Mega Thread The Media Thread

[Purplrrr]

Good read. This will be very interesting. I hope a few favourites don't fall by the wayside. Looking at you, Cam. Talented but flakey...

Also, while it's taken a couple of decades, I've made my peace with sheppard avocados.

 

[DMan 11]

I enjoy Ryan Daniels writing style [emoji106]


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[se17enteen]

I enjoy Ryan Daniels writing style [emoji106]


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Yep, very Bill Simmons like. A lot of old people will not get some of his pop culture references.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Daddoo]

Ryan Daniels: Which AFL players will handle the COVID-19 madness best?
Ryan DanielsThe West Australian
Friday, 17 April 2020 3:21PM
Right back at the start of this whole mess, I was sitting at the Fremantle Dockers season launch.
As I navigated through what can only be described as the two most over-poached eggs in the history of breakfast — talk about pre-COVID problems — Nat Fyfe took to the stage and eventually brought up the topic of Coronavirus.
It was still new. Raw. Unknown. At worst we thought we might see a few games of footy with no crowds, but no footy at all? No chance.
While Fyfe was charming the purple army, Twitter went into meltdown.
Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert had the virus. The NBA shut down. Tom Hanks was performing a real-life re-enactment of Castaway meets Philadelphia … things got real.
That morning Fyfe said something that has stuck with me the last few weeks.
“The team that ultimately plays in the finals and wins the grand final at some level will have handled this better than the other teams,” he said.
Sure, it seems obvious — and something any captain would say while addressing his teammates and a couple of thousand adoring members — but in this case, in this weird universe where we can now all measure 1.5m with a blindfold on, Fyfe was spot on.
This break in play, a however-many weeks hiatus, will have a dramatic impact on every single player in the AFL system.
Read: some of them will get fat. Not normal human fat, but footballer fat. Failed skin fold tests. Increased body fat percentage. These people are specimens. Sculpted in the form of Michelangelo’s David.
They’re also, for the most part, psychopathically competitive. But these are very different times. They’re in our world now. The world of the normal people.
For you and me, an extra donut or additional lap in the Uber Eats pool of carbohydrates is standard. But not for our elite athletes.
Players are isolated. While most have a running buddy during lockdown, they’re not pitted against 44 teammates every day — wrapped up in a constant game of who can lift more, who can run faster, or further? Who wins the clearance over and over during the centre square drill? Who’s doing that little bit extra?
Eagles champion Dean Kemp once told me he’d always make sure he did more than his teammates at training. If Mick Malthouse asked for 20 push-ups, he did 21. If the team was told to run laps, he’d always run on the outside of the pack — so he was running a few inches further than the other guys. It all adds up.
That can’t happen right now.
Instead, players are building temporary home gyms — some better equipped than others, all far inferior to the set-up at Lathlain or Cockburn.
Young Freo ruckman Lloyd Meek had to drive four hours from his family farm in Ballarat just to purchase a barbell.
Players are benching weights with their kids, or their girlfriend, or their younger brother.
Clubs are struggling. Football departments have been hacked to bits — there are less coaches, conditioning staff, support staff and development staff.
That means less connection. Players are typically tracked by clubs constantly — what they eat, how much water they’ve drunk, how they slept, how far they have run. Were their bowel movements consistent? OK maybe not the last one, but that’s where we were heading.
With the cutback in staff, players are somewhat left to their own devices.
The young ones are posting Tik Tok videos, probably playing too much Fortnite and giving self-inflicted at-home haircuts that belong on a Romper Stomper extra.
The older guys are dancing to Frozen 2, painting houses and deep diving into Ozark.
Within the next 10 or so days, Gillon McLachlan will jump on a grainy Zoom feed and inform the football world that we’re back. Training will kick-start — likely for 3-4 weeks — a mini pre-season to lead into a playing return. But that’s not enough time to eradicate 6-8 weeks of down-time not spent right.
And let’s assume most of these guys are doing the right thing. Let’s assume they’re professional and diligent and completely obsessed with coming back a step ahead.
But don’t be surprised if that’s not the case with all.
We’re all different.
Some people are self-starters, motivated by inner drive and opportunity. Others are a little lazy and need a kick up the arse every now and then.
Players fit into those categories, too.
Where would a young Steve Johnson be in this situation? How about Jeremy McGovern or Michael Walters? Dane Swan? All these guys became champions — All-Australians — but early on in their careers they were susceptible to taking the foot off the pedal. There will absolutely be another Gov or another Sonny or another Stevie J — probably some talented 19-year-old on your club’s list right now, not quite taking all this as seriously as required. That player’s career might not survive this.
Clubs will have a shortlist of ‘at-risk’ players, the types they know cut corners at training, get by on talent alone and are vulnerable to soft tissue problems. Those players will be checked on more than others.
All this talk of reduced list sizes will inspire some fringe guys to jump to the next level — the don’t cut me level — but some will just throw their hands up and give up.
What about the veterans? The guys who have done 15 pre-seasons, and thought they’d go around in 2020 for one more year, then ran into this?
We’ll see some stars fall off the pace, regressing to the norm, and we’ll see some bolters — the great self-starters, the guys who compete with the mirror or the shadow, not the bloke standing next to them. The invisible enemy. When all this is done and footy is being played again, expect a handful of supreme athletes to rise into the AFL’s upper echelon.
Despite the cutback in resources you can bet the smart AFL clubs are navigating this within every inch of the situation.
While the rest of us are coming to terms with a dwindling Netflix catalogue and the unwanted seasonal return of Shepard avocados, Adam Simpson, Justin Longmuir, Damian Hardwick, Stewart Dew and every other AFL coach will be Zooming and Skyping and running their phone battery to 0 per cent, doing every possible thing to stay in touch and keep their guys motivated and ready.
This is the ultimate litmus test of a club’s culture, structure and motivation we’ll ever see. A football science experiment without a blueprint.
What’s at stake? Only a premiership. No big deal.
Like Fyfey said — the club that handles this the best will play finals and win the grand final. Maybe that’s one of the teams we all expected to be there back when we made our predictions in early March — GWS, Richmond, West Coast, Collingwood — or maybe not. Maybe it’s a Cinderella story, a young, disciplined team full of spunk and momentum and energy.
When the stories are written in the hours following the grand final’s siren, they’ll speak of the most unique premiership in AFL history.
And who handled the madness best.

