Little Goffy

Nooooooooooo. Terrible goal that.

Yyyyesssssss! Nice goal that.

Some good professional coralling from Lampard there.

North really are that bad. Dogs clearly aren't going at 100% and the way the goals are accelerating it is on target to be a 100+ margin.

This will be my first time watching North closely this season. In preparation I took a little time to examine how the two teams are tracking and all that... and now I have a deep sense of foreboding. Losing to Port by almost ten goals is something several teams, even good ones, will have to stomach at times this season. Losing to the Suns like that when it isn't even clear that the Suns were particularly potent on the day - that's a worry. And the Bulldogs don't strike me as a team likely to wind it back once they are well on top. The game they are most comfortable playing is hot sabre through butterball so why would they switch to more awkward methods to 'rest'. So many potential goal scorers, so many ways to turn clearances into quick scores, so much attacking power from center bounces. I don't even like North and I feel sad. If the horror doesn't happen this week, it will just be waiting for another week.

I'm in the awkward position of only having been properly inducted to Australian Football in the very late 90s (2000 was a good season to have committed to it!) so my top 5 could only be very recent. Lots of respectable, even elite, players in that time but not many you could say were absolute greats. I have the uncanny, electric and slightly alarming feeling that I might be watching my personal top 5 Demons all at once any moment now, and that it might not even be just for my couple of decades of experience. Touching wood and keeping the lid on and all that.

Really good point. Perhaps some kind of club-run or volunteer service to help with pre-booking and then collecting physical tickets or anything else that is needed on the day from the membership booth or a merchandising stand. Definitely one of those cases where new technology rapidly went from being 'the better option' to being 'the only option, and damn the rest of you'.

Just sad that Collingwood can't lose by a shot after the siren every game.

What? Those decisions were all perfectly legitimate backward passes and everyone knows it is only a turnover after the sixth tackle.

Don't laugh too heartily - I made the mistake of flicking through a Sydney paper in a cafe the other day and sure enough GWS had been "lucky to still be close in the game against St Kilda, courtesy of some generosity from the referees."

I was under the impression that the Rooty Hill RSL never closed. It had to stay open to ensure there was still somewhere for people to punch on once the curfew was imposed on the inner city. Anyway, in tribute to the game being up in the village in the hills we should really be referring to the mighty, mighty Canberra Hellenic Club.

Be assured the tone is just a bit of light-hearted processing of MFCSS.

Then 3 degrees down per quarter! For eight months of the year in Canberra as soon as the sun goes down the temperature rapidly shifts until it reaches equilibrium with the void of space. I miss it so much. How people sleep up here in Sydney when the air is sweating on you like it just came out of a burger kitchen is a mystery I'll never grasp.

This is our classic danger game. Warning one: We've had a couple of wins, people are beginning to think 'Oh, we should maybe take the Demons seriously, let's all take a closer look at them this weekend.' Warning two: For the first time this season we are playing an opponent who is definitely rated below us. Warning three: We've begun to congratulate ourselves for our pressure and discipline. Warning four: The week after this game comes the 'real test' against an allegedly vulnerable allegedly top team. Quite frankly, anything other than a flat performance and disappointing loss would mean we have made serious steps up in maturity. Warning five: Just getting the job done could be seen as doing enough. My tip - Demons by eight goals and a little April in Canberra hypothermia. Come to think of it, a football game at Manuka Oval was where I first really appreciated the power of piercing wind and sleet.

I'm quoting to reply just so you have visible responses from someone who isn't being a jerk about it! I have a lot of faith in Fritsch and believe he is at least in part sacrificing his personal game for the sake of team structure. It's a running joke in my household about Fritsch getting a mark and it being 'out on his spot', barely inside 50 and at that awkward angle just a bit wider than the 50m markings. On the weekend we were even tut-tutting at Petracca who took a couple of marks 'on Fritsch's spot' - Petracca also missed those shots, for the record. But faith and fun aside, those misses are very irritating. It is quite noticeable that Fritsch has bursts of behind in games that would otherwise be marking him as absolutely first-rate. For relatively recent form, there was a 1.3 on the weekend, and in 2020 a 1.4, 2.4 and 3.4. Late in 2019 during his generally outstanding return to forward duties there was also a 1.4. Fact is, some of those goals were also gimmes (which he earned by smart hard running) from the goalsquare. IF Fritsch manages to line up those spots from 'The Fritsch spot' then he becomes an terrific weapon that will force any defence in the game to cover him while leaving gaps for Brown, Weid, McDonald and anyone else we let roam into the hot zone. But if he doesn't, then we really have to think about using him more explicitly as an inside-50 deliverer. He's smart and a good enough field kick to be effective at it. I'm happy to see the club persevere with him for a while as I do believe he's playing a role that isn't easy, but will revisit at the end of the season because if things haven't (literally!) straightened up by then, maybe a fresh start in a new plan is the way to go.

