Little Goffy

Not sure I could ever feel comfortable supporting him or going through the annoying conversations with people having a laugh at his haircut, off-field antics, and his on-field... hmmm... can't quite find the word for it to bypass the censors. Half-gluteal contributions to defence? Plus; knee, season. Our priority aside from the talls would be a more rounded and complete midfielder in the Andrew Brayshaw, Luke Davies-Uniake style. (RFAs, 2025)

THE BUTTERING RAM A short graphic novel Mate, may I please have some duty of care please now? No. Look at me going for this ball... over here. 360 degree 'low impact' spin from contact to the face. Still looking for that other ball.

Oh Richmond. Oh my. Oh me oh my. And is it too early to start the 'Jake Waterman restricted free agent 2025' thread?

It actually doesn't look like much in the action but it followed the worst case scenario of being tipped at the same time as momentarily losing consciousness and then having a second heavy head impact with the ground. The image of him slow-spasming on the ground is true horror and it apparently wasn't until after he had been stretchered to the rooms that he regained consciousness, which is a frighteningly long time. Wishing the best for him.

Sounds like the game has lifted in pace a bit - or at least the pace of scoring?

Fun Fact: When Kolytn Tholstrup was seven years old, Ben Cousins was arrested at Esperance Airport and found to have meth stashed up his Maynard. Definitely should ask Tholstrup about it next time he joins the podcast.

I wonder if he'll get a 'simulation' fine for his bit of theatrics in the game against us? He clearly felt something brush his hair and then four steps later he put on a poogasm face and clutched at his head. A bit embarrassing.

Not going to analyze that very much. We were beaten and eaten by Harris Andrews. I don't think I've ever seen four marking forwards (Brown, Van Rooyen, Petty and Fristch) all have such bad days at the same time. Without taking supercoach seriously, still, they had 85 points between them! Overall we looked lethargic and only seemed really competitive in bursts plus the last quarter when Brisbane had also become tired. Umpiring seemed a bit iffy but it felt like it was just part of a pattern of poor luck in all things on the night. Windsor and Tholstrup are fine young players and will be fun to watch grow. Woewodin needs to spend a couple of months being Nibbler's shadow and absorbing everything he does. The bye is very much welcome.

Don't think so, but he wears 39 and has ambitions to be awesome, so Neville Jetta is perfect.

I think it is particularly scurrilous that they have bypassed the auto-censors by changing one letter to a symbol.

Agreed. With Jason Taylor steadily churning out quality players everywhere except over 193cm, we really need to make that investment. Fullarton hasn't had a chance yet and I instinctively like him as a prospect, but we can't keep churning through other club's surplus. Taylor, Weitering and Harris Andrews are all free agents at end of 2025, for what it is worth. ;)

I did some digging on their other recent outgoing player trades. Lewis Jetta, Tom Mitchell, Gary Rohan, Nic Newman, Darcy Cameron, Zak Jones, Aliir Aliir, Dylan Stephens. A lot of those were traded for absolute peanuts in return, too. Dawson for a future end of round 1 pick. Nic Newman for a pick that the Swans didn't even use. Aliir Aliir for pick 34. Darcy Cameron for pick 56 which was then packaged with Zak Jones to get 32. Ex-Sydney players seems to be a lucrative trade area for the receiving club both in cost-effectiveness and total value. Sydney might be doing okay from trading Dylan Stephens (plus pick 25) for North's 2024 first round pick. Yikes.

binman, good to see you visit but I think you had better stay focused. You have just a couple more days to eliminate the ums. Have you considered developing a stutter, that usually helps.

We'll all be pleased to know that Tim Miller has done a neat 180 for tone on Pickett.. "The 22-year-old jumped off the ground and made glancing contact with his opponent’s head during the Demons’ 15-point win at Adelaide Oval on Thursday night. Soligo finished the game and on Friday played down the incident." Presumably someone had a word with him. Considering he's never had a job except at The Roar but his 'dress for the job you want' profile picture makes him look like the host of a Young Liberals cocktail party debate night, you'd suspect he was quite ready to duck for cover.

