Operation Unthinkable

Balls to 'Opening Round' and 'Gather Round', thank god it's 'Melbourne Wins A Game Round' again. I thought this season could go either way, but was less ready for an an 0-6 start than JFK was for feedback from the Texas Schoolbook Depository. It's a bit sad that we're already back to celebrating individual wins like the end of World War II, but this was the settler everyone needed - coach, players, beleaguered receptionist, the poor bastard who has to moderate Facebook comments, and most importantly from our perspective, the fans.

After the mega false start of kicking a goal 16 seconds into Round 1, we soon descended into mayhem. I know some people are secretly (or not so secretly) grumpy that we didn't lose by 170 points and sack the coach, but you'd have to be a bit of a prick not to be happy for all involved here. Perhaps a little relieved that this season is confirmed better than 1919 (zero wins, but with plenty of combat-related excuses) and 1981 (one win by one point in failed 'coach as Messiah' scenario). No need to go over the top after one game where the opposition did their best to facilitate heartwarming moments, but warm up the hot tub because at this pace we could reach the giddy heights of 2015.

Of course we had to win eventually, because in the professional era even the worst teams eventually do (often against us) but it's nice to get one on the board before things started to look really drastic. But I'm deadset baffled that it came against a team who have taken care of us with the greatest of ease in recent years. And with our highest score of the year by half time, with a forward line that was reminiscent of the Troy Davis, Declan Keilty and Oscar McDonald eras. There was a bit of 'hanging on for dear life' by the last quarter, but we did, so remove thine fork from thy toaster for a few days.

It also came via some high risk selection decisions. After demanding wacky changes I couldn't complain that they nuked Fritsch and van Rooyen at the same time, but it felt a bit radical. Worked out in the end, but even though neither has been great this year it felt safer to chuck/rotate them out one at a time and retain some continuity to what should eventually be our first choice forward line again. Instead, we had Turner going in and out like [insert crude metaphor], and Fullarton getting his chance after spending last weekend on the couch instead of immediately after kicking five in the VFL. So that leave us with a 

We were left a forward who used to be a ruckman and was a defender for about five minutes in pre-season, playing alongside a forward who used to be a defender and was probably expecting to be back in the VFL next week. Some opposition flange got retrospective grief on Twitter for declaring it the worst forward line of all time, but it wasn't even our least threatening one of the last decade.

I don't know if the result vindicates the way this was done, but wins with dropped players - zero, wins with Tom Fullarton - one, so that's all that matters for now. The underrated angle to Fullarton replacing van Rooyen is that he had to play second ruck, which is a flashback to when Gawn was hurt last year and we announced that the guy recruited as a backup ruck couldn't ruck well enough to replace him. Based on this I'd prefer him as a ruck than a forward. 

At the time he was publicly smeared, you'd have got long odds on Fullarton every playing for us. All it took was the arse entirely falling out of the joint. Usually this would win Long Term Storytelling of the week, but had the misfortune to come just after we offered the CEO job to Andrew Demetriou nearly 16 years after he swept our blatant tanking shenanigans under the rug.

In a year where he'd struggle to get credit for eradicating smallpox (probably after doing exactly the same research every week, even when it's obviously not working), the coach gets credit for the brass balls gamble of playing Petty forward after May was a late withdrawal. Not only didn't I think he'd make a difference in attack, but thought it would guarantee their forwards a field day against surviving tall defenders McDonald and Howes. Apparently, it was the first time in 75 wins that neither Lever or May was involved, dating back to 2019's classic Great Escape: Gold Coast. I already find it hard to believe we won 75 games in four and a half seasons.

I think about Harrison Petty's 2024 season more than the Roman Empire, especially how the selectors would rather go to the electric chair than drop him, and I bet JVR and Fritsch were thinking about that too when they got the chop. I was also grumbling about self-exclusion when he got nowhere near the first contest, before he contributed almost as many as the omittees in 10 combined games. Under the circumstances it was an even better performance than kicking six against Richmond, and even though I still refuse to believe it can work long-term he offered a better physical presence in attack than anyone else has this year.

Speaking of incidents involving both Fritsch and Petty, at peak midweek misery I was looking back at some recent joyful moments and found this...

Bayley Fritsch dribbles the winning goal from the boundary vs Geelong multi-call (AFL NATION/FIVEaa/ABC/MMM) #AFLDeesCats pic.twitter.com/hVVCIMKCen

— Lace out (@laceoutofficial) May 5, 2024

... where one of the most aesthetically pleasing Melbourne goals of recent times turned out to be a joint closing and opening ceremony for our brief run as a good side (Round 17, 2020 - Round 8, 2024) and the start of being piss boring/finally succumbing to constant off-field noise. Like our last official game against Freo, I thought the sound of barrels being scraped would be the only thing louder than everyone hanging shit on us for losing again. 

After a string of uninspiring losses with another seemingly on the way, and with an excuse to be anywhere else that you liked over a long weekend, getting 25,000 people there is almost more surprising than winning. It won't be enough for the wanker fans of too-big-to-fail clubs with 45,000 derelicts who can be relied on to have nothing better to do, but was one of our better home crowds against Freo. Plenty of people will rediscover their interest before Thursday night, but those who turned up here were rewarded with our first big upset win for years.

Ultimately, you don't want to be celebrating too many surprise wins because it implies that you're so shit that each is an early-shattering shock, but I'd have bet my knackers on being thrashed after our recent form against the Dockers so will very much take this in the right spirit.

Now that we've won I'm happy that they got away with risky changes and didn't just reach for the Big Book O'Selection cliches, featuring Billings in the starting side and Woewodin as sub for the 17th time. Before May's withdrawal I might have stretched my imagination to fantasise about winning a low-scoring snoozefest, but if you saw the result coming in this fashion you're either a visionary or massive liar.

While some discerning viewers chose to avoid this game like the plague, I haven't got the luxury of picking and choosing so have to turn up when available. And it's a good thing I did, because after being jibbed out of so many great live wins when we were good, it feels good to turn what felt like an obligation appearance into a surprise victory.

If this is your first time reading and you're expecting serious insight then turn around now, because after years of suspecting that I'm losing my mind it was confirmed in the first half here. In one of the all-time great moments of spectator-related dementia, I managed to miss Daniel Turner's entire contribution to the game and only realised he was supposed to be playing when checking the stats at half time. Fair enough if he'd had one handball, but as a contested mark enthusiast you'd think I'd have noticed him taking two in 46% of game time before concussion beat the selectors to eliminating him from the side. 

Part of it was not listening to the radio for once as I tried to put on an enjoyable day for my kid after having a last start nervous breakdown over seating policy at Docklands, but it's no excuse for blanking so badly and confirms living in a 'home' by 2030. So I've got that going for me. Best win a few more games now in the hope that I totally slip it while we're on top and get stuck thinking that's reality. Alternatively, up to 40 years of dark muttering under my breath about how footy peaked in the samea minute of Alex Neal-Bullen spewed on the Gabba. 

On the same Biden-esque level of decline, it took ages to realise Luke Jackson wasn't out there. I finally twigged when Gawn snatching the ball out of the air at centre bounces started to get ridiculous. We haven't had charity like that at the MCG since Adelaide formed a guard of honour for Jamar and Moloney to have about 18 centre clearances. I had fun watching it but there's no way other teams will let him get away with doing it this much. But even if the door is left wide open for the old five finger discount, you've still got to be good to take advantage. Even as Maximum rounds the home turn on his era of dominance, he still plays a massive role in keeping us afloat. I don't fancy his chance of launching any post-high thermonuclear bombs from 55 metres out these days, but good luck to whoever is expected to follow him as our first ruck.

