Obviously very excited about the AFL Grand Final on Saturday, although I don't have any plans locked in yet, which is unusual for this time of year. Most friends are away or have other non-AFL commitments already. I have one or two possible plans that might come to fruition, but there's still every chance I end up watching it at home, which would be somewhat hypocritical, given how often I advocate for the AFL's social function of bringing people together!
A couple of other thoughts for this week: Firstly, the Brownlow medal. Not shocked that Tom Mitchell won, and I really thought he was the favourite from the mid-point of the season, and probably should have had some money on him. Also wasn't surprised that the ruckmen who were predicted to go well didn't end up polling that many votes. I have a theory that the umpires tend to follow what the media is saying, and the media didn't really start pushing the ruckmen until about halfway through the season, so it wasn't until then that the ruckmen started to poll votes. It's not like the umpires lock themselves away in a cryogenic freezer from Monday to Friday, avoiding what the media say, so how could they avoid the influence of the media?
Secondly, the Grand Final itself. Obviously a bit surprised that Richmond lost to Collingwood, but happy to see them lose. Equally happy if the Eagles get up this weekend. It also means we'll have another new premier since Hawthorn won three straight a few years ago. Collingwood last won in 2010, and the Eagles haven't won since 1994(?), although they did play in the Grand Final in 2015.
So my predictions: Eagles by 21 points.
First Goal scorer: Jordan De Goey
BOG: Josh Kennedy
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Monday, September 17, 2018
Participant Observations 17/9/18 - Injury darkness and an AFL Finals update
It turns out that the ankle injury suffered in the last Masters intraclub game was more severe than first thought, and it will keep me out of the AFL National Masters carnival in Coffs Harbour next month.
I've done as much as I thought I could to get over the injury, but there is still a lot of soreness in the injury, and I have no confidence it will be ready in two weeks, and I also don't have the mental confidence that, even if it was better, I could trust it.
This is a real kick in the guts for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was looking forward to the carnival so I could play in quality football over the week. The week in Coffs itself would have been a good opportunity to get away for a mini holiday. It's also a kick in the guts because it's the second time injury has prevented me from playing in an event I'd been working all season towards. The last time I played competitive AFL was in the BDAFL reserve grade comp in 2015, and I played almost every game that year, only to have my shoulder dislocated in the semi-final, meaning I missed out on playing in a winning grand final team.
This has been similarly depressing. I've taken supplements, icing the ankle, been to the doctor, tried a local steroid, and now am undergoing physio treatment, but I can tell it won't be ready in time. I also don't see the point of risking re-injury for an amateur competition. The doctor said it will take 6 weeks to heal 90%, and the carnival would be 5 weeks from injury. And the next 10% takes a further 6 months to heal, so I don't want to re-injure the ankle and end up with weak ankles. This is shitty. The only upside is I will save the money that I was going to spend there.
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A quick update on the AFL finals. So, the Swans game was a bit of a dud, but to be honest, I also didn't think we would win. And I've been saying for year I think our roster is not very good, and weaknesses have been masked by good performances by some individuals. Hopefully the team will go through a rebuild, because I can't see us advancing with the current squad. The team look set for a bit of a clean out anyway. Gary Rohan and Dan Hannebury look to be going, as does Lloyd, and Newman is also being targeted by other teams. Reece Shaw has also left.
Since then, I've been able to put the Swans loss behind me pretty quickly, and have jumped on the Dees for the rest of the way. It's been interesting to watch my mates who are Melbourne supporters go through the rollercoaster of emotions as their team has progressed. In some ways I envy them, in other ways I'm glad it's not me - as they've said many times, it is very nerve-racking, and draining. I'm hopeful they'll beat West Coast, but clearly they are underdogs. Either way, I don't see Melbourne or the Eagles beating Richmond.
Also interesting, I haven't made many plans for grand final day yet. I had anticipated driving to Coffs the fay after the grand final, so wasn't picturing a big day out, but obviously that is now no longer on the cards. However, I also feel I faux pased the other day when watching the footy with Nayls, Ruth, Benny D and Sophie, asking the women if the boys could watch the grand final together, instead of asking if they wanted to watch it with us. So I might not plan anything this year, and see what happens. It might just mean watching it alone, or down at the pub by myself with a few bets on. Bones will probably be heading to Coffs, Joe is still overseas, and Furey will probably want to watch it himself as Richmond will probably be in it and favourites to win.
I don't mind that. We'll wait and see.
I've done as much as I thought I could to get over the injury, but there is still a lot of soreness in the injury, and I have no confidence it will be ready in two weeks, and I also don't have the mental confidence that, even if it was better, I could trust it.
This is a real kick in the guts for a number of reasons. Firstly, I was looking forward to the carnival so I could play in quality football over the week. The week in Coffs itself would have been a good opportunity to get away for a mini holiday. It's also a kick in the guts because it's the second time injury has prevented me from playing in an event I'd been working all season towards. The last time I played competitive AFL was in the BDAFL reserve grade comp in 2015, and I played almost every game that year, only to have my shoulder dislocated in the semi-final, meaning I missed out on playing in a winning grand final team.
