Interviews, podcasts & upcoming media info [post media articles in relevant threads]

Oct 13, 2015
8,647
21,115
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Starting to feel quietly confident Harry Sharp will be a player for us.

Yeah I also thought it was noteworthy that Fages offhandedly mentioned him as someone who has immediately understood what he needs to do to be a professional footballer. Which isn't to say he plays much, if at all, this year, but all reports are more positive than I expected.
 
Mar 13, 2013
2,877
4,160
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Bruins, Dodgers, Bulls, SEM Phoenix

Lachie Neale is irreplaceable and of intubate value to our club.

A single player can destroy the culture of the club (Fev gave it a good shot)

Alternatively, a player like Neale who is so focused on success and going beyond 'this is a job' mentality, who puts his own money into improving outside of club hours, can drag a club upward. Other players are also driven but having just one Lachie showing the way means talented players will follow that lead.

My call is that he is the most influential player at the club. So glad he picked us.
 

jackess

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts
Aug 10, 2005
46,545
42,486
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions

Lachie Neale is irreplaceable and of intubate value to our club.

A single player can destroy the culture of the club (Fev gave it a good shot)

Alternatively, a player like Neale who is so focused on success and going beyond 'this is a job' mentality, who puts his own money into improving outside of club hours, can drag a club upward. Other players are also driven but having just one Lachie showing the way means talented players will follow that lead.

My call is that he is the most influential player at the club. So glad he picked us.

No coincidence that his (and JLyons) arrival was followed by a massive jump up the ladder
 
Just wanted to add on top of that as well.

I don't know if all players do that, but it was such a nice touch by Neale by greeting all the journalists and and that before the club interview began.

Neale has been as big of an influence as Hodge was to the club IMO and he has been a big reason with the other recruits along the way why we are in the position we are in now.
 
Medical substitutes for all injuries not just concussion have been approved for this season. Don't know if it's more than one substitute per game.

I'm not a fan.
Me either, I think they should have just left it as a ‘Concussion sub’ only!
But the Coaches got involved.🤔
 

Dylan12

Brownlow Medallist
Sep 7, 2007
22,114
23,297
Melbourne
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Chelsea, Boston Red Sox
Medical substitutes for all injuries not just concussion have been approved for this season. Don't know if it's more than one substitute per game.

I'm not a fan.
Oh I missed that it wasn't only for concussion.

Surely it will be exploited then the moment a player has tightness and club's will use the sub. Does the player coming off then, automatically miss next week?

I obviously need to read the changes.
 

M Malice

Hall of Famer
Aug 31, 2015
31,433
72,022
By the Gabba.
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Valleys. Chelsea.
Yep, ridiculous decision by the AFL, hard to fake a concussion but so so easy to bung on a tight hamstring or a rolled ankle, if they are so worried about injuries just up the interchange to 5 and you wont have the angst and cheating re injury/concussion subs.

+ How amateurish is it that it is bought in 1 day before the season kicks off, should have been sorted weeks if not months ago, the AFL is so reactive and not proactive with their decision making.
 
Oh I missed that it wasn't only for concussion.

Surely it will be exploited then the moment a player has tightness and club's will use the sub. Does the player coming off then, automatically miss next week?

I obviously need to read the changes.

For non-concussions, a doctor has to sign their name that their preliminary medical opinion is the player's injury would require more than 12 days to recover from.

If the player is then medically cleared within 12 days, they are eligible to play.

Edit: I just read that the AFL Chief Medical Officer explicitly needs to sign off on the player returning as well, so would have access to the medical reports and can dig in to why a player may have initially been considered to have a more serious injury.

So that's definitely a loophole.

However the AFL have explicitly created two big sticks to deter cheating:
a) requiring the explicit medical opinion by the doctor should deter most (all?) reputable doctors from signing off something they know is not true, otherwise they would be at risk of medical malfeasance.
b) there's explicit fines and potentially more for abuse by clubs - the wording is "conduct unbecoming" which, IIRC, is what Melbourne got whacked with for "not tanking". i.e. if the AFL thinks a club is acting up, they can hit them without needing to prove their case - the fact that it looks dodgy is proof enough.

Most aren't going to risk taking either of those on for a regular season game. Probably the most likely case for abuse would be in a GF or similar where it's the end of the season with a loss. That's also a situation where the player missing an automatic 12 days would be irrelevant, so arguably this rule is harsher in that scenario.
 

davemc_lions

Premiership Player
Aug 21, 2013
4,292
3,910
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
prob not stop teams doing it maybe once or twice a year
Like in a tight game fresh legs 3/4 time
Or it starts raining and you gone in with a tall side suddenly one of the talls done a hammy.
 
prob not stop teams doing it maybe once or twice a year
Like in a tight game fresh legs 3/4 time
Or it starts raining and you gone in with a tall side suddenly one of the talls done a hammy.
It'll be interesting to see what the club tries to explain that as to the AFL's Chief Medical Officer. "Well sir, we thought he tore it off the bone so it was going to take more than 12 days to recover but when we went in for scans it turns out he was just fat and had tripped on that leg."
 

mish33

Team Captain
Feb 19, 2008
496
282
Melbourne
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Hey everyone, I'm not much of a contributor but as a Melb based supporter have loved all the preseason news coming through. Cheers!

Just on the med sub, I think the afl should just copy what Euro football does which is to give both teams access to the sub when one team uses it. Stops any arguments about freshness and throws it back on the other team to decide to use it or not.
 

Tassie4ever

Premiership Player
Dec 7, 2007
3,315
2,409
Brisbane
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Hawthorn
Just where the hell is our game heading. Soon there'll be calls for mental health relief during games [he's picked up 30 possies on me, oh the horror!!!]. And why only one sub- why not 2, or 3. Or why not go the whole hog and do the NFL thing and run one team off and another on.

As to the ethics of medicos- I refer you to the conduct of the British Euro cycling team.
 
Dec 7, 2007
13,002
15,037
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Other Teams
Rabbitohs, Villa, McLaren F1, ENG
Grant Birchall on RSN this morning

 

T Rick

Premium Platinum
Sep 20, 2007
4,569
5,967
Brisbane
AFL Club
Brisbane Lions
Grant Birchall on RSN this morning

Birch is sounding so much more confident about his body and fitness than 12 months earlier. Hopefully, he has a great season and we get to see the best of him and his experience.
 
Back