Little Goffy

I hate that the umpiring, particularly early in the final quarter, has left me so angry. I try to avoid being crabby about umpiring. I'm fully aware that we lost it for ourselves with so many little moments of uncertainty and hesitation and a collection of dopey errors. But early in the 4th it looked like we were pulling it back together and I really felt like a serious run of soft, weak or accumulating 50/50 calls one way really robbed us. Such is life. I'm really glad I've had the Kharkiv breakthrough to cheer me up and give perspective.

Brayshaw copped a knock to the balls within the first minute. Seems to happen at least once every week. Should seriously consider a couple more helmets.

No Joe Daniher is a major boost for Brisbane. No, I'm serious. In ten games he's kicked 13 goals against us and 5 of those were in round 15, 2015. Genuine concern that this will stimulate the Lions to lower their eyes properly and look for the small options. Applying pressure all over the ground just became 'more than 100%' important.

For all those worried, the Queen's Birthday holiday is in honour of Queen Victoria and shall be unaffected.

Honestly, by first stirring up media attention and making himself the front runner, then rejecting the entire process, Ross Lyon has actually confirmed that he is the perfect fit for Essendon. But it does look like Hird will get the job. After all, who better to return them to winning finals than the man who was their captain the last time they won a final?

My gut reading of this deal is eerily simple; AFL will charge the broadcasters more money but allow those broadcasters to pass those costs onto 'consumers'. Is that reasonably accurate?

Please note: I heard all this directly from the mouth of Max Gawn's accountant's hairdresser's dog. In a dream. Luke Jackson to accept a highly unusual 1 year top-up deal, with complex arrangements for a second and even third season but also capacity for an amicable future move. Fremantle can't get the trade value required and Jackson won't leave if Melbourne will be stiffed. He is also perfectly capable of committing his enthusiastic best to the moment he is in, not some uncertain future. He's a good kid that way. As a result, club is losing interest in Grundy and focusing on moving into the mid-first round of the draft to secure dynamic forward/ruck Isaac Keeler, who they believe they can maximise under the influence of Gawn & Jackson. Also talk of giving up a 2023 first round pick (again with the future pick trading!) in order to acquire a specialist contested marking target for the forward line. Not necessarily a gun, but someone who attacks an incoming high ball consistently. Dunstan may be doing Preuss and moving on to a more secure opportunity, with full blessing from the club. Gold Coast continues to court James Harmes. Club is okay with him leaving as they have a lot of confidence in the future of both James Jordon and Bailey Laurie, while Gold Coast has a big surplus of early second-round picks so a deal would be easy to make.

The reference to Russian propaganda is the use of big, superficially credible statements that have to be picked apart to refute but which are quite obviously detached from reality upon inspection. Also, keeping with the Russian theme for a moment; "Ukraine bombed its own people in the occupied areas so they wouldn't report how well they were being treated by Russia" is an opinion and also most definitely propaganda. Opinions aren't some magically neutral ether, so do civilization a favour and take that out of your rhetorical toolkit. Also also, it was flippant remark on a level with the silliness of the new thread. "We lost at the draft table when we chose Jackson over Young" because "We lose Jackson and now Freo have both" and also "Jackson's last game wasn't good." Totally bypassing; a) that Jackson was the best player available in the draft at pick 3, possibly overall. b) the value that Jackson has already provided c) that Young, while a very good player, is only about 15% ahead of an injury-riddle Salem at the same age, and would not be a game-changer for our list. d) that judging a 20yr old (premiership) ruckman on their single most recent game is just silly, particularly when they were far from the worst and kept up the effort levels even when things weren't working for them. e) that to get Jackson, Fremantle will now have to give up significant trade value, which we will receive.

Bobby Mckenzie contributing his impression of a Russian propagandist.

If we're able to turn Jackson into Cadman + Keeler I'll only look back on Jackson's time with fondness for the fun of it and no regrets. If the trade to get Grundy would jeopardise a double up like that then I'm a hard no. BUT if the trade will be for some middling picks and we get to laugh as Collingwood pay 40% of Grundy's salary for three years, count me in. Realistically we could be paying barely more than we are for Dunstan, and maybe he won't see out all five years of his contract, but then again maybe he will and maybe his presence will add a few years to Gawn's career as well.

What blew my mind was how often we had turnovers from handballs. At least with a kick turnover it is visible to everyone and there's a bit of time and space to react. The handball turnovers are so sudden and unpredictable that everyone is out of place and there's no time to react. Dinky, loopy, predictable and panicked handballs were the story of the night from my perspective. Credit to the Swans for the pressure that made it happen, and also a little optimism that the problem is not chronic. Reset, reload. All that jazz. Lot of trouble to go to just to have another crack at Zorko, though.