I'd have been better informed about who was playing if I'd stayed home and watched the TV, but that's about where the advantages end. Apparently, Kelli Underwood suggested players were trying to top each other, which brings to mind the great St. Kilda fingering scandal of 2018.

Only the most brittle of males have an issue with female commentators, but all these years later surely it's time to give somebody else a go. If there was a commentator draft I'd still pick her in front of Brian Taylor for quality, and Dwayne Russell for slightly more natural sounding pre-planned gags.

There was no need for nervous adjustment of collar and swearing under the breath when Freo got the first, because I was expecting about 26 to follow. So you can imagine how surprised I was when we got the next two. 

Langdon was literally in everything early on, giving away the free for Freo's first, then setting up two the other way. There was an audible groan from the crowd when what looked like a horrible shank rolled inside 50, but they hadn't even gone to the peak of a disappointed 'awwwwwwwwwww' when it was revealed to be a genius pass to the advantage of Pickett to run onto. Obviously the fans would have preferred that he just madly roost it to 30 metres out and watch the opposition slingshot it down the other end in seconds.

Then, not long after I'd cursed Petty's first awkward effort at getting involved in a contest, he executed the perfect lead/mark combo with Langdon. It was like that perfect one against North that bounced off JVR like he was a trampoline. It'll take more evidence before I burn my PhD thesis on why he can't be a forward every week, but this was very good. I think - and this is in no way a walk back because I probably said the same thing at some time last year - that his problem is when made to travel hither and yon looking for the ball, which is not what you want while on the end of our quantity over quality forward entries.

We were moving the ball better than almost any other team this season, and the homebrand backline was holding together, but even after Rivers kicked a third and celebrated to the MCG like a respectable version of Maradona at the 1994 World Cup I still refused to contemplate that we were going to score enough to win. We were still no guarantee to kick six goals for the match by this point, but I was almost certain Freo was going to get going at some point and start raining goals. 

Then they got the next two in succession and I was ready to unravel a big 'Here We Go' tarp across one of the empty level fours. But we didn't just hold on until quarter time, the margin extended. And that's with Oliver having his worst game of the year and Petracca - other than one nicely taken goal - not hugely contributing. But if that's convinced you we can do without one or both next year, may I stress how important it is to keep Pickett. He hadn't even started kicking goals yet, but was already appearing like a holy apparition in various parts of the ground. We've had times when we needed two versions of players for different positions, but he is a one man show who can convincingly play any height appropriate role. I won't be angry if he goes, because as far as I'm concerned a flag buys you the right to do anything other than a Wayne Carey style lucky dip on a teammate's spouse, but it will be the footy equivalent of "you can actually pinpoint the second when his heart rips in half".

Things were going so well that even when we let in the obligatory last minute goal, it was responded to seconds later. Jack Viney has done so little in the opening rounds that he was lucky not to enjoying a premiership reunion with Fritsch at Casey, but he was very good doing the old 'follow somebody around and pick up a shitload of possessions at the same time' routine that James Harmes briefly mastered in 2018. Stepping around defenders to kick crucial goals from 45 metres out was a bonus.

Then it got really silly in the second quarter. Some of it was lucky, like Chandler's kick to the square evading everyone and rolling through, and some was actual, real life, hot shit footy. See, for instance, the handball chain that opened the door for Petty to mark and give Pickett a close-range freebie. And fanging straight out of the middle for Pickett to get another one straight after. Christ on a bicycle this was more like it... and then we conceded another two in a row to bring a bit of realism to the occasion. Apparently for the first time since 1897 the secret to success when playing us is to change your name to 'Jye' or a variant thereof.

But never mind that shit, here comes Petty. He may only be a pawn in the game of life, but it started to get ridiculous late in the quarter. First he opened the door a Pickett screamer with a blatant but unpunished push, then booted his third off the ground and bloody hell, if we could get far enough in front as insurance against another spontaneous combustion in the last quarter this was suddenly looking like a potential win. Of course, it would be too easy to just smash away to a thumping victory. Instead we let our old pal Sizzle Jr, returning after a year out with a knee injury, become surely the first man ever to go goalless in his first 73 games, then kick at least one for three different clubs over the next 15. I was pleased with our efforts so far, and have zero ill will towards Oscar, but may still have thrown myself down the stairs if he'd piled on seven and single-handedly won the game. Not sure if he got another kick. What odds in 2018 that they'd play against each other seven years later with Senior in defence and Junior in attack?

All's well that ends well, but it never got better than Pickett storming an open goal for his fifth and taking time at the last minute to flash his opponent the peace sign. The usual bums will be upset about it (and I'm guilty of once thinking Stephen Coniglio was shhhing the crowd when he was actually doing an early version of the rizz face), but like Mr. Electricity Mac Andrew feuding with Adelaide and Richmond at the same time, the more of this stuff the merrier. The guy doing the bow and arrow is a bit rehearsed for my liking, but if it gives outrage fetishists the shits I'm in.

Genuinely unfunny people went straight to gags about Freo being his future employer and how it'll be awkward when he turns up next year, as if ANB didn't get immediately added to Adelaide's leadership group a few years after (accidentally) bouncing a Crows player's head off the turf like a basketball. Ironically, the bouncee was delisted at the end of last year so technically was booted out to make room for Neal-Bullen to join. Even Peter Caven spent an awkward year on the same list as Tony Lockett after Plugger had earlier cavened his face in. But he did get some closure by thumping the head off a Lockett effigy with a baseball bat. Under the circumstances, Generic Freo Defender probably won't wrap himself in plastic explosives outside the club offices if a trade is agreed. 

I'm just happy that it didn't cause Pickett to stuff up an easy chance. He was going at a much faster pace than other great open goal taunters, and a less skilled individual would be in danger of misjudging how much room he had and either running over the line before ball hit boot, or trying to pull up at the last minute and bash it through off his knee for a point. It's all good clean fun, but he'd have looked a bit of a tit if we'd lost the game from there. The only consolation for people who believe in football gods/are terminally boring, is that he didn't kick another. After our forward struggles I'm happy to bank five in three quarters.

By now, even with Pickett's wildcard antics livening up an otherwise off-off Broadway game, the free-scoring in the first half had been replaced by a bit of dour struggle. It was still much more exciting than most of what we'd done so far, but when we were on 71 at half time you knew it wasn't going to end in a score anywhere near 140. I still wasn't convinced we'd hold the Dockers and their allegedly good forward line out long enough, especially when they started to find more free players running through the middle. Again they got a late goal, again we responded. This time it was a bit more luck over skill, and you could hear the sound of whinging wafting across the continent, as if these kents haven't been generously looked after at home over the years.  

We got to the last change 19 points ahead, and that's less than half of what I'll trust under any circumstances, let alone after our low energy finishes this season. As far as I was concerned it was the moral equivalent of kicking into a three goal breeze. And bloody hell the quarter felt like it went forever. You can take the old 'five minute warning' and stuff it up your jumper, I nearly did a tendon checking how much time was left on the AFL app. 

