Little Goffy

Now that's some meat we can all chew on! Adelaide I disagree; they had 17 players play 20+ games in 2023, which is ridonkulus team stability. A 'good' season would see 12. That included all 4 of their over 30yr players; Sloan, Walker, Laird and Smith, which is a handy quartet of veterans to say the least! I think they are at their peak already and will hover for a while, in the competetive range, but not excel. GWS & Carlton are similar propositions to each other in that they both came good late in the year but haven't quite proven themselves yet. Strange to think that Carlton fans were on the 'sack Voss' bus early in the year. Both teams fluctuate wildly within and between seasons. Either could dominate everything or not even make the 8. Brisbane are professional competitors with an excellent, balanced and mature list. Only a grand final hangover could explain them dropping very much. Sydney have all kinds of firepower and flair but they finished 8th for a reason; their record against other finalists includes a win over the early season misery version of the Blues, and a win over the Giants. That's it. They had a 3-ply soft draw, with the Demons and Giants the only top-8 teams they played twice. Collingwood don't deserve to be allowed to take the field, but their lawyers ensure they'll be back. Melbourne, Collingwood and Brisbane are the core contenders and go into on level standing. Several others may menace if they get momentum going.

We've invested heavily in fixing our biggest weakness (both with players and coaching acquisition) and our list overall is stronger and deeper than 2023, with the sole exception of the ruck. We were 3 points and 8 points from winning each of our finals, including against the eventual premier, in difficult circumstances and with our forward line thrashed by injury. I don't see how anyone could seriously think we're not a credible contender going into 2024.

Plead insanity and enjoy the irony of a padded soundproofed cell. Also, the new Wonka prequel is acceptably inoffensive. The Young Wonka is a naive dreamer who sings a lot and does improbable things with magic chocolates, which at least fits canon. Nothing will ever surpass the Willy Wonka 'You get Nothing' remix, though. Or my wife accidentally telling her work friend that she saw [censored] in the cinema the other day.

Or is a Flake actually a Twirl with the skin peeled off. Probably while it was still alive. Have you ever heard chocolate screaming? Why do you think the Oompa Loompas keep their ears covered? Choose cruelty free confectionery. Also, Hugh Laurie would have been a much better Oompa Loompa than Hugh Grant for the recent prequel remake cash-in thing.

That picture in that context makes me think Selwood is in for a nasty shock when his kids apply for 'father-son' eligibility.

Ah, yes, the wild caught ones you can eat right off the hook.

Wait, is that peanut flavoured M&Ms or M&M flavoured peanuts? Either way, I've just pictured a herd of elephants going nuts on food dye additives and I'll definitely have nightmares tonight. Friend of mine in school insisted on calling M&Ms 'mandms' as if it were a single word. It was contagious and took discipline to not slip. Ugh, high school memories. More nightmares tonight.

I got half a block of novelty reindeer chocolate and a staple in my finger. Still not even my third worst Xmas!

Dunstan, Harmes, Hibberd and Jordon all out vs Billings, McAdam, Windsor and Thostrup in. Woedwodin is right at the heart of the puzzle of how we reorganise our midfield, wings and half-foward for 2024 and for years to come. Personally I'd like to see him more in the thick of things and avoiding any 'Spargofication' of becoming a low-possession smart-positioning outside type. My gut feeling from watching him is that he'll have some great awareness in the chaos and has an intuition for getting the ball to better places. Also, Taj Woewodin: UNDEFEATED.

My wife is originally Vietnamese and until just a few years ago Christmas was a non-starter over there. On the other hand, aside from childhood, Christmas has been a non-event for me for decades. Ironically, she loves it and her workplaces have all done the loot tornado complete with all the obvious re-gifting and shenanigans going on and now we have this giant pile of little presents at home which are all for her! 🎁 I got my revenge by exploiting her Christmas novice status... she began a conversation about the expected weather over the Christmas break, so I wondered out loud... "Do you think it'll rein, deer?" Second-language speakers are a licence to reuse all the awful puns.

