Little Goffy

11 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Considering the good crowds they are getting in the nation's capital I wonder if it's worth moving the Giants down there full-time. Canberra Giants also sounds so much better that Greater Western Sydney. 

Would have to name them the Frost Giants.

Anyway, those good crowds are influenced a bit by a general scarcity of top-level football. Supporters of fifteen* other clubs will get along to see a game even if they don't care much for the competing clubs on the day.

*do you really think anyone in Canberra would support Gold Coast?

13 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Logging in from China to say suck [censored] to both Pies and Bombers 

I'm pleased to see that hatred for Collingwood and Essendon passes the CCP censorship!

Credit to Wasilim Tagaloa (pardon the spelling - didn't catch it perfectly) for the national anthem tonight.

Took me a moment to realise why it seemed different to most and then I realised;

It was just a person with a well-trained clear bold voice singing the anthem.

No silly trills or affectations, and a voice strong enough to carry that simplicity.

2 hours ago, Monbon said:

At the 9.43 mark of the third quarter, after Hopper had injured his leg again, I noted Oliver giving a pat to the injured opposition player.

I turn 74 today, and the older I get, the more gestures like that impress me. 

With regard to Oliver's performance, he's slowly but surely getting there. he has come from a long way back. All power to him.

Saw that too, and especially liked it because it is part of a pattern. He likes people.

Sometimes I get the feeling Clayton plays like the whole thing is a scratch match where everyone is a friend-of-a-friend, and he just enjoys being the best among friends.

Also, Happy Birthday!

2 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Must be a contact year for Stringer?

Lol, can confirm.

I've had enough of the Petty forward experiment.

He is an outstanding tall defender and should be leading our next generation of tall defenders in the May/Lever succession plan.

He's done some good things and had a couple of good games up forward, but is more likely to have nil impact than good impact when forward. Against Richmond he had more clangers than disposals.

I've still got my fingers crossed for Fullarton but we really need to find a big competitive body with a 'nothing to lose' attitude in the mid-season draft.

2 hours ago, leave it to deever said:

I have to admit that was a damn good take out.  Doh.

I wonder if the D'oh is a subconscious reference to the Simpsons episode where Bart gets sent to military school? 

One of the last of the classic Simpson's era.

1 hour ago, leave it to deever said:

You know your getting old when you start thinking and believing that compulsory military service for all wayward teenagers is the balm for all our ills. Bring it on.

Demonland finally sees the day when someone shares a fetish creepier than even Uncle Bitter's contributions.

2 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

It’s a good height for the modern midfielder. 
 

What’s he like athletically? Is he quick? agile? Fit as a horse? 

A touch under 19 hands and about 65 years in horse age.

I have to share a quote I stumbled across while checking this;

A horse reaching 20 years of age is considered “old”, but this depends very much on how long the horse has lived.

Similar scenario to Carlton's trade for Adam Cerra.

We wouldn't want Davies-Uniacke if he was going to be the pivot of our midfield, but if we are adding him to complete a midfield mix then there's get real value.

Cerra hasn't even lived up to the hype from the time he was traded (for pick 6) and he has still been a big part of Carlton's lift from a brittle list over-dependent on a handful of big names, to serious premiership contenders.

Cripps, Walsh, Hewett (underrated), Cerra, ... Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Davies-Uniake.

Free agent next year so I'd rather wait than pay the trade price, but if it we had to act now or see him go to St Kilda, I'd offer a respectable deal.

Also young enough to keep the age profile of our list turning over just in case that gets a bit hairy when/if Tassie comes in.

Okay... so piecing it together...

Greene clearly initiated his jump with intent to compete for the ball.

He then stopped competing for the ball out of fear of collision.

He chose to protect himself from that collision by ensuring that the initial contact was the least vulnerable part of his body impacting upon the most vulnerable part of his opponent.

This action transferred the risk to his off-balance opponent and also greatly increased the risk to this opponent.

It has been widely alleged that if he had not done this and instead chosen to make a soft contact without focusing his weight and momentum into a single point, both players would have been severely injured by fragments from a falling satellite, or something, I don't quite understand that part.

I love the detail that the ball actually bounces off Greene's shoulder. He has literally stopped going for the ball out of fear of impact, and then barrelled into the much more vulnerable opponent's head.

He chose to bump instead of contest the ball.

If that isn't a simple one for the MRO then they are in serious trouble.

