Little Goffy

What an 'interesting' mess of a season. Keeps the possibilites just that little bit alight. Excellent to see Adelaide still not quite getting it together. Keeps my 'on the hunt' dreams alive for the NT game. I'll be at the Western Sydney / Carlton game tomorrow and will try to report as much as I can on GWS from up close. On another note, 'our' Bernie Vince seems to be going alright on the MMM commentary panel, currently doing Geelong-Bulldogs.

All still going to schedule. One small delusion at a time.

Four years ago we would've been quietly celebrating another good prospect getting their first game under their belt, and looking forward to the future. I know the urgency of getting full-AFL-level performances out of our best-22 overrides that a little, but at a personal level for him, and as a note for the future of the club, I'd say we've got a live one here. Thinking in ludicrously optimistic terms, but this current form slump and injury horror show has allowed a whole lot of young and fringe players to be tested or to get a little experience. It helps answer a lot of questions that might otherwise have only been faced once some of our current core players begin retiring.

Personally, I think the yips is actually something pretty deep on its own. Has practically ruined whole seasons for star players. Remember when Brad Johnson started running around the mark for shots, even if he was supposed to be line up from about 30 out? Anyway, probably cost us a game, so I hope they are getting their best mechanics and shrinks onto it fast.

I'm concerned about his injuries and managing them because I want 'top rate' Jack Viney out there, because at his best he is seriously A-grade. Not too worried about his personality though.

Petracca clearly not happy about the responsibility of taking the shot. Aaaand there it goes. Still, in 4 minutes we've outscored our entire Prelim Final first half...

Gee, Tim Smith will be feeling the pressure. Will probably get text messages at half time from Preuss, saying things like 'I hope you're enjoying borrowing my spot, just bring it back with the tank full'. Honestly, I go into this game with a 'nothing to lose ' attitude. The whole AFL world will be expecting us to get a whacking, and even my plan for an incrementally delusional path to later season greatness doesn't include a win tonight. Still, y' never know. And a win tonight would completely turn the story around, our early season horrors would be declared just that, and people would start praising our character and maturity. And of course, when you win, you can mention your injuries whenever you like.

Inside or outside?

Oh! That was him!? The same person? I knew there was a reason I was confused. Really does look totally different, body and head. That's what happens when you rely too much on the online radio.

Carlton may yet brew up something respectable, even dangerous. It looks like they've got a No.1 pick exactly right this time, and adding such a complete midfielder to their mix makes a huge difference. Right now they could do with an extra big body or two to take some of the contested pummeling, but overall their existing young midfield quartet (Cripps, Walsh, Dow, Petrevski-Seton) has real potential. I'd argue they need to bring that up to six instead of four, with the extra two being chunky types. As we all know, all too well, it is much easier to find solid, hard-working extractors than it is to find dynamic users. They recruited their talls first on the obvious theory that talls take longer to develop and they wanted everyone peaking at the same time. Injury (defence) and form (attack) issues have certainly proved that right, but the structure is there. I really think they could rise again to their heady heights of a few years ago, where they were successful also-rans in a couple of finals series. Meanwhile, I think Melbourne are two fit key defenders, a couple of in-form tall forwards, and slightly improved kicking effectiveness short of being the dominant team of the competition. Can we make those things happen in time to salvage 2019? From where we are right now, all it takes is six players finding their way to their best. (Lever at his best) + (May at his best) + (McDonald at his best) + (Weideman at his best) + (Brayshaw at his best) + (Viney at his best) = Monster winning streak and premiership favourite. It is a lot to ask, but also not much to ask, in the grand scheme of things.

More solidly built than I had the impression of. Maybe I just got distracted by the talk of speed and flair, normally reserved for the skinny types, or Riolis! With a little luck he can be our Dean Kent replacement. HA! ?

I wonder if this can be merged into the 'worst team kicking inside 50' thread, as it would seem relevant. If we only retain posession 1 time in 4 from kicks inside 50, maybe there's no harm in taking the literal long shot once in a while. If it falls short, well, there's still the possibiltiy of a contest at the drop. The unrealiability of the torp becomes a variability, an unpredictability, which mixes up our attacks and makes things just that little bit more chaotic. If our strategy going inside 50 is to have so many happening that the defenders eventually crack and their system breaks down and we come through in 6 goal waves before they are organised again, surely adding that extra factor to consider just adds to the useful chaos. New team rule: if you take a mark, are within 80m of goal, don't have a clean option, and not too close to the boundary, feel free to launch a torp and see where it lands.

