Skuit

I left my home-town at the earliest possible opportunity, at about 17 (admittedly, it was Adelaide) and never went back. Is there any other elite sport in the world where fans fret over the origin of their players and some supposed go-home factor? Does it even really exist in the AFL, outside of an excuse to chase dollars? Jackson was on an elite basketball path - that means not even being in Australia. And it's not even clear where Kozzie's home is. They both seem entirely committed to the club for now and into the future, and I trust the club and our 'local' players to make them feel entirely at home chasing a flag together.

I should also give credit to our board for sticking fat in the face of widespread nuftiism. Like I said after our loss to Fremantle last year, we should have signed Goodie up for another two years there and then.

Yes, Liam Jurrah and I was joking. Luke Jackson broke his finger for a couple of weeks and now people are going crazy that he will leave the club, or we have to unload Weideman for some reason, contrary to all available evidence and logic. Text-book MFCSS.

A suitable track-list for MFCSS: "I Feel You", "Walking in My Shoes", "Condemnation", "Mercy in You" . . .

Everything that is happening now is a direct extension of everything that has happened over the past four years, thanks to the vison of Simon Goodwin and 'learnings'. The biggest factor is maturity and it always has been. The second biggest factor is the personnel we've brought in - in particular Lever, May and Langdon. Tomlinson was a lucky bonus (and actually one of the few missteps, which we looked to correct last year with the failed recruitment of Isaac Smith). Getting the right assistants on board has also been crucial, but: Adem Yze - I haven't noticed any massive midfield development this year, and; Mark Williams as development coach - none of the rise of our juniors is revolutionary. Jackson, Pickett and Rivers were already on track and anyone could see that. If you want to somehow delimit the influence of Goodwin, look to Taylor and Burgess. The former, I'm sure Goody has a huge influence, and the latter, I think it was Goodwin's connection that got him to the club. Each point of the OP is complete and utter bs. Confirmation bias gone mad. I can't wait till we win a few flags and see these posters try and wriggle some nonsense explanation.

We'll lose 50% of our membership base through aneurysms if that plays out.

Sigur Ros thinks Depeche Mode is the greatest band in the history of mankind. I read once.

No. After Liam, no-one gets to go home for a while.

But in all seriousness, will be interesting to see Burgo's approach to player management. I recall Port circa 2014 suddenly dropped a number of games in the back third of the season and it was later revealed they were getting flogged on the track as a mini 'pre-season' ahead of finals. A kick shy of the grand final but had to launch from 5th after sitting atop the ladder for much of the season.

Little Charlie Spargo looks like he could do with a rest.

Some further (partially distressing) reading: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/apr/08/gimme-shelter-left-a-dark-taste-in-my-mouth-merry-clayton

Would have thought that me suggesting that Brayshaw get off the 'Google machine' might have indicated the tongue-in-cheek nature of that portion of my post? I couldn't remotely care less what players do in their spare time (to quite some extremes short of assault or bigotry) and I'm not old enough to be Brayshaw's father. Also, like Jack Watts, the level at which he invests in his football career or even the MFC is entirely his prerogative - I don't demand he respect the jumper, but I do naturally prefer players who demonstrate their hunger through actions. My primary point still stands though. I don't believe Gus is currently getting the best out of himself and has been surpassed by several team-mates when it comes to maturity and desire (even though I'm generally reluctant to make conclusions based on outside appearances). Great positioning or whatever is great, but a lack of evident intent at the actual contest and lazy skills execution shouldn't just then be overlooked. Also, if he'd made himself indispensable in the middle he'd still be there, and I wonder what the story would be right now if we had landed Isaac Smith. I'm not biased. I didn't want Gus traded when the 'midfield balance' discussion came up last year and was almost a lone voice in defending him a couple of years ago against accusations of laziness vs. Sidebottom, which arose through some selective and misleading footage. I've even thought he's been very good at times this year as to his short delivery inside-50. Last time he was left out of the team - and went on to come third in the Brownlow - he struggled to adequately self-reflect, and I'm concerned that he's back in that comfortable space without the requisite attitude to improve.

If we win next week the current crop will be equal-second on our all-time consecutive wins tally: 1960 and 1964 being the other times we recorded an 11-win run, with 1955/56 way out ahead with 19 consecutive wins.

I'm with SONS. Great to show maturity and keep winning crap battles, but we still haven't truly clicked and there are red flags popping up all over the place. At one stage today I even thought it would be best if we lost, as the defeat 'we had to have'. Our structures are falling away, maybe in part because of the loss of Tomlinsen and into of B. Brown, but we will lose to the Dogs if we don't get tested in a fast movement game over the next two weeks before we meet.

At the risk of sounding like one of our back-in-the-day premiership-witnessing members, Angus Brayshaw needs to quit the podcasts and barbie onions and google machines and concentrate on becoming the best footy player he can be. Trac and Clarry and Salem seem like they've now outgrown him in the maturity-stakes. A spell on the outer worked wonders last time. Is it time for another reminder?

Alex Georgiou destroying Buddy in 2014 was definitely a win in my books.

When you win a loose ball and look up and some weird 5ft kid named Charlie Spargo is on your case:

Was just looking at the kid's stats today. It's quite uncanny; Kos has almost perfectly matched his total output from last year (14 games) in a number of prime statistical categories over the seven games to date (while doubling his goals).

Saw him on the bill for an upcoming gig in Katherine as part of the travelling Melbourne Comedy Festival. The answer to the second question is that he's not particularly funny, class battles aside.

Pipe down you gestational parent fertiliser. I know what I meant.

Yes. Sunday is the hardest day of the year for me.

Would be a Shakespearean betrayal of a sworn blood feud. Plus, daughter is a journo like mother - and you know how I feel about those

2015: Tomald on track for AA until destroyed by Cloke. Noted for closing speed and spoiling. 2016: Roos gives Tomald licence as our primary distributor off half-back. Widespread hair-loss. 2017: Half-back clangers climb and climb until Tomald is swung forward and shows some promise. 2018: Premiere season - as a forward. Strong straight-line lead and mark. Can't miss. 50+ goals for the season. 2019/2020 - complete write-offs. Can't get near it, looks like his body is shot beyond repair. 2021: Somewhat restored agility and contested marking, the latter mostly in space up the wing. What now? Tommy has always wanted to be better than what he is. He seeks impact from his possessions, and as such is slow to move it on and frequently turns it over. Agility is still lacking. Can he be a lock-down defender with a do-nothing-else mandate? Man a space/body - spoil/intercept - give the ball to Salem or Hunt? We always talk about players playing within their limits. Restrained Viney this year for me had been a revelation and major component. Is TMac capable of the same?

Big ups to Supermercado. Love that Mike Sheahan has contributed a foreword. Uncanny timing. As I was overseas at the time, Adam sent a Great Deepression to my mother's shoebox in Cairns in maybe late 2016, the misery-tome taking up a third of her available living space. She recently signed up to the Marie Kondo cult and has been putting the hard word on me about the book over the past couple months. Next week, I go to Cairns for the first time since it arrived, and looked forward to a) relieving my poor mother's newly-provoked clutter-stress, and b) catching up on my MFC reading. Now I'm probably an extra 800 pages behind, and will have to get The Last Hurrah sent to my mum's tiny apartment because I'm generally a [censored] nomadic son.