22 minutes ago, Elegt said:

I barely watch the bloke but where have you seen this? 2019 vfl? I wouldve thought burgo wouldve got him ready 

He played 7 or 8 games last year and that was enough for me. He sure looks a beast but hasn't any smarts.Look he may be ok for a stand in but now we have Jackson I think he is surplus. 

2 hours ago, Cards13 said:

It was noted in the most recent scratch match thread Pruess played and "dominated" the ruck but it he was back from injury. Not sure he has the miles in the legs as yet. 

Grundy around the ground is the worry against a TMac or Jackson, if we can break even it goes a long way for us.

Grundy is not that great a threat at the moment, in these circumstances and was quite pedestrian this week against the Crows. Perfect bash and crash target (if necessary) for Preussy across the game and the rare opportunity for AVB to square up on his chest and shoulders should he (Grundy) get cheeky. If we keep Jackson and the Weed up forward, we are better off. Put TMac on the bench under very close instructions across the game.

Don't play Max - he is too valuable as it is.

 

2 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Am I being overly cynical thinking that the reason Gawn wasn’t rested against Adelaide, was due to Goodwin being scared witless of losing that match and having his coaching career thrown into certain doubt? 

Not at all an unreasonable assumption - risk Gawn to save Goodwin. 

I take Nasher's point about Burgess being an expert and obviously Maxy ok to play and not too much risk of damaging his lat further.

But again i question the decision making of the FD, specifically goody's.

Even without the lat injury maxy has carried a massive load this season, barely been off the ground and as goody said himself after the crows game teams have been deliberately smashing him all season. An of course did gain in the crows game. 

Given his importance to our side surely the smart play is to rest him for both the crows and roos game. One to give him much needed rest. And two to avoid the risk of an injury.

I''m to fitness knowledge what martin pakula is to quarantine (paging Webber) but my understanding is fatigue increases the risk of injury and blind freddy could see that, even without a scan showing a back injury, maxy could have done with a rest. It is not as we didn't have options.

Edited August 12, 20205 yr by binman

2 hours ago, Kick_It_To_Pickett said:

Tom Bowne, yes I know he is unreliable, tweeted that Gawn May miss 4-6 weeks.

What both Max & Tim?

If so terrible news!

Sauce (source)?

I could accept that Goodwin and co took a risk with Gawn, but there’s absolutely no way I can accept they took more risk than they otherwise would have purely so Goodwin could save his own bacon. Firstly that’s a low level of integrity I’m not prepared to accuse the coach of when he’s not here to defend himself, and secondly if he was really in that much trouble (which I also don’t accept), then a cheap Gawn-lead win against Adelaide wouldn’t make much difference in the long run. 

The more logical answer is they did it because they thought he’d be right - ie a calculated risk rather than a reckless one. It’s first grade nonsense to suggest it’s a Goodwin-lead conspiracy. 

2 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Am I being overly cynical thinking that the reason Gawn wasn’t rested against Adelaide, was due to Goodwin being scared witless of losing that match and having his coaching career thrown into certain 

2 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Am I being overly cynical thinking that the reason Gawn wasn’t rested against Adelaide, was due to Goodwin being scared witless of losing that match and having his coaching career thrown into certain doubt? 

More silly than cynical!!

55 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Can we confirm you are Simon Goodwin now?

And I'm his mum.

11 minutes ago, Nasher said:

I could accept that Goodwin and co took a risk with Gawn, but there’s absolutely no way I can accept they took more risk than they otherwise would have purely so Goodwin could save his own bacon. Firstly that’s a low level of integrity I’m not prepared to accuse the coach of when he’s not here to defend himself, and secondly if he was really in that much trouble (which I also don’t accept), then a cheap Gawn-lead win against Adelaide wouldn’t make much difference in the long run. 

The more logical answer is they did it because they thought he’d be right - ie a calculated risk rather than a reckless one. It’s first grade nonsense to suggest it’s a Goodwin-lead conspiracy. 

Not sure anyone suggested it was a 'Goodwin-lead conspiracy', but clearly the club, and especially Goodwin given Bartlett's public comments, were under enormous pressure and a loss to a truly terrible team like Adelaide are currently would have added to that in a major way. So with all that being taken into consideration it wouldn't be at all a stretch to think the club captain made the (what he would consider) 'brave' call to front up for that game even if he shouldn't have. I mean, that's not exactly a rarity in AFL culture.

