Now its time to see what we have at our hands going into 2025 

Get games into Tholstrup, AMW, Laurie, Taj, Turner, Sestan and Jeffo

21 hours ago, david_neitz_is_my_dad said:

I wonder if 2025 will be it for Steven May and Max Gawn.

Well if its like this why would you want to go on in this manner?

16 hours ago, Dee*ceiving said:

There is a core chunk of our list that still have a chance to play close to their best footy if fit, eg. they are young enough to believe the cliff hasn't arrived yet. Breaking out the depth chart it doesn't look disastrous yet IMV. 

Still capable of best footy 

1. Petracca 
2. Lever
3. Fritsch 
4. Pickett 
5. Langdon
6. Viney
7. Neal-Bullen
8. Oliver 
9. Bowey
10. Fritsch

Hopefully still capable of best footy

11. Gawn 
12. May 
13. Sparrow
14. Petty
15. Salem

Potential to improve further

16. Van Rooyen
17. McVee
18. Windsor
19. Rivers
20. Howes
21. Turner
22. Tholstrup

Unknowns – can they still/will they make the grade?  

23. Sestan
24. Wowoedin
25. Melksham
26. Spargo
27. Billings
28. McDonald
29. Laurie
30. Jefferson
31. Verrall
32. Hore
33. Adams
34. Chandler
35. Moniz-Wakefield
36. K Brown
37. Kentfield
38. McAdam

Moving on (delist / retire)

39. Smith
40. B Brown
41. Fullarton
42. Schache
43. Farris White
44. Tomlinson
45. Hunter
46. Brayshaw

 

Fullarton, we don't even know if he's up to it.

Pretty harsh on him.

Edited June 12, 2024Jun 12 by YesitwasaWin4theAges

19 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

Fullarton, we don't even know if he's up to it.

Pretty harsh on him.

VFL stats and Demonland podcasters don't point to much hope, but I'd love to be proven wrong

16 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

I cannot see us seriously competing for a premiership in 2025 but I think we should be aim to try to win the 2026/27 flags if Max can hold his form and we can recruit perfectly. But the key to list management is in the salary cap – that is paying players less than they are worth. At the moment, we have a few players who are being significantly overpaid. We therefore need to do a similar strategy to Collingwood when they let Grundy and Treloar go.

Oliver’s decline is partly due to his poor pre-season, but I think it is also the speed of the game has gone past him. He has never been a great kick and the opposition inside mids are getting bigger and faster each year. I think we need to get off his contract, which has 6 years to run. He is playing like a $400k player, not the $1m player we are paying. I still think there are desperate clubs that would part for a decent pick and pay his full salary (like Adelaide or St Kilda).

Salem is another player we should look to get off contract, which has 2 years to run. He has completely lost his pace and drive and cannot kick over 45m. He is not worth much in terms of picks, but I feel we would be better off putting his money into other existing contracts and freeing up money in future years. We are also better off giving his games, in the easiest position on the ground, to a younger player.

Viney has also gone backwards but he only has one more year under contract. Unless another club came with a great offer, we are better off keeping Viney.

May is another player who we might look to trade given his age and where our flag window sits. (I think he is probably giving fair value for his contract but he is declining.) Brisbane needs to trade its first round pick in order to land Ashcroft and May could be part of a deal (along with later picks for points) to get that pick.

Any Petty trade with Adelaide needs to be over fair value. We know Petty is still a good payer and he is down due to lack of preseason and playing forward. I would not trade him unless Adelaide come the party, knowing that we will still get compensated if he leaves the year after.

That leaves the following core players to build around for a 2026 tilt: Petracca, Gawn, Lever, Fritsch, Pickett, Bowey, Langdon, Sparrow, Van Rooyen, McVee, Petty, Windsor, Rivers, Sparrow, Chandler, Woewodin, K Brown, Tholstrup, Turner, Howes (and TMac, Viney and maybe Melksham as veterans in 2025).

At the draft, we need to focus more heavily on pace and kicking skills.

Not sure we can rely on Max in two years time, especially if we keep running him at 90% game time every game. 
Think the club really has to make a call in the coming weeks whether or not we will make top 4 next year. 
If not then perhaps May could be the big name that gets sacrificed. Would be a good fit for a number of clubs and would have trade value. 
But to do that we need to lock in one or both of Tmac and Tommo into a new contract for next year. This is why I feel we must make decisions now as other clubs would already be taking to both of them. 
Same goes for Petty- if we think we are a real chance for top 4 next year then I wouldn’t let him go this year. If we are going to have a mini 2 year rebuild I’d put him back in defence next game and let him get some form and trade value back. 
Id still love to keep Petty if he will sign a new contract. 

7 minutes ago, Dee*ceiving said:

VFL stats and Demonland podcasters don't point to much hope, but I'd love to be proven wrong

I personally thought he was decent on the weekend and would like to see him get a crack at AFL level.

A lot of people have already stamped his card, I'm not one of them yet.

I do think he is a bit of a stop gap though until we find a better option.

