rumpole

Transformed into James Harmes and lost a yard in pace. My bookie’s giggling.

6. Christian Petracca 5. Clayton Oliver 4. James Harmes 3. Harry Petty 2. Ed Langdon 1. Alex Neal-Bullen

If my memory serves me well, Melbourne was not at its fittest when it last met Sydney. We had a few players coming back from injury, Steven May was out and Harry Petty was on and off the ground nursing some niggles. We were also supposed to be in the middle of our loading process and didn’t run out the game well at all.

This doesn’t really project the image of a club in crisis that the dyspeptic morons at the Herald Sun are trying to portray.

If we only play each other team once a year that means there are no burrabergers for us again in 2022.

Sad news about Knuckles who was a reminder of the old days when the characters of the game were rough and tough and we joined together once or twice a year to support the best players from our state. Knuckles and EJ: Remembering state originals

Once upon a time, a lesser known player would be condemned not only to guilt but given a lengthier suspension on the basis that his offence was a bad look for the game. At the time, many of us suspected that if the player was of a higher profile and played for a club that the AFL wanted to succeed then it would look away when such an incident occurred. Buddy is a high profile player, the Swans need him badly and what he did on the showcase of the game, on Friday night football, with lots of young children watching, was the worst look you can get for the game. He slapped (punched) once and for that alone, he should get a fine but the second strike was a punch with clenched fist to the face. In light of the fact that it was the second strike and it clearly affected the victim, it was a terrible act, a bad look for the game and a throwback to an earlier era when that sort of thuggery was countenanced. Before the competition said enough and almost stamped it out. This was not a jumper punch that warrants a fine and if the player committing the hit was named, say “Tom Bugg”, then he would get a multiple week suspension, but for likable Buddy who the AFL needs to keep the Sydney franchise buoyant and will help add bums to the seats, a $1,000 fine which is a small fraction of his weekly paycheque, will suffice. This, I advise. Ten Guineas.

Howes is said to be under strong consideration by the Giants who have been constantly linked with Mac Andrew.

The Inner Sanctum has presented a draft preview for the Demons with the emphasis on the fact that NGA member Mac Andrew won’t be playing for the club because the Dees can’t match a bid for him within the first 20 selections on draft night, which is “all but guaranteed”. It’s not of concern to me if it pans out that way because I can think of a number of players for who a long career at the elite level is more guaranteed. One of those players is likely to come to us with the late first round pick the club secured during the trade period. The club will be able to put in a bid for the son of a Brownlow Medallist and another promising NGA player from NT. 2021 AFL DRAFT: Melbourne continue history of trading into first round

Perhaps Cripps isn’t that good?

I wonder how far you have to go in defining what it means to “playing nice”? Is it “playing nice” for clubs to spread misleading information about their draft intentions in order to force opposition clubs into second guessing and taking unnecessary precautions to protect their own draft ambitions? I can picture some reverse psychology used with repercussions leading to clubs scrambling to trade up in draft picks when not entirely necessary. I’d be disappointed if clubs didn’t get up to all sorts of skullduggery at this time of year. After all, it’s a competitive industry.

I was bemused to read the commentary about Richmond selecting Mac Andrew with pick 9 because they “they need to get another forward/ruck on the list”. They already have Toby Nankervis, Ivan Soldo and Ben Miller and although they recently delisted Bigoa Nyuon, they’re committed to re-listing him as a rookie. I say “bemused” because a workmate’s son played NAB Cup with Nyuon and his is remarkably familiar in comparison with Andrew’s story. Both are sons of South Sudanese migrants, both played with the Dandenong Stingrays, both are/were members of AFL NGA Academies (Nyuon was with St Kilda’s), both are managed by Julian Petracca of Hemisphere Management, both have strengths listed as speed, versatility, athleticism, vertical leap and have a long term upside. Both are raw and lack endurance and physical strength. Despite being in the Saints’ NGA, Bigoa ended up with the Tigers who took him with pick 54 in the 2019 NAB AFL Draft. He wasn’t exactly in everyone’s consideration for top 20 selection like Andrew but 2019 was a much different time for the NAB League before COVID-19. After two years in the AFL system, he’s still a long way off. The Tigers had Mabior Chol and let him go this month after six years. They know exactly what timeline they’re looking at and I don’t see them risking the investment of pick 9 in the draft for such a long term prospect.

Let’s see what he comes up with.

It’s trade week. You never let sauces get in the way of a good story.

Half of the clubs in the competition are talking about grabbing ruckmen from other clubs with senior experience and they’re talking about trading them with draft picks in the 2nd, 3rd or 4th rounds. Then some so-called expert gets up and says this bloke who’s skinny as a rake and was second ruck in a state under 19 trial game and got half a dozen hit outs to nowhere is a top five pick. How does that work?

A reminder as to what his father looks like these days

It’s now become part of football folk lore that at the 2014 AFL National Draft, St Kilda opted for Paddy McCartin as its #1 pick ahead of Christian Petracca. The poor bloke never quite made it and had to quit due to concussion issues a few years ago. Paddy made his debut in Round 3 against Collingwood. The score? Collingwood 21.14 (140) defeated St Kilda 10.6 (66) Twilight zone stuff.

So where to from here for the under 19 championships? Now that Victoria’s lockdown has been extended and the Andrews government seems to have lost control of this Delta strain, I can’t see any further games taking place.

Whatever the muscle, it’s strange that his prognosis in terms of recovery date has worsened in the past week.

Prefer to play GWS because they struck it lucky in the battle of the bridge and looked gone at the end. The Cats are also looking cooked. It’s been a long hard year for them but they will have far too much experience for the Giants without Greene.

We’ll probably never know. Melbourne could have named him as an emergency in case a decision was made to rest Maxy or Doggo in the ruck or play him in defence covering for Jake or Petty this week. They could also have played him up forward - he once kicked 6 goals in a game. It’s versatility. Anyway, our Covid19 response to lockdown 6 has been so pathetic that by the time it comes to having VFL finals in early September we’ll all be in solitary confinement in our laundries 24/7 so it doesn’t really matter.

I think many people forgot about his great sense of humour especially the times when he was trying to be funny like when those journos wrote about his description of the “vault”. In fact, I doubt that he ever was guilty of anything but telling a joke.

6. Clayton Oliver 5. Christian Petracca 4. Alex Neal-Bullen 3. Jake Lever 2. Max Gawn 1. Jayden Hunt

Geelong have played a number of similar games where the opponent has taken it up to them and had the rotten end of the stick with kicking for goal or umpires decisions. A few games could easily have gone the other way. Carlton are shockers - they did the same against the Eagles and could easily have been close to the eight if luck went their way.

There was a good vibe among the Collingwood players after they beat Adelaide. The mood was very positive towards Bucks. The sudden decision to leave is likely to be demoralising. Who are they playing for?