Little Goffy

I kind of wish this had been our first game of the season just so we could have had a four-digit percentage. Tell you what, if this is the way things go when we really put everything into attacking, sign me up for more.

Interesting that Twomey has Barnett in the late 20s, and Keeler doesn't even break in. Seems a lot of other phantom drafts have one or the other, or feature both in that late 20s to early 30s range. If we are looking to add a ruckman who can play forward while 'waiting their turn' to go full-time in the ruck, either or both of them fit the bill. So I'm wondering... do we test our luck and do a pick swap 13 and 37 for West Coast's 20 and 26?

Yep, even if it is annoying for the overall effect on the game, Lyon was an early master of the art of getting the most out of unexceptional players through sheer fitness and well-drilled plans. I'd argue, though, that both during his previous run at St Kilda and at Fremantle, Lyon was able to make that work thanks to having some of the most outstanding individual players in the game at the time. With all respect to Jack Steele who is an absolute first-rate player, and to Max King who looks like he'll spend a lot of his career in Coleman Medal contention, there just isn't anyone at the Saints now who can really cut a game open or make the whole structure work through them. Nobody would doubt for a second that Ratten would have taken the Saints routinely into finals if he could add Fyfe and Pavlich or Riewoldt and Goddard (peak Goddard, to be sure) to the Saint's list which he managed to extract a 50% win rate out of. I think Ratten coached the Saints very well, as he did at Carlton. Lyon isn't necessarily a better coach and may yet find himself on a similar trajectory to Malthouse given the brittleness inherent in how he came (back) to the club.

Even at St Kilda's peak with Nick Riewoldt at his best and Justin Koncussedny having his good season, they were never a scoring powerhouse. Even more telling is that it was above all in the later seasons at Fremantle where Lyon really went all-out on the defensive style, hovering around 1575 points for in a season for three years running and not a lot to show for it. I think for both coaches there was an element of what players were available. Arguably, Hogan, McDonald, Garlett, Melksham, Nibbler and Hannan were all in their career best form in 2018, so you run with what you've got! Ross Lyon might be able to make it work up forward with Max King as the superstar and Higgins & Butler sneaking or charging for their share of goals, and maybe his hard-drilled group defence methods will also work in version 2. But here's the rub - Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna, Goddard. v Sinclair, Crouch, Steele, Ross.

I'm glad you clarified that. I'd hate to think that our players would be coming onto the field by running through a banner-banana.

He's already 206cm, so there's wont be much learning at the feet. Learning from Gawn's eyebrows and Grundy's man-bun? Also, that means we now have FIVE 200cm+ players on our list, so we can finally hold an EntMoot.

In defence, Petty is a realistic prospect for sneaking an All-Australian selection in 2023, that's how good he could be. Up forward he might be excellent but I can't imagine him being quite that outstanding. Yes, we need the role filled for team structure reasons, but I'd argue it is an even balance given how much Petty's presence allows May & Lever to play their best roles. I'm bullish about van Rooyen and McDonald delivering the power of blondeness next season. Plus, I think our draft selections will be tall and mobile types which could give some further flexibility to work on the problem.

Being fair to Cripps, he is basically Christian Petracca's abilities with Nathan Jones career story, plus injury. Let him enjoy his moment and then watch as Oliver continues to be the best midfielder in the AFL for another 200 games.

Reeks of 'non-core business' and 'coterie thought bubble'.

My energy provider made an administrative error months ago (apparently) and then yesterday out of the blue I sudden lost all power to my home, and wasn't going to be able to get it back until I had set up a completely new service. At last I know what it felt like.

I always love it when people firmly agree or disagree with 'A F' in their posts, because of the abbreviation. As in... "That umpire's call was definitely soft AF."

The only area Gold Coast is winning is the commentary box.

Ahh, I see, everyone was just being polite until Daisy got the first.

I'm pretty happy with our overall result. I'm comfortable that we'll get the very best out of Gawn's intercepting and escape-option marking now that Grundy will be doing a lot of the roaming closer to the ball or mixed into general play. Lachie Hunter might prove to be a bigger pickup than the lack of fanfare suggests. I feel like we have actually reached the point where our only weak area on the field is the tall targets in the forward line. We can touch wood and hope for some return to form from Brown, return from injury for McDonald, and arrival on the scene from Van Rooyen. Meanwhile, with two first and two second round picks to work with in an allegedly deep 2023, plus Kynan Brown looking likely, that is going to be a fun draft session. Last I heard, Ben McKay is still a free agent for 2023, so it might also be possible to add a genuinely tall, genuinely contested-marking mature player to our group, which is always handy whether added to defence or swapped forward.

