Mega Thread 2024 Media & Miscellaneous Thread
- Thread starter Snuffaluphagus
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I've never been to Australia and I've only been into footy for about 11 years. I don't know or understand Freo's history from a personal lens; I can only read and take in what is said in the media, on boards like BF, books (Pav's book is awesome), podcasts, and opinion pieces online. What the stadium atmosphere was like in 2000 vs today is unknowable to me.
But I will tell you this. When I was looking at all of the clubs 10 years ago and deciding who I would throw my support behind, Freo stood tall. I saw tons of empty stadiums (north, GWS, GC, etc...) but not at Freo's home games. There was a clear identity associated with the anchor and a workman, blue collar profession that is a Docker. I don't know how I was able to "get the ethos" and character of the club, but it happened. Some here may not see it because it's not what it was, but it's still there. All of what people are saying here about the history and the passion and the connection to the club was felt by me all the way over in the US, and it spoke to me. I could feel the club's soul.
The footy experience and fans probably have changed over the years; everything does. I've been going to Green Bay Packer games since 1993 and they've changed a ton. The fan base has changed. Expectations have changed. Beer prices have changed.Why people go to the stadium on Sunday has changed. But, the Packer culture and history is still there. That doesn't go away. This will never change and is why I'm a proud Packer season ticket holder.
I believe Freo have this too.
Their young history is still being written and when they win their first flag, people will come out of the woodwork to support the club. It is a proud club at it's heart and so are the members. We are already averaging the 5th highest attendance in the league, which says a lot about the fans commitment to the team.
I understand why some are crabby and cynical on here about this or that, but when the cup is lifted, I guarantee that all goes away and we can celebrate as a collective, side-by-side. All that other stuff won't matter. Our enjoyment of the sport and the pride we feel as part of the Purple Army will be all that matters.
A little story...The Packers SUCKED for decades in the 70's and 80's and early 90's (my first memory of the Packers is the late 80's). When the Packers just started coming good in the mid 1990's, there was such excitement in the fan base. They beat the SF 49ers in the playoff with a last minute field goal and my housemates and I screamed and yelled and burst out from the house into the street, only to find that everyone else was doing it too. We ran around hugging people and hi fiving. It was incredible. When they won Super Bowl in 96, I took my car and mates and we drove into the heart of our University campus. It was packed. Like packed, packed. I slowly crept my car into the crowd down the street. People were banging on the car, screaming, hi-fiving us, jumping on the car, bouncing the car up and down. We were surrounded by hundreds of people ecstatic by the Packers long, overdue success. To say the energy was palpable is an understatement.
When Freo win the flag, I hope you all are able to have a moment in time like this. Shared with your fellow fan. Who was a member longer, or behaves a certain way at the footy WON'T matter. I know a lot of what is said here is just banter, but when Freo come good, make sure to enjoy the ride.
Since you haven't been to Australia, have you ever watched a footy game live?
The USAFL has teams in many states and holds a National championship each year. The top sides play a decent standard too.
Can’t wait to return to Australia and attend an afl game again . Been too long , nothing like being at the ground to see the whole field . Tv is good for close up actions , but seeing whatbhapining off ball and positioning is great
Cody Atkinson has a terrific article on why West coast have been shit.
www.abc.net.au
There are some lovely interactive tables. Here are a few relevant to us.
This last one is relevant to us to show the benefits of having accurate goal kickers
How the West Coast Eagles went from AFL premiers to the wooden spoon
The Eagles were kings of the AFL in 2018 but have sunk to the bottom of the ladder.
www.abc.net.au
There are some lovely interactive tables. Here are a few relevant to us.
This last one is relevant to us to show the benefits of having accurate goal kickers
The amount of crap we got for the chip mark game early in the season was ridiculous.
'Luke Ryan and Jordan Clark just kick it to each other going nowhere'... now it turns out high 'uncontested marks' is the blue print for beating sydney.
We still chip it around . Game plan not changed . It is just our skill level as team improving so our hanballing skills and running to space is working now . Earlier we kept possession until we were sure of where it going
Now they trust their team mates . So we will still chip and mark when needed depending who we playing
Now they trust their team mates . So we will still chip and mark when needed depending who we playing
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- Jun 30, 2011
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that's why I trust JLo and the selection committee to see/recognise things like this
The issue with the eye test is how people wish to interpret is very much opinion based along with whatever facts they are to support it.
Yeah I'd argue the general eye test is worse than stats, and I think stats are only passable at describing impact
I remember Footy Classified trying to use our low kick to handball ratio as evidence that we were moving the ball SLOWER
Yep and the weekly media cycle certainly adds to the lack of genuine football analysis.
It's like a well spoken / regarded / charismatic footy media personality will express a single opinion, no matter how inaccurate,
and it will be parroted the following week throughout the nation by other lazy media outlets/podcast
Which will then be widely adopted as a narrative around a team by listeners / punters who don't watch whichever team being spoken about particularly closely, and accepted as if gospel.
After which selective stats can be cherry picked to support said thesis.
The funny thing is this seems to happen entirely outside of club land. The coaches seem to have a much better understanding of how teams play and which stats are relevant. It just a shame it's quite rare to get an insight into that analysis for your average footy fan
We have almost mastered the art of ball movement inthe corridor now. Early season we did not have the confidence to make it work.
