Little Goffy

For a sense of community?

One of the great services Demonland provides is that I can get an idea of what the clickbait is without actually clicking the bait.

Need to raise an issue. The sequence of reaction emojis has changed. I almost gave ghostwriter a vomit and Werridee anything other than a vomit. I don't know who of them would have been more confused and troubled by this, but there needs to be some kind of AI-driven warning system to prevent further accidents. Also, just a suggestion, but can we have an automatic switch-off for the auto-censor system one word before an after any mention of Maynard? I feel like authenticity is being stifled. More seriously, I've had a few opportunities (NSW Transport is in league with social media) to wander around on Demonland on my mobile and it really is a very good setup now. Not saying it was poor before, but it is noticably good now. In fact, the other day I was visiting a couple of Carlton forums just to see how much they were going into meltdown about Voss relative to our centripetal volcano about Goodwin, and, wow, Demonland really is a whole other world. I didn't realise we had it so good. Kudos to the team! I promise if I ever again have any money, I'll sling some towards the site admin.

I can see this being a serious issue when it comes time to climb back up the ladder. (I'll see myself out)

Every time I see Gawn getting another junk whack in the back of the head or behind play. By all the holy powers of football, I want Dangerfield to try his usual elbow slide to the throat of one of our kids and then be absolutely dumped on his perfumed [censored] by Viney. I want to hear the quote; "The AFL has chosen not to protect us, so we will do it for each other."

The pile-on is horrifying. Reminds me of my readings on ant social organisation. One ant finds a carcass, comes back to the nest, gives excited signals. Bunch of other ants go out to the indicated site. Come back with excited signals, in an accelerating recruitment cycle. The difference is that when eusocial insects do this, there is an equilibrium reached where ants coming back with disappointed signals (they weren't able to access the food source because there were too many other ants already on it) will discourage more ants from going to that site. It's a clever process, really, that creates a highly efficient balance. But when your target is an abstraction, there is not limit to the surface area to chew on. It's like a lynching where every single person in the mob is able to land punches at the same time.

I'd take rebuilding advice from my long-suffering Blues-loving brother before I took advice from anyone Hawk-loving. Hawks had 11 wins in 2019, so a very tight analogy to our 2024. In fact, they also went out of finals in strait set sin 2018 and 2016, with a 10-win 2017 in between. If you're going to tell me that the magic blueprint for success is spending the next four seasons lurking around the bottom four and having our next serious run at being a contender be 2031, I'm politely telling you to check your compass hasn't been magnetized. Also, they're Hawthorn, so they can get taxidermed. Their drafting has been good, to be sure. But in fairness the one thing I will definitely credit Hawthorn for is a really good, really consistent record of picking out players they can trade for who will fill set roles very well. Their recruiting from trade/free agency is as strong as Jason Taylor's draft record. Our trading hasn't really caught a bubble in a few years now. Anyway, I still feel there's something a little bit fragile about the Hawks. Weird to say, given that they'll very likely be 8-0 or 7-1 by the time we face them.

Well, this friday should be an interesting addition.

Meh. Every club has its Karen's, yknow. Can you imagine the moment any club tells them to pull their heads in because the only effect they're having is to make literally everything worse? Or started cancelling memberships of people who abuse players and coaches. I'm picturing something like a relationship breakup where the spurned partner stalks their ex and constantly harasses them to get that feeling of power over them and to 'prove' that they are the one in control. In the end, it's that basic lack of maturity, "I am having bad feelings, so I will have a tantrum and hurt people until someone else makes the bad feelings go away".

Four top-15 picks in two seasons. Only taking fringe and opportunistic mature players on very low money in trades, and filling out our list with speculative VFL tone-setters and role players who take no salary cap space. Relying on kids as our forward targets as we get games into them. And people think we aren't already in a rebuild? I'm sure the club's goal was to stay continuously competitive and have the veterans and new wave overlap enough to create a super-peak capable of grabbing another premiership, but right now, with several veterans below their par, some visible low morale, and an unfortunate string of quality outs among the kids, it isn't looking like it at all. Best case scenario, all the problem points are corrected over the course of the season and we come storming home into finals. Worst case scenario, we are absolutely pooooooooped. Like, adding an 8th form to the Birstol stool chart, pooped.

That is an absolutely on-point rant from Snapper. Sums up the entire rot at Carlton for a decade. As for Hawthorn fans, pretty sure lube and tissues come with the membership pack. For anyone watching Hawks-Giants, is there a massive wind at UTAS tonight or was it just a really weird first half?

Yeah, he hasn't had much time to show it yet but at this point Lindsay is looking like absolute gold. Initiative, awareness, skill, speed, calmness, and not at all soft either considering he's still lightly built. Could still be a good decision to get him regardless of what this year's first ends up being. At this stage we can just all breathe a sigh of relief that we didn't saddle ourselves with 27yr old Houston and his contract for a top pick!

I can only hope it'll be a rebuild like the ones Brisbane and Hawthorn had last season. We actually have the cattle, but something has clearly been taken from our spirit. Hard to find once it is lost, but once found again, rebounds hard.

Bunch of mature players need to be left alone with their thoughts for the week to decide if they're serious or not and to remember who they are. Far, far below the skill and energy they are well known to be capable of. I'd be interested to know, in the wild politics of late last season, who got what they wanted which has now created this level of confusion and ambivalence on the field?

As they say, good delivery is all about knowing when to push forward with the momentum and knowing when to take the pressure off. Hopefully the labour doesn't result in the nightmare rip from hole to hole like today's game has. In a related note, the strange creature living in my wife's belly got more kicks during this game than most of the Demons did. Contrast couldn't be sharper because little one really lifted after half time.

So, what you're saying is, having high quality kicks and decision makers available to play their role would have no effect on whether less reliable kicks and decision makers end up in the positions where we want good kicking and decision making. Mate, there's discussion to be had but take a breath before just snarking.

I'm going to go out on a limb at 3/4 time against Gold Coast and suggest that not having a single score or mark inside 50 from anyone over 190cm (except a behind from Gawn) might be a problem. Looking a little more closely, we don't even have any score involvements from tall forwards. Gawn has 4, May and McDonald 2 each. That's it for over 190cm. Ah, a quick correction - the Chandler goal means Van Rooyen now has 2 score involvements. Yes, I feel like this may be an issue.

Horrible sensation that those few minutes of looking a little better, followed by punishment on the scoreboard, could crack the dam. Only other possibility is we get some rage going. (not in the eat-your-babies way Demonland gets rage going)

We finally show a little bit of a spark and the umpires put an f'n bell jar over it.

ffs Just tape my mouth shut.

Feeling good about this one. I can't afford Kayo/Fox footy so I can't watch the game. Pretty sure that means we win. I'm particularly expecting a whole lot of those small moments of effort and cleverness which turn a game but will never feature in the highlights tapes. Today has a Xavier Lindsay vibe.

Sun Tzu also expressed the same sentiment. He was actually quite the footy fan. Real quote, not kidding, and I can provide evidence to support this if challenged; "The side which gains the most points wins"

Hit the post. Possibly with both the ball and then myself. In fact, yeah, my two options would be hit the post or slip during the kick and not even make the distance.

They also have a few players with a Master o farts. But no Ph.Ds. Guess why? They can't spell it.