Timothy Reddan-A'Blew

From the 'comfort', at last, of where we sit for the moment, I've braved a look back at 2013, Colin, and I agree. But the corpse (sorry, Mark) was prepared in round 1 then desecrated in round 3 and rounds 5 to 11. Excluding our GWS win in round 4 (involving our best-ever quarter of 12.2, which we needed! - I sat at that city end amongst the GWS supporter (sic) and strangely this quarter is what I remember clearest of the year...), our percentage was 42% and, worse, the opposition had had 363 scoring shots to our 167 - so it could have been worse! Every team, including GWS, kicked 100+. With '148' in round 2, Essendon got their biggest-ever win against us.

OK, one more appropriation? DATrippers is my weekly lifeline, WCW. I usually finish, often over several days and usually with several trips to Crosswordsolver, Thesaurus, Mr Google and occasionally Danword. Rarely do I not need explanations from the DATrippers of answers I've got! David is a fascinating bloke, isn't he!

So I see, Stone, and, with 7 pages of activity over several days, quite some interest created and quite a few familiar names! I think I remember it but it was before I'd built up courage to be a poster! I see you left it hanging with Engorged Onion's request for full 'parsing' - I hope he's 'let it go'... Time to stop appropriating this thread, so maybe a 'bump' some time, with new material from we closet (no more) cruciverbalising Dees?

I beat you to it, Rab (11.40am) but you provide the solid precedence! And we all know how much regard the AFL takes of precedence... p.s. You're all wearing out my 'Haha' finger - from adversity, great humour?

On the serious side, though, if the competition were to return to the horrors of last year, with hubbing, etc, by all accounts we would be one of the better adapters to it. Last year's hubbing seems to get a lot of credit for where the team is now as a bonded unit.

Someone has to say it, then: We are Premiers

This is what I don't get; I hear this as a rule - perhaps only in some jurisdictions? - but "...awaiting the results of COVID-19 tests..." in the Sydney coaches case implies they only need a negative test (and no isolation meanwhile??) for full steam ahead for Saturday! If your experience - as experienced by many others, evidently - were to apply, Saturday night was off the minute they walked into that cafe

Only the AFL period, WCW, post 1990, and the first was Wheeler in 1994, so that's more than one a year! (p.s. Intrigued by Cryptic crosswords at #1 in your interests. I'm a doer (DA tragic!) and constructor (my alter ego johnno2 in the South Gippsland Sentinel Times). I wonder if there are any other 'landers bearing the cryptic cruciverbalist / Dees supporter cross?)

Sorry, 'land; missed the "We are not..." Anyway, fun(?) coach killer fact(?), Wikipedia's table of Round 8 2010 (when the Bulldogs became the first(?) club to complete the States and Territories win set - ref that topic here) has the footnote "Hawthorn's win over Richmond was a significant one. It later emerged that Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson would have been sacked had they lost." They won, 13.11 to 13.8...

Curious timing! Anyone in mind? I see we're absent in the killers and high in the killed. Mock?

I'm the proverbial 110% with you on the first two parts of this sentence, CYB. On the third part, does anyone have the answer - where did that narrative come from? It may just be front loading is mopping up current and early salary cap space (if that's how things can work)? Would three years of coaching at the back end (if exercised) somehow come from a different pool, too? Re the injury/form/age concerns dotted through this thread, does the coaching option provide a salvage-something Plan B (again, if this is how things can work)? I note the coaching option goes a fair way to answering my earlier 'life after football' question, btw!

Me, too, dj. Keep the anger coming on Hawkins; it won't change anything but maybe the internet ether will rattle his guilt neurons. I don't think I imagined the direction of, and look in, his eyes at the instant of impact.

Don't get me wrong, P2J, I thought it was great, and just how I imagined Christian would be. It just made me curious about the broader person Christian was. I'd also hope, noting your Dusty comparison, that he's not relying on marketability, particularly if it's looks/physique based - that has a shelf life not much longer than football...

Interesting that Christian apparently did "...not want to eek [sic!] out every last dollar from Melbourne to the detriment of his teammates...", the implication being he could have got more, to - as the commentary often goes - 'set himself up for life'. He's sure in the echelon of players entitled to bring that condition to negotiations. Maybe $6m+ does that anyway, but is he adding other strings to his bow while playing - education, qualification, business, investment, etc - does anyone know, that help him take that altruistic view?

I reckon they're getting their money's worth out of the club website 'All of the Melbourne Goals' segment this year!!! (They're also getting their money's worth out of my current renovations, too!)

...it all. That's what's so nice.

'Twas an Olympian effort either way!?

Ouch! What about Jimma? (though I take Bob's point on the ballet skills, which weren't in Stynes's playbook) I'm thinking of the combination of in-the-air and off-the-ground skills.

I do love a good read!...

And a further rider, Bush, is that we have beaten current 5th and 6th but have yet to encounter 2nd, 3rd and 4th (and 7th and 8th). I don't know (but am tempted to obsessively research!?) who we had beaten in our next-best season start...

The Goodes comparison works for me. Also, Jimma?

May be deliberate in this case, for all the Johns he gets?...

...and good to see he/they have been recognised in the Jag FMOTW. His run also, btw, had shades of his No.36 predecessor with a very Flash-reminiscent baulk sidestep?

Paywalled, JCB?

Just clarifying, Second Verse, this is the players' first 'x' games in the seniors, since debut in the seniors, but aren't consecutive games, as James's have been? Bryan Kenneally's, for example, were rounds 11 (debut) and 12 in 1959, then rounds 2, 5 and then 6 to 15 in 1960. James does indeed have a little way to go, but I wonder where he sits in the consecutive games since debut field?