This has been similarly depressing. I've taken supplements, icing the ankle, been to the doctor, tried a local steroid, and now am undergoing physio treatment, but I can tell it won't be ready in time. I also don't see the point of risking re-injury for an amateur competition. The doctor said it will take 6 weeks to heal 90%, and the carnival would be 5 weeks from injury. And the next 10% takes a further 6 months to heal, so I don't want to re-injure the ankle and end up with weak ankles. This is shitty. The only upside is I will save the money that I was going to spend there.
-------------
A quick update on the AFL finals. So, the Swans game was a bit of a dud, but to be honest, I also didn't think we would win. And I've been saying for year I think our roster is not very good, and weaknesses have been masked by good performances by some individuals. Hopefully the team will go through a rebuild, because I can't see us advancing with the current squad. The team look set for a bit of a clean out anyway. Gary Rohan and Dan Hannebury look to be going, as does Lloyd, and Newman is also being targeted by other teams. Reece Shaw has also left.
Since then, I've been able to put the Swans loss behind me pretty quickly, and have jumped on the Dees for the rest of the way. It's been interesting to watch my mates who are Melbourne supporters go through the rollercoaster of emotions as their team has progressed. In some ways I envy them, in other ways I'm glad it's not me - as they've said many times, it is very nerve-racking, and draining. I'm hopeful they'll beat West Coast, but clearly they are underdogs. Either way, I don't see Melbourne or the Eagles beating Richmond.
Also interesting, I haven't made many plans for grand final day yet. I had anticipated driving to Coffs the fay after the grand final, so wasn't picturing a big day out, but obviously that is now no longer on the cards. However, I also feel I faux pased the other day when watching the footy with Nayls, Ruth, Benny D and Sophie, asking the women if the boys could watch the grand final together, instead of asking if they wanted to watch it with us. So I might not plan anything this year, and see what happens. It might just mean watching it alone, or down at the pub by myself with a few bets on. Bones will probably be heading to Coffs, Joe is still overseas, and Furey will probably want to watch it himself as Richmond will probably be in it and favourites to win.
I don't mind that. We'll wait and see.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Participant Observations 5/9/18 - A Fix for the Finals Fixture
There seems to be a lot of hullabaloo in the media recently about the finals fixture at the end of the season. Should there be a week off? No week off? What to do if there is a week off? Should we promote women's games? VFL? SANFL? Do we include the awards ceremonies in the week off? And so on...
I can see arguments from all sides, but mostly it seems to boil down to the argument that the season looses momentum with a week off versus the argument that a week off allows the players to refresh and perform at their best in the finals.
And I'm strongly in the latter camp here. A week off does allow the players to refresh and perform at their best for the most important games of the season.
So, in my opinion, if we keep the week off, the next question becomes how to we manage the time between the end of round 23 and week 1 of the finals. Some of these ideas I've mentioned before, but today I wanted to collate them into a more coherent sentiment.
Firstly, get rid of the floating fixture in round 23. This was introduced when there was no week off, and was introduced in order to give the finals teams the chance of a longer break before the finals the following week. But with the week off, all finals sides get well over a week to recover, so the original purpose of the floating fixture is obsolete. Now, the floating fixture just allows the league to massage the TV slots.
At the other end, I prefer the first round of finals to be played Friday night, Saturday arvo, Saturday night, Sunday. Get rid of the Thursday night final in week 1. It's purely a money grab for audiences. Stadium crowds on Sunday games are big. There's also an advantage to having the first final on a Friday night instead of Thursday, which I'll get to later.
In-between, I like the idea of a wildcard weekend. A wildcard weekend means the top 6 sides get a week off, while sides from 7-10 battle it out to progress. It extends the number of teams in finals to 10, and gives us 2 games of AFL on the weekend when there would otherwise be no AFL games.
The format would be something like 7v10 on Friday night and 8v9 on Saturday night. If you introduce a wildcard weekend, you could justify keeping the floating fixture in round 23 so those four teams get a decent break.
Alternatively, you could build it up as 'Wildcard Saturday' and have the games back-to-back on Saturday twilight and Saturday night. This would leave some clear air on Friday and Sunday for other games, which I'll also get to shortly.
The winners of the two wildcard games would then progress to fill the spots against teams 5 and 6, and the last four weeks of the finals would progress as normal. However, the winners of the wildcard weekend would be re-seeded, so the highest ranked winner from wildcard weekend plays the 6th ranked team, and the lowest ranked winner from wildcard weekend plays the 5th ranked team. This preserves the advantage the 5th placed team had over the 6th placed team by finishing higher on the ladder after the 23 regular rounds.
Then, to fill out the weekend, you have a range of options. Personally, I like the idea of a Friday night State of Origin double-header, with an origin game for both the men and women. Obviously, the men's game would be compromised, as only players from the bottom 8 teams would be able to participate. But I think it could be billed as a charity match, and take some of the heat out of the game, reducing the risk of injury. Alternatively, the Ted Whitten charity game could be played on Friday night, with the women's state of origin as a curtain raiser (or vice versa). But the women's state of origin must be fair dinkum. This would mean potentially working with all the state leagues to make sure the women's competitions were all finished before the wildcard weekend so that players were available for it.