I think there's a typo. Actually the clubs have to bid to NOT get an AFLX licence.

666 - Centre bounce clearances become more important, and players have to be more alert during the transition from the 'forced' start positions to the 'true' play positions, and can get exposed with a little bit of confusion. My guess is, especially combined with runner restrictions, this is most of all a problem for young teams, both in body (crunched at the stoppage) and mind (out-positioned in play). Well, that is to say, young teams and imperfectly drilled teams. And especially players who are both skinny and dumb! Extended kick-in; the trouble with encouraging people to play on, is that once you start running off in whatever direction you pick, you've signalled where the ball is goign to go. So an extra couple of meters of run is basically worthless because who cares about being two meters further from your goal-line when what matters is where the ball is going and what the contest will be like there? 100m penalty rule; roll dice to see who and when this affects. Just idiotic. Stoopid stoopid stoopid. 'Solution' to a non-problem, that creates a much bigger problem. And just for the sake of feeding the conversation - here's an interesting article that actually uses example clips of what happened in pre-season. ABC March 21 Rule Changes article

I knew a guy who was connected, had a top lawyer through family in the Serbian Mafia. He reckoned he had been let off for a 'first offense' driving about six times. I wonder if Ablett's perfect record might be a little similar. Judd's record was remarkably clean, two time brownlow and all that, considering he was actually a pretty dirty player all things considered.

Step by step, one small delusion at a time. Seriously, anything is possible if you keep each delusion small. Remember last week when Sam Frost was a match-saver? And this week when what-the-exploding-kitten-was-that happened in the last minute? Clearly delusional, but small, so they slip through the net.

Don't forget Phil Davis. Though this also supports Moonshadow's comment that they have mostly used high draft picks to get these players. Seems to be something in particular that Adelaide a good at recruiting for/developing, and if there is a particular person responsibly in the coaching staff then we should be throwing sacks of money and love at them to help us make the most of the Lever-May-Hibberd competent interceptor combination. Well, 'combo' might be stretching it since we seem to be averaging less than one on the field at a time! But, y'know, since our whole defensive gameplan seems to rely on having tall/mid-tall defenders capable of reading the play and being in the right place to slow or repel opposition rebounds, it would be good to a) have them on the park and b) getting the best possible coaching support.

Well, seems to me the outs need to be Hibberd (inj) and Lewis (inj or form, choose), while Keilty clearly takes a rest. Garlett... hmm. Let's see what we have available. Preuss is obviously in, replacing Keilty. Definitely a gain. Tim Smith had a good day at Casey and I'd argue that we could use any marking/contesting help we can get out West. Looks like Nibbler will be 'fresh to go' for a day of run run run. What troubles me is we have no apparent half-back replacements for Hibberd or Lewis, unless Kolodjasnij suddenly gets a miraculous all-clear.

I'm just going to add myself to the Salem love party here. Not many characteristics earn a player more respect than showing consistency when your team is being highly unreliable. As others have ntoed, he also has a 'completeness' as a footballer that would make it perfectly reasonable to wish for three or four of him on your list, without any worry about team balance or positions.

If anyone cares to reflect on Jones' loyalty in tough times, consider this - Robert Flower: 272 Games, 88 wins, no draws, 184 losses Nathan Jones: 272 Games, 86 wins, 3 draws, 183 losses. Another side note, since his debut he has missed a total of 11 games.

Explain to me, how a team can be smashing the clearances, almost double the tackles, have 50 more disposals and 20 more inside 50s, and the game can still be tight. Silver lining... umm... if we get our kicking together (or at least choose to kick) and learn to stick some marks (or at least go for them a bit more) then things could transform rapidly... Edit: Oh, yes, also, kick for goal a bit better.

Pushing rope out there, seriously. Maybe they are saving all their skills for the final quarter? Or it could be like an election tribute - a sort of round-by-round gerrymander where for each game they do just enough to barely, unimpressively win, and yet on a general support of 51% come away with every seat in parliament... Or not.

Anyone get the feeling that the cultural institution of football itself is losing this game?

Would like to see the tackles add up a bit more for the rest of the game. Interesting that we're still winning the clearances even though Max isn't dominating the hitouts. Still, main thing is, it looks like we have actually turned up to play.

Best thing about that is, if Carlton aren't in for a painful day, then with the way expecations are going, Collingwood will have to be in for a long painful day instead. The perceived mismatch is so great that there is almost a zero-sum game for supporter angst - every moment of relief for Carlton adds an equal amount of frustration for Collingwood.