Skuit

The confusing thing I think in assessing our future prospects is that while we were mostly unbeatable throughout the year (built on a defensive bedrock) despite never really looking dominant and being shaky at times, our last three and a half games were of another calibre. Was that the next gear up in the MFC revolution, which could fuel us to the next flag? Fifteen minutes after May limped of with a hammy I was okay with whatever might come to pass. He and Lever are undoubtedly key, but I think the boys learned a lesson about their own capabilities in the final few games of the year, which will hopefully set us apart from other genuine hangovers. Effectively, we have a shiny new toy to play with and I expect the team is eager to test it out. The keyest fact is that we have three of the top five or ten players in the league, and they're all crammed into our midfield. There are stars on every line for sure, but I think due to the disbenefit of proximity we can't fully realise how monumental the pairing of Trac and Clarry will turn out to be, and I get no sense of a lack of hunger from either of those guys or Goodwin and Gawn. TLDR: We were pretty good last year but not dominant - until the last few matches. That newfound level I believe will push us past any conception of a premiership hangover. We've always had the list, but now they know they can flex their muscle.

Such a fantastic podcast. In disappointment terms, Burgo's departure ranks a close second to Jurrah and ahead of Jako for me. I'm not sure that everyone really appreciates what we've lost - one of those blokes bagged us a flag. And sports science isn't going to go away anytime soon. To stay ahead, our club needs to recruit the best in the business from the worldwide pool.

I'll leave the start-up I work for the very second it's sold (i.e. achieves its goal). Bank the success, move on to a new challenge and relieve the professional boredom. Byrnes has been at the club for an eternity in AFL terms.

There's a lone gumtree in the middle of Napoli which triggered a very strange psychogeographic response in me (can't remember the story of how it got there, but it's from well over a century ago). Meanwhile, the prevalence of eucalypt in Portugal and Greece is the cause of the devastating recent bushfires in both countries. It keeps burning and they keep replanting it to hide the ugly charred landscape because of the speed that it regrows. Humans are quite stupid for all their technological brilliance. I also once visited the outdoor CLA studios in the desert of Ouarzazate in Morocco, where off the top of my head they filmed scenes for Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and Stone's Alexander the Great among many older flicks such as Lawrence of Arabia and some early Star Wars stuff. Another strange psychological experience. And Black Hawk Down, including recording portions of in my opinion probably the greatest ever soundtrack, Zimmer's, with contributions from Baaba Maal and Rachid Taha among others. Meanwhile, my football team features the following players, some of the absolute greats of the modern era: Buddy Franklin, Dustin Martin, Nat Fyfe, and Patrick Dangerfield, together with emerging superstars such as Christian Petracca, Charlie Cameron, and Bailey Smith, and if I may indulge, our own Kysaiah Pickett. Million-dollar players of the calibre of Zach Merrett, and Josh Kelly seem like mere adornments next to that lot, but they are also in my team, as well as Toby Greene and Jake Stringer among other ****wits. Vote Skuit, while listening to the epic Black Hawk Down soundtrack and staring at your closest gumtree and imagining who you would really actually want on your side during a metaphorical fire-fight in Mogadishu that is the Australian AFL football field, (with advance apologies for my insensitivities, of course football is nothing like the brutality of real warfare, despite our ANZAC day game promotions to this effect). That said, would you prefer Orazio Fantasia and Tom Papley on your half-forward flanks, or Dusty and Greene?

I agree.

The concept of building a competitive multi-year team is a great one, like as in a number of online competitors mock drafting, delisting and trading players in perpetuity, but with the list fixed in-season and maybe adjudged each year by some statistical ratings measure to determine each year's premiers... But no one is coming back in three years from now to assess our pointless exercise: these are teams for the here and now of this thread, and my players would clearly currently crap all over yours on any given day of the week.

And that approach landed you with ANB and Charlie Spargo in your starting forward-line, with a combined career goal tally of well less than half of that of Dusty (291), Charlie Cameron (247) and Toby Greene (238) alone. Oh, and I almost forgot Buddy, with, umm, another 995 career goals to his name. Heck, even my interchange bench has wracked up 900 gaols between them.

Vote and you can make it end FD (also, vote me, or I will send Dusty, Greene and de Goey 'round your house . . . and how embarrassing would that be, having three Aussie bogans in your small village chalet in the delicate French provinces elocuting like a murder of crows: faaark, faaark mate, yeah-nah but faaark hey)?

Tapei Demon voted for adonski. A whiff of off-shore match-fixing if you ask me. Also, who is this Draper fellow you have sitting on the bench?

Your idle bench behaviour of ‘Maynard butters Seedsman’ is super-disturbing, in a Deliverance kind of way. Hopefully the Marshal will step in and sort it out, but who would trust an American cop nowadays? I fear for Gray, as a PoC by designation.

I have a definite no no-DH policy. What DH would commit to a such a discriminatory policy in this day and age?

New thread is up - post your teams and pitches boys and girls. And no need to play nice. I have 100 percent of the vote to date. So good luck to the rest of you.

