Little Goffy

It's okay, Demons are just resting Nibbler for a week to prevent him being suspended for Selwood's neck-to-the-throat fend-off and/or off-the-line-of-the-ball bump to the side of a bent over opponent's head a couple of weeks before that. Hard to imagine Nibbler being able to focus with that much scrutiny on him.

Ahh, those pre-season reports were an age ago. Much appreciated, too, Mr Fence. Someone should ask the club if there have been any slitherers out at Joondalup. We also need a rating on the pies/bacon and egg rolls. Bit of grassroots connection would be a nich touch while we're all going mad.

I'm never going to forgive the nuffies who didn't take Covid19 seriously. Nathan Jones having to choose between being with the team in Perth or the fabulous wife and imminent twins in Melbourne is just another reason. Far from the worst thing going on, but it got under my skin perhaps because it is symbolic of the most common cost that we are all paying.

For me, it is gone. Mysterious, inexplicable, and I don't know exactly when. I'm just not afraid any more. Not in the MFCSS way. For any given week or during any given game I'll be riding the details hard and feeling all the highs and lows, but I don't have that steady fog of anticipated miserableness. I worry about a bad game, I don't worry about a broken and humiliated club.

I'm not convinced he even understands what an 'If/then' statement is. As far as I'm concerned his journalistic range stretches from 'listicle-maker' to 'nosy vicar' and not much else. Just another media passenger weighing down the game.

Very happy to have other teams' supporters getting enthusiastic about us. It's not like they are going to be taking credit. I will not be happy when they instantly switch back to smugness and condescension if we slip. It's our own players who can decide the matter, though.

I still can't get over the fact that Carlton sacked Teague after 50 games (including a half-season as caretaker, a 17-game messed up season, and this year which he spent half-sacked from about round 4). He brought Carlton 21 wins in 50 games after the Blues' previous 40 games included just 4 wins. That's notably better than Paul Roos managed at Melbourne (21 wins from 60 games). One question remains - was it Teague or others who pursued the strategy of bringing in a multitude of speedy, high profile and high cost rebounding types without defensive mettle? Because if he can wash his hands of that major error then his record is pretty good for coaching a dysfunctional club that can display hubris even while winning the wooden spoon. It does also make me reflect on the priceless quality of the 'enthusiastic humility' which seems to be driving value at Melbourne now. We must support that attitude above any other single factor.

I had to think about that and I now really resent being made to think about that.

I have no problem with McRae which makes we sad because in three years' time I'll either have a problem with him or he'll be chewed up and spat out by dysfunctional Collingwood.

I think the extent of people's confidence that we will play Geelong also kind of indicates why it would be more convenient to be playing GWS. Seems our principal vulnerability is to small forwards so GWS without Toby Greene doesn't feel very menacing. I recall a very old anime movie where the bad guy was immortal and kept coming back to life so the hero was just beating his head in with a heavy blunt object over and over. "Why don't you just die!?" That's pretty much us to Geelong at the moment. Ahhh... here we go - the headbutt to death scene.

Pretty sure Demonland's own crystal ball was more accurate and more adventurous, too. We are the experts, after all.

I've decided to wait until we can discuss whether this is the best Demons side of the last 58 years. It's going to be a long week off and I am going to shrivel without a Demon game to focus the anxiety.

The back spasm and soreness clearly slowed him a bit but he has continued to play his role. Definitely the week off will be important for him and I suspect we've got a few other sore bodies, both old and young, who will appreciate some time to tend to their bruises. I have a strange gut feeling that destiny is calling him to be a kind of forward tagger on Aliir Aliir, providing a priceless breakeven on grand final day. But, for now, one game at a time.

Finished the H&A season with the most tackles inside 50 of any player. Pretty sure he also has the most 'first to reach a goalkicker to celebrate' stats of any player. Always gets there. This is a player who loves his teammates' successes. According to the Gus&Gawny podcast after the Geelong game, he was running in to celebrate before the kick had even gone through.