Sunday would be made exclusively into a state league bonanza. Double and triple headers in the SANFL, WAFL, and VFL, with coverage on television. It was good on Sunday being able to flick between some of these games. While this does reduce the number of days a state league player would have between playing in say a VFL team and then lining up for their AFL team the following weekend, they may at least get a 5-day break if the first final starts on the Friday night instead of the Thursday night. Alternatively, you could schedule the state league games on the Sunday to involve those teams that had less or no representation in the AFL the following weekend.
As far as the awards season goes, I think you can have most of the ceremonies in the first week leading up to wildcard weekend (AFLPA, AFLCA, Media Awards, Rising Star) and only hold off the All-Australian awards for the week after wildcard weekend. Most of the week after the wildcard weekend can be focused on the four finals coming up, as well as having all the fallout from the wildcard weekend to talk about.
I probably think about this stuff too much to be honest, but can't wait to talk about this with Burnsy when I go to the Swans final THIS WEEKEND!! Oh, did I not mention that??
I can see arguments from all sides, but mostly it seems to boil down to the argument that the season looses momentum with a week off versus the argument that a week off allows the players to refresh and perform at their best in the finals.
And I'm strongly in the latter camp here. A week off does allow the players to refresh and perform at their best for the most important games of the season.
So, in my opinion, if we keep the week off, the next question becomes how to we manage the time between the end of round 23 and week 1 of the finals. Some of these ideas I've mentioned before, but today I wanted to collate them into a more coherent sentiment.
Firstly, get rid of the floating fixture in round 23. This was introduced when there was no week off, and was introduced in order to give the finals teams the chance of a longer break before the finals the following week. But with the week off, all finals sides get well over a week to recover, so the original purpose of the floating fixture is obsolete. Now, the floating fixture just allows the league to massage the TV slots.
At the other end, I prefer the first round of finals to be played Friday night, Saturday arvo, Saturday night, Sunday. Get rid of the Thursday night final in week 1. It's purely a money grab for audiences. Stadium crowds on Sunday games are big. There's also an advantage to having the first final on a Friday night instead of Thursday, which I'll get to later.
In-between, I like the idea of a wildcard weekend. A wildcard weekend means the top 6 sides get a week off, while sides from 7-10 battle it out to progress. It extends the number of teams in finals to 10, and gives us 2 games of AFL on the weekend when there would otherwise be no AFL games.
The format would be something like 7v10 on Friday night and 8v9 on Saturday night. If you introduce a wildcard weekend, you could justify keeping the floating fixture in round 23 so those four teams get a decent break.
Alternatively, you could build it up as 'Wildcard Saturday' and have the games back-to-back on Saturday twilight and Saturday night. This would leave some clear air on Friday and Sunday for other games, which I'll also get to shortly.
The winners of the two wildcard games would then progress to fill the spots against teams 5 and 6, and the last four weeks of the finals would progress as normal. However, the winners of the wildcard weekend would be re-seeded, so the highest ranked winner from wildcard weekend plays the 6th ranked team, and the lowest ranked winner from wildcard weekend plays the 5th ranked team. This preserves the advantage the 5th placed team had over the 6th placed team by finishing higher on the ladder after the 23 regular rounds.
Then, to fill out the weekend, you have a range of options. Personally, I like the idea of a Friday night State of Origin double-header, with an origin game for both the men and women. Obviously, the men's game would be compromised, as only players from the bottom 8 teams would be able to participate. But I think it could be billed as a charity match, and take some of the heat out of the game, reducing the risk of injury. Alternatively, the Ted Whitten charity game could be played on Friday night, with the women's state of origin as a curtain raiser (or vice versa). But the women's state of origin must be fair dinkum. This would mean potentially working with all the state leagues to make sure the women's competitions were all finished before the wildcard weekend so that players were available for it.
Sunday would be made exclusively into a state league bonanza. Double and triple headers in the SANFL, WAFL, and VFL, with coverage on television. It was good on Sunday being able to flick between some of these games. While this does reduce the number of days a state league player would have between playing in say a VFL team and then lining up for their AFL team the following weekend, they may at least get a 5-day break if the first final starts on the Friday night instead of the Thursday night. Alternatively, you could schedule the state league games on the Sunday to involve those teams that had less or no representation in the AFL the following weekend.
As far as the awards season goes, I think you can have most of the ceremonies in the first week leading up to wildcard weekend (AFLPA, AFLCA, Media Awards, Rising Star) and only hold off the All-Australian awards for the week after wildcard weekend. Most of the week after the wildcard weekend can be focused on the four finals coming up, as well as having all the fallout from the wildcard weekend to talk about.
I probably think about this stuff too much to be honest, but can't wait to talk about this with Burnsy when I go to the Swans final THIS WEEKEND!! Oh, did I not mention that??
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