Round 8 Swans v Hawthorn MCG Friday May 11 7.50 pm

[Meg]

Plenty of good Victorian Swans supporters on here

And watching on TV it looked to me that there were plenty of them at the MCG on Friday night - and making a LOT of noise. There was close up vision of Swans supporters behind the goals when Ronke kicked his seventh goal which sealed the match for the Swans. The sheer pandemonium of delight was glorious to see.

[Meg]

Round 8 Swans v Hawthorn MCG Friday May 11 7.50 pm

Oi. Happy for you to slam him for almost everything he says but that's low!

????????

[poundpuppy]

Alastair Clarkson, Gillon McLachlan meeting dubbed ?outrageous? by Robert Walls

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/alastair-clarkson-gillon-mclachlan-meeting-dubbed-outrageous-by-robert-walls/news-story/42673040cc5f4e0310e84d75fc154d61

[ugg]

Coaches votes

10 Ronke
7 Parker
6 Gunston
3 Lloyd
2 Cunningham
1 Burgoyne
1 Howe

Breakdown
Ronke 5-5
Parker 4-3
Gunston 4-2
Lloyd 3-0
Cunningham 2-0
Burgoyne, Howe 1-0

[liz]

AFLCA votes, round eight: Ball-magnet makes his move - AFL.com.au

Despite his rather grudging comments about Ronke's contribution in his Friday night press conference, Clarkson has given him top votes in the AFLCA award this week.

Glad to see Cunningham get recognition too. It's hard to separate the tagging performances of Hewett on Mitchell and Cunningham on Smith in terms of importance, but Hewett has more form performing these roles and it's not the first time this season a player has managed to quell Mitchell. Smith has been in mighty fine form for the Hawks, too, so limiting his impact was huge in getting the result. I expect it was Longmire who gave Cunningham the votes. If so, that means he gave Gunston the four votes (and Clarkson gave him two).

[Bill Posters]

Alastair Clarkson, Gillon McLachlan meeting dubbed ?outrageous? by Robert Walls

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/ala...e84d75fc154d61

It's totally outrageous. Gill is a total dill for doing this. Even if they were having a totally innocent brekky given Clarkson's comments on the weekend this opens him up to accusations of favouritism and bias. Any future changes in umpiring direction are now open to accusations of bias. This damages the reputation of the AFL and as the CEO Dill should knows better.

And Clarkson - wtf? I understand having a rant about poor umpiring - I do it all the time - but in this case the umpiring was ok. So I can only conclude he is trying to use his public voice to deliberately influence the governance of the game, regardless of any umpiring mistakes. Is that allowed?

[goswannies]

Well. It seems the swans are making me fat(ter) by having to eat more loaded fries with my words.
Seriously wasn't expecting to win this one, although I'm seriously very happy about it.
Hope they can win one at home... unfortunately, I won't be attending, some arse invited me to their wedding.
Who gets married during footy season?

Honestly Annie, you have a smart phone. Get someone at the wedding to FaceTime or Skype or Whatsapp video chat you the ceremony. As for the reception, color print an A3 picture of yourself (I?d recommend that one of you & Joey ... he?d make a good date) have a fellow guest sit it at your spot at the table ... AND GO TO THE FOOTY!!

NO ONE SHOULD GET MARRIED DURING THE FOOTY SEASON!!! Even goswannette knows that in her planning!

[Untamed Snark]

Honestly Annie, you have a smart phone. Get someone at the wedding to FaceTime or Skype or Whatsapp video chat you the ceremony. As for the reception, color print an A3 picture of yourself (I?d recommend that one of you & Joey ... he?d make a good date) have a fellow guest sit it at your spot at the table ... AND GO TO THE FOOTY!!

NO ONE SHOULD GET MARRIED DURING THE FOOTY SEASON!!! Even goswannette knows that in her planning!

Have thou tried using the internet at the SCG?

[barry]

Gill meeting a Victorian coach in Victoria to talk about Victorian teams getting hard done by. ?. Is anyone surprised at all?

