Little Goffy

I'm not going to go all gooey-eyed over 'athlete does training' in itself, but I am feeling positive about Petracca having this chance to reset mentally. That program goes into astonishing levels of analysis of breath, blood, wattage outputs and probably stool samples as well. They also have multiple cycles of previous records to refer to and give Trac feedback on every aspect of his body. To be away from routines, pushing yourself under precision monitoring and guidance, and getting instant feedback on how your body is going - it seems like an ideal way for any player to restore confidence after a major injury. Got to wonder if something like this should become a common offering for players almost like the concussion baseline test. Maybe the special feature of new players' second pre-season?

Someone at the club saw Clarrie's interview on Unlaced and thought deeply about the story from an early training session where Nathan Jones gave him a whack to the throat. That'll be Jones' main job; giving Clayton Oliver a regular whack to remind him he's in the AFL now.

Seems there are many 'midfielders who can also play forward' if that'll do. Murphy Reid is probably the standout mid+forward or forward+mid - constantly described as 'smart' 'clever' 'effective' and 'value per disposal' at the same time as accumulating plenty of disposals when in midfield. We'd be lucky and thrilled to get him at 5, I suspect. Josh Smillie is the 194cm midfielder who has also kicked a steady flow of goals. [must not compare to Bontempelli] Bontemsmillie? Likely available at 5 but unlikely at 9, but not impossible. I think at this stage that would be my dream pair. Two radically different midfielders in both body and style, who are both capable of adding some spice to our attacking movement. In Taylor we trust. Amen.

Brainwave! We're confident we're going to get Kalani White as a F/S next year and that we'd likely have to burn out first pick anyway for points.

Clearly the club believes that; - We are going to bounce back in 2025. - The top end of this draft is elite. And probably also; - It is much easier and cheaper to trade for role-players to meet needs than it is to attract top-level talent. - Tasmania is coming.

Having the returning-from-injury fresh legs of Zanker, Purcell and Paxman all at once might be a pretty powerful effect in the circumstances.

Everyone please remember the conflict resolution and relationship repair sentence starters; I feel... (say something about a particular negative feeling - don't generalise) Because... (give the reasons for that particular feeling - don't go wider) I would prefer... (describe a realistic change that would help mitigate that particular feeling)

Could only seem like value if you're making an assessment of next year's draft compared to this one and think 13 in this one is worth much more than (for example) 13 in 2025. My reference point is the trade for Lever, which looked like 'overs' on paper but then 2017 turned out to have a very solid group in the picks 20-40 range (actually better than the 10-20 range!) and the 2018 draft turned out to be very patchy outside the top half-dozen or so.

That's so meta. I am really impressed.

Similarly, Brisbane won a premiership on the back of a pre-season at Vegas.

Or we can just get one of those robot vacuum cleaners for his home. Geelong are starting to looking like systematic home-wreckers. You'd probably find their profile on a sugar baby website. I really look forward to the day they get audited.

Taking it back to general media pile-ons, I suspect it is going to be a very rough few weeks for the Hawks after their pair of high-profile young small forwards - one a teenager and the other recently traded to them for cheap due to attitude and having his illicit consumptions make it onto social media - cancelled their attendance at a kids footy clinic at the last moment because they were hungover (+?) after the Hawthorn Best and Fairest night. You'd think he'd ease up on the drinking at least, after the massive amount of his own bathwater he publicly consumed prior to the semi-final. Haaa ha ha ha haa haa haaaaaa obviously I'm joking there will be no consequences. He's a 'cheeky character who enlivens the game'.

Is it too late to amicably and mutually end his contract and allow him to move as he free agent? Geelong would love it because they wouldn't have to give up anything, and based on the compensation for Josh Battle we would be awarded more draft picks than Tasmania.

I suspect that the biggest cultural difference between our club and others is that we have so many people keen to pursue their agendas and vendettas through public channels. Or, to put it another way, people ready to hurt the club in order to contest control over the club. It is why the only times we've been able to turn in positive directions have been the times we've had 'unchallengeable' leadership figures, such as Stynes or the Roos/PJ combo. While that's going on the leaders within the club who are trying to address the substantive issues get publicly whipped by BOTH the faction resisting changes and the faction impatient for change. Then there are certain unscrupulous vendetta-bearers and wannabe king-makers who will take both those sides into the public domain just for the cause of white-anting the current leadership. It would be fascinating to be able to map it all out.

We're from very different necks of the woods, I suspect, but nothing beats a giant bonfire. Best bonfire I ever had was the final night of a season of outdoor nighttime opera (seriously) that finished with the entire stage - set, curtains, props, base, backstage and definitely some non-regulation bonus flammables - being sent up in flames to a massed chorus of Carmina Burana. I think my mum got free tickets because one of the music teachers at her school was involved. Stick that up ya 'Never tear us apart'.

They are currently having a revival led by a gameshow format they borrowed from the BBC hosted by celebrity talent on loan from the ABC.

Hey, I'm a crypto millionaire and property investor with a Ferrari and a massive [censored] that keeps my gorgeous young submissive wife happy all night thanks to those ads. It sounds boring but is actually an important ritual for keeping Collingwood supporters out - they look and ask where the tennis balls are.

Don't tell @Ethan Tremblay about dropping below Adelaide! Also... seriously, isn't pretty much everyone's 19th Birthday their worst... so far...

Ha ha ha, eat a [censored] Hawthorn.

Had pick 1, successfully traded it for pick 23 which he then used to bring Brendan Fevola out of retirement.

I know it's traditional (one of the more miserable and dull traditions) to boo players who change clubs, but is it too much to dream of being seven goals up in the final quarter and Nibbler gets to line up for a set shot in front of the Demon Army all singing "And Iiiiiiiiiii-eeeeIiiiiiiieeeeiiiiìiii will always love youuuuuuuu-oooooooo-ooooo" And you just know he'd be laughing too hard to kick straight. @WalkingCivilWar how's your singing voice?

Not sure about the ethics of having cyborg implants added in a secret lab in the Austrian Alps, but if we're doing it...

He is quite welcome to tell us what a great addition Weitering is going to be when we get him as a free agent next season.

Should we start a 'nearest the pin'? 1. John Longmire 'sick of this ---' and leaving Sydney to become a senior assistant at West Coast. 2. Essendon arrested. Just, the whole club. Gotta be sure. I the US they called it a RICO case, I believe. 3. ATO to investigate Geelong after discovering 2/3rds of the Bellarine Peninsula is 'mysteriously' negatively geared.