Little Goffy

We are full of vim and vigor! Overflowing with Elan! Or maybe it is time to go hard; "We have great confidence in our prospects for the coming season, and I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Gawn when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

Those are Travis Johnstone v Carlton numbers!

At Carlton they say "1 to 4" because they believe they have finally added depth and a coherent team ethic to support the core of serious stars. At Collingwood they say the same but mostly because they get anxious trying to count any higher than that.

B: Adam Tomlinson, Steven May, Trent Rivers HB: Judd McVee, Jake Lever, Jake Bowey C: Caleb Windsor, Clayton Oliver, Ed Langdon HF: Harrison Petty, Bayley Fritsch, Alex Neal-Bullen F: Shane McAdam, Jacob van Rooyen, Kysaiah Pickett Foll: Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Christian Petracca I/C: Bailey Laurie, Angus Brayshaw, Christian Salem, Tom Sparrow, Charlie Spargo (sub) Emerg: Jack Billings, Taj Woewodin, Kade Chandler, Lachie Hunter Of the on-field group named, I'd argue only Windsor, Tomlinson, Spargo and Laurie would have question marks about whether they can deliver a standard of football that can win AFL finals, andexcept for Tomlinson there are multiple replacements for type waiting (Woey, Chandler, Hunter, Billings, some more kids and maybe even Melksham late in the season) I'll state the obvious that the quality is there, although we could do with one more high quality key position player for whichever end Petty isn't playing at, and of course the back-up ruck question. I'm ready for the season to start. We know what's going on, we know the weak points and the potential to utterly dominate if it clicks.

Presumably that's Thurin son of Thrain, King under the Mountain and deliverer of Erebor alongside the wizard Gawndalf?

I do find the use of 'well documented' referring to Oliver's issues interesting. They are not at all well documented. There is no clear public insight into what his 'issues' are and there has only been enormous waves of speculation. Ask yourself; do I actually have any real knowledge of Clayton Oliver's personal circumstances? It irks me that there's this atmosphere of 'we all know about Clayton, mm-hmm.' I mean, at this stage the only thing we really know is that he has been an absolute professional with training standards while away from the group and has come back in excellent condition and full touch, ready to win a Brownlow in 2024. The 'Bailey Laurie watch' part of the article confuses me as he was canned on here in the match sim thread and multiple clear examples were given... could it be the AFL website people might be mistaken about him "impressing in Sunday's match simulation with his strength inside the contest and clean ball use."

Pickett is a brilliant forward with the body strength and nous to be a powerful point of difference to disrupt opposition centre bounce planning. Particularly if there's been a spell where the ball hasn't been coming his way and he is a little fresh, he can step in and really boost the chances of chaos favouring us. It is very similar to the tactic of playing Petracca forward for extended periods in the first half and then introducing him to the stoppage mix in the second half when opponents are already a little run down. If you're a tired mere mortal lining up at a centre bounce next to a much fresher opponent who happens to be one of the most powerful players in the game, you are already half beaten. Not a coincidence that Petracca's CBA are under 50% but his scoring from those appears disproportionate. So, the numbers for those two look about appropriate to me - Petracca 50%ish, Pickett 25%ish. Interesting to see Sparrow taking 75%. Clearly being developed to the role. As for Nibbler - his job is to contain the effectiveness of opponent clearances and provide blocks and support for our 'guns' to do their thing. We've worked hard at limiting the damage opponents can do to us from stoppages and especially centre bouces, because those breakaways do expose the vulnerability of our very aggressive defence, especially with the 6/6/6 rule. It's why Oliver added to his game an astonishingly high number of intercepts for a midfielder. Returning to the original point about Pickett - I think a fair analogy would be to the way we attempted to turn Harmes into a 'damaging midfielder' because he had demonstrated a string of games where he was being damaging on the payback while primarily playing as a stopper. Pickett will continue to be damaging as an option in stoppages and centre bounces, but if we get too sweaty and excited about that and try to hard to make it his main role, not only won't we get that damage, we will also lose a lot of his value of a goal-kicker and pressure forward.

Philosophical conundrum. If a career ends before it begins, did it ever exist?

How can you be reminded of something that never happened?

Thanks everyone for the rapid reaction on Oliver. Seems like for a moment I was more winded than he was.

Emergency urgent details for those without broadcast.

From the AFL website, I think they are jumping the gun on 2025 free agency here. Sigh. ... Tom McDonald, Lachie Hunter, Shane McAdam (all calf injuries), Andy Brayshaw (illness), Charlie Spargo (Achilles soreness), Harrison Petty (toe), Ben Brown (knee), Daniel Turner (femur), Taj Woewodin (concussion) and Andy Moniz-Wakefiled (thigh) all missing.

