Skuit

So now I'm stuck trying to work out how 'Wrecked Owl Dees Function' cryptically comes out to Paul Hopgood and if you were that darned Riddler all along. A wrecked but functioning owl would probably need to hop good. And the Riddler certainly liked to pull one.

Did Old Dee compile this? BenKen is listed as not having provided the club any years of service.

I'm in the pro-patience camp. Kid has all the tools (indeed, more of a complete package than our other KPFs). But is it fair to say that his form has gone backwards in the VFL this year? Is he playing the same role? Attracting the same caliber of defender?

The crack-down on the shirt-front?

Really? This is a genuine concern? What if he makes another apology in line with our Judeo-Christian societal concept of contrition, penitence, and redemption. He hit someone. It wasn't a decent thing to do. Nothing he has done since or can do in the future will alter that fact. I've actually been tagged as a 'social-justice warrior' on this site before, but seriously, this idea of Bugg needing to earn back the respect of his team-mates is either lip-service or nonsense.

Tomas Bugg needs to earn back trust? What, are his teammates afraid he might him them? Contemporary society is just so full of nonsense.

Welcome to Demonland?

I don't especially care what we do this week in selections but next week is certainly shaping up as interesting/contentious. Gus back and performing. Hogan a possible return from injury. Bugg and Salem available after suspension - (and I sincerely think we've missed Bugg). Best 22's in Watts and Frost currently sidelined for form. While Harmes, ANB, Pedo and Milkshake (more of a frappe now in his uncanny cameos to ice games) are all demonstrating their worth and and at the same time we have a few players pushing their case at Casey. Who's gonna get the squeeze for what could be our most important game in 10 years?

Jomald!

But wait. Is there an onus on the players to know the names of each and every one of their opponents?

Just being clear that I don't actually care and simply took the easy route out of an argument. Nicholls and Razor are [censored]-sticks and you're welcome to say whatever you want about them.

I'd have to watch again but it didn't seem so much a case of head over the ball in a tight contest on this occasion. Another less-than-ordinary accident, but the point is he got up where he hasn't before. Correlation and causation and all that, but it's hard not to conclude that the helmet helped when he was hit flush compared to previous incidents?

The scriptwriters went to work on the Brayshaw story. Involved in a head-clash again at the start of the match, and for a moment looked gone for all money - shaping up for those concussion rigors. Did the helmet work? I hope this isn't received with too much sensitivity, as it's not intended as an insult in any way whatsoever: but I've come to suspect that Gus is on the low end of some sort of genetic abnormality spectrum. There's the apparent macrocephaly, but there's also something notably odd about how he holds his hands or arms when he slows to a jog. We've debated whether he is especially susceptible to concussion, along with (endlessly) the actual merits of wearing a helmet in reducing them. But maybe the answer resides here somehow, that he is more susceptible due to a genetic condition, and that the character of this susceptibility is negated by a helmet? I know concussions depend on a number of factors, but it was a pretty hefty blow (not a glancing one at least), and he definitely felt it - yet he has stayed down previously with lesser strikes. A win for the helmet?

Coincidence that it was after a rest? Kid still needs to build up his tank. Dwindling burst-speed and creeping fumbles can be a consequence of growing fatigue. Also played very well against Adelaide.

Because posters are making accusations of a highly criminal activity with multiple conspirators at all levels of the game without sufficient evidence.

I would have scoffed as well, but the the evidence of an upper-end top-speed is right there in the tracking data. Fair play when it's warranted.

I said this after our Gold Coast game. My concluded difference between her and the likes of 'Razor' Ray: an absence of ego. No surprise that Nicholls has been extra prickish since Max sent his errant bounce for hike. While half of this thread deserves to be sent to the Demonland dark-web, umpires hold biases like any other human beings; against/for certain players and against/for the tactics/personality of teams rather than the clubs themselves. My concern however is that the umpires often seem to be on the look-out for specific things re. Melbourne and our players - and that's perhaps where AFLHQ or the Ump panel may have had some influence in issuing directives pre-game. After Bugg's indiscretion and the media on Melbourne's indiscipline, the umps were watching us like hawks. I can't recall the last time we had a free well off the ball, or had one go in our favour by the non-officiating ump 100m away. Could be my bias. But the reported pre-warnings to Petracca (and I've heard this directed at other of our players before) sit uneasy with me. Quietly mention something to a player once if you have to, but not repeatedly at the stoppages.

SWYL - when it's you calling for a more circumspect and patient approach then I know my concerns must be well out of line.

Once again - 39 points up by the 10min-mark of the 2nd qtr. and a hard-fought win by 24. Not complaining or being negative but the root cause needs to be identified and the problem addressed. We kick just two more goals after going up by 40 and the opposition are effectively buried. Leak two goals by fiddling around or taking the foot off and suddenly it's a four-goal game with an opposition sniff and the problems compound. One day it could really hurt.

He reminds me of Mathew Pavlich's commentating.

Let's just hope he doesn't bounce back 10m from where he's supposed to.

? While this OP is all over the shop (we're not starting Oliver and Viney at HB with just Jones in the middle, but are adding extra numbers from the flanks), I have come to question this tactic - in combination with other tactics. (They also interviewed Ross Lyon before the Freo game re. the tsunami and he outlined the Docker's approach on a white-board. Quite extraordinary). The issue as I see it is that we are looking to get extra numbers into the centre contest - which is great when it's a contested ball. But with Max attempting to hit to advantage at every opportunity then it negates the contest somewhat and opens up the middle to whoever can best read the fall in open space. If the opposition gets clear possession in the middle with the Tsunami in motion then we are toast (See Adelaide in Darwin). The flip-side is, is that if we do win the hit to advantage in space for a quick entry we have no-one to kick it to. The tactic relies on win-the-ball and then feed-out-to-runners or else-wise shut-it-down and reset. I think we need to run with one or the other - attempt to get a traditional tap advantage in the middle with even numbers in defence and up front in the event of a win/loss, or drop it to the feet and use those extra numbers to win the contest and move forward in a uniform wave to trap it in. Love Big Max, but his return has coincided with our diminishing dynamic.

I'm curious as to what you wrote before it was edited?

Round 1, the Saints came at us with a massive level of intensity. We weathered it to a degree and then lifted our own, as well as becoming more daring in our ball movement. Goodwin is setting up for a repeat. If the players back the coach we'll get the same result.

On behalf of Dees2014 http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-12/the-melbourne-yankees-dees-aim-to-own-melbourne