Little Goffy

Where do we even start mocking this rubbish? Send them Kevin Sheedy.

If Prestia isn't an A-grade midfielder, we're talking about an almost single-digit list of possibles of a reasonable age. 28 disposals (half of them contested), 8 clearances and 5 tackles a game, delivered with incredible consistency, too. Are we talking Wines, Heppell, Parker?

Honestly, for all that I have a lot of respect for that group of players, I don't think any of them are suited to the 'end-of-career consulting contract' we'd be taking them for. Cross clearly had time left in the game and the Dogs made a bad mistake dumping him, almost as bad as our own club's decision to toss James McDonald. We got lucky, got him cheap, and he has been everything we hoped for. We should be looking to add players at the free agency age or approaching it, who match our deficiencies. My own thinking is that players like Isaac Smith, Stephen Hill, even the currently out of form but 100% [unknown substance] free Zaharakis, are all at the right age and would each be a valuable addition of speed and 'threat' to our midfield.

I think we will need to add a little more attacking potential to our midfield, which to me says Newton in. I'm also one of the few, it seems, who still think Grimes has something to offer. Those two in for a couple of the lower performing or tired kids. Possibly and/or Toumpas in. Just to annoy the haters. Going to be interesting to see where McDonald ends up next week, too.

Never mind the Melbourne Football Club, the AFL came down harder on Callum Ward's mum. Noxious internal politics. The AFL administration, right through and into every corner, is in dire need of a bit of flooding sunlight.

All of our wins this season have come with commentators falling off their chair saying things like "Melbourne out-worked and out-muscled their opponent! Yes, you heard right, Melbourne." (direct quote, from the win over Richmond) An awful lot hinges on that one big aggregate variable for us. When it is up, we are a chance. When not, we're gone. 'Twas ever thus.

A great bonus to his game but he has shown he can be a truly exceptional tall defender and I'd hate for him to end up going down the Jake Carlisle path. Or is that up-and-down the Jake Carlisle path? Keen to see him regain form and see our defensive group remain stable for a few years. It has been a long time since we've had a group of defenders playing together long enough to build a really cohesive unit and I'd hate to throw that away on forward-line experiments. The last time we looked like having a stable defensive group it included Whelan, Nicholson and Broadbridge. Let our defence grow naturally. Recruit/develop another mobile tall forward. Personally I think Aaron Francis looks like the perfect companion to Hogan. Also, don't forget we've got another McDonald coming through! Maybe we should keep one at each end?

Both teams have a disposal efficiency below 50%? This could be one of those feedback loops that breaks computers. "We are more likely to get it if an opponent is kicking it... therefore it makes sense to kick it to one of them whenever we can". Maybe the players should be instructed to actively target the other team, because that way it will end up with us more... Ugh.

Bwa ha ha. Depending on how hung up you are about draft decisions from years ago, this will either upset you or pass with barely a smirk. If Melbourne had recruited Ollie Wines, and Port had Toumpas, we would probably be ahead of them on the ladder right now. Which to me means "we are getting more right than we are getting wrong, and I wont cry over the misses". But maybe I'm just taking it easy because I'm still convinced that the Toump will be a credible and enduring AFL player.

Love the weather forecast in combination with our clear advantage in the 'inside warrior' department.

The whole remainder of the season is loaded with opportunity. Partly this is because of a much easier draw than the first half of the season - an unlucky proportion of our games to date have been against the top-8. Partly this is because we are a better football club, with a better team on the field right now, than we have been in at least 4 years and probably 8 years. I'm going to keep my mind on the latter, and keep watching for development and progress, Salem's return, McDonald overcoming his form slip, all those good things.

What is this? People are STILL banging on about this? Someone thought it was a good idea to bump the thread just to make a point about how we shouldn't be talking about it? And did so by suggesting that Mitch Clark's depression and related decisions are analogous to a guy apparently freaking out on drugs and stabbing his father to death? Yeah, I had complex and uncertain feelings about this whole situation as it happened, particularly being anxious that depression was coming across like it was an excuse. the whole thing was very badly communicated from Mitch's end (I'd query his manager's role in all of this). But seriously, anyone still hung up about this, years later, after it all turned out ok for us... take a deep breath and get back to living.

I bet a lot of people are salivating at the prospect of Jack Watson. Is it possible that this is actually us hoping to slip our own Jack through the draft again just so he doesn't have to have the no1 tag on him anymore? Next year, Jack Watsonov, originally from Ukraine. No relation, but in 2018 Jack Watsonovic is a prospective international rookie from Croatia. Another good prospect in the juniors at the moment is Jacob Watsonovichenski. Tall skinny guy; they call him the Bean Pole Pole. But, more seriously - I'm stoked that Aaron Francis and Harley Balic are rated about the range of our likely first pick (6ish). A bit of unpredictability and 'danger' would be welcome addition to our group at the moment.

