Skuit

According to my possibly shonky workings: AFL Alternative Ladder (10 points or less reversals): Melbourne 18 3 Richmond 15 6 Collingwood 14 7 Geelong 13 8 West Coast 13 8 Port Adelaide 13 8 Essendon 13 8 GWS 12 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . North 12 9 Hawthorn 11 10 Sydney 11 10 Adelaide 10 11

Think it was the very start of the second half. Oliver simply willed himself to shake his opponent and get the ball in consecutive contests and it resulted in a goal in the first minute or so. Once he becomes fully aware and confident of his ability to influence proceedings he will be in in Dangerfield and Dusty territory - and at an age where he can eclipse them to become the league's best player soon after. As supporters we're both biased and blinded. But he's the greatest young phenomenon in the middle I've seen.

In a desperate last quarter move in the Grand Final, Hardwick sends the whole Richmond squad to put a hard tag on Clarry.

White men can't run very fast.

I was denied the opportunity to watch football from 2004 to 2007. It's been 16 years since I've seen us play in a final.* *crammed around a small TV at the Central Hotel in Port Douglas back in the days before its redevelopment and you could be in there bare-foot without a shirt and smoking to your heart's (dis)content.

Umpires didn't pay high contact for ducking today. Case closed. And gee, this was pretty damn close WC 14.7 (6) vs MFC 16.12

Should be said: Harmes was also one of the few who consistently dug deeper in our close ones last year.

I personally held my nerve in the last when we slipped behind. The maturity the players brought to this match from the very start allowed me that confidence. A big tip of the hat to Goody as we came out steady and a little less gung ho with our movement in the last.

That's usually my view of my scotch after the game. You must be really getting in early.

Are you familiar with the copy-paste function Saber? It could save you some time.

It would be nice if we could keep this thread a little more focused on statistics and a discussion thereof. Anyway, I did a runaround on all the amateur AFL modelling sites which use some variation of the Elo rating system and we ranked second in just about every one of them. We are an absolute anomaly. But that anomaly is fairly easily explained by our list profile as evidenced by the AFL under 22 squad - we have a heavy reliance on a core of immature players with a gap in the 25-30 y/o bracket. Our veterans aren't elite either - all as a result of the nature of our rebuild from the very depths. Here is the list of teams with less list experience going into the season: Western Bulldogs — 56.4 Carlton — 56.4 Brisbane — 55.2 Gold Coast — 53.5 St Kilda — 52.6 North Melbourne — 51.8 Here is a list of teams at the bottom of a typical Elo ranking system: North Melbourne Brisbane Western Bulldogs St Kilda Fremantle Carlton Gold Coast

My padel partner was a 4.1 foot Spanish girl if that helps clarify the tea-leaves.

So I won padel tonight 4-6, 6-2 against a Collingwood supporter and a Greek guy.

Maybe binman can enlighten us.

If we had Dunn and Howe right now we'd be serious contenders for the worst injury list. Scully would be the cherry.

I forgot to mention it was bin day yesterday but they forgot to collect the rubbish from one side of the street.

My girlfriend got the dead duck out of the water - but not with a Gaff.

Was it you who gave her a kick? Could be a good sign.

By a boat.

I'm surprised that the optimists on here haven't picked up on this to make a serious point to the wrist-slashers. Our almost entire core midfield is on that list. Yes, we will struggle to control the flow of games at times and slip under pressure. Yes, our future is incredibly bright.

I find that the pre-match Demonland threads lack a certain intellectual rigour and brings me no closer to deciding whether we will beat our opposition or not . . . So, introducing Omen Watch: I was visiting the hospital tonight, in ward C5 (Petracca?) and noticed a digital sign which read 'U4 EG afl. los' I'm thinking it's bad. But a duck also died next to my house the other day. Maybe that's good?

For those who may have missed it, goodwindees jokes of my particular awareness of his original mail in the OP because I playfully ran a thorough 'forensic investigation' of his/her entire posting history in response - which I personally deemed to be consistent and reliable. In doing so, I also came across a previous post from Prodee who had mentioned a fairly direct line to the player in question. Again, perfectly consistent. These guys don't need me to back them up - especially when I have no actual knowledge myself - but the mail as it has at least been reported to/by them is entirely credible - and that's regardless of goodwindees misspelling my name in the OP.

All these finals permutations are getting confusing. Remind me again, are we cheering for or against Sydney today?