Remember, Gawn declared himself right to play.

2 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

So Darren Burgess calls all over the world and gets clearance for Max to play with his Lat injury and then he hurts his knee late in the game in a completely unrelated incident and he shouldn’t have played?

I’m all for resting players on short breaks and not aggravating existing injuries, but it’s footy, injuries will happen.

Max might be fine, if not we’ll give Preuss a run or carry on with the Jackson and T Mc combination 

2 hours ago, Lord Nev said:

Went into the game with an already sore knee and then a lat injury that should have been a 2 game sit down.

Gets targeted by players in a game we easily would have won without him and will now miss at least those 2 games originally called for.

If you heard Max talking about the injury post-Crows the impression it was a captain's call seemed pretty clear.

Plenty of posters here called for him to not play the Crows game as he would be more needed later.

@Lord Nev how we do know he went into the Adelaide game with "an already sore knee"?

PCL injuries are ruck/contact injuries, are they not? If so, how does McHenry's turd-esque blocks off the ball have anything to do with it?

From what I can see, the medical evidence prior to the Adelaide game suggested playing was unlikely to make the injury any worse, so they chose to play him. He then copped a completely unrelated knee injury.

Linking the decision to the knee injury isn't right, IMO. I'm with @DeeSpencer on this one.

And as to your allegation that it was a captain's call, I'm not sure I agree. His quote:

“Between me, you and everyone else that’s watching the coverage, I did sort tear something up in my shoulder region,” Gawn told Fox Footy post-game. “So I had to sort of be careful and get as much advice as possible.

“We went to different people and got Darren Burgess (to) call all over the world trying to find people that have had the injury.

“It came to a decision that I could probably play. I trained relatively well on the day before the game and I was able to get out there.

“The first half, it did take me a while. At times I thought: ‘Why did I put my hand up?’ But I was able to get into it towards the end.”

I assume you're leaning on the "why did I put my hand up" bit?

Do you think that the club wouldn't have asked Gawn for his input as to whether he felt fit to play?

Based on those quotes, I think it's clear that the club took medical advice on the nature of the injury, and included Gawn's own views in making a decision.

I'm not sure you've got enough to suggest Gawn made some sort of captain's call that overrode some advice to do otherwise.

Edited August 12, 20205 yr by titan_uranus

Mel Bourne l think you are spot on.

3 hours ago, Pulp Fritschon said:

Surely it is time for Preuss to play a few in a row. Give Max a month off. 

I just read today that he played his 1st match for the year last week in the practice match.  It seems logical that he wasn’t picked last week and I wouldn’t bother this week with only 1 game under his belt

24 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

@Lord Nev how we do know he went into the Adelaide game with "an already sore knee"?

PCL injuries are ruck/contact injuries, are they not? If so, how does McHenry's turd-esque blocks off the ball have anything to do with it?

From what I can see, the medical evidence prior to the Adelaide game suggested playing was unlikely to make the injury any worse, so they chose to play him. He then copped a completely unrelated knee injury.

Linking the decision to the knee injury isn't right, IMO. I'm with @DeeSpencer on this one.

And as to your allegation that it was a captain's call, I'm not sure I agree. His quote:

“Between me, you and everyone else that’s watching the coverage, I did sort tear something up in my shoulder region,” Gawn told Fox Footy post-game. “So I had to sort of be careful and get as much advice as possible.

“We went to different people and got Darren Burgess (to) call all over the world trying to find people that have had the injury.

“It came to a decision that I could probably play. I trained relatively well on the day before the game and I was able to get out there.

“The first half, it did take me a while. At times I thought: ‘Why did I put my hand up?’ But I was able to get into it towards the end.”

I assume you're leaning on the "why did I put my hand up" bit?

Do you think that the club wouldn't have asked Gawn for his input as to whether he felt fit to play?

Based on those quotes, I think it's clear that the club took medical advice on the nature of the injury, and included Gawn's own views in making a decision.

I'm not sure you've got enough to suggest Gawn made some sort of captain's call that overrode some advice to do otherwise.

