Little Goffy

Hardly surprising that Angus can do that when the highlights from the Freo game make very clear that his brother can teleport.

We can all be thankful that he is attending the Nathan Jones Academy of Gradually Getting Better Looking As You Age.

Exactly. If Weideman can be an adequate role-player to ease some of the grind time in the ruck, while playing a more open 3rd tall/link lead style mostly outside the f50, I think that allows us to use our ruck beasts up forward with really good effect. Hell, rotated cleverly we could see both Gawn and Jackson playing close to 100% game time because even standing still 20m from goal they would still demand the best opposition defender.

Yep. The argument for 'Jackson is the absolute perfect fit for the Demon's needs now and for the next ten years' is unmissable. Unfortunately, he is also a very good fit for just about any club's needs, and our offer has to compete with whichever other club decides they want him the most. It'll all come down to where he feels he will be happiest, because let's face it, $100k isn't such a big number when it is your eighth 100k instead of your first.

The way I see it, our problem is that a key forward capable of giving reliable contests, taking marks or bringing it to ground usefully, is a very expensive player. But... what if you had a forward who was only ever getting to the edge of selection as a key target, but it turns out they might go alright as a ruck support who then gives leads all over the ground, rather than under the close checking inside 50? And what if you had two absolutely premium quality players currently in your ruck but who both can compete very well up forward, filling the need structurally and also delivering great football? There's a wonderful expression, 'If there are four cats to chase, it is the grenadiers who are demanded.' The point of course being that not all tasks should require the most elite forces at all times, and overuse wears them out to the point of ineffectiveness. I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be watching Sam Weideman very, very closely during this period where he will be taking on a fair load of ruck work. If he can deliver as a solid role player who frees up the Gawn/Jackson 'grenadiers' to be available more often at the crucial points, then our forward line is about to become much more dangerous. It also has very good implications for managing salary cap!

Ahh, David King. His main comment on the 2019 draft was to question Melbourne's selection of each of Jackson and Pickett as being 'not what the club really needs' and overpaying for both. I don't like it when people are paid well to do things which I (and many others) could do better with little effort.

Coaches pet. Goodwin has never coached a Demon game without including Oliver. Maybe never will.

https://afltables.com/afl/stats/alltime/misc_players.html A win this weekend would mean Pickett goes ahead of Selwood as the 'most winningest' player in the AFL (with more than 50 games as the cut-off).

Has literally signed on to be our games record holder. Realistic career targets to chase; First player to crack 10,000 career possessions. All time records for contested possessions, clearances and Brownlow votes. Get after it, Clarrie!

Oh Dear. Well, I'm not the first and won't be the last! I wonder if there might even be a repeat of the 'D Cordner' (Denis & Don, of course) situation with the Brownlow votes one day.

Well, we just had a ten goal win over the ladder leaders and there were really only a couple of players who exceeded what we might reasonably expect of them on a weekly basis. Sorry Gawny. I think Freo are looking for a new ruck if you'd consider moving west.

He's a valuable player, particularly in setting the pressure tone as a tall forward, and in giving options as a leading forward up the ground. There's a noticable lift in output from all our forwards when he is in form. I struggle to see how it all comes together given the seriousness of the injury and the timing of the return, but who knows. In the meantime, well, at least we find out for sure about Serious Sam. You know, he's never been held goalless in a final?

It is just plain fun to think that we have the best 'true' medium forward in the game. Only Heeney would be a direct competitor but that thought just makes me dream of what Fritsch would be like in a fully functional forward line... oh... wait... that wasn't a dream... that was 12 goals in 3 finals! Anyway, just for gloating's sake; top selections from the 2017 draft, reordered roughly as I might pick em, but very casually. Angus Brayshaw Aaron Naughton Bailey Fritsch Zac Bailey, Cameron Rayner, Adem Cerra Tim Kelly, Liam Ryan, James Worpel, Charlie Ballard Spargo and Petty also respectable mentions. Demonland needs a Jason Taylor emoji.

Ben Brown?

Search process.; Step 1. Select 'Player rankings; contested marks per game'. Step 2. Limit selection to 'tall forwards'. Step 3. Check availability, repeat. Repeat. Results after a lot of cleaning of too expensive, too old, too rucky, or just d-heads. Ben McKay, North Melbourne. Is a defender only, and not yet really proven. But should we ask the 'switch' question? Fun fact: this season Ben McKay has more contested marks per game than his brother. J Hogan. That'd just be too awkward. Peter Wright. Oh, that's odd. Didn't he used to be a bit of a lanky potato? Would seem to fit our needs. Bonus points, losing him would basically end Essendon structurally. Jake Riccardi. 14 goals three behinds in last 6 games, and hasn't been goalless in that time. Good signs but hard to know real value. Hayden McLean. Is he basically what you would get if you put Weideman in a team with a more powerful forward line than ours but which also needs more ruck support? Darcy Fogarty. Is either in form or very much not in form. 9 games this season. In the most recent 4 he has kicked 12.2 and gave 4 goal assists, but in the first five he kicked 2.3 and one goal assist. Plus, you'd expect the Crows have plans for him for when boofhead retires.

