Little Goffy

I'm just eyeballing it but if you look at our win-loss ratio for the two phases of our accuracy this season it is almost the same as the goals-behinds ratio. I was going to say something about it not being quote as 'simple as that' but it doesn't get much simpler than; More goals = more wins More behinds = more losses

He definitely had a form slump but it was far from catastrophic in scale and a very normal experience for a small forward. It has also been over for a couple of weeks and people need to also get over it. Having said that, I really want to him to lift to his best again because he still needs 18 goals int he remaining 8 H&A games to keep up his '40-goals-a-season' amazing track record... and... he is one of the handful of players who could actually turn the season back our way if he hits top form.

After being pretty bitterly disappointed by almost everything football related last week... Starting with the death ride games; not much to gain. Obvious Carlton v Freo is a big deal as it is both a game Freo would be expecting to win and it would directly lift Carlton over them thanks to the Blue's bizarre percentage. Freo lose that, then one of Richmond or Sydney will step ahead of them. I'd prefer Richmond to get the win just because I think the Swans will keep clawing up the ladder enough to pass Freo later, while Richmond need every win they can get. bunch of other games just keep teams ahead of Freo, rather than pulling in front of them. And for our security in the top 4. Collingwood over Dogs, and Demons over Saints, would put us a game and a big chunk of percentage ahead of our two main pursuers. One of Essendon or the Crows will go to 9 wins, Essendon is probably better for us because the Crows have much higher percentage and Essendon will presumably choke late in the season. Also, if West Coast decide to go the biff and get a bunch of players from both sides suspended that would be the only unpredictable or useful outcome of the Brisbane - West Coast game. I mean, legend has it that back before the Eagles unilaterally relegated themselves, there was a bit of a Eagles-Lions rivalry.

Send the video to Daniel Curtin with a 'see you soon' note. Wow, everyone was in that game. Stynes, Neitz, Lyon, Smith, both Lovetts, both Febeys, Farmer, and even Alistair Clarkson. Hmm, funny that Yze missed, given is couple of hundred in a row started that season, but he is there in round 2. What a time at the club - later that season instead of having two Lovetts we had two McDonalds. By the end of this week, and discounting the Grimes/Trengove 'moment', Nathan Jones is the only MFC Captain not to play alongside a Woewodin since Greg Healy in 1990!

What is wrong with you, man?

He'll start in defensive 50, then run through the center, before moving across half forward and kicking a goal.

This. Every Carlton supporter already knows this. The team and the several stars in it will find form, remind everyone of how great they ought to be, and it will all come to nothing because they faffed about early in the season. It is destiny. The only counter argument is that Fremantle are doomed to a near-identical fate!

We need to do something different up forward. X and Y are going to have a field day if we go out with the same set up we've been sticking too that we know doesn't work and only leads to opposition defenders dominating. Remarkable for an echo to carry all the way from the MCG to Docklands and back again without losing any volume or clarity!

You should see him close the freezer door.

I don't rate Smith's brain enough to picture him in the very demanding role Fritsch plays. I would say his best option is as a defensive forward tightly staying with the Tom Stewart / Lever / Aliir / Andrews types to prevent them from intercepting and rebounding too easily. With his athleticism he can create the occasional opportunity to turn the tables completely, but left to be a 'normal' tall forward he become the player that opponents can predict and know when to zone off from, and that's no help to us. Also, Gawn is actually having a respectable year, just not All-Australian level. I agree that he has had some games of very uncertain marking efforts and he also isn't being used as effectively as he should be to get to important positions. I have my theory for how they would work best (Gawn mostly a kick behind play or receiving the escape kick from defence, Grundy playing as a half-forward link option, each sticking to a loose area of control to minimise the low-value running, and each only occasionally slipping forward to mix things up for a while) but I'm not tearing my hair out about it just yet because Gawn and Grundy are both smart players and will not be sitting passively on the obvious problem.

Trouble is fitting them under the salary cap.

10, 3 and 9 in the last three games is a pretty phenomenonal rating for Viney. Given he has a well-earned reputation for rising to big occasions, I suspect he at least is one player on our list acutely aware of what has been at stake these last few games. Unfortunately I think there's a couple of guys who are content 'doing their thing' rather than really pushing that extra level. For example, Nibbler's pangolin impression has me suspecting that he's happy with doing that much and geting the breakeven stoppage; doesn't feel the need to actually beat his opponent. I also suspect Hunter, despite being very busy and reasonably good overall, is a bit too content to do his favourite tricky trick with the bounce handballs without really worrying too much about whether it is the best option for both reward or risk. That's a digression, but emphasises the point that really, everyone needs to be more Viney.

And the camels always hit what they aim at.

I'm getting a strange echo of the vibe of July 2018. "We were so good, so recently, so where is it now?" In 2023 there is a longer lead-in of expectations but a similar feeling that we are stumbling. But... wait... this is also how July felt in 2021 with the winter slump of two wins, one embarrassing draw and three losses. Anyway, with the loss to GWS we are now clearly out of contention for top two, and will be playing a classic '8 point' game next week to keep hold of our spot in the the top 4. Brisbane the next week is an important test. Two weeks from now; Best case; win games against 5th and 3rd, be at least a game clear inside the top 4, and revitalise our season with a relatively easy minimum-travel draw to finish the H&A season. Worst case; lose both and we're probably clinging onto 8th spot by percentage only, and even then thanks only to the Bombers playing the Crows then the Cats.

