Skuit

Clarry won't be needing a mouthguard . . .

Kennedy-Harris - forward-pocket-elect - has a kicked a sum-total of three goals since 2014. Even I've managed that many goals since then: save up for some Google goggles, learn the ancient art of origami, and don't choke on my own vomit. Go Dees!

Write to deadline and word-count and 'it's understood' is a valuable journalistic loophole. Although the available resources and second-hand reports suggest that Melbourne have hired or intend to hire five new people in its membership department, it can't yet be confirmed if there are already five new people employed or if one of the positions is still being interviewed for. Further, one of the new people shares a name with an employee who has previously worked in the club canteen, and as such may be an internally transferred employee rather than new one. The Melbourne Football has not replied to a request for comment.

My take as well. I didn't see last week's performance, and I'm not necessarily sold on the combo approach - but Preuss needs to develop his craft and practice playing number one in the event of an injury and Max and the midfield brigade need to get some time in the middle together - with Max also needing the conditioning to play more minutes in the middle should we go with the sole ruck option. Preuss dropping down seems a sensible approach to me rather than a signal. Other than that, I would have liked to have seen Bedford thrown in the deep-end in exchange for JKH - for a number of reasons I won't bother documenting, other than that we need to develop a confidence forward-pocket specialist who can provide real forward pressure alongside U-turn Tomald and fat-Trac, and JKH is unlikely competing for a spot. I also hope Frost is left in, as I imagine he will fair much better in the long-run alongside May, and eventually Lever, rather than having to take one of the accountable defensive roles.

Number 3 Stretch? In a game of small margins it can't be good over the space of 25 weeks being the most tackled and dumped team. Although we have the ball the most and play the game in close so I'm hoping the high numbers just reflect a lot of stoppage wrap-ups. Still, it's usually one of our boys at the bottom of a stacks-on.

Including his own drafts.

@ding - do you have any hi-res close-ups of Cristian Petracca's waist?

AFL site says Hore is off with an injury?

I've decided that this game is super-important and I hope we go out a smash some bones to make a statement for the forthcoming season, injuries be damned. Disappointed that AVB, May, Viney and Jets are on the sideline in this regard. [censored] team that somehow won a flag. Let's shut down these ridiculous wannabees and their stupid supporter base before they find a voice again. Go hard Dees!

The European petanque circuit has also been rocked by recent drug allegations. Interestingly, the suggestion of a recreational drug being performance enhancing. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/15/petanque-drug-allegations-cocaine-belgian-players

I feel like you didn't really read my post. Wasn't moved on. Was targeted and recruited. Nothing reasonable North could do about it. Are North fans exhibiting glee?

Why do so many here keep making reference to North letting Preuss go as some indication of a potential flaw? When was the last time a non-marquee player who desired to leave a club held to their contract? We actively targeted and recruited Preuss. We also gave them a 25 year-old former pick three who up until last year (when squeezed out of position) had been averaging 25 touches and 10 contested.

It's like an abstract quiz: how do you thematically get from Jesse Hogan to Victor Furtwangler in four steps via homosexuality in Hollywood and the television show Spicks & Specks? Next challenge: Victor Furtwangler back to Jesse Hogan via Spongebob Squarepants and a block of cheddar cheese.

It's an intriguing thought. I don't want to overstate the potential impact of the rule changes without even a single glimpse of them in action but they seem to undermine a core part of the game-plan we've been developing with die-hard commitment in the past couple of years - the high-forward press with heavy forward pressure - while at the same time particularly suiting some of our other prominent strengths, most specifically our contested center-square dominance - but also our fast-rebounding capacity and what could end up being close to the best starting back six in the league (basically 4 AA-squad-lever defenders in Lever, May, Jetta and Hibberd together with hopefully firing half-backs in Salem and Hunt). If our mids can still maintain a contested advantage without the best tap-ruckman (see 2017 Pedersen) - backed by a big, big body in Pruess who can nullify an opposition ruck and a strong defensive back-stop which will allow for a continued aggressive centre-square approach - then having Gawn stationed up forward and fresh for a centre-bomb would be a difficult proposition for most of our opponents. Pretty handy him being up there for any stoppage as well, while Pruess covers the get-out and presumably the opposition's first ruck is forced to enter the forward fifty to contest.

So does that make Bailey the only ever dual-premiership AFLX player in history? Imagine travelling back just fifteen months in time to Casey Fields and telling the kid that this accolade was on his future cards. And that this distinct glory would be sealed by a super-dooper Gatorade goal worth 20 points. And that such a goal was made at a stadium called Marvel stadium, at a certain end as dictated by someone choosing rock over scissors.

That may have been me who pointed that out but I should have also added a few caveats: extremely small sample-base, no contextual insight, and not accounting for natural development. Also: changes in the sport. I haven't really put my brain to work on the 666 or open kick-in paddock rule changes yet, but the 666 will likely mean a higher number of clean centre-breaks coupled with greater immediate or more contested forward congestion. It seems contradictory, but 6 vs 6 in the forward line will result in less space and more complication for forwards than 7 (a spare defender) vs 5. Especially when they're all actually crammed in there - compared to what was previously more like 5 v 4 at the fall of the bounce. Thus, getting a clean break from the centre-bounce will likely lead to extra quick bombs forward - which was already half of our game-plan - the other half being the idea to trap it in with forward pressure and a high, forward-rolling press, which in turn will be impacted by the newly loose goal-square. Conclusions: an extra serious-sized tall will be useful for the centre-break bombs. That tall comes at the expense of a medium/small, who would otherwise be less useful in roving the spoil due to reduced space, and a little less useful in trapping/forcing a point because it's going to come back out more easily anyway. I'm sure there is some logic flaw here. But all that said, I was never a fan of the suggestion of playing Gawn and Spencil together, and I'm not convinced that Pruess currently offers anything more than Spencer ever did other than some extra grunt.

Clever subterfuge with the reverse ordering: Raise your standards Petracca or you'll go the way of Lumumba.

Depends on whether or not it's an even-numbered quarter and the aggregate scores are divisible by three.

575 × 360 640 × 640 900 × 626

There was the one match against Collingwood away where we were missing most our starting midfield and had half a dozen or so players on debut - can't remember when exactly, some time around the start of 2019 perhaps - overcame a slow start and really poor audio for a truley gutsy win. Brought a tear to the eye.

I hadn't noticed before - and unsure if previously mentioned - but Pruess has only ever won one game of AFL football . . . and may have already cost us one final's appearance: Round 19, 2017 in Bellerive. The reason I perhaps hadn't picked up on that was that the big man only picked up the 4 disposals on the day. Was checking the stats to see whether the Roos had tried both he and Goldstein in the same team at any given time. They had, on four or five occasions. Nothing else to add really, except it didn't seem to work out very well - Goldstein with below-average returns and Pruess not making up the difference.

Goddamn third-world [censored] internet! It's not even kick-off in the pre-pre-season scratch-match and I'm already screaming at the screen. Anyone know how to dial down the video-streaming quality on the receiving end outside of the options offered?

Has anyone deciphered all these new sideline symbols yet?

Combined with last year's fugazi comments, anyone else pick up on an emerging theme? See the last five seconds of that video and then below:

I'm pumped. Being on a different other side of the world than my usual other side of the world means I get to enjoy the red and blue in a rare twilight game and avoid drinking beer at 6am. Dees by 40 imaginary points in a grand final preview!