It was reported by various outlets leading up to the North game that Gawn played the Crows with a sore knee. I also seem to recall it being mentioned by the commentary team during the Crows game.

I never said McHenry caused his knee to get worse, but pretty clearly playing a full game, and one where you're being targeted physically, is not exactly going to make you less sore.

Yes, you're correct, he literally said he put his hand up to play and of course he did, that's what AFL captains are expected to do. We've made that mistake before with Viney. I mean really, do you honestly believe a captain and star player for a struggling team in a week where they've been absolutely smashed and his coach is under fire is going to say 'you know what, I'm a bit sore, better sit this one out'.... It just does not happen.

I have it on VERY good authority Gawn was told to miss two games due to the lat injury. Burgess is famously not conservative, so that obviously wasn't by him.

I find it incredibly strange that footy fans here think any player (let alone a captain) wouldn't declare themselves ready to play at every opportunity.

Gawn also said: “There is that added (responsibility) from the captain to potentially go out there and perform."

Edited August 12, 20205 yr by Lord Nev

2 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I’ve contacted Maxy, he’ll be on here soon to find out whether or not he’s playing on the weekend. 

As long as he listens to us this time !!! Demonland is full of experts who are rarely wrong. 

I would say rest Max. Grundy is going on half rat power  and will probably miss too.

I will back our mids in their current form to overcome the Collingwood mids regardless of whether Gawn or Grundy play.

Don't play Gawn. Get him free of injuries, Jackson and TMAC can cope for another game. Grundy out of form.

3 hours ago, Cards13 said:

It was noted in the most recent scratch match thread Pruess played and "dominated" the ruck but it he was back from injury. Not sure he has the miles in the legs as yet. 

Grundy around the ground is the worry against a TMac or Jackson, if we can break even it goes a long way for us.

Jackson, particularly, around the ground vs Grundy could be a fascinating contest.  

36 minutes ago, Demons11 said:

I just read today that he played his 1st match for the year last week in the practice match.  It seems logical that he wasn’t picked last week and I wouldn’t bother this week with only 1 game under his belt

Needs to be put on Job Keeper.

We needed Max to play against Adelaide, if we had lost it without him...

Injuries happen

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

Not sure anyone suggested it was a 'Goodwin-lead conspiracy'...

 

 

3 hours ago, Mel Bourne said:

Am I being overly cynical thinking that the reason Gawn wasn’t rested against Adelaide, was due to Goodwin being scared witless of losing that match and having his coaching career thrown into certain doubt? 

 

Didn't train with the main group tonight.

4 minutes ago, AmDamDemon said:

 

 

I understand that more as a captain feeling the pressure to play when his coaches job is under fire.

Maybe that's different to how it was intended @Mel Bourne?

1 hour ago, Nasher said:

The more logical answer is they did it because they thought he’d be right - ie a calculated risk rather than a reckless one. It’s first grade nonsense to suggest it’s a Goodwin-lead conspiracy. 

Agree. 

But why take any risk. Surely he wasn't worried the crows would beat us. 

Edited August 12, 20205 yr by binman

4 hours ago, Pulp Fritschon said:

 

 

 

Maybe just get Pruess in? He can share the ruck with Jacko 50-50, 60-40 until he builds up. Think this is a better option than TMac. Assuming Gawn needs a few weeks off. 

Not sure Pruess is that kind of player, when was his last AFL game? I just don’t think he’s quite ready to ruck at the top level after injury. He’s been a project since he got to the club. 

5 hours ago, Pulp Fritschon said:

Surely it is time for Preuss to play a few in a row. Give Max a month off. 

Apparently this week was the first competitive footy Preuss has played since getting injured. You’d have to imagine that TMac with match fitness would give us more across the ground than an underdone Preuss (who isn’t particularly great even when fully fit). 

Grundy looked pretty knackered against Adelaide and off a short break either he’ll be very underdone or they might just choose to rest him. 

If there’s doubt on Max then it’s an easy decision for me, give him time. Don’t burn him out. I really wish we’d rested him vs Adelaide but I suspect the decision was left to him and he wanted to play to make sure the club got the win. 

Max on crutches? Torn PCL suspected? WTF! 
I knew our good run with injuries would come back and bite us.