1 hour ago, Dee Zephyr said:

I’m willing to send mine over, if you need some pitch invaders.

 

Geebus, Zephyz, what is this, GnomelyFans?

Also, surely there must be a warehouse of unsold Demon Gnomes out there somewhere which can be bought as a job lot and place in every window and balcony in the area. Total Gnome dominance.

I've got relatives on Powlett Street! I'll notify them to keep an eye out for mistreated gnomes.

3 hours ago, Demonland said:

 

Player A - backing into a contest with eyes on the ball and not able to see player B.

Player B - With full view of the incoming ball and player, missed the ball and drives shoulder into back of head of player A to 'protect himself'.

There's spin, and then there's urinating into a fan.

Still not ready for the Jake Waterman 2025 free agency thread?

So far the results of this round have gone 100% according to the proportion of insufferable jerks who will tell you all about it on monday.

So, cue up West Coast, Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn.

But the Blues overcoming their throwback 6-goal-againsr run and doing it in style is a bit of a story. Not much doubt in my mind that they're the main threat to our 2024 premiership. Aside from, you know, ourselves.

Just now, Demonland said:

Not checking whether that was touched?

Well, earlier this quarter the radio commentary described a shot as 'caressing across the behind' so maybe touched is starting to mean something different.

Oh, for [censored] sake. They just said Cox came from behind and reached around to grab the ball.

Accurate call but also not appropriate call.

Unless there's a freak occurance in the West Coast v Fremantle game, we're looking at a round 6 ladder with five teams on one win or fewer. Played out over a season that would mean just three or four wins each by the end.

I've been looking over past ladders to find an example of such a long 'tail' to the ladder. For a moment I thought 2020 (two teams with 3 wins, three teams with 5 wins) but of course that was Covid-restricted and there were only 17 games.

Other than that, the weakest tails I've found are;

2018, with Carlton on two wins and three other clubs with 5 or 4.

2012 have a five-team tail, with the Giants and Suns doing their early-career tanking strategy, Melbourne close to their worst, and Port & the Dogs only managing 5 wins. Incredibly, one up from that pile of failure, 13th place on the ladder had ten wins, and it took 14 wins just to make the finals.

This could be a very skewed season where clocking through the 'regulation' wins becomes very important for sorting the finals order when 16 wins might not even be top 4 finish, and an alarming share of the games are the proverbial '8-point' games.

As it stands, 4-2 is barely enough to keep us in the 8, but considering the level of disruption and missing/underdone players going into the season, we've done well to be in that leading pack.

We should thank Richmond for their effort against Sydney and politely but firmly ensure they don't do it against us next round!

59 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

If Bumbers win they are on same win loss as us.

To be fair, last season they started 4-1 then went 7-11. Looks like the fast start is a Brad Scott specially.

Personally I'm torn between appreciation of Indigenous representation and dislike of 'love hearts'.

As for the flags being on this year, I suspect that's a product of finally resolving the long and bitter legal dispute about commercial IP 'ownership' of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.

So... who else is riveted by the prospect of tonight's game?

Adelaide v Essendon to for the levitating potato cup.

2 hours ago, adonski said:

He isn't a key forward

2023:

39 goals for the season, averaging 1.5 marks inside 50, both behind only King at the Suns (and ahead of any Demon)

Took more contested marks than any of our forwards did, whether you split it by average or total.

Led the suns for goal assists and was behind only Noah Anderson for inside 50s.

I suspect he is in fact a key forward. Possibly even a textbook modern CHF.

When the coach permits it!

9 hours ago, joeboy said:

Not sure if mentioned here yet but Gary Lyon on SEN this morning brought up the little known fact that Cameron has been FINED 5 times in his career for dangerous tackles.🤦‍♂️

He doesn’t have a spotless record like Pendlebury for example, and obviously hasn’t learnt from his soft feather warnings

Best part is that if he does it again he will still be able to affirm to the tribunal that he has never been suspended.

Reminds me of a guy a used to know who had [definitely not Serbian mafia] lawyers who got him off driving charge after driving charge with 'good record' and 'first offence' arguments. None were recorded as convictions therefore the defence could be recycled every time.

A little side note; I think it is time we started systematically tying the little red strings on the wall chart back to Channel 7. Starting to look like that network is leaning on the scales of the AFL, it's coverage, and it's administration in numerous 'unhelpful' ways.