I'm sure Taylor & Co have some particular players they would be most interested in. Pre-draft, all clubs (except maybe St Kilda) will have worked out all kinds of contingencies with each other about swaps and moves they might consider. Let's say we have decided that a Keeler & Barnett combo is our long term future forward/ruck combo. We might grab one with the first pick and then if the second is still available at a selection that another club is happy to trade out, we jump on that. On the other hand, we might be happy to grab either of them and if we are confident of getting at least one, then we could just as easily trade 13 back a bit for a boost to 37 or to our picks next year. Glorious chaos.

That club... Let's not kid around, in 2012 they were right in a hole dug by Ross Lyon, and there was no real reason to expect they would do any better than Scott Watters got out of them. Then they somehow clawed some non-rubbish season under Richardson which had people saying the Saints were climbing back faster than even the Demons under Roos, but the reality of their list hit back hard and they bottomed out again. Enter Brett Ratten, who has taken them to double-figure wins in every full season he has coached, even winning a final in 2020 and only being knocked out of finals by the eventual premier. All despite what is really an absolute snot-blast of a list, complete with a number of their highest-paid players barely taking the field. There's a real prospect that Ratten, Richardson and even Watters actually were all quite capable coaches but the entire St Kilda environment meant there was no chance of delivering a rebuild. Final thought; like many of us, I have a little glimmering memory of maaaany years ago when Ratten was briefly our midfield coach and really started to turn it into an effective unit before being poached. Brief notion crossed my mind that with a couple of our coaches leaving he might be a good addition, but then considered that he might just be a little to shell-shocked to jump straight back into a new club and role within weeks. Which invites the question; have St Kilda actually breached certain terms created by the AFL coach's association with regard to timely and appropriate terminations? In other words, is it possible that Ratten could have a legal case against St Kilda for impairing his ability to seek other work, such that St Kilda ought to be required to pay out more than the mandatory 6 months of salary? I'm only asking because that becoming an ugly court case would be the most St Kilda thing ever.

I'd take more optimism from the slightly wider criteria of teams which won a second (or more) premiership within a few years of their first in a given period. It is actually pretty unusual for a premiership team to be limited to only one. Okay, I was doing some research just to make sure, but now I have to abandon any effort at sensibility. 2000 premiership Wikipedia... In fact, on closer inspection the scores from the game are a complete mess, too. The coin toss was won by Moe Lester. Jennifer Lopez was playing on our wing, and the previous week, Michael Jackson won the Brownlow Medal for the Demons. Also -

Someone is going to want to jump up to 13 on draft night to grab a player they particularly like who slipped a few places. Draft picks skyrocket in value to a club when they know exactly who they can get. E.g. 'We thought he would be six or seven, he is going at 13, jump on it'. Strong chance we'll take one of those offers on draft night and accept moving back a few spots plus some compensation in 2023. For example if we can be sure of one of Keeler or Barnett with a pick in the late teens, and any tall forwards we were interested in are already gone, why not bank the spare draft points for 2023.

Losing both O'Meara & Mitchell would be quite a gutting of the Hawk midfield. That's 200 clearances a season, including 50% of their center clearances, gone. No.1 & No.2 Hawks for contested possessions and for tackles, and 1st and 4th for inside 50s. These aren't veteran players winding up their careers. They are Hawthorn's first choice midfield workhorses. I genuinely and realistically hope it causes a total implosion at Hawthorn and I really want us to put the boot in them. In 2023 there will be seventeen clubs competing for three prizes; the premiership, the minor premiership, and best humiliation of Hawthorn.

Moral of the story; don't let eusocial superorganism insects listen to Rammstein, or operate heavy machinery.

Well, if ants can ride seadoos, I'd have full confidence that a frog can operate an electronic wheelchair.

Looks like the decision to be 'great not good' has been made.

Honestly, I'd be comfortable with slightly 'unders' compared to what many people are anticipating. 2022 and 2023 first round draft picks, some salary cap offload which will help a lot in future, and a good mood all round. Fremantly will give him a fairly long contract on big money at the end of which he'll ask to be traded back to us in 5 or 6 year's time when Gawn retires.

And therein of course lies the bonus value of Grundy. Gawn will be in contests, both marking and ruck, with fresher legs than he has had since he was delivering pizzas. He might even play 100% game time while still being fresher, thanks to not having to run the extra fifty 50m surges every game with Grundy able to cover a different portion of the ground.

Hold on a minute, I'll get out the big book labelled 'Fremantle'.