Little Goffy

I've lost patience with the Swans. A club kept relevant solely by obscene draft concessions and wild free agency exploitation of what was always a rubbery cost-of-living-allowance, and now only playing finals because of an absolute howler of a goal umpiring decision. It's not quite that I hate them... the feeling is like having the smell of badly burnt raisin toast lingering in your house for days. But really... Heeney, Mills, Blakey, Campbell and Gulden... it would be hard to find a game this season where those five didn't earn at least half the Swan's coaches votes. I want to see us going into finals with heads up and eyes on the prize, and I want Sydney going in with a reminder that they shouldn't be there.

I honestly think the umpires might be straight-up fatigued. The strain of dealing with 'interpretations' and wave after wave of rule-of-the-week and fluctuating levels of enforcement instructions would burn anyone out. I think the additional field umpire has also backfired in this regard, because it requires an additional umpire every game to go through that surge of continuous mental and emotional load. If I were an umpire, I'd be talking about industrial action to demand reasonable working conditions. It is a legally recognised form of workplace harassment to assign tasks to someone without appropriate support or realistic prospect of adequate performance. A time has to come where the AFL cannot be run in detail by the whims of the marketing department.

6. Lever - for his superb final quarter which settled the game in our favour. 5. Melksham - contest after contest after contest. 4. Viney - I always favour the workers. Plus, he produced a masterclass in wearing tackles and still getting the ball moving. 3. Rivers - positive energy 2. Petracca - worked himself back into it 1. Langdon - acknowledgement for doing his job really well and being important when we were not doing so well as a team Many others deserve respectful nods because we were frequently forced to play outside of our comfort zones and responded pretty well.

It is quite a moment when a team has lost 20 games in a row and it is a shock that they are in last place!

Sicily would need one after been a grubby [____] for almost a decade. Very good, sure, but grubby.

I wonder if the Scott brothers compared excuse notes?

Loved the one where the Hawthorn player dropped it so quickly that it became a 'holding the man' against Gawn. If one rule isn't enforced, the effect of the other rules change dramatically. Meanwhile, I have never seen Oliver that angry at any time for any reason. Does anyone have a clue what was going on?

Nevermind Adelaide - one of either the Western Bulldogs or GWS will miss out on finals because Sydney was given a win in a clear error that didn't even follow basic procedure.

It's not as as if like Adelaide or wanted then to play finals, but the umpires in the last 5 minutes of that Swans-Adelaide game had a clear preference. Tom Papley sore is of interest for us. Personally I hope half the Swans' list is out with dysentery for next week. I'm now officially sick of them.

Perhaps Grundy, 15 and 24 (instead of 34) for Mclean and 12 is more realistic? Or maybe I'm just dreaming.

I saw mentioned in an article that Sydney may be looking at Grundy, but that would all Would love a classic ruck circus with Hayden Mclean (a more forward-ruck option) coming to us given he's behind Amarty and Logan as a forward at Sydney. A lot depends on Tom Hickey. If he retires then the Grundy-to-Sydney move would be high priority for them. If not, I don't see how Grundy+Hickey+Ladhams works, even if we got McLean in the trade. The trade value assessment would be very complex. Speculating; Grundy, 15 and 34 for Mclean and 12

They must be really, really sure someone is offering a very good package to get that number 1 pick off them! It was as recently as 2021 where they missed out on finals by one game, after six consecutive years of finals including a premiership. The sheer depth of the drop-off is quite impressive. Still, that premiership... it was built on the most obvious tanking since the Kreuzer Cup. If I recall correctly, 2007 to 2011 went; Top 4. Bottom 4. Bottom 4. Bottom 4. Top 4. Executed to perfection. Starting with Judd out for young star key forward Josh Kennedy, and pick 3. Tanking got them Nic Naitanui, Brad Shephard & Andrew Gaff at the point end, plus Luke Shuey and Jack Darling with their priority picks. The good news is, this time around they do look genuinely rubbish, and they haven't had a successful draft since 2017 so not looking like any magical sudden turnaround this time.