Yeah, on consideration, looking back on his 2014 rather than thinking too much on his unlucky 2015, absolutely. A young small forward who managed to kick a decent stream of goals, despite being in the second lowest scoring team in the history of the 22-game format, that's a keeper.

I'm not sure of the contract status of most of our players, but the list changes end of year look to me like - Retirements; Mark Jamar Delistings; Rohan Bail Aiden Riley Viv Michie Jordie Mckenzie Dean Terlich Question Marks; Dean Kent Matt Jones Jack Fitzpatrick The unfortunate fact for these guys is that you can cut this entire group without affecting our match-day performance. Some still have a chance to prove themselves, and in what is rumoured to be a weak draft the club might persevere rather than start fresh with draftees. A 5 or 6 player 'churn' is pretty appropriate for a club still looking to develop their list.

Well, this season against teams int he middle bracket of 7-12, we've actually managed to break even. We played the entire top 7 in our first 12 games, and generally didn't match it with them. The second half of our season has a much more 'approachable' draw which will tell us a lot about how we're going. Broken record from me, but we've suffered horribly from not having a full 22 of legitimate AFL-standard players. That has exacerbated the layer of injuries we've had, and exposed the kids to more responsibility than is usual to handle. If Trengove is even an 'adequate' player after his lay-off, it makes a difference. If Petracca goes ok next year, that'll make a difference. If Stretch, ANB, Vanders and the like develop modestly but adequatel, that'll make a difference. If one or two draftees/trade-ins are acceptable AFL standard, that'll make a difference. But most of all, and always, if the the team reaches a point collectively where they believe that if they do their part, the next player will also do theirs, and nobody will be left on their own to carry the weight... that will make all the difference in the world. Given the mess and inconsistency in the middle range of the ladder these days, it is absolutely possible to make finals in 2016. But I'd still like another four or five wins this season, thanks.

I'm usually the last person to lose faith in any given player, but I've finally cracked. Dawes, Watts, Jamar, Bail, Howe, Terlich. On current, sustained form, what do we really lose from our best 22 if all of them are moved on at the end of the season? Between the two of them Watts and Howe = Andrew Walker in both the roles covered and output. and Walker is a good but not great player. That's clearly not a 'winning' scenario and unless there is major change in the next 10 rounds, it is over. Bail I love, but I am also finally prepared to let go of the dream of him making it to consistent AFL-22 level. Jamar looks to have decided to set down his burden and go fishing. Terlich... after so many years... nup. Dawes is a depth CHF, and for all his work ethic, square head and neatly trimmed facial hair, he just isn't a 'threat' on the field. Anyway, that's six spots and a fair amount of salary cap space opened up, and NO extra holes to fill.

I'm pretty sure this thread is actually the basis for the next Star Wars movie. Between this and the collected conference proceedings on the matter of Jack Watts and his relative level of responsibility for the inevitable entropic heat-death of the universe, there's a whole trilogy.

I think we should be looking for a Clint Bartram / Travis Johnstone combo. How about combining Brad Miller and Russel Robertson? Bringing together David Schwartz and David Schwartz's knee ligaments would be pretty awesome. But the ultimate combination, without doubt, would be Liam Jurrah + Shane Woewodin + Matthew Whelan. There, the matter is settled. Close thread.

Thing is, that leadership vacuum in Aboriginal societies was deliberately created - when you pull apart a culture at the seams, all the ways that leaders emerge, prove themselves, and gain legitimacy are stifled. Put that together with things like the phenomenon of the 'general exemption certificate' and similar provisions which made it impossible to engage with Australian law/commerce/society/football while also still retaining connections to community and culture. Literally by law, you couldn't participate in both. I think you've touched on the crux of why reconciliation efforts have been to ineffective in so many cases. A great many of the bureaucrats and well-meaning upper-middle-class types see reconciliation as a kind of 'charity'.effort, spending billions on white elephant projects, of which little benefit gets to Aboriginal people or communities. To my mind, if we want to really build reconciliation and get out of the rut, effort has to be shifted to helping the Aboriginal community to rebuild its leadership strength. In the modern sense, that means people like teachers, nurses, social workers, footy coaches, small business operators - all the 'small' leaders who actually make society in general function. Help Aboriginal communities rebuild that leadership, and yes absolutely they will become much better at defining their own future and Australia will be on the real and conclusive path to reconciliation. But 'More Aboriginal Leaders', even small ones, is an awkward proposition for the 'establishment' politics and especially bureaucracy to deal with, after so many generations of charitable distribution via appointment of additional middle-managers.

