Little Goffy

Well, they caused us all kinds of trouble by sending their tall forwards on long leads up the wing providing marking target after target, and then still having a tall available close to goal. Could work very well with their little collection of smart zippy types in support, too. I'd especially rate Curnow as a player capable of being a marking target but then instantly becoming a tall midfielder if the ball gets loose. There's some danger in this Blues squad, even if they aren't quite getting it together just now.

Crows will have certainly worked out that pick 1-3 is a toss up for them, so would love to finish the season with a string of wins and climbing out of last place. Carlton adding to the body of evidence that 'blowing it completely' is the theme of 2020.

What I'm really looking forward to is more 4-day turnarounds between games. What the game needs, more than anything else, is more off-field powerbroker factors having more influence on the actual sporting contest.

As is often the case, Wilson is not really wrong but you have to wonder why the obvious and inevitable scuffling at one club approaching the end of a mostly disappointing season is worthy of a feature article by the Chief Football Writer?

Number of players and staff in the AFL hub system X frequency of routine testing / number of false positives = false positive rate Let's see, for round number's sake lets say that 1000 people, tested weekly, for a total of 20,000+ tests. So the false positive rate is 20,000+ to Conor McKenna. That the McKenna stuff-up was such a scandal does, indeed, highlight how accurate the test is and is expected to be.

Later down the same page - Due to the urgent nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of SARS-CoV-2 tests have undergone an expedited assessment by the TGA to enable their legal supply in Australia. These expedited assessments are based on the limited clinical and performance data currently available. All SARS-CoV-2 tests currently approved for supply are required to provide updated evidence to support the ongoing safety and performance of the tests to the TGA. Which is to say, medical researchers, unlike yourself, openly acknowledge when data is of a lower standard than the extraordinary expectations they normally operate on, and in the circumstances a number of testing methods have been approved on stringent conditions of continuous performance reporting, and that, to date, the existing approved tests have performed to the standards required. Or, to put it another way for those in the sniper gallery, the tests are performing to the required exceptionally high standard, but because people other than Elegt are in charge of medical research it is still deemed necessary to closely monitor for any issues. This is also why we aren't drinking cow urine or gargling hot vodka to cure the illness.

I just had this ridiculous notion that it could be possible for one of our chief rivals for that spot in the 8 to blow their chance even worse than us, and keep the season alive for one more week. But that would be madness. Not even 2020 can get that stupid.

Y'know, considering what a MASSIVE TOTAL FAILURE OF HUMANITY these last four years have been, it's kind of funny that Goodwin is currently just a fraction behind the likes of Northey and Daniher for win rate. I'm not saying 'Whoopee everything is fine' but it is possible that not everything has gone to crup just yet. The evident coaching problems of lack of creativity on gameday and lack of consistency in player performance are known and must be addressed, but Goodwin is no spud, even if he looks a bit like one when he wrinkles his forehead. And, yeah, there is still the '2020 is the worst year in living memory' factor.

I'm quite sure the AFL will find a way to schedule our final game for the sunday night and then have us play an elimination final on wednesday. After all, limping into finals by some freak occurence and then being utterly splattered while also feeling we were never given a fair run by the system is just perfect Melbourne.

Interesting spin by Richmond, 'we take no responsibility for our players, you're all quite welcome to dump on them individually, there is no larger problem here... again'.

Sick relatives, newborn babies, anxiety attacks, desperate homesickness... But heaven forbid, another month without getting sauced and looking at [censored]. Richmond have proven themselves serial offenders on every level of arrogance. The 'slip ups' generosity we all offer is exhausted and it's clear they've made a choice of what kind of culture they want to have. I'm freshly re-motivated to see us make the finals just for the chance to lay into this overstuffed git-King of a club. Finish eighth, they'll land in fifth. The hunt is on.

If there is one...

Excellent, we'll grab him cheap as a category B rookie.

Doesn't Jeff White also have a Taj coming through? I wonder how many we can collect? (If any)

My thoughts go to Daniel Bell, who last I heard was already struggling with aspects of brain damage from his string of playing concussions when he was barely 30. The long layoffs for Brayshaw might not only have saved him as a player but also saved him a lot of grief as a human being, and the contrast with Bell are a pointer to how far we've come and how important it is to get it right.

Personally, I'm shocked we didn't already have a thread for this.

It's a big step. Was a clear determination during the week after the implosion against the Dogs. Hugely glad that they got the reward and positive reinforcement for working on it. Ahh, it's good to be a demon for a few days at least. Love those learnings, yeah, love those learnings.

I'm just going to add some exclamation marks for everything already said here. !! ! ! !!! ! ! ! ! !!! ! !!i!i!!i!!ii!!!!I!!!!!i!i!!!

What odds can you get now? Damn, football is a fickle and cruel mistress this year.

Again? But wait, they didn't tank last time they tanked.

I think we can take some comfort int he fact that no matter who wins this game, nobody gets to go home feeling like they matter. My two most disliked clubs and they are both in the levitating potato category. Also, doesn't matter for finals if Essendon win, because either we'll beat them and end the story that way, or we'll lose to them and the rest is dust anyway.

With the Tigers, it is important to remember that their past era of success got them as far as colour TV and established them with a firm presence in the early commercial era. It also established a club culture of 'we are an important club, even our crapness is important'. Whereas Melbourne don't have recent enough, visible enough, glory era to refer to so our failures aren't interesting in the same way an the sense of 'we'll be back soon, so support us' doesn't hold as strong. Of course, you can also look at the Bulldogs, who have been a regular contender with many stars of the game in the last 25 years, but who completely failed to turn that into serious fan growth. And the exemplar of that, of course, is North Melbourne. As for the current situation, I think one of the recent headlines summed it up - you can't trust us. Every time we look like we've turned a corner, every time we have a high profile game, we blow it. Only sustained, respectable performances will change that. And that is entirely a matter of having a mature, professional culture. I still think we're a lot closer to respectability than we were five years ago, but we really, really need to push for finals this year. Just barely missing out might be 'okay' if 2021 goes well because, really, who is going to look at 2020 as a reference point in future. But, really, the best way would be to win all our remaining games, storm into finals and at least knock a couple of overcooked pretenders out - it would be ideal to get a reputation as the club which picks off the smug, entitled clubs.

I can't help wondering - Mr Pickett is at work, and Australian workplace harassment laws do cover harassment by non-colleauges (i.e. customers, members of public). I don't know, obviously I'm just reaching out for any possible new way to attack the problem without invoking totalitarian powers. How do you change the shadowy and miserable corners of people's hearts? All we can do, it seems, is try to support and reward each other's better natures.

It'll upset a few people, but Nibbler is exactly the type we need to add to our forward mix. Can't wait to get him back from serving Shaun Burgoyne's suspension. I wonder who will be picked to serve the rest of Dalhouse's suspension? Could be Nibbler again!

Surely the lack of pressure up forward against the bulldogs points to an opportunity for Harmes to prove himself up there. Has the fitness to keep chasing, knows how to tag and tackle, tall enough to cause trouble for any given opponent, and has shown he can counterattack and kick a goal. He's nowhere near his most effective where he is at the moment and our small forwards truly shamed themselves on the weekend.