Little Goffy

I fear Jack Billings is about to become my first ever pet-hate player. His stats looked okay enough in the Carlton game but what I kept seeing was Billings taking a mark on the wing or half back and then backing up like Ben Brown preparing a set shot, giving the opposition plenty of time to set up and ending the fast rebound movement which is supposed to be the core of our striking power this season. Even when he took handball receives he was stalling up. He then inevitably must bang it long to a contest and if that goes even slightly wrong or is done without a real target then it gets spoiled or marked by the like of Weitering or McGovern (18 intercepts between them) and comes strait back at us in our most vulnerably moment. A particular irritation is the way the stats are calculated, the long kick to a contest is considered an effective disposal makes it look like players who do this (Billings is merely the burning effigy here) are doing well for both metres gained and disposal efficiency. Well, maybe not so much for Billings who despite doing this several times still only recorded 60% DE. Billings needs to get to Casey with permission to enjoy it and reset his confidence and mindset with the ball. It would probably be quite helpful for Casey, too - Billings is not a rubbish player, he just isn't getting the best out of himself right now.

It has changed over time according to coach, mostly. Daniher era: Well, that's disappointing but anything could happen next week and next season. Bailey era: This is part of the hard yards of rebuilding and we have a bright era ahead of us. Neeld era: Life is pain, we are here to suffer and must embrace the void. Roos era: This is part of the hard yards of rebuilding and we have a bright era ahead of us. Goodwin era:

His knee dug into the turf because he was dropping his knees to draw an in-the-back free.

As legitimate as Patrick Cripps' Brownlow.

For NRL players, Penrith is a party town.

Quick recap:

Gold Coast Suns: Let's do a rebrand! Will Powell: How about [censored]? Gold Coast: Well, there goes our chance to affiliate with Streets Ice Cream. Tell you what, five weeks is a massive hit. I'm quite comfortable with a suspension but I'm also very conscious of some of the, you know, basic concepts of effective enforcement. If the bans get too excessive it will lead players to not report or not corroborate out of anxiety of ruining someone's career. The goal has to be 100% coverage, not partial coverage with heavy-handed penalties. Anyway, back to the rebrand; Their song is [censored], their culture is [censored], nobody loves them, nobody even really hates them, we are all just sick of paying their rent for them while they live in a better house than we've got. If they really want to turn things around they should try to brand themselves as a football club rather than... what even are they? A reality TV show?

Okay, I suggest it is time to call a break. This thread is filed under 'Comedy' and US politics is filed under 'Horror'. It would be a tragedy to derail the derail thread.

I think it's an infographic from the census.

You don't realise how annoying some of these media voices are until you follow a link which immediately runs at full volume at 7.15am in a tasteful and quiet specialist pathology reception room. Also, what a fascinating bump of a thread; so long ago Jaded was still Jaded and I'm half expecting to get in an argument with Yze_Magic.

The fun part of this case is that in a litany, nay, a cacophony of likely illegal acts on every front from sexual violence to insurrection to real estate fraud to intimidating electoral officials to threatening witnesses to receiving material aid from foreign powers to large-scale kickback schemes... it is United States' Campaign Finance Laws - just about the weakest link in the US electoral system - which are the tripwire. Honestly the case itself is not the main event despite all the balloons and clown suits. The most that can be expected of it is that the Trump ego finally kicks to a full psychotic break and he starts openly ordering hits on civil officials.

I've change my mind. Looking at this I can see now that it perfectly represents Collingwood; shockingly expensive, desperately attention-seeking, and profoundly ugly. But here comes the key quote behind it all. Collingwood president identifying a chance to sell 'premium' merchandise to the tasteless property developer and 'legitimate import-export enterprise' crowd. You'd only need to sell 100 at $50k a pop to be looking at millions in profit. "A version of it should be available for members and collectors."

Premiership teddy bear. Premiership beanie. Premiership membership to Demonland. Premiership Netflix account. Premiership fridge magnet. Premiership double-glazing installed at a 50% discount. All better than the display of vanity that is a ring which tells people how great you are.

Inflation adjusted, very close match ;)

Everyone is talking about humble pie but I'm sure it was the my game night lazy pancake dinner that did the trick. Humble pancakes are what you eat when you never said Petty was a bust or anything like that, just that you thought he was more valuable and effective as a defender and it wasn't worth persisting with the forward experiment.

Correlation does not establish causation, and yet...

Ugh. Might as well just unplug the TV at midnight on thursday.

Looks like Fritsch should have that one sewn up, then. Rankine's goal was a good side-step disentanglement and burst of speed, but is mostly notable for reaffirming my nickname for him as 'Isaakermanis'. Uncomfortable resemblance. Don't want him playing for anyone else. Stengle's was also a first rate goal that would have messed with the silly 'expected score' charts for sure. That felt very important at the time and give the sickly feeling that things were going to just 'go right' for Geelong. Happy to give credit to him now that we have the win!

Watching the replay repeatedly you also grasp what a great moment Petty had there. Read it and reacted instantly then absolutely pounded the grass flat to make the distance to spoil that pass. A little cherry on top of a great (touch-wood) return to form.

Personally I loved watching Scott have a post-game sulk. Can't help thinking that Geelong fans must really, really hate us by now. I mean... really. We 'stole' their minor premiership, humiliated (Correction: abjectly humiliated) them in a preliminary final, and even plinked them out of the 2018 finals, and now we've busted their winning streak and possibly their whole fragile momentum. And on every occasion it was flu or some other tragedy. Can it please also be us who have finally cracked their shell of invulnerability and ended their era?

I think I peed a little when time stopped for Fritsch's goal. Speaking of whom; despite operating in a forward structure alongside some really struggling talls, and having a pretty patchy start to the season that I'm sure Fritsch himself would be disappointed with, he's now sitting on 21 goals 9 behinds, fourth in the Coleman medal behind only Curnow (25), Hogan (24) and McKay (22). Nice to see a few of our key players really look like themselves again, most visibly Oliver and Pickett. Petty rediscovered his energy which was a joy to see. Still an issue with a long 'tail' of players not really getting into the game as much as they ought to, but hey, we defeated the undefeated despite that, and it is mostly younger players who can find their way or be shuffled as the season reveals its secrets. 6-2 after eight rounds when I was mentally prepared for an even split by this point of the season. F'n'ay. Also, the pancakes were excellent and plentiful.

Officially going to be pancakes for dinner. Based on the theory that there is a finite amount of laziness in the world, I'm generously donating my personal allocation of diligence and motivation to Jacob Van Rooyen, to ensure his up the ground and back again and turning up everywhere to make life miserable for Tom Stewart. Anyway, I dislike Geelong. You kind of have to respect them, but I can't see any argument for liking them.

I wonder if Roule Galette is still any good? Been a long time since I've been able to get there. Tiny little creperie in a side lane coming off Flinders Lane, in between Swanston & Degraves. You can get a handy little takeaway crepe 'cone' and munch on the walk down to the 'G.

Intercept Marx?

Since we're mentioning Maynard again, quick reminder that he has gone four consecutive seasons of at least once hospitalising an opponent with a head injury. I'm 100% in the 'punish them on the scoreboard' group. But also... punish them by so much that when we're 40 points up with 10 minutes to go we can start an ironic 'Collingwood' chance just to make the fans lose their [Maynard]. Also, pretty sure Gawn can arrange for Alexa to play the Demon's song in every Collingwood supporter's home for a week.