MrReims

Luck isn’t tangible, sure, it’s not scientific. It’s the philosophical reaction to causality and it’s effects on life. Doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. One could argue that simply by debating its existence we have made it exist

No doubt, but its the reality of what is most likely to happen this season, to all clubs. We aren't talking about best case scenario here. But compared to other clubs 23-33rd players, I don't think I am overstating their abilities. Happy to be shown otherwise for the sake of debate

Ha ha ha, no childless to my knowledge, although some nights in my 20s are a little blurry so a knock on the door from a confused teenager bearing some resemblance isn’t out of the question one day

Hell yeah in my house they are!

Just some snits and giggles, but given its a bit hard to do a best 22 after winning a grand final, thought this little thought experiment could be not only a viable reality but also a chance to admire in my opinion our completely enviable depth which has us extremely well placed to go back to back this year. As we are seeing with the womens comp, players out with 'Health and Safety Protocol' next to their name is going to happen. So for this experiment we are going choose 6 or more players from our premiership 22 (at random is the most fun) and imagine they all went to a players house for dinner together and unfortunately all got covid ruling them out for the next match. How do we restructure and who comes in. As ive been home bored in that exact situation for many days now I've done this at random at least 10 times and honestly even with up to 10 players out i've put together a 22 each time I would still feel comfrtable could beat at least 12 teams at full strength. This, obviously, pleases me no end. Of the remaining players not in the starting 22 from the Grand Final I have no problems at all with 10 players coming in and being able to perform extremely well, these being Tomlinson, J.Smith, Hunt, Jordan, Dunstan, Chandler, Bedford, Melksham, Weidemann and Daw. Quite conveniantly that is also 3 defenders, 2 mids, 4 forwards and a ruck. But add onto that the flexibility of so many players; Melksham could still be a break glass mid Daw shouldn't be needed but could perform as a key forward, Petty likewise Brayshaw clearly can head back to the centre and be replaced by a winger should we need Nibbler is capable of extended mid minutes in a Harmes style role. In fact experimenting with him as a tagger would be successful if not exactly needed Benny Brown wouldn't love it but if tragedy really hit and all of Gawn, Jacko and Daw went down together he could still hold his own in the ruck against a Pittonet or even Nankervis I think Anyway, I found the whole exercise pretty enjoyable and figured some of you might as well in the long long wait for Rnd 1. I'll leave you with one of my harder drawn at random excercises, feel free to tear it to shreds but at least offer better options :) Maxy Gawn hosted a fondue party with Salem, May, Spargo, Viney, Oliver, McDonald, Harmes, Petty and Pig Hibberd in attendance. Harmesy sneezed right into the cheese and infected the lot of them. So my team for the following week is as follows; F.B: J. Smith Tomlinson Hunt H.B: Rivers Lever Bowey C: Brayshaw Dunstan Langdon H.F: Chandler Weidemann Pickett F.F: Neal-Bullen B.Brown Fristch R: Daw Petracca Sparrow I: Jordan Jackson Melksham Bedford Could have looked Laurie or D. Smith for a couple of spots or given Rosman a run on the wing and move Brayshaw into the guts but this would be the strongest lineup in my opinion. Melk might have to play behind the ball a bit thats all. Anyway, i still see that side beating Carlton, St Kilda, Adelaide etc even at full strength. Port or Sydney we might need them to have a star or two out as well ha ha ha. Anyway, hope some you find some fun with it

Yeah look to be honest it wasn't his best but in his handful of games he really did shows glimpses. He is also trying to do too much at times to impress, his best work in that game was sticking to his task and playing for the team. Then the oppurtunities came and he didn't dissapoint in my opinion. He brings a different element. He doesn't have the endurance and tenacity of ANB, the footskills of Spargo or the explosiveness of Pickett but he is the superior aerialist, second only to Pickett in pure crumbing. So if he sticks to it, improves his fitness base when one of them drops out he is going to be a quality replacement and hopefully get a run long enough to prove he will be hard to replace. In fact if he really pushed it hard enough he could potentially push Harmes out indirectly as ANB is capable of more mid minutes with Chandler being able to do Harmes F50 marking presence role a lot better. But he has to be able to cover much more ground for that to happen. No one ever wants to be able to run all day, it takes a brutal amount of work but its so often the difference

It's bloody pleasure to hear him speak to the media this year. We have more than a few quality speakers at the club and whilst I can be a bit of a language snob surely clearer communication must make it easier for the leaders of the club to really convey their thoughts to the younger lads and generally fire everyone up and inspire confidence. Rewatched Making their Mark recently and looking at the stunned mullets in the Richmond meetings and inability to really say anything at all apart from the word 'obviously' (which according to 90% of AFL footballers belongs in every single sentence) made me very proud of the likes of ANB, Trac, Lever, Gus and even Gawny despite his self confessed lack of vocabulary. Even our less confident speakers like Oliver seem far more switched on compared to a lot of other players out there. Mind you i'm not completely one eyed, i'm aware the likes of Bont, Sloane, Riewoldt, Hawkins etc etc etc speak extremely well, I just think we have more than our fair share of really switched on footy brains

