Little Goffy

I'll be in again. Same name, different team name. Coach name: Chris Team name: Inflorescent Carcasses

Can anyone help me clear this up once and for all - Is Charlie Spargo in any way related to former board member, vice-president, acting president, acting CEO and Foundation Heroes organiser Peter Spargo?

Apparently earlier today I was in a 'sel-harm' mood and instead of calling lifeline I went through with it and watched the last quarter of the final game against Collingwood. Jack Watts absolutely stank it up that quarter. From failing to cover his opponent (cost a goal) to spectating and then failing to lay an effective tackle or smother in the goalsquare (cost a goal), to spectating and then arriving too late to affect a contest just outside the square (cost a point, luckily) to fluffing a forward run, to a whole string of really poor body language, it was terrible. I don't have a personal problem with Jack Watts the way some people seem to, but rewatching his last quarter for us has left me with a much better understanding of why he had to be moved on. Wishing him all the best (up to a certain point) at Port, and also confident we made the best decision possible at the time.

Demons Top-4 Finish. Build on 'good' first 2/3rds of the year and then a win streak going into finals, a bit like 2000, actually. Multiple All-Australian selections in defence, with Lever, Hibberd and Jetta all making the 40-player squad. Describing our group of midfielders/forwards as "difficult to match up on" becomes one of the top cliches of the season. Hogan on the one hand proves himself the team player doing hard work to create links and disrupt defences, but on the other hand there are a few occassions, just here and there, where he takes personal control and smashes games off his own boot. Weidemann will be in and out of the team in bursts until late in the season when things will start to click. Wont set the world on fire but will be a competent tall forward. Our new recruits will mostly be at Casey (bold prediction I know) but a couple will get a really promising taste of AFL in their first year. "Melbourne's Depth is becoming amazing" will be another cliche we hear a lot. Non-MFC; Lever and Gibbs will be the 'recruits of the year' from trades, Port will continue to levitate in the 'also attended finals' category without really scaring anyone. Overall, the top end of the ladder hosts a set of really exciting teams and the dominant game style is shaped by rigorous defence combined with a scattering of stars that break games open. There are going to be a LOT of clubs just doing 'ok' without really mattering.

Not having first round picks fro a while, and having traded out a lot of early second round picks too, does feel a bit weird. But with Hibberd's effort and Melksham's improvement we seem to be getting good value for those picks. Lever's progress will be fascinating to watch but there's no doubt he was worth a first rounder plus a downgrade, just a question of whether the downgrade amount was too much. If we end up with 2 All-Australian defenders in our list thanks to trades, I wont complain about a shortage of draft picks. Especially when we seem to have a recruiting team with a talent for finding respectable late-pick players.

I heard he was going to star as the lead in a remake of 'Robin Hood: Men in tights'. That'll hurt us.

https://www.weekendnotes.com/cherry-farms-victoria/

I liked Balic as an option back in his draft year, but our picks were too high or too low to be a sensible match. Interesting that we keep on cycling through these fringe midfielder options, and mostly in the midfield-forward slot - Kennedy, Bugg, Kent, Melksham, Harmes, Neal-Bullen, Kennedy-Harris, Jones, Newton, Michie. I guess the club see it is a role that can be filled by non-star players, and where depth is important. Of those ten we've cycled through in just a few years, you'd only say Neal-Bullen and Melksham are convincingly in our best 22, but a couple of others are still prospects.

If we're comparing Lever to Rance, it is only fair to point out that Weidman is tracking about the same as Matthew Lloyd after the same number of games... we definitely should be anticipating a big round 1!

Is it just my impression or has this thread moved along at close to a post a minute? Incredible. Can a mod put a 'sticky' on the first page to update any actual news, just so nobody feels a need to slide through dozens of pages?

Spectacular! Now I can picture a time when I can go all-out and watch four Demon games in a single weekend.

Taking a moment to confirm Redleg's background is law, not medicine. I mean, obviously you're thinking of the remarkably similar treatment for tinnitus.

The joy of the disposal efficiency topic is that is has enough grey area for everyone to be right. Defenders have good disposal efficiency -> good disposal efficiency is a benchmark for defenders everywhere anyway -> the efficiency is a product of the circumstances getting it (open spaces, marks, defenders outnumbering forwards) -> good disposal efficiency is a product of the work rate of players running to present options -> we shouldn't look at DE% anyway, clangers are more important... Round and round we can go. And we do! From what I've observed, the biggest 'whipping boys' for disposal among the Demons are the McDonald brothers and Dom Tyson, and the three of them share the feature of sometimes delivering really terrible clangers, the kind of totally unnecessary turnover which catches everyone by surprise and turns a rebound into a panic scramble. These clangers have a big impact and, more than anything else, are highly memorable. The couple of times a game that Tom McDonald mysteriously, absurdly, manages to kick directly to an opposition player on their own are the single factor preventing him from being an elite defender, but with them he is definitely not one. That's how much they matter and while I don't like the vitriol, the cause is reasonable.

