Little Goffy

If Ablett leaves the Suns, it is most likely to be to go back to Geelong and play as a dangerous small/medium forward on bottom dollar, nudging them into the greatest dynasty ever seen as they claim another round of premierships on the back of the Dangerfield/Selwood/Ablett/Duncan/Motlop/Blicavs midfield goalkicking midfielder star show, and cementing his spot as the greatest player to ever play the game. I mean, that's what I'd do if I were a freak footballer with more money than I knew what to do with and nothing left to achieve but immortality. But then again, I think Geelong are a wild smoky for the premiership this year, so I'm clearly off my nut.

If Ablett leaves the Suns, it is most likely to be to go back to Geelong and play as a dangerous small/medium forward on bottom dollar, nudging them into the greatest dynasty ever seen as they claim another round of premierships on the back of the Dangerfield/Selwood/Ablett/Duncan/Motlop/Blicavs midfield goalkicking midfielder star show, and cementing his spot as the greatest player to ever play the game. I mean, that's what I'd do if I were a freak footballer with more money than I knew what to do with and nothing left to achieve but immortality. But then again, I think Geelong are a wild smoky for the premiership this year, so I'm clearly off my nut.

Humility, right priorities, and an intention of loyalty. Not bad considering it seems like the conversation only happened because it was brought up by a journo. In fact, it seems to be precisely what anyone would have wanted to hear from Watts. And yet... someone always finds something to sook about.

If Round 2 is 'Essendon v The World', I guess that makes us the official representatives of 'The World'.

Not derailed, subtly on topic.This thread and Gus' knee are in fact perfectly synchronised. ... They should both be given a rest until round 1.

Strangely, i can't settle on anyone to finish in first. I've got all of the top 4 slipping a bit this year. So, here we go... 1.Geelong 2. Fremantle 3. Bulldogs 4. Hawthorn 5. Sydney 6. Richmond 7. Melbourne 8. Port Adelaide I see it being very even from 1 to 5, and then a great big cluster from 6-10 which obviously includes West Coast (crash!), Collingwood(flatlined), North(retired), Adelaide(dangerless) and GWS (failed to graduate). Gold Coast will fill an otherwise large chunk of fresh air before we count the struggling teams, Brisbane, St Kilda, Carlton and Essendon. Premiers: Geelong, defeating the Bulldogs. Spoon: Essendon. Brownlow: Fyfe Coleman: Franklin Rising Star: Mills

Based on his actual impact so far, he's looking more like a homeopathic footballer.

Watts seemed to be working hard and getting involved but stuffing up a bit once he got it. Gotta hope that goal will reset his mind and he'll tighten up the ball use from here. Meanwhile, i keep hearing Hrovat and Redpath being named. Odd days indeed.

This is very reassuring to hear. But in a way adds to the frustration that if not for clanger turnovers scores would be basically level. I love Tom McDonald but there are things that are non-negotiable if you're going to take it upon yourself to be Mr Dynamic Rebounding Defender. If he cleans that up, he'll be a champion quality player. But in the meantime, he could really do with a Matthew Scarlett style partner in defence.

Now, its not a surprise if Max Gawn breaks even with both opposition rucks. But still breaking even with them even when both Minson and Campbell contest the same ruck contest, that's impressive.

History says any mention of a Demon early draft pick must be negative. Your comment appeared to be positive. Hence, ambiguous. Or at the very least confusing.

Almost as much a 'core out' as the Blues put up against Essendon (Kruezer, Gibbs, Murphy, Cripps). Still, Dogs have a lot more substance than the Blues so should still be a 'valid' game, for a practice match, anyway. Oh, wait, which Boyd is out? Because only one really matters. The lesser-paid one! Anyway, at least we still get to see Viney/Liberatore go nut to nut in the middle, yes?

Just listened to the 3AW interview with the Essendon CEO. The arrogance, the lack of accepting responsibility, is mind-blowing. It is all still 'something that happened to us' in their mind. I think this is the most I've ever wanted the Melbourne Football Club to go out an absolutely crush an opponent. Normally I feel a little sympathy for supporters of clubs which are getting smashed, but honestly, as an Essendon supporter if you turn up to support this perversion then you deserve to go home miserable.

