Skuit

Checking in from a castle in the Azores.* 5am wake-up call but the maid won't be around till at least the last quarter. I'll have to fix my own Irish whisky. *Please consider more of a collector's item than humblebrag.

The name Stroobants is of Dutch origin in case anyone was wondering. Which I expect no one was.

I'm going to go with draft picks. No, wait. What was the other option again?

Coupled with the question at the presser which led to Goodwin's defence, Frost has also been described as maligned in the AFL.com write up. I don't think he's been maligned on here since the first couple rounds. How long do people have to not malign you for you to no longer be maligned? I don't expect footy journos to be across the precise form of every player league-wide - but if you don't know something then don't open your mouth or reframe the question.

I've decided that Tim Smith hasn't received anywhere near enough praise for his contribution. 3.3 is possibly our highest number of scoring shots by an individual for the season? Keeps taking contested marks. This is a bloke is his 11th game. If he had a different back story/recruitment path he would be being lauded right now. Unfashionable but currently important.

I don't want to be a downer but I don't think Petty will be up to it. Not sure what those who have praised his game saw that I didn't. What I saw was his direct involvement in almost every early score against - improved later, but not by that much. Clumsy, basically, with no distinctive weapons and caught between weight classes. Out: Petty - and hopefully Wagner In: Hopefully Lever and Hibberd. Also: Hannan can probably come out and find some form in the seconds. In: Why not Dunkley? And I'm still suss on Tmac up front . . .

Season average marks: 83.6 Versus the Dockers: 106 It was the most noticeable tweak.

Does 2017 count? We came out looking the goods post-bye before being ravaged by injuries and a horrible schedule.

Mesmerising. Can you also post here: Thread should be pinned.

I'm looking forward - or maybe not - to being emotionally reconnected to the MFC, and perhaps football in general. Because right now I'm simply dead inside. Even at our very lowest I used to shout at the TV, but now I just nod along. Just one or two showings of absolute dominance where we click before the season is out may suffice. One match to put the genuine willies into future opponents. Vote here with the sad-face emoticon if this is you too. ?

Preuss please. He appears our only player currently capable of disrupting events. I've been a defender of our match committee - but Tmac continuing to play is killing us. We need to give opposition defenders something to be concerned about. Weid leads and Preuss stays put. Mids have one of two options kicking forward. Spread the defence a little bit and at least create some space. It's really not that hard. Fritsch forward to fly across the front and the smalls organise themselves at the drop. Capable smalls who have goal-kicking instincts. Not Spargo. Lockhart back in. OUT: Tmac / Spargo IN: Preuss / Lockhart Also: Wagner can go for whoever. We have myriad issues, but I can't fathom how the footy dept. doesn't recognise Tomald as core. Spargo meanwhile has kicked 2.1 in six matches, laying just 11 tackles. Jeff: 9.9 and 22 in seven. This was the Spargo-less 2nd qtr scoring progression when Tmac was absent up forward vs Essendon: Christian Petracca goal 8m 56s 5.1.31 - 7.6.48 Jay Lockhart goal 11m 32s 6.1.37 - 7.6.48 Jayden Hunt goal 14m 13s 7.1.43 - 7.6.48 James Harmes goal 19m 21s 8.1.49 - 7.6.48 Sam Weideman goal 21m 37s 9.1.55 - 7.6.48 Max Gawn goal 25m 31s 10.1.61 - 7.6.48

If my TV was AI-capable and you asked what it learned recently, it would repeat the single refrain: kick the [censored] thing at the goals. I can't back this up statistically, but I'm pretty sure your odds of kicking a goal are increased by kicking at goals. Maybe us withstanding. This club is mentally damaged. I watch the forwards of Geelong, Richmond, Collingwood, etc. and when the ball enters the 50 they have one clear objective: kick goals. For us, it's like we all have to share it around like some big [censored] Care-bear cuddle-puddle. .

I am here to defend Clarry's name. Say a bad word about Clarry and I will follow you to the end of days to remind you of your folly. Forevermore. You have been warned. I am Clarry. We are Clarry.

I don't think you're owning your own thoughts here. Malcolm X agitator? Extend an olive branch to wider Australia? WTF? Who is this 'we' who didn't really get that? And so these people don't engage in racist behaviour but were so let down by Goode's approach to reconciliation that they went to the football and targeted him en masse? Ridiculous logic. What you are describing is racism.

Right - and I bet none of the Hawks' fans give a flying what he costs. None of the other teams seem to be bothered by salary-cap concerns, I don't know why it's such a big issue with us in comparison. Give money to whoever wants to come to us who will make us better. We can cut our list to 38 if need be. Buy a flag and then sort out sustainable cap-practices from there.

