Little Goffy

Since I had old Essendon stats open already, I took a quick look at their 2000 injury run for comparison. 5 players played every game, 7 players only missed one game, 7 more played at least 20 games. Our marking forwards (Brown, McDonald, Petty, Fritsch) missed more games through injury this season than Essendon's entire starting 18 in their premiership season!

4 premierships. Though your point clearly stands well enough on that. Plus there is some bonus credit for beating Hawthorn in consecutive Grand finals. I reckon even Sam Mitchell has that on his bucket list. So, here's a fun 'would you rather'; Would you rather the 84/85 double premiership or the 1993 'baby bombers' evolving to the 2000 'greatest'? I wonder who our conceptual Hird-Mercuri-Misiti-Fletcher-Wallis core that would play in both be? And on that note - I would never have thought that there were only five players from the supposedly very youg 1993 side who were still around for the 2000 win. I'm running with the thought; 2021 premiership players on our list now who would realistically be young enough to also contest a 2028 premiership; True youngsters are Petty, Spargo, Sparrow, Pickett, Rivers and Bowey. Then of the mature players Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw and Lever are all contracted to at least the end of 2028, so count them in. Fritsch with his brain-and-skill based play should last that long, too. 11 players realistically in the window for both a 2021 and 2028 premiership! Noice. 🦄

One day it'll hit a point where a legal case will be made by a club or even a player arguing some form of 'restraint of trade' case, and it probably won't succeed but would be worth it for the documents required to be presented to court. AFL Inc. is some kind of shady 'non-taxed but also not-a-not-for-profit for governance and oversight requirements' incorporated body so exactly what its legal scope for favouritism and the spoils system is unclear. Suffice to say, if the AFL had been incorporated under the rules for not for profit organisations, there'd be a whole bunch of people facing civil and even criminal courts.

2023 was the first time in 5 years for Gawn and 6 years for Oliver that either of them didn't crack ten Brownlow votes, and in both cases injury was the core of it. Meanwhile, Petracca has been going at a vote a game ever since the proverbial penny dropped in season 2020. Strange to think about Jack Viney's Brownlow counts. His early career numbers stifled by the sheer weight of losses and being second behind designated 'played well in a poor side' champion Nathan Jones. Then as we began to improve he was heavily slowed by persistent injury problems, before finally he was left as the third arm behind two of the greatest midfielders of the modern era. If he'd played for St Kilda over the same period he'd have twice the Brownlow votes (see Jack Steele) but on the other hand he'd have no premierships and be playing for St Kilda. Poor Mr Steele.

I wouldn't normally do this, but... OK Boomer.

I'm thinking a laser projector of the MFC imprint over the top of the CFC. They're just similar enough that it could work for a couple of hours of trolling the Blues.

This thread is closing in on 30,000 posts. I feel like we should have some kind of party or ceremony. Maybe a contest to decide who gets to mark the incredible milestone. Can the mods lock the thread automatically at 29,999? Or maybe 20 before that and then we can have a start gun for a mad rush to all post something and hope that it hits th 30,000. This thread has touched so many lives, we must acknowledge this special moment.

Just flinging the thought around - how would the likes of Duursma and McKercher compare to pick 1s of past seasons? How strong would the pick 1 hype be if there was no Reid? (nevermind the gold coast academy kids) If 6, 11 and a future first is what we've put forward for 1, would we put forward 6 and 11 for, say, pick 3, guaranteeing one of those two players? I think the talk of us taking Sanders with 6 stimulated me because as good as he is, he is not the missing ingredient in our midfield, while Duursma and particularly McKercher looks like exactly it.

The idea that a club should stop playing a player because they might be or even probably are leaving at the end of the season is just plain childish and self-defeating. If you don't like being patronised don't throw your toys out of the cot. And trying to give me the stern word about respecting my elders doesn't help. It just makes you look entitled.

