Little Goffy

His overall win-loss record is slightly ahead of Clarkson and Hardwick. Nothing to be sniffed at. The club has been explicit with the goal of making the top-4 consistently to give ourselves the best chance each year of seizing the moment. That's what they are doing and I love that we can be top four while still being a bit rough at the edges mid-season. Of additional significance, I think, is that Goodwin has the best finals win-loss record of any current AFL coach. He was exactly equal with Hardwick, but with Hardwick officially retired that sets Goodwin as the best-performing finals coach in the AFL. Now, three quick finals wins in a row this year, and Goodwin can surpass Norm Smith's win rate. Albert Chadwick might be a little harder to catch at 80%!

6. Viney - exemplary midfielder 5. Brayshaw - fully transitioned into well-rounded midfielder 4. Gawn - Gawned 3. Chandler - possibly a game we'll look back on as a 'moment' in his career. 2. Pickett - welcome back! Looked scary strong at times 1. Nibbler - earns a point for responding to my criticism! 🤣 Many good contributors. A 15minute lapse timed with a 15 minute freakshow from Adelaide undermines how excellent we were.

He's clearly great but pick 4-5 and two other first rounders for one kid? Have we lost our minds? Did we suddenly become Fremantle? Anyway, the way we work, we'll probably end up holing the magic early pick, then trading our own first, Freo's second and next season's first for North's first next season. It's the old Jason Taylor 'make the trades so confusing nobody is sure who came out ahead' routine.

'Now would be a great time for Franklin to settle the Swans' I thought to myself. Any further psychic power requests let me know in DMs.

It's funny, I'm sure I've seen Ben Keays do a great job against us as some kind of particularly annoying tag & retaliation player, but based on Adelaide supporters' comments he'll spend the day two metres behind Rivers and thinking he's done his job. Interesting that Crow supporters haven't noted how much time Petracca is spending up forward. If they're anxious about Crouch and Sloan being left in the dust by Petracca and Viney, they'll be crying when they realise they've been picked as the bunny team for Pickett to spend a chunk of time in the middle to find form!

Wow, Geelong really delivering on Scott's 'Brilliant' 'new' 'strategy' of 'getting inside the heads of opponents' by 'announcing themselves as contenders'. Maybe I should move that particular breath of sarcasm to the Damien Barrett thread, but wow, Geelong must have had yet another bout of the whole team being sick the night before.

Proud and successful except for when they tanked to set up their dynasty, yes! Meanwhile, they are going all right against Richmond, to keep our dream alive of Freo slipping to third last. Fremantle have all of Swans, Cats, Lions and Power to deal with, with only the Eagles a should-win. Unfortunately Hawthorn also have a bit of a tough run. If they fail today against the Tigers, there's no realistic prospect of them moving up. But then, in round 24, Hawks and Freo face off directly. The death ride may yet come down to the wire! It may even be percentage against the direct opponent in the last game of the season!

Being a premiership fullback would help Tomlinson's trade value for sure! 🤪

So, who is this Likely and what position does he play?

I'd love an update on how Crows fans are going now that Rory Laird's shoulder has become too worn out from carrying the team.

So many 'ifs' went against Tomlinson. If he hadn't been injured, obviously. If Petty hadn't lifted so well in response to the opportunity. If the experiment this year with Petty forward had been a success. I think he's been very unlucky and has good AFL level football to play, but it is hard to see him waiting for his luck to turn at Melbourne when there must surely be other clubs looking for a mature, proven defender at a comparatively low price in trade and salary space. Meanwhile, I'm still keen on Curtin in the draft as the premium-tier successor to May and future defensive partner to Petty, which is a scenario that would basically put a line through Tomlinson's medium term opportunities as well. Also, surely there's no way Ben McKay is going to get inflated to a start-of-first-round selection? Comparison to James Frawley just reinforces the point - Frawley was an established All-Australian key defender with 100+ games to his name. Ben McKay has managed just one season without major interruptions, for his highest B&F result of 6th in 2021. Pick 3? Joking. North are surely in fantasyland, like so much of their list strategy the last five years or so.

At 0:21 I was triggered horribly. Can't even remember exactly what game it was, but Doggy Brown was just about our only player actually trying to take the game on and turn things our way. Unfortunately with so little support or options to feed off to, he kept getting cornered or run down. I remember one instance he was actually shepherded/coralled by accident by a flat-footed Daniel Ward and as he lost momentum got absolutely slammed from the blind side. That's what the 0:21 footage brought back - at least this time it wasn't a teammate in the way! Overall, really interesting video. Some moments of really good vision and some moments of zero vision or thought at all. Lots of running to get the handball receive from a mark, but also some good aggression and tenacity when hunting. Has a bit of speed and chooses to use it. On that package, I wouldn't expect him to instantly break into AFL level but he could develop into a very handy player with some non-boring attributes!