In a classic "hope kills" scenario, I'd have been inconsolable if we'd blown the game I expected to lose by 10 goals from this position. It would still have pissed copiously on everything else we've done outside half the third quarter against GWS, but what's that going to do for you after six straight losses?

Gawn converting an early sitter would've helped, but he's got form so I didn't get excited when the free was paid. Of all the major anomalies from the end of 2021, him kicking that goal at the siren is up there with winning a flag by winning the most important games of the modern era by 157 points combined. After that miss we started to go into survival mode, but there was still time for a desperate lunge by Rivers to keep them out. Still, when the margin got down to six points I was ready for Surrender O'Clock.

Thanks then to Shai Bolton, who'd troubled us all day before turning into Shite Bolton at just the right time. Too far out for a kick to tie the game, he channelled his inner-Alyssa Bannan (non-AFLW readers, just go with this) by trying to run around the mark, but didn't make it all the way around and was panicked into kicking OOF. It still felt like the death blow was coming, even if we were bravely holding on. It was all a bit Round 1 for my liking, but glory be this time we got the second goal for the quarter and it proved decisive. No surprise it was set up by Gawn, and maybe if Langford hadn't been left sitting on his arse for 3/4 of the game that day he'd also have drilled a snap like a veteran to give us crucial breathing room late in the game that day as well?

There was still time for a horror collapse, but we kept attacking long enough to run the clock down. All it lacked was the killer blow so the crowd could blow their stack into orbit, but a series of misses kept the margin safely above the nightmare result line. It helped that we forced them to kick hopeful long bombs to Gawn instead of turning on Round 1 style runway lights to help them transition from one end to the other. They didn't really need to switch to Hail Mary mode when we'd been leaving free players all down the ground for the previous 15 minutes but this is probably what they've been told to do at this point of a game and didn't dare question it. Justin Longmuir looks like somebody who'd be really passive aggressive and sarcastic if you didn't follow instructions, so best to do as told, even if illogical.

The four post-Langford behinds meant that even when Freo got a consolation goal at the end, featuring the player handily wasting a shitload of time making sure he converted, they still needed two goals in a minute to win. Even we couldn't stuff that up, and are finally on the board. No idea what it means for the future, but as we like to say in these parts it's better than the alternative. 

I'm exceptionally happy for a coach that's been treated like a war criminal in some circles, but still feel like this season will end with a negotiated settlement at some point. Serious, non-loaded question - has any premiership coach ever successfully climbed out of a deeper hole than this? Kevin Sheedy missed finals two seasons in a row in the late 80s, but the second was with a 12-10 record so not exactly rock bottom. More recently, Clarkson and Simpson had varying degrees of success in trying to recapture the good times before conceding defeat. I'm open to any other contenders, but even if they don't exist just being known as a 'premiership coach' puts you ahead of about 99% of people to be in charge of an AFL team.   

At the low point of our midweek misery there was a suggestion of Luke Beveridge taking over, and my first thought after Brad Green, Nathan Jones, Mark Jamar and (soon) Steven Smith all getting involved recently my first thought was "christ, not another ex-player". Then I realised that other than Tom Scully there may not be anybody who would give less of a shit about once playing for us then Beveridge. For his part, Luke (never 'Bevo') has claimed he'll coach Footscray or nobody, so it's not worth thinking seriously about just yet. I don't know why anyone would even consider our job at the moment when multiple top players are a chance of bolting, but it would be a better balance of 'cracking the shits with players'/'has done this before' than when we tried a 100/0 split with Neeld. Also advances the odd post-2021 cultural exchange between us and the Bulldogs. 

Speaking of ex-players, whatever happened to Cameron Bruce as a coach? He was there for all the Hawthorn success, took the top job when they gubbed us in a pre-season game, and has never been talked about as a potential senior coach since. Maybe being wiped out in Carlton's post-Teague purge turned him off? Instead, he went to Brisbane and helped his old Reserves coach win a flag, so why stress yourself unnecessarily? 

Here's to more of the same as today that renders coach chat void but this makes this year seem even more like 2007. Narrow breakthrough win over an interstate team, followed closely by a disappointing loss to a pox Richmond side that makes everyone forget the temporary comeback and crack the shits again. If the result had gone the other way this bit might have been apt "Apparently the players want to keep Daniher. I've got a simple way to get around that - find some new players." But no need for that sort of thing this week, we may still be the worst team in Victoria, but let yourself enjoy winning for a bit before lying down in front of the Reality Bus. 

2025 Allen Jakovich Medal votes
5 - Max Gawn
4 - Kysaiah Pickett
3 - Jake Bowey
2 - Harrison Petty
1 - Jack Viney

Apologies to Langdon, Langford and Rivers

Leaderboard
Last week I said this was the year something weird could happen with this medal, then forgot to add Langdon's votes to his total so lucky nobody's reading. There's still some unusual action happening down the leaderboard, but other than Bowey running second and holding a solid lead in the Seecamp, the top of the table is about what you'd expect. Just over 25% of the way through the season I'm almost ready to declare the Stynes, because I refuse to believe anybody else would score 15 votes and average 10 hitouts a week, even if Max retired on a high tomorrow.    

14 - Max Gawn (LEADER: Jim Stynes Medal for Ruckman of the Year)
11 - Jake Bowey (LEADER: Marcus Seecamp Medal for Defender of the Year)
9 - Clayton Oliver, Kysaiah Pickett
8 - Ed Langdon
7 - Xavier Lindsay (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Christian Petracca
5 - Kade Chandler, Harvey Langford, Tom McDonald
2 - Jake Lever, Harrison Petty, Christian Salem
1 - Jake Melksham, Harry Sharp, Tom Sparrow, Jack Viney

Aaron Davey Medal for Goal of the Year
I liked the Viney one in the first quarter, and Pickett's attempt to bring a United Nations vibe to the AFL was as fun as you'll get from somebody running into an open goal, but I'm voting #1 Langford again for the sealer. Not technically spectacular but well taken at a perfect time. I haven't seen somebody kick this many quality goals early in their career since Sam Blease, and hopefully this version doesn't disappear off the face of the earth so quickly. Windsor in Round 1 remains your clubhouse leader.

Next Week
I wish Adem Yze all the best (especially in getting out of his contract to come back and coach us), but please feel free to delay Richmond's rebuild for another week. They've got one player named after Steely Dan, and another who may be playing in an ankle bracelet, but any automatic assumption of a win will not be entertained. Especially because they did the biggest one upping (or topping, if you prefer) since Peter Daicos kicked 13 hours after Jakovich got 11 by rolling the unbeaten Gold Coast a few hours after this. The Suns are the football version of "Get ready everybody, he's about to do something stupid", so it's a shame we got them the first few rounds before they traditionally go to pieces.  

Fritsch and JVR would've felt at home in a reserves side that got thrashed after kicking five goals in the first three quarters, but with Turner out we might have to pick some sort of forward. It won't be Jefferson, who had two kicks. More importantly than any of this, McVee survived so get him straight back in thanks. I think there's something to be said for Sharp, but after consecutive games as sub he may bank a first MFC win and play at the unique time of 11:05 Thursday morning in what looks like a Richmond home game at Casey. Is Punt Road double booked? Does Casey Fields have to be clear in the afternoon for a school athletics carnival? Gives you something to sneakily watch at work though.

