Little Goffy

Definitely a dud trade. Is there a way we can untangle it and get Preuss back?

Presumably this is early enough for Hawthorn to replace him on the list? Or is there a salary cap payout issue where he has to stay on for the year? The important thing is that Hawthorn are still relying on a pretty old best-22 and they have a very thin talent pool with not much to show for the last four or five drafts. Only genuine long-term Hawthorn failure is good enough for me.

Quite bizarre to step up for a press conference you are only having because something you were keeping hidden is now out, and to be acting as if this is all an orchestrated announcement by the club about how they are now going to lead the competition in change. What he's doing amounts to claiming that "The whole AFL culture is like this but it is actually only Collingwood that has confronted it and we should be applauded for our courage and now seen as leaders in this area." Wait... that's not 'what it amounts to', that's almost a word for word of what he's saying. Slimy #$%$#%. I'm tired of the Eddie love that somehow survives. He's been bad for football in every way.

It's funny for as long as everyone is sure they don't really mean it. For example, you can insult Waleed Aly all you like as long as it is about Richmond supporter stereotypes!

Behrendt's stupid slur against Bess Price came at a particularly low moment for the Indigenous community, and particularly the NT one. The 'Intervention' had just commenced and the bitterness over it was palpable and there was a painful divide in the Indigenous community. On the one hand, people such as Price (coincidentally, from Yuendumu which we all recognise) were coming from a perspective of desperate need for major action to change the violence and abuse in many remote communities. On the other hand there were many Indigenous people who saw a very familiar pattern where those communities had been left to rot, excluded, and not even provided the most basic services all Australians expect, and then when the inevitable crisis came the intervention stepped in and said, "You Aboriginal people can't take care of yourselves, so we're taking control." Many of these communities had been the front line of the Stolen Generations and the 'orphanage' system which proceeded along much the same lines, so the horror was palpable. Then, on the particular show that prompted Behrendt's tweet, Price made a bunch of pretty obnoxious comments basically saying various other Aboriginal people weren't really Aboriginal, and just stooges for chardonnay-sipping socialists etc etc. It was all pretty ignominious. I'm not really defending Behrendt's tweet because at the same time that it is understandable to be emotional and impulsively angry in that moment, it is also even more important to restrain it. In general, she is a recognised expert in the field, a highly qualified and experienced lawyer, and also only one of two people handling the review. Also, Collingwood picked her. The important point here is; the legitimacy of the report is not diminished by one crappy tweet made by one of its authors nine years ago. Let that one go.

Two down, three to go.

My interpretation of the pieces that are being reported on is that it might not be fair to say that Collingwood are more racist than other clubs, but that as a club they aren't really making an effort to not be racist. On the other hand, they've made so much effort to 'manage the image' and yet the image has still had a stink about it for years. That seems like a lot of smoke to be coming out of a blocked chimney. Hmm. It's an incremental thing, but any organisation where the balance turns more to protecting the outward appearances than resolving the substance will slowly hollow out and become brittle. Soviet Union, Catholic Church, Collingwood Football Club, The Marvel Cinematic Universe, my ex's mother. Some will break, some will genuinely reform, and some will be powerful and connected enough to go through a period of 'performance contrition' and make just a few cosmetic changes before returning to their old ways.

Does player sponsorship work like shares? Because this good stock is going up.

I was a bit annoyed by the high profile departures last year but I'm feeling much more relaxed now I've had some time seeing Hore, both Pearces, the mouth Mithen and our perennial 'any moment now' key forward Cunningham running around. It's just a great feeling to see Demons in action. Also, Paxman's initial's are actually "C R," because I swear every time she's mentioned it's "Composure Required... Paxman" and then the play moves 40m in our favour.

Hopefully our midfield depth, plus his relative security in the 22, will prevent anyone from feeling any need to rush his recovery process. I mean, what's the point of having a deep midfield if you can't use it to make sure everyone is managing their fitness and preparation to the best possible level.

Anyone know broadcast details? AFL site? TV? Kayo?

I believe technically we can still get Oscar back as a pre-season supplementary... (Ducks for cover)

Pretty surw Gonna Vom plays for Essendon. But back to the thread; I'm really pleased to hearthat Brown still has his lovely long straight kick. Part of his appeal is that you don't need to get the ball in really close to goal to realistically expect a goal from him. That's why he also often is is allowed enough space to give a birst lead, gain a few steps ahead of his opponent and then meet the ball at the top of his long-armed 200cm height, leaving defenders with nothing they can do except chop at his arms from behind. Which is why he gets a lot of goals from free kicks. It was true when he was at North and it'll still be true when he's with us. There's Youtube videos of 'every goal by Brown' and its unmistakable that most of those free kick goals epuld have been mark goals anyway. Sorry, rant over. Other thought; it wluld be a sublime kind of MFCSS to imagine that now we've recruited multiple other potential small forwards, Spargo came good and we were left with a traffic jam of high draft picks struggling to find a role. ?

It just occurred to me that surely a more entertaining comparison would be with his uncle. More similar body and style to a young Byron than to Cyril. For the record, Byron only broke through for one game in his first season. His second was good and his third was outstanding, with his effectiveness is highlight by 11 Brownlow votes. The dream of course if for Kozzie to emulate Byron's peak three years with 40 goals a season and a Norm Smith Medal. If Lewis want's to make an interesting exercise of the comparisons he should get his mate Shaun Burgoyne in to do some work with Kozzie and then offer a first-hand comparison of all three - Byron, Cyril and Kysaiah.

Excellent! Paxman's poise improves the whole game.

