Channel 9’s coverage has been disappointing – in WA we have to watch the first session on 9Go in grainy SD, Finch and SOK are hardly A-grade TV analysts, and Ch 9 is seemingly moving to alternate programming during rain delays regardless of how long they last.

But I’m not sure you can complain about a free service having ads, as irksome as they can be and as clumsily as Nine is implementing them (missed deliveries, cutting to an ad straight after a wicket falls etc).
I know you hate ads and would be happy to pay to not have to watch them, but I’m not sure many others would, so am not sure it would stack up as a business case to offer it.

“Granted, if not for some fair umpiring, the result in 2015 against West Coast could’ve gone a different way…”

Oh f…ing please. The Roos were up by 20 points at quarter time and it should’ve been more if they’d kicked straight. And even then they couldn’t win it, despite the Eagles kicking 10.20 themselves.

I’m one of the Geelong naysayers this year.
Pies by 20+ points.

I don’t have a team, no. As for which team would work, Wests Tigers may not have to even change their name, haha. Plus their colours could be tweaked to be yellow and black which are WA’s colours. But really, I don’t think the average non-NRL follower would care what team it is.

GAJ last won the Brownlow in 2013, not 2014.

Sorry to be pedantic but this is a bit of a pet hate of mine:
AFL is the league. The sport is Australian Rules Football.

Not to mention Queens Birthday and (usually) Anzac Day have school/workl the next day, which would keep a lot of people away.

The fundamental problem was the way the team carried on in the years before the sandpaper incident, which saw bell ends like Warner carry on without any reprisals. And why was the behaviour not discouraged?
Because of this outdated notion that Clarke is peddling that acting such a way is how Australians play cricket and if we don’t do it we “won’t win s..t”.
Which is a load of tripe.
And for some reason people such as Clarke seem to think that if the team aren’t acting like dickheads they must be playing soft. Believe it or not, you can play tough uncompromising cricket without making fans – including your own – dislike you.
And yep, Hayden was/is a prat as well.

Conveniently forgetting there wouldn’t be an AFL competition without the interstate sides saving it in the 1980s…

“The 48,188 who turned up to ANZ Stadium for the Bunnies vs Dragons were the second biggest Week 2 finals crowd ever (50,621 in 2007 for Eels vs Bulldogs is the biggest).”
– This just show low crowd attendances are a long time problem, 50K to a final is weak.

“Those (TV) figures don’t speak to me of one code’s popularity dwarfing or crushing the other by any stretch.”
Really? 2.4 million combines compared to 1.8 million? That’s a 33 per cent gap…

But the self-proclaimed “sporting capital of the world” can’t fill a stadium for a final between two Melbourne teams because it’s on a Thursday? Please…

What would be wrong with having a Friday game and then a Super Saturday with three games? They fit five games on Saturdays during the season, so this would be a great day as a fan:

FRIDAY NIGHT: Richmond v Hawks
SATURDAY 1.20pm: Melbourne v Geelong
SATURDAY 4.20pm (EST): WCE v Collingwood
SATURDAY 7.20pm: Sydney v GWS

Following week you have Friday night and Saturday night games, with only one team (either Melbourne or Geelong) only getting a six day break. The rest get seven.

Agree with some of this, but there are some pretty iffy points made.

“The AFL’s want for a prime-time weeknight final is understandable. For footy fans it brings the finals forward a day after an interminable break thanks to the enforced bye.”
– I think the fan reaction has shown we’d rather wait an extra day and have a better fixture.

“West Coast versus Collingwood should have been scheduled as the Thursday night game. In regards to ground capacity, this is one that would sell out if it was played at 3am on a Tuesday, so there will be no difference holding this on Thursday as opposed to Saturday from that perspective.”
– Victorians bleat about being the greatest sports mecca in the world, but you can’t fill a stadium cos a game is on a Thursday night?

“Given the time difference between Perth and Melbourne, this game would be at a more family friendly time for attendance too.”
– Huh? Due to the East Coast wanting the game on at a reasonable hour, the latest a Perth game would start would be 6.10pm – which would make it a LOT harder for people to make it after work and during peak hour than the 7.20pm start in Melbourne.

Of course starting a game at 5.20pm in Perth is an issue.
Just because the BBL semi and the Eagles v Dogs final a couple of years ago were held on Thursdays didn’t mean it wasn’t a massive pain in the arse to to get there.
The MCG will still get 90K-plus there, it’s not any less able to handle a Thursday night game, come on.

Dangerfield could have signed with Geelong as a restricted free agent, meaning all Adelaide would have got in return was a compensation pick.

But Adelaide said they would match whatever offer Geelong made to keep Dangerfield, so it forced Geelong to trade for him instead of getting him for free – thus netting Adelaide a better return.

Yeah, the Roar guys messed that bit up. It’s back to being correct now.

“So take out the 33 DFAs out of the list of 66 FA transfers, then try and mount the argument that the good clubs don’t get all the best players, you’ll find it much harder.”

