Little Goffy

Delusion number 1, check. See you all next week, I think I'm going to have a nice lie down!

If I were Melksham, just for a laugh I'd be making a little compilation video of himself slotting goals from outside 50, and just quietly posting it to instagram with a wink at the umpire who called him to play on with barely a minute left. Maybe even add an extra one from exactly the spot he was on.

Melksham is among the best half-forwards in the game right now. Currently easily our leading goalkicker, goal assist, score involvements and, incredibly, marks inside 50. Without him, we'd be dead last right now... ah frak. But my point is, you don't shuffle around one of your few players who are doing a really good job in the role they are in. I mean, I'm sure Gawn would offer us something valuable full-time in the forward line, too, but I'm not about to call for him to leave the ruck!

We are also removing players from the 22 in precise balance above and below the average height pf the team. Seriously, look it up.

@Ash35 Surely among our best contributors to the forum, despite not being a Demon personally. Another round of applause (and no booing) for the living opposite of a troll.

Pishposh, contract schmontract. I should've mentioned that contract, but the main thing it means is that Himmelberg can't be traded out unless he agrees to it. So, if it so happens that Melbourne's need of an extra, competitive and team-oriented key forward remains glaring, and GWS finds itself under the pump for salary cap room keeping Coniglio, then all could work out nicely. Himmelberg goes from 'also-played' (with the possibility of being the fourth key forward with all types covered) to being a fixture, Melbourne get the role-player they need, and GWS relieves a little salary cap room and gains presumably a second-round pick to help shape their other potential trades.

I'll throw in my vote for trying to get Tipungwuti, and I'm a big fan of free agents because I'm convinced that not having to give up draft picks or anything else list-wise to get them is an absolute rort, so Stephen Coniglio, come on down! But here's a suggestion from way out, which actually caught me by surprise. Horses for courses, value for money, etc etc He's young, he's tall, he takes marks on a lead inside 50, and he is third in the league for goal assists this season, he fills a specific need without costing a first-round pick, and he is stuck in a queue behind multiple top-end key forwards at his current club, he is: (drumroll please) Harrison Himmelberg!

If we are comparing veterans with Carlton, there's a quality element to consider. Right now only Gawn and Melksham are without doubt among our better players, even Jetta was out of form before his injury. For Carlton, Murphy, Kruezer and Simpson are absolutely crucial players, and in two week's time all three will be over-30. Still, no pretense here, Carlton's young onball group is spectacular, led by the current best inside midfielder in the game Cripps and the onball all-rounder teenage brilliance of Walsh, neither of which you could sensibly trade for any other player on offer. I think a certain comparison can be made between Carlton and the pre-resurgence Richmond. They have a group of currently young or youngish players who can provide the core, in the event that in a few year's time they hit a jackpot for a couple of drafts and trade sessions.

Seems like everyone has forgotten that this is an odd numbered year. We never had a chance.

And all because AFLHQ is still upset about the Swans 'ugly' premiership almost 15 years ago. Hmm, we start hoping that this year's draft has a kid of the quality of Sam Walsh? (Currently the best debut season by anyone ever)

Not seen in over a century of football until recently. I wonder what it was that was wrong with women that was preventing them umpiring, that has been cured now? ?

Seems to happen with a lot of things. So long as it is just something that drifts through and happens to be there, yep. But if you actually have to stop and make a conscious, deliberate decision to watch, you'll decide it isn't worth the trouble. Now imagine how many movie reruns you've watched over the decades that you would never have bothered with if you'd actually had to pick them from a menu! At least the football involves real people and a real contest and the storyline is at least a little bit different each time. Meanwhile, not sure what to feel about Carlton giving the Hawks a belting in the first half here. Does this confirm the theory that the Hawks aren't actually that great right now and we've got a chance to hunt them next weekend, or does it just mean (MFCSS warning) that the Hawks will cop a blast during the week and come out firing and disciplined against us?

Matsuo, as is screechingly obvious, I was responding to the way people were reacting to the article itself. And for what it is worth, your earlier claims about 'Pendles, Danger etc would not have throughts about finals not being guaranteed' are just ridiculous, even a perfect inversion of reality. I swear, you're coming across as one of those people who are addicted to "Be a Winner" seminars and "Rich Dad Poor Dad" style self-help books. So much anger stirred up in you against what is just basic, normal, and practical humility.

