Little Goffy

Just noticed in stats sheets that Cooper Duff-Tytler is being abbreviated as 'Cooper D Tytler'. So I guess we know who is going to be the King of the Pirates one day.

39 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

Its going to be a long season - why wear ourselves out unnecessarily turning up for 4 quarters when we only need one half to beat them?

There was a season under Daniher - I think 2002 - where we routinely gave away a four-goal start just to keep things interesting. Personally I prefer a good start and then a gradual extension of the lead, but everyone has their own tastes.

Okay. Here me out.

In theory, with 23 games in the home and away season (only since 2023), the nonsense pre-finals final new to this season, and then four regular finals, a team finishing 7th-10th and reaching the grand final would play a total of 28 games for the season.

This opens up the all-time season records for a variety of stats, even if the player doesn't have the most per-game for season 2026!

Specific Demons in the hunt include;

Jack Steele, equal first tackles in the league at 9.33 per game, chasing Tom Atkins 2025 total of 232 at an average of 8.92 from 26 games. ON TARGET

Max Gawn, second in hit-outs behind Jarrod Witts, and going at a tick over 40 per game, chasing his own 2018 record of 1119 from 25 games at 44.7 per game. ON TARGET

Max Gawn, again, second for contested marks, behind Josh Treacy and going at 2.7 per game. This one is a bit trickier as the all-time record is Travis Cloke with 95 from 25 games at a staggering 3.8 per game. But 3.4 per game would do the job in a 28 game season.

14 minutes ago, The Cult of Disco Turner said:

Interesting.

King mentioned in his postgame presser that Rivers was dropped for team balance, because he hasn’t been at his best, and also because of something he’s been dealing with physically that he said didn’t want to get into.

Roundabout way of telling him to get a haircut.

"And shave those sideburns!"

Already hit van Rooyen, Petty and Chandler. How Sharp continues to get a game under the same coach is a mystery.

2 minutes ago, BoBo said:

Did Derogatory Dean play AFL too?

Indeed, on a wing opposite his half-brother, [censored] Dean.

20 minutes ago, Demonland said:

I love this table because

2008 was a reward for being a proper stalwart and never giving up on a game early.

2021 existed. We all saw that or will forever say we did anyway.

2026 Well, let me tell you my day.

Morning trip to Sydney aquarium with my wife and 8-month old. I was worried he was too young to get much out of it but the little one was absolutely transfixed and glowing with joy the entire time. Wife much the same watching him be so happy.

Train replacement buses made a mess of our planning, so we got there late and arrived home late. But baby snoozed the whole way home. Super win.

But that all meant I missed the first half, so all I saw today was 14 goals 4 behinds in 60 minutes of play, against my brother's team if you don't mind.

Little Sam now remains undefeated in games and even quarters he has watched (aquarium first half this week, was still napping for the first quarter of the St Kilda game, and the Freo game wasn't broadcast up here).

Also - and this is important -

My baby son has learned to start dancing, bouncing, waving his scarf and grinning when he hears the Melbourne Football Club song.

Bliss.

Generally happy with everyone's votes. I like to give extra for players going above expectations, so -

6 K Pickett (turned the game and led the way with the message of embracing danger)

5 M Gawn (4th qtr to remind everyone he is the best ruck-ruck as well as the best around-the-ground ruck)

4 J Lever (now 4th for intercepts per game, including the 1-game Harris Andrews)

3 J Steele (16 tackles, ooo weee and a fair account of his day)

2 K Chandler (must be a coach's dream)

1 T Sparrow (personal best game?)

Several honorable mentions;

T Mac was one of few who stayed level headed early.

B Fritsch with the vintage Fritsch second half.

Harvey Langford beginning to find himself again. Caleb Windsor coming along nicely. Xavier Lindsay building a body of work.

Jai Culley legit player as well as being a complex match up.

9 hours ago, John Crow Batty said:

These are the kind of poor teams that frequently embarrassed us. Happens all too often.

Topically, once upon a time we lost twice to Carlton in a season where they only had two other wins, and it cost us a top four spot.

38 minutes ago, Rab D Nesbitt said:

Why do so many people support Essendon? 🤷🏻‍♂️

In economics it is called the Sunk Costs Fallacy.

