Little Goffy

Let's call it the Stephen Armstrong Principle. Your 'bottom six' don't have to be great players but they need to play their part effectively and not be leaving slack which your top players have to pick up. If your best six won finals, Carlton would've been romping it home for a decade.

The main thing I'm taking from this is that we have a lot of genuine quality players who fill their role really well. That and it gives the list a whole new look to have a few of the absolute top bracket players. I wonder where we'd slot in some of the players from our previous 2004-5-6 finals? Not sure many would make it in, which is kind of exciting.

So it is age 'under 22' from the start of the season/year I gather? Obviously Lever would be in if not injured for mroe than half the season. It is nice to think that from two very strong drafts (2014 and first round of 2015) we've managed to gather perhaps 4 of the top 5 players. Also, that age category method means Fritsch still has next year, and you'd have to be pretty confident he'll get there. Its just nice, y'know, just nice.

Comes in as one of those intangibles. Remembering that the media/marketing world very much revolves around its own egos and moods. Being highly visible and part of the general conversation is a big plus. It also helps that we seem to have a real talent now for the kinds of games that opposition supporters remember too, though it'd be nice if a few more of those cliffhangers went our way! The semi-final TV ratings in particular will be huge after we brutally crush Geelong, our enemies will fear our wrath and all who witness it will long to be among us, though they know they are unworthy. Too far?

Shaun Higgins? Really?

lol, Ben Brown will be on the bench next to Clayton Oliver, both sitting there going 'what the fork do I have to do?'

3rd for total disposals, 2nd for contested posessions, 3rd for total tackles, 7th total inside-50s, 5th for clearances, 5th for score involvements. Your inside midfielders this year are Patrick Cripps, Tom Mitchell, Clayton Oliver and fresh air. Worth noting that Oliver has both of those two well covered for tackles. And score involvements, too, though that's hardly fair on Cripps, playing for Carlton and all.

Huge respect for Neville Jetta. Love knowing how much it must annoy Essendon supporters that Melksham is doing so well now. But you can look back over years of my posts and you'll see, it has been Angus Brayshaw at the top for me for a long time.

We should be starting rumours that we are targeting any random player you like at GWS or Geelong, just to mess with their salary cap. I'm less and less concerned about who we target as each week goes by. Eerie combination of confidence in our list and confidence in our drafting. Our biggest gap is ball use going inside 50, where we have a couple of young candidates coming along who we will have to see what happens. Plus, improvement from overall team experience and system and all that jazz. Chad Wingard is a restricted free agent in 2019, though... We might want an understudy as future small defender to replace Neville Jetta, but touch wood that need is still a fair way off.

Come on now, how else can they make room for Dyson Heppell?

Can we take him as a category B rookie? Hasn't been on an AFL list for a few years, just St Kilda. (sorry, any excuse to work out some of the anger)

Getting special treatment, for what was clearly a knowing breach of the law, because you have a personal connection to a minister, is corruption. I'm irritated that this kind of thing is now so embedded in political culture that there is nobody left to kick up a stink, which just sinks it in even more until son enough it'll just be normal and we'll see what can be pushed to next. But aside from 'Gil's a regulation bog-standard establishment creep with no credentials to lead the AFL', which we all knew already, I agree this should be tucked over in the politics/other/whatever forum and ideally allowed to die.

I believe as part of the final arrangements the au pair was required to organise the Adelaide Crow's pre-season camp, making use of existing Departmental facilities on Nauru. Bruce Gibbs was quoted today saying "It is still better than playing for Carlton".

A bit awful that the article names and shares a photo of the au pair. But gee, isn't it nice to know the right people. Although I'm quite sure that everyone involved is totally blamesless and had no idea about the intricacies of actually having a right to work in Australia before recruiting someone to work in Australia. Not like those dastardly evil international students working more than the 20hr-week limit in order to make ends meet on their $13/hr. Some part of me just keeps noticing this whole 'two laws' thing going on.

Surely the only appropriage response would be to take up the 'walk' pose.

Spargo did smart things quickly under pressure, for finals I say in. The week off will do him a power of good. Also, he is the inheritor of Ian Ridley. Ridley - 166cm, 68kg, 66 games, 5 premierships. Add a centimeter and a kilo for each decade, which is about right on biological averages, and you get Spargo, aiming for his first premiership in game 19. Ha! Must keep him. Adds to the EPIC equation.

I thought the original post was a bit harsh and just trolling GWS, so I took a moment to dig around for a GWS forum myself. I googled, I followed leads, I even went to bigfooty and to reddit. Yikes. I mean, no real fans is one thing, but not even being able to get some cranky drunks complaining about umpiring or Melbourne weather being unfair, that's very weak indeed.

Icing Schmicing, bring more cake, moooorree caaake. Although, I'm willing to say that the pleasure of knocking Geelong out could be called icing.

His peak value will also be when he is a restricted free agent. So how about we all calm down and let this settle itself in time.

I think we should wait until we've seen how he coaches in a defending-a-premiership situation. We just can't know for sure until then.

It is important that the Pies finish top-4 so that two other clubs can have the pleasure of beating them in a final. I'll confess a bit of sympathy and even respect for their team and coaching group this season, making progress despite a pretty rough run with injury. But that doesn't change the club they represent, and it is important that the club as a whole suffers horribly. They are defintely stumbling into finals at the moment, but to say they don't deserve it is just sulky.

We will outmaneuver the inevitable heat death of the universe itself if it will give Oscar McDonald a little more time to develop into his body. And Colin Sylvia will also be there, getting ready for a good preseason.

Now that we've actually made the finals, I can say I am well pleased with Goodwin's consistent effort on continuous improvement even to the point of possibly sacrificing some current results for the sake of development, by giving different players a crack and trying players out in different roles. I would suggets that internally the club still sees itself in 'rebuild' mode and may continue to do so pretty much forever if this current culture can be sustained, no matter how good the september results!

There is great joy in watching two arrogant clubs which tried to bulk-buy their way into finals each taking turns at being thoroughly crapulent.

Wait, we took an 18-year old downhill skier as a Cat B rookie? Talk about thinking outside the square!