6. Brayshaw 5. Petracca 4. Viney - forgiven for the volume of clangers because he frankly half the time it was supernatural that he even got the ball in the situations he was in. 3. Oliver - bit underdone, eh. 2. Rivers - one of few who really gained ground in useful ways 1. May - Broke even with the current best forward in the game. There'd be some honourable mentions, but I really have to give my own -1 to Salem, who's [censored] pop-up handballs were more likely to get a teammate injured than get a counter-attack going, and whose kicking was all over the place. Multiple players had some good moments but simply weren't in it often enough.

75% of Clayton Oliver is Tom Green.

Important to wait until the very last minute of the very last game before claiming top spot! 😁 Tonight I'll be watching Pies-Cats just to see if there's still a silly chance of it happening. Pies are only two games ahead of us so if they drop this one then the hunt is on for real. I'm clinging to a dream where Essendon pip them in the final round and cost Collingwood top spot, but then the Bombers still miss out on finals.

Absolute gun for sure. Quite possible that I only find him irritating because without him we would all be able to safely bid farewell to Richmond for another decade or so! :D

Okay, so, I have a lot of sympathy for Carlton supporters. Some, not all, I should clarify. But knowing them as well as I do, and having by proxy followed Carlton's progress closely for many years now... Carlton supporters insisting that they are going to be the team which will definitely bring a four-quarter effort and that it is up to the other side to keep up is just pure ironic comedy gold.

With Oliver; Stoppages won - low rank Scores from stoppages - high rank So it is quite simple. Our tactics are to either win a stoppage decisively or to nullify the effectiveness of opposition clearance - causing rushed disposals to feed our vast collection of intercepting defenders, and intercepting midfielder Oliver! There's a reason the Demons are number one for both 1%ers and intercept possessions.

I think at this stage the Queen might need a run in the twos for a while. But, back on topic! Oliver had his role dramatically changed earlier this season to be a much more rounded midfielder with an exceptional intercept possession game. Considering how many effective clearances he sets in motion and how many contested possessions he gets, his intercept count was extraordinary. A genuinely never-seen-before midfielder. That the Footy Classified mob reduced his absence to 'derr how many centre bounces are they winning' is hardly surprising but also pretty shamefully shallow on their part. I'd actually argue that our game style had to adapt to losing Oliver by focusing more on directly winning clearances because without him we couldn't rely as much on regaining the ball in general midfield play. Still, full credit to Viney for shouldering the load and for Brayshaw for once again transforming himself to meet the team's needs - from 11 clearances and 19 tackles in the entire season up to round 9, to then averaging about five of each since then.

Dammit, this is harder than I thought. My first choices are eliminated on technicalities. Toby Greene appears to have pulled his finger out and done that thing some men do in their 20s - finish adolescence! Tom Papley; yes he has a face that makes all his goal celebrations look as agro and annoying as an Australian fast bowler (Glen McGrath the only known exception), but it turns out that he's actually a pretyt mild mannered decent person. Walker is simply too annoying - I'd still dislike him even if he played for us. Martin, Dangerfield and Hawkins would be the shortlist except they are all past their peak. Ah, I've got a nominee - far from the most annoying player but has a real irritation X factor. Shai Bolton. Honorable mention to 'Izakermanis' Rankine who I think is on the cusp of a breakout in both form and annoyance.

Jye Amiss?

First Melksham now Lever, our bank of quality biology keeps growing.

Some teams just don't know how to death ride. 🤣

And IIIIIIIIIIIII--eeeee-IIIIIIIII-eeeee-IIIIIII will aaaaaalwayyysss looooove youuuuuuuu-ooooo-ooooo... I hope he is able to get back on the field, but even if retirement becomes the only option, he will still be a very good looking friendly young man with a habit of self-development, a pile of money and at least one magic moment.

Love your optimism about top spot and I've also got an eye on tickets for the game up here - seriously starved of meaningful football in this city. Any clear info would be helpful!