We have to remember his pre season was ruined but an 8 week hamstring injury, which would've set him back quite a bit of a 200cm player.

I would agree we should give him a run of games before season's end to see what he's got. 

Turner not likely to be significantly better and Petty definitely should return to the backline, though he was a touch better vs Pies. Our backline looks especially slow at the moment sans Lever

On 11/06/2024 at 09:35, RedFox said:

No matter what happens between now and the remainder of the year, I plead with the supporters to continue to rock up to games. The only way we will be able to attract free agents and talent is if we consolidate the success of this generation and do not go back to the dark days of 13, 14, 15k crowds at the MCG. Let's continue to get around the group that have brought us so much happiness over the last 3 seasons, and nurture the young guys coming up.

None more vital than Saturday week evening v North.   Dreadful timing for us how we are currently underperforming v a team who struggle to get a quorum of supporters, but please true supporters turn up and give your full voiced support.    Empty blocks will ensure that we return to graveyard time slot like we always had until 2021-2023.   

On 11/06/2024 at 09:06, Doug Reemer said:

Cmon mate.

They aren’t trading Sparrow, he’s not having a good year, but they’re playing him on a wing and as a High Half fwd when he is an inside mid.

Give Laurie more than 1 or 2 games and see if he can show something, he plays in the midfield at Casey have a look at him at AFL in the middle. Set and forget Woewoden in the 22.

Agree with BBB Shache 🤝 
 

You can call me crazy, but if the right deal came along and we could trade Salem for a high end pick/s and then use that to get a genuine B+ to A grade midfielder. I’d do it in a heart beat. I love him, but he is injury prone and slow, great skills and is tougher than he looks but unless he can consistently start to show his 2021 form he is just another half back.

Apart from our forward like licking windows for 2 years, if we don’t try and replace Brayshaw we could have Carey Ablett and Farmer up forward and we’d still be [censored].

I’d also be paying out Stafford and getting an actual Forward line coach.

 

Top post.

Not sure if I agree on Sparrow though.

Against the pies he accumulated 14 disposals. He started very well and 8 of those possessions he amassed in the first quarter.

This for me says a lot about him. Although I do think he gives a lot of effort ( his tackling),  he rarely backs up a very good game with another. 

He's also not a ball magnet and for a midfielder, I don't feel he reads the play as well as he should. Players like Oliver and Trac, have an great instinctual feel for the flow and direction of the ball and are in the thick of it so to speak. 

 

6 hours ago, rjay said:

 

Time for Sparrow to go back...

I’d certainly try it, I think he has more of a future there than on a wing.

6 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

I’d certainly try it, I think he has more of a future there than on a wing.

To me he doesn't find the footy enough...he might be better with it coming at him.

edit: he's definitely no winger.

Edited June 13, 2024Jun 13 by rjay

On 11/06/2024 at 15:48, Bombay Airconditioning said:

So is Luke Beveridge, we’re all grateful for 2021 but maybe a change is needed.

Just saying,

Beveridge : 1 flag, 1 runner up

Goodwin   : 1 flag

= Bevo currently ahead on points , IMO.

 

6 hours ago, Colm said:

Not sure we can rely on Max in two years time, especially if we keep running him at 90% game time every game. 
Think the club really has to make a call in the coming weeks whether or not we will make top 4 next year. 
If not then perhaps May could be the big name that gets sacrificed. Would be a good fit for a number of clubs and would have trade value. 
But to do that we need to lock in one or both of Tmac and Tommo into a new contract for next year. This is why I feel we must make decisions now as other clubs would already be taking to both of them. 
Same goes for Petty- if we think we are a real chance for top 4 next year then I wouldn’t let him go this year. If we are going to have a mini 2 year rebuild I’d put him back in defence next game and let him get some form and trade value back. 
Id still love to keep Petty if he will sign a new contract. 

So you'd let Max, our Premiership Captain / team barometer and leader / heart of the team go for draft picks and try and hang on to Petty?

Do you remember when we let James McDonald walk and the spirit of the team left with him?

We should try and keep Max until the bitter end.  Would make a great ruck and developmental coach. Losing him would leave a massive void not just in the team, but at the club.

On 11/06/2024 at 09:35, RedFox said:

No matter what happens between now and the remainder of the year, I plead with the supporters to continue to rock up to games. The only way we will be able to attract free agents and talent is if we consolidate the success of this generation and do not go back to the dark days of 13, 14, 15k crowds at the MCG. Let's continue to get around the group that have brought us so much happiness over the last 3 seasons, and nurture the young guys coming up.

None more vital than Saturday week evening v North.   Dreadful timing for us how we are currently underperforming v a team who struggle to get a quorum of supporters, but please true supporters turn up and give your full voiced support.    Empty blocks will ensure that we return to graveyard time slot like we always had until 2021-2023.   

5 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

I’d certainly try it, I think he has more of a future there than on a wing.

Either there or time forward. Not the middle.

