Skuit

I'm currently in the latter. 4am start. Feels like a home-game though, as I've spent a bit of time living in Darwin in recent years. Shame AMW didn't get a call-up, just a 15 hour drive for his kin. Chandler noted the sun was beating down at 18C in Alice yesterday, hopefully it's not too slippery.

Hi Rob.

Interesting quote in among that; "(Libby, a physio in training) Birch suspects this year’s round zero might have played into this landscape, not because it made the season one week longer for some clubs, but because they would have geared a block of training to an earlier-than-usual bye in the season proper." Anyways, I'm anti-rotation cap. I don't get the concept (on multiple levels) of fatiguing players to improve the spectacle. Why would any sport want to lessen the performance of its players, and run the risk of the league becoming more ANB and less Petracca? And there has been a clear decrease in scoring since each cap was introduced. Subjective, but I think football was at its height in the era of massive rotations preceding the first cap (during which we were [censored] and probably otherwise distracted), which was introduced due to concerns over increased injuries, and not congestion. And now we have another spike in injuries? Plus congestion is as bad as ever. Also speculation, but if I was a tired mid I would jump on the ball and tie it up rather than attempting to burst from a stoppage. Less likely I have receivers running past as well. But doing so reduces goal-scoring and opportunities for a moment of rest in between, and also increases contact and the potential of injury.

Complaining about our pick #11 in the mid-season draft while in the same breath complaining that the WA kid isn't playing in our 18th-placed seconds two days later? Seems like your average Demonland poster to me.

Sounds like you should have been using Colgate a long time ago.

Meanwhile, my favourite toothpaste has a minstrel-type character on its logo and was once called '[censored]'. Having to squeeze that into a different tube when I get home from the shops so future guests don't stumble upon it and question my champion host status it is pretty demeaning.

The interesting thing about this thread was that we did end up going out and spending big on a key forward that year, who notched up something like 30 goals and 50 marks in his first ten games with us. We were also on the verge of assembling a truly devastating forward line, until it all fell apart for various reasons and we've struggled to patch one together for various reasons ever since.

Which is highly demeaning and certainly diminished his reputation as a champion ruckman.

I believe our stirring win over Adelaide away in 2017 might have been one such occasion.

But seriously, our forward line is starting to sound like an English manor house with Kentfield, Fullarton and Jefferson. Hopefully we'll be lording it over the opposition in the years to come.

'Smuller' (as a shortening of Scott Muller): Kent bowl. Kent throw. Kentfield.

While I'm looking forward to the pair building up their zen connection in the years to come. What a champ Kozzie is in trying to bring other players into the game.

We played against the Henley Greeks.

I played for the Rams as a kid. A pretty solid footy name in hindsight. Edit: I think it was related to sheep, but we were also called the Ramblers.

Your handle is a perfect nickname should we draft him in.

I spend a bit of time in Holland. The country has some bizarre soccer team names, like the Go Ahead Eagles and the mighty ZSGOWMS. The 'Demons' might seem a bit odd to some outsiders. Someone recently mentioned the Vultures, while today I stumbled across Wayback playing in the Port Lincoln football league. Question: what are the more curious footy club names in your neck of the woods?

Fly my pretties. People complain that the game is now boring and congested, then complain when players go for spectacular grabs - the same ones I show Aussie Rules newbies to catch their interest. People tend to complain, I suppose. Kozzie will take the greatest mark in the history of football at some stage, but probably when he is a bit older and slower. Like those Tiktok kids throwing ping-pong balls in cups, will it be diminished knowing he has made a thousand unrealistic attempts before? I doubt it. If Liam Ryan pulled in that one-hander last week, the footage would have gone around the world and been replayed a million times for generations to come. Kids would be screaming 'Ryan' in the schoolyard for the next 30 years anytime they got off the ground. The speccy will probably be banned at some stage, before footy then ends up being played on AI simulators. Enjoy the high-flying humans while you can. It's one of the unique elements which make our beloved game so special.

Locals can do it in eight.

I have no idea of the stats, but there are probably less than ten players still running around from the mid-season draft a couple years back. One is on our list and looks promising, but hampered by some injury issues. Another of our former picks will possibly get picked up again this year, who we had to let go in a squeeze.

The first quarter against Adelaide circa 2018 stands out as perfect footy conditions and we romped the Crows. Keep Clarry shaded and all is grand.

Not sure they even have lights that work at Traeger. But in short: the match is played in one of the driest deserts in the world, just shy of the Tropic of Capricorn. I'm also not sure the latitude of Cockburn.

Cue the annual clarification on what the actual conditions are like in Alice at this time of year. Perhaps a local can step in?

I've chewed through so many hats this season re. TMac. I've playfully ribbed him for most of his career, mixed in with moments of celebration and genuinely harsher criticism. I would have never predicted his current guise as a reborn footballer though. Thought he was shot. More than a decade into his career and he's learned to play within his limitations, but also to pull the trigger at the right time. Hats off to Tomald: I will eat them all. But there is a dilemma brewing. Tomlinson also looked good, and had the third spot nailed down prior to his knee injury in our premiership year, replaced by Petty, who slotted in perfectly. What happens when Lever comes back?

But Corey Ellison is. I've never seen him play, but I recall some excitement on here. Is he a chance for us perhaps?

Some further reading: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-13/unpacking-the-mysteries-of-afl-centre-bounces/103700434