It is interesting to note that despite unfortunately never playing a game for us, nobody has ever called Majak Daw a 'list clogger.' I think that reflects well on him.

Kysaiah Pickett could show no further improvement for his entire career and still never be out of the best 22 of a premiership-contending side. Also, he's still just 21, and definitely showing signs of continuous improvement.

Oh, well, if it is Tom Browne reporting it, then that settles the matter. 🤣

Career best form since the Eagles game. By the numbers he has been a top 5 midfielder since then, but there has also been a quality to those numbers. Getting a few quick evasive steps in, keeping his feet in tackles that take the opponent off their feet, and a mental state of continuous hunting. Looks like poor Clayton has yet another team mate who will be 'stealing' Brownlow votes off him.

I do like this thing that happens whenever Bailey Fritsch kicks a goal midway through the third quarter. Note of credit to Sam Weideman; he actually took a lot of ruck contests tonight and made a pretty good fist of it, as well as competing pretty well in general. He basically provided the extra option for Jackson in the way that Jackson provides it for Gawn. It got the most out of Jackson and seemed to also get a good level of engagement from Weideman as well. It may even be a consideration for when Gawn is available again; the seeming madness of having two rucks and a ruck-forward, made possible by the fact that both rucks have clearly completely forgotten they are rucks and just run around doing all kinds of non-ruck things all day!

Don't want to freak anyone out, but McStay has about the same numbers as Sam Weideman except with a couple of extra link kicks up the ground. He'd be an improvement, for sure, but only an incremental one and I don't think recruiting him would make a major difference for us. That said, if Weideman decides to move on for a fresh start in a trade, and we then get McStay as a free agent, we would effectively be getting a little upgrade while also picking up Weideman's trade value. Ha! Use that to push ourselves up the draft order and we can pick up one of the very promising key forwards in the draft, and wha-bam we've got ourselves a short-term role filled and a long-term prospect in one go.

Reassuring that I'm not the only one a bit concerned about the mix of Harmes, Sparrow, Nibbler, and (Dunstan), in our midfield mix. Not enough impact from them. They have all had some good games but none have given the consistency that is required. Pack that together with Petracca's drop-off ever since the game he was sick for, and our overall midfield mix is a long way behind where it was for finals 2021. I'm slowly firming in the 'Brayshaw to the middle' fan club. I think we have some pretty smart players who can do as well or almost as well as him across half-back, but he can add something extra in a midfield that lacks situational awareness. Meanwhile, Weideman clearly just has to be made to play until he either gets it together or moves on for a fresh start. It is a testament to just how little we all 'trust' him that there is even hesitation about bringing him in when we are down our main ruck, backup ruck and our CHF, and our other tall forwards are in poor form as well. Actual changes I'd do? Ummm.... OUT: Gawn (inj), Turner (Inj), M Brown, Harmes IN: Weideman, Van Rooyen(!), May, Rivers

Strong possibility of an epic game.

Reading the initial responses in this thread I just got the most uneasy sensation that we've all been replaced by simulations.

Seems a bit harsh on Petracca for just three weeks a bit off the boil, but it probably works out statistically if you're into that. I think Brayshaw missed out by a statistical fingernail, and probably suffered a bit because he has not quite fit the usual roles of either dedicated rebounder or dedicated interceptor/supporter. But he really has only just missed on either format, which to me just underlines his importance. Gawn is statistically pipped by, again, the barest of margins by Tim English. Remembering Gawn had a couple of quiet ones (just 'excellent' games) earlier in the season and his injured second half against Collingwood. As for Jarrod Witts - clearly that is a matter of how Champion Data prioritise according to position, with Witts' sheer volume of hitouts and hitouts-to-advantage being all the difference there. On a positive note, seeing a couple of the midfield elite names there got me thinking, and sure enough, since he found his current vein of form Jack Viney has been right in that group. Still flying under the radar a bit, but at present is an absolute A-grader. It is a nice touch that the only player they made an exception for in their categories of statistical eliteness was Bontempelli. And, you know, fair enough, that's fine, but also, kind of points up how silly their use of field categories is.