Little Goffy

Hang on a minute; who says we aren't the team we were in 2021. If anything on paper we are stronger. Our only relative deficiency since then is that our two main key forwards are in unreliable form, and that seems less concerning when you remember we are the highest scoring team in the competition this season. 2021 came together at just the right moment and there's no denying something magic happened, but we're going along just fine to give that magic another chance.

Looks like a reboot of Upper Middle Bogan.

NEW ST KILDA COACH ACHIEVES BREAKTHROUGH RESULT OF SAME WIN LOSS RECORD AS PREVIOUS YEAR

Nothing good is going to happen if we just keep handing them the goal square, either! Yeesh.

Nothing good is going to happen if we just keep handing them the corridor.

I see he finally was able to eat that football.

Turns out the AFL does have a mercy rule. The leading side must only kick behinds in the final quarter. Still could blow out some more.

"Famous Five take Master George to Florida Disneyland". 💥

Reiterating; I have zero hate for Jackson. We've done very well out of the trade, and the gain of Grundy - which was only possible because of the hole Jackson left - is an unmistakable improvement that may yet shape our premiership tilt this year and for a few to come. I'm not sure any club has 'won' any trade more completely since the Trent Croad move. Meanwhile, I checked the scores of Port v West Coast and my brain is automatically working out how each win by a 'mid-range' team puts a ceiling on any Fremantle climb back up the ladder.

I really like Charlie Spargo and love the regular moments of calm genius he brings to the our half-forward zone. I also fully understand that his game is committed to low-possession roles as space-blocker, decoy, and so forth. BUT I really wish we could build up his numbers a bit. My feeling is that if we could get him just a bit more involved in the play it would not only add to his contribution as a smart player who finds the important difficult links, but would also add to his selfless roles by forcing the opposition to be more aware of him. Anyway, I've put it in the Looneymove FC thread because my proposal is; When Spargo comes back from his concussion, give him a spell in the 2s and give him some time playing right in the middle of the action. There is a small, but not zero, chance we could get our very own discount-brand Brent Harvey if only we can tweak the mindset a bit, and the one thing our midfield lacks is that little edge of cleverness.

Pretty impressive of Freo to not only have their opponent pass them on the ladder, but to have GWS move ahead of them on percentage. Does that make it a proverbial 12 point game?

Surely some of their ghosts have been laid to rest. Sandwiched in between the two finals losses was a nice easy hammering of a team that was in the actual worst run of form in the history of the game - the Eagles on a string of six games with an average losing margin over 75 points and none less than 50. Yes, even worse than any comparable period of the 2013 Demons!

Weird game to watch. I was really happy for Jackson to get that goal after a couple of pretty feeble non-contests. But I was much happier for Naughton to kick that goal from a soft free.

Speaking of Looneymoves and the NSW South Coast; fun fact time! The Bateman's Bay commercial fishing fleet delivers all its fish direct up to Sydney directly, and it is almost entirely just the recreation fishers who actually bring their fish in locally. That seems sensible enough given that Sydney is where the big market is, of course, but the punchline is that a solid share of the fish available retail in the South Coast has been transported back down there via road from the Sydney markets.

I only got to half-watch the Essendon game so I'm comforted by the reports of Gus still being the consummate team player. Normally I watch him pretty closely because I have a theory that he isn't actually very good at football, he just has powerful psychic abilities which make the play go just a little bit more our way whenever he is nearby. The fragments of game I watched featured the commentators banging on about Stringer being used to drag May away from his normal defensive 50 guardian role and allowing Essendon's other forwards a pretty open run at it with any of May or Lever or Gawn or even Hibberd at home to provide intercepts and third-man-up support. If that is a fair assessment then it seems Scott made a pretty sharp coaching move, identifying that we were three players down in a role and that the value of making that four was even greater than the value of Stringer lurking close to goal. Anyway, just to bring it back to the thread; it works seem that Gus was called upon once again to take up a responsibility that isn't his ideal role, and once again was able to use his psychic powers to remarkable effect.

For anyone a bit concerned that we haven't responded well to travel and to the week after travel, take a little comfort that our only long trip from Round 11 onwards is our NT game at Traeger Park. We play the Kangaroos in Tassie in round 21 and then in round 24 we finish the H&A season with a quick trip up to Sydney, with any concerns about that travel softened by the pre-finals week off. In fact, counting kilometers, we may already have travelled more in the first five rounds than what we have left for the rest of the season!

It'll be interesting to see how Harmes slots back in. I see a cycle with him. It starts where he goes in to 'do a job' - play a tight defensive role on a suitably dangerous opposition midfielder or half-back - and he has enough initiative to then burst off that position for a moment and get the bonus counter-attack. When it goes well the player he is shadowing keeps taking him to the right places to rack up disposals, and he looks like a potent midfielder overall. But then there's a game where there isn't really a suitable opponent, and on evident form you couldn't possibly drop him, so he play a more open role. Despite being given that freedom, his numbers and impact don't go up and often will go down. The experiment with him as a general midfielder carries on for a while with him being average as a mid but now not providing the shutdown value. His form dips, he maybe spends a round or two out, and then is called up to do his original job, and is excellent. Start the cycle again. I think the problem is that Harmes so often has moments that look like an excellent penetrating midfielder (All hail the GF breakaway pass!) that there is a constant temptation to try to turn him into one full-time. It simply isn't his best role. If we use him for his best role he's a lock in the 22 and will finish up a deeply respected 200+ game player. If we try to make him something he's not, even now he would be on the edge of selection competing against Jordon, Rivers, Sparrow and the even younger kids coming through.

We are the highest scoring team this season.

Actually, the accommodation providers love the single spike. The surge in demand enables them to price gouge with a plausible excuse of 'limited availability', even though actually there are still many rooms left available. A fascinating detailed study was done of accommodation associated with the Olympics - hotels running at less than usual room occupancy rates while charging several times as much as their normal prices. Spreading it over two weekends actually reduces the opportunity for a ruthless exploitative profit rake. And have no doubt, that is what this round is about. Airlines and accommodation getting a little fig leaf for a weekend of price gouging.

If only cringing was audible.

Woooork fiiiiniiiiiishrd EAAAAARLYYYY! Hold the door, here I come!

Ugh. Working in a secure environment until about 6.30. Not even phones. Boooooo. Add an extra yell for me, all right? I'll probably watch the game on replay anyway, so if it is a proper thriller please name the match thread 'Spoiler Alert'.

As reliable as the Sun going down / coming up / neither / both.

Funny that you say Lovett while I'm getting a bit of a James McDonald vibe. Could be another 50 games before he peaks and he won't ever seem flashy or be a game breaker, but he could deliver a long period of humble excellence. Would be very sad to lose him, and also I think it would be unfortunate from a list management perspective as it is these good citizen players that keep a team at a high level without burning up the salary cap.

Unflappable is how I like my stoppers. What a strange language we have assembled.