The Taciturn Demon

Has he improved as a forward? I remember being astounded by how good he was in the ruck and how skilful he was around the ground but underwhelmed by much of what I saw of him as a forward.

The moment Fremantle signs anyone during trade period, the Curb Your Enthusiasm Music should play as a matter of course.

Wonderful explanation. Thanks so much. Interesting. I've shared a very similar frustration, but have never realised it was a problem of deliberate tactics. For quite a while now I've been perplexed by how often I watch Melbourne on a Friday and on a Saturday watch an objectively worse team consistently kick FAR easier goals than us, even in bad losses. The best example is exactly the one you've mentioned - even the teams that finish 17th or 18th seem to take advantage of really bad opposition turnovers. We seem not to - or not as often as we could. I've always put it down to us being a good (sometimes a very good) team that happens to be mostly poor by foot. Your explanation makes more sense but is possibly even more depressing.

This is super interesting. I never realised the whole wide entry thing was very deliberate. It explains a lot from the past few years, namely how boring we are to watch (which is fine by me as long as we're winning) and how often we seem to squander inside 50s (which is not fine by me, because the 2023 Carlton semi final still fuels my nightmares). I think it was you mentioning in the Fremantle game thread that one of the reasons the Dockers (on the weekend and multiple times previously), seem to walk through us and kick shockingly easy goals with one, two or three blokes free inside 50, is because we press very high, which makes us helpless when a team gets a quick turnover and moves the ball fast. It sounds like hugging the boundary inside 50 is directly related to that. I was frustrated on the weekend by how the way we move the ball has obviously changed but the inside 50 squandering hasn't. Do you think Goodwin is keen for us to change how we get the ball from deep in the backline to 70-odd metres out but will still stick to wide entries and a high press?

Duplicate.

I used to mention this in surveys. Technology advanced to a point where systems could show who is attending and how often years ago. Seemed like such a simple thing to reward frequent attenders, especially for a club that gets (often unfairly) bashed for low attendances. I remember once mentioning it publicly (maybe on Twitter) and a few people suggested it was unfair to people who wanted to go to games but couldn't. I disagree - but that may be a reason it's never been done.

The sub-editor at News Corp is that up-and-down novelty bird that Homer uses to work remotely, leading the power plant to the brink of nuclear meltdown. Mention impossibility of trade? Y Mention impossibility of trade again? Y Mention impossibility of trade again? Y Reiterate implication of trade impossibility: subject not changing clubs. Y Re-reiterate implication. Y Mention subject's desire to be part of team's "first premiership"? Y Mention subject's desire to be part of team's "first premiership" again (but use word "flag")? Y Mention lifestyle? Y Mention lifestyle again? Y Mention subject's age? Y Mention subject's age again? Y Employ non-sequiturs? Y Explain connection between new relationship and Victoria? [bird falls over]

I've sooked about our inability to win clearances for years, so I was pleased to see us comfortably beat them in that part of the game. But there's been a sloppiness about our team for a long time and based on what I saw yesterday, a significantly different way of moving the ball hasn't magically fixed that problem. I assume that part of the reason you go for a game plan that involves more chipping around, switching play across half back and linking with handball is that it lets you find angles and opportunities forward of the ball not available to you when you go long down the line. But the number of times a medium or long kick forward went to a contest or outnumber was shocking. Surely the whole point of this new style is that you're always lowering your eyes - it's much less about gaining territory and forcing a stoppage and much more about finding a target and either carefully moving through the opposition defensive system or, ideally, moving it so quickly, the system has no time to solidify. But we keep hoofing it. Or just hitting garbage passes to blokes on a long lead. I don't get it.

Oh this is interesting. Seemed like Culley was odds on until Henderson got home like Kingston Town. Do they see Culley as completely different - taller, more of a pure midfielder, not an ANB replacement - or do they class Henderson as a midfielder and lean towards a different kind of player entirely?

Depends on whether you rupture it completely or just strain it. Three weeks all the way up to half a season.

Hope this is true. Problem might be that he's done the unhappy triad, which is where you pop the ACL, the MCL and the meniscus. The ACL is often agonising pain that subsides reasonably quickly and then becomes a dull ache inside the knee - it's hard to point to. The MCL is also painful, but lingers and is easy to identify (if a physio asks you).

D tier sport, as the kids would say.

This is almost as bad as Champion Data ratings.

This is going to sound negative. I don't mean it to be. I saw the video of Taylor and Lamb talking about Henderson with Goodwin and others and their comments were glowing. Now, I know a club isn't going to release footage of football department members bagging newly recruited players, but I'm still intrigued: What's the knock on him? Why isn't a player considered to have outstanding ball-handling skills, an ability to kick goals (from long-range as well as close to goal) and excellent movement and fitness not already on a list?

This is such a good post.

"Do my time" is such a post-free agency concept. The draft is at best a nuisance - at worst a form of fairytale authoritarianism. You must bow to the king, feigning loyalty, but after six years the spell is broken and then you are free and can kiss rebel princes and sing with forest animals in your home state to your heart's content.

The most unlikeable club in the league.

Yep. My memory is that the West Coast lost felt as if it came completely out of the blue. In hindsight it was probably the moment most of us began to realise Oliver was a shadow of his former self - the good early games were an aberration. For me I think it was also the time when I went from having nagging doubts about the big-name midfield to realising whatever it's doing, and however it's coached, it longer works consistently.

This is it. It's not just that we finished fifth last, which is bad. It's how wildly unpredictable we became. A fantastic win against Geelong, followed by a now-familiar Carlton loss, followed by being pantsed by a West Coast side that won just 4 other games (and ended up with a percentage in the 60s), then cruising past St Kilda, then putting in easily one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a Melbourne team (pound for pound) against Fremantle, then completely failing to "bounce back" against Collingwood, then returning from a bye to barely scrape home against North... ...all over the shop. And if the answer is "injuries", a pretty reasonable response would be "where was the depth to at least stem the bleeding"? We lost to Fremantle by 15 goals and I think most observers thought it could have been a LOT more. That was with Gawn, May, Viney, Petracca, Oliver, Pickett, Rivers and Fritsch. Why would you predict us to have a good season... unless you desperately wanted it? Because our best players will play unhindered? We all hope so. Is that enough a full three years after a flag? The '21 Premiership was unexpected because we'd had so little finals experience, but not from an age profile. Because our kids are particularly good? Fans of every club are excited about their under 23s - it's what fans do... and rightly so. (I'm genuinely delighted that the draft fell in such a way that we got Harvey Langford.) But this can become myopic. Is the evidence strong that our kids are WAY better than everyone else's? It's possible. Not sure if it's probable. Because the game plan will change? It HAS to, but it can take a long time to iron out wrinkles in a new way of playing. To be honest, I don't really care what supposed experts think our chances are. But I'm not shocked that very few think we'll make the eight. PS: On a completely unrelated note I was absolutely certain the player in the OP's profile pic was Andrew Obst until I saw the incongruous Zurich sponsor logo.

But isn't this almost as unusual as player-for-player exchanges?

It's atrocious. Can someone explain why people talk about "restraint of trade" relating to individuals (and so making free agency essential) but not clubs?

They had to sneak it in before they murdered Fitzroy.

My disdain for Fremantle is near Carlton levels.

I was sitting behind a set shot goal he kicked against Essendon in maybe 2022 - 45 to 50 out on a tricky angle. The noise it made off the boot was pornographic.

So true. I often ask myself "Do I really think Sparrow can make it or am I just wishfully thinking because of THAT goal?"