I'm in the Preuss camp. Small sample size, but he's created goals from nothing when we need them and at least looks close to taking a grab rather than just sticking his hands toward the ball with eyes half closed. Keeps one defender deep. Can physically hurt the opposition. Has the ability to tap to advantage. But forget the second ruck discussion, fitness, and VFL form - Braydon still offers far more as simply a forward right now than what Tmac currently does. It's not like Tomald is the key to us trapping it in. We have looked far better up front this year when Tom has been absent - and while I was happy enough to overlook it before, he keeps getting in the way thinking he's some sort of extractor at forward scrums. Would be great to see Braydon somehow go head-to-head with Cox, like in some bizarre two-metre tagging role. All we are saying, is give Preuss a chance.

What exactly is the point of Tom McDonald right now?

I expect that he will lose the contest any time the ball is kicked in his vicinity. And so does he.

This I think is an important point. We were obviously underdone in our season opener - came out firing and then got overrun and dropped our heads. We've been under the pump ever since, and it's obvious our confidence - a fairly key factor in our playing style - took a hit. I've been impressed with Collingwood's ability to stamp it's authority when needed over the past few weeks. But it's had to do that in the last quarter against Sydney, St. Kilda and Carlton. They're not traveling particularly well with their injuries either - but had the chance to establish that winning confidence prior and have had less pressure on them to ensure the win.

I like Gleeson but I think some of his analysis around this is a bit lazy here; the gist being that, compared to Collingwood and Richmond, Melbourne has failed in 2019 despite its chronic injury setbacks. “The troubling thing for Melbourne is that as much as their injury run provides an explanation for their year, the ability of other top-four teams from last year – Richmond and (more recently) Collingwood – to defy injuries to elite players and remain in the hunt illustrates what the Dees have failed to do.” Taking the Age’s assessment of best 22 as given, whomever it happens to have included, shows the Demons having missed 89 games from these players and Richmond and Collingwood 56 and 48 respectively. It’s still a sizeable gap, but is narrowed from the total Melbourne games missed (113) against Collingwood (84) and Richmond (70). I don’t know how they calculate this latter figure, but that’s beside the point. Also, I’m ignoring GWS, which seems to always have a highly injured list but has been handed a significant rolling depth of talent from the AFL (career games average of the non-best 22-replacements would be a more important comparison in this respect). It’s when you consider the two figures together that you get a better view. Melbourne may have had a relatively smaller percentage of its best 22 out (although that’s not actually true), but, when factoring in the large overall tally, the MFC hasn’t had the luxury of replacing them with next in line – or say best 26/28, but rather the blokes after that once again. It’s not a reasonable comparison of depth between the teams. And that’s to say nothing about the spread of the missing. Richmond, as the example given by Gleeson, has lost a fair number of games from Rance, Riewoldt and Cotchin. Top players for sure, but it’s one from each line. Compare that to losing Lever, May, Jetta and Hibberd all at the same time. The large overall injury toll also has other obvious knock-on effects. Our players – a massive number who have had interrupted preseasons through injury/surgery (unlike Richmond and Collingwood) – haven’t been given time to fully recover, and others have been brought back in while still underdone, exacerbating the toll. That Gleeson chose this angle I suspect relates back to the interesting previous discussion around the culture in the AFL of not citing a chronic injury list in respect to poor form. I think this is just an extension of AFL culture in general (and Australia’s formerly prized egalitarian nature) – where courage and humility is given more weight than actual talent. While at the time I loved it, I cringed a little in the wash-up when Hibberd was given widespread plaudits for copping that (unnecessary) whack which led to his injury. I imagine nowadays in the NFL for example, such an act would be highly frowned upon by team management. Team lifting, but at what long-term cost – and just as he was finding form? This prevailing cultural attitude is clearly evident right here on Demonland, where a group of kids barely out of their teens who have played less than 50 times at an elite level can never lose due to simple inexperience, but must have been overconfident. Where a player can’t be down on form or fitness, or just not naturally highly skilled, but simply isn’t trying hard enough.

Is 10 some sort of modern era record?

I must have misunderstood what Mahoney said at the time? Or maybe he deliberately misled us? Or maybe both the media and public don't give a stuff for research and journalistic standards nowadays? I dunno, but I'm close to giving up.

Where does Paul Kelly* fit in that mix? *the musician.

Simples: we play last week and we win, like the week before that (and most of the weeks before that) and we lose. This one is genuinely in our own hands now. I would like to think we have finally turned the corner, but we'll find out soon enough on Sunday. This really is now make or break. Lose this and I will finally bid farewell to 2019. Over to you Dees, I'm right behind you (with a figurative knife).