St Kilda v Melbourne 9 Christian Salem (MELB) 9 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 5 Max Gawn (MELB) 3 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB) 2 Christian Petracca (MELB) 1 Jack Steele (STK) 1 Adam Tomlinson (MELB) Salem well-loved this week, as he ought to be. I'm kind of weird I think, in how much I enjoy picking apart the coaches votes. Curious that one coach gave Pickett 3 votes and the other gave none. Also kind of interesting that in a pretty competitive game there was just one vote in the 30 for a St Kilda player. Since this is a player rating kind of thread, I'll just throw in that our Mr Oliver is currently 3rd for disposals, 1st for contested possessions, 4th for clearances, and those above him in each category aren't the same. Other nice individual stats, some of which surprised me a little - James Jordon equal 4th for tackles inside 50 (and there are 5 Demons inside the top 30) AND equal 4th for tackles total. Steven May equal 4th for kicks, equal 9th rebound 50s, and 12th for meters gained, and is one of only 4 players who still have 100% time on ground. Jake Lever 2nd for contested marks! Bailey Fritsch is No. 1 for marks inside 50. (But probably way down the list for marks inside 45!) Ed Langdon has clocked on for 97% time on ground, the only non-key-position player even remotely up there. Kysaiah Pickett equal 6th for bounces.

I thought his tap work was looking a bit more effective at times on the weekend. Not all game, but definitely beginning to line it up nicely. It is something that he's had as a strength in the past so it is quite realistic to hope it will return soon, at which point Gawn becomes the philosophical Conceptual Ideal of an AFL ruckman. Coming up against a string of young and inexperienced rucks has been an interesting quirk to start the season but these guys should not be dismissed too lightly. Hell, making a debut or near-debut against Gawn seems to be a right of passage it happens so often. I feel like the club is using Gawn and Jackson in an interesting split based as much on risk-reward as anything else. Where calmness and reliable dominance is needed, they send Gawn. Where a bit of wild potential might break things up a bit in our favour or even lift the team but there's no huge disaster for an 'almost great' moment, that's where you'll find Jackson. Obviously that puts Jackson mostly on or forward of the ball. I like it. It means Jackson can be given a licence to just go for it, do his thing while developing and without risking over-programming him and sapping that brilliant energy and initiative that he brings. I do see similarities between Jackson and Pickett and I wonder if the club has been looking to the same development philosophy with both? Sorry to digress from Gawn, but it is at least very relevant to how the club decides to use him.

He's right until he's wrong and then he moves on to being right about something else so he's only ever wrong for a moment.

It's an interesting one - if I'm recalling correct the actual total of inside 50s was about the same for both teams. Our attacks were 'breaking down', so to speak, at the very last kick, the actual shot. St Kilda's attacks were breaking down one step before that. With Giants, Cats, Tigers being three of our next four games, I don't expect we'll be beating up any teams just yet (unless Hawthorn stumble) but if we have earned a bit of a steel edge over that period we might just do some absolutely horrible mauling later in the season if our radar comes in against an opponent we dominate in general play. But those fish are yet to be caught. I'm trying so hard to be 'one week at a time' I'm even avoiding thinking about how much I hate the Cats. Not easy.

I think you are both right - even if LJ didn't do anything especially magic himself, the complete change in the style of ruckman was effective at disorganising the St Kilda stoppages. Meanwhile Gawn going forward definitely disrupted the St Kilda defence. It's a double-bamboozlement!

I'm just irritated that the Canberra game is at 6pm. First - why would you schedule a game in Canberra in March for dusk? Temperatures will drop 3 degrees a quarter! Second - anyone traveling to Canberra from Sydney (let alone further away) will have to line up accommodation overnight unless they want to be pushing past midnight to get home and it is entirely impossible without your own car. Ah well, I guess they just figured it would be a game for Canberra locals to go to with not much capacity beyond that given the Covid limitations.

Fingers crossed that his last quarter gives him a little bit of a confidence boost. I still don't see him as a winger but he does seem to be getting gradually better at being in useful spots where teammates will actually send the ball his way.

That was a little bit emotional. So many players going well or at least being worthy of their spot after long periods of real doubt. I abstained from the 'votes' thread because after a few obvious ones like Oliver and Salem (what a terrific, composed game) I just wanted to share out a whole lot of 1-votes for all the players who simply did their job.

Has any player had a higher ratio of marks inside 50 where they then had to take the kick from outside 50? He's got a tough gig, but still... maybe he could have a quiet word with Plugga after the game?

Tomlinson is the weakest tall defender in our current best-22 and also one of the best tall defenders we've had in 20 years. Weird.