Suggestion for the run-through banner; "We're here to clean up Essendon" Tough job, somebody's got to do it.

Come now, surely there are enough "Collingwood losing a grand final" occasions for everyone to get their favourite flavour! I had a real think about my own preference and for me, in a grand final, I think Hawthorn. Beating them solidly but not 'foregone conclusion' margins. Something that took a really heroic effort in the second half that set a few names in history, that would be the way to go. Interestingly, at first I just thought Essendon automatically. But y'know, what I'd really like would be to knock them out of finals year... after year... after year. I want them to be our bunnies thinking 'We could win a premiership as long as we don't have to play Melbourne in a Final'. Still, that's a long term plan. Essendon might not make finals again for a decade. Their fall is now Carlton-2002 quality and I think Worsfold is a real chance to fall into the same arrogance trap that Pagan and Malthouse did. Hit the heights with a collection of stars, but you can't do the same thing with a broken list.

If Brayshaw or Petracca are anything sure of fully clear of injury and fully fit, they come back in increments through the VFL. Petracca doesn't have a single game of exposed form to go on and hasn't played a game at all for more than a year. In fact, apparently he's played more basketball than football in that time! A VFL intro, prove he's ready, and then we can talk about AFL games. Besides, we need every player as fresh as possible for the finals. Managing the load of the kids is a key advantage of having a little bit of depth to call on at last.

My guess is that each of Petracca, Brayshaw and Trengove will come into the side in a staggered way designed to maximise their usefulness for supercoach teams.

Is a good player, has some specific limitations, has also shown he can be an excellent player. Now, I know stats aren't everything and it is difficult to compare McDonald when he's played games up forward. But let's just agree that if McDonald is approximately in the same range or better than Rance, then he's doing ok and we shouldn't be talking about offloading him. So, with that in mind - Footywire player compare - Alex Rance and Tom McDonald 2015

Hogan and Gawn were number 2 and 3 in the league for contested marks per game in 2015. Would be just incredible if they went 1 and 2 this year. Would require just one extra contested mark every three games!

I can feel a certain amount of sympathy for Essendon fans who have been so hideously let down by their club. But any that start talking about some kind of conspiracy against them or the AFL being 'out to get them' need their head checked. And they can never complain about 'subsidising' the poorer clubs again.That club's cheating has probably been a $100m liability to the AFL. It will be interesting to see if Essendon ever regains the kind of support it had ten years ago. The sweetest win of all though would definitely be Hawthorn at the moment. Not least because to beat Hawthorn, by necessity, you have to be brutal. You have to at least break even against a very mature and tough core of onballers, and then you have to hunt down the speedy creative players and force them to play under physical pressure. Heh, I guess what I'm saying is 'to beat Hawthorn at any time, you have to play finals-style football', Well, duh. Congratulations me. But no doubt it would be a doubly sweet win, to annoy Hawthorn supporters and also say something significant about Melbourne. Also, I hope we truly pummel each of Essendon, Carlton, Brisbane and St Kilda. I want us to show we are a class above that bottom layer. Plus, they're all a bit light-on for tall defenders capable of keeping up with Hogan, so a few nice bags of goals for him would be fun.

I should clarify - I still wouldn't support paying Hogan 1.5mil under any circumstance. We can only hope that these kids are vaguely sensible about money and will be 'content' with 10-year 750k deals that mean neither they nor any family member has to worry about money ever again. I think all negotiations for AFL player (and coach) contracts should be required to be voiced in 'number of ordinary full time wage rates'*. As in "Contract negotiations are progressing well, with the key sticking point being whether the player is worth 13 full-time-wage-equivalents or closer to 17 full-time-wage-equivalents." And "Sylvia, who failed to play a game and 'retired' prior to the start of the season due to poor preparation, breaches of team rules and lack of effort in training, will immediately be paid out his salary of 8 full-time-wage-equivalents." * I prefer median wage as a representation of 'ordinary wage', as average is heavily skewed by the peak at the top end of the bell-curve.

And someone else's hand on his back.

Hi everyone, I had to go do some errands, get groceries and stuff. Left at half time, just got back. Did I miss much? (True story)

Holy crapsnacks it didn't take long for the self-pity wagon to get rolling.

Holy crapsnacks it didn't take long for the self-pity wagon to get rolling.