chookrat

Law 16: Use Absence To Increase Respect and Honour. The more present you are, the more common you appear. Create an air of scarcity around yourself to increase your perceived value. If you currently exist within an established group, intermittently withdraw so that others talk about you and admire you more.

Spot on RBG, agree with all that you have said and maximising our next draft with the Freo picks will be crucial. I also agree that we need to start to plan for refreshing our engine room with elite talent to over the next 1 - 3 drafts so that we have can prepare at least a couple top end mid fielders to replace Viney in the next few seasons and one of Trac and Oliver in the next 5 seasons. To do this we will need top 10 picks. I think our challenge will be balancing the need to bring in senior players that add to our list for our tilt at Premierships over the next few years, while not selling the farm to do so. To achieve this we really need to prioritise bringing in and developing talent via the draft, trading for players that fill a need via the draft without giving up first and in most cases second round picks, and trading out players who have good currency where we have younger players who can perform their role. I'd put Harmes, Salem, Spargo and ANB in the group of players that would have some currency that we should consider trading for the right deal. Harmes will struggle to break into our best 22 this season. Salem would be in demand for any team wanting to improve its ball use and could genuinely be the most important player in good side but I think with McVee doing well, Bowey continuing to improve and the versatility of Brayshaw we could fill his loss. ANB and Spargo are both really valuable to us but with JJ, Sparrow, Chandler, Laurie and Taj we will want to free up one of these spots in the next couple of years especially when Pickett signs a long term deal. I also suspect that in the next few seasons we may suprisingly trade out a favourite that will be a bit of a shock but do so to based on need, to free up some cap space and keep our list refreshed. It's an interesting problem to have so many good players performing well that we will have to look at trading out some of our better players because we have too many good players including younger players banging the door down for opportunity. It wasn't too long ago when we'd struggle to find 6 - 8 players who deserved a game and now we have at least 25 on any given week.

With Hibbo out I reckon May would get the job. He would own the air while having the speed and strength to go with Stringer when the ball hits the deck. This would mean Petty to play in the backline and Ben Brown up forward. Alternatively if we wanted to free up May for more of an intercepting and attacking role then Petty could be given the job on Stringer.

Re Simon Lethlean, the Herald Sun reported that the AFL made enquiries internally re the affair 18 weeks before he resigned. It took them 18 weeks to determine that Simon's role was untenable and then provided him with the option to resign for having an affair with a junior staff member. My issues isn't with the affair itself but that it involved a senior executive having an affair with a more junior staff member. This is a very serious issue and much more serious than Jack Crisps conduct. The AFL knew it was going on for at least 18 weeks before they forced his resignation and it doesn't take alot of imagination to conclude that the AFL acted on Simon's conduct only when it became apparent that it would become public and they had no other course of action. If the more junior participant in the affair was not a willing participant, which I'm not suggesting in this case, there is every likelihood that the AFL would offer a settlement and require the victim to sign a confidentiality agreement. Re Ross Lyon this is what was reported at the time. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/report-ross-lyons-alleged-harassment-remark-revealed/news-story/c82158ff776a960a50856d2f6bbc2c95 As a society we have a massive issue with this sort of conduct and a 23 year old behaving like an [censored] gets alot more airtime than the much more serious problem of senior managers and executives conducting themselves in this sort of manner, while being protected by their organisations for their conduct. Re these sort of settlements I have a friend who has experienced sexual harrassment from a company director which led to probably the most traumatic 12 months of her life. She had to leave the job that she loved and the director is still at the company and his conduct has not been made public.

Oh FFS, the video was from literally 5 years ago and given his extraordinary run of not missing a game in more than 5 seasons this is a reasonable indication that he id disciplined with his training and preparation are to a high standard. While I get there are exceptions where players can train and perform to an elite level with a drug problem, e.g. Ben Cousins, players with problems with drug addiction and partying too much tend to suffer recurring soft tissue injuries. Also in the 5 years since the video he has a partner and started a family of his own. Its also a bit of a joke that the club has sent him on social media education for something that happened 5 years ago. I don't mean to harp on about the way the AFL media report this sort of stuff but of you consider the incidents re Ross Lyon at Fremantle and also those involving executives and subordinates at AFL house, on one hand the player is plastered all over the papers over something that happened over 5 years ago while the senior staff and executives are afforded privacy.