No, not really. Here’s the list of all restricted and unrestricted free agency signings by club:

Adelaide: Eddie Betts
Brisbane: Brent Moloney
Carlton Dale Thomas
Collingwood Quinten Lynch, Clinton Young, Daniel Wells, Chris Mayne
Essendon: Brendon Goddard, James Gwilt, Matthew Leuenberger
Fremantle: Danyle Pearce, Colin Sylvia
Geelong: Jared Rivers, Scott Selwood
Gold Coast: Tom Murphy, Nick Malceski
GWS Dawson Simpson
Hawthorn James Frawley, Ty Vickery
Melbourne: Shannon Byrnes
North Melbourne Nick Dal Santo, Jarrad Waite, Shaun Higgins
Port Adelaide: Matthew White, Tom Rockliff, Steven Motlop
Richmond Chris Knights, Troy Chaplain
St Kilda: Nathan Brown
Sydney: Lance Franklin
West Coast Xavier Ellis
Western Bulldogs: Matt Suckling, Jackson Trengove

You mention most DFAs become role players at best – the same can be said for the majority of UFAs and RFAs as well.

And the EPL has no salary cap, so it’s hardly an adequate comparison here.

Fair point re Adelaide and Danger.
That’s the type of thing more clubs should be willing to do.

So… basically you’re agreeing with what I said?

You make valid points, and they also highlight a couple of things:

First, you mention the number of guys who were wanted by their club who left and went to a better team. Let’s say Lynch leaves, that means there has been a grand total of three wanted guys leave to go to stronger clubs.

Three. In seven years of free agency. Not a massive number.

And secondly, the teams which are strong change constantly. Essendon and Hawthorn aren’t as attractive a destination now as they were a few years ago, and Richmond and Collingwood certainly wouldn’t have been as attractive this time last year as they are now.

So free agents may choose stronger clubs, but the clubs that are strong is constantly changing regardless of free agency moves.

Re the St Kilda typo shamozzle, I had the correct teams in the story I posted. The Roar guys have edited this and clearly something’s gone wrong in that section. Hopefully they change it quickly because it’s not making me look great…

Port’s free agents have been Matthew White (2013), Tom Rockliff, Trent Mackenzie, Steven Motlop and Jack Trengove (2017).
Mackenzie and Trengove were delisted FAs.

Delsisted free agents are still free agents, hence their inclusion in the tally.
And I think they should be included since a big part of why free agency was brought in was to help delisted players play for clubs who wanted threm rather than have to enter the draft.

They are also free to choose whichever club they want to play for if there is more than one suitor.

DFAs aren’t what is causing all the angst, but as they make up half of the player movement involved in free agency they need to be included when discussing it as a whole.

Yeah I had the players leaving the correct clubs initially, the Roar guys edited this article a bit and it seems something went very awry there.

Yeah I had the players leaving the correct clubs initially, the Roar guys edited this article a bit and it seems something went awry there.

I know, but my main points were that a) he’s never had a decent crack at it – his longest stretch has been 5 tests, when he averaged 40, and b) people who keep bringing up the number of opportunities he’s had seem to forget that he was often making way for returning injured players or he was injured himself, not being dropped due to form.
Considering he’s had a number of important innings – his sub-continent hundreds, 49 against the Kiwis under lights, this latest innings – I just find it bewildering so many people hate the guy.

OK, I’ll bite.

This completely omits one of the key aspects: the Eagles gave up nothing: pick 52, 70 and 88 (the Eagles also got 54 and 72 in return anyway). But to go into more detail apologies for wall of text):

1. No, the Eagles don’t need another slow mid. But they need someone to help Priddis get clearances – Naitanui isn’t going to be there to hit it down a sprinting Luke Shuey’s throat, there will be more need for in-and-under players. Plus, the Eagles have wilted in finals – having a 4-time premiership player in the trenches with them will be of a huge benefit.

2. This isn’t basketball where there are only 15 roster spots, and this isn’t the Lions who need to put every effort into blooding youth. The Eagles made the GF two seasons ago and earned a home final last year. They can afford to give a guy of Mitchell’s pedigree one of their 38 spots to try and go a bit further in September.

3. See point 2, basically. He’s here for a year or two and any wisdom and experience he can impart onto a youngster is probably worth them biding their time in the twos.

4. Are you sure Mitchell isn’t cheap? He was a vet looking for a fifth flag and likely took a discount to do so. But anyways… He’s on a one year deal! So for the Eagles to lose anyone for salary cap reasons, it had to happen this off-season. You think Corey Adamson, Jamie Bennell, Damien Cavka, Brant Colledge, Xavier Ellis, Kane Lucas, Patrick McGinnity, Alec Waterman or Mitch Brown would still be at the Eagles were it not for Mitchell? And if Mitchell stays for an extra season, you think he’s going to demand a big salary and risk losing quality players on the team he’s going to coach straight after?

5. It helps the Hawks? So? Trades are meant to be beneficial to both sides, otherwise no one would do them. The Hawks also shunted Jordan Lewis, so yes, they’re clearly looking to the future – but it’s not like the Eagles gave them O’Meara.
As for the Buckley, Hird, Voss comparisons – Mitchell isn’t going to be the head coach, let alone one with no coaching experience, let alone at his old club where he’d be forced to coach his former teammates. And if he’s a crap assistant? You flick him, no harm done.

This is a low risk, high reward move by the Eagles.