Diamond_Jim

watching on Oz plus in Asia which is 5 mins behind.. so please forgive Hawks have had a draw so percentage is not that relevant to them... who knows.. they have a relatively easy run home

The hawks will rue that third quarter. So many shots on goal. Admittedly they were all from hard spots but no cigars. Looks like the Swans march on.... 10 wins from 11 games or similar ,,,,, sickening

the peanut man was legendary.... he carried the peanuts in a big hessian bag on his back like Santa Claus. The peanuts (in shells) were packed in paper bags. His call was ... "peanuts .. shilling a bag..peanuts" How he got into grounds was always a mystery as he wasn't an authorised seller ....... as you say life was simpler back then I had a job selling sweets and drinks .. hard work humping those trays around on your back for not much money

nah if Richmond don't get ninth then it would be great for the Hawks to finish 9th and lessen the Saints draft pick. Can't see it happening as the Swans are playing very well at present..... unfortunately

Like your thinking Pates. Our earlier loss this season to North was a real let down and it is really time to put this losing streak to the sword. Hopefully Garlett continues his good form and even better goals with some of those kicks he just missed last week. Watching the replay he could have had a 6-7 goal game easily.

Understood .. might just have to get used to another Americanism .... you are right though ... in the posts themselves as against the quoted posts the date is shown in the usual format Good luck and as I said it's a very small point .... Great job

thanks ... looked in my profile but nothing was obvious. Here is a link to a page in another thread. The second last post quotes "bandicoot's posting of 7/26/2017" on my screen http://demonland.com/forums/topic/42313-looking-ahead-the-path-to-september/?page=14&tab=comments#comment-1443687

what can one say.... other than WOW what will they think of next in this wonderful interactive world

Small thing but I notice we have the American date system with the month before the day. My mind is fuzzy but I don't think that was the case with the old software Just to clarify the date is the one which appears when you quote a posting over 24 hours old cheers

you assume a 17 week home and away season which is fair. If however you still play a 22 week season and then structure byes the TV rights value does not change as you still have weekly product of 6-7 matches. If anything production costs go down for the TV stations and the ratings remain the same. Gate receipts might go down but arguably average attendance per game goes up and you are not hit with the cost of opening stadiums for under attended games.

Any one of GWS, Richmond, Port or Swans losing is a good result ... Probably the "best" one would be a loss by GWS simply because it is then in our hands to take their spot in the four the following week.

In a perfect world it would simply alternate year by year .. one year you play Freo in WA .. the next in Melbourne Given that there are 8 interstate teams every Melbourne based team would ideally have 4 road trips each year. Trouble is the world isn't perfect

Out of interest when would you start and end the season? I think 17 rounds is an idea worth thinking about but I would like to see a March start and September end like now. That would mean time off mid winter in a block or staggered byes. Would you retain the dedicated blockbusters such as Anzac day or would it be a real draw (out of a hat). There would have to be some compromise simply to ensure available grounds.

While the draw may bounce the fact is that the money ball games remain with the power house clubs

no the growth period has gone. Hawks had 20 years of success and their hold is tenuous. Five years of limbo and watch the golden threads disappear. We have had fifty years of irrelevancy with a stuttered respite in the 90's and early 00's We have lost our number 1 discriminator .. the MCG ....(home to 6 or is it 7 or 8 clubs these days .. hell even Geelong uses it when they care to.) For us to make our mark we need a game changer ... not sure what that is but funnily enough our best chance was Jurrah but it wasn't to be. Perhaps it will be Daisy P ... who knows but the old ways no longer work that well.

we can but hope... as I have said many times Toiges have a tough draw but with their win against GWS and the Saints seeming to drop form (they play the Tigers again in a couple of weeks) they should make the 8. If they make top 4 or even 5th they will have played very well. Hawthorn V Swans is also a big one.

Time to argue against the compromised draw. Teams should play home and away in strict rotation. TV companies nominate Friday night games six weeks out based on ratings and interest. Won't happen because there are too many special interest groups but the problem is MFC isn't special and is unlikely to be so ever again. The good news is that we are at the top of the also rans and just might give the likes of Hawthorn and perhaps Richmond a run for the sponsorship dollar over the next 5-10 years. The bad news is that Collingwood and Essendon will only get bigger as will the Crows and West Coast. Watch these boys push for special stadium and media deals as the years go by. In years to come we will regard the last few years of equalization as the high water mark of that practice. Taking back the Queens Birthday match on alternate years is the first salvo... it's low hanging fruit and we are an easy mark. Practically it dents our budget and makes it more likely that we will have to sell more home games ... something we must resist.

Good article on the AFL website: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-27/afl-victoria-dumps-vfls-development-league "The fear among clubs, especially those with AFL alignments, is there will be too few playing opportunities to encourage footballers to pursue the VFL pathway. VFL clubs will have to foster a strong feeder system with grassroots clubs, where the increased leftover players will filter to. " Also reports that Saints and North look like fielding their own VFL clubs next year with Frankston a possible additional team. If there are three more teams one hopes that the seasons are more closely aligned (length wise) and that byes are used sparingly.

more likely Trenners is the out

Last week's Brisbane win seriously opened up the bottom end of the ladder for North. They would be mad not to play the kids and see what happens. That being said they did well against the Bombers until around 3/4 time so I don't under rate them. Over confidence and the weather will be the greatest dangers.... time to get it done

Thanks guys for all your wonderful work. The page is a little slower to load but i expect that may be a caching issue

They have changed the weather forecast for Hobart. A few days ago it was no rain and light winds. Now it is rain and strong winds. Let's hope this does not become one of those wet weather slogs where a few lucky kicks decides the outcome. The rain is predicted for the afternoon and evening so let's hope we can get a good lead before it sets in. Saturday 29 July Summary Min 2 Max 15 Rain. Possible rainfall: 1 to 4 mm Chance of any rain: 80% Hobart area Cloudy. Areas of morning frost. High (80%) chance of rain, most likely in the afternoon and evening. Winds north to northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h tending north to northeasterly 25 to 35 km/h during the morning then tending north to northwesterly 25 to 40 km/h during the day.

I remember looking at our list after the GF loss in 2000 and thinking there was little that needed improvement. How wrong could one be. All lists can be strengthened especially at that 18-30 player level. On another note however I cannot remember a time when we had so many potential A graders (perhaps when Lyon, Schwartz and Neitz were at their best) but the likes of Hogan, Oliver, Petracca and Gawn are if they live up to expectations the types of players one can build a team around.

As you know VFA used to play 16 a side (no wings). Would be interesting to trial 16 a side at VFL level for a few years. It would have the benefit of improving list quality. The con is that the style of game might differ to that of the AFL and therefore lessen its use as a "training ground." Worth discussion though.

There are some things one perhaps should not say. BTW... was it straight juniper or did you add lemon??