Diamond_Jim

But are you sure? I suspect that one of the reasons for our closed sessions is that deep down under the Casey Snake Pit we are cloning players only to release them on alternative game days. Secretly the match committee meet and decide which one of our clones will play it's obvious... why else would we be training in secret half way to Gippsland !!

I'm warming to secret plays. Spargo to mark the kickouts perhaps ? And then to Schache who just slips off the bench

Suspect it's as basic as not paying for cleaning/opening of public toilets but I like the theory of secret plays better. Kick out to the left to Gawn is of course in the top secret drawer

I laughed when I read that sentence. Perhaps we should ask the current players what they think their grandchildren would prefer?

If they need these things then it is perhaps better to target the delivery. The big bang approach represented by the old style Olympics/Comm Games is extremely inefficient at doing so. The temporary swimming pool was straight out of Rob Sitch's Utopia. Optus Stadium in Perth reportedly has the highest build cost per seat of any stadium in the world. (It was built in competition with the mass building of mining infrastructure.) The Gabba rebuild cost per seat looks like being even higher

I cannot see why AFLW rules have to slavishly follow the men's rules. Anti-pack forming rules would be a great addition to AFLW IMO both from a participant and spectator viewpoint. The free flowing running style of the Demons at their best is a pleasure to watch. Left field but would allowing players to throw the ball open up the game for example

In the light of the Princes Park lockout for last weekend's AFLW final there's talk of the need for a 30k stadium. Strikes me that Kardinia Park is a perfect solution. Docklands is too big and soulless for a crowd of say 25k. Speaking of Docklands the AFL have gone very quiet on their plans to upgrade the inner city stadium

What do people think are the chances of the AFL kicking in $20M plus to do up the Ekka grounds as mentioned in the article. AFL isn't known for giving money to State Governments after years of being on the receiving end. Be interesting to know if the GC ground was ever discussed? Flip it and imagine we and Geelong were the only Victorian clubs. Would we go down to Kardinia for a few years while they rebuilt the MCG

This is heating up. Definitely a few buckets of popcorn required........... Brisbane’s lord mayor, Adrian Schrinner, has quit the Brisbane 2032 Games delivery forum, saying the Palaszczuk government had “completely lost its way” on the road to the Olympics. The Liberal National mayor has also withdrawn his support for a $2.7bn Gabba rebuild, insisting there must be better options than demolishing and rebuilding the inner-city venue. On Friday the government announced it would chip in $46m for a proposal to upgrade Brisbane’s showgrounds with a temporary 20,000-seat stadium to act as the city’s home of AFL and cricket while the Gabba was rebuilt. The government requested the remaining $91m cost be shared by Brisbane city council, AFL and cricket authorities and the Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland, which runs the annual Ekka show at the venue. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/dec/03/brisbane-mayor-resigns-from-2032-olympics-forum-calls-it-a-dysfunctional-farce

Sounds like the old system and they're getting rid of the bundling of cheap lower round picks. This is where it's tricky.. is it that round or the next pick. If it's that round the lower clubs would scream blue murder. You could in theory have the premier with pick 18 saying to the bottom club... use pick 1 or we will take your F/S. In the old days the bottom club is allowed to use pick 19. TBH it's time for F/S to go. The comp is simply too close to allow this advantage. Academy choices are perhaps harder but the present system certainly doesn't work unless you accept that non footballing States should get an advantage. And then there's North.... Enough said

Numbers not published but one can expect that 8k tickets are pre-allocated if not 2k more. None left My guess is a crowd of 75% but of course all tickets are sold

Not that silly for the big Melbourne clubs. Market the game as bringing 20k from interstate and you have mini event marketing. It works for College and NFL games in USA. It's a cheap version of gather round

Just remember the Lexus centre was an asbestos riddled classified building. It was and is not great space. Was the Olympic park development on the planning books at that time?

In earlier seasons it was constant ball ups. I think the balance now with both HTB and allowing time for the ball to emerge from a pack is about right. If anything a rule that limited the number in a pack could be a great advance for the AFLW

I'll as usual reserve my view until Round 6. Last year we performed better in the first half of the season than I anticipated. In the second half we seemed to plateau and then lost all semblance of a forward line in the last few weeks. Can we find that extra gear (loading aside). Tracc and Oliver plus perhaps Kozzie are the key If we miss the 8 there will be a reason. If we finish around 6th it could just be bad form, the gameplan and luck.

