Little Goffy

Sometimes you just gotta lean into the stereotypes, hey.

It barely slowed Daisy!

I'd say Jake Riccardi is one to monitor, and please don't say I'm only noticing because he just kicked 5 against Freo! I understand that was an unusual game for him. He's a worker, not a star. He's got a big body at 195cm and 97kg, and can take contested marks and compete for contests. But what I love is that he has got a good defensive and pressure work ethic - his tackles inside 50 rate is top 25 in the AFL, and slightly ahead of Kade Chandler just to put some punctuation on it. This was also the feature that made Tom McDonald so valuable at his best, and mitigated the downside of his poorer games. Riccardi will be 24 by the end of the year and could be a very cost-effective role-player. A future tall forward group of Van Rooyen - Riccardi - Jefferson would seem like a quality full deck to me. Plenty of contests, leads and hunting. Plenty for the small forwards to work with and Fritsch can find a way to use them all as decoys, I'm sure! Grundy is a mobile player, not a key target, Gawn is better (as in, more magnificent) around the ground than forward, and Petty has his best future clocking up All-Australian seasons leading our defence for a decade to come.

Does anyone else here like white spirits generally but cannot, simply cannot even get whiff of gin without genuinely feeling foul? I think it is a phenomenon similar to how some people are massively repelled by coriander and simply cannot believe anyone would let it into their digestive system.

I'm not sure what you mean here? Can you elaborate?

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.