We’re seeing this now with players getting busted for drunk driving, etc... I expect more stories and incidents the longer this goes. They’re all human.

And agree with the above post. Daniels has a refreshing writing style that strats the line between conversational and insightful.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[Lach72]

We’re seeing this now with players getting busted for drunk driving, etc... I expect more stories and incidents the longer this goes. They’re all human.

Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

They're gainfully employed, most on more money than the average punter...they need to keep fit and stay isolated...but they're human if they go out and get slaughtered and drive a car?

 

[Harry Reems]

Did anyone hear the Michael Barlow & Lee Spurr radio show on 882 on Sunday afternoon?

They interviewed Tommy Sherridan and it was one of the funniest interviews that I have heard in a long time, well since Mal Brown's interview the day before.

Who would of thought that Tommy the T-Train was such a funny guy.

 

[Dale147]

A sad story, wow, BF is so slow.

 

[Lach72]

A sad story, wow, BF is so slow.

That's our lot isn't it.

In these stories for other clubs Dustin Martin plays almost continuously but of the 3 guns we got out of that draft (Mora, Fyfe, Barlow) only Fyfe is still playing and all 3 have been smashed by injury. I mean Fyfe has been the "luckiest" of them...3 shoulder reconstructions and two broken legs, Mora both knees destroyed and Barlow with the snapped leg....He looked like winning a Brownlow in that first year...returned as a solid player...could still be playing
Even Palmer...awesome first year where he was better than Cyril, then blows a knee and never the same. Cotchin, McEvoy and Dangerfield are still running around Palmer is 4 years retired...all the way back to Clem and J-Lo.
Roger Hayden breaks his leg early in his career then a broken foot finishes him off early
I mean Hill turns 30 in ten days and has barely played footy in 3 years...guys like Bartel, Hodge, Junior were in their prime.