There were too Ajaxes (Ajaxs? Ajaxi?) in The Iliad. Couple of Burly Brutes, Ajax the Greater was physically the mightiest of the Achaeans. Ajax the Lesser was really only 'lesser' next to Ajax the Greater. Sucks to be him, I guess. Bit like being Alexander the Pretty Good. Also, I support Whispering Jack's sentiment - I've had an embarrassing kick around or two on quiet afternoons at Brunswick Street Oval and it really is quite picturesque. And you can always visit the little bourgeois-ironic shopping nearby. (Oh, I'm so poor, all I can afford is this old desk lamp from the 80s which I paid $40 for. #bargainhuntwins #authentic)

When your forward line has an average games (or games-at-club) tally of about 25, it would actually be pretty impressive if one of them had 100 goals to their name! But it does put into perspective some of our problems with converting inside-50s into good scoring opportunities. That extra edge of experience, confidence and game sense can make all the difference close to goal, where you just need a couple of things in a row to go right and where every step of advantage is a big deal. A good veteran key position player, at either end of the ground, is very hard to replace. Just ask the queue of players the Demons tried to turn into a successor for Neitz. I want more success now, I feel like we are underperforming right now, but any time I look at the list my mind goes to what should be a 6-8 year period where we don't have to think too hard about how we will replace this or that essential role, and can watch as maturity grows, especially in the habitually slow-burning key position roles.

Straight swap for Melksham. If the Swans try to play hardball about it, we can throw in Lamumba.

There have been times in life when I've been really, really awfully anxious. And there have been times when I've been enduringly, unshakeably unhappy. But [censored] I'm glad I've never had a condition which made me feel that way no matter how the rest of my life was actually going. Full respect to you and anyone else carry this with them, whether they want to share or not.

He's still not having a great impact, and still far too many clangers. But he is definitely improving game by game. As it stands, he is legitimately holding his place in the team, and has the credible prospect of improvement. As others have said, he needs to improve his kicking and the 'vision thing'. At the moment he's not cutting any holes in the opposition, and sometimes does tear a hole in us! But it'd be an odd day when a footy department cuts a player who is improving.

Just as well Lewis comes back this week... ... There's a punchline here... ... ... He's our most experienced ruck. Hitouts: Lewis, 444. Pederson, 196. Watts 137.

First for effective disposals! Nathan Jones equal second, too. Now I'm getting all warm and fuzzy.

Too true, and a very important presence in a team which generally has a large-volume of disposals with relatively little impact per disposal. It's like a mining project, with a whole series of small holes drilled and then the engineer comes along and sets the dynamite and boom! The small holes become big holes.

Let's just take a happy moment to reflect on what the rest of that draft's top ten included - Patrick McCartin Jarrod Pickett Jordan De Goey Caleb Marchbank Paul Ahern Peter Wright Darcy Moore (F/S) Nakia Cockatoo And from outside the top ten, the only really potent prospects to come through are - Jake Lever, Isaac Heeney (Acad), Jack Steele, Caleb Daniel. So, however things go, I don't think we'll left left feeling like we were the dud drafters that year, with Petracca, Brayshaw, Neal-Bullen, Stretch, and Oscar. Also grabbed Garlett, Lumumba and Frost in trades.

It's alright, just takes the pressure off Salem, Viney, Petracca et al. As far as going under the radar goes, the top marks have to go to Billy Stretch who has been excellent this year. 24 disposals a game, 9 of them contested, some tackles, some clearances, exceptional disposal (at 85%) just the one clanger to his name, and yet to give away a free kick. Just steadily fulfilling the promise. Sorry, I know this is a Clarence thread, but it is relevant as far as remembering that Oliver, while a monster, doesn't have quite so much pressure on him because he's not the only kid turning the club around.

If we got Jake Lever, we would be on the brink of list management nirvana - strong in every role in every part of the ground. Hawthorn's acquisition of Josh Gibson comes to mind.

McCartin has had a wretched run with collision injuries and concussions, so hard to say how he'll turn out. But then again, Petracca has already had a full year out and then some, due to injury. Can't help thinking that the Saints were hoping for a Riewoldt, and got a Koschitzke. Meanwhile, Melbourne were hoping for a Petracca and got a Petracca. The Barry Prendergast 'warning' comes to mind - never recruit on the basis of how you imagine a player might be if they change in the ways you hope they will.