Richmond's performance against the Suns makes the prospect of following this with a letdown seem less distressing, but considering where the teams are at I'd have expected us to win even if this result had gone as expected. I refuse to believe we'll get away with some of the loose-as-a-goose stuff that the Dockers allowed here, but am hopeful of two in a row (NB: But not in any way assuming it will happen).   

IN: May, McVee, van Rooyen
OUT: Howes, Sharp (omit), Turner (inj), Spargo (to sub)
LUCKY: Nil (but I'm still a bit suss on Salem)
UNLUCKY: Billings, Fritsch

Final thoughts
The season might not be salvageable, but it's nice to confirm we're not going to be the first side to ever go 0-23.

Unalive in '25

If you could buy canisters of premiership anaesthetic from The Demon Shop I'd chrome them until it caused hallucinations. No side effects could be worse than nightmare visions of a team that's gone from fringe premiership contention 12 months ago to kicking nearly two goals per game less than the future stars 'n battlers list of 2015.

After five respectable years, highlighted by a tremendous once-in-a-lifetime campaign, we're the worst team in Victoria again and so boring that you may have considered poking your eyes out before half time on Saturday night.

And that's just the on-field drama. The Bartlett Files might have slammed shut once we bought off settled with the ex-President, but this will be a great week to lay the boot in, no matter how pissweak the bombshell. You never know what angle the media will go with, after last week I bet on fake concern for Petracca's welfare, and instead got Jordan Lewis basically calling his old teammate a punce on live TV.

In the immortal words of the Iron Sheik:

We've even had the old 'letter from the President' email backing the coach, and this time it feels legitimate rather than the prelude to him getting the arse 10 minutes later. I appreciate Brad Green doing the fill-in job, but it's a bit farcical that we're patiently waiting for the next guy to find a time suitable to him before taking over. 

 

I'm up for almost any criticism of how things are going, but can we calm down on the famous draft pick exchange? On paper, it looks like playing Russian Roulette with 5/6 bullets loaded but we should know more than anyone that that draft picks can go astray it's us. It's all a lottery, being dudded by Gold Coast's priority pick at the end of 2019 accidentally directed us towards Luke Jackson, who played a role in 2021 that we've missed ever since. 

I'll get upset when Essendon pick a 4x Brownlow Medal winner and Lindsay is run over by an ice cream truck, until then theoretical future scenarios are the least of our concerns. Let's get upset about slowly sinking into quicksand while the coaches are wedded to this dull-as-all-buggery-style that's never going to catch on. The last two weeks have been far from our worst performances (especially against Geelong and Essendon), but it's hard to find joy watching a team play like bedraggled shipwreck survivors washed up on a desert island. 

Some say they're not playing for the coach, I reckon it's the exact opposite and they're trying too hard to look after him and feeling bad about it going so badly. Maybe not all of them, Harry Sharp probably gives 99.9% less of a rat's arse about Goodwin's feelings than Gawn, Petracca, or anyone who has only known one senior coach, but regardless of who's friends with who, we're getting to the stage where a circuit breaker might be required.

The last great letdown was 2019, but back then the coach was still relatively new, and we still had the ultimate, seemingly unattainable, goal to strive for. Now that we've seen the peak, the idea of bombing out so quickly does not appeal, and it's hard viewing both in sporting terms and spiritually. More importantly, six years ago there was a sense that the group would stick together and build for the future, now we're in a season-long waiting game to see who goes first.

It was clear where the season was going midway through the Gold Coast game, but two weeks in a row of trailing around all night behind good-not-great sides, kicking a majority of goals in a futile third quarter comeback, then gently sliding off the face of the earth have confirmed there's no escape route. You decide whether we need the Last Rites or an exorcism. I'm way too old to be real life depressed about footy, but even if the season is shot it'd be nice to get a reminder that we watch for fun. Either that, or something so outrageous that it flips my outrage trigger.  

You could ask where it all went wrong, but we haven't got time to do a #fistedforever Files Pt.2. As the MFC balloon made all sorts of rude noises while deflating last year, I tried to stay calm and pretend that 2025 would turn out ok. Even then, the best I could do for us ninth (not even remotely the worst prediction on a ladder that rated C at time of writing), but I'd have been happy to stay around the finals, get games into the kids, and try to convince at least one of the stars not to run like they've stolen something at the end of the year.

During the week the coach wanted to put our flag in the ground, and I thought this made a lot of sense. Construct a fancy underground mausoleum and let fans pay respects to a great moment in human history. Chuck the cup in there too. Turns out he was speaking in cliches about the team making a stand to protect their reputation and yada yada yada. It's getting like the coaching version of when Nathan Jones was wheeled out every week to try and put a brave face on our latest vigorous rooting. 

Imagine Jones is the last person to run out the door when they need a caretaker and he has to be the face of fiasco again? That would be cruel and unusual punishment. Here's to everyone else bolting, then the camera slowly turning to reveal Choke Yourself With A Tie calmly sitting in the corner and chewing gum before a dramatic zoom and him casually saying "I'll do it". Sadly Get Choco Pt. 3 won't happen, and I get the sense that they're warming Troy Chaplin up for a possible orderly mid-season transition.

Forget toppling the coach, if the assistants go along with this nonsense they're all as guilty as each other. Has a team ever parachuted an outsider into the top job midway through the year? Bring back Craig Jennings, who now apparently lives in a van and eats courtesy of the GWS in-house chef. We'll counter offer a decommissioned Hertz rental car and tuna from a can.

I've lost faith in miracle comebacks, Hollywood finishes, and protecting the legacy of a premiership coach, but let's not go down as the most tedious side ever to breathe air. Since turning temporarily ballistic against GWS we've been so boring that the AFL will soon be on the phone complaining about damage to their brand. There are plenty of better teams than Essendon, who conceded 160 points two games ago, and at this rate one of them will eventually hold us goalless.

I'm more interested in the dignity and welfare of our coach than many, but he's not doing himself any favours by stoically heading towards his doom without deviating from the plan. I'm not saying you nuke everything and go full in-season rebuild at 0-4, but would anyone have been upset if tried something a little bit new and kooky? Maybe there'd be trouble if we lost by 111 points, but any reasonable margin with something for the future beats another comfortable defeat featuring the same old shit as last week. We're like the Germans finding out Enigma had been cracked and still broadcasting secret war plans into it. Just like them we also had a couple of successful years before it all went horribly wrong, but that's where the comparisons end.

You just know the coaching group spent the week desperately trying to convince themselves that there was some life in this season and it wasn't time to panic. This led to team changes that were as inspiring as a get well card from the Tobin Brothers. Remember when we dropped Turner, pretended Johnson would make a difference, and got absolutely nowhere? This time they dropped Turner, didn't bother picking any sort of replacement forward, and got nowhere again. How do you win a recall with VFL goals then get the boot after one game? It's like being the only person fined when everyone runs onto the ground for a 100th goal. 

At this rate we may need to run on for the team's 100th, sometime in late July. I could understand if the player didn't fit into some great tactical shift, or the side had been exposed as too tall the previous week, but this just made an already underperforming forward line even worse, putting even more pressure on forwards who had done chuff all in the first month to make a difference. Unless Turner headbutted an assistant coach for providing feedback last week, why would you ditch him for the second time in three weeks? He hasn't done much this year, but are we developing him as a forward of the future or not? If not, we've got several weeks of a defence without Lever where he might come in handy. This is about as useful for his improvement as that bullshit two week stint as a sub last year. 