Pav has been really the one

 

[Dale147]

Coronavirus crisis: Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir’s concerns over mini pre-season

Jordan McArdleThe West Australian
Tuesday, 21 April 2020 9:43AM
Justin Longmuir voiced his concerns over a potential three-week mini pre-season ahead of what he described as a “brutal” shortened season.
The rookie Fremantle coach will look at each player case by case when they return from the enforced coronavirus break in the coming weeks to minimise the chance of injuries.
Several key players are on the comeback trail from off-season setbacks including Alex Pearce, Joel Hamling (ankle), Blake Acres (hamstring), Stephen Hill (quad) and David Mundy (leg).
“Clearly it’s not ideal,” Longmuir told TAB Radio.
“For some players it (three weeks) probably will be enough, for some players it won’t.
“That will be the issue when we get back, to make sure we screen all our players and get some really good data off them as to where they’ve been training, who they’ve been training with and what level they’re at.
“If we try and rush some players that aren’t up to the level, injuries will occur so we need to be really careful with the way we manage our playing group when we get back and the way we manage our program to make sure that we’re able to deal with the condensed, brutal footy season that’s going to lay ahead.”
Longmuir admits that getting his playing group back together by the end of May was “a little bit optimistic” logistically, with as many as 10 players interstate with their families during the COVID-19 shutdown period.
With the current COVID-19 border restrictions in place, those players will be forced to undergo a two-week quarantine period when they arrive back in WA.
“The way we’re tracking as a country with the virus is really solid and Australians have clearly done a really good job at stopping the spread,” Longmuir
“The date is probably not optimistic from a footy sense, it’s probably just more logistically trying to get our players back in the one place with the travel restrictions and the quarantining which is going to be the difficult part.
“We’ve got 8-10 players that are interstate at the moment and getting them back to WA and getting them integrating with our group is going to take at least two weeks.
“I would think that if we get our players back by June, that would probably the date that I’d earmark as the earliest possible date.”
A return date is still not set in stone, with late June seemingly the earliest possible resumption.
The AFL is set to provide its most detailed update next Monday on how and when the season will proceed.
“We haven’t really got any indicator off the government or the AFL as to when we’ll start,” he said.
“That’s probably the cloud that’s hanging over our players in terms of motivation.
“But overall they’re going well, they’re connecting really well in different mediums to what they’re used to.
“A lot are missing the day-to-day footy life and the routine, but they’ve been keeping themselves really busy and keeping their own personal routines up and training in pairs, so I feel like the overall wellbeing of our players is pretty solid.”

 

[Dale147]

DITCH THE NURSERY

MARK DUFFIELD

Ross Lyon says the AFL is a performance industry, not a development industry, and most players should be developed at the second tier. Commenting on the AFL website about possible changes to AFL list sizes, Lyon said that as a coach he wanted access to as many players as possible but players playing just a handful of games a year were very expensive to keep on lists. “A player playing maybe two games a year might be on $200,000 or $250,000,” the former Fremantle coach said. “If you have four or five of those players they might play five or six games between them but they might cost you $800,000 or $900,000,” he said. “They are the guys that are going to go. Then the issue for the club is, they go to the second tier and what is the ability to draw on those players when you need them. “I think the warehousing will go and the players that play one or two games will go to a lesser competition and there will be a saving. I think that is what the reduction of list sizes is about. “It is also about the development being done where it should be done. The AFL is a performance industry. Clubs do develop but there is a bigger aspect than should be required. “It should be a performance program at the AFL, not a development program. “I don’t want players to lose their jobs but when they really are in a development phase, let them go and develop.” Lyon also indicated there should be a limit on how many 18 year olds clubs should be able to draft, while stopping short of declaring definitively the draft age should be lifted. But he also said players who clearly weren’t ready to play in the AFL had the option of not nominating. “You nominate for the draft,” he said. “No one holds a gun to your head. There are some that are ready to go but I think the numbers being drafted are too big. “When you are getting to players at pick 100 the percentage chances of them playing in their first year are virtually zilch. “Maybe a restriction on how many are taken. I think there are some that are ready to play. “But are they at rebuilding clubs where they are really being gifted games? “There are a few of them. “Nat Fyfe and Stephen Hill both played early for the Dockers but they were so thin they had shoulder reconstructions.”