Does very strange things to people.

Anyway -

Nice of Tristan Xerri to have a 'just okay' game and then get himself surely suspended, all in tribute to Max Gawn's 250. After a very good game against Port and then monstering West Coast he was probably the chief rival for the All-Australian ruck spot.

The contenders seem to be quickly sorting themselves from the pack, with Witts, English, Jackson and Grundy the ones to watch.

It'll be a fun thing to monitor for the season. We all want Gawn to get the 'outright greatest ever' plaque for his locker, though in keeping with his attitude of course we shouldn't fixate on it.

I would even find some joy if it was Gawn AA ruck with Jackson named as the second ruck/forward.

24 scoring shots to five after half time in Freo-Richmond. Yikes. Could just as easily have been a 120+ margin if Freo had kicked straight.

And a quick nod here to Tholstrup for his job on Serong. Cut Serong's output to less than half.

Meanwhile, for those keeping track of the genius moves at AFL HQ regarding giving thugby a free hit and all that - there was not football on free-to-air television in Sydney today. None.

Looks like this season has a decisive early top-2 and bottom-2 but the remainder is a wide open and completely chaotic race.

22 minutes ago, bing181 said:

For the moment. Longer term he'll need to be able to do more than just play as a tagger.

Not knocking him either, and there's obviously something about being a tagger that really suits the kind of player/person he is.

I suspect the concentrated task and the reduced expectations of doing anything dramatic have helped Tholstrup a lot.

Wouldn't be the first young player to go through a period as a tagger on the way to becoming a more confident and complete player.

We are very much in need of the team-oriented half-forward successor to Nibbler, and Tholstrup has also shown he can be pretty bold and creative when he gets it. I'd hope that is the eventual ambition.

Ugh.

Let's delete this thread and start a new one about Leigh Ryswyk.

No, I'm serious.

Hopefully the new one can be kept clean of people who need to inject their conspiracy theories into other people's small celebrations.

5 minutes ago, Coolx2 said:

Oliver ( A.K.A Dee traitor,just joking) had 39 disposals for his losing side last night unfortunately didn't kick a goal. Teams need mids that are capable of kicking goals also Ruckman.

At the moment we don't have either.

Fortunately we probably have them on our list, just progressing development. To the extent the point is true, probably also a part of why Rivers was dropped and Cross given a run.

The solution, with the right development and coaching, may well already be on our list.

With an optimistic hat on, I can see a future where all of Windsor, Langford, K Pickett, Tholstrup and Culley are primarily mids but capable of putting a goal through, in a handy variety of ways. Lindsay maturing into Langdon's successor would also generate some scoring. Plus, if Rivers returns and shows the potency we all suspect he is capable of, that'll affect the scoreboard too.

Same hat says Chandler, L Pickett, the new and improved Sharp, and Thomas Matthews have a good shot at being primarily small forwards who also contribute to midfield ball movement.

That's a big chunk of the 2028 premiership team, right there.

15 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Interesting Comment, I have NEVER SEEN Faicos take an opponent defensively, and 95 % of his possesions are UNCONTESTED .His game is exclusively built around zero defensive efforts and 100% outside game,which is opposite of a Matt Rowell game, will only win a B &F, as the filth have changed their voting structure to gift him an award. But to win a BROWNLOW you have to have an allround game

Daicos is offensively overhyped but he is a very, very good player and may yet lead Tasmania to a premiership.

14 hours ago, Demon Dynasty said:

Claz a VG first half. The second pretty shabby and zero defensive pressure on opponents. Looks to be a fair way off the pace after HT for mine

Story of the Giant's night, really. Looked like they should have been dominating if not for umpiring by half time, but then they started to fall behind on the 'optional' running and were constantly in urgent, panicky situations. Some really good play but it would be three against four over and over.

8 minutes ago, BDA said:

the anti-wokesters are actually worst than the wokesters but both are unbearable.

I do feel it takes a special kind of weird to go to the trouble of opening a thread and commenting that you don't care. Or to go out of your way to find something so you can then claim it is being obsessively shoved down your throat.

