Little Goffy

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.

His peak value will also be when he is a restricted free agent. So how about we all calm down and let this settle itself in time.

Wait, we took an 18-year old downhill skier as a Cat B rookie? Talk about thinking outside the square!

Well, not a complete derailing. Dutton is a banana-bender after all. And much like this thread there is a vagues suspicion as to a question on his validity. One thing we do know, this thread will outlast whoever wins the grease wrestle on friday! Heh, it just occured to me, one of the joke measures of 'how long since the Demons made the finals?' is that there have been five changes of prime minister. Well, a tick over two weeks to go, we look likely to hit 6 and there's a real prospect of making it 7.

Self-respect? Concern for reputation? Not wanting the responses to overheat the Demonland auto-censor?

I seriously considered starting a thread of "Should we pick up Goddard as a delisted free agent" just to watch people spit out their lunch.

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.

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...

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.

No contact between the senior coach and a star player, while the star player is in crisis, and you're planning to include the player in coaching duties... Either it is just not the truth (a West Coast coach lying? Shock!) or Gaff is surely gone.

Yeah, bugger it, we're no good, trade veryone with currency, time for a rebuild.

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.

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?

Can we get David Neitz to say Ben Brown is going to Gold Coast on big money to replace Lynch?

I dislike paying big money for players unless they are really, really structurally useful. There's definitely an argument for Gaff to provide the blade in a midfield full of hammers, but I'm not convinced it is completely necessary, not to the level of cash it would take to prevent Wet Toast from matching. And we simply don't have the draft picks to make the trade happen. On another level, all talk of having separate 'inside' and 'outside' midfield responsibilities always makes me nervous, remembering how that mindset so profoundly shaped Terry Wallace's Richmond. Isn't our team mantra something about flexibility?

Seeing Brayshaw so involved and playing smart football the way he does was a real pleasure in an overall very enjoyable afternoon. I'd love to say I told you so but I have to be honest and say I am always taking the sides of players who I think are being written off unfairly and I doubt I've got a high % in my favour over the years... but hey, this year it seems to be working out for me!

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?

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.

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?

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.

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)

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.