Earl Hood

Did Petracca play?

OMac shut Darling down if I remember so gets a game. Any info on Sparrow, I liked the look of him in preseason but who knows now? Think Harmes is wasted down back, he is a tagger/run with player and midfield goal kicker. Maybe Smith comes in down back and any intel on AVB?

No I read this on MFC media site where Troy Chaplin was talking about the backline options for round 2. Was surprised to hear his summation of Joel, superior leg speed and endurance. Sounds to me like he might be in round 2 based on that. I wasn’t aware of his endurance capability. I have always liked him as a footballer, he looks like a natural, he just can’t get a run at it and maybe never will.

And he was a big wrap for Joel Smith, talking about his unparalleled athletic endurance! I was not aware of this, watching him only at training. It is obvious he has natural footy ability and is a natural forward but understand their thinking of throwing him back. But it is interesting if he has always had endurance and he does have some leg speed why hasn’t he been tried on the wing? Ok that maybe just because he is always injured.

Been wondering for a while if they should trial Weideman down back to get his hands on the ball and build some form. He appears to have the basics to be a good footballer, perhaps a bit more aggression would help but it’s not easy to be a consistent KPF.

Extraordinary bad luck with injuries is the only reason we didn’t snaffle a flag in the 90’s. I mean the talent on our list was amazing. The Ox, Gazza, Jimmy, both Lovetts, Tingay, Charles, Neitz, the Febeys, Healy, Pike and in 94 Jakovich was still on our list for heavens sake. As I remember it in 93 Balme as coach tried to develop a new game plan and we dropped the first 4 games of the year and played well thereafter but missed the finals. In 94 we played well but dropped games to just sneak into the finals and lost to the eventual winners. Then from 95 it was just a procession of injuries, Ox, Charles, Jackovich, Tingay, Glenn Lovett and Pike sent packing. Oh what could have been with a little bit of injury luck.

At the time I thought we should have had a good look at Dusty for sole reason that we needed some mongrel in the squad. Trenners and Scully were maybe the obvious talents but to me we had a list of nice players. In 2008 I preferred Hurley at No1 but we went for Watts, that is OK but then you have to mix it up to get a great squad. Consistently picking skilled but non physical players throughout that period cost us. Add Morton, Gysberts, Grimes, Bennell, Blease, Maric and you keep selecting supposedly skilled outsiders but no insiders and no enforcers you get an inconsistent team. That is because you lack leadership, aggression in a physical, competitive sport. Remembering around that time we offloaded Junior and Bruce. So your drafting and trading should take that into account.

Won’t need hubs by the time the AFL gets going in June/July surely. If there is no secondary surge in infections, state borders will be open and there will be limited social interactions and there will have to be if teams are allowed to train together and play. If interstate travel is available this hub idea is defunct. If there is a secondary outbreak, there won’t be any footy this year.

Not a good look at all. I have no idea about Howcroft’s football related ability but he was around and in a position of influence when we were totally dysfunctional as a club so why would you bring him back? Are there no consequences for failure for board members? As a club we have suffered since 1965 with second rate administration and board oversight and leadership. I suspect because we continue to appoint Admin and board positions on the grounds of who you know, what school and University you went to rather than what you have achieved or your leadership abilities and knowledge.

Can be a bit expensive though!

My vague memory of the game also says Eishold took a Lunging chest mark in the goal square but he slide outside the square and was directed by the umpire to kick from an acute angle, which he missed. I thought at the time he took the mark within the square so should have kicked from dead in front. A goal would have won the game. I remember Ex umpire Harry Beitzel saying you take the kick from where the marker ends up, not where he took the mark! So if I take a lunging mark running into the goal line and slide through I then take my kick backwards from the fence? Never made sense but then there was all the confusion about Jim crossing the line but after the siren so does the rule still apply..... fact is we had numerous chances to sow it up but it also summed up our unique ability to fail and Hawthorn’s tin [censored] ability to scramble through for a win they never deserved but to their credit they just kept plugging away hoping and we’re rewarded.

Interesting White only one all Australian in 2004. I thought his rucking in 1998 was absolutely superb and his work with Todd Viney got us into the finals. He was great again in 2000 and 2002 so unlucky to get just the one.

Anyone watching Expanse? Great SciFi series, incredible special effects and very intricate story line. Think it is on Netflix, I am watching on DVD courtesy of my nephew.

Re the point on rules and congestion, is it still a problem? My main observation of this year’s round 1 games was that there was little congestion, few contests, just constant ball movement. Reminded me of a scaled up version of AFLX! Was this a one off because of no crowds and uncertainty of playing more games?

Sean White turned it around in the third up forward, helped by Johnson big time.

Wet conditions, skills are [censored], just pick up and kick or just kick out of bounds. The rules have changed so much. I was there but didn’t remember it being so wet but back then that was the norm more so than these days.

Which pub was that?

Entertaining match, especially the second half. Coming into that round 7 match we haven’t had a win but you look at the side it is not that bad. Rivers, Garland, Frawley, Warnock and Bartram down back( Whelan injured), Robbo, Miller, Green, Flash and Wonna up forward. White and Jamar rucking with Brock McClean, Jones, Junior Mac, Maloney with support from Bruce, Wheatley etc. Not a great side but not horrible either. Of course other agendas may have been in play of course.

I remember Jimmy Stynes when president, referring to Charles and the club not supporting him enough when he was injured, something Jim was keen not to happen again.

Charles before injury could have been a champion. Fast, agile and knew how to kick a goal! What could have been, we didn’t manage or treat injured players well back then.

Dieter I am an old Box Hill boy what street did you live in? I grew up down South Box Hill way.

I only got to watch the first half but it was great to see how good an injury free Viney can be. Oliver in his first game demanding a tag. And AVB in full flight. Great memories. If only J Watts could have consistently built on that form, he would be a real bonus these days.

Sorry Red should have added a smiley ? face I guess. Although looking at my post the only inaccuracy was that I meant 1055 pages and 26000 plus posts. All the rest stands. I mean we have a dead writer who blew his brains out 60 years ago still providing input, albeit, quite insightful, to this thread! A frog from WA with a fetish for bananas, someone who thinks he is the ghost that walks in Burwood, and not to speak of a sexual deviant from Romsey who means well but it’s that tinnea thing that keeps us from fully engaging. And what’s with the Moon guy? You see it is all an allusion. Red you realise that it is just you and me that are real in all these posts but then again I am not totally sure about you. It maybe it is just me who is real in this prolongated pantomime. After all I am the Earl of Hood, no one can dispute that.

Recipe for disaster and the end of the AFL. Australia doesn’t have enough billionaires with the discretionary money and the few who might take it on will be like most business luminaries, around for the good times but go missing in action as soon as things get tough.

Which if you could retrospectively, would have saved 1055 posts of absolute nonsensical drivel, of fantastical dreams that never happened, of characters that never existed?