Little Goffy

Yeah, that's a suspension offence on it's own normally, but, hey, we're basically watching a performance art version of 'ex-cop, with mates at the local station, getting accused of domestic violence'.

The thing about an old boys club is you don't even need to make the call.

I just acted on the impulse to post that image in reply to a bunch of the Filth's fluff stories on Twitter. Doesn't do anyone any good but maybe I'll get blocked by Collingwood on Twitter, which is something we can all aspire to.

I particularly like that he reinvented himself as his body limited his options. A dashing All-Australian and then a determined premiership player. Good effort.

Let's see how our better fitness and maturity works out in the final quarter. Kate Hore currently on pace for the highest rated individual game (133 AF points at 3/4 time, chasing 184) of all time. Why not? Looking to see a bit more involvement from Alyssa Bannan who hasn't been heavily involved and has been a bit sketchy when she was involved.

Feel like Shelley Heath is being forced to do to much so far this quarter - turning up everywhere and maybe that's because a few others aren't getting involved as much as they should.

The scoreboard says we are smashing them to pieces and I think the scoreboard is flattering to GWS.

Would have to be one of the best quarters of anyone's career in AFLW!

On a lighter note... it was Brayden Maynard who stood the mark when Dom Sheed kicked a certain excellent goal once upon a grand final. So, he'll always have that.

This thread is NUMBERWANG.

This post objects to Port Adelaide fans!

Yep, just adding to the sentiment to keep the feel-good thread going. I particularly like that he persevered through multiple periods where it would have been quite acceptable to pack it in and find a less emotionally demanding career. His current form and finals appearance are character rewarded and that's always good to see in any context.

The pre-finals bye makes an interesting difference to the value of the week off, and yes, even prior to that in 20 years there were five different QF losing teams who clawed their way to the premiership. Plus throw in the Dogs doing it from the bottom half of the 8. Let's just look at the most likely scenario. To be premiers in 2023 we need to beat Carlton, Brisbane and Collingwood. Fascinatingly, we're now 1 win 1 loss this season against all three of those teams! Total margin from those six games is... (11, 17, 4, 1, 4, 7) 44 points, or 7.3 per game. It is absolutely knife-edge stuff and if you think it can't be done please stay away from the club until it is over!

Mess with everyone's head by getting free agent McKay from North to play forward.

Qualifying final was Van Rooyen's worst game for the season. He's spent the season up and down from 'young forward giving a good contest in a difficult situation' to 'young forward being a bit exposed without the support of more mature bodies and experienced targets around him'. I'm not worried about Van Rooyen's future, at least. I'm not particularly worried about Jefferson, really - he's played under similarly under-protected and under-supported circumstances at VFL level. Looking at the spread of the tall forwards taken right at the pointy end of the draft also gives me a comforting reminder that even those top picks, protected by being secondary targets (behind Naughton, Walker, Franklin, etc) progress at very patchy and different speeds. Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (1), Aaron Cadman (1), Riley Thilthorpe (2) and Logan McDonald (4), are a pretty random mix of development paths but all look to be coming through and there's not really any reason to write off Jefferson so early.

I love that the chart in the opening post has Sydney 'make a semi final' and Carlton 'win a final' as if they are different things. Anyway, as much as I think we're better placed to beat Sydney, I'd rather Carlton won tonight because I am simply sick of the sight of the Swans continuing to get by on massive draft concessions and 'loose' umpiring.

Language warning, but these kind of sum up how I'm feeling about the AFL media at the moment;

Some common football acts; Kick, mark, handball, tackle, bounce, driving your shoulder into the face of an opponent at speed.

It would have been hard to imagine that ALL of Brown, McDonald, Grundy, Smith, Petty, Schache and Melksham would be either out of form, unsuited or injured. That said, it is entirely predictable that it will be the situation next week and next season, so action both immediate and enduring is required. I fully agree that in the off season a couple of contracts need to be paid out and retirements brought forward to open space.

We are, according to tradition, the fine and dignified Anglican wing. Though in true Anglican spirit we are happy to compromise and welcome anyone to the fold if it will get us [censored]. I mean, that's the whole original point of that church, right? 47 minutes to go. .. .. ..

According to https://www.lightningmaps.org Mazatlan in western Mexico is getting absolutely smashed with more than one bolt per second in a 10km box. But aside from sporadic action in Seymour, Victoria not getting hit much. I love that site. I used to play a fun little game of finding street webcams in areas where super-storms were hitting. Once I got to see a Ferrari-Mazerati outdoor car show get obliterated in Dubrovnik. This game can't start soon enough.

Lots on the radar at the moment but it is moving fast. High and gusty winds expected. http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR024.loop.shtml#skip It's like a deliberate taunt at Melksham being out, but we shall persevere and overwhelm!

Have you tried the Protestant v Catholic angle?

We're not even the most overrated 4th placed team in the last 12 months!

Just the other day I had the option of salty curmudgeon but went with the pastrami sandwich instead. But that would just make them illicit illiteracies. An illicit illiterate is basically our opponents tonight. I'm alarmingly relaxed about this game. Positively oxymoronic in mood. Whatever happens, I suspect we'll see them again in a few weeks, if you take my meaning.