 

[Dockeroo]

Watching footy classified here. They are talking about the saints v freo game from 05 when longmuir kicked after the siren to win. The umpires apparently fell out with st kilda coach around that time and one of them said “now you know what a win feels like” to the st kilda coach on the plane home. The umpire rang eddies radio show here in Melbourne this morning and said “three free kicks were awarded to Fremantle that shouldn’t have been” in that game.
How many ****ing times have we been shafted by umpires over the years yet they managed to highlight a game 15 years ago where we got the rub of the green on national tv! You couldn’t make it up!!!

 

[gaskin]

It is a nothing story. It is Saints whinging (what is new) and acting as if they are the only team ever to get shafted in a game by the umps.

 

[Daddoo]

It is a nothing story. It is Saints whinging (what is new) and acting as if they are the only team ever to get shafted in a game by the umps.

Just shut down the club and move them to Tassie. Been a suck on the AFL coffers for awhile. We don’t need so many teams in Vic.


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

 

[dont bowl there]

It is a nothing story. It is Saints whinging (what is new) and acting as if they are the only team ever to get shafted in a game by the umps.

They are my least fav fan group in Melbourne by far, second doesn't even come close.

 

[mightymouse75]

They are my least fav fan group in Melbourne by far, second doesn't even come close.

Biggest campaigners around.

 

[Docker82]

It is a nothing story. It is Saints whinging (what is new) and acting as if they are the only team ever to get shafted in a game by the umps.

Two absolute clear cut free kicks anyway.

McPharlin held multiple times without the ball.

Goddard with clear prior opportunity before the Wiz got him.

 

[Bastyy]

This is such good content, media team is putting in work

 

[Purple_Turtle]

Two back line stars ready to return for Fremantle

The coronavirus break could help the Dockers with two of their best tall defenders fully recovered from injury

thewest.com.au

Anyone got the text?

 

[Fat Nyfe]

Watching footy classified here. They are talking about the saints v freo game from 05 when longmuir kicked after the siren to win. The umpires apparently fell out with st kilda coach around that time and one of them said “now you know what a win feels like” to the st kilda coach on the plane home. The umpire rang eddies radio show here in Melbourne this morning and said “three free kicks were awarded to Fremantle that shouldn’t have been” in that game.
How many ******* times have we been shafted by umpires over the years yet they managed to highlight a game 15 years ago where we got the rub of the green on national tv! You couldn’t make it up!!!

Hilarious, maybe they should highlight that game against the Bulldogs where we got 4 free kicks. Or the one where Leigh Fisher gave us doughnuts and gave the opposition double digit frees by himself. They may have been the same game, not sure.

 

[BettercallSaul]

Hilarious, maybe they should highlight that game against the Bulldogs where we got 4 free kicks. Or the one where Leigh Fisher gave us doughnuts and gave the opposition double digit frees by himself. They may have been the same game, not sure.

Yeah and we won the game too despite given nothing free kick wise!

 

[Dale147]

Two back line stars ready to return for Fremantle

The coronavirus break could help the Dockers with two of their best tall defenders fully recovered from injury

thewest.com.au

Anyone got the text?

Here ya go

 

[Dale147]

