Diamond_Jim

Freo are a little better than I thought pre season. Cannot bring myself to admit the Pies may be better than I had predicted.... 12-18. At least I was right in relation to the Essendon hype

Sounds like a nice drop.... Better than an aftershave line !! https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/29/bob-dylan-whiskey-heavens-door Bob Dylan will next month launch a range of whiskeys, hoping to capitalize on growing demand for all things celebrity-tagged. Heaven’s Door Spirits – a Tennessee straight bourbon, a double barrel whiskey and a straight rye – will initially be available only in Tennessee, where the 76-year-old singer and Nobel laureate has joined with liquor entrepreneur Marc Bushala to turn a deconsecrated church into a distillery. A national and international rollout will follow.

Yep... top 4 is now almost certainly gone so we are competing in that 6-12 bracket. In our interest to have the top 4 or five race away.

punters must have known something ....now 30 points down Edit ... a goal to the Pies means there is still a possibility

Went to Docklands for the GWS v Saints match last week. Also watched GWS play the Pies a few weeks before. GWS play a fast outside style of game. Both the Saints and Pies challenged GWS by playing a close scrappy game that limited GWS' ability to handball and thus move the ball quickly. While two in the chain might be okay the third was spoilt. Collingwood especially hung back knowing GWS would use the over the top handball to release the player. I suppose what I am trying to say is that you need to think about your opponent and where your strengths and weaknesses lie. We should beat the Saints comfortably but I would like to see some science applied to the tactics. Who goes out for Petracca I leave to the selectors but it would seem on today's form that ANB is the most likely. We now have three games in which to bed down a winning combination before Adelaide at Alice Springs. Needless to say we cannot afford to lose one of them/ I would have had Pedersen in before Weideman on Casey form but now we have given him a game it's time to go around again on that horse. Mind you he is probably a year away from any consistent AFL form based on Casey form. Let's hope we can carry him as he learns and moreover his team mates learn how to play to his strengths.

come on Richmond... could not stand a week of Collingwood hype

mediocre performance against a team playing woeful football... and of course Essendon played 4 days ago so no excuse for the relative fade out. Such a long way to go. Luckily we have some easier games coming up to build some momentum. McDonald playing mid ground and thus providing a defence against the easy ball out the back was a positive

have a look when it is posted... opening 5 minutes of last quarter and just as Hogan kicks the first goal of the quarter

now this is the time you tweak your game plan and take say 10% more risk ... 2 goals and the game is over

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.