Under the circumstances, anyone who could make a contest would do. Neither Johnson, or the mythical Tom Fullarton hardly stir my loins, but unless we had a surprise new method of delivering the ball inside 50 anyone would be better than creating an even bigger void for van Rooyen to disappear in. Ben Brown was more useful on one leg last year than anyone has been so far this season. Never mind though, because after a half of miserable toil we had a big secret weapon in attack - the guy who played one of the pound-for-pound worst seasons as a key forward in the modern era. To his credit, Petty did make a difference for a few minutes. Until the surprise element wore off and our attack screeched to a stop again.

Watching Goodwin unconvincingly try to put on a brave face at the press conference would make me sad, but "What were you trying to achieve here?" would be a reasonable question. I don't know if any particular key forward could have rescued us, but this was a long, sad, demise from the Mad Minute to two goals in a half. At one in an incredibly tedious first half, our best delivery into attack was a shank off the side of the boot. How did anyone who is paid to think about this stuff think any of this was a good idea?

If there's any good news, it's that we probably won't be invited back to Adelaide Oval next year. The midday Barossa Valley spot will probably draw more interest from our fans than any other fixture, but any more 'entertainment' like this and they'll fixture us on an oil rig against thin air. Might kick a decent score. Might all fall over the side after a minute.

It's hard to remember what happened without prompting. I just remember getting the ball forward occasionally, but never looking even remotely threatening. We were getting the ball out of the middle a lot, and fat lot of good that did us. Credit to Gawn for taking over at the bounces and trying to do it all himself, but christ on a bike we make things look difficult. 

It's nonsensical that our highest scoring and most fluent performance of the year was on a soaking wet ground with five first gamers, and really should have ended with a win. After this I'm not sure we'd beat Richmond, West Coast or Mordialloc. Obviously (!!!) we're going to win a game somewhere, but how much slurry needs to go under the bridge first? By the time May was hobbling off looking like he'd just burst his foot things were almost becoming laughable.

Might have guessed how this was going when we had a bunch of inside 50s at the start, conceded the first goal, then Pickett booted a close range snap that he'd have kicked with his eyes closed in the past OOF. He was good again, but somebody has to rip out a genuinely match-winning performance eventually. There are little moments and five minutes bursts, but nothing sustainable. Not to harp on the obvious, but it would also help if we scored more than 57. This is a score you might win with once in a while, but not the way we're going. Pickett did get one, and that was it for the quarter. Then they generously flattened Langdon after a mark at the start of the second quarter and maybe things could only get better? Except for the bit about not getting another goal until after half time. 

So that's one goal we 100% guaranteed by our own actions in a half. Which is nice. This is a credit to a defence that was Lever-less, without May for several minutes, and on red alert for the ball coming back towards them about 11 seconds after they disposed of it. Also thanks to Essendon for only having slightly more of a forward line than us. 

I was about to drink turpentine when the Petty into attack move was revealed just before the start of the third quarter, and thought about upgrading to quaffing nuclear waste when Essendon goalled a minute after the restart. To his credit, Petty did use the surprise element for a mark/goal, which was rare enough for us that it should be highlighted. Just when you thought it might be his second coming as a forward, he didn't go near another goal. I bet it will still be enough to tempt them to play him there for the rest of the year and he'll kick another 5.8.

But it was the start of our best period of the game, which isn't saying much but it momentarily injected some excitement into this dreary slopfest. The giant comedy hook was called on for Henderson, who had narrowly fallen short of capturing the coveted record for negative metres gained, with -21 from just four disposals. This stat is as flimsy as hitouts and inside 50s combined but I'm always up for a record breaking performance.

We don't know the exact MFC high mark, but this article says Jack Watts once turned 27 disposals into -34 metres. That gives original recipe Jack line honours, but Henderson wins on handicap for losing more ground per disposal. It doesn't matter which way they go as long as we win, and that's the big difference between this game and Round 18, 2010. I was so angered by the commentary of Dwayne Russell and Tony Shaw that this momentous occasion bypassed me, but he did get an apology in the votes despite describing a couple of his handballs as "pure bollocks". 

Watts is reported to have had a flying shot on goal at one point, so that must count as a few positive metres but you do get the feeling they're making some of this shit up. Surely actual industry professionals don't take this figure seriously. Definitely not us, we're flat out taking scoring seriously. But it does offer the chance for a bit of pissfarting around, so I challenge random MFC players to go for -50 by the end of the year. Let's collect some world records that don't involve the biggest losses in VFL/AFL history.

It started getting a little bit interesting when Fritsch kicked a nice snap from the boundary line. After becoming a father during the week he did the classic baby rocking celebration, much to the disgust of people who think out of form footy players should be attacked by wild dogs. I was just happy that he kicked any goal, and there was another just around the corner via our second 50/goal for post-mark clattering. My pulse rate nearly got above 12 when Melksham pulled down a big mark and set up Pickett to cut the lead to 10. 

At least he held it, unlike the Essendon player who will probably get nominated for Mark of the Week despite never even remotely controlling the ball before it burst free on hitting the ground. We replied to their settler, but just in case you thought there was an over correction after Adelaide sooked up last week, we conceded a goal when May had the ball punched from his hands mid-mark. If it was up to me I'd set such a ruthlessly high bar that barely anything questionable would be paid.

That left us within range, but still highly unlikely to win. As if we had consecutive good quarters in us. If Rivers converted his hopeful ping at the start we might have scared them into getting the wobbles, but alas no, and we were soon conceding at the other end. God knows who Jye Menzie is, but he's certainly on the Kingsley Klub shortlist after this. 

The official Petracca 'Fresh Start Doomsday Clock' ticked a little closer to midnight when he was run down storming an open goal and did a kick that looked like the one which finally convinced him to leave the game on King's Birthday.

You can't deny there was some improvement from last week. For instance, against Geelong we were on six goals halfway through the last quarter and didn't get another one. This time we risked excitement by kicking an eighth but it was all for nothing. I was determined to stick it out until the final siren, then Essendon kicked an exclamation mark goal with 17 seconds left and I didn't have the energy to wait through another centre bounce - including the inevitable repeat from the umpires who wouldn't just give up and throw the bloody thing in the air - and got on with my life. Just a reminder that we play 18 more games this season.

2025 Allen Jakovich Medal
5 - Ed Langdon
4 - Kysaiah Pickett
3 - Jake Bowey
2 - Max Gawn
1 - Jake Melksham

Apologies - only because they were in the general melee for the last spots - to McDonald and Petracca

Leaderboard
It feels like a year where something really weird could happen with this award, but chances are that surprise candidates like Bowey and Lindsay won't hold out for the full season. Hopefully they do, or a shock new contender emerges, because statistical wankery is one of the few appealing things left for this season.

9 - Max Gawn (LEADER: Jim Stynes Medal for Ruckman of the Year), Clayton Oliver
8 - Jake Bowey (LEADER: Marcus Seecamp Medal for Defender of the Year)
7 - Xavier Lindsay (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Christian Petracca
5 - Kade Chandler, Ed Langdon, Harvey Langford, Tom McDonald, Kysaiah Pickett
2 - Jake Lever, Christian Salem
1 - Jake Melksham, Harry Sharp, Tom Sparrow

Aaron Davey Medal for Goal of the Year
Fritsch from the boundary line just because the celebration will annoy the sort of people who deserve to be annoyed. Windsor in Round 1 still the clubhouse leader. 

