Little Goffy

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.

Special mention to my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law, who took the 'International' part to the extreme by spending the day flying back to Vietnam. International Women's Day is also a much bigger deal in Vietnam than here, so I'm glad they also get four extra hours of the day there to celebrate!

That is the sensible play. Panic is when you try to make a dash for the front door even though you can still hear the intruders inside your house, and the police are on the way already.

BREAKING; Kane Cornes reveals James Brayshaw might consider changing his favourite grand final to 2002 Bris v Coll in exchange for Andy Maher not nominating Ben Cousins' Richmond debut as his favourite hamstring injury. Discussions ongoing but Maher holding firm.

Well, now what do we do if we need an approaching asteroid knocked off its course?

Exhibit A, Jack Viney played 21 games in 2019. No sneezing on O'Meara; he's likely to be a very useful midfielder for Freo. BUT I would have thought what they needed was the support of mature bodies who can grind out the minutes to prevent overloading some of the outstanding but still young players. Inside mid options seem to be O'Meara, Brodie, Serong and Brayshaw with Fyfe occasionally. Ask a Carlton supporter how it feels to have a few superb midfielders but not enough meat and potatoes keeping the machinery grinding. They'll tell you one thing; "Oh, I swear, we've solved that problem now." :D Of course, I am only speaking of this season. Next year, just as soon as we don't have all their draft picks, they will have had just enough pre-seasons in them to really dominate.

He's no Ian Ridley but that's a pretty good run. I never picked him as being unusually wise but you have to give him credit for getting off the Titanic at Cherbourg.

I can't express the depths of my hatred for that organisation without being banned.

The link you posted is to nothing but a commentary about the "double standard with relation to Jordan De Goey." Don't gaslight.

Come on, ET, your opening post was nothing but; "I’m well aware double standards don’t exist within the media and general public, so I’m eagerly awaiting the impending storm: " Basically you're claiming there's an equivalence between a drunk dude pulling down girls tops in bars, and some friends posting a silly marginally suggestive photo as a joke. I mean, seriously; THIS IS YOUR PROFILE PICTURE