Little Goffy

On current form, AFL HQ will come up with a 'compromise' where the women's season is a full 9 rounds, but they play the finals at the start when there is TV space available Actually kind of along those lines in a way, perhaps every AFL club to field a properly resourced women's team which plays through a normal season, absorbing the existing VFL/SANFL women's teams, and the 'pre-season' competition becomes a kind of champions league with, for example, the best six teams of the previous season playing five rounds and then a final. Given that success in AFLW is at the moment hugely driven by the amount of resources put in, expecting clubs to really commit through a full normal season, in order to get their place in the spotlight for the women's champion's league, makes sense. It would also ensure that the high profile games are always of the highest available standard.

I know it is common for people to react to posts without reading the full link, but it seems this time the actual original poster starting the thread didn't read the article either. New record?

Not many big (15 goal-ish) margins this season - Rnd 4 - Richmond over Brisbane by 93 and North over Carlton by 86. Rn 9 - Melbourne over Carlton by 109 points Rnd 10 - Melbourne over Adelaide by 91 points It would be good to clock up a third win on that scale, and really reinforce the idea that we can score rapidly and ruthlessly. I think it would freshen our players a bit, and also make a few opponents a bit more nervous, maybe a bit more reactive, which would work in our favour. Other than a win though, I think the best single thing that could come out of this is Hogan playing himself back into form. Given their depleted set of defenders, a quick back of 12 (11 from clean marks and one from a dropped mark that he crumbs himself late in the final quarter) would really help his confidence.

My rationale for being happy about the North win is that, given percentage difference, any team on 10 wins at the end of this round would need to win all 4 of their remaining games, while we only win 2, in order for them to pass us. And I'm confident we will manage at least 2. North are respectable and the win over West Coast adds some credibility to their claim to play finals, for sure, but I don't think they'll win all 4 remaining games. None are against top teams, but also, even the Lions and Saints have shown they have a bit of fight in them. West Coast, on the other hand, are beginning to look just a little shaky and I'd love for that to continue. Ok, they are on 13 wins. But that is 10-1 for the first half of the season, and since then they are 3-4. Funnily enough, the maths for us passing them are the same as the maths for North passing us. Considering all possibilities, it would just fit the OFFICIALLY EPIC finish to the season if our rnd 22 game agaisnt them carried the prospect of jumping them on the ladder. Overall, I just want to enjoy the ride of every single game for the rest of the season having both the threat of dropping out of the 8, and the opportunity of climbing into the top 4. Madness? Definitely, but at least I'm having fun!

One more time, just because I need to blurt it; "Come on Roo-Dog-Dockers!"

A whole string of thrillers for the Demons, followed by the ultimate final-round match of the round to finish the season. If the AFL HQ wants to fix the look of the game, clearly they just need to put the Demons on TV more.

Ahhhhhhhh, I have a single odd habit that seems to only come out at the end of excruciating close games of football. One, single, clap. I did it once at a bar years ago and the bar went quiet for a moment. I'm not a big or noisy person in general, but give me 20 minutes of tension and somehow it all comes out in one single gesture. The other big occasion I recall doing it to the surprise of everyone around me was the win at the end of the season, against Essendon, in 2005. There's a distinct resemblence. Anyway, the Demons march on, winning a game against a respectable opponent that had studied us closely and played the right way to stifle us, and we had a couple of players out of sorts a bit. But we still won.

Cheeky from the AFL website.

Nine goals to one since halfway through the second quarter. Strangely, it doesn't quite feel like it. Maybe it was the mood of all the people writing off our season earlier. Important final quarter. I'd be perfectly happy with a dogged, mean, scrap from here, as long as we prove we can do it right to the siren.

Ahhh football, Milera killing us all night and then slaughters a kick to gift us a goal.

So, quick refresher - anyone out there still want to claim Marc Murphy is overrated? If he was on our list right now we'd have the big piece we're missing and would be legitimately anticipating a grand final.

I have very mixed feeling every time I hear the expression 'this is better stuff from the Dees'. It is always a relief, but also always a reminder that we've just had ten minutes of shambles!

Game very much not the way we like it, congestion and chaos which we aren't dealing with too well. We'll be wanting that '15 minutes in heaven' again, to break the slog.

Well, Collingwood's loss keeps the door open for us to charge into a top 4 spot...

It is a long time ago now, but I still recall his surge of form in the final half-dozen rounds of 2014. I've always had more patience with him than most, for no really good reason. But here's hoping his 100th game is the marker where he rediscovers that form, because half a dozen or so really good games would be much appreciated right now!