Next Week
A winless Melbourne against Fremantle at the MCG. I've seen this before, but won't hold my breath for a miracle comeback if they're 50 points up at half time again. We'll be lucky to score 50, so the biggest intrigue of the week is whether we get more than the 19,423 nutters who turned up in 2008. With a long weekend, the death spiral on-field, and fans who are happy to find something else to do at the best of times I think we'll struggle. If the forecast rain happens they'll need to drag innocent people in off the street.

Even if we hadn't spontaneously combusted this year, it's odd that our first three home games are all against interstate teams. Now by the time the profitable games turn up we'll be unable to attend due to an unfortunate toaster/bathtub interface. That's what happens when you blow a chance to establish yourself at the top of the ladder and pick up a generation of fans on the way. Now that the MCG are penny-pinching tightwads I can't even be sad without having some wanker sitting three seats away.

It's hard to even fake pretending to know how selection works when the VFL pulled up after three weeks so a handful of semi-professionals could play a state game nobody cared about. It's already a Mickey Mouse competition, would anyone really care if we just replaced the state squad with top-ups and carried on? So all I'm going off is the previous week, 

Assuming May's foot didn't expand to the size of a Sherrin overnight, I'll assume they're not going to do something mad like play Petty forward all game so Turner comes back. Any chance of giving old Disco a crash course in rucking during the week so van Rooyen doesn't have to do it? Or remove the stone of 'Poor Old' from Tom Fullarton and attach the stone of 'Playing In A Shambles'. Perhaps a bit extreme to do both, but it's not like we won't just hoof the ball in there like mad bastards anyway. 

Please do not subject me to the fantasy that Johnson is going to do anything as a key forward, maybe if he was playing for Adelaide and had all sorts of cover, but not in this team. And I'm yet to be convinced that Henderson can overcome playing in a piss poor shambles of a side. Might've walked into 10 other clubs and looked great, but not here. I'll welcome him back later, and when you look at our depth there won't be any other option soon, but we're not running the Make A Wish Foundation here, take your medicine like the rest of the fringe players.

I don't see the point of Sharp as the sub if his gimmick is running all day, but he doesn't really justify playing four full quarters at the moment. If they do the obvious and rotate Henderson out, he'll be the last man standing of the Round 1 debutantes to 'enjoy' the full 0-6 experience. I bet they pick Billings and Howes, then send Petty forward.

We will lose by a margin that will cause much anxiety and Pickett will probably try to switch benches halfway through.

IN: Brown, Turner
OUT: Henderson, Spargo (omit)
LUCKY: Sharp (remains sub), Sparrow, van Rooyen, Viney
UNLUCKY: Johnson, POTF

Final thoughts
Best to have something else to do in your life other than footy or you'll go coco bananas by June.

Felines gently defecate on kitty litter

It's a bit late for honourable losses, but given that I automatically expect any visit to Kardinia Park to become a repeat of 186 this result ended up a few goals better off than expected. That doesn't make up for spending most of the game making goalscoring look more complicated than The Manhattan Project. Any team that kicks six in four quarters deserves to lose, and if they're averaging one per last quarter a month into the season (three of which were consolations when games were long lost) it's time to get an early start on Gather Round by gathering everybody around to watch the white flag go up.

On this form you wouldn't trust Geelong against good sides, but they didn't have much trouble holding this steam-powered, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-style relic from a bygone era at bay. It was most of the players you recognised from happier times, playing like the Paul Roos led teams that had to prioritise dignity over scoring. In 2014 we got 60.72 points a game, now we've emerged from off-season turmoil with all our star players intact, bet heavily on improved performance... and are averaging 62 a month into the year.

Apologies if you're here for old school outrage, but I'm at the stage of sleep difficulties where Tyler Durden is about to show up and form a militia. Other than a couple of light frustrated obscenities in front of the children, I couldn't work myself into a frenzy. It helps to have emotionally conceded the season midway through the third quarter against Gold Coast. As usual, you're welcome to feel however you like about the long distance premiership, but it satisfied my urges enough not to go full Carlton fan and glare at players outside training, spraypaint the road, or create a scene with a gun stuffed down the strides.

Still, things are a bit grim when there's 19 games left and the most exciting thing to play for is ruining the value of our traded first round draft pick. But that's where we're at. Spare me fantasy comparisons to when Sydney came back from 0-6 to play finals. In the first of two Alan Partridge references in this post:

My thoughts on the coach haven't changed since last week, but if he's not going to pull the plug voluntarily Goodwin has to go down swinging and pull out all sorts of wacky manoeuvres (NB: not playing Petty forward) to try and squeeze some life out of this side. I'm eternally grateful that "I was just following orders" style adherence to system got us to the top once, but it would be legitimately tragic if he went out presiding over tedious slop like this every week. If there's some amazing breakthrough around the corner it's in an advanced state of camouflage.

I still don't think this season is a 2007-style prelude to catastrophe, but then again I didn't realise that was either until opening the next season with a triple figure loss. The good news is we've been offered a handy distraction from on-field disaster, unfortunately it comes via Christian Petracca's emotional exit at full time. Stand by for a week of journalists feigning concern for him while practically screaming "Look at his face! Just look at his face!" while the footage repeats on a loop.

You'd think the footage doesn't bode well for the future, but unless you're a mindreader or he breaks down and admits all mid-Cannelloni cook on Instagram nobody can be sure where his reaction sits on the scale between 'frustrated for footy reasons' and 'about to demand contract termination in the Supreme Court'. I've never had my internal organs rearranged in front of 80,000 people or been best on ground in a Grand Final (still time for one of those to happen), so my view on what he should do next is irrelevant but I'm betting hard that the words "fresh start" are going to be used about one minute after this cursed season finishes.

I appreciate him still having a massive go in a rapidly disintegrating circumstances, but am suspicious that the fresh start will only be valid at massive clubs. Maybe we can get our first pick back from Essendon? Alternatively, Christian could be the rallying point for supergluing the club together and do a big Wolf Of Wall Street style "I'm staying" speech, cementing his status as a club legend by going down with the ship. It wouldn't be the first time we've drowned him.

Hopefully he was just infused by the overwhelming Kardinia Park spirit of Gary Ablett Jr and realising that there's something to be said for pocketing shitloads of money to play several seasons for a rotten team. There should be plenty of money left when Pickett legs it. Maybe Oliver too. And somebody you never expected to go, Neal-Bullen style. It's not like the league's hottest free agents will be flocking to join us at this rate. Which is a shame, especially after getting a first hand look at the team which made an art form from plugging gaps.

The idea of blowing everything up and trying to draft our way out of the toilet doesn't appeal, but I'm slowly going from a "stiff shit, you signed the contract" mindset to "fit in or fuck off". If we're going down it may as well be with people who want to be there. I've always said that if you only let me have one I'd take Petracca over Oliver, but am prepared to fall in behind the first man to make clear that he wants to lead the recovery. I'm sadly resigned to Pickett going, but like a less-urgent version of ANB to Adelaide there's a difference when you're sure it's about friends and family, not social media metrics.  

