Little Goffy

Couldn't help but notice the resemblence to the under-18s highlights videos from way back when the debate was about whether he'd be number 1 pick. It's almost as if, as he has put on strength and stamina to compete at AFL level, he has built up confidence to play his natural game again...

What a great press conference it'll be when Scully announces his decision to stay. Just visualise the characters around him, beaming and patting him on the back. The relieved, slightly embarassed smile on his face. Keep that in your head, how good it would be. Would you go into a final thinking about how sad it would be if we lost it? Only if you hated yourself!

Jurrah doesn't so much stand head and shoulders above others, as he occassionally stands on the head and shoulders of others. Stars are rare things - if they weren't, they wouldn't be stars! I just had a lot of fun doing a quick exercise, looking at premiership teams from the last decade and picking out non-star players to imagine our kids becoming. For instance I've got Jordie McKenzie earmarked as Jared Crouch. Would you complain? But, for out and out stars, I've got three candidates; Colin Sylvia has a combination of strength and acceleration that is rarely seen, as well as excellent skills all over, a fierce tackle, physical courage, remarkable leap, and a huge kick whether around the ground or at goal. Anyone who can keep up with his acceleration will be monstered by his strength. Could prove to be untaggable on the offensive, and his burst speed allows him to put defensive pressure on a wide radius in a pack. Bizarrely, he also has one of the AFL's highest hit-out-to-advantage rates, thanks to a cameo role in certain HF set plays. Liam Jurrah defies neat description... gifted with incredible agility and leap, he also has a level of alertness and perception that puts him a half-step ahead of not just his direct opponent but the whole game around him. These attributes, combined with his constant awareness of teammate's positions, and skills in getting it to them consistently even amongst a zone or flood, could make him one of the most valuable players in the modern game. Jack Watts could do for key position agility what Nick Reiwoldt did for stamina and Lance Franklin did for running power. A generally sound package as a 196cm forward, his short-distance speed and lateral movement is elite at any size. His current weaknesses in physical power and tendency to get caught will both be subsumed by his fundamental strengths - a balanced frame that will fill out without penalising his agility, and a sharp mind that will gain the full value of experience to shape smart leads, positioning, and playmaking vision. By 50 games he'll be a serious half-forward and key forward option, by 100 he could be a true matchwinner.

If you're gonna bulk up one piece at a time, then extra power in the legs is surely the best place to start. The opposite of Brock Mclean! And as far as references to Travis Johnstone go, let's just be clear that while Cale Morton might also have a psychological barrier to overcome, it is very different to Johnstone's. Trapper was... well, his problem wasn't a shortage of confidence, which I think Cale shows at times. People should stop telling him he's too skinny to play - you don't wanting that thought in his head, especially since it will feel like something he doesn't have control over. A player who thinks they can't 'make it' because of something they don't have control over is in a bad situation.

Our goal is to be the greatest. The transformation of our club in the last few years has explicitly been about becoming a mighty, dominant club. Dean Bailey has stated that we right now have an opportunity to be the greatest. We all know this to be true. He is implicitly asking the question 'Are you going to do whatever it takes to be the greatest?'.

I guess you missed the article where Schwab insisted that all Melbourne's conract negotiations would be, as much as possible, done in private out of respect for the players involved and to avoid hype and grandstanding coming into play. Or, another way to look at it is emotional blackmail. You might as well have threatened to self-harm if he left. Have you considered writing a book on 'How to poison a good relationship by becoming clingy and posessive'.

The Tapscott-Trengove family and junior connection is well known. It would be crazy-greedy to wish for, but I wish we had had one extra pick in the late teens that year to grab Bastinac, Scully literal running-mate, before North grabbed him. But not a problem, I reckon Gysberts will do just fine.

