chookrat

Absolutely agree DemonOX. I member seeing he'd had something like 3 touches when he kicked his goal and thinking he's been involved in alot of our forward 50 pressure to that point without being rewarded with stats. He brings alot more than his stat sheet would suggest and I reckon he will start to have some real breakout games soon.

Too many feathers in Peter Bell's hat

I'm of the view that jail shouldn't be mandatory but that the defendants position in court is effectively having to justify why they should not spend time in jail.

Thanks I am a little surprised by this. I'm not expert and assumed that if you are on assault charges that you have to justify why you should spend some time in prison. Its no wonder we have so many problems with violent crimes

The sentence does seem really light on given the seriousness of the assault. I'm not sure what an appropriate penalty looks like but I think he is lucky to avoid jail. As for the curfew it seems an overreach from the judge for him to not be granted an exemption to attend work. The point of a curfew is for him to keep out of trouble and if he's playing football on national television there is a good chance he will keep out of trouble. Assuming the judge had limited options re sentencing and so threw in the curfew to bump it up a bit. In any case I reckon he would be relieved at avoiding jail.

Best half of footy all year and its only quarter time

Looking at positives we've been pretty good at winning the toss this year.

For what it's worth we started the change to our game style after our straight sets exit in 2023 and drafted accordingly in 2024. Goods is on record that we wavered from our new style after big losses to West Coast and Freo and reverted to our contest and defence style in the second half of the season and we're still in the frame for a top 8 finish before succumbing to less than a kick losses to GWS, Brisbane and Port. We have been a bloody good side since our 2021 premiership and I look back fondly at our finals wins vs Hawthorn and Geelong in 2018. In 2022 we were banged up going into finals and 2023 managed to have our forward line functioning well in the back of of the season before losing Melksham in round 23 v Sydney and then Brayshaw in the first final. The straight sets narrative is lazy and doesn't recognise that we were very close to going all of the way in 2023. Goody's message has been consistent that we will stay the course and I still think that while we probably won't play finals we will start to play some really good footy particularly in the back half of the season and go into to 2026 full of optimism.

Re Cats it would be interesting to understand how much of their success is attributable to how well they are ran as an organisation vs the comparative advantage they get from: Home ground advantage of being the only AFL club who trains on their home ground. What does this advantage translate in terms of Home and Away season wins and losses. Not having to travel interstate to play other Victorian teams, as interstate teams have to, while playing enough games at the MCG. Attracting players from other clubs who are attracted to the anonymity of a regional city or to live on a farm. Level of taxpayer money that is poured into the club and region compared to Melbourne suburbs. Re facilities the difference is staggering in quality of facilities that Geelong have compared to inner Melbourne suburbs when it comes to local sport.

I still have confidence that Goody can turn this season around. While time is running out to be able to play finals I reckon we will be playing really strong footy in the second half of the season. For those agitating for change now I'd implore you to hang fire, as there are enough vultures in the media without our supporters piling on, and let the season run its course.

I don't have a problem with any of those appointments noting: Nathan Jones seemed a bit of an odd appointment as one of our line coaches given he has been in the media for the past 3 years since retiring and hasn't been coaching. I think his appointment in part is spiritual to help heal the playing group and so makes sense. Alastair Nicholson seems an odd candidate as his past roles, e.g. CEO of AFLCA put him as more of an Administrator than someone who will establish our home base, align the admin and footy departments to drive success, and grow our membership.

The letter is full of words

It is not just the coaches but the senior assistants and possibly even other staff involved in coaching ,e.g. Specialist ruck coaches etc. There is a significant issue in the AFL where coaches, in particular senior assistants, have had increased responsibilities since the covid personnel cuts and are suffering both financially and from a mental health perspective. The industry is on the verge of losing good coaches because or this and unlike the players, coaches do not share in the ore than 10% of the AFL's total revenue that is earned via commission from betting organisations.

So you're saying he will be an ideal fit for the team we are putting out each week.

It's not obvious to me. Our teams lack of pressure, ability to lay effective tackles to pressure the ball carrier / force turnovers, and poor kicking and/or forward movement into our forward 50 makes it impossible to compete. While coaching is a part of the problem it is more to do with the 18 players on the ground not performing at the level required irrespective of match day tactics.