Little Goffy

Love watching multiple players growing into genuine maturity.

Chandler was showing signs last year but now it is noticeable that he responds to intense situations with higher intensity of his own. That's a top-shelf character trait. He has also incrementally improved everything about his game, year on year.

Pickett going in a really good direction as a team leader as well as individual player, too.

I can't see a clear standout as Gawn successor but, hey, 'The Greatest' doesn't happen every week.

What are Richmond's forwards like? Do we need the tall stocks in defence?

I mean, yikes, their leading scorer is Sam Lalor.

Their other goal-kicking midfielders, Taranto, is expected to miss. Rhyan Mansell, medium forward, also 'TBC' with a foot injury.

Lynch is out for a couple more weeks.

Lefau, 195cm, kicked four against the Giants but is more noted for tackling, in so far as he lays as many tackles as he gets disposals.

Fawcett, 197cm, has kicked a couple of goals per game but also struggles for general impact and... what the jeebus hoistus happened against North? 1 disposal which was a turnover, and a free kick against, in 80% time on ground?

Significantly, neither of these forwards create any opportunities for others. They are end-of-chain only.

After that there is Steely Green and Seth Campbell at around 180cm and Jack Ross at 187cm, and you are pretty much done for Richmond's scoring avenues.

Turner and Lever as genuine tall defenders with Howes and Taylor providing 190cm+ support should be structurally appropriate. Richmond's reliance on medium forwards might also point to having Jai Culley spend time running back to provide over-sized cover for them while also being tall enough to interfere with the two Richmond talls.

Lindsay an appropriate in for extra run on a five-day break.

Tholstrup spending a day with Lalor whether mid or in our defensive 50 would be an interesting challenge, which I'd personally want to see played as a 'keep him honest but don't hesitate to counter-attack' rather than a strict tag.

For once the match day thread made me have a think.

People were going off about Windsor's tackling and then shortly afterwards Windsor laid a really good effective tackle on an opponent who realistically could have slipped away.

But then later in the game he had two more very weak tackle efforts - lacking the body-to-body intent.

So we know he CAN lay a good tackle, but he hasn't been able to set it as his default behaviour.

Frustrating for now but I'm not too worried longer term.

Okay everyone, you know it is coming and I'll try to be brief, but...

EVEN LITTLER GOFFY REMAINS UNDEFEATED!!!

Demons are 4 from 4 in games my now 9-month old has watched any part of.

I'm always a fan of the hard workers who get a special game in, the players coming out of slumps, and those outperforming expectations.

6 - Langford, filled a role beautifully and by the end of the game the Brisbane defenders were panicking about him lurking behind them (hence the stupid bump out)

5 - Tholstrup, good golly. 9 intercepts, 90

4 - Ed Langdon, vintage Happy E, despite or perhaps because he was given a bit of extra responsibility defensively.

3 - Chandler, Kept getting better as the game went on and really worked himself into a matchwinner by the final quarter.

2 - J Van Rooyen, worked hard, played a team game and really earned his goals.

1 - Max Gawn, not his greatest game, but still... plus, I have to award a point for a stationary ruckman being able to tackle a full-sprint Ashcroft in a likely goal-and-game-saving moment.

Annoyed I can't also slip in Turner; ten intercepts and 100% disposal efficiency is about all you can ask of a tall defender in a high scoring game.

Oooh, that goal to Sharp was built on going end to end with multiple things not quite working but our players keeping at it and recovering the momentum.

That's one for the highlight reel not just for today but for the tone we are trying to set for the season.

Lol, and there goes Lever with the kick-in and hard run to receive the next kick at half back. Definitely a move to the midfield-wing on the cards.

Just now, Dee Vinci said:

I feel bad mocking the music.

it's a tribute to Jimmy Stynes.

It's sounds great.

What a nice idea

Good stuff.

I feel bad having a collective crush on the entire set of Irish dancers. Haven't felt like that since the staff at Gus' cafe in Canberra 15 years ago. But I still hope we kick about 30 more goals...

Petty under pressure does the uncomplicated, calm, correct thing and it goes well.

It's turning. We're right in this one.

Lever laying tackles and taking hits in the centre square wasn't on my bingo card.

Frustrating quarter overall, lots of good efforts and then some poor decisions and a little bit too much of the clever-cuteness.

Still, we are choosing to take it on and that matters more than any specific error.

Scores level.

2.12 in the firts half then 5.1 in the second.

Richmond providing another reminder that goalkicking is hugely between the ears.

Okay, here's something freaky. Am I right in thinking that Seth Campbell went from being the only Tiger to kick a goal in the first half to being the only Tiger to kick a behind in the second half?

That was an outstanding goal by Brisbane. Handballs forward and then the receivers janked backwards a couple of steps to gain space to line up their next handball and move bit by bit into the corridor. Little gain, little gain, even while probing for the breakthrough option.

Meanwhile, we're in front because we're willing to slash right across the ground, starting from the halfback hip and coming out at the half forward shoulder. Defenders don't quite know exactly where to be.