That evaluation is so unreasonable and personally vindictive is raises an eyebrow towards racism. The only other possibility is that he's still in a sulky about the Dog's getting annihilated in the grand final that he's still coming after Melbourne as if we must be bad people because we did something that made him feel the sads. EDIT: Here is the same person discussing Peter Wright's full-force impact on the back of the head of a player who was backing into a mark; To begin with, let’s call it what it was – a collision, and not a hit, nor a bump, and especially not a snipe. It’s the sort of incident that, up until recently, was seen as an occupational hazard of one of the world’s most brutal, fast-paced sports. Those times have changed, and it’s no longer safe to wave such collisions away without attempting to stamp them out of the game, especially when they result in a serious injury as Wright’s did, with Cunningham suffering a serious concussion. But it’s worth noting, if for nothing else than to defend Wright’s character, that the only thing he did wrong was, in the split second it took to make the decision, brace for contact rather than continuing to fly for the mark and risking his own wellbeing.

Quoting just to give credit for the precision call.

Jack Lukosius today has provided the perfect textbook example of what 'disposal efficiency' is and is not. The key is that a disposal is still counted as effective if it travels beyond a certain distance (I think 40m?) to a contest. As I'm looking at the stats now, Lukosius has 22 disposals, going at 81% efficiency, for a total of 680 metres gained (!!) but also seven turnovers. So, with a third of his disposals being outright turnovers he's still got close to the best DE% on the field because he is banging it on average more than 30m forward every time he gets it!

Correlation does not indicate causation, but when it is this clear there's certainly a basis for further research. I'm sure he is referring to boomer's round, the new themed fixture. In round 19 all games will be on a saturday afternoon, each club will have a special uniform with long socks, the 6-6-6 rule will be enforced at every stoppage, and all players will be obliged to 'kick the bloody thing'.

Strange, I've been actively noting that Langdon is playing quite well. Useful connections, and blocking space defensively. I thought he was very important at limiting the Port dynamic midfield.

There are many strong parallel but I don't think North are going to be triple-premiers any time soon!

Have you seen the standard of seriousness of Australia's national television lately? Sometimes I think the networks are being run by a secret cabal of Netflix agents.

I just switched over to tonight's game. Conversation went; "Who's playing?" "Ah, Port and Essendon." "Is that that BT guy commentating again?" "Hmm, yeah." "Don't they have anyone else?"

Gawn has managed double-figures Brownlow votes six times, including 20 in 2018. So it is possible. By the numbers this season you could realistically make the case that he is playing his best football. The only stat that he's down on is contested marks but that can be changed with one clunking game. His stubborn refusal to kick his 100th goal might be a problem. Every once in a while it blows my mind to reflect on how good Max is. He has been monstrously dominant in three games already this season and very, very good in another, but by the numbers this is all just normal. Anyway, currently on 99 goals, 97 behinds. Which will hit the ton first and will we all be storming the pitch? :D

The in form version of Chandler (such as the first 8 rounds last season and his start so far this season) is as good as any small forward you'd choose to compare him to. As DEEFence noted, he does seem fitter and more able to stay involved in games or at least provide the defensive cover running even when he isn't getting stats, which will help his consistency significantly. I think Chandler's 50th game (currently 37) will be a nice little one for the milestones thread because he really looks to be making that transition to established AFL player.

I do not like the Adelaide Crows. It isn't so much that I hate them or that they have a high priority in my thoughts. I just don't like them. Losing to them would feel like watching a slack colleague get an efficiency award for finally doing the basic thing they've been putting off for six months which caused you a whole lot of extra trouble. I dislike them on the level of a debate about who is supposed to order printer ink. Let's just get it done so we don't have to think about them again until next year.