Most capable and I would even say most lovable. I really want them to win and it is even more than just wanting a Demon Premiership - I want these people to win. I believe they deserve it.

Anyone else beginning to make random non-verbal vocalisations around the house? For example; "I should [urp] some food now so there is [heeeek] no distractions during the [phrrr-cic] game."

Emotional season. Epic game. Correct result. Hurt my gut yelling. On a completely different level, it was a great pleasure many years ago to find Dean Bailey and the entire coaching panel having a morning pre-game coffee at 'my' cafe back in Canberra, so long ago. Quick little chat and handshake then let them get back to it of course, but it is quite something to suddenly find a pocket of your life unexpectedly flooded with red and blue.

Next year we could realistically have the honorary captain and vice captain with Gawn and May both sneaking in. I'm kind of comfortable with the fact that for the next few years we have just two more players a year crossing the threshold. 2022 Gawn and May 2023 Brown and McDonald 2024 Viney and Tomlinson 2025 Salem and Hunt My gut says a few of those will go many years beyond 30, too. I for one struggle to be pessimistic about a period where our current astonishing group of younger players are at their peak. Better days ahead.

Trawling through the coaches votes it is noticeable that Oliver was very frequently a 5+5 or 5+4 vote. Those very visibly and unanimous top games should have him up there. It's hard to see him winning though, simply because of the variety of other Demons who have had BOG performances, and the highly visibly games of the likes of Wines and Bont. Then you've got Jack Steele whose numbers are every bit as good and who has stood out by a mile at St Kilda. Their next best mid is well below him for stats and a whole other level below him for the mystical 'presence' and real impact on games. I'd argue that St Kilda would have been bottom-4 without him this year and there's about 8 games where he is probably BOG and another five where he was St Kilda's best. Anyway, on that basis I've got Steele stealing it (oh, no, the headlines, the headlines, no) 1. Steele 2. Macrae 3. Wines 4. Oliver 5. Bontempelli 6. Angus Brayshaw Melbourne will have the highest total as a club, cracking 80 and possibly even 90 votes total.

Wow, that's true. Which means Goodwin has never coached a game without Oliver in the team. Except that caretaker one at Essendon. But that, like all things Essendon, isn't worth remembering. Lol. Thanks to that game, Simon Goodwin has coached the equal-second-most finals wins of any Essendon coach since 1968. I digress. Congratulations to Clayton Oliver on not only winning the coaches award but frankly romping it in!

Geez the Carlton board and nonces. There's many paragraphs to be written about undermining, and overselling, and expectations management, and just pure arrogance. But let's break it down into just one simple statement of what Before Teague arrived Carlton had won FOUR of the previous FORTY games. They gave him two seasons.

Never a bad time to praise a genuinely good commentator. In a small way it is also a little bit of thrill to see 'one of ours' doing so well.

Doesn't seem any more insightful than if you got a few random people sitting around a table talking it out. The trouble is the weighting of the stats according to position - which is done on the basis of a few people sitting around a table talking it out! Nic Nat AND Tom Hickey over Gawn is a good example. There's no doubt that Naitanui and Hickey have both excelled at the ruck-specific duties with hitouts to advantage or clearances and so on, but Gawn has them both covered for other areas of performance including marks, contested marks, marks inside 50, intercept marks, intercepts total, meters gained, rebound 50s, and even the simple fact of being on the ground 90% of the time denying opposition long kicks or drawing an opposition defender. You wouldn't swap Gawn out for either of them. It'll probably also keep Luke Jackson out of some statistically determined teams, too. Assuming he carries on his current trajectory, he will (statistically) be an excellent ruck, excellent key forward and excellent half-forward/utility, but not be the 'best' in any specific one of those positions. Statistics are dumb because people are dumb and then they put things in numbers and forget that they were dumb back when they did it.

I had a little confused churn in my gut when they said we never give up. It's like finding out your secret high school crush has been asking people about you. It's great news but now you have the pressure of actually delivering!

Let's do a deal: If Melbourne win the premiership you have to get a tattoo of a cricket with Ben Brown's number 50 on it's back!