Little Goffy

That was the same meeting where the no bananas rule was repealed and the no live music rule was abandoned. I'm riding hard on the 'undefeated record-breaking season' wagon, so for me every game is absolutely crucial! I'm hugely invested in it. Once I got a taste of the possibility, I've wanted it more and more every time I think about it.

Tell you what, if this is another instance which turns out to be pure media smoke there comes a point where an AFL player can seek legal redress for harassment.

Well, Richmond certainly knew how to maximise a potent forward-mid, and they also made a lot of good hay out of numerous small running types. Won't pretend I know a whole lot about the man himself, but I am very pleased that we settled this quickly and with a candidate that is clearly seen as top-shelf by the 'community of coaches'. Now, Leppitsch to replace Stafford and we are all set!

Abridged version Oliver signed a massive seven-year contract It is unclear if Oliver would be open to any move there has been no indication Melbourne would be willing – Riley Beveridge, Cal Twomey

He was, but no umpires noticed.

Someone good to have around the club and potentially very good to have around the forward line. This has given me a nice dose of the warm and fuzzy.

At this point he is well short of what his draft position would suggest and if he doesn't take a noticeable step next season then the lingering shine will be off and his trade value will plummet. A lot depends on how much confidence Adelaide have that they can make that step happen. If it is low and the need for a fresh start dominates thinking, then we could get him relatively cheaply. I like the idea, and considering how good Thilthorpe was as a junior, and that he bagged five goals in his first AFL game, maybe Adelaide is the problem. It usually is! :D

Rivers and McVee each resemble different stages in the career of Hibberd and with experience both could realistically match his achievements. It is our least concerning area of succession planning.

A relatively even year which saw 15 teams still in contention for finals until very late in the season has papered over some serious issues. None of which are particularly new but all of which are just adding to the running-down of the asset. The unholy alliance with Channel 7 and the Herald Sun to package everything that happens to suit the easiest marketing targets is incrementally grinding everyone else down. Similarly, the dysfunction boys club in commentary and governance is both a continuous loss and a real risk. The token efforts in the salary cap, performance enhancement and gambling areas are like a slow-growing mushroom waiting for someone to step on it and puff out a burst of choking spores. The overuse of rules interventions and ad hoc politically influenced interpretations has combined with the under-resourcing of the actual officiating professionals to slowly grind that part of the game down. The less reliable it is, the more it becomes what people talk about in a surly way, rather than just a disappointed-on-the-day way. The fixture is tilted every year for commercial advantages to the 'aggregate' rather than competitive integrity or fair commercial opportunity for each club. We all know this, to the point we openly say 'we'll get better fixtures when we play better'. Two senior coaches - the two most successful coaches in the game - had mental breakdowns this season. Gold Coast is being kept at AFL level by nonsense levels of academy concessions, and Sydney not only is only relevant due to its own previous huge concessions, but it only made finals on an obvious yet uncorrected goal umpiring error which would not have happened in any other professional-level sport in the developed world. Second-tier competitions continue to slip just a little every year. Simplest to say they are not keeping up with inflation. Right now the AFL resembles the Mayan empire at its peak, destroying the soils on which it relies, to attend to the infinite greed of the priest-lords.

I agree with every point except 'they'll only get better'. They're old. They have absolutely white-knuckled it for salary cap space. Being able to get full seasons out of all their veterans, plus the Daicos f/s, has papered over a pretty weak five or six years of drafting partly caused by their very smart targeting of suitable role-players. They went all in on 'now', and they've done it extremely well and full respect to them for the courage to go hard. But even getting it right has a price. I certainly don't think they're going to fall off a cliff all of a sudden. I expect them to be in contention again next season if they can retain and play most of their veterans. But the prospect for actual improvement is limited.

