Little Goffy

I think my ideal (and plausible) premiership run goes Geelong at the 'G, so all you lot can have your fun. Sydney in Sydney, so I can finally go to a Demon final. Then back to the 'G to finish off Collingwood. And finally the inevitable contest with Richmond.

I just... the sweet sweet joy of knowing that Melksham was absolutely hated by Essendon fans, and now he's playing better than ever and it turns out the problem was Essendon all along.

Funny to think, wouldn't really call Gawn or Oliver 'x-factor' types despite the fact both have a knack for getting things moving and turning a total mess into a work of art. Ha! Suddenly I want to nickname Oliver 'Pollock'. Same problem for Brayshaw since he found form, though I also think Brayshaw is still underrated for his ability to significantly change a situation, and it is notable that a lot of our beautiful goal->centre clearance->goal doubles this season have been because Brayshaw is just so good at getting the ball forward fast from that situation. But surely the x-factor player has to be Melksham? That many goals, that many quality inside-50s and goal assists, that many smart breakaways to bang through a goal from point blank. One interesting feature I've noticed is that when Melksham has it, whatever happens tends to happen quickly - possibly an illusion created by the tendency to low passes and just the nature of playing half-forward. But it is entertaining. Entertaining is part of the x-factor equation, isn't it?

MY eyes watered but didn't leak. There was a lot of looking around in random directions and quite a bit of pacing back and forward aimlessly. As I was leaving a West Coast supporter up at the bar stopped and shook my hand and wished me/us good luck. In my delierium I swear he looked like Glen Jakovich, or possibly Thanos. What I've found most interesting is the repeated pattern all night of sometimes just stopping and looking around me, like I needed to do a quick check reality was in tact.

I think the pre-finals week off will be a massive deal for us. So many young players and quite a few 'old' players who all can gain a lot from a proper recovery period. Not to mention a certain ruckman who must be more than a bit battered and bruised by now. Plus, also, probable co-captain arrival may help. If he's ready. Every team but Richmond has had at the least some really shaky patches this season, and most of the top 8 are battling injury loads and inconsistency. Plus, you have to remember, the whole thing has been set by destiny for maximum EPIC Demon triumph.

Due to circumstances beyond my control and some bad timing, despite being an active supporter since the late 90s and a member most of that time, I've never been to a Demon final. I don't want to be too selfish, so here's the deal - we knock over Geelong at the 'G in the first week then come up and crush Sydney in the semi-final, so I can watch up close and ideally surrounded by the smug nufties who were at the pub the other week! Wait.. that's not actually what I was going to post about. Hmm, oh yeah, just noting that it took 5 years of clawing, scrabbling, grinding, incremental improvement each year to get to this point. I for one hope that culture of clawing for every tough-earned and seemingly insignifcant gain is now validated and ingrained at the club for a generation.

I can now use Harmes to explain to my girfriend what people mean by 'depth', 'fringe', 'best-22', and 'among the first picked', just by pointing to his progress this year. Useful educational resource, he is.

Incredible. And there is even a possibility that all three could play eachother! Richmond (1st) deafeats Collingwood (4th) Melbourne defeats Collingwood in the Semi, and finds their way to the Grand Final against Richmond. It would be like the finals were turned into a commemorative special event in honour of the MCG.

Way I see it, we're now all set to finish the season with a 6-6 record against top-8 teams. That might be enough to silence the knockers.

The SCREAMING THING performs "THE WINDMILLS OF YOUR MIND" on the MUPPET SHOW.

Indeed. But at least there is a scope for actually responding in this thread! I've got no specific music suggestions but if we could get Bear McCreary to do a version of Grand Old Flag I'd be up for it. I also feel like starting an alternate thread for the absolute least apropriate song for the moment. But I'm sure it would be 'discussion over' right away if I started it with this -

Got any of these in red and blue? I have a feeling this is going to be one of my less well behaved afternoons. On the bright side, I'm having memories of 2005 vs Bulldogs flash across my mind unbidden. That's a good sign, yes? I was not well behaved that day either.

Paging @MSFebey Paging @MSFebey Actually I'm just tagging you because I want you to know someone else has already rolled their eyes in irriation at another completely unnecessary thread started for no reason.

I'm only able to follow on radio/stats at the moment so can anyone fill me in on exactly who is hurt? Prospects of them missing next week?

It delivers what it promises and has a fun time doing it. I'm not regretting seeing it even though 'fright' movies aren't my usual thing. Most importantly, it definitely worked for holding my attention and keeping my mind off footy! Maybe the Freo players were watching it too? Their minds definitely weren't on football for the same period.

It being a slow saturday and not wanting to have too much football on my mind, I went and saw a daft movie. As I was going in I had a little chuckle and a raised eyebrow of hope at the quarter time scores with Freo ahead of Geelong. By the time I came out, Freo had done about as well as the "charming bromancey nerd trope" minor characters did against the megashark. There are moments you should just look away.

Wow. It turns out it is possible to respect Neville Jetta even more than I did before. For anyone hesitating to follow the link, go for it, you wont regret it.

As they say in the classics... "It's time to write your book, Brendan".

In my mind, for a long time all stadiums in Perth are Subiaco. No matter how many times they rename it. It would appear this prevented me from remembering that there is actually a new stadium. Well, after sunday it will be renamed The Sam Weideman Picnic Ground...

I had a really nice coffee the other day and it was only $3.50, I couldn't believe it, I was expecting $3.80 or even $4, it is in Sydney after all. Does anyone know why the barista had it so low?

People forget that having really smooth skin and a nice tan make you look a bit skinnier than you are. Weideman is being brought in to fill a role, rather than be a star, and if he focuses on doing the team things then the he'll do fine and get a couple of opportunities by weight of numbers in that big wide Subiaco spaces. 3 goals, no behinds, and a couple of occasions of keeping the ball trapped in the forward line that ultimately results in a goal, is my tip. I just have a good feeling.

We've not yet eliminated the 20-minute nap from our game. We got a glimpse of what it looks like, during that extraordinary surge of form early-mid season. Maybe that surge came from a kind of perfect storm of factors peaking together. On the one hand physically we had match-fitness but not yet the tiredness of a long season, and mentally we were settled to the task but not yet losing concentration. Over the season, young bodies and minds got worn out and a few veterans have clearly been feeling the pinch too. Snatch that all-important one more win, and the pre-finals bye could prove to be massively important.

The real comedy for me is that there is the possibility of missing finals by the smallest margin of percentage ever in 2017, and then improving our percentage dramtically with the same number of wins, but still missing finals. Oooh, a draw (of no value at all given our percentage) would just make it true poetry. No. I can't accept it. We will win a game. We just will.

Can't help noticing that with each stat there is a true bottom-level club in the top few. That'd be the 'with a grain of salt' reminder. But to be so strong on multiple important stats and still failing... If we are playing with stats, worth also mentioning that are third (as in third worst) for clangers per game, 17th for rebound 50s, and 18th (as in worst) for 'least opponent rebound 50s'. We also have the most tackles against us, so the truth of that stat is sumply that we have games with an awful lot of tackles by both sides. Long statistical story short, our games are mostly mad scrambles and when we get the upper hand we can rapidly blow teams away, and when we are overwhelmed we get smashed. It's like two bulls fighting, balanced on a pole. I'm kind of heartened by the thought of what will happen when we get the upper hand just that little bit more, and that little bit more often. This also makes sense of our problem battling the other quality teams. Hell, we could end up climbing the ladder almost directly according to the the list of teams we are better than.

Alistair Clarkson.