Mega Thread Non-Freo AFL Discussion 2023

[Snuffaluphagus]

Laugh it up. At least you guys have access to decent coffee. I literally had to start a coffee truck to get it here.

Being in the US and Canada the last few weeks will mean I’ll never take Aussie coffee for granted again. Paid $24 dollars for two coffees in New York from the most urban hipster Melbourne style place I could find and it still had a weird dirt undertone.

There must be somewhere I missed but the number of drones that pay $8 everyday for sugar loaded frothed milk from Starbucks disgusts me

 

[FreoRicci]

The jealous thing of west coast is they have millions to spend- Sports Medicine, Rehaviltation would be high on their list.
Shuey, Nicnat, McGovern, Hurd will be pushed or retired and paid out.
They’ll go hard at free agency, mid season draft.
They’re not like North Melbourne, Carlton in terms of horrific CEOs, President etc. They’re relatively strong and professional

They won’t go down swinging

 

[FreoRicci]

Laughable West Coast are telling their players not to read The West.
Get ****ed. Fremantle get pillaged every ****ing week. Jl was 2-5 and tipped to get sacked.

 

[FreoGirl]

All of Amiss’ goals were better.

and Banfield's

 

[FreoGirl]

Someone's gotta be there to put out the 18 blue and gold witches hats on the field on gameday.

there's going to be a hell of a long retirement convoy for their last home game this year

 

[Dockeroo]

I would enjoy dancing on the eagles grave while we can. Unfortunately they aren’t going to spend the next decade wallowing around aimlessly at the foot of the ladder like other clubs. Inevitably they will fix up these injury issues and move on the older broken down guys.
Harley Reid and ginbey is a solid base to build an elite midfield from with support from Tim Kelly

11

Tim Kelly

Age

30

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

23.6

5star

K

13.5

5star

HB

10.1

5star

M

3.4

3star

T

4.0

5star

CL

4.9

5star

D

19.9

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

7.6

4star

M

3.1

3star

T

4.7

5star

CL

3.6

4star

D

21.6

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

11.2

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

3.8

5star

CL

3.8

5star

for the next few years. There will be another top 5 pick next year most likely to add. Then they have Allan and Barrass at either end of the ground.
I expect them to throw a godfather offer at Tim English next year as a free agent, with no draft picks involved, and plenty of on and off field cash to take them well clear of any potential risk of the bulldogs matching the FA offer and forcing them to use draft picks. The dogs already have a salary squeeze and operate in a different stratosphere financially to WCE in terms of what’s on offer off-field.
I would have much preferred seeing these campaigners wallowing in 12th place for the next 5 years till tassie arrived instead of bottoming out like this.
If Reid is as good as everyone says he’s going to inflict a lot of pain on us x2 for the next 15 years. Luckily we have our own young stars too

 

[royale with cheese]

If Reid is as good as everyone says he’s going to inflict a lot of pain on us x2 for the next 15 years.

If

 

[blue shark]

I would enjoy dancing on the eagles grave while we can. Unfortunately they aren’t going to spend the next decade wallowing around aimlessly at the foot of the ladder like other clubs. Inevitably they will fix up these injury issues and move on the older broken down guys.
Harley Reid and ginbey is a solid base to build an elite midfield from with support from Tim Kelly for the next few years. There will be another top 5 pick next year most likely to add. Then they have Allan and Barrass at either end of the ground.
I expect them to throw a godfather offer at Tim English next year as a free agent, with no draft picks involved, and plenty of on and off field cash to take them well clear of any potential risk of the bulldogs matching the FA offer and forcing them to use draft picks. The dogs already have a salary squeeze and operate in a different stratosphere financially to WCE in terms of what’s on offer off-field.
I would have much preferred seeing these campaigners wallowing in 12th place for the next 5 years till tassie arrived instead of bottoming out like this.
If Reid is as good as everyone says he’s going to inflict a lot of pain on us x2 for the next 15 years. Luckily we have our own young stars too

Their recruiting dept is very ordinary and I think a touch of nepotism?
This makes or breaks a club.
The Chesser vs Johnson debate will be interesting.
Simpson has never done a rebuild sound familiar?
It’s an old boys club, stuck in the past with an older generation and media.
To say they need a clean out is an understatement.
Freo are an easy sell with genuine excitement and stars.
Oscar is their only player worth pinching, it’s as bad as I can remember and thats
damning.
Tim English has to be the next NN, just to paper over the cracks.
They will be hoping Reid is as good as Daicos.

 

[Spirit Level]

Being in the US and Canada the last few weeks will mean I’ll never take Aussie coffee for granted again. Paid $24 dollars for two coffees in New York from the most urban hipster Melbourne style place I could find and it still had a weird dirt undertone.

