Bang Bang Bang

Selwood getting jeered, then run down from behind, might just be the best thing I’ll see all weekend. And I saw Langdon’s goal.

Seems like he’s had more wins than he’s had clangers.

Preuss is a good player but I don’t miss the guy at all, he just reminds me of the dark days. Now for my second favorite pastime of the weekend: Barracking against the sooks.

You clamp down on Petracca and all that does is let Oliver run rampant. We are a hard team to stop. I know some posters will flame us for the scrappiness of that effort but "Bang Bang Bang" footy isn't needed at this time of year. Bank the points, reset, recalibrate and move onto next week. Very happy to see Weideman do well. He keeps his spot ahead of TMac for sure, IMO.

Don’t rate Weideman at all and am perplexed how he jumped ahead of Mitch Brown in the queue, but hopefully tonight’s the night. Just needs to clunk an early one.

I will sit on the fence a bit here. On one hand, he cost us next to nothing in terms of draft picks and may have brought a raft of intangibles to the club during his three years. Also, there's an argument that every single recruiting decision we made from 2013 onwards contributed positively in some way to what eventually happened in 2021. But... his on-field performances fell well below initial expectations. He brought finals experience with him, yet was one of our worst performed players during the 2018 Finals Series. Conclusion? It probably WAS worth it because of the minimal costs involved in getting him across. However, I think he was underwhelming, even factoring in his age at the time. Jordan himself could count himself a little unlucky. He chose the Demons based on his expectations of us becoming a major force within a couple of years. He just missed misjudged it slightly. I think if he had his time over again he would have gone to Richmond who nobody could have predicted to rise the way they did at the time Jordie was exploring his options.

Alan Richardson was just asked about this on the DeeBrief podcast. He sounded extremely confident about Luke staying (mentioned he's involved in the actual process), and also mentioned that he had been involved at eight different football clubs and has never seen a player of that size move around the field like Luke does.

Out of contract young superstar plays career best game over the weekend. Ralphy is a smart journo, this story was always going to fill the Monday papers but he doesn’t have much to go with. It’s mainly speculation at his end.

Jake Bowey should be ineligible for the Rising Star when he already is a star.

Lot of similarities between the Blues and the 2021 Dees. They are looking really good. OMac being a starting key back can’t be a good sign for them though.

Man, I’m already angry thinking about Geelong and they haven’t even run out yet.

Mitch Cleary is highly respected and I nearly had a heart attack when I saw that tweet headline last night… but it’s all looking very positive. They ain’t flying across the country to tell us he wants to go to Freo.

Oh and can I just add. Freed from desire. MIND AND SENSES PURIFIED! You whining, diving pack of spuds.

Salem was a big loss, but Bedford came on and showed plenty. Still hasn't sunk it that we are reigning premiers with the best [censored] player in the league. By a long shot. Weightman can go and take a long walk off a short pier.

Goody being as cool as a cucumber all game but then going bananas at Oliver's goal got to me. What a moment.

They spoke about it in total for a minute or two. Wouldn’t say Brayshaw categorically shut the rumors down, but I definitely get the feeling he’s more likely to stay than not after hearing how he responded. I love that Gawny had the audacity to ask him straight out too. Cheeky but makes for great content.

Hunter is an insufferable, diving, smug campaigner but I also rate him pretty highly as a player. So this news makes me doubly excited.

If only we had more anecdotal evidence to go by.

Thought I might not be as invested this season, but was already resorting to dropping F-bombs and even the occasional C-bomb by early in the second quarter. The vulgarity was mainly directed at the horrific umpiring, but also at our continual butter fingers at inopportune times. I like ANB but he's infuriating to watch when he's off. Just can't handle the ball cleanly. To be fair he was far from alone tonight. Nice to see that becoming a Premiership team doesn't now make us immune to complete and utter spuds tearing us a new one either. Matthew Kennedy, give me a [censored] break. Bloody good to be back to be honest.

He is grossly underrating Bayley Fritsch. Robbo had him at 16 in his last list, which was perhaps a fraction high but still much closer to his true standing that not even in the Top 50. LOL! On a wider lens, there is no way in hell seagulls like Merrett and McCrae (and even Walsh if I'm being harsh) are better than Tomahawk and Toby Greene.

Watched the replay last night. There wouldn't be many, if any, players out there who are better on the non-dominant side than Kozzie. I'm sure we recruited him in 2019 to mainly fill a specific need, but he's going to be so much more than that. His impact can't be measured on statistics. I also think Bowey was better than he was given credit for. I think it just comes as a massive shock when he actually does make a mistake. Won't hold my breath on Joel Smith staying fit, but he was really impressive. Tomlinson seems to be back way earlier than expected? Not suggesting any corners were cut, just pleased to see him out there and playing well. When he first went down in Tassie, you could be forgiven for thinking 2022 was a wipeout for him in terms of playing good footy again and yet here we are.

I think the recent Boxing Day test is a good reference point. Even though they are always dead rubbers, Ashes tests always pull the highest attendances. 2013 : 91,112 2017: 88,173 2021: 57,100 Crowds were WAY done last year despite full capacity being allowed. They were also way down in general in the early rounds of the 2021 AFL season, even factoring it that we only got to 75% capacity. Sadly, I think it will be 45,000 or less March 16.

I’ve only watched the full replay once. But I changed my username not long after September 25 and have watched that sequence 100+ times since. I still tear up most times, as I can literally feel 57 years of pain shattering away like glass in that moment. It was truly a surreal experience that will most likely never be replicated, even if we win another flag.

Feel like Big Benny Brown is in for a big year. He has already justified the trade on the back of his work in 2021. Heck, he justified it on the back of the Grand Final alone. But quite often, he'd dominate early in games before drifting out. I put that down to a lack of conditioning. Now, he's had a year in our system, has a full pre season to build miles in the legs, and is approaching the sweet spot of his career (29 y/o is absolute prime for a key forward IMO, particularly for one that started his career a bit later). He basically guarantees us a goal every time he takes a set shot. 60+ goals isn't out of the question in 2022.

Depends on the player really. Franklin and Judd played their best footy at 21, where as Hawkins reached new heights at 32-33 and is showing no signs of slowing down. I'd also say that modern players are generally more durable than they used to be. I remember when 30 was generally the age you'd expect a player to bow out. It's more like 32-35 now. May and Gawn are both turning 30 very soon but have fresh AA blazers in the wardrobe and should be at their peak a while yet. Trac and Clarry honestly have an eternity of good footy left in them.