Little Goffy

"Sauce, no onions"?

I'm guess approximately 1000 other people found themselves up against the same predicament and thought 'I'll get WalkingCivilWar to shove food into these faces for a couple of hours of quiet at least."

WOW. That is soccer level. If that isn't fined and publicly shamed then Melbourne may actually have a legal case to challenge May's fine. But hey, it was probably a 'football act'. Or football acting, maybe?

I was having a look at the run home and yikes what an epic winning streak we are about to have! Six of our remaining eight games will be proverbial 8-point games against other teams in the traffic jam, with only the Eagles and Dockers either definitely in or definitely out. Meanwhile, Magpies are basically done travelling for the season now. It is all MCG except for one game at the SCG. BUT with their faltering form and with a finish against the Blues, Swans, Lions and Demons, they may yet drop out of the 8 as fast as Maynard dropping for a free.

I didn't watch the game but now that Collingwood have lost it'll be funny to watch Maynard staging. Does anyone remember roughly what time of the game it was?

Good job Freo. Right result.

Bontempelli doing his thing; Almost double his nearest teammate for contested possessions, metres gained, leading the team for 1%ers, score involvements, and chipping in with a contested mark and mark inside 50. A shame his shots missed or he could once again be the Dogs best forward and best midfielder on the same day. Dogs in real trouble when Tassie comes in if they don't get a very good trade for Smith and then ace the next couple of drafts. Sanders, Darcy(F-s)), Ugle-Hagan(Ac) and Weightman are the only serious talent they've acquired in five seasons. Meanwhile, what happened to McKercher and Duursma?

If the Brisbane game marks his return to form, we may have to rewrite this thread's title; Show some respect. Clarry's back. Please get off.

Ooh, I'll play. I'll try to be realistic but positive and also controversial so I can be in the AFL media. Judd McVee - Michael Hibberd Kynan Brown - Nathan Brown Trent Rivers - Marc Murphy (lol I know much that'll irritate some people but I suspect like Murphy, Rivers will spend most of his career being either underrated or overrated.) Jake Bowey - Leigh Montagna

That he managed that surge of pace to get across to offer an option late in the game was heroic. Having just followed the play all the way down the ground to be involve in the defensive 50 effort, I suspect he was already spent before he even started that sprint, and was probably ready to puke afterwards. His running isn't just to get his daily steps count up! Low-key role model for all the kids.

I fear I've actually been gaslighted to the point of not being sure of the rules any more. Can someone clarify for me what the rules are about players running into an opponent during a marking contest to keep them out of the contest, when the instigator has no intention to compete for the mark? Genuinely seeking clarification.

6 Pickett 5 Viney 4. Van Rooyen - also wins award for 'most robbed by umpires'. Seems to be a consistent thing that it is okay to block him from marking contests. 3. McDonald - notable moments of important calm experience. 2. Oliver. Not like it was his best game but he was recognizably Clayton Oliver. 1. Nibbler. One terrible howler at the crucial moment doesn't change that he was an important factor in stemming the flow against us for much of the game. Petty would be on this list if just take two shots had gone through, and Rivers would be on this list if he'd just taken two steps fewer! Kynan Brown now averaging 80 disposals and 50 tackles per full game time.

Well, that was unfortunate. But, keen observers will recall that I have for a while had this game marked in as our last lost for the season. So, chin up, it's all good from here.

My neighbour's cat said something quite similar this morning, actually.

A persistent mantra in my head is the 2000 Qualifying final vs Carlton with the Green/Bruce combo. "...they need some marking forwards. Green has been the best of them! He's marked it again! Well, really, the only forward for them." "The pressure's starting to show. Bruce! Bruce! Can he kick a goal! He went quickly - and he kicks the goal! They're in it now!" "Knocked out of there by Leoncelli, across the goal face - Bruce! An unlikely hero! The rookie! The rookie!" "A pair of unlikely heroes embrace. Green and Bruce." Something I noticed when confirming that it was indeed the first season for both Bruce and Green was that in round 13 of 2000 we lost to Carlton by 98 points. So Freo had better watch out this year.

A debut every week since the bye and 8 players with less than 50 games, we're a whole year younger on average than our opponent, and our entire emergency list has 10 games experience between them. Stealthy...

Is that any way for a vassal to talk? Especially after they just gave us back the political prisoner. I just got a whisper of a thrill thinking about a giant infodump on the preposterous AUKUS negotiations. I can only hope there was, at some early point in submarine negotiations, a recorded conversation between Morrison, Johnson and Trump. Johnson: {burp} "What's long and hard and full of seamen?" Trump: "Hur hur hur, I'll tell that one to my daughter." Morrison: "I don't get it. I'd better ask my wife."

Moral of the story; The little boy saves the village from a flood but nobody ever comes to help him and he dies with his finger still in the hole. All that time the village thought he was a naughty boy who had run off, and they only realised he was a hero when it was too late. And that is why Belgium is Catholic.

Obviously would be of interest. Takes a steady flow of contested marks and doesn't go missing from games too much. Seems to be incrementally getting better at providing forward pressure. Probably his most impressive stat is score involvements which is not perfectly consistent but sometimes huge. He has even had a game with more score involvements than effective disposals, which is fun. I'd still be prioritising Lukosious, but you have stick your finger in every hole these days.

