Little Goffy

Darcy Moore tries to claim another spleen with five minutes to go.

Wow, Sydney with one win, over a celler-dweller, and five losses now capped by a monstrous loss. I have not seen a team implode so hard this late in a season and to this extent since... I'm going to say it... Essendon 2013. Not inferring anything. Or am I. No, I'm really not. The only thing Sydney have had injected is a bunch of free top-10 draft selections, and hubris.

Can't be right. If the Saints are on the top of the ladder, it isn't the top of the ladder anymore. You can check that quantum physics fact with Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

Your honour, the prosecution wishes to append some late evidence, in the form of a stuffed Swan.

That's a fair list. With Petracca injured, Fritsch mysterious low-impact for much of the season, and Windsor so young, it does also illustrate the issue. I have high hopes that we can become a much more worrying threat again next season. I'm very bullish about Tholstrup's capacity with each additional pre-season and it is obvious Windsor can become sublime once his fitness builds. Just at the moment we have the opposite problem to star-dependent Carlton - not quite enough players who can turn a moment to our favour through sheer personal dominance, and take the initiative away from the best-laid opposition planning.

Hmm, reflecting on the mention of Jackson as a loss. As well as being pretty versatile for a big guy, he had one thing which I think has been a particular shortage on our list even in the premiership year, which is 'dangerous' players. Petracca, of course, is the ultimate example of a player which oppositions have to plan for. I think we've seen all too clearly what happens when you take that sense of uncertainty away. Since the loss of Petracca we've not only had a simple 'amount of quality' missing, but a whole capacity to menace. Opposition midfields simply haven't had to fear us and as a result they have been able to go into full attack against us, maximising the advantage gained from clearances won and coming with the further consequence of completely wrecking our defensive strategy of forcing predictable entries to be eaten up by top quality defenders. I'm not saying attack is the best defence, but being in a position to attack does make your opponents cautious about what they do, and the greatest gift to defence is making things predictable. 2024 Demons is not that far different from 2021 except we haven't had the capacity to go 'Bang. Bang bang bang.' We need more bang in 2025 and that's what we should be drafting or trading for to push the proverbial window back open again.

Yes, we know.

Bizarre to think that of every team in the eight, there are only three established coaches (Scott, Fagan and Longmire) who haven't been seriously under the sacking microscope in recent years. Even they have had their brushes with ignominy, with Scott clearly squandering a dynasty, Fagan repeatedly failing in finals, and Longmire successfully navigating the politics of a tank...erm... I mean... a really very difficult two-year period in between qualifying final appearances.

The sweet irony of this coming after a loss to the resurgent, premiership-contending, Beveridge Bulldogs.

Footy Director at GWS from 2018-24. Hmm... on the scale of 'squandered dynasties' that sits just above the collapse of the Mongol Khanate.

Hmm I can see some issues with implementing this. We'll definitely need to introduce bumper boundaries which automatically fling the ball back into play whenever it goes out.

Essendon have Dockers, Suns and Swans at home the next three weeks. Could be interesting to see how their crowds go now that they've been out of the top 4 for two whole weeks. I It might hold up this weekend given they still have everything on the line, but a loss to the Dockers and their season is kaput. Essendon fans really don't turn up when it gets tough - their 2022 crowds included; 30k v Lions early in the season, then 25k v Crows 24k v Dockers 23k vs Suns 20k vs Port

'To award one Brownlow Medal to a player who should have been disqualified is unfortunate, to award two... looks like carelessness.'

I know it wouldn't be easy or likely - it would require us to win all four remaining games and for Geelong to drop two - but with both Collingwood and Essendon wilting while facing three top-4 teams still to come, could we please pull off the ridiculous miracle and sneak into finals at the specific expense of Geelong?

Oh no! The clue was too obvious! Up until that point I was sure it was something about their hair.

You have to give credit where it is due; Cranky Franky managed to complain, in a thread about the 2021 draft/trade period, about five of our players and four of Hawthorn's players without a single one of them being from the 2021 draft/trade period. Nine throws and not one in the dartboard. Right now I'm picturing Cranky Franky going into a KFC and demanding a Big Mac, and when they won't give it to him saying it proves they are too timid to handle his opinions on the cheese.

Be interesting to give him a game against the Bulldogs this coming weekend. "Okay, kiddo, our forward line has been our crucial weakness all year, and our season dies now if we lose this game, see what you can do."

On the topic of soft; https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/tg-collingwood-magpies?year=2016 A 9 win season with a percentage of 95, and the Pies got 17k against the Suns in round 22, 20k against the Eagles in round 14. Out of close to 900,000 supporters. There's your soft.

It is possible we just hate games against GWS, and also games at Docklands, and games in the final round of yet another miserable season after seven previous miserable seasons. Because, after all, that was the only game that season where we dropped below 22k in Victoria. One might even note that in 2014, one of the most miserable year for any given club this century and following on from the undisputed most depressing season since Fitrzoy folded, we managed 17k against the Giants late in the season. So the entire difference between Melbourne's 250,000 estimated supporters in the depths of the worst slump in the modern era, and Richmond with 500,000 supporters in their very first non-competitive season in 13 years... is two thousand. In fact, if you looked back over the figures you'd find, comprehensively, that our crowd attendances are the least affected by performance of any club. Each of us can have a whole lot of reasons to not show up for a particular game, but 'soft' has never, ever been one of them. We've got to send that McGuire-led myth to its grave.

Two separate points. 1. Winter saturday nights are a TV slot and attract poor crowds unless the AFL specifically sets up a 'blockbuster'. 2. Giant super-huge mega-awesome club of hardcore supporter terrific whoopdie-doo-daa, Richmond, got 19k against GWS at the 'G two weeks ago. Shush.

I thought a 'character building' was a heritage listed property with no door on the toilet and a colony of possums living in the badly bricked-up chimney cavity.

Can't speak for others, but I was just avoiding you.

When they're nauseous then next two mornings and their spouse and family are questioning whether football is worth the cost, they'll care.

I didn't want to think it. I know there's no joy or comfort in it. I know it never sticks and everyone who didn't watch any given game will assume it is just one-eyed fan sour grapes. I was almost sad we got back within a margin that meant the umpiring was bad enough to be the difference. Even way back in our dominant first quarter, GWS were getting gimmes. Unfortunately, short of there being a recorded message on someone's phone which then leaks to the public, there will never be any way to press home the implication that the umpires are well aware of The Corporation's favourites.

That kid will probably have their own 12 year old before Essendon win a final. Chasing Collingwood's run at pick 4. It gives me great joy to know that this season we have broken the souls of both Geelong and Essendon. Well, soul-analagous synthetic devices, anyway.