Does Gill ever leave Victoria?. As CEO he should be spending 8/18 days outside Vic at the very least.

[Danzar]

Gill meeting a Victorian coach in Victoria to talk about Victorian teams getting hard done by. ?. Is anyone surprised at all?

Does Gill ever leave Victoria?. As CEO he should be spending 8/18 days outside Vic at the very least.

Judging from the response, and the context, yes, plenty are surprised. It's a gross overstep.

[Meg]

Is someone who knows how to do these things able to cut out the video footage of the play that Clarkson is complaining about when Grundy and Rampe spoilt Roughead? I know it?s in the video on AFL site but it?s buried towards the end and difficult to find without replaying the whole video again. (I found scrolling through difficult to do on iPad).

On Friday night and on the two times I?ve looked at it since it seemed to me that Grundy and Rampe legitimately used their body strength to hold their positions which prevented Roughead moving to the spot he needed to be in to take the mark. I didn?t see any illegal holding of Roughead?s arms or body. However I?m not absolutely sure of that without seeing the vision several times.

Interested in comments by others. The tactic of using body strength to hold position is one I really admire (something Goodes was very good at). I was delighted to see some of the women doing that in the most recent AFLW season. It takes not just strength but a good footy brain.

[Meg]

Have thou tried using the internet at the SCG?

Ha! Tried yes, but with immense frustration. Is it just a Telstra mobile problem? While I get the dreaded ?round & round? but no connection I see others happily doing things on their phones.

[liz]

Is someone who knows how to do these things able to cut out the video footage of the play that Clarkson is complaining about when Grundy and Rampe spoilt Roughead? I know it?s in the video on AFL site but it?s buried towards the end and difficult to find without replaying the whole video again. (I found scrolling through difficult to do on iPad).

On Friday night and on the two times I?ve looked at it since it seemed to me that Grundy and Rampe legitimately used their body strength to hold their positions which prevented Roughead moving to the spot he needed to be in to take the mark. I didn?t see any illegal holding of Roughead?s arms or body. However I?m not absolutely sure of that without seeing the vision several times.

Interested in comments by others. The tactic of using body strength to hold position is one I really admire (something Goodes was very good at). I was delighted to see some of the women doing that in the most recent AFLW season. It takes not just strength but a good footy brain.

Watch the Access All Areas on the AFL website (near the end) and they have vision of the free against Langford, the non-free against Grundy and the non-free against Smith.

I am sure there's a lot of blocking that goes on for both defenders and forwards within forward 50 arcs. It's been happening for as long as I've been following AFL. I don't see a problem with some forms of blocking, though some instances clearly should be free kicks.

The one against Langford was pretty blatant. He didn't block. He was literally hanging onto Grundy's arm. The nudge by Smith on Jones was more subtle. I don't have a problem with that. And, as you describe, it's very hard to see any block in the later one of Roughead vs Grundy vs Rampe. It was a two on one contest and Grundy held his ground.

[Bloods05]

Would like to hear Clarkson?s explaination the following. There is 3:25 left in the 1st quarter and Isaac Smith shepherds Jones out of the marking contest, Gunston takes the mark and goals. The commentary went as follows;

BT: Smith underneath and shepherds quite deliberately for Gunston
Ling: That was brilliant by Isaac Smith. Good call BT. He knew exactly what he was doing there BT. Just shifted his opponent under the ball. That is quality footy. Great awareness.
Carey: But is it a shepherd?
Ling: Probably is, but when you make it as subtle as that, you get away with it.

I remember seeing it at the game and I called for a shepherd. Seems Clarkson thinks that Swans defenders are ruining the game by blocking. But it is OK for his forwards to block. Carey knows it is not legal. And when he suggests to Ling it?s not, Ling is almost dismissive. It?s OK it?s Hawthorn. We got pinged for this exact same thing the previous week.

"...as subtle as that..." Bloody hell. What would blatant look like?

[Wardy]

Clarkson?s just a nasty peice of work - and didn?t like being beaten at his own game. Imagine how spiteful it would have been if the likes of Hodge, Lewis & S Michell were still there.