People are weird, hey? Quote: "Only actions can get us out of the fix we are in" Response: "Shows how mentally weak you are"

Lol, come on now, it is not as if the Bulldog's player ran, from behind, clearly after the mark had been taken, directly through the area Scully was anticipating breaking loose into, when there was nobody else on hand to prevent Scully just scooting directly past his much slower opponent.

Wow! You're not kidding there. First in 2016 and 2017, fourth in 2018 and now practically lapping the field in 2019. Interesting that their free kicks 'for' isn't that far off normal, but there is a consistent pattern of very few free kicks against them. It must just be the super-clean and honourable culture of the club... uh huh. And today's trivia - at this stage only one Bulldogs player features in the top 100* for free kicks against, that would be 19yr old Ed Richards, at equal 74th with 1.4 per game. Meanwhile, all of Macrae, Wallis, Liberatore and Bontempelli feature in the top-30 for free kicks in their favour, and 6 more feature in the top 100. *stats are average per game and don't include tonight's game against Freo.

For what it is worth, our next two opponents are the two worst clearance teams (on differential) this season, and Gold Coast have just shown how vulnerable they are even from centre clearances. Meanwhile, something to watch for tonight just out of curiousity, Bulldogs have an incredible, as in, not credible, suspicious even, Free kick difference to opponents of 7.2 per game, with only Collingwood having more than 3 (3.7) out of all other teams. If someone can explain to me what is going on there, I'd love to know. It's not as if they are getting first to the contest or laying lots of effective tackles! Meanwhile, what ze ell, I've just been finding a commentary led by BT and I think even featuring Billy Bronwnless, amusing and informative. The world has gone mad. Surely it was just a flash in the pan, they can't keep this up, can they?

Break-out game? But seriously, is that 14 posessions with a bunch of intercept marks and a haul of 1%ers, or are Casey's defenders just chipping back and forward nervously while Richmond block things up between the arcs?

I've only got the online radio, and even then I can barely watch.

Actually, he is at present having his worst season for us, so this is actually as bad as it gets! He also, for what it is worth, is managing to average a goal assist per game, which is elite level especially when considering our overall scoring dysfunction. Between his goal assists and his goals, he's had a direct hand in close to 20% of our scoring this season. If you piece together the statistical picture of goals, goal assists, score involvements, contested marks, tackles inside 50 and marks inside 50, Petracca is second only to Melksham as our most effective forward. And our forward line is basically those two and fresh (perhaps foul) air. He is also playing close to 90% game time, a level normally only reserved for stay-at-home key defenders, so maybe he looks a bit slow at times because he is picking up slack while a bunch of kids and most of our midfield is getting a full 15 minutes extra rest each game? The more I dig, the more I feel that for all his highly visible fumbles and moments of apparent lethargy, he is actually playing a really important roel and is far from being a liability. In the time it took me to look things up properly since starting this reply, I've shifted my opinion. CHRISTIAN PETRACCA IS ACTUALLY AMONG OUR BEST PLAYERS THIS SEASON HE IS BEING HUNG OUT TO DRY BECAUSE HE HAPPENS TO BE HIGHLY VISIBLE STUCK IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WASTELAND CAUSED BY OTHER'S IMPLODING AROUND HIM That's right, bold and caps lock. I'm on the warpath. Lay off Petracca, he is being a trooper out there, wading through swamps that others wont go near for fear of being picked out for criticism in exactly the way we are currently picking out Petracca.

More sensible than the trade Brayshaw rumblings a couple of seasons ago, but I don't see us getting value in any given trade, and I still see the prospect of a match-winner. He could be our more brutish (but less mouthy) version of Akermanis, all things going well, and that's not something you toss away for at best a mid first round pick.

