Little Goffy

Link to the youtube version;

It's a strange one; stadium food logistics doesn't seem to have been figured out. Some of the vendors seem barely better organised than a Hume Highway truck stop. Hmm, actually, that's not a surprise now I think of it because those truck stops are often catering for sudden rushes as a tour bus or intercity bus pulls in with 40 people who all need to drop a Maynard and have a snack before they get back on the bus. Seems to me the key problem will always be that if you try to 'elevate' food you always get the penalty that slightly fewer people will want a particular item. The fewer potential customers per item becomes a serious problem when the potential buyers are trying to make a decision and complete a transaction in 5 minutes, and there is a lot of geographic segmentation of the 'marketplace', so to speak. I'll make the trip to Petersham for a Portugese tart on a saturday morning, but would I willingly miss the start of the second half because I'm circling the concourse of the MCG looking for a Portugese tart? Anyway, I think we can all agree that the answer is gozleme.

Is that a reference to a indie band known more for their videos than their music? 'Red tins and wire' is definitely their style.

Simpson carried him self with dignity right to the end and did the ultimate team thing in taking the heat and drama out of this decision weeks and even months in advance. What's the Shakespearean quote? "Nothing (except a premiership) in his life became him like the leaving it" That's a bit unfair given the premiership and six consecutive finals appearances to go with it, but taken on the last few years it'll do.

Sam Faff is the archetypical nobody just stirring his bucket of Maynards to get attention. But it is still a rumour I'd be happy to stoke just to annoy West Coast.

If we crack in and have a red hot dip for 4 qtrs, we'll win by 50+. Essendon's secret weakness is the presence of an opponent!

Sorry to jump ahead because it looks like Deespicable is going to walk through the drafts chronologically (Thanks, looking forward to it @Deespicable ) I looked at this thread, then I looked at the 'Kozzie Pickett 100 games' thread, then I looked at the 2019 draft. Pickett is indeed the first of his draft to reach 100. Chasing breakaway includes Anderson (97) Serong (96) Rivers (93) Ash (93) and Jackson (91).

The list of small forwards who have been consistently delivering ~40 goals a season from just their second season woudl be a very short piece of paper. Come to think of it, there would be very few small forwards who reached 100 games at just barely 23yrs old. A testament to the fact he has continued to be dangerous and to make a contribution even when his form has been a bit off. I'm glad for him that he has put together a really nice run of form ready to celebrate his 100th with seven goals against the Buttersoft Bombers.

The clear group of youngest teams last round were North at 24 years 9 months, Gold coast at 24yr 11m, and Adelaide at 25 yrs. We came in at 25yrs 8 months average age against West Coast (lol we were younger than them). If it is Fullarton in for Gawn then we drop by 7yrs total, or about 4 months average over the team. Make that 12yrs difference if we try out one of the ruck kids. Realistically we could be putting out the fourth youngest team for the round. Go stealth rebuild, go!

I'm open to persuasion, and will note that just earlier today saw some stats of not merely his volume of running but the fact it is done at pace in both directions. If he's getting a job done then carry on, but I'll hold onto the feeling that he could be a bit more potent in general. It is a struggle seeing someone with proper Pantene commercial hair seem so flat and lacking bounce and volume.

There was an article on the AFL official site the other day about the Hawks recruiting 'win builders' or something. So glad the Hawks got smacked because the line up to kiss their bootstuds has been nauseating. Anyway, Vince was definitely one of those, while Tyson had that couple of years since the draft and in his first season with us provided an important volume of work - hell, he earned 11 Brownlow votes in one of the worst imaginable seasons. Salem was one of our most important players when a grand final was in the balance. My own verdict on 2013; It was a 'stop the bleeding' draft and did the job well.

I'm not going to say this too loudly, but I'm starting to think it is time to give Sparrow a spell at Casey. Started the season 'just adequate' but has slipped from that level as the season wore on. Hasn't got past 16 possessions in about 8 weeks, and hasn't had much impact when he does get it. Unless there's some potent defensive running and genius positioning going on - which I've seen no evidence of - then I think we can do better. I also think that Sparrow can and should take the opportunity to really dominate a few VFL clearance games and set himself to come back in with a much more assertive attitude ready for the late season and finals. Essendon's pretty nimble mids group would also suggest a little extra speed is a good idea, too. Maybe Sparrow out and Brown & Woewodin to share the sub minutes?

The Bombers-Collingwood game had a main theme which suggests how to beat them. It starts with; Don't let Jordan Ridley take 15 uncontested marks - he had just 3 contested possessions of any type for the game. Don't let Mason Redman run around doing whatever he wants - ZERO contested possessions and not even an intercept. Just generally, force Essendon to earn their possessions. Following are contested/uncontested disposal totals; Kelly (1/15), Perkins (1/12), Jones (3/14), Laverde (2/7), Greshem (2/13), Duursma (3/14), and it goes on. Just five players gathered more than 50% of the Bombers' contested possessions total. Overall that game was remarkably bruise free. Neither team managed 30% contested. Only the Port-Bulldogs game came close to that level. Force Essendon to fight for it, get up close and hassle, and they will break. Select a team accordingly. TL;DR - Essendon continue their 20-year tradition of football unsuitable for finals.

Very handy start to an AFL career. Certainly can't fault his consistency - aside from a few extra tackles his stats are almost identical from game one to game two!

Jake Melksham; No. 1 Ranked for Marks inside 50 per game season 2024. Equal No. 1 for goal assists. Equal 13th for goals. Equal 17th for Score Involvements. I'm just glad he got through the game when so clearly not ready. Hopefully he'll be better next week.

6. Rivers 5. Van Rooyen 4. McDonald (I've seen Moai look more flustered) 3. Melksham (2 goals, 2 goal assists, and the forward line was different with him out there) 2. Pickett (bonus for getting a run of good form going) 1. I can't split Fritsch, Langdon and Windsor. Game was most notable for the short thick 'tail' - even the statistically lower rated players mostly were getting their job done. Also notable was the relatively low presence of our normal inside mids Oliver, Viney and Sparrow.

Interesting parallel. Matthew Lloyd who played just 5 games in his first season (for 7 goals), and in his second season didn't play consecutive games in the firsts until round 19, where he established his place by startling everyone with 7 goals, before then only kicking another seven total from his remaining six games. Didn't really build anything interesting until his third season, from then he spent the next 12 seasons kicking 3 goals a game. That'll do for a Jeffo trajectory adjusted for forward line shrinkflation.

Please tell me that is set up as a shuttle service from Fed Square down to the G for kids.

You need to be more subtle about your agenda, otherwise people might think you're just a factional wrecker with a vendetta.

You're an hour early, the game is at 1.10!

Ah, such variety of species. The Paramatta Sneakerfooted Eshay, the Northern Rivers Gronk, the Burrowing SovCit, Queenslanders, the Memberberry Borer, the Tasmanian Shaknester, and last but not least one must of course mention the famous seasonal migrations of the Westralian FifoFly.

Nice work Kangaroos. Couple of those young guys are looking like an terrifying midfield mix. But for the moment, I'm just enjoying listening to the exhausted North fans having a crazy long post-game cheer together.

Port v Dogs is starting to carry the smell of our Freo game. Could be hard to gather themselves again this late in the season. Margin saved a bit by a generally flat third quarter. Naturally, the moment I decide I'll properly watch for a while.

Bit disappointed he seemed to put the cue in the rack after half time. Minute for minute that first half was reaching Kynan Brown levels.

Dyslexia is cruel for commentators. I have checked and he meant to say 'unspottable'.