Jimmy, I think if we drill down into the total membership numbers the demographics play a more important role re our membership trajectory and also helps to explain why the big clubs get bigger while the smaller clubs struggle. I suspect our membership growth over the past 7 -8 years is a combination of; 1. Lapsed members who came back, most of whom should have returned to the fold by the time of our 2018 prelim final. 2. New members who have joined since we have been in contention and following our 2021 premiership. 3. New babies and family of existing members. In Year on Year % terms our growth looks really healthy which probably mostly points to 2 above which will ultimately translate into 3 above. Also I think in being able to convert new members that this in itself gains momentum if we are in contention year after year especially if we win more premiership. I can see us hitting 70-80k members within the next 2 - 3 seasons especially if we win another premiership this year.

Some good points raised. In any case why doesn't the AFL simply mandate illicit drug testing for all staff and executive in the workplace as well? Outside of performance drugs there is no reason why the players should be subject to any different illicit drug requirements to anyone else working in the industry or workplace including the media and executive. Having different illicit drug requirements for players sends a message that illicit drug use is ok if it doesn't impact on performance or you don't get caught. Instead it is the same problem whether its a player, club or AFL staff, reporter, consultant in the workplace or executive.

I agree that it is no excuse for Crisps behaviour however if the AFL wants to establish a baseline standard for the players behaviour then they need to hold themselves and the entire organisation to that standard. It is for this reason that organisations in heavy industries have the same standards whether you perform a hazardous role or work in the office. I've seen first hand in these industries the safety culture and care that is instilled if everyone knows what to expect and are held to the same standards.

Thanks Jaded, as I said I hadn't read the article so have no idea how old he is. In any case this is hardly news.

I haven't bothered reading the article because these are young kids out doing what young kids do and I'm sick of this type of reporting. I wonder if the reporters and AFL staff would be happy to be subject to similar reporting. Another interesting observation is how the players are subject to illicit drug testing but not the AFL reporters, club and AFL staff and executive. In any other industry with drug and alcohol testing it doesn't matter if you drive heavy vehicles or are the CEO, everyone is subject to the same obligations.

68-69k is a solid number and in terms of year on year % growth bodes well. I'd imagine that we have a core ~40-45k of rusted on supporters and the rest would mostly be new supporters we have picked up in the past 5 years. These new supporters should also help in converting new supporters in future years so these numbers should continue to increase at a steady pace over the next 5 years.

Lets hope chatGTP does not trawl through game day threads for its sporting nous.

I've been a massive fan of Harmes over the years. He is a very good player who has added alot of versatility to his game, brings alot of experience and is a true clubman. This said given the profile of our list I think its more important that we retaining Rivers and JJ who will be with us for the next 5+ years. I wouldn't be against the club facilitating a trade for Harmes to move to a club that could use his versatility and experience for the next few years, e.g. a Hawthorn, Essendon etc.

Does anyone know if Michael 'Juice' Newton has a son?

I reckon Tomlinson would be extremely stiff to miss out given the way he's been playing but its difficult to find a spot in the team for him. May comes straight in for him. I like the Hibbo v Papley matchup which probably means either Harmes or McVee come out and really comes down to whether we want an extra midfield/forward rotation (Harmes) or want to add to our backline (McVee). We could play Harmes and use McVee as the sub but I reckon we should play McVee instead of Harmes then it frees up Brayshaw to rotate into the midfield. Thommo could be the sub in case we lose a tall and then gives us the flexibility to play Petty or May forward if we become desperate.

Gus moved back to the midfield last season but went to the backline to cover while Salo was injured. His best position is..... everywhere.

No defender would have stopped the Cameron lead out mark and goal.

Jaded if they can't find a real doctor immediately then surely the club could post the images here for a Demonland non-medical opinion.

Not only this but we probably freed up approx $500k of cap space over 2 - 3 years if we consider that Watts would have commanded $400k+ per year while Fritch would have been on ~$150k for his first couple of years.

I've just read the past 3 pages and have no idea whats going on or who is likely to be available to play on Friday night.

The Fritch one was one of the most ridiculous suspensions offered given Fritch had the ball and was evading a tackle. While a high bump is deemed rough conduct the MRP got confused that a high fend off is not rough conduct.

In fairness the AFL can make its statement, but rather than go after one of the big boys - Melbourne - they should go after one of the lesser clubs who aren't in contention. Personally I'm comfortable with 1-2 weeks with the second week being due to the impact grading of high vs medium. I could accept a high grading due to potential to cause injury, but only if the evidence shows head high contact otherwise it should ne a fine. A bump with body contact should nto be a suspension.

I'm surprised the AFL doesn't play a SportsBet ad after every goal

Perhaps it is their offsite injection rooms that will be affected?

It is no coincidence that Geelong is able to attract players from other clubs without having to pay overs. They have by far spent/received the most taxpayer money in the league on facilities, and are the only club who are allowed to train on their home ground.