Little Goffy

On the pace so far.

As anticipated, I'm spending the first quarter loading a wagon for Vietnam. At this point I'm genuinely more interested in the unmasking of our resident 'Baldesarri', WalkingCivilWar, than I am in the game.

I'm genuinely debating with myself; "Watch this grand final or use the time to go shopping for vitamins and supplements with my wife, ready for her visit to overseas family."

Another good solid win. Would have liked to see the scoring push on int he second half as that has been a weak point for the season so far, but hard to judge it given the weather and also hard to really complain about such a clear win. I really, really don't want Melbourne to be 'second best' for another season though, so I'd like to see ti all click into place and some absolute thrashings handed out.

That was quick. Any other requests?

Tayla Harris might be about to break some records.

1. Charlie Spargo has a breakout season and is talked about as the next Brent Harvey. 2. Jacob Van Rooyen is mispronounced by a commentator during a huge pack mark... Rooyening the moment. 3. Christian Petracca will get the most Brownlow votes but will not be eligible due to suspension for bumping Patrick Cripps.

If we take Grundy, I can see a scenario where Gawn spends a great big chunk of time in defensive intercept positions and as the relief long kick when we are coming out of our own defence, while Grundy spends a large amount of time in the center (where his 360-degree awareness and handiness in chaotic play will be of most value) or providing another tall link in the chain along the wing and half forward. For both of them it means a ton less running. It also would mean our emergency escape bomb kicks would at least reach a realistic contest every time. I really like the thought of a less tired Gawn competing for marks. Could break contested mark records! With the roles mostly divided like that and neither of them having to cover so much ground just to reach contests, both would be playing close to 100% game time, allowing for some extra rotations for the running and grunting players. The idea continues to grow on me.

I'm still very skeptical about getting Grundy. Less than I was, but only as far as I am willing to be persuaded if the evidence is presented. Let's see what we know about him. - First and foremost, a ruckman, with at least 30+ hitouts a game for the last eight seasons and even managing 42/game in his 23-brownlow-vote season 2019. Historically, he has played very high game time for a ruck - with the obvious post-injury caveat now. - Is a proven finals performer. Has been in the top handful of contributors in every final he has played in, including some monstrous hit-out numbers. 25 disposals (20 contested), 73 hitouts and 10 clearances in a prelim is just ridonkulous. - Almost as many kicks as handballs, and gets more contested than uncontested possessions. Gets a reasonable number of clearances and ranges between 15-20 possessions per game. Funny to recall that once upon a time 'amazing agility for a big man' and 'like having an extra midfielder' were comments that would get a young ruck described as being 'Brodie Grundy like'. It was even applied to Jackson! - Averages one contested mark per game, so can do it but isn't prolific. Also fine but not outstanding for total marks. - Is NOT an intercept marker and has fairly low counts for rebound 50s, so has not been used a whole lot to help out in defence. Related to this, Something I really want to see is a 'heat map' of where Grundy typically plays his football. - His 2022 was going very well until the injury. His knee injury was a PCL, not an ACL, and the only reason he didn't play again this season was because of an unrelated ankle injury which has been declared 'not persisent in nature'. So on the injury count he is all clear as much as anyone can be. Will do a full pre-season. Okay, that's what stood out to me. Not going to add any conclusions.

AFL is exclusively conracted to Virgin. Qantas kept losing McLuggage. Ahhhh.... there it is, they figured out a way they could make someone pay for it. Like Tasmania, the new 'Sure, you can have an AFL team if you build us a billion dollars worth of facilities.'

Seems almost the exact scenario imagined when North was given the 'must trade' supplemental picks. Structurally important, mature, good player who is currently only missing out on AFL level games because he is stuck behind three of the best tall defenders taking the field anywhere.

Strange package. Might be enough to dislodge some best-22 types, I suppose. I'm not suggesting specifically Harmes, but that type of player who is regularly best-22, rarely best-6, and positionally is fairly easy for the source club to cover. Might also end up being the grease that makes a bunch of other trades happen, shifting notes to make Rankine and Jackson and so on possible. The two extra list spots will probably put North in the market for a couple more mid-range draft picks, too. Overall, it is kind of meh.

Well that has 'Karl Amon, Unrestricted Free Agent' written all over it.

Well, Oliver is still on target to have the most career Brownlow votes of anyone ever, so that's okay.

Tom Hickey literally won the game for the Swans, both through total weight of contribution and through crucial late-game marks.

Yes, but the question is: Is that worth a whole chicken with potato and gravy? I heard the current club is willing to pay for the stuffing. Huge if true.

Fun fact: Thanks to the SCG expansions and upgrades over the last 25 years, there were nearly as many people there to see this 1 point win as there are were for Locketts point after the siren!

There's nothing more Anglo-Saxon than actually being from north Germany. 🤪

On my way home from the Swans - Pies game. Hilarious. A good time was had by all. The Sydney crowd is a different beast to what it was evenfice years ago. Glorious voice. The duelling & duetting slow chants were magnificently efforts of mutual irritation. Up in the top of the stand where I was, the building was actually shaking from people jumping up and down to the Swans song. Again, good time had by all.

A bit of acorny joke, there.

Let's just all agree that it is remarkable that Daisy expressed a considered and thoughtful opinion on the matter. Puts her in a very small bracket! The monarchy is an ethnic symbol par excellence. Elizabeth II was the Notre Dame (see what I did there?) of Britishness, the Parthenon of Englishness. I can accept that it is a sensitive moment for anyone whose identity is wrapped up in what is a pretty incredible and complex ethnic history and legacy. Exploitation and resistance, empire and liberation, privilege and working class pride, stuffy conservatism and unprecedented social diversity all in a single tradition. Some of the 'hot-takes' denigrating Britishness via the Queen have been plain idiotic and, frankly, racist. BUT I think it is a fairly straightforward thing to understand that for most indigenous Australian's, there's no real way to spin the idea that during 'Indigenous round' you can insert a ritual of devotion and deference to someone who, symbolically, we must all swear loyalty to for no reason other than her supposedly superior bloodline. And it's not as if there is a shortage of such ritual obeisance going on.

I hope this puts the matter to rest.

On type he is what we are looking for, in so far as he happily hits packs, jumps into them, snarls around inside them and all that fun stuff that stops opponents from getting nice clean intercept marks and rebounds. Obviously there is a question on pure quality though. Ticking along at one goal a game isn't hugely inspiring. Is 195cm tall enough these days? The question is, do we need a tall target who is top-shelf, or do we need one who plays the role that will bring our small forwards and pressure game to full effect? We'd be able to offer him better career prospects than GWS has, given our needs, and he has shown interest in a return to Victoria in the past. So the perennial question is; What would it take to get him and would he be worth it?

Channel 7's recruitment process to replace Wayne Carey is pretty intense. But, seriously, this all sucks. For most of us it is like looking through the wrong end of a telescope and getting a tiny glimpse into a terribly damaged community. Hearts ache and it seems beyond resolution even when viewed dispassionately. I'm glad we as a club and supporters had our previous brief look into Yuendemu and got to see moments of joy and enthusiasm there. Maybe it is the hardest place in Australia to live well, but some people still do.

We've grabbed a 'significant' player in all but one trade period going as far back as Lewis and Hibberd in 2016. The only exception is our premiership year. We certainly aren't as active in the pre-trade noise as other clubs but I'd argue we've done just fine in the actual trade/free agency stakes.