I like to think that Davey can contribute in the kind of role Akermanis offered at his peak with Brisbane - midfield rotation but often right in the attack, delivering into the 50 or making the judgement call to go for it himself. Davey has the vision, speed and quick thinking as well as the precision kicking to be lethal going forward, and let's not forget he did originally make a name for himself as a run-down headache for opposition defenders. It is possible the idea is to maximise his time on the ground, in dangerous locations where he has to be 'minded' even if he looks like he's just taking a breather, because he can suddenly become a threat out of nowhere. Every minute Davey is out there in a position to launch an attack, an opponent has to be with him. Sun Tzu says "Attack where your opponent must defend, and you can directed his movements as if they were your own" I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that the answer to the 'forward press' is a little shift back towards playing in position. We saw many times last year Melbourne would break loose and have that extra player up forward. For instance - if your opponent puts in 15 players to keep pressure on the forward zone, and you only send 14 or 13 back there, the moment you have a breakthrough it is 4 or 5 on three coming the other way - those numbers practially guarantee a shot on goal. All it takes is one smart, not even especially accurate, clearing kick. You read it here first* (somebody let me know in 9 months if I am a genius, ay?) *actually, probably not first, but you read it here.

If there's one lesson from Daniher's experience with the 'ruthlessness' efforts (which went on as a mantra for three years), if you don't make real progress fairly quickly after setting it as a target, it can turn into a rot and it will never come through. Think Knights and the 'added defensive pressure' proclamations... if progress doesn't happen, you can sink fast. Another reason to appreciate Bailey's deadpan delivery. His grand statements usually can be summed up as things like 'We would like to have fewer points scored against us, and to score more points ourselves' It is also a reason to like the 'Whiteboard wednesday' culture - sharing directly, even with just the core of crazed supporters like us, boosts transparency and genuine accountability. Having to say what your real plan is, out loud, sharpens the mind know end.

Something occured to me in reaction to the 'please don't call me names' nonsense today. In order of who did the most wrong in this incident, Nick Reiwoldt would have to be last at St Kilda. Yet he is certainly the one who has copped the most s4i7 from it all. Not Gilbert, who let's face it is the whole reason there's an issue, on multiple levels. Not Dal Santo, who at least had the ignominy of an inexplicable lurid pose. St Kilda have tried to play the 'innocent victim' card in all this, and to make that happen they put Riewoldt front and square in the spotlight, being the face of every media conference about the issue. Has anyone seen Dal Santo or Gilbert's face in a paper? Yet, frankly, he didn't have much to do with it. Basically, he took the heat for the team, and more specifically Sam Gilbert. Can't help thinking he must be absolutely burning up at the injustice of it all, and at the same time his faith in the club and teammates he has lived with and represented for ten years must be at rock bottom. So I have a bit of sympathy for Nick Riewoldt, not so much because of the photo, I couldn't really give a toss, but because... well... he's at St Kilda. ... That said, the best sledge would be to make a point of showing him respect and mentioning what a harsh deal he was handed by his club and teammates. That'll take him off the game, count on in.

I spent three quarters of the demolition of Sydney actually up in Sydney, enjoying the company of [the most beautiful woman in the world], and only got scores via text from my brother. I'd given him specific instructions to let me know how we were going with the start, since our starts had been a problem... ha ha ha haaaaa good times. Anyway, my totally non-AFL friend up there actually suggested we find a pub and see if we could catch the remainder of the game. Took some searching in Sydney but we settled in for the last quarter, which was a bit of an anticlimax as we all know. But the thing is... how often in the last few years, even in the better years before, have we had an opponent totally sewn up at three quarter time? So in a funny way, I can't say I had an exciting time, but maybe for me the 'pure fact' that we had turned a corner was more plain. I went into a game thinking we'd likekly win, then we won by a bigger margin than I could have hoped. Just the fact pf it is pretty potent.

Hmm... doesn't sound so much like 'arrested' as briefly detained to cool down. And the 'granted leave to seek professional help'... New Years... Y'know what. I get the feeling this one actually ought to go in the 'leave it alone' tray.

