Little Goffy

Apologies for the extent this will be stating the obvious - I'm just trying to lay it out in one place. Our game under Roos-Goodwin has been built on; 1. Maintain a strong defensive effort all around the ground to restrict opposition scoring no matter the momentum of the game. 2. Keeping the scoreboard gradually ticking over even when we are under siege, using a clever and opportunistic forward line, more than because of any dominant target forwards. 3. Going hard when the momentum turns our way and sealing the game with runs of goals - particularly breaking out of clearances and contested play - whenever that chance arises. The concept is clear enough and won us a premiership. Helped more than a little by a terrific surge in morale that meant there was a lot more of 'item 3' going on during perhaps the most dominant finals series of the AFL era. Unfortunately; 1. Our defensive effort all around the ground is fatigued and for every hole that opens up it becomes mentally harder for the team to commit to the sustained maximum effort required. 2. Our forward line isn't keeping up a dangerous presence throughout games because too often the forwards are 'each and all' playing to be the goal-kickers rather than to be the creators of opportunities. 3. We currently don't have the potency in our midfield to no only win the ball but also have a decisive moment of dominance to get quality clearances - so there's minimal chance of ever really seizing momentum or intimidating the opposition midfield. So, a steadier flow of goals against us, very few goals kicked by us against the general momentum, and very few counter-punches to put games out of reach of the opposition. I'd argue that if we fix one of these problems, we'll claw our way into the 8 by season's end. Fix two and we'll be taken seriously as a competitor in finals. Of course, if we manage to fix all three then we are back into the serious contender category.

When I monitor the comments about Jefferson I can't help but think; Jye Amiss, who is within 1cm and 1kg of Jefferson, played 3 games in his first season and then in his second season played 22 games for 41 goals. I will continue to raise an eyebrow of optimism for our future tall forward combination of Van Rooyen and Jefferson.

Reasonable except for the part where we are the only club these rules seem to apply to... again.

Just dropped in on the Essendon West Coast game for a moment. Watched for 30 seconds - two throws, one marginal and one extremely obvious - from a centre clearance to seal the game with 5.45 to go in the last. Ah well. Back to not watching AFL.

Everyone knows Oliver is struggling at the moment and everyone is also terrified of being the one who plays him back into form because it would be a disaster for any opponent. Oliver regaining form would be like giving back the missing limb of a three-legged dog. We'd go sprinting just for the joy of it and there would be no restraining us.

I'm a little anxious about this one. I had the Brisbane game penciled in as probably our last loss for this season but with the lack of resilience of so many on here it would be good to get the win and ease the distracting jungle-drums.

May I ask where people got the 'VFL 10 disposals a game' figure from? The source was not reality. https://vfl.aflmstats.com/player/Kynan_Brown And for the other thing people were sulking about; players making their debut as sub is completely normal. Kynan wasn't even the only debut-sub player that day. Anyway, Brown looked like a nervous excited kid the whole time, but I'm glad his son quickly found his focus! 😁

And the supercoach award goes to Kynan Brown - 1 kick, 1 tackle, 21 supercoach points. Must be some kind of record for 'impact adjusted value', and it is a fair reflection.

Just for a laugh after the results so far this round it is possible that a reasonable win tonight could be worth as much as six spots on the ladder and likely five. Going ahead of Geelong, Port, Footscray, Brisbane, one of the Dockers or Suns, and if things get really bloody, Western Sydney. Wild times.

Scoreline flattering Geelong significantly. Carlton letting a few very cheap goals against the flow. Still, this game is knocking about 6 points off Geelong's percentage and putting them in a very precarious position. So glad that it was us who broke their souls in round 8 and left them with just 1 win (against Richmond) since. Amusing side note to the game - it looks to me like a De Koning is the best player on the ground for both sides. Looking forward to grabbing them both when they come out of contract together at the end of 2025. #successionplan

Ha ha, funny joke. (I hope)

To help us through the pre-game tension, a quick trip to the great rivals of the 1830s; "... a still more extraordinary case was the flight of the 97th semi-brigade - fifteen hundred strong - at the siege of Genoa, before a mere platoon of cavalry. Two days afterward these same men took Fort Dramond by one of the most vigorous assaults mentioned in modern history." Jomini, 1838 "Until the battle is finally concluded, all successes in partial combats are only decisions in suspense, which by the capital decision may not only be destroyed but changed into their opposite. ... Troops are never in better spirits for fighting than when they have to wipe out a stain." Clausewitz, 1832

Oh yay a conspiracy theorist.

Surely if Goodwin was thinking of moving to Adelaide (the city) at the end of 2025, there would have been succession discussions with Yze and he never would have taken the poisoned chalice Richmond job?

Musing on this good news based entirely on a couple of pre-draft clips and reports from Casey-watchers - am I on the correct planet when I feel like Kynan might gradually fill a very similar role (positionally and 'attitudinally' to Nibbler? Can never have too many honest workers who produce the occasional outstanding game in amongst a consistent team-oriented body of work.

Turns out Goody's fiance is Harry Petty's mum.

Round 23 at 'People First Stadium' (WTF is that?) against the Suns - they will already be in 'yay we're going to be in finals' mode and some kind of idiotic pre-game hype-stink will damage the turf and wreck someone's ankle for our finals campaign. Or maybe just a firework fixture will topple and go off, launching a barrage of rockets directly down the race into our rooms. The game will not be delayed for us, but later we'll be fined for allowing players to take the field with smoke inhalation symptoms. A new rule will be introduced.

I'll probably have to delete this later to make room for other image sharing, but, for now, behold the glory! The above is a genuine sign encountered at a Sydney hotel.

No medical concerns there, just a bout of random capitalisation replaced ellipsis. Happens on a cycle. That all makes sense given the spleen's key role in infection control, but a pretty horrible situation to be isolated like that. Plus, Petracca has often talked up his classic Italian family style so I suspect their first instinct in a crisis is to gather around and be energetic. Sympathy to all and glad the worst moment is over.

I guess the main point of interest is to see that Ricky Nixon still has some pull at 'AFL House'. When you know where the bodies are buried, who cares how 'disgraced' you are?

I started watching the stream on Kayo and I now think that the club made a very good choice not to attend. Serious risk of death by boredom and a thousand cuts of cliches. Utterly soporific.

'Culture'.

The most talked about moment of the North-Collingwood game, in the final minute, doesn't make it into the AFL highlights package. History is being erased like a bushranger dragging branches over their tracks.

Pretty impressive that a single Maynard bump can take a couple of million off a rival club's future salary cap. I think we can all see the missing piece of the puzzle is any application of culpability. Best solution I can think of is to create a fund which is supplied by a system of fines for clubs based on the frequency of injuries inflicted on opponents and on dangerous behvaiours. It also adds an element in between 'nothing to see here' and 'weeks of suspension' for the relatively minor dangerous acts on field.

'Players lose more games than umpires' is a magical moment of moral gymnastics. Is that your benchmark? You'll only be worried when umpires are deciding more games than players? Or did you just recite a distracting line without actually considering what the words meant? As for 'All this bagging will end up with kids not taking it up' - talk about cliche number one of cover-up culture. If we don't 'bag' the serious and obvious defects in the management of the AFL level game, what would be left worth taking up? Do you really think the game of Australian football cannot survive valid and clear criticism of official mismanagement? Do you really think it can survive widespread disillusionment in honest competitiveness or fair and competent adjudication? When loyalty drifts towards the regime before the nation, the regime will consume the nation.