Little Goffy

How about... 'His statisitcs are low and we would like him to be having more impact on games, but he is working very hard, getting to contests and not rarely being decisively beaten. He could at any moment have a really impressive breakout game (like the 2018 final) and if that form then sticks, we're talking about a seriously quality player.' In the meantime, let's just celebrate that his contract will be cheaper for now.

Well, there are 'superfood' brands that push it, but they annoy me just by calling themselves superfood brands. 'Green banana flour' is the most directly relevant search term. I can't offer much more than wikipedia, which does also have a whole collection of links at the bottom which seem up to date. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_flour Meanwhile, in other banana news, the nanny/police state is coming for our little yellow friends! https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-26/how-anti-terror-rules-shut-down-banana-festival-street-parade/11245390

Ha ha, thank you. But I'm sure it has been noticed that I still couldn't quite resist the need to say at least something about the topic. Mea Culpa. We are all miserable sinners on the internet.

Whenever I think about something like this, I am reminded of one simple rule: Never trade away someone named Josh Kennedy.

True story: Many people who consider that they may be some level of gluten intolerant will experiement by replacing a number of gluten-heavy foods (obviously breads) with low or non-gluten alternatives. One of the leading items in this is a bread made from bananas (not to be confused with the cafe snack 'banana-bread'). A feature of this banana product is that it has very high levels of various fibres and roughages which do an excellent job of clearing out the digestive system (much like Uncle Bitters on a good day at the mansion, so I hear). So, the people who have made the switch from gluten to gluten-free experience a significant improvement in digestion, even if they weren't actually gluten intolerant. A quite understandable round of confirmation bias kicks in and tada, they become really annoying at group dinners. Never underestimate the power of bananas.

Chris Fagan. I may be biased in favour of coaches who resurrect a prologned basketcase (Lions hadn't cracked a % of 70 in the previous three season, their drafting had been a mess and they were leaking good players faster than they could be found. Since he has come in, Brisbane have stopped the bleeding of young players while also actually getting real development out of them. They've gone from 'maybe next season they might scrape some kind of respectability' to 'lurking on the edge of the top 4'. Brisbane's position just a few years ago was so bad, Fagan's achievement this year would be like Mark Neeld taking us to finals in 2014.

I wonder how many of the mystery injuries and unexplained absences even from the Casey teams might be something similar? No harm trying it if the player is struggling to find form while playing. Clear their head, give them set focuses and no screaming gits each weekend.

Well, we can take some comfort in watching him bounce pathetically off Viney over and over. Sydney Stack, he ain't. Edit: Holy crap, I just looked at another angle of Walter's dive and he was already dropping his knees before Jones made contact! Took both feet off the ground and let himself fall forward onto Jones. Sniper and 'simulator' all in one game. I fear I'll be getting some 'behavioural awareness' attention next time we play freo.

Keep the pick if it is very very early or if there is a particular player we are very keen to make sure of. If it (hopefully) drifts down to the 7 or 8 range, then it becomes tradeable, though we must keep one live pick in the first round and I also think keeping ourselves with a reasonably early option is appropriate. I'm not keen on any 'top draft pick for a player' trades unless it is a truly exceptional player. And no, I don't count Ben Brown in that category, sorry.

One day, hopefully several years from now, this thread will be harvested for the Jack Viney retirement party. And it will be beautiful.

Depth tall defender, currently out of form, has shown better form in past. Not one you'd expect to cut from the list but also not, on any recent showings, one you'd expect to be pushing for senior selection unless there were injuries opening the door for him. And is there any chance people can accept that is where he is at without trying to pin every frick'n loss and stuff up in our entire season on him personally? Doesn't look like it, there will always be some with a bit of the 'ol predatory self-esteem.

Mathematically, Carlton can still finish 1st. My brother is a Blue and also an analytical genius. Would you believe that Carlton-to-1st scenario actually requires every club to win 11 games exactly?

Wins and strong performance and presenting ourselves as a united and purposeful club. Sure, it might make a few places difference in draft order. But that handful of slots in the order is instantly balanced by the better hand we've dealt ourselves when it comes to having a choice of trade targets and of players keen to join us. And all of that evaporates in comparison to even one quality free agent deciding they prefer us. It is one of those impossible to know probability things; if we get six more wins for the season, instead of three, does that make Lachie Whitfield pause and think 'I'll hold off signing with GWS a little longer, see how Melbourne go next year, because I know I would be a super-valuable player there and it could all come together perfectly.' I'd happily move from, say, 4th to 8th in the draft, just to keep alive the possibility of getting Whitfield as a free agent! Plus, paradoxically, a team performing well has an easier time re-signing players at lower salaries.

Funny, I've always thought of Frost as being a bit of a free wheel. Or was that... loose wheel? (I should put out a tips jar)

You're just saying that because he has had a longer tenure already than any St Kilda coach except Allan Jeans. Fun fact - even if Richardson coaches out the full season, finishing with an entire season longer in charge than Thomas or Lyon, he will still have coached fewer games than either of them!