Anyway, this game can be summed up a lot quicker than most (but stay tuned for a few thousand bonus words) - the midfield got beaten but did enough to stay in the game, the backline had a few high profile cock-ups but held up well enough, and we finished with an indefensibly shit score after attacking like the criminally deranged. On the other hand, Geelong had something resembling a forward line and won without a scare while neutral viewers everywhere fled like they were on the deck of the Titanic.

I disputed the throwaway claim on commentary that we've lost our "identity" over the last few weeks. This is like ripping the mask off and revealing that it was old style Melbourne all along. There was also much wankery about starting Fritsch and Oliver on the bench, as if it's 1987 and they were going to sit there for half a game. Naming Spargo as the sub in his 100th game was a bit harsh, but if I'd had my way he'd be stuck on 99 after playing for Casey so you take what you're offered. I'm not trying to banish Charleston forever, and recognise that he's only played five quarters in the last year, but that's what we've got a Reserves side for. 

We've got plenty of premiership players who are firing blanks after a month to get going. Bowey, Rivers, Salem, Sparrow etc... (whose low numbers should be read in conjunction with him do a tagging job here) have had their moments, but try to find somebody in our team who has improved from last year. Chandler had the best game of his life against North, hasn't really done much otherwise. Maybe McDonald, who looked on the verge of choking an umpire to death in late 2024 but has been a solid defender and didn't get nearly enough credit for his performance here. I'd still send him forward. We'd need a religious miracle to save this season, but you can start doing the right thing by the other young forwards now. Prepare to read words to this effect in every post for the next 19 games.

During the week a Geelong fan attempted to convince me that the Cats were finished and every chance of unexpectedly falling over here. If I'd been gullible enough to believe that he'd have followed-up by trying to sell me Amway. We've lost from hotter favouritism, but I couldn't even picture a fictional scene of us winning. Would've been funny though. And we did get the first goal, courtesy of a massive throw in the build-up that had the locals howling like they don't get looked after 99% of the time. 

Later we did one of our better kicks to a lead all season only for the umpire to suffer a distance meltdown and call it 'not 15', shortly before paying a couple of five metre chips at the other end. Fans kept howling as if hard done by, but everyone else knows if the famous 2021 game had been played in front of a crowd they'd we'd have been lucky if the decisive 50 wasn't paid the other way. But umpiring was far from the reason for losing. Having said that, I'm not one for bronx cheers but it was wild when the 800 Melbourne fans in the crowd delivered one after a free kick that came through the TV loud and clear. 

What about we get a slice of the zany umpiring action by creating decent contests in front of goal rather than punting it straight to defenders or dropping marks? I'd understand chipping the ball around if it reliably ended in players standing on their own in front of goal, but right now you're just making it harder for forwards who are already struggling. It's been proven that we can't just madly punt the ball inside 50 without it going *twang* straight down the other end, but some sort of pace on it might help. Can't be worse than what we've been doing until now.

There's something to be said for not yet having Lever and May on the ground at the same time this year, but unless they're going to save about 10 opposition goals a game they can't be the difference. They could help keep the score down to a level that we might cover, but you can't cover shit with six goals a game. I don't see why you'd play May forward instead of McDonald (yes, that again) but he may eventually insist on having a go just to give some other bastard the joy of watching their hard defensive work repeatedly go up in smoke seconds later.

May got plenty of the ball (and how could you not in our defence?) but still looked a bit ropey. Their first goal came from a smother after he made it ridiculously obvious that he was going to thump the ball long down the boundary line. It's a fair bet that's what we're going to do at any time, but this also involved the most obvious wind-up of all time before the kick.

At the other end, van Rooyen was marking like he'd dipped his arms in dishwashing liquid but I stand by my contentious claims that we've absolutely massacred him in the last year. I understood why people were ready to riot when the idea of recruiting Taylor Walker for a couple of seasons was raised (and yes, he followed some spicy racist gear with the worst apology video of all time but we're just talking footy here), but after seeing JVR, Fritsch and [rotating cast of third forwards] sink like a stone I wish we'd found somebody experienced to give them a hand and take some of the heat away. Somebody to do a similar job to Melksham, who might be on his last legs but can walk into the side and instantly know how to play his position. None of these people can change tings on their own though, and dare I pull out the ultimate Goodwin cliche, the 'connection' was shithouse.

In defence of Fritsch after a rotten start to the year, and having not done much at the end of 2024, this was his best game for the year. Still nowhere near his best but some progress I suppose. Maybe it was the reintroduction of Pickett, whose provides the same service to our forward line as the needle to Uma Thurman's chest in Pulp Fiction. Fritsch still didn't kick any goals, and at this point I'd take cheap handballs into the square to get things moving. The commentators who slaughtered him for being selfish at one point obviously didn't see the bit last week where he and Petracca politely stood aside and let the ball bounce. It's the same level of reaching for the Big Book O' Melbourne Cliches as when they say we'll fancy our chances of beating Freo at the MCG like it's the late 90s and they haven't easily beaten us there twice in a row. 

I'd like to have supported the Fox commentary, but was happy to maintain the rage against their excessively large scoreboard once it was clear BT wasn't involved in the Channel 7 call. If we ever win another game I might watch both versions to make sure no memorably shit commentary goes unreported. That's if 7 ever shows us again, after yet another boring as batshit free-to-air performance I they're probably trying to on-sell the rights for our games to Optus Vision.

Pickett didn't kick a goal either but he just gave us a bit of life in the forward line and on the ball. He is welcome to jump the queue and be the first to announce he's staying no matter what, but I don't know why anyone would do that until there's some certainty about the future.

Still, in spite of our god awful attacking efforts, missed Geelong opportunities and some desperate defence meant that it was still one goal apiece late in the quarter. Nice throwback to the last year, when the Cats were the last victims of our classic brand of football terrorism. I was happy to destroy the experience for non-MFC viewers and make it to the first break like that. Hardly likely to win like that, but better than being 46-0 down. Then they went through us like an open door and found Dangerfield on his own inside 50. 

It must be nice when you can recruit a top player at the peak of his powers, get everything possible out of him as a midfielder, then just roll him forward to kick a few goals in his dotage. Otherwise known as Petracca's career path when he's playing for Carlton or Collingwood. Speaking of, the Double DemonTime goal we conceded straight away came after he got the first touch out of the middle, which says a lot about how we're going at the moment. There are good players trying hard and doing decent things, but not enough of them, and without any hope of regularly scoring if we do get the ball. I know nobody wants to be playing like this, but word 'pus' springs to mind.

Meanwhile, for a venue that is guaranteed national TV coverage about 11 times a year, Kardinia Park has the most tinpot collection of fence sponsors since the MCG used to advertise BANANAS in the early 90s. If anyone from whatever Bisinella is reads this, please appreciate that the slogan "your key to the community" is burnt into my brain. The real key to this joint is a shitload of government money, but that's what you get by representing an actual geographical area (see also Footscray being given the Western Oval for free) instead of a general, heartland-free region. If bikie union delegates are going to sweep up taxpayer money anyway somebody may as well get a community asset out of it.

After quarter time (about five minutes of Geelong threatening to blow the doors off) we got our once vaunted contested game going and it became a bit of a stalemate. Better than the alternative, but that second goal before the break did us no favours. I remember coming back from seven goals down to win and clubbing them by 80 points within a few weeks, now the only hope of shocking the world was to drag the game down from spectacle, to slog, beyond World War I style trench warfare, and back to something resembling prehistoric man's struggle for survival.

