Diamond_Jim

re a thread this week..... From the AFL site: Nathan Jones was terrific for the Demons in the third quarter. He lead all players on the ground with nine disposals, 200 metres gained, six contested possessions, four clearances and five score involvements.

AFL site reporting Spargo off due to injury... any updates please

7 goals to 1 quarter.... now let's do it again and wipe out the woeful performances of the last two weeks

Playing for Melbourne can do that to you I imagine

good to see Joe keeping us in it like he did last year

In a perverted way I don't mind losing this one as in reality it means season over and then they might relax and try to play some decent football.... coach very much included

Thanks if this stat does not tell us that the gameplan sucks what does

but we have the Weed !

Hurley with five kicks and a handball within 8 minutes.... speaks wonders of our ability to keep it in the forward line as you say Praha

just picking up on the drafting area we have been very unlucky injury wise in the area of late age recruits. Hannan and Fritsch may turn that around but in reality you need one recruit at least every two years from this area that becomes an impact player.

While not suggesting moneyball, trading is an art that works so well in theory with a good xl spreadsheet and some simple probability theory. Build in salary cap increases, front loading , back loading, coaching jobs post retirement and you have your trading parameters. The X factor is the attractiveness of your club.. training facilities, location and success ratio. If this gives you a 10% loading it can be a real discriminator against the competition. And then there are changing game plans... one day a player is a star and then the next they are an also ran in a new game plan. If our present crop played to their potential (wonderful word) we would be a reasonably balanced team I suspect.

brings back memories of 2016... how did we lose that one !!

Then you would have the dreaded odd number of teams and I don't think anyone wants to bring back the floating bye. A semi relocated North would still need AFL money but nowhere near as much as a new team. Kennett says you need $50M per year to run a team.

Draft wise.. I would be happy with an average of 1.75 best 25 players a year. Add in one trade per year and in theory the list is turning over completely every 10 years. We have suffered badly in the home grown over 25 year old brigade. Jones and now T Mac are the only ones who spring to mind. Of course that is reflective of bad/unfortunate drafting 7-8 years ago. As Redleg points out we are well within the norm for recent years. The statistics for who makes it at AFL level are very demoralising for the youngsters. Go and have a look at some of the AFLPA stats for more in this area.

Unfair .. yes but Tasmania needs either a lot of money or an innovative solution to make it work. The Tasmanian games would be split between Launceston and Hobart in all probability so the permanent home ground advantage is reduced slightly. Perhaps the solution is better stated as 11 home games in Tasmania and then say 9 away games in Melbourne where Melbourne based North members have free entry. In reality North games are never sold out so you are not dudding the local Melbourne club. Sharing of gate receipts can be done under a formula. Of course the likes of Eddie and more particularly Jeff K will scream but something needs to happen.

only the Dees can kill ones enjoyment so early in a season. Had really expected a good couple of months before hitting the deadly second half of the season. Expect them to win today but not excited.

Seemed to be a decent crowd at the Hawks v Saints game in Launceston last night. I think it has been mentioned before but what do people think of North relocating to Tasmania on the basis that all away games are played in Tasmania and they play 11 in Melbourne. Sure it gives them an advantage but if North is going to survive it is either going to be on AFL money or with something radical like this. It has the advantage of being a relocation without disenfranchising the existing fans and does not mean you have the draft compromises in the way that it was for GWS and GCS.

who wins and loses at VFL level is not that important any more. Mind you I love a nice day watching the VFL team playing well. In the 90's and in other eras we had wonderful reserve teams but it didn't help us at the next level. Can even remember times in the early '80's when we won under 19 grand finals and were in reserve finals and we know where that took us. More importantly pick 6-8 players and ask are they improving.. sadly we know what the answer is.

Just to expand... Sydney has been way on top all year Melbourne Victory have had an up and down season. The coach of Sydney takes over the national team after the world cup. He stayed to coach Sydney to the premiership. Melbourne play Newcastle in the final...

From the Guardian... a beautiful description: Full-time: Sydney FC 2-3 Melbourne Victory And this white whale of a football game, this remarkable, indefinable, indescribably game of soccer is over!! Melbourne Victory have won, Besart smiles again. Muscat sprints onto the field to congratulate his players. And the rain falls on Graham Arnold. Goodness gracious. What is it about A-League semi-finals??

7 minutes into added time in extra time and we have a stoppage Muscat going off his head at the delay !!

Soccer can be fun !! Red card! And another! Sydney FC 2-3 Melbourne Victory This is ridiculous. What is going on. Somewhere in the aftermath of that Antonis goal, Victory assistant coach JP DeMarigny has run onto the pitch and appeared to have thrown a punch at Sydney FC’s David Carney!! We stop for a VAR review; and the assistant coach is shown a red card. We stop again, and Victory’s goalkeeping coach has been sent to the stands as well; replays suggest he too has run on to choke Carney!! Apparently Matt Simon and Mattias Sanchez have also been booked. What is going on. Like actually. And now Zullo’s been booked. For footballing reasons though.

27 minutes into extra time and the Victory score ! 3 minutes plus added time to go !

27 minutes into extra time and the Victory score ! 3 minutes plus added time to go !

slightly off topic but Melbourne Victory had the semi final sewn up...2-1... and Sydney scored a goal with 15 seconds to go. Now off to extra time for 30 minutes