Yep, Hill turns it on beautifully on his day but the thing about Pickett is even on his poorer days he still matters. Goalless games: Pickett 3, Hill 5 Multiple goal games: Pickett 12, Hill 7 Pickett brings double the tackles inside 50 and goal assists, too. By recognising Hill as an excellent small forward, we can remind ourselves that Pickett continues to be an absolute top shelf small forward even in a season he was a bit off his best and our forward structure resembled a live pig through a bacon shaver.

#Divecos.

And a million memes matching it with Eddie going 'justice has been served'.

Two points; 1. It is important to try to keep the idea of protecting the head alive. 2. It is a higher priority to ensure that Maynard doesn't breed. So there are other higher (lower?) priorities than knocking him out. The guy needs a non-lethal Darwin Award.

Okay Bali, it's time to pull your head in. Every time anyone disagrees with you you get into the snarky whiny 'ooh, well, aren't you a big boy' talk and it is both bringing down the tone of the forum and crowding the screen space. About ten years ago Demonland slumped badly because a few people were teeing off at each other constantly and derailing whole threads with their petty snarks. Those of us who have been around would have no interest in seeing that tone creeping back in. Like you, those people also mixed in valid points of discussion and had interesting things to say, but I can't remember what any of it was because it was drowned out by just this kind of childish thin-skinned snot-flicking. You're bringing down the vibe.

Unless we are being discrete because we are aiming to bring in someone from one of the Grand Final teams. Obviously Leppitsch from Collingwood would be a premium (premier?) acquisition. Cameron Bruce, midfield and stoppages at Brisbane, would also seem likely to be on the radar. Separately, there might be a case to target Collingwood's head of performance, Jarrod Wade. Not only has he got the team playing out games superbly, but with NINE players aged 30 or over, he's had almost all of them play the full season. Sidebottom hurt a knee medial, Howe broke an arm, and Mason Cox had a recto-cranial impaction. So of nine players over 30, only Sidebottom's injury could even be partially considered conditioning related, and they've all been playing good, mobile football.

Brutal.

I had to be in transit for the final quarter so didn't get to watch it, but based on what I saw when I opened the laptop back up when I got home, it was a big and exciting final quarter. WHAT!?

Our tall forwards are just another level. Congrats to Kate Hore now leading both the all-time and season goalkicking tally, by the way! I don't think there's any forward line to compare it to in the men's league when it comes to sheer dominance based on dynamism, awareness and versatility. You could cobble one together from something like Allen, Fritsch, Mihocek and Papley. Just impossible to get your head around as a defender.

Fun watching Bannan with that bit of pressure on the boundary to create the out-on-the-full miskick. At first I was annoyed that she didn't start in hot pursuit immediately, but then she accelerated, and accelerated, and accelerated... I can see how that would put a player off!

As I understand it, Geelong haven't given away a goal in the first quarter at all this season. So, goodbye to that! Always very satisfying to get a retailiation goal after having the ball pressed into our defence for so long. To then follow up with a second immediately is mead-burp level satisfying.

I think Ben McKay is a good player and I would be happy if he joined our club, but pick 4 in free agency compensation is nonsense. He's an effective defender who can intercept and contest very well, but gives nothing on the counter-attack. Ben McKay Best and Fairest placings in a bottom-4 club are 6th in 2021 and 9th in 2020. That's it. Those are the only years he's played a full season, too. Essendon massively overpaying a contract for a player - and creating a net weakening of the Bomber's list - just to make sure that every other club is also penalised by the transaction? The artist Dodoro signing his work?

Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat? The world needs Pete Seeger EDM remixes.

The simple solution would seem to be to tell Collingwood to %^#$ their #$%^ with a $#%#. They traded a player on a contract and agreed to pay a portion of that contract, ongoing, as part of the trade. What's next? If we on-trade a draft pick do we have to return the original trade value to the source club? If Collingwood are even fantasising about being able to renege on their trade agreement it is a piercing insight into just how profound their hubris is and, I would argue, a probably cause for a salary cap cheating investigation of them.

OMG! I had no idea that was part of mad monday.