Well, Van Rooyen in would have to be the most obvious change since Chris Judd played a WAFL game. Smith has had four games in a month and produced one pretty good and one okay-ish, but clearly isn't delivering what we need and is the obvious out for Van Rooyen. I'm a patient man but Nibbler lost me with the sheer number of times he took the ball and happily balled up in a tackle and let the play become a stoppage. He was like a pangolin out there and it cost us so much momentum so many times. Harmes is fighting to restart his career but he needs to be doing that at VFL level until he's got some form on the board. Melksham has one more game (currently on 99 for Demons) to play for us to become entitled to his successful sperm, and I can't see any other reason to have him out there again. Like I said, I'm a patient man and still think Chandler can turn things back to his early season quality. My thoughts on changes: Smith out, Van Rooyen in is obvious. Nibbler out, Woey in. Harmes out, Jordon in. Melksham sub out, Moniz-Wakefield sub in. Obviously conditional on the status of Oliver and Fritsch.

Bit late but I've had time to digest; 6. Viney. Obviously. 5. May. 4. Brayshaw. Continuous involvement and reasonable effectiveness. Gave sheer weight of competent effort in a wet game. 3. Petracca. Would be higher except 0.4 is just... game losing. 2. Bowey. Whenever he gets it our situation improves a little. 1. Petty. As a token for the way the tall defenders handled the conditions and held their roles very well, and I think Petty being back in defence really helps that, -particularly gets the most out of Lever.

We should draft the younger Fritsch and the younger Van Rooyen and see if we can duplicate our forward lines at AFL/VFL level for a while. :D

Lol, not so bad with the gather and around the body snap, either.

Van Rooyen is a beautiful set shot kick. Just smooth every time.

Side note; are we the goodies? Weidemann was a source of a lot of contention, frustration and the occasional burst of open anger on here, but it was mostly directed at each other on the forum - generally there was a consensus that he was a good human being with limitations as a top-level Australian footballer. But.. Essendon fans... so much bile directed at their own player. It's a little bit horrific. And this isn't the only comparison - back in the day I had Essendon supporting friends when Melksham was with them and both they are some of their friends were absolutely unhinged about him - every clanger was aprompt for open "[censored] you, Melksham, you [censored]". It's not as if he suddenly stopped being a sometimes frustrating player when he moved to us, but we at least have some restraint. I mean, the abuse aimed at Weidemann in the last 24hrs makes Picket Fence v Cale Morton look mild mannered!

For a moment E.T. I thought you thought you were actually making a point, so I'm glad to see you were just being silly! These issues can get awkward because there really are some strange people out there who really think sports betting has a useful or positive side which needs to be considered and protected, like driving or... childbirth? Yes, obviously that is just being silly.

Hmm, to climb back up to second over Port we would need to first beat GWS on sunday, obviously, and then it would be a case of picking up 3 wins in the remaining 8 games. It is plausible to think that Port could have a few stumbles late - Freo in Perth, Cats in Geelong, the return match against the Crows, and of course their remaining game against the Magpies. Stranger things have happened than a team on a long winning streak then becoming a very up and down for several rounds. As we might recall... Still, even if Port only manage 5-3 for the remaining eight rounds, we would need to clean sweep from here to overtake them. Of course, it is also possible that Collingwood will finally run out of momentum. They've only played one game against a top-8 side in the last seven rounds, and they lost that one. They'll be playing against the Dogs, Dockers, Port, Lions, Cats and Bombers to round out the season, with only the Blues and Hawks as low-rated opponents. I mean, that would obviously be the sweetest finish to the home and away rounds - Collingwood lose to the Bombers in the final round and then both ourselves and Port go ahead of them. Which would also mean a satisfyingly bitter Melbourne V Collingwood qualifying final just for a laugh. Anyway, let's clean sweep the rest of the season and figure it out from there. 😉

Do you want to temp the wrath the thing atop the high place!??!?

Would in the three worst games of his career. Played 80% time on ground, too, so it isn't as if he was playing as an occasional backup. I didn't see the game directly, but by the numbers is looked like Sean Darcy rucked solo against English and a bit of Lobb. Is it as simply as Jackson was played forward and this week it just didn't happen for him? Meanhile, Weideman just missed an easy and important set shot for us. While playing for Essendon, but you know what I mean!

I'm mildly annoyed because this round was one of those 'stars align' possibilities where if all the results went the right way our two picks from Freo could have improved three places. But by the time Richmond finished their nose-dive and the Swans and Cats both turned their percentage advantage to a moot point, it is all looking average. It's fine, but also, come on Doggies! Plus, Freo still have a very tough fixture to finish the season so there's still plenty of hope. Also, after close investigation I can confirm that Luke Jackson stole Kade Chandler's mojo. Chandler was gunning it up to round 8 while Jackson was very flat, and then from exactly round 8 on Chandler has been struggling to hit the scoreboard while Jackson has been going berserk. Hopefully Jackson's slow start today bodes well for Chandler tomorrow.