Little Goffy

I think the lack of playing time in the 2s has bern especially difficult for Hannan as the main thing he seems to lack is the sustained concentration/awareness of the state of play and where to be to get involved or force opponents to cover him while other gaps open up. He's not stupid, and he's had some magnificent moments of making the most of being in the right place at the right time. We've currently got a traffic jam of mid sized forwards who are inconsistent but not write-offs and their shared weakness is lack of defensive effort, whether hunting inside 50 or pushing back to interru

I guess the issue with Preuss is that he is only a ruckman and isn't going to be able to contribute much or get a lot of games as a forward target. Jackson looks like a credible future option, with chop out support available even if Gawn needs weeks off while Jackson is still young. Given how much we need a big body up forward it would be a perfect result for all involved if Preuss moved to somewhere that needs a ruckman only, and in the backswing Melbourne can find a physical forward/ruck who absolutely does not need to be a star, just has to fill the role. A ruckman who isn't a st

Most ironic post 2020.

A: Part one: Who are the best midfield stoppage coaches in the AFL system? Part two: What does it take to get them to MFC?

First rule of MFCSS... wait three to six weeks... The shock would be someone actually finding a usable toilet at Manuka. Also... I just can't get past the story being 'deliberately leaked'. I mean, really.

There will be quite a few they are holding onto just to have some options around trade time. -Some- of those may be of interest to fill our 18th to 25th spots, so to speak. But no, they will not trade the younger Curnow or Mr McKay. I don't think they'd even do it for another Judd, after seeing Josh Kennedy personally outscore them so many times in the last ten years!

It's a pretty rubbish effort from him, but on the other hand the club has played him out for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of marketing content, free publicity and so forth, so he's probably still in credit on the whole 'look at us, we're turning around the life of a troubled kid' story. Imagine how many times we would've had to sack Garry Lyon and the players of his time, or Jack Watts, or... or... or... and so forth.

Alex Neal-Bullen might disagree. But, seriously, very little information around on what actually happened, but it would NOT appear to be some kind of boozy kebab-and-strip adventure so maybe we should pause a moment. From The Australian (first time I've quoted them as a source on anything for a while!) "It is understood he had made arrangements to organise a bigger car for his young family as the Demons prepared for their last game of the home and away season against Essendon. Bennell, 27, ran out of petrol on the trip and was found by police, who drove Bennell to the petrol st

Anyone else keeping count of the number of times we go in or out of finals? I think that goal to English makes three changes.

And not a single 4-day turnaround, either. I'm saving a proper chart for after the season so there's no sour grapes but I have a hunch that not many teams have won this year off 4-day breaks unless the opponent was also on 4 days. Nobody could look at our season and think 'oh, well, they had it soft so they don't really deserve where they finished'. Except possibly one of our throwing a sook-session.

Gee, Sydney upsetting Geelong would be handy, save us the trouble of travelling to Perth for the elimination final and we'd be hunting a Geelong that has shown it gets ahead of itself almost as much as we do. Could be fun. I'm just trying to distract myself from 'our' game today.

Geezus that is trivial.

I have to admit I'd completely forgotten just how much range he can cover with his set shots. Which is an odd thing to forget because he's delivered some true beauties. Still has a question mark on him but he's certainly a complex opponent for defenders to match up on. People seem obsessed by his half-back-flank 'destiny' but if that's the way we want things we would still have Frost.

I started a whole thread on 'Pickett's statless high light reel' but it is definitely an issue just how little he is getting the ball. He was pretty unlucky several times today with people kicking to him over, wide and short and when he was outnumbered by taller opponents. I feel a little bit like we've recruited a small forward and we're trying to fit them into a medium forward role. All that frantic energy is getting dissipated around the ground instead of being turned into that handful of moments of something from nothing that clearly Pickett is destined for. Five years from now

Strange how the top quality intercept/rebounding opponents he keeps being matched up on keep having comparatively quiet games.