Little Goffy

Boo hoo poor Clarko, having drunk guys harassing him and filming him as he leaves a venue late at night. Grow a uterus and harden up.

Hmm, a bit complex and extreme, perhaps... Russel Robertson was a big fan of the pre-season rule trial that hitting the post is play on. Can't imagine why! I remember amusing scenes in that year's Wizard Cup - the ball had clanged into the post high up and bounced well back out into play. For a couple of seconds everyone was ignoring it and jogging to kick-in positions... then there was a kind of twitch that hit everyone like a school of fish all turning at once. Posters are fun. This is not a part of the game that needs to be subject to bureaucratic interference.

From a lot of directions, ANZAC Day is fast closing in on becoming a dress-ups, showbags and chocolates kind of event. I hope tonight can be something quietly commemorative, and not too much pretension and vainglorious posing. I hope our club can be one of the influences that help to keep alive the earnest, solemn tradition.

Just to annoy myself, I've picked Jack Watts for my 'perfect 9' game selection (a supercoach side-game). Plus, it's Richmond. Also, Jack Watts is a pretty good player who sometimes throws out a top-notch game, I figured, why not this week? Plus, it's Richmond.

First thing first. Murphy is 27, not 29. Second, he has been, pretty consistently, a very, very good footballer. Even in this season, when he has appeared to be struggling at times, he's still clocking numbers and meaningful impact that would be in the top niche of our midfield. So, setting aside the Murphy bagging (well, at least it is a change from the ever-odious Gibbs bagging, which I guess has to take a rest now he is leading the AFL for tackles) I think the posters saying that Carlton will put an unrealistic price on him are right on the money, so to speak. He wont be worth what we'd have to give up to get him. I'm extremely way of paying high trade price or premium salaries to attract players - the last thing I want for Melbourne is to end up like Carlton, with a top-loaded playing list that simply can't get to a best 22 on the day, despite several years of alleged building. Boy is Malthouse getting what he deserved, after politicking his way into the coach's job at Carlton by claiming they were under-performing and had a top-4 quality list. Great to be able to point and laugh at another club's gross mismanagement for a while.

Looks to me like Hogan's kicking action is heavily troubled by an excess of capital letters and exclamation points.

New baby.

Kruezer is simply untouchable for any but garage sale price. With all due respect to him, we can't be trading in players who come with permanent clips on their shins, for ease of attaching moon-boots. Henderson would at this time appear to be about a fair trade in terms of quality, but Carlton have a desperate shortage of competent key position players, forward and back. They'd have to be totally Malthouse to trade him out. Yarran is an interesting one. His best is superb, Carlton definitely rate him highly (even those who will be there after the mid-season break), but he does have consistency issues. we also have some kids running around who may well cover his role in the near future anyway. I'm not sure any of those options would be likely to give us a suitable exchange for Watts. That, and personally I don't believe in trading out players who are at least AFL-level. Even if they sometimes create memorable forehead-slapping, chair-bashing moments.

Ah, annoyed someone else posted it before me! An exciting figure. Also, going at two goals a game is a pretty good start! For a bonus - Who leads the AFL for one-percenters, as well as being 5th for marks?

When our biggest problem this season has been panic and dropping our heads, I think Cross can be held onto, yeah? And those bagging Jetta... seriously? I'm beginning to lose confidence in Dawes, which saddens me because, you know, good bloke, can sometimes contribute very well, etc. With Frost likely out as well, and Jamar overworked in the ruck, we need to bring in at least one tall capable of contributing to the ruck. Some chance Vince will be suspended, the old knee-jerk MRP will be wanting to make a point alongside the melee fines. Or maybe it really has changed this season? So for my thinking, it is - Out: Dawes, Frost In: Whichever tall 'puts their hand up', whichever mid puts their hand up. And if necessary a like-for-like replacement for Vince. Also, next week we have to give Brayshaw a full game. He's 13th in the AFL for tackles despite being sub in every game! Watts has to

Partly depends on how well, and in what kind of roles, Gawn develops. But our ruck stock is very limited once Jamar retires (and I hope he'll play on a few more years) and Looburger is clearly an option. Getting him as a free agent would be a major win, with the standard caveat that we should never grossly overpay anyone.