James McDonald also spent his first nine seasons as a respectable and steadily improving part of the best 22, never a star before his triumphant flourishing when given responsibility in the midfield and as a leader, from 2006 on. Jordon now is the age McDonald was in 1999. I love James McDonald and the story of perseverance and growth which he adds to our club's history. He contributed well for almost a decade before finally becoming a truly outstanding player at his peak. I'd argue there is no better analogy to refer to when we talk about losing James Jordon.

I've likened Jordon to James McDonald in the past - I think he'll be a genuinely excellent midfielder without every being flashy or dominating. Trouble is, we've got Petracca, Oliver and Viney, all three of whom are in the very top rank of AFL midfielders. Brayshaw, when playing in the midfield, is also very similar to Jordon in the sense that he is a good contributor without ever really seeming dominant or imposing. Complicating things, our wings and half-back positions are now so loaded with quality options Brayshaw almost has too play midfield now. Then of course there's the direct competition with Sparrow, who has a noticeably better haircut. You could have a long debate about whether Sparrow's better form than Jordon's is driven by the fact that he's been given a sustained run at AFL level and in a stable position, while Jordon has been subbed in and out and moved around at both AFL and VFL level. Pygmalion effect in action. Part of a bigger issue - what do we do with the whole set of Harmes, Dunstan and Jordon, who could all be getting midfield games somewhere else?

I think Geelong are masking their true situation a bit thanks to their potent home ground advantage. Geelong when not playing at Goomba Stadium; 4 wins, 1 Draw, 6 losses. The wins include the early season Hawks and West Coast at, um, Adelaide Oval because [reasons]. I'm not especially afraid of them and the beat-up is, of course a beat-up.

Grundy being available made it easy to resist the temptation to rush Gawn back in from injury, and also eased the load on him when he did return, allowing Gawn to train fully and rebuild his fitness base. Very little chance Gawn could have had the game he just had against Brisbane without that. Getting Grundy has definitely helped the club and if he can just improve a few basics and we can learn to zone the two rucks so they aren't interfering with each other's games too much, the pay-off can still be huge. I mean, it is quite realistic that we are freshening Grundy now to make sure he's good for finals. Flashback to Ben Brown 2021!

Is there an option for '[Censored] No'?

The only advantage of Geelong playing finals is the prospect of Essendon going into an elimination final already knowing they're doomed. The 'Essendon to be immediately knocked out of finals for a seventh time' death ride is almost as tantalising as the Freo death ride, but more pure because it is a strictly spiritual calling.

I'm still on the Curtin wagon for our first pick but it seems a near certainty that multiple very suitable very capable players will be available in the first half of the first round. Duursma particularly suits my craving for a player capable of doing some attacking damage, mixing into our midfield and half-forward groups and being different and difficult everywhere he goes. Seems like there is not even a hint of consensus about where he'll get picked; I've seen anywhere from top 3 to barely inside the top 10. That seems true for a lot of players, and driven by a glut of competing quality. What a great draft to have a big say in! I'm trying to avoid facing the awkward fact that there's going to be some players just inside or on the edge of the 22 who will be moving on at season's end, but that's also clearly in our favour.

Wet grass and copious duck droppings produced the slipperiest surface I've ever played any sport on. Made particularly hilarious by it being lunch time inter-departmental competitions between public servants within sight of OPH. The surfaces all looked absolutely flawless; lush, neatly trimmed and tree-lined. But they were definitely maintained as ornamental lawns, not playing fields. Duckcrap smears all ranks alike.

Okay, so, out of curiosity, when was the last time Melbourne played Collingwood in a final? I'm thinking maybe a couple of times at the end of the 80s, yes?

Sam Weideman was a strong contributer to winning finals. No Essendon player has done that since before this year's draft crop was born.

I noticed that, too. Very strange in those last few minutes how he kept announcing that Brisbane were cooked. Best reason I can think of is that he had the thought bubble that he thought was clever and then, in the BT way, just kept on repeating it loudly. The vanity of an Australian sports commentator is one of the most powerful human forces in the world! Tell you what, if anyone sitting near me said 'Melbourne have won this' with 30 seconds left as Brisbane got a clearance from their defensive fifty, I'd select my share and sharpest couple of [censored] for them. It was a 50/50 contest from being a Brisbane shot after the siren to decide the game!

Carlton equivalent of MFCSS is the eternal lament 'Great too late, where was this in April to June?'. They'll be having very mixed feelings at the moment, especially with the Harry McKay injury. Personally I hope they make finals by percentage over Geelong and then knock Essendon out in the elimination final, just because that would be the most possible pain for Cats and Bombers.

I'm just going to whisper this quietly, but we are halfway through the round and so far every single result has fallen in our favour to absolute perfection. We are now at minimum a game and good percentage clear of 5th, which can be only one team, with the rest of the top-8 chasing from at least two games behind. At the other end, Gold Coast and the Swans have both pulled ahead of the Dockers. Carlton as I type this are going into the final quarter 5 goals up against Port, which would put them a win and a draw ahead of Freo while also... just maybe... cracking the dome at Port.