Maybe we can all take a breath and reflect instead upon what a genius Neale Daniher is, and what an incredible achievement it was to have the Demons be contenders through a series of wild swings and chaos in the club's administration and a general failure to provide resources. Think of Neale Daniher. Feel a little better. Then maybe tip some coin to fight MND while you're at it.

I think in order to be serious about finals, we do need to have more wins against top-4 teams. So, with that in mind, if North win and Hawthorn lose by big margins, that'll add a win-vs-top-8 for us. Really, all it takes is for North and Essendon to win a couple more, while Port and Hawthorn fade out, and our credibility for finals will climb right up without us even having to win any more games!

Can't ever like Essendon winning, but it suits me just fine if Sydney get the late-season stumbles. We'll beat the Swans on our day, on pure merit whatever the circumstances, but for the comfort of it I'd like to have a couple of indicators in advance that we'll crush them completely and I wont have to stress too much.

When he left Hawthorn he had played 12 years of football for 4 premierships. Clearly he had done the maths when he signed a three-year contract. Glad to have him at our club. Getting him was one of those moments that change the mood of the club, a little drop of medicine for MFCSS. And is Angus says he's priceless, that is good enough for me.

Y'know, I had an odd thought after reading this. Carlton is on one win, with percentage roughly on a par with our lowest ebb under Neeld. But there's something in the 'shape' of that percentage that struck me. In 2013, Melbourne suffered 7 massive losses - with margins of 148, 94, 90, 95, 83, 122, and 95. In 2018, Carlton have so far only experienced 2, maybe three such losses, depending on your line: 86, 109, and 72. And it isn't a case of Carlton's super-low scoring influence the percentage, as 2013 Demons only managed an extra 5 points per game. So, it would seem that Carlton are just stodgily losing by boringly substantial margins every single week. I'm genuinely curious, what does that mean? Impact of 'the great draft thinning' for the new teams back then? A genuinely more even competition now? Carlton being held together a little by their half-dozen excellent veterans? Or are the Demons the only club left that is capable of dishing out a proper walloping?

Assuming neither GWS nor Melbourne bomb out in the next few weeks, surely GWS V Melbourne will be the final game of the home and away season. It could completely reshape the final 8 and would have the fans of as many as five or six clubs all watching riveted.

Oh hell. Oh hell. My brain just broke. I looked across some more fixtures and have to say it - There is a real possibility that at the end of the season there could be 6 teams on 14 wins, stretching from 3rd to 8th. A slim chance, but a chance. It is conceivable, just barely conceivable, than in round 23, the Demons and Giants will be playing for a top-4 spot for the winner and 9th for the loser. Now that it has been shown possible, I feel it is inevitable.

Allirghty, I got bored and restless about our prosepcts at the same time. So, by process of elimination, with 5 rounds to go - North, Essendon, Adelaide: we are 20% or more and 1 win ahead of them. To pass us, a team from this group would need to win two more games than us out of the remaining five. Two wins for us would put us out of all these team's reach, realisitically. Ok, whatever. Hawthorn and Geelong: Same wins, 10% margin. Long story short - we must at least match the win-loss results of whichever of these teams performs worse over the final five rounds. One of the three teams will miss finals. Geelong - have the Tigers, but also the Lions, Suns and Dockers all at home. Hawthorn - Dockers, Bombers and Saints, Sydney at the SCG. It could end up being hugely important that they play eachother in round 21. Geelong look home, they'd have three games they'd be confident of winning, and would gain certainty of a finals spot by beating Hawthorn. Tell y' what, a final 5 rounds with no travel and three home games against interstate teams... that's rosy. Hawthorn are a little shakier, with more credible opponents. Essendon may even fancy their chances at passing Hawthorn. It is conceivable that that could only win two, but we wouldn't want to be relying on that. A Fremantle win over Hawthorn on sunday means it could still be possible to finish in the 8 with just 12 wins. All other plausible variations on the final 5 rounds make 13 wins necessary.

Speculating, but my gut is saying that the reduction in list size will be one side of a deal that sees the introduction of mid-season rookies to be taken from the 2s. As a back door to then slip in mid-season trades. Because one thing we all know, is that the media and AFL HQ are convinced that the biggest spectacle in the game is hyperventilating about stars like Franklin, Ablett, Dangerfield, and Folau... The idea itself, of being able to recruit a vfl player to cover injury, isn't so bad provided that the glaringly obvious need to invest a lot more in the '2s' levels across the country.

1. Every remaining game is winnable. 2. This home-and-away season is going to be an exciting ride right up to the end of round 23. 3. Umm... we're just ten points short of being equal top of the ladder. (beats head against wall) Ok, a better 3. Our players are getting a whole lot of chances to learn to win high-stakes games against quality opponents.