find one. Playing in 28 degree heat and 80% humidity is not conducive to maximum fitness for a Melbourne based team. That's what I said. We go for the money... there is no other reason whatsoever and it is time it stopped.

A little more promising news about Hunt (2 weeks away). Has a couple of games to force his way into the side for September ... if we get there.

TV exposure.... Darwin was not on FTA and on Foxtel it would have rated 3 men and a dog. NT supporters... come on ... show me the numbers !! The ground only holds 10k and Alice holds 6k most of whom follow the Crows and Port.

It's all your fault MSF (lol) since that post we have lost Stretch, Viney and Hibberd. And of course you have mentioned a few big bears in Gawn and Hogan ? Interesting that Hunt is still showing as 4-5 weeks... hard to see him contributing this season unless we play deep into the finals. Will be an interesting call as to whether they even try to get him back.

If you can find me one sports scientist or professional coach that says that playing in Darwin is a good idea (and by that I don't mean a neutral opinion) then I will agree. Football is a game of inches and we need every advantage we can get. Playing in Darwin is not an advantage.

I would doubt it. An MFC home game so the gate proceeds are ours for what they are worth. May be a contribution towards travel costs but as I understand it the interstate clubs have always had a bigger travel allowance. It's different to say the Port v Suns game in China where the Suns get a decent slice because in the last two years it's been a Suns home game. It just makes no sense whatsoever to take a team from a mid winter environment to play in sub-tropical conditions unless one absolutely has to do it a la the Socceroos last year with games in Thailand and Malaysia.

On a similar theme I would like to see them do a review of the VFL team. Although it's winning it does not seem to be producing players that can slot into the AFL team. It could be the players but one wonders whether the structure and VFL game plan is necessarily the best for upskilling our players. I'm no expert but it is an area hot for radical thinking.

we whinge about Darwin each year and rightly so. Time the club came out with the financials on the escapade and seriously looked at the revenue it would need to replace the NT funding. $50 each member to avoid the Northern territory or whatever but let's put it on the table and work it out. By the way nothing commercial in confidence about the figures because no other club in its right mind would commit to the Darwin game.