It is like a pub two suburbs away had a pot&parma discount night and you travelled there just to say you prefer schnitzel and why isn't there a discount on schnitzel, when schitzel is already discounted every wednesday at your local place.

This has probably already been posted but just in case;

Paddy Cross mid-2025 article

I feel like this genuinely gives an impression of the type of player he is, so that's helpful.

Fingers crossed but I can easily imagine him joining the Cameron Pedersen tradition of always being a bit more valuable than he seems.

6 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Who will be the most obscure and under the radar Carlton player to kick a match winning 4 goals this week in the vein of Ashton Moir or Matt Owies, as per recent Carlton/Dees game?

I’ll go with Francis Evans on this occasion.

Hudson O'keefe for me. Always nice when a player kicks more goals in a game against us than in their entire previous career. At 202cm, we might not have anyone for him.

I'm going to run with the theory that King expects Rivers to present himself as a leader at the club and a key part of the new generation.

That would make dropping him about expectations for how you are going as a player and what you aim to be. Subtler than 'you were our worst on the day', but very interesting if it is an act demanding excellence from someone who has the attributes.

I mean, if you might be Shaun Burgoyne, don't settle for being James Aish.

Worth remembering that King was there for the 2006-07 hard conversations and subsequent choices to become great, which turned a bunch of talented players into a mind-meltingly dominant team.

Three goals in a quarter while both teams run around frantically is a weird viewing experience.

The unpaid frees for the Giants, including a couple of non holding-the-ball decisions right in front of goal, have really farted in this game's bathtub.

I wonder if that will be auto-censored and I would be fascinated to know what people's guesses will be.

2026 NAPLAN TEST: Complete the sentence; "The umpire has [censored] in the bathtub."

With Jagga Smith currently so clearly the presumptive Rising Star for 26 it will be a real feather in his Tholstrup's cap when the KoltLock ^TM keeps him to 15 low-impact disposals on sunday.

I've begun to keep an eye on the progress of the 2025 draft class, just because I got a whiff of a hint of an impression that very few players from that group are making an immediate impression.

Duursma and Duff-Tytler are off to a nice start for West Coast, both being important in their win over North. (Oh Clarko, you blew it)

Dean has been a solid defensive presence for the Blues already, which is impressive and will be interesting to assess this weekend. Uwland has not shown too much.

Other high picks to make an early debut include Grlj (fine), Dovaston (okay) and Dyson Sharp (not great, but playing for Essendon so why bother - and now dropped by Essendon).

Other than that there is just Josh Lindsay, who has played one game at half-back for West Coast, for respectable effect, and El Achkar and Kondogiannis at Essendon who have also both been dropped presumably for morale reasons. Oh, and mature age rookie Jack Watkins at Port really enjoyed beating Essendon, so good on him.

The 2024 draft had about ten players play close to a full debut season, and many more play 10-17 games. Just a few games in and the herd of potential full-season debutants is already below that.

Incredibly, three rounds into the season there are only half a dozen new players getting regular games, and three of those are at West Coast, which included picks 1 and 4.

I suspect, much like when Melbourne appeared to pay overs for Lever all those years ago, Jason Taylor assessed the overall chances of this draft and said 'Yes, now is the right moment to go hard using a high pick to get a high-potential unknown quantity.'

AFL website spruiking Clarkson's comment that he expects to see 'the Essendon of old' out there.

I can only assume he is referring to the Essendon of the 1930s (I never realised that awful decade had one saving grace), or possibly he means that James Hird and Tim Watson will be taking to the field.

3 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

It’s embarrassing… trying desperately to hype up a game between Essendon and North and all they’ve got is a reference to a period at the turn of the century when both teams were successful. Bottom of the barrel right there.

I'd take an interest in a Sheedy v Pagan 1 on 1 backyard game.

It seems to me that both clubs have been crippled by 'greats' who took that to mean they owned the club.

Maybe our 2025 clean-out has protected us not just for seasons, but decades to come?

I certainly have full confidence that Gawn would never be the manipulative coterie-jockey type who always needs to be 'involved'.

A quietly courageous thing to do at this moment when hate crimes are skyrocketing.

Hopefully gives a little glimmer of light for some footy-mad 12 year old just beginning to realise he is that which he has been taught it is appropriate to hate.