In the spirit of looking for new and inspiring I'll set aside the likes of Petracca, Gawn and May and focus on players who can have a big difference between current and possible. Headlining that would be McDonald, Brayshaw, Harmes, Melksham and Lever, who have all already shown they can be much better than their recent form. Credit to Lever though for showing very good signs of working his way back to it. But the ones that would bring me real joy to see lift their game - Brayshaw - I believe that an in-form Brayshaw is an uncannily effective midfielder, especially when play is not quite at a stoppage but still in chaos. I'm convinced he has great, intuitive situational awareness once the ball is in hand but isn't so great at working into the correct positions. Put him in as a true center midfielder and let the play naturally come to and through him. Fritsch - The best of Fritsch is the best of medium marking forwards playing at the time and going back some years too. A dangerous forward in his own right who also makes the priceless contribution of wisdom in drawing defenders away from the other forwards. Pickett - I love the way he plays and the more impact he is having on a game the more fun everyone will be having. Weidemann - The forward line's beleaguered garrison. No wonder he looks so serious. The poor guy is weidely underrated and with a little help from Brown I'd be really hoping his effort will see more rewards. Langdon - Yep, he's been excellent. And there are not many things I like better in football than a player who succeeds with humility, hard work that is also smart use of that effort. Would only take a little slice extra to become a huge player, AA wingman and all that jazz.

Geelong... Ablett Gold Coast... Ablett. Aside from laughing at Geelong, it is a interesting looking at the groups of players in the discussion at the clubs that have had the really big success in the last couple of decades. Black over Voss, Akermanis, Lappin and Power was more than handy. Ablett, Bartel, Selwood, Ling, Enright, Corey. [censored] Mitchell, Lewis, Hodge and Crawford, with Burgoyne replacing Crawford later. Pendlebury, Swan, Sidebottom and Beams at their peak get an honorable mention as a midfield upon which a premiership was built. An exception to that pattern might be Richmond, where much of their success has been built on really good talls at both ends, multiple hard working quality mids and just a couple of truly champion-level mids. Interesting also that Port didn't have the superstar midfield, but they did have a lot of players who might not be listed mids but would roll through and contribute in very difficult to match ways, headlines by Pickett and Wanganeen. In fact, if you look at Port's premiership team, there's not that many names you think 'oh, wow' about. Coach must have been really good at getting the most of the good-not-brilliant players. Also, it seems like four is the magic number for gun midfielders.

For the record, it is absolutely possible to train 'tough'. Hell, you can train people to be savage killers if you're willing to go that way. More practically, it is absolutely possible to train people to keep their eyes on the ball when anticipating a collision, to initiate/respond to heavy body contact in a marking contest, or to hit a pack at speed in pursuit of a mark. These things are decisions and habits that can be trained and provide something very close to 'toughness' even if you don't have Jonathan Brown's look like he's about to solo wrestle and haul out the mad ram that got into the home paddock again.

Well, that seems like a good idea. The story is very light for details of course but the more mentoring involvement there is, the better.

I'm a little slow sometimes. I don't think I quite understand your point. Could you explain it for me?

He looks very, very skinny and young. But if that's the main reason he's been overlooked it makes sense to see what happens to his body with even a couple of months in the system. There's little point leaving a spot vacant for a year.

MFC predictions Ladder position at the end of the H&A season: 3rd Position at the end of the season (e.g. stage of finals): Premiers B&F top 5 (1 point for correct inclusion, 1 point for correct place): 1. May 2. Petracca 3. Gawn 4. B Brown 5. Oliver Leading goalkicker: B Brown Most marks: Fritsch Best first year player: Bailey Laurie Most improved player: Lever (I'd say Weideman but, just quietly, his contribution is severely underrated at present) All Australian 40-man squad selections (1 point each): May, Petracca, Gawn, B Brown, Oliver, Lever, Fritsch All Australian final 22 selections (1 point each): May, Petracca, Gawn, Oliver, Fritsch Big Ben Brown will kick his biggest goal tally against: Essendon Biggest winning margin (exact guess is 5 points, within 1 point margin is 4 points etc): 127 Biggest MFC story of the year (5 points): Revealed: Goodwin on own initiative took major pay cut to ensure club could recruit Yze and Williams. Other MFC predictions (1 point each): 1. 'Good' in first half of season, to become 'terrifying' in second half of season. 2. Demons finally claim the AFLW premiership. 3. Melbourne becomes the first team in 20 years to kick 400+ goals in a Home and Away season. 4. Steven May Norm Smith medal. AFL predictions Premier: Melbourne Demons Runner-up: West Coast Eagles Wooden spoon: Kangaroos Biggest improver: Melbourne, obviously, but also Gold Coast. Biggest slider: Lions (but still considered a non-disastrous hiccup - this is more a case of very few real 'sliders' in 2021) Brownlow medal: Nathan Fyfe Coleman medal: Josh Kennedy (in one last hurrah before he is stopped by May in the Grand Final) Rising star: Matt Rowell. I mean, seriously, smoky for a Brownlow/Rising Star double.

I think Adonski got it except he missed Lily Mithen at the very far left of the image.

I just realised why I feel a little uncomfortable about his face when I see this picture. It's because Laurie's head looks like someone use one of those face mash-up apps on... Freaking me out a little.

Before y'all go shoot'n me down, gotta get yo teach on about where I been at all day. I gots all them words all up in my face and it ain't pretty. By which I mean to say - good pick-up. I've been reading and taking notes on a pile of writing today that is all in 'American' so it must have infected me. It's important that we all monitor these things and purge them with bursts of hideous stereotype before the letter 'u' becomes critically endangered.