What we know as the Liberal Party had about 6 earlier names. The modern party was founded by Menzies in 1945. It took its name from the much older Commonwealth Liberal Party. The Commonwealth Liberal Party was a fusion of the Free Trade (Anti-socialist) Party and the Protectionist Party in 1909 by the second prime minister, Alfred Deakin, in response to Labor's growing electoral prominence. The Commonwealth Liberal Party merged with several Labor dissidents (including Billy Hughes) to form the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1917. That party, in turn, merged with Labor dissidents to form the UAP in 1931. The term "liberal" should be read as against the unnecessary government control of societylossely described as anti socialist. The term liberal used for the Canadian Liberal Party has a different meaning altogether and I would not try to guess what it means in the UK. Of course these days they're all centrist parties with little real difference once in power

Great article here on who gets the money from GF Merchandising. A couple of things surprised me: AFL take 12.5% Costs are over 50% (given mass produced on Bangladesh templates there must be a few middlemen) The club only gets 15% Surprisingly, Melbourne’s 2021 premiership surpassed Richmond’s 2017 drought-breaker for merchandise sales, despite the Tigers’ significantly larger fan base. The likely explanation, as Davies suggested, was that Melbourne’s flag was during the COVID-19 shutdown and many fans splurged online on items when they couldn’t attend the game. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/merch-bonanza-where-the-money-goes-from-magpies-record-flag-windfall-20231121-p5elp7.html As an aside on costs... In India you can buy the official cricket top for $20. Knock offs abound at around $5. How do we get to $100 plus for an official top

Interesting to see the Eagles complaining about the way the academies work: West Coast want a “discussion” on the AFL’s controversial next generation academies, admitting to frustration at losing Lance Collard to St Kilda in the national draft. The NGA system was a big talking point around the national draft on Monday and Tuesday nights. Gold Coast, as one of the four northern clubs, were able to recruit four of their academy players in the first round and it is tipped to be a bumper crop for the Suns. But under AFL rules, the other 14 clubs could not stop rival clubs poaching their NGA players if they were nominated inside the first 40 selections. So Collard, a highly rated Eagles academy prospect, was snapped up by St Kilda at pick 28. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/22/afl-draft-2023-club-next-generation-academy-rules

as usual it's gameplan. Can't see trading making an enormous difference except that it's always good to refresh and improve. We've gone for quick players as against the bigger bodied teams that now remain. We need to work on a greater degree of spread. The corridor use was fantastic against the lesser teams but it came horribly unstuck against the bigger bodied teams who simply crowded the ball carrier and prevented the spread. Better positioning by the forwards is a given. I enjoyed the team style of open play and hope we persist. Not sure where the comp as a whole is going. Will probably find out over the next two to three seasons but I'm not sure that 2023 was a great year for the competition. It needs to find its own space and calendar position somehow. Personally I don't like Princes Park. It's an old fashioned concrete shell devoid of character but I understand that Casey has significant drawbacks. Wherever it be the team and the comp needs to establish a relatively permanent base in the near future

West Coast if he goes

Not a difficult re-signing list for 2024. Hardest choice perhaps is do you give Langdon 3 or 4 years and how long for Joel Smith. Laurie is trending for no contract but he might surprise. Money for Tom Sparrow could be a minor issue (At age 24 this is a key contract for him) Will Tomlinson get another year... my guess is yes if he wants one. Out of curiosity is Charlie Spargo really a UFA in 2025 or is it a typo? Great job LH as always !!

Must admit the Hore selection makes little sense. One day the Melksham retention will be explained

Why... player trades do not reflect draft selection and form. He will attract a 5 x $1.6M offer and two picks around 8 if he wants to come home at the end of 3 years. It is the way Kennedy was a bit of luck for the Eagles. Lightning doesn't strike twice

He was the conservative choice for the Eagles but I can't see their strategy for getting out of the bottom four

Would we have used 27 and 35. Seems to me that with keeping Melksham, McDonald and Brown that list spots were constrained this year by comparison to next when we could easily have 5 spots available. I'll never understand keeping Schache as a back up ruck though