Little Goffy

https://www.foxsports.com.au/news/paul-roos-slams-the-negative-environment-at-melbourne-on-fox-footys-afl-360/news-story/05e0324699b588e790ac5f4cb2cd293e https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/negativity-comes-from-melbourne-fans-not-club-coach-paul-roos-20150825-gj7jt6.html

Something in this thread reminded me of the 'A pair of unlikely heroes embrace' Bruce & Green moment in the 2000 final vs Carlton I can't help but notice the potential similarity with Windsor and Tholstrup, right down to sizes and roles. The main differences being we haven't yet had the wave of retirements, that our depth is already much stronger than we had going into 2000, and Woewodin is only in his second season instead of 4th. Our current team is so much better than the 2000 squad. On the one hand a testament to what youthful enthusiasm, momentum and the inspirational power of Neale Daniher can do, and on the other hand a testament to how much remains possible with out current group and the surprisingly large wave of youngsters already pushing into our 22. I'm starting to look forward to the season and it isn't even Tet yet.

For reference; just from a head count of drafting we turned over 29 players in three years, 2007-2009 - I can't make the effort to check exact list changes and player trades but obviously there are a few more to add there. Roos' credibility bought the club confidence and time to enact a cultural turnaround that even an identically capable coach without the established reputation could not have done. He could make the hard calls firmly and he could look brilliant young draftees and their families in the eye and say 'You are getting the support that will help you grow, and together we are going to rise provided you do as I say.' Niether Bailey nor Neeld had that power and both were tripped up constantly by other 'leaders' at the club enthusiastically second-guessing everything. Plus the intense supporters which the players would have interacted with would have had brought their own atmosphere of uncertainty no matter how much they tried for the stiff upper lip. It is kind of incredible to think that even though Simon Goodwin is our breakthrough premiership coach with a Demon win rate exceeded only by the greats Hughes, Chadwick and Smith, I'd still say he has a way to go before he could be considered an equal to Roos. I think a second premiership would do the trick though. And then a third while managing a changing of the guard just to prove the point.

Well, North have done everything they can to hold onto Tarryn Thomas so either Hester must be really wild or the Kangaroos just might have some very subtle cultural issues. Just reflecting some more on Brown's contribution to the MFC, because I don't like that a few people are playing it down; After returning froma long injury layoff, Brown kicked 20 goals from round 18 through to the Grand Final in 2021. In that period Fritsch also added an entire goal per game to his tally compared to the rest of the season. Pickett also overcame a mid-season slump in exact coincidence with Brown coming back. Fact is, Ben Brown provided a crucial piece of structure that completed our forward line and he played a vital part in the premiership run.

No details yet about the other vehicle. Could it have been the karma bus? Just having a laugh - obviously karma isn't a thing. We're going to have to sort him out ourselves.

Better not. The area is famous for its natural salt production and impenetrable hedges.

Having a terrible time finding a reliable supplier of leaded petrol, too! I get mine flown in from Cambodia.

Billings, McAdam, Tholstrup and Windsor all come in with pretty good height (185/186) and styles to match, which makes for interesting times for how we use our shorter players. As others note, Bowey isn't the type to truly shut down an opposition small forward and he makes his best contribution as the calm head probing for cracks as we move the ball forward. If his fitness continues to build I'd love to see him moving up the ground a bit while retaining responsibility for getting back hard to defence and providing that lovely kick out of chaos and into a safe mark that settles things down. I'm still left a little concerned about our ability to truly shut down fast, agile small forwards. Maybe Kynan Brown over time? By all reports he would have the mobility, tenacity and aggression for it.

They're celebrating by having a national day of telling Muslims they don't belong. I wish I was kidding.

Ugh. Even regular spas accumulate a layer of white fat residue on the sides just like stewpots do if you don't clean them out right away. Knew a guy who had to drain out and scrape the sides of the AIS heated spas once a fortnight. You wouldn't think all those athletes would leave behind so much fat. I... respect the necessity of very dark humour. #ganzersyndrome

The student association motto is 'Brest is best'. Also, what is going on with the departments there? sports and exercise science - okay science and technology - yep medicine and health - mm-hmm dentistry and law - WHAT?

On the bright side... No, I can't quite find a bright side. The most positive I can be is that he might be available and fresh late in the season, OR he will call it a day and we can pick up someone in the mid-season draft or even the pre-season supplementary which runs until mid Feb. Does anyone have some clarity about the latest changes to the 'inactive list' because if Brown is out for 6 to 8 weeks we may actually be eligible to put him on the inactive list right away without him retiring, which would let us snap a SSP selection. Perhaps the junior Van Rooyen can be ours after all?

Who is Zac Sharpe and why is he getting money to do what we would and could all cheerfully do better for free?

