Diamond_Jim

Bomberblitz just continues to give: "This is worse than THE SAGA" then followed by this post: "Go a fill a script or two in Worsfold nothing but a chemist "

From Bomberblitz.... I get a wonderful warm feeling from this post: Neeld’s strategy. “Of seven defensive 50 chains in the second term, the Bombers have not converted any to an inside 50”. This. Our lack of forward pressure and inability to trap the ball inside our fwd 50 and score from forward stoppages (Caracella blueprint) is a massive concern for mine. At this time they are only down by one goal

I suppose that playing on Mars (Nth Ballarat) is better than Darwin but it's a strange move by Footscray. Anybody have an idea of the financials??

In last night's game... GWS v Geelong holding the ball was paid against I think Whitfield of GWS in the Geelong forward line. His possession came from a ball up. When he took possession he was off balance and had a Geelong player clinging to his shoulder area. He stumbled forward in a press of players one and half paces and was then tackled resulting in a free and the opening goal to Geelong. Perfect example of the ball player being penalised to the advantage of the tackler. The balance is not right.

Watched North against Port last week live.... North no chance unless Swans kick themselves out of it. (6:16 or similar).

pretty well spot on and almost unarguable assuming Weid shows something in the next couple of weeks. Similarly Hunt needs to give some drive off half back. Garlett v Spargo is interesting and like most I would agree with your thoughts. Great however to see that we are having the debate. If Spargo can have say 6 games for the year at the level of last Sunday we will have a valuable player. He has a certain ball sense that few players have. Looking longer term I suspect that Oskar Baker will be the next to debut. Harmes and ANB v Hannan and ??? is perhaps an area worthy of discussion.

A big thank you Saty....will be great to see what is almost the whole best 22 on the park tomorrow

GWS' scoring capability is built around its talls and Greene. Take them out and they struggle to score. Watched the first quarter and while they had numerous entries into their forward line it was obvious which way the game would go. Not sure about the length of the various injuries but no doubt it will shape their season. Richmond are blessed by their continued run of almost no injuries. Essendon v Hawks could be interesting especially the aftermath if Essendon are soundly beaten. The sun is just coming out so I may head in....

GWS have 4-5 of their top 12 players out so it was always going to be tough. Cats lucky to hit them now.

Apparently the last place kick was Tony Ongarello is 1955 .... and no I cannot remember it !! Towards the end of the Round 4 match between Fitzroy and Geelong at the Brunswick Street Oval Fitzroy full-forward Tony Ongarello was so upset with his own inaccurate kicking that, upon taking a mark, he indicated to the field umpire that he was going to kick a place-kick. He scored a goal. He was so impressed that he kicked one more goal in that match with a place kick. He kicked several goals later in the season from place kicks as well, but ultimately had little more success with place kicks than he had with punts.[2] Although it has never been (and is still not) against the rules to do so, he is on record as the last player ever to score a goal with a place kick in a senior VFL match. Ongarello was not the first player to attempt to revive the place kick in 1955: South Melbourne full forward Colin Vance had unsuccessfully attempted a place kick for goal on debut three weeks earlier.[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_VFL_season

Good point... next week sees our best available team on the park ... injuries permitting.

yep.. one week the dog and then next.. the ladder....not as good as the Geelong star missing the bus all those years ago !!

so let's get this straight... no other club has their moniker suburb as their home ground but for some reason it's sacred to the MFC? Some days I give up pointing out that we are a struggling club that has one last chance to get it right (the next 10 odd years) before we are permanently left behind by the power clubs of the competition.

Another squad night and a bye at Casey so selections will not mean much until tomorrow night. May test the theory of ... named other than on interchange.. definitely play etc. ( cannot recall if we ever decided that this is a rule or a convention).

Don't shoot the messenger. The Docklands is actually in Melbourne whereas the MCG is in East Melbourne/Jolimont Other than MFC I cannot think of one club that hasn't moved its home ground over the years. Change doesn't have to equal death.... at least have a think and a look at the alternatives. Timbo... I think Eddie was proposing a 35k seat stadium which would be too small. BTW on another thread I posted some construction costs on stadiums around the world based upon costs per seat. The new Perth stadium was almost double the cost per seat of the next most expensive stadium. Strangely the new 40k seat German stadium was relatively cheap. I raise this because the new Docklands may end up being more expensive than continuing at the MCG.

