Little Goffy

Wait, do you mean Cripps or Bontempelli? Or Kolodjashnij! I'm slightly disappointed that it looks like Curtin is pushing ahead of even the most optimistic pick for us. Oh well, I guess we'll have to settle for one of the small army of Stevie Johnson clones running around.

I would guess that Flakes are being strategically replaced by Twirls in gift/party boxes due to risk analysis of embarrassing chocolatey fragments on proverbial Sunday bests. Flake, alas, is being condemned to the 'at home, naked, with the curtains drawn and lights off' category of indulgence. Also, Crunchie beats Violet Crumble for the sole reason that it is more likely to be on special in the checkout-side displays.

I had a look back in time to see the last game where Fritsch had such a poor output. Round 21, 2021. Coincidentally, also a game where we were pushed to the line by a team that should have been much weaker, defeating West Coat by 72 to 63. Of course, he then kicked 7 the next week on his way to 20 over the next five weeks, including a handy bag of six which some may recall.

Petty's most distinct trait is his persistence after an initial contest. He's got great initiative and is back in most almost immediately. I'm not pretending he's a sprinter or twinkle-toes nimble, but in that chaos that forms close to goal he has a level of alertness that really helps close up the little spaces that crumbers use for their snaps. Plus, his disciplined defending provides a little incremental release for May and Lever to play their natural games and use their elite judgement to zone effectively and give support to other contests. Also, if we're talking about Fritsch, well, first, why? And, second, what? And third, huh?

Oh, please let it happen. The ultimate, ultimate trolling of Fremantle and the perfect fit for us.

I've been reading back over the thread and using it as cud to help digest my own thoughts (don't think about that analogy too much) and seen an odd similarity. Exactly the same way that many of us on here are getting wound up tight because some flawed wins and some games slip hasn't met the expectation of being a truly dominant team, I think several of our players have been tripped up by trying to do great things or be heroes in the moment. Flip back through most of the criticisms of poor decision-making on the field and almost all of them boil down to 'tried to be awesome when effective was what was needed'. Most obviously the over-ambitious kick-in at the end of the game and the preference for taking unlikely shots instead of getting the ball to players in better position. I think Petracca, May and Fritsch in particular showed signs of feeling the pressure to be champions all the time.

0.7 s 3.9 at half time. Never have the words 'At Marvel Stadium' brought more shame.

Sydney kept relevant only by academy picks. Is it just me or did they take a ridiculous number of marks today?

That's truly fantastic. But you shouldn't call your kids 'The Mess'. 😁

Related to this, there's some criticism lurking of Oliver that he is accumulating disposals and not really being potent, but it isn't as if he is being a seagull out there - he is accumulating in very difficult circumstances. Not only is he going at 50% contested possessions, but he's also earning almost 5 intercepts a game - that is defender numbers. In fact, after a quick scroll through the rankings, Oliver is the only inside mid player with anything close to that number of intercepts. Even for more open-role players who aren't always defenders, there is only really Brayshaw and Acres up there. If you combine intercepts (4.9 vs best 9.6) and score involvements (8.25 v best being 9.0) you get Clayton Oliver. Add to that the contested possessions, clearances and tackles of his old core role, and you get Clayton Oliver then a lot of daylight. Oliver's game has changed and it is becoming much more rounded, and potentially more valuable than the simpler clearance beast. It is possible that Oliver is quietly making the changes to become the most complete midfielder ever, right in front of our eyes, and we aren't noticing because it doesn't involve total domination of the usual statistics.

If Van Rooyen had kept his eyes on the ball it is likely Ballard would have been much more seriously injured. #paradox

If the pre-game for Gold Coast was 'what they are saying at the bank' does that mean this week against Hawthorn it has to be 'what they are saying at the tank'?

I really hope Dunstall and Brereton are commentating the day we 187 the Hawks. For the Suns game it really was obvious that a decision had been made to go into 'sell the game to wavering Suns supporters' mode. I would guess that decision was made pre-game out of fear that it would be a hope-destroying blowout, and the market research is telling AFL HQ that the Suns' support base is becoming very tepid. That's what happens when arrogant execs turn thought bubbles into $200m money furnaces and try to cover the problem by pressuring zero-integrity media to help 'manage the optics'.

Just one more... I think the margin will be... wafer thin.

Also now the 'most winningest' current player with >50 games, so he can't be all bad!

Well, looking on the bright side, we've now had a game where our issues couldn't be covered over by the hyper-accurate goal kicking run. Lots of learnings, yo. I for one am glad we asked the question of whether Petty could deliver consistently as a forward, and it is probably useful to be able to swing him there in the future, but he makes so much difference to our defence and not a lot of difference to our forward line. Lesson learned.

Pretty sure the flawed effort agains the Suns was because we had our minds already on the Hawks game. Well, no. But, more seriously, we'll be wanting to prove a point as a team and I think a lot of players will be looking to prove a point individually that they belong in their roles. Deep down I want to see us beat Hawthorn by a combined margin of 200 points over our two games against them this season. I don't really mind if that is by a few goals this time and 35 next time, any configuration will do. Something about the arrogance of how cheerfully they admit that they are tanking fills me with hatred.

Ooooh, the umpiring has taken a REAL turn against us now.

Wow, that holding the ball call against Hunter is just an incredible howler.

Does anyone know if the GWS board has a 'death riding Richmond' thread? Because they would be crying with laughter at Richmond poaching Taranto and Hopper for 'one last tilt', at the cost of two okay first round picks and now what is looking more and more like pick 3, or at best 4.

If someone says 'speedy hard-nut' about a player, my thoughts immediately go to the small defender role. I think it is one of our few deficiencies not yet invested in through kids coming through. So, the obvious question I have for the draft watchers; do you think Kynan Brown's attributes shown as a mid and forward can translate into the tough small defender we need. It might also be a much easier path to cracking the 22, considering the potency and depth of our mids and small forwards.

There's an interesting interaction to it. On the one hand, there is no factor more important to the success of a senior coach than being taken seriously and instructions followed, and nothing more important to the culture of a club than preventing little sniping undermining and minimising of leaders. On the other hand, our pathetic football media has very little offer except the 'latest controversial hot-take designed to get a shocked reaction'. The "Are you about to lose your job?" question, which was asked clearly for no reason other than to get a talking point out of Hardwick being annoyed, is a textbook example. I instinctively don't like Hardwick but even I can see that he was not the problem in that interaction.

Ahh, clever, but it's no use, Mr Redleg. there's just more rip. It's rips all the way down.

I think it depends on whether you're swimming with or against the considerable rip.

I've got 101 jokes ready to go about supporter numbers, players family's turning up, Tasmanians being able to support their old club and the Tassie team easily by using one head each... there's a lot of low hanging fruit down there, literally. But. I'm actually really happy that Tasmania is getting an AFL club. I'll probably make our games into a regular excuse to make a trip down. Even 5,000 people doing that each home game and it works out to tens of millions of dollars worth of extra visitors for Tasmania each year on that point alone. It'll work out.