I wasn't implying that AFL players are more likely to be bastards than the rest of society, or that the AFL system doesn't run a wide range of programs on anti-bastardry. By the same token, Do you seriously think that only a few incidents a year making it to the media is any kind of indication of overall standards? AFL players and their apologists seem to like the idea that the rest of the world is just out to get them - girls are asking for it and just get sooky afterwards (just find the St.Kilda-originating emails that went out about the 'Schoolgirl', who apparently had made sleeping with AFL players some kind of collector-card game...), and fights only start because of people 'headhunting' them. The media gets worked up too easily once something is 'out in the open', and that often looks ridiculous. But 'Buddy Franklin was rude to me when I asked him for a drink in a bar' doesn't make much news. 'Colin Sylvia was a total tool when I knew him back in Bendigo' isn't front pager. AFL players aren't being asked to be flawless characters, they are being asked to - refrain from sexually assaulting people, try not to put yourself into a coma from drug overdoses, not wear giant novelty dildos while wandering around Federation Square in the middle of the day, avoid getting teenage girls pregnant and then ditching them cold, don't make videos about chicken rape limit their involvement with known organised crime figures and generally avoid boozing it up and hanging around nightclubs after about 2am How hard is that? Seriously, how hard is that?

Yeah, the whole thing has degenerated into pretty pathetic and sordid and not much more. I'm pretty much over it. More guys were areseholes and the girl they scewed over hit them back where it hurt. What we learnt - AFL culture still needs more anti-[censored] programs, and individuals guilty of spectatcular arseholery should be held to account at the time. AFL player's privacy is still an issue. Woop de doo. Anyway, I presume since this is another no-win situation involving St Kilda, we'll all be back again next week...

Just clarifying a couple of things for myself - correct me if I'm wrong. The Official AFL / St Kilda version of events is - 1 - A St Kilda player got a 16 year old girl with mental health issues pregnant, and ditched her 2 - the same player keeps a stash of soft-porn of his teammates unsecured on his computer, 3 - which the girl was somehow able to copy and keep and has now, in an fit of mentally deranged anger and attention seeking, posted a couple of them on her facebook page Well, I'm glad that's all cleared up. It will be of real interest to see how the sting in the tail of all this plays out - ironically, relating to the use of social media and email to denigrate and vilify the girl, back around the original 'incident'. I just hope that Melbourne knows when to hold off on the aggressive response, and take the courageous path to contrition when one of our players screws up seriously. That's the real test of club character and the only way to keep things 'safe' in the long run.

To the extent that Key Position Defender is still a position, Garland is a key position defender. Remarkly little use for Gorilla-keepers these days, with Gehrig retired

Jones is a good player and seems like a better leader. This thread should be merged with the 'whipping boy' thread, next to all the people saying they don't like the idea of whipping boys etc... etc...

Does Ian 'Turps' Turpie count as media?

I squirm a little that the position is specifically 'chaplain', but understand that the role is one of a generalist personal support. But... that being the case, I guess the flip side is 'Why aren't they just called a counsellor?' And if anyone says 'because some people feel uncomfortable going to see a counsellor, because of the stigma attached'... um... yeah... I guess my simple footnote to this is that faith, and particularly 'official' faith, is not considered a welcoming or even safe place for many people, and a person whose primary calling is religous is quite unapproachable on personal matters.

An irrelephant?

Tom did a 15.x beep in a routine testing session long before the camp, he was still going but they pulled him up basically on a 'yeah, that'll do, let the other kids have a go' call. Plus he's pretty good at football.

We're 6-1 against Collingwood in Grand Finals, too. We also have the highest win-loss ratio in grand finals... something like 70%! Only Adealide is better, thanks to their 2 from 2 in the 90s.

Debt free is fear free. Until we cleared it, the club was going to stay in its rut of 'small target' strategy mixed with 'panacea' dreams. Now, with the debt cleared by the Foundation Heroes and a methodical and focused leadership, and I'm particularly looking at Schwab with that, we are definitely going the right way.

Lucas Cook. Hadn't looked to much into the discussion on him, but my main thought now is... The shoe fits.

We recruited a kid whose playing base was Ballarat but is from further out than that, named McDonald. Given that James was 'Junior', what is this guy gonna be? 'Embryo'? 'Glint in his father's eye'? (GIFE for short) Anyway, I'm happy with our collection. They are all billed as good marks, good work ethic, accurate kick, nice guys. We can go back to hunting midfielders next year.