Fullarton has been an emergency at least 3 times this year. Our reserves have 3 byes which includes the SANFL v VFL, the bye this weekend and another one.( VFL comp is a joke). Fullarton  probably only played 5 VFL games. Out of the 3 emergency we pick for the seniors , 2 need to play some game time in the Reserves. 

I'm not sure we should trade Petty at least we should drop him due to bad form. Goody needs to go he keeps going with underperformed players.

On 11/06/2024 at 09:35, RedFox said:

No matter what happens between now and the remainder of the year, I plead with the supporters to continue to rock up to games. The only way we will be able to attract free agents and talent is if we consolidate the success of this generation and do not go back to the dark days of 13, 14, 15k crowds at the MCG. Let's continue to get around the group that have brought us so much happiness over the last 3 seasons, and nurture the young guys coming up.

None more vital than Saturday week evening v North.   Dreadful timing for us how we are currently underperforming v a team who struggle to get a quorum of supporters, but please true supporters turn up and give your full voiced support.    Empty blocks will ensure that we return to graveyard time slot like we always had until 2021-2023.   

5 hours ago, D Rev said:

So you'd let Max, our Premiership Captain / team barometer and leader / heart of the team go for draft picks and try and hang on to Petty?

Do you remember when we let James McDonald walk and the spirit of the team left with him?

We should try and keep Max until the bitter end.  Would make a great ruck and developmental coach. Losing him would leave a massive void not just in the team, but at the club.

Absolutely, we have to learn from the McDonald farce. No way we trade Max under any circumstances.

I'm also convinced he has a couple more good years left, seeing as he played very little footy earlier in his career thanks to injury (and his current form remains fantastic). Hoping that means his a little bit fresher than your standard 32 year old ruckman.

12 hours ago, Scipio said:

Absolutely, we have to learn from the McDonald farce. No way we trade Max under any circumstances.

I'm also convinced he has a couple more good years left, seeing as he played very little footy earlier in his career thanks to injury (and his current form remains fantastic). Hoping that means his a little bit fresher than your standard 32 year old ruckman.

Agreed. He's in AA form still and reckon got a few good seasons left. Hopefully his body holds up. Aaron Sandilands made it to 36 and was pretty banged up and Goldstein is 36 in few weeks and still playing pretty good footy.

18 hours ago, D Rev said:

So you'd let Max, our Premiership Captain / team barometer and leader / heart of the team go for draft picks and try and hang on to Petty?

Do you remember when we let James McDonald walk and the spirit of the team left with him?

We should try and keep Max until the bitter end.  Would make a great ruck and developmental coach. Losing him would leave a massive void not just in the team, but at the club.

Pretty sure @Colm said May, not Max.

18 hours ago, D Rev said:

So you'd let Max, our Premiership Captain / team barometer and leader / heart of the team go for draft picks and try and hang on to Petty?

Do you remember when we let James McDonald walk and the spirit of the team left with him?

We should try and keep Max until the bitter end.  Would make a great ruck and developmental coach. Losing him would leave a massive void not just in the team, but at the club.

No I said May if we don’t believe we are going to be in the top 4 next year. 
Don’t  think anybody on Demonland would ever say we should trade Max. 

18 hours ago, Abyssal said:

Just saying,

Beveridge : 1 flag, 1 runner up

Goodwin   : 1 flag

= Bevo currently ahead on points , IMO.

 

Goodwin 3 x top four  finishes and one outright top finish. Bevo zero top 4 finishes. I think Goodwin gets those points back personally. 

Get a grip you lunatics saying to trade Max or May or any of our greats, we need them and need to treat them well so they last another couple of years, no point them giving their all if we're not really going to make it anyway this year but 2025 and 2026 those guys will be vital with our young players too.

Just need to get the young guns firing, and sort out our midfield make sure everyone is fit and healthy and hungry.

47 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

Goodwin 3 x top four  finishes and one outright top finish. Bevo zero top 4 finishes. I think Goodwin gets those points back personally. 

My metric for coaching performance is

1. Premierships

2. Beaten Grand finalists

3. Beaten Preliminary finalists

4. Total Final appearances

I rate making a GF (WB 2021) higher than MFC’s last 4 Finals.

Making the top 4 ( end of the H&A )is completely overshadowed if you then go out in straight sets.

 

 

Edited June 14, 2024Jun 14 by Abyssal

Listing a whole heap of positions that need improving, then stating we draft for them isn't going to work. Beyond the top 30 picks or so you're unlikely to find an A grader that is a significant improvement on our regular first grade players - to do so relys more on luck!

Similarly turning the list over by more than 6 ot so players; means you are likely bringing in 3rd - 5th rounders and other clubs Non required players. Again unlikely to be a significant improvement This gets exabercatered exponentially as we turn over more players. Note: to bring in quality normally requires giving something of quality up, which in turn then requires quality to replace.

We need to go hard for a quality established midfielder, trust our developing forwards will develop, groom Petty as the May replacement and hope we find a gem in the draft.

As such we should throw the bank at T Miller or Brayshaw!