There must be somewhere I missed but the number of drones that pay $8 everyday for sugar loaded frothed milk from Starbucks disgusts me

There is really good coffee in NYC (and throughout the US), just gotta look for it.

Usually if there is an Aussie behind the counter you know it's good

 

[Taylor]

I don't think WC are too far off being competitive.

Their free kick wins are still very high, they are poor in turnovers and scoring from opposition turnovers, poor in centre clearances, bad on inside fifty conversions - mostly because they cant take a mark inside fifty.

They need a mature body ruckman, they could potentially find that on their list already but I'm not expecting that.

Perhaps they should pick up Tom DeKoning with their PSD priority pick

 

[Ge3ks]

I don't think WC are too far off being competitive.

Their free kick wins are still very high

 

[SupermanCapes]

I'm really interested in something that came out of whichever flog Ryan Daniels interviewed from West Coast recently.

He complained that most of their injuries are caused by collision, and that collision injuries are purely luck. I don't know anything specifically that could refute that, but I find it really interesting that clubs with bad S&C departments also seem to cop a tonne of collision injuries?

Anecdotally, under Webber we seemed to have plenty of collision injuries as well as soft tissue or structural ones. Now, under Merriman, we have few of either.

Does anyone know if there is any causal link between poor conditioning and the likelihood of contact injuries? My gut just says that if the players are fit and strong it's less likely that they will roll their ankle, tweak a knee etc. Not saying they'll avoid broken bones or anything like that.

 

[Paracleet]

Being in the US and Canada the last few weeks will mean I’ll never take Aussie coffee for granted again. Paid $24 dollars for two coffees in New York from the most urban hipster Melbourne style place I could find and it still had a weird dirt undertone.

There must be somewhere I missed but the number of drones that pay $8 everyday for sugar loaded frothed milk from Starbucks disgusts me

Research is the key. I had a strop on Facebook whilst in NY 11 years ago about there being no coffee that wasn't like being trapped in Nazi Germany between the Allies and the Russians with nothing to drink but burnt acorns.

Someone then forward me a link detailing the 5 places in Manhattan that made it to Australian Standard; salvation!

 

[Paracleet]

I'm really interested in something that came out of whichever flog Ryan Daniels interviewed from West Coast recently.

He complained that most of their injuries are caused by collision, and that collision injuries are purely luck. I don't know anything specifically that could refute that, but I find it really interesting that clubs with bad S&C departments also seem to cop a tonne of collision injuries?

Anecdotally, under Webber we seemed to have plenty of collision injuries as well as soft tissue or structural ones. Now, under Merriman, we have few of either.

Does anyone know if there is any causal link between poor conditioning and the likelihood of contact injuries? My gut just says that if the players are fit and strong it's less likely that they will roll their ankle, tweak a knee etc. Not saying they'll avoid broken bones or anything like that.

Injuries across the competition you would expect to be statistically normally distributed. All other things being equal you would expect to see a few clubs with none (us) and a few with many (them).

When it comes to lots of collision injuries all I could speculate is once you have enough injuries to regular 22 players you are starting to expose players who aren't top level match hardened or who just don't have a frame that was ever going to be able to handle it.

 

[BStaff17]

Being in the US and Canada the last few weeks will mean I’ll never take Aussie coffee for granted again. Paid $24 dollars for two coffees in New York from the most urban hipster Melbourne style place I could find and it still had a weird dirt undertone.

There must be somewhere I missed but the number of drones that pay $8 everyday for sugar loaded frothed milk from Starbucks disgusts me

I travelled around the US for 3 weeks last year.

Not one decent coffee along the southern part of the USA.

You know its struggling when McDonalds have the best coffee.

 

[Spirit Level]

I travelled around the US for 3 weeks last year.

Not one decent coffee along the southern part of the USA.

You know its struggling when McDonalds have the best coffee.

Did you go to NOLA?

Plenty of good coffee there

 

[Belnakor]

I'm really interested in something that came out of whichever flog Ryan Daniels interviewed from West Coast recently.

He complained that most of their injuries are caused by collision, and that collision injuries are purely luck. I don't know anything specifically that could refute that, but I find it really interesting that clubs with bad S&C departments also seem to cop a tonne of collision injuries?

Anecdotally, under Webber we seemed to have plenty of collision injuries as well as soft tissue or structural ones. Now, under Merriman, we have few of either.

Does anyone know if there is any causal link between poor conditioning and the likelihood of contact injuries? My gut just says that if the players are fit and strong it's less likely that they will roll their ankle, tweak a knee etc. Not saying they'll avoid broken bones or anything like that.

At one point during the Webber era there were comments out of the club that the boys "were having difficulty sleeping - great progress" basically saying they are working super hard. Having difficulty sleeping is a textbook example of overtraining. Some studies have shown that over training makes you 70x (!) more likely to be injured playing sport.

