Little Goffy

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...

From an ancient (2014) article at Hawthorn " Yze played a key role in harnessing the Hawthorn players' elite kicking skills as they developed into the AFL's deadliest team in front of goal over the past two seasons. Since 2010, the team's accuracy has soared from 48 per cent to 57.1 per cent. " Of course, that could just be because Buddy left at the end of 2013 Ooh, actually, I stand corrected, even Franklin had dramatically improved his accuracy by the time he left. Oh, we've just got to get Yze in.

I didn't see footage as I only had radio to work from, but the commentators there expressed a moment of 'ooof that looks nasty' about the throw, followed by a fair bit of chatter about the 'bad look' and 'leader shouldn't be doing that' of the repeated shoving and elbow. So, something happened and it raised some eyebrows, but that's all I can add.

A shame Alex Sexton signed up with Gold Coast, he'd be handy about now. Alright, others have already noted just how perfectly some of the big fish would suit us, like Coniglio and Tomlinson, so I'll see what might be in the bargain basement bin, since we'll probably have quite a few list spots to fill anyway... Nope. On further thought, I don't think we'll do much good with the bargain basement free agents at all. We need weapons, sharp slashing shiny blades, and I just can't see where they are available at the moment because even the 'just pretty good' ones are proving so useful as the cream on top of the well-organised cakes of the successful clubs, nobody wants to toss them out. Only thing to give hope is that these players rarely go right at the start of the draft so we can at least make a run at finding a few dangerous diamonds in the rough mid-to-late draft.

Zero point trying to 'extend his career' by playing him in the less bash-and-crash roles, if the result is his career dribbles away ignominiously. Best option I can see is to throw him in the guts so he can do what he has always done, dig on in. We can't rely on always winning clearances and Jones at least has always been able to pile on and limit how often and how cleanly clearances break against us. He is a losing sides favourite onballer, so to speak. No, he wont do it to the kind of elite standard we like to see from Oliver and Brayshaw or an in-form Viney, but he will work hard at it and I think the simplicity and familiarity of the task will help him. In a way, oddly, it is a bit like giving simple instructions to young nervous players. In effect, he become the 'Preuss supporting Gawn' act of the inside mids. There to take his share of the hammering, and be competent and a factor the oposition has to plan for, but he is not the weapon. He's part of the armor. If we want to extend his career, we accept that he'll need to be rested a few times a season. But you've always got to try to put people in the positions they are most effective at, and our young mids are mostly a bit more flexible in their role than Jones.

Well, we've got Hawks (1-1) Suns (2-0) Eagles (1-1) Giants (1-0) and Crows (2-0) coming up, so I guess realistically we should expect to be 5 wins 6 losses at the halfway mark of the season. Sounds good to me. Then we get all our injured players back and stomp home to sneak into the top 4 with 9 wins from the remaining 12 rounds, helped by the even ladder. Remember, we're still only two wins out of the 8, and three out of the top 4! Woo hoo!

Am I too late to play, I swear I haven't seen any pressers yet. 1. Proud that we were able to play something like 'the Melbourne way' in the first quarter. 2. Proud that we showed a defensive edge and didn't leak goals under pressure in the second. 3. Disappointed that late in the game our concentration lapsed, which resulted in a scoreline that I thought we did better than. 4. We have something to work with and will go into next weeks game against Hawthorn with a much clearer view of what still needs to be worked on. 5. No, the season is not over for us, we have a great opportunity to play 'the Melbourne way' next week against quality opposition, and really set ourselves up for a return to form. I think our supporters can begin to believe that we are beginning to begin to turn the beginning of a corner.

Will hold on tight for the white-knuckle ride to see if we can claw together enough wins to still be relevant by mid-season, by which time we'll have Smith, Lever, Vandenberg, Hannan and hopefully May all back. 5 players I'd all want in right now purely on type and role, all of whom would be directly replacing a serious underperformer. Makes the second half of this season a whole different proposition. OR If we beat the Tigers tonight, I'd have to believe that we could beat the Hawks next week and the Suns the week after. And then we'd be 4-4 after round 8 and anything is possible again. Aye, the delusions are back, doctor.