It was going so (relatively) well, that even after they pulled back one of our surprise consecutive goals we belted out of the middle for Langford to reply. More Langford please, and the less said about the questionable decisions to start him as sub on debut, then drop him the better. It's sunrise/sunset, as he arrives while Viney is looking less likely than ever to impact a game. Even as a 'keep the band together at all costs' fanatic, I think we might have been rolled into giving him such a lengthy contract extension. Fingers crossed for a heart-warming comeback where he forcibly barges us to a win. And if not, he's done enough not to have an entire career judged on this fakakta season.

At first I was also fretting about Gawnism ending in the same place where it had achieved 'organised religion' status 10 years ago. There was a dropped mark at the start that had me nervously adjusting the collar and starting to sweat, and while this wouldn't be in his top 100 games the great man willed his way into making some sort of difference. Well done to the coach on making it two weeks without unnecessarily discussing Maximum's personal business in public.

For a few minutes at the end of the second quarter we were on top, but missed a couple of crucial shots to keep the margin to something that might believably be overturned if all the Geelong players got the squirts again. There was a lucky escape when Jeremy Cameron forgot that he was one of the great goalkickers of modern times and missed a set shot snap from 20 metres out. Then just when you thought we'd safely navigated to half time Petty gave away an after the siren free for vigorously abseiling off Dangerfield. I've got a near-fanatical belief in him as our long-term full back but christ he's had a few moments this season. But who hasn't? Only Judd McVee, Shane McAdam and anybody else untainted by everything that's happened since the North practice match.

Our chances of making it interesting were helped by Turner goalling after a Pickett pass that was the equivalent of seeing a rainbow over the scene of a natural disaster. It's described here as "ugly but effective" so maybe I was just fanging for any Kysaiah content and was just happy that one of our forwards held a mark. If there was any time for the Goody '25 masterplan to click and swing in like a pirate to save us this was it, but instead there were just another few minutes of fruitless attack while Geelong always seemed to be about three kicks from scoring. I had 0.0% faith that we'd get close enough to scare them, much less find a winning score. We didn't even end up with a decent losing score, but didn't get thrashed so I suppose that's something. 

While the margin was still manageable under normal circumstances we obviously weren't going to win. No chance of premiership points, but we did get odd three quarter time footage of Goodwin doing an exaggerated wink at somebody while doing a backwards-walking version of Partridge's cockney walk. The polite thing to do would be to include the footage of the current event that's being discussed, but it's easier just to copy and paste this and let you imagine what it looked like. 

The only problem is that when I look back on this post in a few years I'll also have NO IDEA what this was referencing. So that's something to look for in the future.

Technically, you never know what might have happened if Fritsch had kicked his set shot at the start. But come on, I think we all secretly knew it would just delay the inevitable. Didn't matter because he's gone full Pegleg Pete and missed. It's not as easy as "get him marks closer to goal and profit" but if we could get him marks closer to goal...

My suspicion that we didn't have a rampant finish in us was confirmed when we only kicked two more behinds by the end. On 2025 pace conceding five goals - including one to somebody who looked like Kryten from Red Dwarf in a black wig - was only a minor collapse It wasn't the sort of life-altering humiliation I'd expected, but may as well have been for all the good it did our season. I'll just keep going for the rest of the season and see how long it takes to accidentally say something contentious that ends up in the papers.

2025 Allen Jakovich Medal
5 - Tom McDonald
4 - Christian Petracca
3 - Clayton Oliver
2 - Max Gawn
1 - Kysaiah Pickett

Apologies to Bowey, May, and Melksham

Leaderboard
Some normality returns to the board as our four time winner recaptures the lead. Does he deserve it? Well, nobody else does so someone's got to be in first place. He's nowhere near his all-time peak but a falling sea drops all boats, so we wish Clayton all the best on his quest to snatch a fifth Jako and a nice farm on the Surf Coast. 

9 - Clayton Oliver
7 - Max Gawn (LEADER: Jim Stynes Medal for Ruckman of the Year), Xavier Lindsay (LEADER: Rising Star Award), Christian Petracca
5 - Jake Bowey (JOINT LEADER: Marcus Seecamp Medal for Defender of the Year), Kade Chandler, Harvey Langford, Tom McDonald (JOINT LEADER: Marcus Seecamp Medal for Defender of the Year)
2 - Jake Lever, Christian Salem
1 - Kysaiah Pickett, Harry Sharp, Tom Sparrow

Aaron Davey Medal for Goal of the Year
It's Langford again (I think he won last week, CBF checking), but Windsor is still the overall leader.

Next Week
The defence of our ex-first round pick begins in an unimaginative rematch of the first Gather Round against Essendon at Adelaide Oval. By next year we'll either be playing at, or against Sturt, but this would be the most boring fixture of all time if not for a) the drafting implications, and b) the fact that we might be able to set Essendon fans off into a Carlton-esque coach sacking bloodlust with an upset win. 

Last time we drew about 5000 to this game but got partial credit for a crowd of 33,832 due to it being a double header. This time we're the alleged main event, several hours after Carlton will either have left us behind as the worst Victorian team in the competition or done something double piss funny and lost to West Coast. If that happens the cleaners won't have enough time between games to mop up the blood and vom stained aisles before a few thousand masochists wander in to watch us struggle to a paltry score. Eight months ago we beat them with 13 goals, in the wet, without Gawn. If we kick 13 goals in the dry, with or without Gawn I'll be flabbergasted. 

We could still win, but it's getting to the point in the 2007 repeat where they've got to send our stress level through the roof by losing a couple of thrillers. I'm still waiting for the apology for that outrageous James McDonald deliberate decision against Port but after re-reading that post I'm pleased to say that I've matured and no longer feel like sitting against a tree and crying over footy results. That would involve going outside.

In the spirit of celebrating our demise by doing wild shit, it's my pleasure to report that Poor Old Tom Fullarton kicked five goals in the Reserves and in the absence of anything else to get excited over, I'm harnessing the POTFmentum and taking him to Adelaide. Buggered if I know what role he plays alongside Turner and van Rooyen, but in the spirit of appointing Choke Yourself With A Tie as our interim senior coach when the dust settles, let's die laughing. 

Otherwise, based on nothing other than reviewing VFL stats where nothing else stands out it's probably time to give Laurie another spin, and whether he knows how to play or reward Kynan Brown for having more tackles than anyone else but starting him in any position other than substitute. Fark, I don't care. Celebrate Deakyn Smith's return to Casey by picking him as if he was still on our senior list, it's not like we're going to have any premiership points to hand back.

IN: Brown, Fullarton, Laurie, Lever
OUT: Henderson, Sharp, Spargo (omit)
LUCKY: Fritsch, Rivers, van Rooyen, Viney
UNLUCKY: Any fit person on the list

Final thoughts
Here's a preview of what we've got coming up for the rest of the season on Demonblog.com:
* Unconvincing defence of the coach
* Demands to play Tom McDonald forward
* Baffling references to the time Lt. Frank Drebin pretended to be Enrico Palazzo 
* Unhelpful comparisons to past seasons
* Grudging acceptance that the good times are over
* Sad reminiscing about players at their peak
* An offer for Goodwin to visit the Towers, watch a replay of the Grand Final on my couch and cry together
* Alternating understanding and outrage at players doing a runner
* Cheap potshots at the media
* Even less convincing suggestions that this is a one off and we'll be back in 2026