Little Goffy

I for one am glad that Bailey Smith has been able to find a club which is able to accommodate his unique personality. Yelling abuse at people, walking away, then coming back for another round after they've said nothing and you've got nothing to actually add, is never a red flag. Also, the move has solved a significant problem he was having with autocorrect while at the Dogs.

Probably a good fit for North, with the caveat of his perpetual injury recovery. They have a wave of all-purpose high productivity midfielders and need to fill out their list with AFL-grade role players. A fit Spargo is a useful contributor to calm and smart entries inside 50 and good positioning to reduce counter-attack options. North certainly have plenty of accumulators, and whatever Spargo might be, he is not an accumulator!

Always nice to get a visit from Cranky Franky.

Kade Chandler taking the mission of becoming the next Nibbler quite seriously, it would seem. Good on him. Underrated on field, too, just like uncle Nibs.

What is this Billings talk? Can't watch the stream. Please tell me that he didn't see his own highlights and thank you video appear on the big screen on B&F night as the way of finding out he was being cut?

Thanks for the scoring updates. Can't watch the stream due to the precision operation of keeping an 8-week-old asleep during an annoyingly warm Sydney September - still 20 degrees outside and our building gets full winter sun all day so is still radiating. I really will take any chance to mention Littler Goffy, hey? As for the count; Mildly surprised to see Salem that high, though he has been fully respectable for the season. Somewhat more surprised to see Sparrow. I can only assume Sparrow gets a job done which is unclear to the pundits but the coaches appreciate. The table overall highlights what a tough season it has been for our tall defenders. When was the last time there weren't multiple KPDs high in the count? Come to think of it, Gawn is the only player in the top 10 who is over 193cm!

Even Pickett and McDonald, two very good looking men, managed to outclass themselves. Curious fashion trend, the sheer fabric belly. I guess it goes with the current 'body fashion' of outright fitness rather than just contrived sculpting, which I can hope is a healthy direction.

The first King to wear the crown at a jaunty angle. Specifically, skewed left.

It's a hard moment, especially when the delistings include F-S players who we've had an emotional investment in since before they were drafted, or someone like Sestan who has a clear point of value but hasn't been able to build an overall AFL standard. But... on the delistings announced so far, we've lost entirely nothing from our AFL-grade playing strength in 2025 and really only a speculative 'optimistic' chance to our 2026 strength. My sometimes very wise but also Carlton-supporting brother described their persistent malaise as been rooted in an excess of hope. 'We hope this player will come good, we hope McKay will kick straight, we hope Weitering can solo-defeat the entire opposition tall forward line.' Each of these players we can only say we might 'hope' they will reach AFL standard.

Shaping as an absolutely wild off season for St Kilda. And not in their old setting people on fire or texting your ballsack way. Four player movements in already 'confirmed' and persistent talk about Sam Flanders, multiple exits 'strongly rumoured', a coach probably second to only Voss for pressure going into 2026 with a near-designated successor Corey Enright already at the club and in danger of being Yze'd out if they miss the window to promote him. I'm sure St Kilda are thinking in terms of Richmond's high risk pre-glory recruitment drive that went so well, but they could just as easily end up with the tragic 'scattergun' result of the Neeld-Schwab Demons.

A blanket "Enough of this mickey mouse [censored]" rule would help. Both for the stupid macho niggles and the embarrassing smug flops. Childish at best, but both sides of the equation can end up being dangerous.

At 22yrs old, he'd be joining a young midfield (midfield-adjacent?) wave within which there isn't really a similar type. We have lots of mobility and around-the-ground coverage with the likes of Rivers, Windsor, McVee, Lindsay and even Langford. Meanwhile Pickett and Tholstrup are both tuned to an attacking game. Not going to count chickens on the other kids, naturally. Any new coach would be thrilled to add Windhager to balance with our other youth, deepen our 'genuine AFL-quality' line-up, and open some tactical options. He's certainly no dud and continues to grow. Depending on your optimism level we will be gaining either Jordon, Harmes, or Nibbler.

Okay, I'm going to say it, the stereotype lives. We went to Frankston at night and got robbed.

Oooh, Culley took a solid knock as he grabbed that mark. Puts it through, the guy has something to watch.

Entertaining bit of chaos late in the third. We do struggle to do three things right in a row, though. Edit: yikes, no I'm not referring to the guy who just tipped over the fence. Owww-cha.

The crowd behind Culley's shot then was like the earlier conversation about the social status of Frankston came to life. Couple of glamorous young ladies complete with perfect hair and styled scarves and good posture, and then the flannelette squad hunched onto the fence.

Yeesh, now I know why my tiny creature spent the last hour or so fussing and crying. He was protecting me from seeing that. Cue the fightback now he's getting a good feed, but it would take a lot. It appeared to go up a while ago, but maybe now is the time for the classic scrap for dignity.

All this talk of Frankston being rough or not reminds me of my mum's stories of teaching at Balmain High. Bal-million-dollars-for-a-studio-main. When she taught there is was a rough as guts neighbourhood full of factory worker migrants from nefarious uncouth places like Italy and Greece.

Perhaps ironically, or just coincidentally, if we had lost Pickett I suspect we'd be looking more closely at Sumner-Pickett. Still, he'd clearly be an asset when it comes to making a forward line less predictable. He plays like he grew up stealing the ball in the playground and having five guys chasing to get it back off him. If we do draft him can we please nickname him 'Somemore-Pickett'?

57 to 20, a good percentage booster... Oh. What, you couldn't even manage one more behind to bring us to a neat 300? This team is looking a bit special.

Love the AI generated stats highlights on the AFL website "The Tigers struggled to maintain territory, having just 19% of the quarter spent in their forward half. With the lack of territory, they weren't able to hit the scoreboard in the opening quarter for the first time this season, becoming the fourth team in 2025 to achieve this." 'Achieve this'. A reminded that AI does not know right from wrong, good from evil, or achievement from failure.

Only Fox or Kayo where I am. Guess I'll just be following the stats and scores. The return of the Bannan Hammer continues! So glad - I was convinced she would be the prototype of the perfect AFLW player. Fast, tall, good balance of strenght and agility, and high initiative. Sometime went wrong in her confidence for a while and she was struggling to get into games consistently, but that seems to be turning back in her favour bit by bit. Back on the watch-list for AFLW superstar.

I think in the back of all our minds is the fact that if Angus Brayshaw had ever played again or even taken an end if season lap of honour, the Collingwood crowd would have booed him. There are deep problems in some people's values, every club has a slice of these people who take football as an opportunity to embrace a completely anti-moral tribalism, but... there's a scale where some clubs actively leverage it and some clubs have it embedded in their executive culture. We all know the game would be better and even richer if Collingwood were removed.

Magpies fans calls those free kicks the 'sealers'.

I'll be looking forward to this one as part of an AFLW and VFL weekend extravaganza. The only thing better than going into a weekend optimistic about a win is going into a weekend optimistic about two wins! For those travelling down to Frankston, remember to bring your pingers. In this case, not a euphemism for [euphemism], but a 'active-interactive predation deterrent device' used to keep dolphins away from fishing nets. But seriously, take care, I hear the crowd can be a bit different down there.