I liked Petruccelle and like several Demonlanders was keen on grabbing him in that draft. My obsession at the time being, like most people, that we lacked speed, but also had and still have a running theme of 'we lack really dangerous players'. But having said that, the kid has all of five games to his name and that has included one really good game one the weekend, but still only one. Spargo's form was always very 'kid-like' last year and has fallen off a cliff to start this year, but he is not a write-off. Fritsch on the other hand is probably the highest-performed player of any that were available at pick 31, and remains so despite his weaker start to 2019. So, as much as Petruccelle is someone it would be great to have, I don't think it is useful to make 'if only' comparisons.

Nothing has become clearer than that our gameplan relied on having the greatest midfield dominance in the history of all time. A real Brisbane Fab-Four and West Coast mid-2000s style continuous control of clearances and scraps. And when our group of excellent young mids are all in form, with the game's best ruckman stomping around as well, that goes alright. But how can you rely all day, each week, on a gameplan that relies on not actually needing to defend much because you are always winning the ball? We could win 2-to-1 in the clearances, but if the other side actually works in their defense, it wont add up to much if we aren't working on ours.

Well, let's see how they go tonight. One thing in our favour for the ANZAC Eve game, quite a few of our players will have fresh legs. Having said that, clearly Spargo and Corey Wagner are eminently replaceable, with the obvious in being Garlett, and I guess Stretch gets another run at AFL, as much as the very thought will have a few peopl tearing their hair out.

I feel like maybe I am lucky that I can't actually see this game. We're less than three goals down, Demonland is erupting like bubonic pustules, the radio commentary are muttering and shaking their heads, the stats are saying we're just about the worst in history for prevent an opposition inside-50 turning into a goal, several veterans are being frankly inadequate, Jetta is sore, and a bunch of young players who not so long ago we would talk about as the completing pieces of a premiership puzzle we are now talking about dragging. All sounds truly horrible and almost hard to believe. That's the pain, right there. It is just hard to believe. I just hope we claw back a bit of grit and manage to get through to a win so we can keep stumbling on through this season with something still to aim for, once (hopefully) we do find form.

Hey guys, I've been busy all afternoon, any final word on whether Preuss is playing today?

Surely, surely we are taking Watts? No? I'll see myself out...

It is starting to look like our real problem is that we still struggle to compete against the top teams, same as last year. Just unfortunate we started the season against three of the major rivals for top 4? Having said that, I'd still prefer Essendon to fall in a hideous heap.

I've missed something here, what is 'TWSNBN'? The Western Suburbs National Broadband Network?

Based on history with St Kilda and looking at team sheets, I'm starting to get worried about the Burce/Membrey pair. Not that they will have sepctacular games, but that they could end up with four goals each just by following the process and being ready with lead-mark-goal on the end of St Kilda's fast movement and our loose and spacious defense. Anyone want to help calm me down on that, what might the plan be?

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We are two wins and percentage our of the top four. Totally doable.

This is an idea that probably should have been tried.

The next Shane Valenti, or possibly even James Magner! But seriously, it is too early to be having hindsight!

Right now I see a team/club which moves a bit like a long chain dangling either side of a pulley. As soon as one 'side' of this metaphorical chain has even a little bit more weight on it, the chain begins moving faster and faster until it is hurtling over from the accumulating weight of the chain on that side. We either successfully break our opponent's confidence, concentration and structure, or we fail to do so and immediately lose our own confidence, concentration and structure. We pile on inside-50s in the hope that their defence breaks under the pressure and holes appear everywhere, resulting in a rapid avalanche of goals for us. But if they keep their composure, we find ourselves unable to cope with the pressure of a constant stream of rebound-50s, we end up with holes everywhere, and an avalanche of goals against us. Having Lever and May back in might save a few goals a game. Having game time and fitness into our pre-season-sore midfielders might tip the balance our way during games a bit more often. But I jut can't bring myself to feel much comfort from either of these things. Like I said in the 'bullying' thread - it is how you behave when things are against you, that decides whether you are actually good or not.

Honestly, after 30 minutes trawling through, I'm not seeing a single unexpected word. Have to wonder if this is the Herald Sun actually trying to influence the result of a game? Don't really think it'll work, it'll just get added to the symbolic 'mean tweets' banner really. Other possibility is that the plan is to spit this out just before the game and then imply (in the event of a loss to Essendon) that it is a factor in a club spiralling back into crisis. Or, of course, if we win, it is the other sensationalist article, 'club rising above adversity'. I'm starting to think the sports media are a bit shabby.