Little Goffy

SNAP! Had exactly the same thought.

It's a bit of an epic effort of manufactured victimhood to turn 'A club is considering making less use of it's mascot image in branded material' into 'the woke police are coming for everything'. I mean... ...any questions? http://www.demonwiki.org/gallery270

Very, very generous with the concept of 'discuss' there, Redleg. Maybe even a little generous with 'topic' in some cases. But this is certainly one of the healthier primordial oozes of the internet and should be celebrated as such.

Huh? Was that a callback to a different conversation I missed?

Oliver, Petty and Bowey giving signs they will all be available next game or very soon. A-rangers assemble!

This thread made me go back and watch a highlights video, and I'm having thoughts - When May got turned around in that early goal, McVee could have been getting back to support and cover the break a bit better, but only really put the sprint on once the Collingwood player was already breaking away from May. Easy oversight to make, also easy to correct by habit over time. May had a number of flawed moments but didn't give away anything easy. He and Lever were also pressed waaaay up the ground from defence on many occassions, and coped well in the chaos. A remarkable effort to keep Collingwood to such a low score, using such an aggressive tactic. Exemplified by May managing to break even in a three-on-one in defence. Maynard should send a thank you note to Van Rooyen and the Melbourne legal team, because without them that late whack to Brayshaw's head in a marking contest would have been three weeks. Smith's tackle on Maynard to earn his goal was textbook perfection. Jack Viney is A-Grade.

Ahh, but you must remember, the Collingwood football club is a flotilla of luxury yachts sailing upon a vast sea of filth. The people in the yachts try to pretend their boat isn't covered in it, but we all know it, we all see it. That's the contrast with the Demon's, though - we include all the increments of society but even our derros have taste.

Odd little quirk - against Collingwood on monday Fritsch did not leave the ground - 100% game time. First time he has ever done that, with the usual figure being somewhere in the mid-80 range. Suspicion - we've been working on his tank, and noticeably using him more up the ground (17 inside-50s in the previous 4 weeks, which is easily double his usual) but the purpose of that is that also he can be pulled back closer to goal and play maximum game time there when it suits the tactical needs. The theory grows that the Demons are calmly using the whole season to sharpen their axe.

What enraged me most is that it is such an ineffective approach. If players feel like they can get picked out for near-random occurrences, where is the inspiration to change? If the rule is wobbling all over the place, how to the train to meet the expectations? I mean, it is just basic criminology. Nobody in the $10m/year AFL executive bothered to google 'how to manage change to embed new standards?' As bad as the reserve bank thinking you solve a supplier-side under-capitalisation led inflation problem by increasing the costs of business investments. Do people's brains just switch off at about $700k+ a year?

Langdon had very low stats... I suspect he was doing an important job keeping Collingwood away from his wing. Running up and down like a man with one fence post trying to keep the dog in the yard.

Somebody buy this man an ornithopter.

Yes, it is unfair to brand him with that when there is such a wondrous variety of annoying American types to choose from.

Well, Goodwin definitely out-couched McCrae both tactically and with the emotional momentum. (ducks for cover)

Not going to pretend that Van Rooyen was best on ground and I'm not going overcook the praise for what was overall just a pretty good game, but... Van Rooyen didn't miss. On a level with the Harmes-to-Fritsch clearance kick in the Grand Final for turning point moments. And as he ran in for the shot he looked... happy. It was uncanny. It was as if he already knew it was a goal.

/closethread

So, option B, then?

We'll all be Rooyened!

That's the part that gives me goosebumps. Our forward line is functioning remarkably well considering that the traditional key target role is so understaffed. Even incremental progress from Van Rooyen and a steady advance in the Grawndy collaboration would be enough to make it a truly terrifying prospect for opposition defences.

My mum still hasn't got one so I just can't take these awards seriously. But Kate Roffey seems a pretty valid nominee, so full congratulations.

There's a lot more to be gained by a win than there is to be lost by a loss. Right now we are a team in the mix for the top 4 but yet to really hit impressive form overall. Win today and we have a win against the form team of the competition and become a top 4 team most likely to contend. Lose today and we are still a team in the mix for the top 4, with a lot working well but which needs to get its ducks in a row throughout the second half of the season.

Ahh, 7 of 9, I can't even remember which Star Trek it was but you have to respect the chutzpah of the producers to just overtly decide "We're going to have a main character who is a model, permanently wearing a tight bodysuit". Saved the franchise. Also, it is not possible to simultaneously know Greek history and the movie 300. You can switch between the two, but they cannot exist simultaneously. As for those coming four games, every one of those is also against a team which we want to see climbing juuuust up above Fremantle. Ideally we would see six or seven teams finish the season on eleven wins (or ten and a draw for Blues/Tigers) with Fremantle on ten. Because we don't want Fremantle to 'fail', we just want them as low on the ladder as realistically possible. 5th last with ten wins would be perfect, thanks.

Getting this thread back on topic.

Really encouraging that almost all of Freo's big names had good games but they still lost. I like them, overall, I really do. It is just on hold until roughly October.

Score level... between Liam Baker and the whole of Fremantle on the free kick count! 5 minutes left to find out if this thread is fun again!

Yikes, the Crows are really chasing it, though. Just ten more unanswered goals in the final term and they've got it.