Gee, it was interesting noting first the borderline downfield free for the bump on Petty (I wouldn't have called it, but the umpires earlier had...) and then at the other end of that kick it is clear even in that grainy footage that Van Rooyen was bumped to ground by an opponent with no intention of entering the marking contest. I mean... am I forgetting the rules or is bumping someone to prevent them entering a marking contest when you have no intention of participating in the contest not normally a free? Good pickup on Liam Shiels effort there, and the comment on 'not caring what the opposition is doing - rolling the dice' sums up the necessary attitude quite well.

Yikes, I'd not heard of that before and had a look at the story. I am staggered there weren't riots.

Just quietly, has anyone else heard talk that Darcy Moore got pretty disturbed during a club event when a bunch of Collingwood supporters were gloating about the injury to Trac and playing a game of 'guess who' about which Melbourne player they'll cripple in round 22. The rest is entirely unknown and probably idle gossip, but I can verify the 'game' part exists because a client where my wife works thought it was funny enough to troll her with; "We got Brayshaw, now we got Petracca, maybe next game we'll do Gawn. Doesn't matter, not like you'll be playing finals." Real classy stuff taking advantage of people being professionally civil at work, too. Quintessential Collingwood.

Munchausen at the symposium; Munchausen: "This condition is one where the sufferer compulsively invents medical conditions in order to gain attention." The Symposium Attendees: "Yes, we see that."

Seems a natural progression from the old 'messiah complex' we had. Definitely something inflicted on our current Demon team. As well as shocking bad luck, of course. Off the top of my head, there's also been Collingwood 2010 "Youngest premiers ever goign to rule the world", the Essendon 1999-2000 team, the Carlton 'Baby Blues', and the terrifying prospect of the Bulldogs 2016 kids continuing for a decade together. Strange to think back on that Bulldog side and realise that more than half that side had their career-best season that year. Either it shows what an amazing job Beverige did mobilising a young and actually not outstanding team, or it suggests that he then squandered one of the great lists with an overbearing style that prevented players from growing further. Or both. The proverbial 'malady of victory'. I think Richmond are an interesting counter case. While they had some genuine champions in crucial positions, overall the side was not stacked with any kind of super-elite 'generation' of talent. Perhaps consciousness of that helped them focus on the need to work at the team things? 2000s Geelong, on the other hand, was both a golden generation and got a rocket up them early on when they slumped after 2004-5, which set their minds to the task. Makes my hair stand on end when I think that the three premierships in five years was actually a pretty disappointing result for that team!

That moment when you realise you are an actual 'do your own research' professional. Caveat; I am aware this is merely desktop-based meta-research, not actual research. Also the coffee I had while doing it was far too sweet which definitely affected productivity. Bleh. A sample of some of my reading is below, but here's the 'Things I learned' headlines; - Petracca's injury was as bad as a spleen injury gets, short of requiring removal. Most common discussed cases were grade 3, Petracca's was a grade 5, which is the maximum in the scale. - Even a total splenectomy does not mean the end of career or loss of performance for high-level athletes. - Spleen injuries often go unnoticed because they are frequently masked by the much more evident symptoms of much more common injuries such as rib fractures and general 'having your gut smashed around' symptoms. - Spleens heal. It is normal for spleen injury management (other than splenectomy) to aim for full return to health. - Follow-up imaging can confidently assess the level of healing and any ongoing risks, ensuring that return-to-play is not premature. - The initial treatment experience is often a real [censored]-chewer for the patient and loved ones, primarily due to infection control isolation, as well as persistent psychologically exhausting symptoms which can even include a physical sensation of 'my blood isn't right'. Random sample of readings; Young rugby union player with a grade 3 spleen injury - which seems to be the most common. Initial 3 months on light duties only, then another 3 months was added after a further scan showed imperfect healing progress. Eventually made full recovery and returned to representative football (well, Rugby Union). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/42389949_High_Grade_splenic_rupture_in_an_elite_Rugby_Union_player A short case report from an awareness raising program for sports medics. A spleen injury that was not noticed or suspected at the time of incidence. Not a surgical intervention, which appears to be quite a common decision if the internal bleeding can be managed. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/researchday/2015/events/28/ Case study of a pair of grade 3 splenic lacerations, again, in Ice Hockey. Suggests that with appropriate regular re-imaging to verify the full healing of the spleen, return to play can be much sooner (2 months in these grade 3 cases) than current management assumptions. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231215796_Splenic_Lacerations_and_Return_to_Play_Case_Report_of_2_Professional_Hockey_Players A report from 2014 about the then uncertainty regarding spleen injury imaging and the like. 3 months light activity only, then gradual return to full activity. Incredibly, it even notes that "high level athletes may choose splenectomy for a faster return to play". I'm so glad we aren't American. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1941738114528468 Speaking of splenectomy; an article on top level Ice Hockey athletes' careers following spleen removal; https://www.denverpost.com/2011/01/17/loss-of-spleen-doesnt-stop-avs-hunwick-other-athletes/