Brisbane are mostly relying on Demon blunders to score... I suspect that'll decide the game either way.

Ouch. Petty with the Hobbit movies level of bad idea poorly executed.

I don't care that he's a completely unrelated 195cm classic anglo boy, we must acquire every possible Pickett and one is available in the coming draft at roughly the ranges we're looking at having selections.

We'll never know if Bailey Laurie is a good player or not because he is clearly profoundly cursed.

It wasn't that bad a kick, but it swung way off. It wasn't that bad a handball, but it wasn't quite where Langford thought it was.

Ah well, back at it.

Lovely smart and fearless play for that goal!

Big test of the little one's powers today.

He's well prepared - been read to in two languages, big breakfast, ripped the tail off a paper fox and one ear off a paper bunny, had a good practice session at sticking his tongue out one side and tilting his head the other way, has finally managed to break the tracking wheel on my mouse, and knocked over a stack of blocks one at a time.

Only question left between now and game time is scones or gozleme?

Not wanting to cause offence to any ethnic minorities, I had one scone with jam and cream and another with cream and jam.

Wanting to cause offense, I considered having Greek haloumi in a Turkish gozleme, and calling it 'Smyrna remembers', but the scones won in the end.

11 hours ago, Fork 'em said:

Tom Papley says hello.

Living up in Sydney, hating Tom Papley was a regular amusement for me until it was all ruined by a coincidental string of interviews and the like. Turns out that off field he's calm, well spoken and observant. There was even an instance of him successfully and tactfully getting Roaming Brian to jog on instead of bugging the Papley family.

So annoying, because on field he is so easy to dislike. His goal celebration face looks like he is taking a difficult [censored] while also having a [censored] and is calling a friend to tell them about it.

32 minutes ago, Demonstone said:

How do you feel about Turner being called "Disco" (Roach) and Langford being called "Bison" (Marsh)?

The point is that neither Turner nor Langford are really annoying and neither have smoke blown up their tiny backside every week by a queue of nuffy commentators!

Watson, with the added adjustment for playing for Hawthorn, is the most annoying player in the top-50 for goals per game.

Wait... correction... top 47. Stringer and Dangerfield are equal 48th.

I know, I too am shocked at Toby Greene's sudden drop in scoring.

The spooky thought that we fixed Essendon and broke Gold Coast.

Anyone else remember the good old days, as far back as the Daniher era, where teams were constantly changing their overall form, from good to bad or back again, after playing the Demons? Back when we were the top ranked Victorian side and the only ones deemed a credible finals threat?

Meanwhile, how embarrassing that a team which can field an entire starting 18 from the first round of the draft, with a triple-premiership coach in charge, is struggling to look like serious contenders?

Hopefully it is back to leaking talent in all directions for the Suns. Sorry, SUNS. Is ol' Humpy going to be a new Steven May?

4 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Clarry a lazy 37 possesions in a losing side, not bad for a King Discard!

Yep, that was a classic Clarry game and it would be petulant to try to pick at it. Even the usual things that people knock him for were well under control. Lots of contests, lots of ground gained and effective ball use and decisions.

Meanwhile, you can tell @picket fence is in a good mood with Jefferson named. He's still going hard on the Clarry commentary (Clarrentary?) but there's not a caps lock or triple exclamation mark in sight!

Didn't do GWS much good, but when Tom Green is back that one-two inside midfield hit might just work as the gravity around which the Giant's runners can spin.

Not a regular rat but the infamous Moose Rat, allegedly particularly dangerous in the early game!

Hot prediction - JVR will be given a near-tagging job on Harris Andrews.

Salem, McDonald and Melksham out at the same time with the players coming in ranging from 18 to 24 years old. Statistically our team taking the field will drop average age by more than a year!

Might actually be worth checking to see if we end up being the youngest team of the round, let's see-

Melbourne 25yrs, 2 months.

Richmond 24yrs 10 months.

West Coast 24yrs 4 months.

Oh, Carlton.

Really?

And seven goals, one behind?

Have confirmed this game is free-to-air in Sydney.

It will be a big test of our young, undefeated star.

3pm on a sunday is dangerously close to a nap time. Hopefully he'll be able to stay on the park for a full four quarters and get the Demon's the win.

If Littlest Goffy can get the team up again I will officially be contacting the club about a formal position.

Who is this 'Tied To' everyone is talking about, and can they hold down a key position spot?

But seriously...

It looks to me like this is a good draft to have two picks in the teens. All the talk is that the quality you'd need a top-10 pick in '25 to get will be there for the whole first round.

Couple of likely key defenders, another slightly undersized 'tall' defender, and an alleged unicorn 200cm utility. Definitely a good starting point for going shopping.

A proper 'all aspects' midfielder capable of doing everything well, even if they don't have a super standout feature, would be an appropriate target, too.

How about coaches?

We've got Fagan at the top and Yze and McQualter at the bottom.

Luke Beveridge played for us, but didn't coach for us. Does that still count?

If so, Alistair Clarkson comes in.

That would make five. A pretty solid effort.