Diamond_Jim

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

thanks Drunkn... look forward to the analysis when you have time

consider it done.... this site is worth keeping !!

thanks Nasher... another opportunity for us all to say a big thank you for your great work !!

It was intended as a subtle reminder/comparison of a team that did the opposite two weeks in a row.

You can't complain about the north spirit. 8 goals down but 3 quick ones to the kangas

Boy... this is a cold stadium when the roof is shut and the crowd is low. Port well on top. North just too sloppy. On a more general note this game style is no fun to watch as a neutral. Very few good plays. It's just about who Bullock's better. Game style does nothing for a player like Watts.

At docklands... crowd better than I expected. Maybe 17k. Hard to work out if either team is any good but port seems to be a notch above North. Every time brown goes near the ball the crowd scream for a free kick. Jack W not starring so far. Had a relatively easy set shot in the first quarter and missed. Gray (46) can certainly play. 3 goals so far

Envy is of course a deadly sin but you just have to chuckle at the luck of Richmond.. Record members and revenue and this week they hit Collingwood on an absolute upbeat crowd wise. They are expecting 80k plus. Good luck to em but hell it would be nice if it were us.

To take the opposite line bb if yo leave one or two uo forward you are potentially crowding the forward space. In a perfect world the forward is supposed to run to space. It just seems that this year the world is only perfect for the other team in that they break to space so easily whereas we just bomb or stop. Off to see North and Port today ... will watch carefully how Brown positions himself. Great fun going to a stress free footy match.