Diamond_Jim

Fascinating Webber. Years ago I remember hearing that many NFL players had knee surgery as a preventative action much like having your tonsils or appendix out before heading to Antarctica. Do you know if that still happens?

Must say I am having flashbacks to the Schwartz injuries. Very good player but never the same after those knee injuries. What might have been!

Frost had an excellent game against Port. If he continues in that mode today he is probably the favourite for inclusion. The Pedersen, Weideman. Smith dynamic continues. What's the wind like today at Willy. Another warm day here in Athens ...lots of mosquitoes ...

Big game between Pies and Dockers today. I have not rated Collingwood this year. Bit like Saints I thought and marginally above Essendon. Last five weeks or so have been good for them. Not sure that my psyche could deal with a resurgent Collingwood not to mention the Eddie/Bucks show. Go Dockers

Clarrie has started to make a few strategic kicks to team mates as well as a few goals over the last few weeks. I think we could start to see something very special over the remaining weeks of this season

Just arrived in Athens after the usual 25 hour flight from Melbourne... very warm already at 10am (around 32). Went straight to a full read of the 19 page game day thread. Until around page 17, I thought we were either losing or a few points up. Every second page someone was injured and out for the match. Seems that other than accuracy which has been excellent in the last few weeks due to close in goal kicking and one particular umpire we had a decent day. Great regulation win and hopefully another on Monday week.

Thought you were going to remind me of that infamous game in the mid 80's against the Pies where after leading by 60 points half way through the third quarter... we lost. I still remember it to the extent that I rarely believe we have for certain won a game until we are 50-60 points up at the end of the third quarter,

No Change.... I love those words

Perhaps the strongest VFL team we have fielded for a few years. If conditions allow it should be a great game. Casey by 40 points... almost everyone to kick a goal or two!

Strange move as you would think that moving to a simple pay per view service in this day and age would be simple and economic. Perhaps they don't own the streaming rights. Wonder who does? There is now a pay per view Australian movie site ... perhaps they could migrate the content there.

Wonderful.... shows that this site is noticed not to mention the great work by those who run it !!

Balic is difficult.. could end up too good for VFL but can't crack the AFL team. Next six weeks will tell..... as I have posted elsewhere, if his form improves and he can't crack it for a senior game I expect him to look elsewhere next year. Nothing wrong with that .. we gave him a year..... so far he has been a little under par on fulfilling his side of the bargain but only a little.

One never considers this thread officially started until KC has come forward with his opening words. Off to Russia for the world cup so I will miss this weekend but I can thoroughly recommend a trip to Williamstown. Try to make time for fish and chips on the Esplanade before heading down to the ground. I see that light winds are forecast for Sunday but a jacket is always handy for those winds off the bay. Like Port, Willamstown beat Casey last year IIRC so they are certainly no pushover. A strong stand alone club as Werridee has mentioned. Go Dees.

would be disappointing to get that number. Dogs fans are relatively rusted on (like us they've had to be over the years) so I think closer to 30k.

would be disappointing to get that number. Dogs fans are relatively rusted on (like us they've had to be over the years) so I think closer to 30k.

Agree CB the forward line deliveries are a lot quicker and we are scoring on first entry. In the past we would kick inside the 50 and lock it in etc. That allows up to 36 players to enter the 50 zone and scoring is harder. Now we kick to the 40 and then quickly dispose by hand or foot to a player much closer to goal. That also gives us a very high accuracy rate which has been evident in recent weeks. Sounds simple but it is working. Long may it continue.

As a restricted free agent Gaff will probably come at a high price simply because the likes of North Melbourne and St Kilda will bid up his dollar price. (Correct me if I'm wrong but I assume Eagles only have to match the price of the club he wants to go to. In other words if there are three clubs bidding for him and he picks the lowest offer it is that offer that the Eagles must match.) From today's Age: "Melbourne, despite the club’s enviable young list, have the salary-cap space to make a strong bid for free agent Andrew Gaff should the star West Coast midfielder decide to come back to Victoria. The Demons, who successfully fended off other Melbourne rivals to land Jake Lever last year, are understood to have enough room in their salary cap to have a tilt at Gaff – or another seasoned recruit – despite having their own free agent, Tom McDonald, still to sign and the emerging Angus Brayshaw out of contract." https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/demons-have-room-for-andrew-gaff-20180529-p4zi9a.html

Mate.... Bears were dominant team with three straight premiership wins and in a GF for a fourth. If they couldn't build lasting support on the back of that success let's face it they are dead. The Suns were DOA before they started I am afraid. One team maybe but two is madness.

It's the "Deep Whirlpool"...when we have the ball

just to be picky... I would prefer to play in Melbourne in the first week. If we win the next two I will look with renewed eyes at the second half of the season.... last time I looked it was far from a pretty sight but perhaps the view will improve during the bye week. seems low but I assume it has a high percentage factor included

Very much agree. I know the win made everything rosy on the weekend but the backdrop was magnificent. Even the brown grass was in an Australian outback way, attractive. Interesting comment on the openness of the game. I'm going to "enjoy" the replay once more and I will watch closely. I had the suspicion on the first watch that they had less cameras at the game or similar which meant more wide shots.

"The intensive training" is all about the workload. Not an indicator that you are going to play. Remember when we had the substitute rule. You would often hear of the sub running 50 laps after games end to make up for the missed game time.

Isn't it wonderful to feel like a Hawthorn supporter.....long may it continue

That is so right. For example I would love to see the showdowns live in Melbourne on a Friday night when those teams are up and about. There is no doubt that the Carlton fiasco has damaged ratings and if anything good has come out of the drop in ratings is that such things will not happen again. Game starts are an issue with traffic issues etc getting to the ground but I agree a 15-30 minute earlier start would be ideal. Do we need to wait ten minutes after the start of the broadcast for the game to start. Could we shave a few minutes off the breaks between quarters. On another tack all together, perhaps some may now realise that the ridiculous amounts being offered for TV rights will not forever increase at the present exponential rate.

Bugg is mad if he doesn't start looking for another club. He's on the cusp but it seems he is out of favour. I'm sure both he and his manager are doing the rounds looking at where he would fit on the other lists. Balic may not be the easy re-sign either if he continues to perform at VFL level and can't crack the senior team. Good problem to have when players are too good for VFL but can't make the senior team. Could also see Stretch ask for a trade at year's end. At least we have the "slowing down" of Lewis and Vince to offer as hope to some of the up and comers.