Little Goffy

Ninth, or equal second last! Adelaide gets the job done and Cats do as they ought to against Hawthorn, Freo will have 1 very dubious win after 4 rounds, and be equal last after what is probably their softest part of their fixture for the season.

Melbourne scarves are the only football scarves you can wear to the National Gallery of Victoria without anyone raising an eyebrow.

I'm anticipating a game that is basically a three-hour interpretive dance performance of this moment. In this world there are few purer joys than obnoxious full of themselves gits making a trip to the emergency cotton toilet when they come face to face with the real thing.

Tell you what,I'm just hugely comforted by the fact that spot betting and sports betting in general is so carefully restrained in the AFL space, otherwise the volume of kompromat floating around about players would be extremely troubling and a smouldering threat to the integrity of the game. Imagine the great same-game-multi you could get going, each part on a seemingly plausible event, if it wasn't for the super-careful way gambling is being handled.

I thought this would be a Charlie Spargo special negotiation for Gus & Gawny discounts. Alas, no 'buy 100 wings, get an extra sauce packet free' for us.

It could be a moment to check your pulse and maybe consider doing a bit of deliberate work on how you regulate your emotions. Coincidentally it was Round for Reach and the Reach organisation does a lot of that kind of thing. They'd have a bunch of resources online and links to other sources, too. If deliberately taking control of your emotions is good enough for Trish Broadbridge, Jim Stynes, Max Gawn and a host of other legends, why not any of us?

So, is now not a good time for me to suggest merging the 'game day vs Eagles' thread with the 'training ground' thread?

Imagine the horror of being a midfielder in the last quarter of a game and realising that you're squaring off against Petracca and he is 20% fresher than you are and has been given instructions to go all-out attack.

Sometimes you only realise how much you loved, after you leave. And we are a lovable bunch.

I'd also like to preemptively thank Claremont, as well as Fremantle for their first pick in the 2023 draft... Daniel Curtin Winning the NAB Medal for best afield in the annual NAB AFL Futures Grand Final curtain raiser match, Curtin is a prolific intercept marking key defender. A wonderful reader of the ball in flight, Curtin regularly gets into position for intercept marks and is a strong contested mark. He also regularly turns one-on-one situations in marks. For a key defender, Curtin displays rare agility and evasion to avoid tackles and a real dare and want to take on the game with his run. He is also a strong kick and hits up targets reliably with precision from defence. Daniel Curtin 08/03/2005 | 195cm | Key Defender Claremont / Western Australia Curtin has been a top performer at representative level over the last two years, shining for Western Australia’s Under 17 side and in the recent Futures showcase. He was best afield in the latter game, displaying his poise in possession and sound intercept marking down back. With the potential to swing forward, there’s plenty to like.

In just a few years we've gone from having a desperate need of every kind of forwards to having the best medium sized forward, the best small forward, multiple really effective team-oriented small/medium forwards, a key defender who is showing to be a credible swingman, and a big kid throwing himself into contests on debut. And Fritsch is the only one over 24. Two key forwards who were absolutely crucial in a premiership team are now honestly debatable inclusions even though our big ruck captain isn't available to sit forward. And we're the No 1 scoring team. Whaaaaaat is goooiiing oooooon?

100 MFC games mean we get dibs on his sperm.

Just dropping in that the Demons are now the highest scoring team of 2023. And the most effective at converting inside-50s to goals. And the most accurate.

6 - Goat all day. 5 - Grundy. All day effort, loved the handball receives and around the ground run from a ruckman. This might yet be the blessing in disguise because now the thought of he and Gawn back together in a month is loaded with antici.... pation. 4 - Langdon. Again, all day effort. A superb winger's game. 3 - Hunter. We won this game with our overall movement. Many contributed but some have to be identified as best. 2 - Petracca. Things often went wrong for him but he kept on being the heavy impact body all day and the unglamorous effort deserves reward. 1 - J V Rooooooyen. That's a handy debut that did all the things expected.

CHAAAARLLIIEEEEE Spargo now equal leader of the competition for goal assists. I continue to believe he is on the cusp of becoming something special.

Grundy with a couple of handy marks in the first five minutes.

Textbook chain from defence all the way to goal. Loved the decision to keep running it out when the defenders could quite realistically have just wanted to take a deep breath and pause after multiple Swans inside-50s.

Just quietly, we're going at 98 points / games after two rounds, which is roughly 20% higher scoring than last season. Small sample but follows on from the preseason impression. Swans game will be interesting to watch on that specific detail, as they are easily the stingiest team in defence so far. Then again, the Swans have basically just beaten up a couple of weak clubs so far, so the form line tells us very little.

When we do play Freo, it would be greatly appreciated if they could wheel our Peter Bell very once in a while so we can get our booing needs sorted on him, instead of Jackson. I really, really don't hate Jackson. He's just a simple young guy who loves his mum. Also possible he wanted to move back to the west so he could check to make sure the sun wasn't boiling all the water when it went down each day.

Gold coast v Geelong is bizarre. I cannot recall seeing a game this loose through the corridor at AFL level, which makes the lack of scoring truly extraordinary.

Well, to an extent they did. Complete with draftee tied to a tree, and some never clarified events on a boat other Yarra, the 'Fevola era' of spiralling behaviour did as much damage to the club as the salary cap penalties. One example that comes to mind is that Luke Livingston really should have been a 200-game player, but didn't even reach 50 due to [reasons]. Any time I hear about these things I'm reminded of our own 'camp pushback' by the players, and that as a club we were able to resolve the argument maturely and to actually have player-coach relationships improve over the long term as a result. That process may even have been a crucial moment of building trust and commitment.

I bet he's friends with the Brisbane ruck, Oscar Bert'n'Ernie.

Well, I'll be darned, the old Albanian 'Kings under the mountain' legend was true!

I think all prospects of additional teams will fizzle out for a while once Hawthorn realises their only hope to survive is the move to Tassie. Fair-weather fans and constant awful failure do not mix.

Perfectly happy for Hawthorn to pick up this generation's Ellis, Dowler, and Thorpe with their next 3 top-ten selections. I like this coming draft, without pretending to know a whole lot about it. What is clear is that there's a good collection of suitable players who could all be considered great value late in the top ten.