Little Goffy

Yeah, what's going on? Has it been so long since he played, that they think the sub rule is still in place for him?

I'm just going to tentatively suggest, for consideration, that it is not so much that our overall kicking and disposal have been terrible, but that there have been a significant number of panicked, rushed or just straight bad kicks at important highly visible moments. Starting to wonder what the story is with Viney and Tyson both only out there less than 2/3rds of game time.

Half time check - Did Oliver really just get 20 disposals in a half? And kicking more than handballing, too? Tackle count is dismal. Jake Spencer being effective up forward is interesting. I don't have as much of a personal obsession with McDonald and Garland's errant kicking as some (many?) do, but it's not a good thing that they have 3 rebound 50s each when nobody else has more than one. That's not how it is supposed to work back there. Also, HA HA Hawthorn.

If we beat the Saints in round one... First - I'd mark the Saints in for a finals appearance. Second - Start looking forward to the round 21 MCG rematch. Third - Demand an absolutely bloody mangling of Carlton the next week.

We seem to have acquired a few really good speakers with clear thoughts and confidence to step forward. Thinking Daisy, Mel and O'Dea off the top of my head, have all shown themselves quite eloquent. It'll be interesting to see if they get media gigs during the main season, Daisy in particular is already clearly an asset for any commentary team. And kind of funny and awkward, let's say Daisy gets a three-game special comments deal with foxtel, she'll likely get paid more than for the entire women's football actual season.

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His kicking is unexceptional, but not a huge problem. Still, would be great to see him follow the lead of our other captain and season by season tidy up one issue after another. It would also help if our team was a little better at spreading and leading to give good options. He's also definitely not slow - to me he seems exceptionally quick over short distances, but not the kind of swooping long flights that players like Hunt can do. He's got the right kind of speed for the role he plays.

Imagine what his Brownlow vote count would be like, with even a 50% winning record instead of 25%. Such is life, I'm sure he'll recover from the agony when he co-captains a drought-breaking premiership and passed the club games record, and goes down in footy folklore for all time. We could have a scary-sized contingent in that top 50 in a year or two. But personally I'd be totally happy if we had just a few right at the top end and had ten players in the 50-100 range. I'd guess that's what's going on with the absence of Grand Final players in the list this year. Two teams with a very sharp pointy end and then a whole host of quality non-stars.

Thanks for sharing that. Sums up Brayshaw in a way - he worked to get to space, and the right space at the right time, then he made the right decision judging that his opponent had overcommitted to intercept him, and he was able to side step smoothly even though he wasn't so agile, because he'd already worked out where he needed his body to be from several steps in advance, and then he was able to make an ambitious long kick to an option he'd spotted/anticipated before he'd even done the run-around, because his game awareness is always switched on. I really hope Brayshaw becomes a star because it's the only way I'll not look like an infatuated idiot, the amount I gush about him here!

Brayshaw is a more solidly built unit, but there's an uncanny resemblance in 'the numbers' between Brayshaw and Callan Ward in his early years with the Bulldogs. If his performance continues the same way as Ward's, that would be acceptable!

It is still plausible to make the top 2 if we give Adelaide a nice belting next week. But you'd have to say, 3rd/4th is the level we've played at overall. On the bright side, aside from a few top veterans, we did select a young team and we are setting up for a dynasty. It remains as clear as ever, the clubs which commit the most resources to get their women's team up to professionalism will dominate for years, especially once there's the full year to prepare, instead of a short pre-season with people plucked out of obscurity by surprise.

Am I right that Carlton dropped Gibbs, Murphy, Simpson, Kruezer and Docherty for the game against St Kilda, as well as playing Cripps for only a half? So, not too much to be taken from that result. Though I'm happy for McCartin, I hope he does well, it is going to be a tough career, another No.1 pick taken ahead of two champions of the game Brisbane and Freo seem to have rediscovered some competence. Collingwood can still lose games in new and amusing ways (3 seconds left! HA!). Not a lot else to learn from the pre-season games so far.

Lloyd is indeed pretty good as long as you aren't watching his face while he talks. The constant surprised facial expression reminds me of a kid telling an ever-expanding and steadily more ludicrous story about how the vase breaking was nothing to do with him. There needs to be some kind of tracker, for accumulating the wisdom and humiliation of the journos. It's the only way to improve quality.

You're post just gave me an epiphany! (this doesn't mean we're dating, ok?) Hawthorn won five games by less than a goal in 2016. They've just lost two of their best leaders, both have been vice-captains and captain/acting captain. Both are proven in big games and tight finishes, and both guide their teammates and bring them into the game with their play. To add a little data to that - Mitchell was their top posession-winner in all five. Lewis was in the top three for three of them. They are also the 1-2 placing for disposals, clearances, and contested possessions. A case can be made that if Hawthorn had had 'just a couple of really good young midfielders' in their team instead of Mitchell and Lewis in 2016, they might not even have made the finals.

I was getting ready to dismiss it as being a bit like 'rating' the clubs by telling us where they finished last year, but then I realised the data methods they are using must be a whole lot more sophisticated than that. More sophisticated, but not more accurate or informative. Weighting 'by position' is a nice idea but completely unworkable when players need to be so flexible. Might as well just go by supercoach scores.