The eagles are classifying a bunch of stuff as "collision" injuries when they are really not. if a guy gets a light bump and does his ankle thats not an "impact" injury. Thats poor stability in your joints.

An impact injury is like when Hasleby did his knee - someone literally dived across his legs. The eagles have had maybe 1-2 of them all year.

 

[Belnakor]

The jealous thing of west coast is they have millions to spend- Sports Medicine, Rehaviltation would be high on their list.
Shuey, Nicnat, McGovern, Hurd will be pushed or retired and paid out.
They’ll go hard at free agency, mid season draft.
They’re not like North Melbourne, Carlton in terms of horrific CEOs, President etc. They’re relatively strong and professional

They won’t go down swinging

the good thing is - they should have moved on the guys above at the end of 2021. They have basically tread water for 2 years.

NicNat is also contracted for another year lol.

Carlton have proven pretty conclusively doesn't matter how much $$$ your club has, if the culture is ****ed you can't win games. The eagles practically reek of hubris. They need a full clean out of the CEO/Footy GM/List Management - but they won't have the balls to do that.

 

[Daddoo]

Being in the US and Canada the last few weeks will mean I’ll never take Aussie coffee for granted again. Paid $24 dollars for two coffees in New York from the most urban hipster Melbourne style place I could find and it still had a weird dirt undertone.

There must be somewhere I missed but the number of drones that pay $8 everyday for sugar loaded frothed milk from Starbucks disgusts me

You were in the US and didn't stop by to say hi?

Well, I'm not hurt. Really. I'm not... not even a little bit. Being stood up at the airport stings a little bit, but I'm over it now... I'm sure you were just too busy getting fancy milk in NY to say hi. I totally get it...

 

[Eski3]

I would enjoy dancing on the eagles grave while we can. Unfortunately they aren’t going to spend the next decade wallowing around aimlessly at the foot of the ladder like other clubs. Inevitably they will fix up these injury issues and move on the older broken down guys.
Harley Reid and ginbey is a solid base to build an elite midfield from with support from Tim Kelly for the next few years. There will be another top 5 pick next year most likely to add. Then they have Allan and Barrass at either end of the ground.
I expect them to throw a godfather offer at Tim English next year as a free agent, with no draft picks involved, and plenty of on and off field cash to take them well clear of any potential risk of the bulldogs matching the FA offer and forcing them to use draft picks. The dogs already have a salary squeeze and operate in a different stratosphere financially to WCE in terms of what’s on offer off-field.
I would have much preferred seeing these campaigners wallowing in 12th place for the next 5 years till tassie arrived instead of bottoming out like this.
If Reid is as good as everyone says he’s going to inflict a lot of pain on us x2 for the next 15 years. Luckily we have our own young stars too

You need depth players with later picks to properly rebuild. Our rebuild was only possible because of players like Darcy, Cox, Ryan, Schultz, Switta, Frederick all being taken with mid to late picks.

Other than Noah Long who looks good, and Hough who looks like he might have potential, the Eagles do not have a single good young player on their list taken with a later pick. Their midrange picks in O'Neill, Clark, West etc are simply not good enough players to keep on the list long term. It's why they have no depth and they lose by 10 goals as soon as some older guys go out, which will happen permanently in the next 2 years. They need a cleanout not just of their old players but their list cloggers too. They are in serious, serious trouble

It isn't Simpson's fault, it's their list management. But they are in a deep deep hole and they will be irrelevant for a long while. Harley Reid isn't fixing it

 

[wakojako]

Being in the US and Canada the last few weeks will mean I’ll never take Aussie coffee for granted again. Paid $24 dollars for two coffees in New York from the most urban hipster Melbourne style place I could find and it still had a weird dirt undertone.

There must be somewhere I missed but the number of drones that pay $8 everyday for sugar loaded frothed milk from Starbucks disgusts me

You should ask for a skinny long mac topped up to see if they know that it is hahaha

The coffee doesn't get that much better outside of New York unfortunately. Just drink it black at the diner like the other yanks.

 

[Bigger]

I would enjoy dancing on the eagles grave while we can. Unfortunately they aren’t going to spend the next decade wallowing around aimlessly at the foot of the ladder like other clubs. Inevitably they will fix up these injury issues and move on the older broken down guys.
Harley Reid and ginbey is a solid base to build an elite midfield from with support from Tim Kelly for the next few years. There will be another top 5 pick next year most likely to add. Then they have Allan and Barrass at either end of the ground.
I expect them to throw a godfather offer at Tim English next year as a free agent, with no draft picks involved, and plenty of on and off field cash to take them well clear of any potential risk of the bulldogs matching the FA offer and forcing them to use draft picks. The dogs already have a salary squeeze and operate in a different stratosphere financially to WCE in terms of what’s on offer off-field.
I would have much preferred seeing these campaigners wallowing in 12th place for the next 5 years till tassie arrived instead of bottoming out like this.
If Reid is as good as everyone says he’s going to inflict a lot of pain on us x2 for the next 15 years. Luckily we have our own young stars too

Reid appears to me to be one who will hit his ceiling early. Doesn't mean he won't be good but he's not going to get exponentially better as he gets stronger and more capable. So Ginbey and he will be good but they're not dominating for quite some time yet.