The SFC FF: Kysaiah Pickett / Aaaron Naughton / Charlie Cameron HF: Dustin Martin / Buddy Franklin / Toby Greene C: Josh Kelly / Christian Petracca / Karl Amon RR: Zach Merrett / Brodie Grundy / Tom Liberatore HB: Aaron Hall / Jacob Weitering / Bailey Smith FB: Jeremy McGovern / Sam Taylor / Jack Crisp INT: Patrick Dangerfield / Nat Fyfe / Jake Stringer / Jordan de Goey SUB: Nathan Jones Pitch: I’ve gone for as many outright match-winners as possible, those rare individuals who can win games off their own boot on any given day, and the team is truly stacked with extraordinary firepower – indeed, it just about features all of the AFL’s absolute elite in this very special category, including one-name superstars such as; Dusty Buddy Danger & Trac, together with Toby Greene Charlie Cameron Jake Stringer – the ‘Package’ & Jordan de Goey It’s crazy to even imagine that three of those absolute champions of the game start on the interchange bench, all of who can burst through and impact in the middle, alongside ahem, dual Brownlow medallist and fellow pine-warmer Nat Fyfe. And it’s almost as if the league’s best contested mark in Arron Naughton, and some kid called Kozzie already turning games, are mere afterthoughts in what is clearly the best forward-line ever assembled. List management; take a little from Paul to give to Peter, right? Not where it concerns my midfield. I’m backing ruck maestro Brodie Grundy to return to his very league-leading best without the distractions of salary caps and systemic racism, but then tapping to the advantage of whom? Inside beast and Norm Smith medallist Christian Petracca, and elite gatherers and distributors Zach Merrett and Tom Liberatore (sure, pick a tag), with Josh Kelly and Karl Amon ready to run away with it on the outside. Should anyone be under-performing in those latter positions, there’s always Stringer and Bailey Smith to take up a spot on the wing, with Bailey having been bumped to half-back due to a slight accounting error, which sees me a tad light on for defenders. Firstly, who even really needs them, if you have the midfield and forward power I do? But this supposed ‘light on’ also includes the other starting five of Weitering, McGovern and Sam Taylor, together with Jack Crisp and Aaron Hall on the flanks. Not sure how anyone could remotely go past the SFC on this one. I’ve assembled what is a State-of-Origin-calibre team, if not even better, with such a high number of generational players. Yes, some of them might be getting a bit long in the tooth, but I’m sure they’ll be fine with such quality around them, and I’m also drafting for the here and now – intending to take out the only flag that will ever be on offer to this team; the 2021 random drafting thread on Demonland. Finally, if none of that won you over, Nat Jones is my sub, and if you vote for the SFC he’ll get to take home a more than well-deserved 2021 random drafting thread on Demonland premiership medal for all of his hard work over the years.

That other weird Picket vs. thread that's been going on has finally reached its conclusion, weeks later. Inspired by some know-it-alls on here, a quartet of other know-it-alls convened to select our best teams in a draft format from current AFL players. This is your opportunity to vote and hopefully put this pointless and confusing exercise to bed forevermore. You can vote up until 11 pm on the first night of the AFL NAB Draft for 2021, when you'll probably find this and that other thread far more fast-paced and intriguing than what Gill is actually dishing up. Team-sheets and pitches to follow.

With no conflict between WD and Picket, my final selection is Nat Jones. Now I'll establish a new thread, with a poll, where you post your final teams and make a pitch. Again. white-anting and trashing each others teams and pitches is fair game, and more than encouraged. Stay tuned.

I asked them for you, and this was the tenor of their responses; McLean: No love. Regrets his actions a bit, but we brought it on ourselves. Jackson: Couldn’t give much of a hoot for anything not related to him. Neeld: Feeling a little self-conscious, why is everyone always so mean? Balme: Not particularly fussed either way. Good luck next year boys. Is there anyone else in particular you want me to get on the phone to?

@WERRIDEE still has to remake his final selection in place of Brayshaw. If I was him I'd definitely be picking Harmes . . . You're right - I forgot to swap out our names on our player-pick swap. So I have one less pick and you one more - but mine comes first. You can keep Short though, but he's open to WERRIDEE also. So if he wants to take either Harmes or Short, you'll have to select again (at anytime) - if not, then you're set to go.

Are you sure you haven't missed someone? I have you at a squad of 23: 1) adonski - Bont 2) adonski – Steele 3) adonski – Hawkins 4) adonski – May 5) adonski – Macrae 6) adonski – Lever 7) adonski – Whitfield 8) adonski – Fritsch 9) adonski – L. Jackson 10) adonski – Papley 11) adonski – C. Daniel 12) adonski – Maynard 13) adonski – Laird 14) adonski – R. Gray 15) adonski – Z. Bailey 16) adonski – Ben Brown 17) adonski – Bruest 18) adonski – Andrew Brayshaw 19) adonski – Starcevic 20) adonski - Petty 21) adonski - Butters 22) adonski - Seedsman 23) adonski – Marshall

Both Brayshaws already taken. (Edit: Hamish is still available)

It's kind of extra amusing because May was in fact able to play due to behavioural science manipulations and a deliberate conspiracy to withhold health information from him . . .

The final two up for @WERRIDEE (is that 23 in total? - let me know if there's been any further accounting errors) Stay tuned for your final selection @picket fence And then everyone should start preparing their pitches before we add final team-sheets and a poll. Slagging off rival teams, players and recruitment approaches will be highly encouraged.

Yup.

I think it looks like the following: 87) Pickett (22nd pick) 88) WD (22nd) 89) WD (23rd) 90) Picket (23rd) 91) Skuit (22nd) 92) Skuit (23rd)

Gillon again, with family-friendly rule-changes on the fly. I'm gonna pull this one up short. The original idea was to have a sub and two emergencies to round out our selections to 100 players. There's no need to have unnecessary emergencies listed though. But we'll keep the medical sub. That means just one or two selections left apiece, and a total of 92 top players.

86: K. Amon @picket fence