Highlights an old point about how young players need the 'protection' of an established core to help them develop and to be effective. Many players on that list we would happily say are AFL-level, but if you forced them into match ups on the opposition's very best with no counter-balance of our stars, they would get ground down and eventually destroyed. You could put together a list of the last 22 season's Rising Star winners and it would be mind-blowing viewed from a whole-career quality perspective (except for being a little thin for tall defenders) but if you had to play them all as if it was their first couple of seasons, you wouldn't necessarily have the ultimate team right away. In fact, you could even break them badly. And just for fun: B: Mills D Talia Sheezel HB: Rich Rivers Heppell C: Daicos O'meara Deledio HF: Serong Riewoldt Stephenson F: L Taylor Hogan Ko****knee FOLL: Jackson Selwood Walsh Interchange: McGrath, Palmer, Haselby, Hannebery

It is only when I look at these current training galleries that I really grasp the inadequacy shown in the training gallery shared from 2013. Even our skinny guys have clear definition. Like our team has upgraded to high resolution.

I love Jake Lever but I'm not sure he's a good choice as captain. It's a strange paradox - one of the smartest players on our list, but has also had some of the most spectacular brain farts I've ever seen on a football field! Another factor is that his effectiveness relies a bit much on others doing their job properly. In his role there's not a lot he can do to turn things around and lift morale and intensity if we are faltering. All that said, definitely a leader and definitely a super valuable player. Our next captain is going to be a whopper of a decision. Right now just about every candidate on our list is either almost as old as Gawn or in a dedicated role and persona that isn't quite captain-ish. It could be very interesting to see what happens if Brayshaw is given a more central game-defining role rather than the game-saving role he has often been in.

Generally abbreviated to SOB, DH or FW in preference over BM.

One core player 'almost leaves' - also known as... 'stays'. One fringe player dumb enough to be caught allegedly powdering during the season. One superstar player with personal issues related to ADHD and side effects of the related medications. I mean, throw in 'one of the shortest and mildest injury lists in the competition' and it doesn't seem so bad. Certainly better than any of Richmond's premiership year pre-seasons. This train of thought made me look back. I know we don't comment at all about Oliver's personal situation but my memory has been jogged; Lance Franklin, a player almost as good as Oliver, took indefinite leave from playing right at the start of the 2015 finals series citing mental health issues overwhelming him. Always worth remembering that these things happen and that players do recover and return to their absolute best. Franklin played every game and kicked 81 goals in 2016. Oliver, still just 26, remains on target for the ultimate records of most disposals, most tackles and most clearances in the history of the game. I plan to celebrate every Oliver milestone a little more knowing that he has had to get past some obstacles on the way.

Very exciting young player. Does the things expected of a key forward as far as kicking goals with good accuracy, taking marks in contests and on leads, and turning up to contest after contest. For all that, my favourite feature is his pressure efforts and pursuit of the ball and opponent even when it is going in the wrong direction. That's what made tom McDonald particularly valuable at his peak as a forward and it is great to now see a 20 year old embrace that part of the game so completely.

Of course, the whole thing of 'player x needs to put on a few kegs' is actually a bit of a red herring. With the caveat that clearly you don't want unseasoned light bodies being thrown into the constant impacts and wrestling of clearance work or rucking. Tom Hawkins was a huge beast at 18, but took just as long to develop into an effective forward as any other. Aaron Naughton was 194cm and 84kg and was taking contested marks from day dot. Jye Amiss is outright skinny but kicked 40 goals as Fremantle's only full-time forward in 2023, and clunked more contested marks than Steven May in that time. Looking at recent rising stars; Nick Daicos won it at 184cm and about 75kg weght, which was 5cm taller but 10kg lighter than Serong, while Harry Sheezel basically split the difference between the two. So, yep, unless we're talking about a kid who nobody has seen play and who is so lightly built it is immediately obvious anyway, I'm not sure there's a lot of value to having weight in the big ol' spreadsheet. Anyway, while it seems like a pretty trivial thing to feel a need to do away with at the professional level, I can see the argument for not publishing weights at the non-professional and junior levels because weight is a leverage point for all kinds of social [censored][censored]-ery that has nothing to do with the game and we can't expect every person participating in Australian football to set aside all other social considerations!

Not once! I was going to make a joke about 'and these days they don't even have to deal with polio' but then I realised that the sulky tantrum crowd of modern day punters would have kept both polio and smallpox nicely incubated for a fresh appearance generation after generation, so... Here's the to 'That'll do, let's get on with it' attitude of the low-resolution era. 🥂 Personally I'd rather pay for a schnitzel at the pub than hand money over to Murdoch anyway! Once you remove free-to-air games, games attended in person, and games I couldn't watch anyway because things are going on, it works out about the same.

Any FIFO business that might be affecting it or if it just plain old 'to get here everything has to cross the Wastelands of AwfulDoom and battle the three wardens of Shmargenrock' cost problem?

Don't forget the 1.3 for Tim English.

So, how much would it cost to arrange a return charter flight in a light aircraft every second week during the season and a few extras during pre-season? Call it 20 return flights a year, at $10k per round trip. Probably get a discount for regular business. Bonus points we can collect the Tholstrups first and refuel at Wudinna on the way. Actually, it would probably work out cheaper for the club to just fork out $2m and buy ourselves a Cessna Grand Caravan and have a contracted pilot. Throw in a bit of fun with taking people on tours for the NT games, and we can even offer pilot's licence courses as a bonus for players and staff, we're golden. Would we be able to recoup the half million a year financing and operating costs? Um... maybe? I suggest we should name it the Petty Wagon.

The only solution is a series of 'hot or not' fan votes on the AFL website.