Worse. It took me to the Herald Sun.

It's a bleeping training montage with a few cliche talking points. Seriously, some people on here would lose the plot if they found out another club had reportedly trained the house down. I must admit that 'substandard Melbourne FC comms team fail to show our players waiting at a crossing light' wasn't on my bingo card for 2023.

Where's that forehead slap emoji gone when I need it? 🦃 I actually had a moment of trying to figure out why 'Louis Lyle Gawn' was a funny suggestion. Good news. It's not.

No name revealed yet. Submit your entries! Still a chance they'll go with Dalf. I still think they should name at least one kid Dalf. And maybe also a Fishen.

The photo shared on the club's facebook page is just stunning. As is Ardu, for that matter! One of those smiles that makes you feel like bringing them little gifts all day. Congratulations to all, and as Demons we all appreciate the considerate non-september timing!

We really need to commit to Gawn as ruck/defensive half interceptor, and using a forward as a ruck for stoppages in attack. Makes the most efficient use of Gawn and gives us a chance to develop ruckcraft in our other talls. Get our shiny new swarm of mid-sized half-forwards drilled to run together, drawing opponents to release each other, picking the freshest one to go for the fast-break into space close to goal, arriving hot to the fall of the ball, and being a constant obstruction to any opposition movement out of their defence. Play a 2xCHF tall forward structure with alternating duties of long leads vs remaining 'on station' so that our breakaways from defence and midfield always have a predictable get-out option.

In Maynard's case that would also put him into concussion protocols.

Reality: It was a deliberate high-impact bump to the head. AFL: For important commercial and boys' club reasons, it was an honest smother gone tragically, accidentally, and innocently wrong. Reality: It was a deliberate high-impact bump to the head. AFL: Because of how much this was an honest smother gone tragically, accidentally and innocently wrong, we will now introduce new laws penalising honest smothers gone tragically, accidentally and innocently wrong. Reality: I will now punish genuine accidents. Eddie McGuire: "Justice has been served"

Bailey Smith's ACL has just opened the door for Harmes at the Bulldogs while also reducing the chances that the trade could come back to bite us. I'm still kind of hoping things work out well for Harmes individually. Especially if he has a bunch of performance triggers in his contract to soak up some salary cap space so that the Dogs can't afford to keep Tim English!

I was about to comment about Pickett looking ripped and then got to the pictures of Rivers. Body transformation stuff. Bowey also doing the Dustin Fletcher style sinewy muscle, so presumably we can expect another 30+ years of good football from him.

Our 'actually playing' finals teams were 26.5-ish years old. Collingwood's actual team age in their final against us was over 28yrs, so that table is clearly whole-list. So does that favour us or not? I think the only important points about a team's age are how much is to be gained as young players develop, and how much might be lost as older players slow down or retire. At the older end, we have a confusing mix of elite (May, Gawn, Viney) and many more expendable and relatively easily replaced role players. Amongst our younger players there is a promising set already playing AFL level and doing it well, but who clearly have room for more improvement which could see them become elite. Van Rooyen beign the poster boy. Additionally, we've actually got a very substantial crop of very young draftees coming into the system. My summary would be we have a very good growth potential from our younger end and only a couple of very specific vulnerabilities due to age. They are high-impact vulnerabilities, though.

It went something along the lines of “Everyone is a monster to someone. Since you are so convinced that I am yours. I will be it.” But really, my grandad allegedly played reserves for the Demons between the wars. Allegedly. Oh, so, so, very very allegedly.

Fingers crossed I still might have a chance of getting some leftover obstructed view nosebleed seats by the time I figure out if I can afford tickets at all!

So is this training report glowing because Picket Fence was in a good mood, or is Picket Fence in a good mood because of the training?

You have to get them ordered by the club doctor.