Little Goffy

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.

Let them take/promote extra players post-draft from the WAFL to top up their list and add a bit of depth. Personally I think that is a much better system than the academies anyway - we should never be risking the creation of dominant super-teams. Instead focus on minimising the non-competitive bottom-out process while also giving a little extra significance to the state level leagues. Meanwhile, does anyone really doubt that the Eagles tanked post-Judd to get Naitanui and Shuey and then again in 2010 to get Gaff and Darling? Chroistos on a bicycle, they got the same number of priority picks as we did.

Which I can assure you is textbook body-on-body positioning every time. ;)

My brother is a Carlton supporter and when we were chatting about the weekend's football - as much as he was pleased to have a ten goal win - he had real concerns for some of the decisions made in that game. He particularly noted a couple that went against Toby Pink (either paid against him, or not paid for him) which he felt were just appalling. For a tall defender in their third game with very limited support to be coming up against Curnow & McKay is hard enough, but to then have a string of very bad umpiring decisions go against you turns it into a serious test of character. It simply shouldn't be happening. One of my deep concerns about our game is that the AFL is happy to 'run down the asset' and not do the fundamental maintenance of investing properly in umpiring, junior development, second-tier leagues, and so forth. The particularly visible and risible umpiring decisions affect the game in much the same way as having a couple of utterly non-competitive teams, or having a wildly compromised draft. There's only so many times people can think 'nah, I'll sit this one out and just check the results' before it becomes habit.

Do you get bonus points if you tip all the away teams for a round?

Booooooo. I still believe one day he will play a game where he has a stat in every conceivable column.

Fun fact time! Nibbler has only polled Brownlow votes once before and it was some years ago. Even better, it was a remarkable 3 votes in a game where he and Angus Brayshaw had three goals apiece in a beautiful 15-goal margin splattering destruction in Alice Springs which many of us will recall fondly as the peak of the time we were pushing for the most consecutive quarters won, ever. At the time we had only three players on the field with as much experience as Nibbler has now. The opponent? Adelaide! Got another one in you, Nibbler?

Clayton Oliver closing in on 5,000 disposals (current 4838). Going at >50% contested, too. I suspected that Christian Petracca was closing in on the all-time record for score involvements but then I had a dig around and found that 'they' actually didn't record the stat systematically until exactly when Petracca was drafted. It is basically his personal statistic and everyone else is just visiting. Sorry, Gary. Oooh, fun thing I just discovered - Jack Viney got his 1000th clearance just last week! And Gawn is right on the cusp of a major milestone - his 1st bounce in AFL! Be ready, it could happen at any moment.

Towerview Store, Benalla. There's your value burger. You know it is a legit fish'n'chip place because the tradies all detour to go there. Also, if a burger is promoted doesn't that make it an alderman?

Yeah, I don't get the disdain for him. He's already a solid player in an awkward role and growing into it steadily.

The trade cost would be too much. Freo would expect two good first-round picks at least.

That's the key - if the whole team is willing to run hard and often sacrifice their own stats just to force the opposition into more predictable attack flows, our defenders are all highly capable of reading the play and getting to where they need to be. I'd rate all of May, Lever, McVee, Rivers, Bowey, McDonald, Petty, Tomlinson and even Hore and the kid Howes as above the league average when it comes to anticipating where they need to be defensively. It is built into our defender's way of being. The Tao of the Demon defender is to know one's place in a deeper story.

I propose the collection to be auctioned off at the Best and Fairest. Quite an artistic piece, really. Turn them into a photobook; each one with match details and a highlight photo on the opposite page of the magic hands at play. Can they get a premiership cup into one of those scanners?

Howes, Windsor and Woewodin are eligible and currently playing at the level, and we've got another eight players eligible waiting for their chance. That's actually a pretty long list of kids whether you cut it by 'playing at AFL level already' or by simple total numbers. I did some poking around other club's lists to confirm. For example, our coming opponent Adelaide is yet to have an eligible kid play a game this season. Neither has Carlton, Collingwood, Port and probably a few other teams but I think the point is made. At this point only North have a stronger complement of Rising Star eligible players.

6. Nibbler. Best mid of either side on the day, when probably 5 or 6 of the top mids in the game were on the field. Makes me so happy. 5. Gawn. All day all day. 4. Lever. Maybe should be higher because he took on so much responsibility and out of his comfort zone. 3. Langdon. Vintage Positive Lingers. Yes, created chance, but even more he took an edge of the Port space. 2. Ben Brown. Career not over! WOO HOO! Let's goooooo! 1. Rivers. Loved the way he responded to the free kick - looked like three major 'moments' in that last five minutes.

Some seriously slippery midfielders at Port. Better get our heads settled quickly.

Seriously, I'm already checking for score updates even though I've got the game on screen in front of me. It appears I am a bit hyped up for this one.

Traditional demands it. What St Kilda does in a game, Essendon does over a season.