Alright, here we go, here's how it would, could, might, in theory happen - Hawks aren't actually that good, they haven't beaten anyone impressive. The four days off trick will work and we will come in with a calmer mind and better focused on what needs to be done. Disposal efficiency climbs, workrate at least reaches adequate. Win number 2 goes on the board. We're 2-5 after 7 rounds. Suns just barely scraped their three wins against highly variable opposition and have had a bit of luck. They were exposed by an Adelaide side that still isn't really hitting great heights of their own. Their confidence will be down after being belted in Perth by an angry Eagles side. We go 3-5, and start to believe. I wont make any pretences about our chances against the Eagles at this stage. 3-6 after nine rounds and we are still right on the edge of season over. But just maybe we turn up with some fight and at least show we're still a meaningful team - part of the healing, redeption process. The Giants are still up and down and massively rely on a few stars to make them potent. Simon Goodwin pulls his first ever genius positional move and somehow matches the right players to lock down on Coniglio and Whitfield. Demons finally rediscover their forward connection and just barely come through in a low-margin shootout game for the ages. We are 4-6 and starting to believe. Round 11, we return to the Northern Territory to hunt Crows, and just like last season this is the game where things really turn. Just like last season, Adelaide wilts under the weight of lost contests and clearances. Not like last season's hammering, but an important win. We are 5-6 and looking like a menace. Queens Birthday at the MCG. We've begun to get some players back from injury, even if not stars, May, Smith, Vandenberg and Hannan have all been trickling back into the team and giving us a deeper team capable of holding their end up while the stars do their thing. Headlines start reading "Where were these Demons at the start of the year" and players respond with "we will never be caught napping in pre-season again". Incredibly, we are 6-6 at the halfway point of the season. With Lever coming back after the long break and the team finding a new solidarity and commitment, and the coaches having learnt a valuable lesson in flexibility and tactical initiative, the pieces come together and the Demons are now a team to take seriously for the second half of the season. Before you know it, we've knock over four quick wins against the unreliable Dockers, tiring Lions and Blues, and ever-stumbling Bulldogs. We are 10-6 and now the ONLY team in the competition that has managed a consistent run of wins. Suddenly, it is possible to speculate about our chances against in the Eagles, back up in the NT. It is like a whole new reality has dawned in ten weeks. So, there it is, each small delusion builds into the next. Each one only a moderate madness in itself, but when you get to the end you look back and go... naaaah, that is just total, absolute madness. If it happens, I expect not only to be given an award for my prediction, but to actually be given credit for the whole thing happening and installed as an assistant coach responsible for miracles.

Well, in this month's edition of Ben Cunnington is a sniping *****, we have some kind of Marvel-inspired dance-attack elbow to the face of Brad Ebert. So... nearest the pin guesses what excuse the tribunal will find to downgrade it to a fine, or will he maybe even get a whole week this time?

Falling is both faster and more alarming than climbing! Hmm, to be fair, I'm not sure how it compares to sitting at the bottom being gnawed at by rats that are in better shape than you are, which is roughly the 2013 experience as I recall it. Anyway, we do actually have a core of A-grade players, who have even managed to hold form during the slump. Surely the thing for kids is to focus on those great, hopefully charismatic players, to get through the rough times. Hell, for a few years there Matthew Richardson kept Richmond fans going just by the personal bond of knowning, even seeing, that he shared the pain and frustration. Even if it did slightly diminish him as a footballer!

It might not make a difference for every player currently out of form, but if it makes a difference for even one in three, while not doing any harm to the others, then it would be well worth it. Just by the odds it should come in handy, when you consider just how many players are well, well down on 2018 typical form, and that we have, as far as I can see, no players who have improved significantly on 2018. Meanwhile, players who are yet to even have a single game to the standard that was their average for 2018 include: Hibberd, McDonald, McDonald, Spargo, Lewis. And the list of other strugglers includes: Viney, Jones, Frost, Nibbler, Weideman, Petracca, Spargo, Fritsch, and even Jetta. Add it up, that's 14 players who were in or on the edge of our starting 22 most of last season, who are all well off form. Add in half a dozen injuries to the best 22, you've actually only got five players who have sustained respectable form into the new season: Gawn, Melksham, Brayshaw, Oliver and Salem Long story short, anything that might turn around the form of the 14, without risking that of the 5, is worth a try. And I'm quite happy to think short term right now because for me it is still all about clinging on with our nails until we get about a third of our best-22 back mid-season. I know it is fantasy, but beat the Hawks then beat Gold Coast...