Little Goffy

Anywhere suitable in Sydney? The pub around the corner is alright but might have a bit too much of a 'normal' friday night crowd. Would want to have at least a few proper football people around. Even Geelong supporters to point and laugh at. Will be taking the lovely person who often struggles to watch games because she feels like it is her fault if we're doing badly, and also the impending father-in-law who is visiting, speaks barely a word of English, but 'gets' AFL and sure as all bleep knows how to get into the spirit of it. The pure joy of not being able to understand a word of what Bruce or BT are on about, I am truly jealous. But seriously, any recommendations for inner-west or CBD Sydney?

If there was a way to go digging through these last twelve years, surely a collection of Martin Flanagan's various articles about us, as a club and as fans, would be the best option? Only writer I've ever felt was describing a Melbourne Demons I recognise.

People keep offering our club nice big cups of bathwater...

Uh, ok. Keep an eye on the antichrist for me, cheers. Evil espirit de corpses?

Really they should be interviewing Mark Thompson's drug trafficker mates. Big Meh all around from me, anyway.

I am very confident I will never quite understand why this post quotes my silly little aside or even why it is in this thread. Truly bewildering.

Well, espirit de corps sure beats l'eau de baigner.

I really dislike glib slogans. Always goes back to 'Never stop never stopping" for me. Fun little video though.

Oooh, adding to the bottom-6 Hall of Fame, Nathan Carrol's tackle on Fraser Gehrig, the single most important moment the last time we won a final. By coincidence I found the Demonland match report when I was looking for video of the incident.

I actually agree with your general point but it did remind me of something my brain dug up from the archives. And since the topic is the 'importance of the bottom 6', well, is there any better case for it than the great, the only, the unique, Simon Godfrey. 2006 Demons with Simon Godfrey - 10 wins 1 draw 5 losses 2006 Demons without Simon Godfrey - 3 wins 3 losses. Come to think of it, any chance Demonland can bring him in for a podcast. Maybe ask him if he ever forgave Robertson for stealing the 3 votes in his epic game against Richmond that year, and any tips for tagging Ablett, who happens to be the only player still active from the 2005 final.

Wait a moment... If the MVP is the most overrated award, how come Taylor Walker didn't win it?

2004 Josh Mahoney! (kind of our very own, or is now, anyway)

I think in the end the strength of the 'bottom 6 importance' case is that it necessarily includes the whole team. Not so much an argument of 'these specific six players must do well' as it is about looking at the contribution that can be expected of any player in the 22. Illustrated by the debates in this thread about who is in that bottom six. Fritsch, Vandenberg, O.Mc. I would reckon that when our bottom six becomes full of players that can be debated about as having too many merits or playing their roles too well to be considered bottom six, we'll be laughing all the way to the trophy cabinet!

Correction: Carlton would have been romping their way through finals if the top FIVE were what mattered. Also, I've seen some silly arguments in my time but to argue that the best 6 are what matters by listing the best 6 and noting that they are the best 6 is taki g circular reasoning to an impressive level. Is it enough to point out that the best 6 at Richmond has been much the same since almost as far back as Terry Wallace times?

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)