The Taciturn Demon

Was I just imagining it, or was the centre square clearance work in the first quarter like watching a different team? I feel that not once but several times, the tap was aggressive and creative, and the resulting clearance was clean and incisive. After that, Max seemed to wane badly, but even when he did win taps, it was back to the same old same old: very conservative. And then the last quarter - what a disaster. I genuinely don't understand how THAT midfield can lose eight in a row. (I can't overstate how much I think we need to take the best midfielder we can with our first round pick this year, but that's a topic for another thread.) Better footy judges might be able to give their thoughts.

I go because I feel a sort of irrational obligation. I'm very lucky to be able to have such an indulgence... if you could call watching this team at this time an indulgence. I don't subscribe to the idea that sport is entertainment and we should talk about it as a "product" and refer to the way we play as a "brand". Actually, I find it offensive and embarrassing. But if you want to do that, you're living by the corporate sword and will die by it as well. Yes, weather, the economy, the opposition all played a part. But we are no longer enjoyable to watch. If we're a "product", we're not a particularly good one at the moment.

Hang on. People seem to be saying this is a long contract. This is two years on top of the mandatory two you sign as a National Draft choice, isn't it?

Two firsts seems like something you'd give when you know one player is the missing piece of a close-to-complete puzzle. I feel the midfield is too buggered for this to be true.

Exactly this. Jackson, Lever, Scully (and much earlier, Nathan Buckley) are still the exception, not the rule. And may that be the case for a good while longer. Petty seemed close to a certainty to leave less than a year ago. I think he's an exceptional tall defender - but even above average ones are hard to find.

Yes, exactly. I expected a goal-a-game speedster with little contested ability. A bit of a risk with such a high pick. What I've seen is a very quick but extremely tenacious player who sticks difficult tackles, chases hard and doesn't mind physical contact at all.

It was very close to being as bad as the NT game. Fifty points was not a true reflection at all.

And Tim Lamb is quoted as saying "Tom we’ve been tracking for a fair while". So it's not like they just decided at the last minute. But could this - and Billings and Hunter and others - simply be a case of taking the only option available? In other words, nobody else was interested in coming to Melbourne.

I think a couple of others on Demonland have mentioned that's exactly what we did and is why they scored so freely "out the back".

I think he's improved the way he talks publicly quite a bit. But I have zero interest in hearing corporate cliches. "Lean into it" - Sheryl Sandberg was passe a decade ago.

Am I imagining this, or less than a fortnight ago, did Goodwin say in a press conference that Fullarton was very close to a game?

The more I see of Windsor the more I think he was absolutely the right choice at our pick and the more I think he's not just a winger. Interesting to see what we can snag at (what seems like it might be) a similar pick in the coming draft.

Am I just feeling mean-spirited after that nonsense, or is Jackson wasted at Fremantle?

Post away, Confucius. Just don't expect too many to warm to your life coaching full stop, let alone after a deflating game like that.

Draft or trade?

How can it happen twice? How do you publicly say throughout the week, "We lost in every facet of the game last time, but contest was the worst part" and then get obliterated in the contest?

Massive relief. Really good news.

I agree. If he's completely uncompetitive in the ruck, why is he an emergency? I wouldn't mind seeing him with Max in the team, to be honest. The season is well and truly over. We've done well to give Moniz-Wakefield and Tholstrup a try and get a good look at Turner as a forward. We've put a few different players through the midfield rotation. Why not take another step outside the conservatism of 2022 and 2023?

What was that? The first time in the NT was bewildering. This time it was just pathetic. Sorry, but Petracca and Gawn can't fix that garbage.

I don't understand how what we just witnessed then is possible. This is an experienced midfield - every player attending centre bounces has won a Flag and is over 23. They all presumably understood why the game earlier in the season against Fremantle was a disaster. And they're part of a team that has to keep winning if they have any chance of making the eight. Despite all this, they've been thoroughly uncompetitive. This is beyond disappointing. It's a stunning failure.

The United States: Yet another objectively terrible idea. Everybody else: We should do that.

I reckon there have been at least three. This one might be the most impressive, which is a fair effort given how good he was up until the finals in 2021.

A while back Tom McDonald talked about taking a completely different approach to agility during the pre-season and it paying dividends. I wonder whether Sparrow needs to go down a similar path. Seems to me like he can't go sideways. Players with any kind of step go past him so easily.

He's just an absolute pleasure to watch.

Probably a lovely person, and I can see how he's a fan favourite, but there are players who are "characters" off the field, and professional on it.. and there players whose "zaniness" translate into on-field stuff that gets an A+ from the "sport is entertainment" crowd but isn't great for people who like seeing their team win. Draper spends too much time doing "funny" stuff, and not enough doing the solid stuff everyone expects from all players, but especially ruckman. I reckon Petty and van Rooyen were solid on Saturday, but I also think Goldstein would have given them a bath.