Skuit

It was a light blind-side gut-punch, maybe caught a rib, off the ball. Clarry went down and will get accused of overplaying it once again. But people don't appreciate that those hits to the mid-section can hurt if unexpected/unbraced. A couple people laughed at my previous post on the matter. I like contact football. There's nothing tough though about swinging an arm into anyone when they are just standing there. Deliberately punching someone should be an automatic suspension in my opinion, whatever the outcome. It's not related to football.

Intentional / low impact / body = fine. Meanwhile, if you did that to somebody in public, it would be considered assault.

Week in week out the AFL has another tribunal controversy to deal with as it attempts to address concussion issues and balance player safety with the contest. I'm quite torn, as I enjoy the heavier aspects of our sport, but recognise some of what went on in the past is not really okay. I don't enjoy the AFL's bumbling efforts at a fix but I also don't have a magic formula. The one thing though, no matter how inconsequential or not, Marlion Pickett should take at least a two-week break for striking Oliver. We can't get the other stuff right, but if the intent is there in a non-playing action, it should be an immediate suspension in my opinion.

We should probably just put him on the market now and pick up a key forward from another team.

We've conceded six goals so far this season after the 26th-minute mark (including a dead one vs Port). Geelong have let through nine. We've also scored more late in quarters than we've lapsed.

The sliding doors are extra bigulous on this one, plus the random 2020 draft. We got done by Geelong though. They beat us to Isaac Smith, then jumped us in the draft for Holmes. So we looked to Rosman for wing2, then plugged, first with Hunter and now with Billings (also shout out to Gus). Got a flag, they got a flag. Lingers is a bit down since.

For the record, we defeated Brisbane toward the end of last year. In what would have been part of an 8-game winning streak heading into the finals were it not for a dodgy score review against Carlton.

Maybe you can enlighten. I've often wondered if your moniker relates to our disrupted six-peat as some sort of angst you've been holding onto for 65 years? Like the MFCSS version of long-Covid?

The MFC remained the only unbeaten team by the end of round seven, is what the tweet is trying to convey (I think, but didn't check the data). Confused things by adding 'so far' to the Geelong stat.

Can that dodgy earlier stat be cleared up somehow? By total average, Harry has in fact kicked a goal every three games across his entire career.

It was round 20 when he kicked 6. Was subbed out of the following game with two to his name. He has been returning from a tricky injury since.

Anecdotal evidence, but I think most of the hurling talent also grew up kicking a round ball. No less than Mason Cox and some Sudanese migrants for example. I also took to smacking a 'slither' quite naturally. For me, hurling more closely matches the multi-skill-set and vision and athleticism required for AFL than what Gaelic footy does. My take.

On a basic level we're now competing with 17 other clubs for the signature of maybe one or two players a year. There's also valid reasons why those guys might prefer to be based in Brisbane or Geelong, and go to clubs which already have Irish accents on the list. There are also costs/risks involved and the talent likely has less exposure by coming over at a younger age. How many absolute Irish gems have been found since Stynes, compared to plucked from local/other sports? Where I think clubs might be missing a trick though, if they haven't been doing so already, is in scouring the hurling stocks. It's a dynamic, multi-skilled sport that I think translates well to the AFL.

I've been a bit bored watching the footy since the departures of Fitzy and Frost. Thinking the Kolt might fill that chaos gap but with a bit more competence. Hopefully we can now accommodate a square peg.

Also I go to have an eye-test now and buy reading glasses while early afternoon tipsy. Should be interesting.

Haha. We haven't had an old-fashioned floggin' in yonks. I had a great morning so whatevs. No learnings. Look forward to the Kolt causing random chaos at the pointy end of the season. Go Dees!

Back in Amsterdam for this one. Due to all the global daylight savings going-ons, this is the most friendly intercontinental time-slot that I can recall for some time, such that I can order a beer while watching with . . . not exactly pride . . . but less shame. For the local peeps, is Coco's the only go?

It's likely WCW will end up with more than one arm tied behind her back if she dares visit The Manor. Think below.

Scholars like my good self insist on little ums between our dots. Unspaced ellipses are for the likes of John Ralph, twitterists, and @WalkingCivilWar after too much caffeine.

For starters, an ellipsis requires a space between each dot . . .

South Aussie fritz with Lebanese cucumber makes for a surprisingly MasterChef gourmet sandwich. Don't take my word: ask King Charles!

In the old days Vilis ran a late-night factory outlet serving up delectable baked goods straight out of the oven direct to the public. Was always an interesting trip at 3am on a Tuesday morning in Australia's hydroponic equipment sales capital.

The bigger mystery was why Michelangelo Rucci kept coming to the post-match pressers dressed up as a dero with Villies spilled all over his Vinnies outfits.

This would have been a been a useful grading for a number of players over the years, including Clarry, Jurrah and Hogan. As to Pickett's stray elbow, nothing in it. But two of my most frustrating things in life are the sudden emergence of the word 'bias' as an adjective/adverb and MFC players being used as test cases. Viney, Trengove, ANB, and JVR just to name a few in recent years.

Looking at the stats sheets, I still can't work out who Michael Annie is?