Coronavirus crisis: Premier Mark McGowan declares Perth a ‘frontrunner’ in proposed AFL hubs for Project Return
Peter Law & Steve ButlerThe West Australian
Friday, 24 April 2020 7:06PM
AFL clubs will be housed in Olympic-style villages under a plan to restart the season next month, with Premier Mark McGowan declaring Perth a “frontrunner” to host a footy hub.
The West Australian can reveal details about Project Return, which would see hotels and resorts converted into strictly controlled villages in one or two cities.
Under the AFL’s plan, up to 600 players and staff would be based in the quarantine zones for eight weeks and undergo weekly COVID-19 testing.
Crown Perth and Joondalup Resort have been identified as suitable locations in Perth for accommodation villages, from which the general public would be banned.
Clubs would travel to the hub on chartered flights and only be allowed to leave the village to play matches, train on approved ovals and attend medical appointments.
Optus Stadium would be the centrepiece of a Perth’s multi-venue hub, which would host between six and 10 teams, including the Eagles and Dockers.
West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett said Lathlain’s Mineral Resources Park, Leederville Oval and Joondalup’s HBF Arena could also be used for matches.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan this week wrote to State and Territory leaders to gauge their support, with Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Darwin also under consideration.
“It would be a good thing for a long, tough winter which for many people which will be relatively boring because they can’t travel and some are not at work or unemployed, so to watch some football would be a godsend.”
He said it would be “appropriate” for the season to restart in late May and he believed after Melbourne, Perth was a clear “frontrunner” as the city had Australia’s “best grounds and facilities”.
“Melbourne would have to have a share of it, but I think we’d be ahead of Adelaide and the Northern Territory. What I don’t want to do is get in a bidding war — I’m not going to pay money for it,” he said. “If States want to put up millions of dollars for it, we’ll let them, but we’re not going to do that.”
Players, staff and officials would be tested before travelling to the hub and then at least weekly in the first three weeks. Players would also undergo tests on match days to be approved to play.
The AFL will purchase polymerase chain reaction test kits to ensure there was no burden on the local health system. Blood tests to detect antibodies as a result of virus exposure would also be used.
“This would showcase WA and the wonderful work that’s been done here during this pandemic,” Mr Nisbett said.
“We have the hotels and we have the venues we can play at ... we’ve got everything in place to house anywhere up to six teams.”
“It is a very positive move if everyone gets behind it and we can find a way to create the opportunity in WA.”
“The AFL’s current thinking is to establish quarantine zones, limit travel and reduce contact with the public by establishing an Olympic village-style model,” Mr McLachlan wrote in a letter seen by The West Australian.
All 18 clubs would be based in one or two hubs, with clubs split into various villages — hotels dedicated solely to the AFL — where players could freely move around without public interaction.
Once in their village, players would — at first — train together in small groups and then take part in match practice, being referred to by the AFL as a three-week “pre-season”.
Mr McGowan said he told AFL boss Mr McLachlan that WA was “very keen” to host a hub, so long as health guidelines were followed.
The Premier said States would next week receive advice from chief medical officers about the plan.
“If that comes back positively then of course we would be more than happy to host the teams here to play. It would be a very exciting aspect of the competition to have a bunch of teams based in Perth and it would be great for morale in the State,” Mr McGowan said.
“A lot of people are starved of entertainment at the moment and that affects people’s mental health. So for hundreds and thousands of people to be able to watch football, it would make them feel a lot better.
“It would be a good thing for a long, tough winter which for many people which will be relatively boring because they can’t travel and some are not at work or unemployed, so to watch some football would be a godsend.”
He said it would be “appropriate” for the season to restart in late May and he believed after Melbourne, Perth was a clear “frontrunner” as the city had Australia’s “best grounds and facilities”.
“Melbourne would have to have a share of it, but I think we’d be ahead of Adelaide and the Northern Territory. What I don’t want to do is get in a bidding war — I’m not going to pay money for it,” he said. “If States want to put up millions of dollars for it, we’ll let them, but we’re not going to do that.”
Players, staff and officials would be tested before travelling to the hub and then at least weekly in the first three weeks. Players would also undergo tests on match days to be approved to play.
The AFL will purchase polymerase chain reaction test kits to ensure there was no burden on the local health system. Blood tests to detect antibodies as a result of virus exposure would also be used.
“This would showcase WA and the wonderful work that’s been done here during this pandemic,” Mr Nisbett said.
“We have the hotels and we have the venues we can play at ... we’ve got everything in place to house anywhere up to six teams.”
“It is a very positive move if everyone gets behind it and we can find a way to create the opportunity in WA.”
As part of the plan, the State Government may also be asked to consider self-isolation exemptions for visiting players which would see them to travel with their teammates on buses to training venues, before returning directly to their hotels without coming in contact with any members of the public.
It could form part of their two-week isolation requirement.
WA Football Commission boss Gavin Taylor added: “We have one of the best stadiums in the world, great support facilities and a good climate that could support the model.”
Mr Taylor said. “If the WAFC can play any part in making AFL games possible in WA safely, we are definitely keen to support that opportunity.”
A Fremantle spokesman said the club would “clearly” be enthusiastic about WA hosting an AFL hub. But new coach Justin Longmuir told radio station SEN today that Melbourne would be a “really good place” to restart if the AFL wanted all 18 teams in one State.

 

[Dale147]

Balla’s makes his media debut.

 

[Dale147]

Interesting stuff from Duff.

 

[Van_Dyke]

This is such good content, media team is putting in work

media team have been awesome