My two cents on the Weidemann debate; During my little covid escape from society I embarked on a day of Kayo repeats (as one does) with a focus on specific players and where our improvements and depth lie. Was rather satisfying validating time affected opinions on the likes of Tomlinson, Hunt, Jordan and Chandler to name a few. This lead to some opinions I might bring up in a fresh topic later on. But on to the Weed. I submit this potential sliding doors moment. For anyone with the time on their hands I suggest a rewatch of the first half of the Carlton game, Sams first game back from injury. He had come in more to replace Jackson than as a key forward and battled manfully in the ruck but in actuality played and unrewarded blinder in the front half. Tackled, crashed packs, lead to the right spaces without blocking his fellow forwards of which there were many (at times all 5 of Sam, Ben, Tom, Max and Bayley were present) and should have had 2 goals in that half to match his laser pass inside 50 to BB for an inportant goal in the context of the game. Spargo snuck in front of him and stole his mark in the pocket and Chandler, over eager to impress, flew at the wrong time and knocked the ball out of his hands when he was clear 20m out directly in front. Now as we all know Sam is very much a confidence player and I hypothesise that with that little boost of confidence from a blinder first hald he could have really cemented himself in and taken a huge step throughout the year. Instead, my brain says he went into half time thinking "Far out, i'm playing good footy here and still can't kick a flipping goal" and started questioning himself yet again. Now, more desperate to get on the board he changes what he was doing so well and starts to get in the other forwards way, fumbles one clearly overthinking it and ends up with 0.1 for the day. Do I think he will eventually click and bang down the door on his way to greatness? Hope is the best I can do. But am I confident if we ended up with injuries to Jackson, Brown or McDonald he would be far more than just token replacement. In other words, I wouldnt expect to lose any games because he was playing instead of one or even two of them. So thats not just depth, thats proper coverage

That dude has so many issues between the ears it’s not funny. Not sure it would be in the spirit anyway, but we would have to be convinced he could actually give a sheet before we even entertained it. No in my irrelevant opinion

I watched it on Kayo sorry buddy, not sure how else to get it

For anyone worried he isn’t up to our standard, watch the Rnd 14 replay against the Tigers. Wet and cold Friday night big stage, lined up against Dusty often in the middle Luke had 32 quality touches, 1 goal and 3 Brownlow votes. If that is your injury cover, that’s sensational

I was all excited to break the English rumour, I never get any normally but got some strong mail this morning on English going west, apparently being spoken about post the grand final. Also have to agree on Weller, the kind of semi low key acquisition that would genuinely make us better. Wouldn’t cost the earth if he is bullish about coming to us

I bit the bullet, with tears in my eyes and gave my ticket to my niece who is based in Perth now and who funnily enough dated young Chugger Spargo when they were in high school. She went with her fiancé who also knew Charlie back then, managed to get front row tickets and got caught on the telecast giving him a cheeky cuddle! IMG_4295.MOV

munted / (ˈmʌntɪd) / adjective NZ slang (of an object) destroyed or ruined

First Goal: Kozzie Pickett Norm Smith: Jack Viney Most Goals: Tom McDonald Winning Margin: 37 points

Absolutely. Solid message. Kayo/Foxtel kills me with the non stop betting ads

It was a very strange time to do an albeit excellent contract extension if they didn’t need early bargaining chips

I’ve been really pleasantly surprised at his field kicking. Especially inside 50, really seems to place the ball exactly where he would want it. Any decent forward should know where, but to execute is another thing. But even his searching leads into our half back line that often result in pressure dropping marks end up with a long, calculated pass to advantage. It’s a big weapon

Utterly ridiculous! Was really looking forward to it

Is it just me or is it not on in Sydney?

I think most of us are aware that most of your really vicious posts are when you have had a few sherberts but seriously, your anti Jack and gobsmackingly anti Max posts have made me want to break my phone at times. Perhaps in the future you could count to ten before posting?

Wow, you just don’t get stuff do you?

Anyone doubting the ESS 2000 side as one of the all time greats is kidding themselves. They were going indestructible and we had no chance from the get go. This year WE are the team everyone else fears and can only LOSE it from here. We can’t be beaten Of course im extremely confident we will do it

Yep, not small forwards rectums those two

Gotta be Jones for the medi sun. That’s not just emotions talking (although of course they are there) but his hardness, form apparently and experience would make a difference. Even having him on the bench during the game is another perspective and quasi coach there. If he has to come on and snags a goal it would be tide turningly inspirational as well