Now, the first sign we can run the ball down the middle of the ground, away they go.Freddy, Clark, Young, Serong.
And... our kicking has become much better.
Now, the first sign we can run the ball down the middle of the ground, away they go.Freddy, Clark, Young, Serong.
And... our kicking has become much better.
They use these things to reflect their narrative.
It's finger nail deep analysis. Boom
Wagner
DRAGONS FFC - Moderator
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They know their market.
- Jun 30, 2011
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It's a bit cynical really in a way. It's working though: presses Pre-Order Now
And Switta.
Snuffaluphagus
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If you want to see growth, go rewatch the Brisbane game from the start of the year. It's actually crazy how much more purposeful, crisp and impactful our hand pass chains are. The issue (and some of us might have mentioned this couple of times) was always that inexperience at the level and with each other restricted the ability the transition the ball like the good teams do.
We often tried, and often failed but now known where we need to be and where we expect players to be. It's awesome to watch
We often tried, and often failed but now known where we need to be and where we expect players to be. It's awesome to watch
I recon the difference in crowd atmosphere is tied very closely to Ross and the later years.
The emotional toll on the club over 2013-15 was a lot and it honestly felt in 2015 like we were pushing sh*t up hill and were running out of time. The club had busted it's arse to get to the top, fallen short and everyone was tired.
I'll always respect Ross for what he did for the club at the time, but his style left us fatigued and we sat at the bottom, tired and floundering around trying to get out. The club had become about rigid structure and systems rather than flare and passion, it was all work and no play and the work didn't get us where we wanted to go.
The passion will come back with success, I felt it for the first time in almost a decade against the bulldogs in the EF a couple of years ago. I think one thing the club needs to do though is lean back towards it's identity.
A club for misfits and hard workers, a club for the socially progressive. We should do more to stand for something.
The emotional toll on the club over 2013-15 was a lot and it honestly felt in 2015 like we were pushing sh*t up hill and were running out of time. The club had busted it's arse to get to the top, fallen short and everyone was tired.
I'll always respect Ross for what he did for the club at the time, but his style left us fatigued and we sat at the bottom, tired and floundering around trying to get out. The club had become about rigid structure and systems rather than flare and passion, it was all work and no play and the work didn't get us where we wanted to go.
The passion will come back with success, I felt it for the first time in almost a decade against the bulldogs in the EF a couple of years ago. I think one thing the club needs to do though is lean back towards it's identity.
A club for misfits and hard workers, a club for the socially progressive. We should do more to stand for something.
- Oct 3, 2019
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That's 4/7.
errant bounce
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I can't take the opinions of someone who got into football at 24 seriously.
Like, I loosely follow a little bit of basketball but I never get into conversations about it because I got into it because I just liked when I visited the city of Milwaukee.
Lots of people pretend to be experts when their grasp is very loose.
Astute. I apologise for the utterly subjective ramblings to follow but I feel like I've sort of seen this from afar. From what I've seen it's very much tied to especially 2015 - The Prelim that kinda broke that spirit. Every home game and final, at least through the T.V., always had a feeling to it, an atmosphere. But that was a grind. After the electric start to 2015 we had quite a few wet weather games.
The combination of a laborious gamestyle, heavy legs from heavy track, lots of old legs, some damning losses and very uninspiring wins, key injuries piling up and a shared certainty that that was our last chance for quite some time: There was a genuine panic and a mania that set in. The difference between late 2015 crowds and 2013 crowds wouldn't have been obvious to the neutral and uninitiated but it felt like a tidal wave of anxiety. I remember this board was a bit of a miserable place to be because there was this heavy impending feeling of dread...a cliff. 2013 felt new, exciting, it felt like those 04-06 crowds where there was expectation yet genuine exploration: We were in uncharted territory and we couldn't wait to see what happened next.
That Sydney QF win was a weird feeling. It didn't feel like Freo won a final: It felt like we stretched a rubber band further than we ever had before. Hands down the least joy I've ever experienced from watching a finals win. But that prelim...the first 10 minutes felt like a wave building to a massive crescendo until some rather unfortunate umpiring and even more unfortunate goal kicking lead to that Sutcliffe kick across goal to Sheridan with Cyril bearing down on him...our time was gone and it broke us.
What's worse was how hastily we tried to fix things. We kept trying to bring in the next big recruits topping up with some astute drafting. But the on field performance was just so...meh. Personally I've never felt a season quite as dire as 2018: Every win felt like it was predictable. Outside of the first derby we never felt like we were close to jagging a game we weren't supposed to. Each game was mostly low scoring and kept at arms length (or belted off the park).
We're finally now at a point where we've developed into quite a strong position for now and the future and there is this feeling again...but there's a LOT of conditioning to overcome before that culture/atmosphere fully explodes again. We just can't quite get there yet despite there being some clear signs that we're building. We can't trust yet...but we're getting there. That 2022 final saw glimmers of that old atmosphere.
If we can finish the season strong and somehow, someway squeeze into Top 4 I reckon we'll see quite a bit of that rabid Freo frenzy at whatever final we host. Or really, the next time (whenever that may be in the short or far flung future) we make the Top 4.
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