Little Goffy

Unfortunately even though Pickett's bump action didn't 'elevate' off the ground (his shoulder was actually lower than if he had been standing) the fact both feet left the ground and there was a really good cinematic camera angle will count against him. Still, late bump that hits the head, you cop your suspension and hopefully take the point to heart.

...and then you have to hang out with Anna Kendrick. (Maximum obscure reference)

Yep. Just got a little gut twist now. I'm all clear of other duties and activities for the day and two more hours of undistracted anticipation is just a little bit too much.

Not looking for anything big, just getting the four points and working our way into the season. It'll be a few rounds of just heads down hard work to start the season while we get everyone back on the park. (Quietly hoping Essendon are already falling in a heap by round 5 and that will be the game we first decide to really go nuts. You know, because, hate.

Jash Shache; Greg the Garlic farmer.

Yep, I also got a junk email for the North Melbourne tipping comp. Strange. I would guess a legacy of past tipping comp participation and the way data is held. There is a company out there now which you can authorise and pay a modest amount to systematically identify everywhere that your data has been retained, and go through the process of formally requesting removal. I'm too broke to do it but will right on it as soon as I have any identity worth protecting.

With the latest phones it is just so easy to apply the filter '1960s ammunition box labels' to an image. Not helped by the 'I'm checking if my texta still works' scribble and the random arrows. There are times to be neat and professional and there are times to cut loose with your graphic design, but this is just a digital mullet.

I was at tonight's game at it was frankly a bit bizarre. Not many players can come out of that very happy with their game. Maybe Weitering and Cripps for Carlton and Rioli for Richmond. Several players who did a lot of good things also really [...] the bed at critical moments. That said, Cerra was barely visible to me, and Carlton really needed some spread of clearance work.

Damn, there's some true mental scarring about run-ons and Fritsch there.

1. Melboure 2. Brisbane 3. Geelong 4. Sydney 5. Carlton 6. Collingwood 7. Gold Coast 8. Port Adelaide Richmond Fremantle Footscray GWS Adelaide Saints Essendon Hawthorn West Coast North Melbourne Premiers: Melbourne Demons (And how good does it feel to make that prediction realistically?) Runner up: Brisbane Brownlow: Oliver (made possible by an overall fairly even Brownlow count total in the low 20s) Rising star: That Ashcroft kid. Spoon: North Melbourne because Clarko is a tanker anyway. Fun fringe things: 1st and 2nd in the Coleman are both from the same club 1st and 2nd in the Brownlow are both from the same club. Alistair Clarkson joins the Pagan/Malthouse legacy of Premiership coaches who [poop] the bed at a new developing club. Melbourne wins the premiership, keeps Pickett then gains Ben McKay as a restricted free agent, and recruits tall defender/swingman Daniel Curtin with its top ten draft pick courtesy of Freo, completing a defensive succession plan and made particularly sweet by knowing that he is exactly the player Freo would have taken. In response to speculation about Melbourne's salary cap, three top players all reveal that they are only on about 80% of their 'market' value and that there are also others who prefer to remain private about it.

1. The walk to and from the MCG, with the pinnacle being a sunset walk along the river back towards the CBD in full dramatic silhouette. 2. That, at least in Victoria, football has given everyone a little additional thing to comment on for just a moment past 'How are we today?' which actually gives us all an open-ended, expandable small talk that can lead to many other interesting conversations. 3. Subtle variations in crowd noise, being alert to the mood changes even in the quieter moments - the difference between the settling-in noises common early in the third quarter, to the tense anticipation murmurs during a stop in play late in a close game (which are these days too often overwhelmed by musak) - and then the satisfaction of having a shared the experience with people who I know well enough to understand how they are feeling about it. I guess for me all these things are about the shared moment.

Sounds like that has been very well thought out.

Fun fact; unless something unexpected happens with the bottom teams this season, Freo will compile three years of playing almost exclusively non-finals teams in the first five rounds of the season. 14/15 games, with the only exception being against us in round 1 of 2021 (after we had finished 2020 outside the 8).

On the other hand, if the Saints get up we might as well start planning for our top-6 draft pick now. Even injury free I wouldn't expect much from St Kilda in 2023, but, I mean, yikes; St Kilda injury list updated Mar 13 Name Injury Estimated Return Matthew Allison Foot TBC Jack Billings Leg 6-9 weeks Nick Coffield Calf 4-6 weeks Jack Hayes Foot 10-12 weeks Max Heath Ankle Round 1-3 Olli Hotton Back TBC Zak Jones Achilles TBC Max King Shoulder 6-9 weeks Tim Membrey Knee Round 2-3 Daniel McKenzie Calf TBC Angus McLennan Back TBC Seb Ross Calf Round 1-3 Marcus Windhager Wrist Round 1-2

Fortunately, that will never happen again.

The commentators remind me of the character Stephanie (an egg) from the Estonian surrealist film Night of the Carrots (Porgandite Öö) by Priit Pärn. I want to live in a world where that is relatable.

For me it is going to be a full week-long trip down to Melbourne for what will be my first Demons game in person since the couple of bizarre games we played in Sydney, mid 2021 The trip will also will be the first time even my immediate family has been in one place together since pre-Covid - the first time I've been in the same room as both of my mother and brother in more than two years.

If you just go by the center bounce starting four, you could reasonably argue that... Gawn, Oliver, Viney, Harmes and Grundy, Petracca, Brayshaw, Pickett ...would both be in the top 10. Neither would be first, but both sets would compete with any other team at a bounce.

Are you sure there aren't any women here today?

Still better than Essendon's strategy of "Hubris and Denial".

Speaking of annoying comebacks. 'Damo', the nosey vicar of Australian football, is back with his vacuous sliding doors. And here's something; I actually find this comment 'offensive', in the sense that it simply not okay to do this to a young person. "Tipping Horne-Francis to go All-Australian." A nineteen year old kid starting out at his second club already after leaving the first in ignominious circumstances for which excessive pressure and scrutiny are commonly sited as a factor. Meanwhile, the poor kid is yet to play a single outstanding game personally. What a regulation POS. that really got on my nerves. Hmm, can we start a 'idiotic media hot-takes' thread? Or would it take up too much Demonland data storage?

Some random lower-mid-level AFL media dude. Infamous for two things; - Pestering Luke Beveridge for weeks about an issue with a player until Bevo made a goose of himself unloading on him during a press conference. - A little collection of recordings of drearily stereotypical 'banter', ranging from rating the f-ability of work colleagues and speculating about their lesbian skill levels, through to announcing that he is a proper white man and whoever he was talking to should stop treating him like he's a (racial slur) or a (homophobic slur) or a (racial slur again). Mentally picture a drunk guy hanging onto the side of a merry-go-round and going 'whoa hey heyyyyy' every time it comes around past a hot girl.

I thought it would be the Demon trumpeter. Or maybe [trigger warning] Brock Mclean.

It is interesting to me that there is a near-consensus on Richmond making the 8, and plenty of talk around that the Tigers could push to flag contention again thanks to Hopper and Taranto coming in. Does anyone else just 'not feel it'? I can see all the rational arguments - their midfield was a weakness and having the extra bodies in there will let Martin play more forward time which means they'll get more out of both their talls and smalls up forward...etc But for some reason I just feel like Richmond are in the levitating potato category - the only thing special about them is that they aren't falling down.

They award it on arrival to selected travelers.