I'd just like to take a moment to say I am disappointed in myself for going too far on the 'Irish' thing. I try not to get riled up, but I clearly overstepped. I still maintain that the comparison someone made between the hard history of the Irish and the continuing debacle of the treatment of Indigenous Australians was absurd, and frankly gross considering the material efforts at 'reconciliation' between the British and Irish traditions int he last 80 years or so. I do also understand that Ireland was the test case; the Irish people were the first and longest victims of the most noxious aspects of the British Empire's attitude of superiority, disdain, exploitation and abuse. So, if I may, I'd like to restate what I was getting at, but in a more appropriate way; "In Australia, Aboriginal people would dream of attaining the level of rights, inclusion and assumption of equality that Irish people have attained through their own long and painful process of reconciliation. Indeed, this is all that reconciliation really seeks and it is shameful that it has been made so hard." On a similar note, I'm a bit disappointed by people jumping on ProDee's declaration that he had done some more reading and now has enough doubt about the Stolen Generation subject that he is going to keep looking into it. The people who have demanded he immediately and totally reverse his past position do nothing but remind him of why it never seemed worth the trouble to engage with the 'other side' before.

Lol. I think it would be appropriate to have a national day to celebrate your culture. Someone should give you your country back. Maybe Australia should set up a whole network of religiously segregated schools just to protect Irish culture from being assimilated into the mainstream Anglo-dominated British culture? All we need now is to test how people react to some Irish guy using a football event to show off their cultural heritage with some kind of dance. Sheesh. Turns out what Aboriginal Australians should be doing is waging a campaign of terrorist bombings for half a century AFTER getting their lands back and regaining total control of their own laws and customs.

For simpler and fresher example; For a 'Windschuttlese' review of the game against Port, all you have to do is go through the first quarter and make a detailed note of the position of every Melbourne player each time they successfully kicked the ball, their height, momentum, the way their legs arced gracefully through the air, their junior club, every award they ever received, their mum's favourite recipe, and what they do on the weekends. Wheel it out to about 80 pages, then when you're done place about three sentences amongst it at random points saying "of course it must be acknowledged that not all quarters of the game were as triumphant as this one, but to dwell on such matters would be unreasonably negative, indeed, a black-armband approach to the Melbourne Demon's fine performance." What I'm saying is, among historians Windschuttle is a laughing stock internationally and an embarrassment in Australia.

Here's Keith Windschuttle doing research: 2012 Sunday 24th of June On this day genius Demon coach Mark Neeld led his rugged team to yet another resounding win, crushing the talented Western Sydney Giants. Showing the wisdom of the Demon's recent recruiting efforts, young guns Matthew Bate, Colin Sylvia, Daniel Nicholson, Jordie Meckenzie and Jack Watts all each delivered more than 20 disposals, with Watts works ethic and marking around the ground particularly noticable, while Sylvia's 2 goals and 10 inside50s show that he has finally delivered on the promise that was simply waiting for a potent coach to unlock. With 4 goals, Jared Rivers' prowess as a forward is now cemented, and his former defensive teammates are unlikely to see him return then this season or any other. A further 4 goals from boom recruit Mitch Clark vindicated the huge money spent to acquire the Brisbane want-away, and a handy 3 goals from Colin Garland proves that Neeld has finally solved the tall-forward puzzle for the Demons. Thanks to the inspiration of Neeld, the loading of the forward line has come at little cost, with James Sellar and Joel MacDonald stepping up to ensure that the Giants were able to add just 4 goals after quarter time. Considered in the wider historical context, this win brings Neelds record to 4 wins out of 4 games played against opponents that Melbourne beat on the day, for a 100% success rate. The decisive nature of the wins over GWS and Gold Coast in particular show just how crushing the Demon's game style has been under Neeld, with both teams unable to recover from the loss or the anticipation of the loss, and finished the season at the bottom of the ladder. I believe he also did a review of Cale Morton's career. He gathered all the data from games where Morton had at least 20 disposals, deeming of course that games with fewer disposals would not provide an adequate sample. Based on rigorous examination of this data he concluded that Morton was almost unique among young talls of his era, averaging well over 20 disposals a game every year.

Geebus, I've been 'refuted' by someone referencing Keith Windschuttle. Ok, I accept that this thread might as well be closed. Next up, a man in a clown suit explains why the Salazar administration was good for liberalism.