3rd. Sydney. Sigh. GWS. Sigh. Melbourne Geelong Bulldogs Hawthorn Collingwood Port Adelaide You'll note that I've set it up so that Melbourne has to play GWS in Sydney, which will be a tough ask, but then the next week we'll play Collingwood in a home semi-final, who will be royally puffed up thinking that beating a decrepit, falling-apart Hawthorn without most of it's top players means that Collingwood are their successor. This fills a number of desirable criteria - Dunny gets to win a final, Buckley stays at Collingwood for another five years, ensuring they never win a premiership again. Melbourne gets to eliminate and humiliate Collingwood on our way to a prelim, and then onward to vanquish GWS in the return match Grand Final. I've got it all worked out.

I wonder how much Hawthorn is 'banking' on being able to tell their remaining veteran top quality players "take a pay cut or try your luck getting selected and starting again as a 32 year old". It is interesting that their recruiting is now being forced to go more for 'core of the team' players than 'carefully selected players who fill a specific need'. This makes things a bit more expensive over time, and makes failures more of a problem. They are also trying to cover attrition, rather than build further. You can live without icing but if you burn the cake there's no party at all. They did extremely well to replace Mitchell and Lewis with Mitchell and O'Meara. But they can't do that every year and they still lost Hill. Not many players out there would be a neat replacement for Burgoyne, Gibson and Hodge, and any team that has players of such roles and quality will kill to hold onto them. And to be honest, if Hawthorn can turn Vickery into a long term replacement for Roughead, best of luck to them in their endeavours. It's worth noting that whatever they are paying Vickery, it is more than Richmond were willing to part with for him (RFA). Fact is, they need to trade well and rag in free agents to prevent an implosion. Their draft picks this year were 74 and 76, they've barely participated in the top end of the draft for 5 years, and in 2017 their draft begins at Carlton's second pick (probably 30ish). Billy Hartung is now their best drafted player since Brad Hill in 2011 (who has now left). Plus, they also owe Carlton a quid-pro-quo for the clearly illegal favour they did them, giving up a second round pick for 48, 66,and 70.

What a miserable way to give up a shot at the Grand Final. Emulating the Carlton game last year.

I mean, a 10 goal final quarter and I'll be content again.

Tackles evaporated in the first quarter, beginning to balance now. 15-4 inside 50s in our favour at half time, but we're down two goals against the bottom team. I'm glad they are being 'authentic' Demons, but now they've proven they understand our traditions, it would be great if they rose above them. A 10 goal second half and I'll be content again!

The 2018 premiership is basically in the bag, but we're going to have to really work if we want to nail it this year.

I don't like sending players out there at the start of the season with any question marks on them, so Garlett isn't in my 22. Kent is in, provided he really has recovered now. Like others, I'm concerned about our lack of tall defenders ready to go. Only the Golden Arches and Joel Smith have had any pre-season game so far - on that basis, right now you'd have to have Smith in the team to give some kind of height. None of Frost, Garland or Pederson have had a run yet. At the moment I don't have Hibberd. Melksham I hesitated at first but his second game has given me confidence to put him in. For me Vandenberg is in, largely on account of 2 goals, 2 goal assists, and a ridonkulus 10 score involvements against Carlton. That means every effective disposal he had, ended up being a scoring shot. I'll take that across half forward any day. Watts is in, because as much as I think Weideman is great, I don't think he's currently playing full AFL-level games. Assuming, of course, Watts plays the final JLT game, and does something about that hair. Hogan I've got playing close to goal, with no real CHF position out there as I expect to see the whole half-forward area being used as a space for our scary monsters to run around in. Scary monsters, and Watts. If his hair was blue the whole scene would look like it was cut from 'Avatar'. And now for the real shock. I'm including Cameron Pederson. On the field as a forward pocket, but really there as a tall utility. We must have a tall defensive option to swing back in case any of the St Kilda tall forwards start to really dominate their opponent. Pederson's versatility and unselfishness means it's no loss to have him in that forward line, and he draws a tall defender. I also see it as a plus to have both Watts and Pederson available to take just a few hitouts each when GAWN needs to attend an Entmoot. B: Jetta T.Mac Smith HB: Hunt O.Mac Stretch C: Salem Lewis Vince HF: Petracca Watts VDB F: Kent Hogan Pederson! Foll: GAWN Jones Viney Interchange: Oliver, Brayshaw, Tyson, Melksham.

No matter how many times I see it, I'm suprised by his 187cm listing, as he always looks kind of stocky and low-centre-of-gravity. I'm thrilled by the prospects of seeing the next ten years of our midfield rotation featuring - Petracca tearing games apart in ways that get his name into pub debates about 'the best individual game of football ever', Oliver turning the whole momentum of a game by seizing clearance after clearance, Salem cutting holes in opposition midfields and defences at all the crucial times, Viney stomping and crushing and refusing to let things slip or ever let an opponent have an easy moment, Tyson relentlessly going again and again, shifting the balance with sheer weight of initiative, But for all that excitement, it is Brayshaw I am most anxious to see come to fruition. I feel like he is the most 'complete' footballer of the lot. The kind who could get Brownlow votes in just about every game of a season, even while the others are sharing the 3-votes. Simon Black, Lenny Hayes, Jimmy Bartel, Angus Brayshaw?

Whatever happens, Garland will always have the 2012 game against Essendon, where he switched forward, took a bunch of grabs, kicked two goals in the last quarter and broke the cheat's season. Colin Garland has vanquished evil!

The cost of fitting an entire team with custom mouthguards is about the same as the cost of replacing a few teeth. Plus, strangely enough, mouthguards have significant benefit for preventing concussions - the ripple shock of bone-on-bone as the mouth suddenly gets clamped shut can exacerbate the initial impact.