I too was hoping for a decade in relentless medicority for the Weavils and fear a quick bottom-out, but the reality is they haven't even hit bottom yet.

They have to move on all the old campaigners (NN, Hurn, Ducky, Gaff), the broken (Darling, Yeo and McShoving) and the WAFL top-ups and list-cloggers (only their mums know their names). That's going to take 3 years minimum.

Which leaves them with Kelly, Barrass and Allen as their only viable established talent, Ginbey as their only proven young talent and a couple of other possibles from their wildly speculative drafting over the last few seasons (Chesser? What a pick in hope.) 6 or 7 blokes you'd piss on if they were on fire.

You can add another three years of top 10 draft picks to that and you're still in Norths territory - cannonfodder hanging on and kids getting offended.

It's a hard choice as to which I prefer - 5 years of abject misery for those arrogant ********* or a decade of mediocrity?

One thing that is really hurting them is having won a flag just before the Covid restrictions on softcap. They have to pay a premiership premium for Simpson and can't escape it. I used to think he was a whingeing campaigner for his moaning about not being able to afford proper care for diverse hires, but he is right. They are rooted. Their assistants are all blokes just happy to have a job. It's almost as bleak as the rejects we had when Rossco was burning through support staff.

In the last season and a half, they have been arsebanged by over 16 goals more often than they have won games. Their average losing margin is 49 points! It beggars belief.

Only their really demented fans are still showing their heads - the downbeat, dangerous and broken. You are either cruelly punching down or risking being covered in the froth of the crazy if you engage.

Still, I don't need to hang shit on them to enjoy this. They are shit.

(Yes, Belnakor, yes - "reeks of hubris". Nailed it.)

 

[Taylor]

West Coast does seem to have a lot of vanilla milkshake players. No sprinkles of drama, no flare of caramel. Just plain, bland, average. It can form a decent base, but it can't be the whole product.

Safe, good family private school lads.

They need to draw across a mature bodied ruck and mid to hide their young players behind.

 

[greatgatsby]

Reid appears to me to be one who will hit his ceiling early. Doesn't mean he won't be good but he's not going to get exponentially better as he gets stronger and more capable. So Ginbey and he will be good but they're not dominating for quite some time yet.

I too was hoping for a decade in relentless medicority for the Weavils and fear a quick bottom-out, but the reality is they haven't even hit bottom yet.

They have to move on all the old campaigners (NN, Hurn, Ducky, Gaff), the broken (Darling, Yeo and McShoving) and the WAFL top-ups and list-cloggers (only their mums know their names). That's going to take 3 years minimum.

Which leaves them with Kelly, Barrass and Allen as their only viable established talent, Ginbey as their only proven young talent and a couple of other possibles from their wildly speculative drafting over the last few seasons (Chesser? What a pick in hope.) 6 or 7 blokes you'd piss on if they were on fire.

You can add another three years of top 10 draft picks to that and you're still in Norths territory - cannonfodder hanging on and kids getting offended.

It's a hard choice as to which I prefer - 5 years of abject misery for those arrogant *silly people or a decade of mediocrity?

One thing that is really hurting them is having won a flag just before the Covid restrictions on softcap. They have to pay a premiership premium for Simpson and can't escape it. I used to think he was a whingeing campaigner for his moaning about not being able to afford proper care for diverse hires, but he is right. They are rooted. Their assistants are all blokes just happy to have a job. It's almost as bleak as the rejects we had when Rossco was burning through support staff.

In the last season and a half, they have been arsebanged by over 16 goals more often than they have won games. Their average losing margin is 49 points! It beggars belief.

Only their really demented fans are still showing their heads - the downbeat, dangerous and broken. You are either cruelly punching down or risking being covered in the froth of the crazy if you engage.

Still, I don't need to hang s**t on them to enjoy this. They are s**t.

(Yes, Belnakor, yes - "reeks of hubris". Nailed it.)

Some of your best stuff, makes me want to find my Hunter S Thompson favourites!

 

[DragoDelph]

West Coast does seem to have a lot of vanilla milkshake players. No sprinkles of drama, no flare of caramel. Just plain, bland, average. It can form a decent base, but it can't be the whole product.

Safe, good family private school lads.

They need to draw across a mature bodied ruck and mid to hide their young players behind.

Not even vanilla malt.

Hi-Lo milk waved through the shake machine