- Jones is an A-grade midfielder and an all-round A-grade human being from all available evidence. - Ablett is the only reason that Gold Coast was relevant, interesting or competitive in its first two years. But the thrust of the article, about Jones as a role-model, is absolutely true. Jones efforts to continuously improve, especially to minimise early weaknesses (eg. unreliable kicking, reckless attempts to barge through tackles) and systematically, deliberately add extra capabilities (side-stepping, peripheral awareness, leadership) are a living example of how an AFL player should go about their business. Throw in the healthy life attitude, and he is a gift to the Demons, outshining any other player in a decade. So, all in all, I think Nathan Burke has provided an excellent cover letter for his application to be midfield development coach at the Melbourne Football Club.

I'm pretty over these threads, lets just worry about our own players. At least so far we've been spared injuries, so lets not invite karma to our home.

That's the trouble with playing in Canberra, as soon as you're ahead for 51%, you think you're set for the next three years.

Like smoking, drinking, gambling and homeopathy. Although, I'd be intrigued to see a testing program to identify if a player has been partaking in homeopathy. "You're showing no effects at all. Guilty!"

Now that Jones has signed on for long enough to basically be with the club for 'life', we need to make that number 2 the heart of our promotions to kids. The guy has respect, from everywhere and everyone, in all ways. Identifying with Jones is a shield to protect unfortunate Demon-supporting kids from being mocked, and his instagram baby pictures will break down the 'concerned mother' barrier too! The club shot itself in the foot by tossing away its living history, treating players like McDonald so poorly even while releasing a steady stream of media about the club's great history. Nathan Jones' career is the chance to turn around that sour recent past and build towards a more solid, respected and justifiably loyal supporter culture. At the moment, few of us can even imagine the Demons holding up a premiership cup, but would anyone disagree it would be Jones you'd dedicate it to.

Hmm, umm, I'm going to really get into the high spirits of the moment and say "What a great opportunity to break some droughts". Yep. It'll be awesome.

I think personally I was happiest about Garland. I've always had a soft spot for him, I think because of his posture: he often looks like he is about to apologise to his mum for being out so late. Loved Tom McDonald going nuts - especially because it gave a 'told you so' supercoach moment.

I think the coach can start taking the blame now. 11 separate goalkickers, what was he thinking.

Here's hoping that he spends some time, even several weeks, at Casey building confidence in his ability to silence an opponent, read the play, and make natural decisions on the rebound. Can still be a quality player for us, but it is probably for the best that he be asked to rebuild form, almost from square 1.

I think the basic problem is that there isn't really much of genius going on tactically. The tactics being implemented actually close down the options for the team using them. Instead of 'we have a tactical structure that can respond to all these situations', the mantra is 'we need to create the situations that make our tactics work'. Sun Tzu would be steaming in his urn.

Weave them together into a giant flying demon with wings of scarves flipping in the wind? Roll them into a huge kitten-toy ball. Convert them into seat covers and cushions for the MCG. 'Yarn Bomb' light-tower 5. Hmm, actually, that final one might work.

Odd that Jamar played 50% game time and Gawn only 25%. So for a quarter of the game we had no actual ruckman out there. Big day for clangers across midfield and half-back. Frost added a question mark to his name. I think we're still maybe 4 or five 'genuine AFL quality' players short, and it is exposing new/young players to a lot of pressure. Same old problem. Except, at least it is not '8 or 9 players short'. Throw in the 'let's learn an attacking game plan to cobble onto our defensive game plan', we get some rough days. I'm not crushed, I'll still get a membership, but I'll be nervous because we'd desperately want to notch an early win or two or things might start looking unhinged at the end of the Freo/Sydney/Hawthorn set of games round 5-7.

I don't have a broadcast, but I noticed that Grimes, Lumumba and Jones (3 of our top 4 by stats) have all been on the same disposal count for ten minutes or so (that I've noticed), are they done, resting, or just not getting it at the moment?

Same problem as last week. Very concerning. Seems like in the effort to get some attacking going, we're out of place on the defensive structures and not getting organised. I hate saying it, but this final 40 minutes or so of pre-season football is actually going to be important.