Fun fact; when Oscar McDonald was swung forward by Carlton, he delivered a statistical match for what we got out of Harrison Petty in 2023. Of course, OMC only played one game, but at least now we know what Freo are basing their decision on. I suspect he'll do fine for Freo and they wont regret picking him up. The two year contract is also good for all involved because Fremantle basically have two years to get it together before half their list retires or leaves as free agents.

The premium they paid to ensure North got pick 3 and chose to not match the bid, saving Essendon whatever trade value it would have cost them. Wildly foolish stuff. North performed a masterclass of sulking to make everyone forget basic rationality for just long enough.

I think the key thing about top picks vs low picks is how much of your list you are willing to commit to using to churn through the 'possibles'. Clearly in the last ten years almost all clubs have preferred to retain depth-level established players to limit risk, rather than have an extra third or fourth round selection coming through on a regular basis. Hypothetically, with zero injuries you could happily have 20 kids on your list and be cutting a third of them every year as you figure out whether they are up to AFL level, meaning six or seven new draftees annually. With four late picks every year, you're going to find (or create once they are in the system) some gems eventually. It also would mean vast amounts of loose salary cap for your stars. Only downside would be the footy dept resources required to both develop those kids and to keep the culture up with so many 20-year-olds sitting on the fringe. Of course, in a world where allegedly an intellectually disabled child ate an apple therefore we must all suffer, injuries happen so you can't be so extreme. But I think there's a case for a pretty significant 'tail' to a list for the sake of searching for the occasional gem and for keeping the salary cap sharp. Of course, my 'and Carthage must be destroyed' line will always be that the lower-tier and reserves levels of Australian football should be getting a massive boost of resources to transform both the available career development paths and the available depth and late-bloomer bounty for the AFL level.

I'd be disappointed that we couldn't grab either of O'Sullivan or Murphy with '11', nor Curtin at '6', but going through that list you can see why the push from 14 to 11 was considered important. After Windsor or Tholstrup there's a bit of a gap for what we want in both hype and type.

Feels slightly less wild to say "pick 11 and 18 to upgrade 6 to 1" but... still... That said, for about the last ten years the exact picks 6 and 11 have been pretty cursed. If you are superstitious then be glad to be shuffled to 7 and 12 by Gold Coast's first academy pick! In Jason Taylor we trust.

Punishing Petty for Jackson's attitude. Mm-hmm.

"That's basically how it unfolded – as simple as filling out a form." Paxy actually has also updated her pronouns to 'Champion'. If you don't call her that in formal addresses, you get stacked-and-whacked. As for Shelley Health, she causes her own controversy because biologically she is 'the adorable cousin/niece', but in football she identifies as 'the person who is about to ruin your day'.

*2024 I think we already have a thread for this. Worth merging just to add the visually appealing list.

Definitely before his time. His best 'time' for our purposes would be 2017, when he managed both a goal and a goal-assist per game. Interestingly, he had one eye on the door at St Kilda for quite some years, while his first six seasons (under Alan Richardson, no less) produced quite good football even if he was a whipping boy on account of being sandwiched between Jake Kelly and Marcus Bontempelli in the draft. If he produced just his career 'norm', he'll be a valuable asset getting the ball forward effectively.

But was he the right guy for the job?

She has been bestowed a high honor these days in Afghanistan; there's no number after her 'name'.

Yep, the bullet has been dodged.

Nup. 6 & 11 much better than 3 & 17, let alone giving away anything else in the deal.

So who exactly is the best defensive team in the league? 😉 Tahlia Gillard gets better every week and Shelley Heath is putting a really excellent long-term body of work together. That was a chaotic game and we handled it very well.

Uh oh. Top of the ladder available for the winner. MFCSS kicking in. This is the only circumstance the Demons' Women's team ever loses! And yet, I am still confident.

Would seem like a reliable forward presence, willing to compete, all of that. I'd feel okay if we got him but I suspect we'll miss out on who we really have our eye on because of North's bonus pick. Such is life.