Given that clubs are non profit and that both the MCG and Docklands are owned by not for profit organisations that receive very large injections of taxpayer funding it is about time the various stadium deals were made public. Same could be said for Geelong. There is a certain inevitability in MFC moving to a smaller stadium if we continue on the same relative growth rate to other clubs as we are now. We have to target 50,000 members in 2020 (will require on field success with a good brand of football) if we are to dislodge Carlton who are the most vulnerable. If the level 2 seating lockout at Docklands was remedied and the stadium was made spectator friendly in the next upgrade it would be something that has to looked at very closely. Like everyone I love the MCG but it makes sense to look at the alternatives closely even if they are ultimately rejected.

Like most I don't have any soft spot for the Pies but I must admit liking their style back in the Hafey days. Anyway you cannot complain about the commitment that coaches get from their teams when they play for the Pies. Wish I could have said the same about Melbourne over the last 50 years. In reality we should be at least a solid rung above them... ie a second quartile team pushing for a top 4 spot with them as a third quartile team. Sadly it isn't looking that way at present

This thread caused me to go off to the wonderful world of the internet. After literally finding nothing for Fuschias .... (believe it or not there is a song called the "Nothing Song" by a band called the "Fuschias") I ventured into the world of Demons. Definitely not a place for the innocent to venture. Somehow I don't think "Feed the Demons Heart" by Fleshcrawl will feature but it did have some interesting lyrics.... In the night, the demon's heart The spawn of hell is born Creatures of the dead alive Awakened by his call Demons out of hell arise To feast upon my soul My master, my demon

Interesting to see how innovative the VFA were in their day... first to play for premiership points under lights first Sunday games first to allow live telecasts of games first to introduce a top 6 Back in 1938 they even introduced a rule allowing throwing of the ball in order to speed up the game. Great discussion on Big Footy re the history of the VFA https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/the-old-vfa.147414/ Interesting to see that congestion was being discussed in 2011: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-toys-with-16-a-side-to-get-the-game-flowing/news-story/63cb43923855fcbb306f0b55ec063fab?sv=5d8ab0b12e44cc1bc7513c55919e31b6&nk=34fd14988ab099a0a18aab69e413ab5d-1525240049 With the numbers around stoppages reaching alarming levels, the league considered dropping two wingmen from each team in a throwback to the old VFA. "We spoke about that to the clubs last year, about trying it in the NAB Cup," AFL game analysis manager Andrew McKay confirmed yesterday. McKay said the league instead opted to trial the contentious last-touch-out-of-bounds rule, which was also designed to tire players quicker and reduce congestion. But McKay did not rule out the league revisiting the 16-a-side option. "It's not out of the question - who knows?" McKay said. Premier Collingwood and grand finalist St Kilda have mastered the art of filling space and pressuring opponents. With every disposal so rushed amid the congestion, the AFL is concerned that the game's skills are being eroded. Disposal efficiency has dropped from 81.2 per cent in 2000 to 73.1 per cent last year - proof that the game is more scrappy than when Essendon stormed to a premiership 11 years ago.

This is where we need sports scientists. Just reducing the rotations without reducing the player numbers means you have longer rests. Is this sufficient to introduce the fatigue affect which people are relying upon. Or is it people are assuming that the people rested will be limited to the "midfield" thus requiring the defence and offence to cover less ground if they are to avoid extreme fatigue. The more I think about it you need to both reduce the rotations and the bench size to achieve the desired impact. PS... one other thing... by reducing the rotations are you reducing the ability to bring the stars on and off... spreadsheet necessary !!

interesting line run by Buckley and the other coaches that we need the rotations to protect the players. That's the very point.. reduce the rotations and the coaches would be forced to come up with a game plan that allows players to rest on the ground. Resting ruck and resting rover were once genuine positions.

great to maintain the number but we all would have been hoping for around a 5% increase on the basis of anticipated form plus the Anzac eve game being a home game should have helped the fence sitters decide. 50k in 2020 should be an absolute must !!!

agree that is definitely the first step and is relatively easy ... would you also drop to 21 players.... say 3 on the bench. Out of curiosity do you have any ideas roughly on how many interchanges you would allow and would you make the limit per quarter or per game?

quite the opposite ... it is the neutral observer that largely keeps the game alive... if you just had club supporters watching their own game just watch your TV ratings and money plummet.

Spot on ignition... when watching the Dees I really don't care how they win. As an AFL member I have free entry to the MCG and Docklands so I often drop along to watch the Melbourne clubs play the interstate teams (very low crowds and a pleasant day). As a neutral observer you certainly notice the difference.