Edit: I misread a post and responded to it with confusion. The post was about Laurie so it seems I may have been channeling his play today.

What do you expect for lousy billion dollars a year?

*Free (two first round picks, with at least one in the top ten) It isn't so much about us getting value, as making sure the Crows continue to suffer forever.

I'm Little Goffy. 'Goffy' is my brother. Although he'd probably agree. It is an interesting contrast between the Bulldogs' leadership and ours. I'd say that while Gawn is clearly the outstanding captain, we have a wealth of leaders whether they are top-level players like May, Brayshaw, Lever, Viney and Petracca or just as importantly in the less renowned like Neal-Bullen, Melksham, Brown and McDonald who set standards and get around teammates regardless of their own personal form at the time. The mood I get from the Bulldogs is of individuals who each play football and are on the same team rather than much active shaping of the team. Maybe there are just too many 'stars'? Maybe a little too much individual bathwater drinking compared to Melbourne's alleged collective bathwater problem? On that analogy, I'm going to see myself out.

I wouldn't reject any of those but feel like Steven May is a bit stiff. I guess he suffers from having played for the Suns for eight years. As would anyone. Surely also considered; Green (who I would have instead of Fritsch for now but I expect Fritsch's career will climb), Bruce, and Jack Viney. I have a suspicion Angus Brayshaw may yet push up into the list as well because (touch wood) I honestly anticipate his late career will be his best period. Similar to Brad Green if Green hadn't then been Neelded. Green kicked 17 goals in his final seven games and was only 31. But the real fun is the thought that we have a few still very young players in our current team who might earn a place on this kind of list.

AND SHAVE THOSE SIDEBURNS.

Hmm, who are the obvious contenders? Harley Reid and Colby McKercher are ready-to-go high impact and visibility players in teams that will be making maximum use of them from day dot. Ryley Sanders' sheer consistency could count for a lot and he might have a great opportunity given the Dogs have inside mid depth but also can effectively rotate those mids to other roles. I mean, it starts getting silly to rely on Bontempelli to be your best player at clearances and your best general forward at the same time. Sanders doing well in the specific role could see him immediately established as a primary ball-winner and having a serious impact on the Dogs' season. Jed Walter comes in at a beastly 195cm and 97kg - possibly the most 'built' tall forward to come in since Hawkins - and it could be very interesting to see what happens with the three talls. (When your key forwards are pick 2, pick 3 and pick 6, what do you do? Personally I'm still hoping we can peel Lukosious off to Melbourne as the surplus one). Daniel Curtin could face the incredible task of being a team's main tall defender in his first season, and if he so much as survives without being humiliated he'll be under consideration. As for Caleb Windsor... well, outside players have definitely been rewarded in recent years, though mostly when their main job has been rebounding off the half-back line (Sheezel, Daicos, McGrath, Mills). Dyson Heppell is probably the most similar Rising Star winner to Windsor and if you account for the handicap of playing for and leading Essendon he had a pretty solid career.

Personally I don't like school blazers but in this case I am sure it is important practice for feeling comfortable in the silly-looking All-Australian ones. Looks a bit more solidly built than his dad. How old now? Will he be available in time for the famous 2028 premiership?

Having just watched Petracca's interview this mention of Bontempelli brings to mind a couple of Trac's comments about the need for leaders to let the rest of the team play their role instead of the leader trying to do everything in crucial moments. Having also just re-watched the 2021 3rd qtr highlights posted here the other day, my mind also goes to that moment of total shellshock in the Bulldogs clearance group. Bontempelli is a tremendous player and was probably their best player on that day, too, but his captaincy fell short when it came to steadying the team and the crucial few players at those clearances who desperately need to have their focus brought back. I also think Toby Greene is overrated as a leader, mostly because I still think he is a *head just well covered by media love. So... hmm, aside from that I guess I agree on at least the top three.

wut?

Who's cutting onions?

Bit selfish of Ben Holland to not share his obviously substantial supply of elixir of youth. Semi-serious question, how many of these guys have a kid coming through the system for us? :D

Ha! I do appreciate your brutal candour much more when it is aimed at Port players. At least I didn't used Eric Hipwood as an example of type - that's just not polite around dinner time. In a triangle where each corner is one of Tom Hawkins, Oscar Allen and Charlie Curnow, where would Jefferson be? 😁 Or is he basically Jack Watts if given proper time to develop as a forward?