I really didn't think we'd be passing anyone on percentage this season, but the Saints look like they have decided to dangle that particular carrot in front of us. Compared to their early season run, it would seem that it is their defensive side which is really falling away. Scores against the Saints Rounds 1 to 5 - 84, 65, 71, 69, 55 = 68.8 Since round 6 - 97, 114, 88, 112, 55 (Blues), 139, 76 = 97.3 And tonight's running tally of 113 with 20 minutes to go.

Seems to be bringing out the adventurer spirit in Sam Frost, that's for sure. Not pretending he's perfect, but it does feel comforting to know we have a strong tall defender who is pretty reliable for skill and composure with the ball. For us in the stands and for everyone within the club, I'd guess.

I didn't realise Brad Hill was still only 25 (26 in a couple of weeks). Interesting to see his recorded disposal efficiency (generally between 65-68%) isn't super high as might have thought it would be. However, he does get the ball inside 50, and effectively, he gains a LOT of ground, which you'd expect since he kicks three times more than he handballs. He is not a god of football, not a perfect player, but oh yes he would be supremely useful for us right now and for the forseeable future. Stephen Hill is a bit old but also a free agent. Would be a tricky balancing act of risk-reward given that he is showing signs of aging (with the recurrent quad problem the headline), a particlarly problem when your game uses so much speed and agility. I worry that if a trade did happen, Freo might want to use Hill as part of a package (swap of 1st-rnd picks) to get right to the top end of the draft, and I'm not keen on giving away any early pick that might come our way. Best solution as I see it, is for us to win a bunch of games, end up with our first pick being around 7 or 8, so we can talk about pick swapping without the angst of giving away a shot at absolute top-end talent. As with all things, best solution is to win more games.

Magner to a pocket.

Pretty sure Winmar was a diver, y'know. Ducking his head for frees and all that.

He's a high quality young player. but he's at a club that needs him more than we would need him, and he would cost more than would be appropriate to pay (in pick-equivalent and dollars). I think our trade-recruiting should be very focused on picking out specific players who meet our specific needs, and I don't see Parish as in that category. Overall I think we should also be very much looking at managing salary cap and keep a stash prepared to go after free agents, because that bypassing of trade/draft 'cost' is a huge bonus for building a list to reach the very top. Plus, I'm expecting pretty significant turnover from the tail-end of our list at the end of the season, so I really think we should be trying to hold onto multiple good draft picks to make sure there is some serious quality coming through the new kids.

What I want to know is, can he book travel and accommodation, take the minutes for board meetings, and answer calls at reception?

Nah. I could argue the point, I even typed it out, but now I've deleted because it is just going to end up being one of those odious back-and-forth threads where gradually people become more irritated and actually pump up their original soft opinions into more extreme versions just to annoy the other person who is annoying them. So just, nah. Brayshaw good. Better value than what we'd get in a trade. Our inside midfield is not actually that deep, either, so not an area we should talk about trading quality players out of.

Funny thing is, there wasn't anything like the level of crackdown or heavy-handed tactics wheeled out to deal with people getting hopelessly trashed and hurling abuse or starting punchups at Auskick and other kids-level footy games. Local community clubs were practically left to handle it themselves. And the 'behaviour' thug squads at Docklands didn't seem to do much to actually stop the really serious incidents of people dishing out constant vileness at anyone around them for a whole game, thanks to true gits lathered up with some generous 'preloading' of alcohol and kept slippy by the stadium's complete failure to actual do any basic responsible service of alcohol checks. Nobody looks at the chest-puffing lurkers the stadium calls protective and thinks 'oh, I'll ask those friendly looking fellows to come over and use their extensive training in conflict resolution and dealing with unruly behaviour, I'm sure they can take the heat out of the situation effectively and calmy'. No, lets not have any effort directed at the actual problems in the crowds. We've got themed rounds for all that [censored]. Meanwhile, I see the social injustice warriors have decided it is all part of the neo-marxist militant feminist gaygenda. Whoopeee do. One might almost think that the AFL knew they'd get away with anything, thanks to the right kinds of nuffies getting worked up and making it about their own wacky persecution complexes to the point where nobody else wants to go near it.

Hmm.. let's see... how much longer before it becomes a mathematical impossibility, even allowing for crazed gains in percentage? Current situation is we need, over the course of ten games: +4 wins (and %) over the single worst performer of Brisbane, Fremantle and Richmond, AND +3 wins (and %) over ALL of Port, Essendon and St Kilda. +2 wins (and %) over ALL of Hawthorn, Kangaroos and Bulldogs. If you accept the realistic view of our percentage then you need to turn those figures into +5, +4 and +3. Does anyone need a more solid 'nope' than that? I do! I'm just going to keep saying 'one more win' to myself until the end of the season. Like the players and coaches should be, except I'll also be maintaining my mad delusion.