Little Goffy

Shaping as an absolutely wild off season for St Kilda. And not in their old setting people on fire or texting your ballsack way. Four player movements in already 'confirmed' and persistent talk about Sam Flanders, multiple exits 'strongly rumoured', a coach probably second to only Voss for pressure going into 2026 with a near-designated successor Corey Enright already at the club and in danger of being Yze'd out if they miss the window to promote him. I'm sure St Kilda are thinking in terms of Richmond's high risk pre-glory recruitment drive that went so well, but they could just as easily end up with the tragic 'scattergun' result of the Neeld-Schwab Demons.

A blanket "Enough of this mickey mouse [censored]" rule would help. Both for the stupid macho niggles and the embarrassing smug flops. Childish at best, but both sides of the equation can end up being dangerous.

At 22yrs old, he'd be joining a young midfield (midfield-adjacent?) wave within which there isn't really a similar type. We have lots of mobility and around-the-ground coverage with the likes of Rivers, Windsor, McVee, Lindsay and even Langford. Meanwhile Pickett and Tholstrup are both tuned to an attacking game. Not going to count chickens on the other kids, naturally. Any new coach would be thrilled to add Windhager to balance with our other youth, deepen our 'genuine AFL-quality' line-up, and open some tactical options. He's certainly no dud and continues to grow. Depending on your optimism level we will be gaining either Jordon, Harmes, or Nibbler.

Okay, I'm going to say it, the stereotype lives. We went to Frankston at night and got robbed.

Oooh, Culley took a solid knock as he grabbed that mark. Puts it through, the guy has something to watch.

Entertaining bit of chaos late in the third. We do struggle to do three things right in a row, though. Edit: yikes, no I'm not referring to the guy who just tipped over the fence. Owww-cha.

The crowd behind Culley's shot then was like the earlier conversation about the social status of Frankston came to life. Couple of glamorous young ladies complete with perfect hair and styled scarves and good posture, and then the flannelette squad hunched onto the fence.

Yeesh, now I know why my tiny creature spent the last hour or so fussing and crying. He was protecting me from seeing that. Cue the fightback now he's getting a good feed, but it would take a lot. It appeared to go up a while ago, but maybe now is the time for the classic scrap for dignity.

All this talk of Frankston being rough or not reminds me of my mum's stories of teaching at Balmain High. Bal-million-dollars-for-a-studio-main. When she taught there is was a rough as guts neighbourhood full of factory worker migrants from nefarious uncouth places like Italy and Greece.

Perhaps ironically, or just coincidentally, if we had lost Pickett I suspect we'd be looking more closely at Sumner-Pickett. Still, he'd clearly be an asset when it comes to making a forward line less predictable. He plays like he grew up stealing the ball in the playground and having five guys chasing to get it back off him. If we do draft him can we please nickname him 'Somemore-Pickett'?

57 to 20, a good percentage booster... Oh. What, you couldn't even manage one more behind to bring us to a neat 300? This team is looking a bit special.

Love the AI generated stats highlights on the AFL website "The Tigers struggled to maintain territory, having just 19% of the quarter spent in their forward half. With the lack of territory, they weren't able to hit the scoreboard in the opening quarter for the first time this season, becoming the fourth team in 2025 to achieve this." 'Achieve this'. A reminded that AI does not know right from wrong, good from evil, or achievement from failure.

Only Fox or Kayo where I am. Guess I'll just be following the stats and scores. The return of the Bannan Hammer continues! So glad - I was convinced she would be the prototype of the perfect AFLW player. Fast, tall, good balance of strenght and agility, and high initiative. Sometime went wrong in her confidence for a while and she was struggling to get into games consistently, but that seems to be turning back in her favour bit by bit. Back on the watch-list for AFLW superstar.

I think in the back of all our minds is the fact that if Angus Brayshaw had ever played again or even taken an end if season lap of honour, the Collingwood crowd would have booed him. There are deep problems in some people's values, every club has a slice of these people who take football as an opportunity to embrace a completely anti-moral tribalism, but... there's a scale where some clubs actively leverage it and some clubs have it embedded in their executive culture. We all know the game would be better and even richer if Collingwood were removed.

Magpies fans calls those free kicks the 'sealers'.

I'll be looking forward to this one as part of an AFLW and VFL weekend extravaganza. The only thing better than going into a weekend optimistic about a win is going into a weekend optimistic about two wins! For those travelling down to Frankston, remember to bring your pingers. In this case, not a euphemism for [euphemism], but a 'active-interactive predation deterrent device' used to keep dolphins away from fishing nets. But seriously, take care, I hear the crowd can be a bit different down there.

About half past noon. Actually, I asked ChatGPT for a laugh. It was rather plain-speaking. To summarise: Current stage: "Peak of inflated expectations" Next phase: "Trough of disillusionment This could happen in 12–24 months, possibly longer. Signs are already showing "Bubble-burst-type corrections could begin as soon as 2025, with clearer signs by 2026–2027" ... Want a “Days until potential AI bubble burst” counter based on this estimate? Let’s say July 1, 2026 as a hypothetical midpoint. That would be 303 days from today (Sept 2, 2025).

I saw 'Brisbane Asscrack Jumper' and assumed it was creatively delivered news about Dayne Zorko retiring. Anyway, not sure what the point of starting a whole new thread about it is. Not even worth merging with the AFLW game thread, would expect mods to just delete.

Ha ha cop that ya filthy umpires. Also Collingwood.

Wow, Port Adelaide just packing up shop in second halves. I don't think I'll ever quite be able to have sympathy for Port supporters, but that is painful for sure.

Well, we're winning, but the butterfingers marking has cost us a big lead at qtr time. Conditions, adapting, etc etc, we'll be right. Meanwhile, I thought it was funny when Rigoni, who is fairly tall and looks like she's already had four well-balanced pre-seasons, was being given her jumper by someone who will probably still look like a fresh-faced teenage recruit when she is 35.

I just realised McVee is waiting to reveal his contract until the right moment to propose. "Will you marry me and my incentive-based 600k a year for four years?" I'm actually semi-serious and will be expecting prizes and acclaim if I've picked it.

Now I'm really confused. I live in Sydney and would like to know more about this strange concept of 'buying a house in NSW'. Perhaps a quaint tradition that is still carried on in rural areas? Crocheting, climbing trees, giving way to pedestrians and buying a house - the classic elements of the bucolic lifestyle.

On the other hand, so many quality players are academy picks that the remainder of the first couple of rounds are significantly diluted, and by the time they have been 'paid for' something like a dozen other selections will gave gone into the trash compactor. Speaking of academy etc... am I right recalling we have White, Sinnema, a Cat B rookie and another academy player all on our own 'preferential' dance card?

Woewodin looks just a little bit more adult than he did early in the season. Nevermind the mystery of an august tan! Can't help wondering if, as with his dad, his body has just taken a little longer to finish growing into itself and with a good pre-season now he could start to produce more complete games without those pesky instances of being '5% short of what the moment needed'.