I like our bonding style much better than the Richmond one. May it remain ever so.

Bailey Fritsch sealed two non-mark of the year awards in the 2021 grand final. Absolute game-breaking non-marks and slotted the goal from both! :D Also, I love that I felt a need to note '2021' grand final, just in case we need to clarify which I'm talking about.

He is always first on hand for every celebration and always lights it up. Post-football he'll be a gorillagram.

I think we can be cautious and wait until he comes out with 'White to Brown to black' and then really unload on him. I'm taking odds on it happening.

Seven years from now when Clayton Oliver plays his 300th game and cracks the 10,000 possession mark AND the 5,000 contested possession mark for the first time in AFL history, people will be complaining about how old we are. Harry Petty will be ready to hit peak around then, too.

I really don't want Yze to coach Essendon: 1. He is probably going to be a very good senior coach. I don't want that for Essendon. 2. Essendon's culture will greatly damage his opportunity to succeed as a coach. I don't want that for Yze. 3. I do want Yze for Melbourne and I dream of a smooth future succession taking place at a time when we have several premiership stars in their veteran years to support the growth of a new generation under a new coach.

I just spent a happy bit of time watching Isaac Keeler tapes on youtube. I'm a lot less afraid of losing Jackson than I was. Good set shots with bonus level outside 50, smart field kicking that doesn't overreach, high initiative, actively looks for teammates, and as a ruck-forward he gets handball receives on the run at half back and uses them effectively. We're going to want to get a pick to make sure of him. Much better looking than Jackson, too. People have written comparisons to Paddy Ryder but when you add the run through the middle aspect he's actually a bit more like a lanky Adam Goodes, or, day I say it, a slightly more regular-human Luke Jackson. My 'hot take' (as in, a statement not to be taken too seriously) is that if we lose Jackson our final trade and draft result will be Isaac Keeler with a top-10 draft pick (my guess is Gold Coast's pick 7 via Fremantle) as well as a competitive mid-age ruck-forward on moderate coin (or Grundy if Collingwood can be sucked into paying at least half his salary for lols) and probably still have a 2023 first round pick left over.

The other evening I was in a finals-anticipation mood and drifted onto a youtube video of our 3rd quarter grand final goal blitzes. My wife noticed and was annoyed at me... ... for not inviting her to join in. She then insisted that I immediately stop watching that video... ... so we could watch the entire second half in full. If the players are half as hungry for more glory as she is, we've got this.

Just a curious thought about the difference between Oliver's consecutive run from debut, and Petracca now getting a stable run at it after a very interrupted start to his career. Gawn and Brayshaw have each only missed five games in the last five years. Got a whole group of young guys rarely missing a game now, too. Touch wood but it really seems we've got our preventative conditioning sorted out. Side note; how ridiculous is it that Nathan Jones managed 109 consecutive games starting from 2012. Resilience personified, physically and mentally.

Should we just merge this directly with the 'loading during the season' thread? I guess one of the troubles of being a tight defensive unit is that even when we are dominating the game, the scores don't blow out in our favour and opponents can realistically hope to get a run of goals going and level things up in just a ten minute burst. Other theory I'd throw out would be that the whole-ground defence requires a lot of people to all sustain their energy all the time. Just a few holes are all it takes. Being able to hit hard in our own burst is crucial. It is why having both Fritsch and Pickett finding some bags of goals lately has got me optimistic about the finals.

I wonder how difficult it might be to run a few searches for 'post of the day' results or simply posts which got an unusual number of reactions and responses for their topic? That could be a way to assemble a Demonland Yearbook. Ooh, Demonland Yearbook, we're opening up the merch stores now!

Rankine is currently discount Akermanis. His upside could be actual Akermanis level, though. One thing you can be certain of - Melbourne's pick 34, 41 and 52 will be crucial to any deal going through!

I think Carlton would be more than happy with what Cerra has given them and what he will be giving them in future. Their midfield finally began to look like a coherent unit, with a number of previously questionable players now giving a much more complete contribution. Cerra's all-round good midfield game has helped that happen. On the other hand, I feel like if we had got him, the price might have been more than the value. Not because of anything wrong with him so much as because there is a lot 'right' with us already! Speaking of midfielders and their usefulness in different circumstances: you have to feel a bit for Luke Dunstan. He's played half as many games this season as he had Brownlow votes last season! I can't help wondering if he might 'do a Preuss' and rotate onwards to another club for better opportunities.

Looking forward to the photos of Lever giving Gawn a set shot drill.