And on a big salary at around 1 million pa. Lukosius has his virtues, but I’m not sure I’d be investing so much cap space there.

3 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Gawn's 33 next season. His body is breaking down with more injuries now and his impact on games is diminishing.

Viney just had his worst season in about 6-7 years and is 31 next season. Had a few good games this year, but he's rapidly in decline. No way to argue that. The fact he was one of our most consistent performers in 2024 is a reason we finished 14th this year.

We just don't have the cattle in the midfield to be competitive. 12th for clearances. 9th for contested possessions. 16th for ball movement. Our midfield is below AFL average in every single stat. 

Tough when your top midfielder doesn’t have a preseason and 2nd best doesn’t play for half the season. Not sure how many clubs would have done much better without their top 2 mids 

3 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

Gawn's 33 next season. His body is breaking down with more injuries now and his impact on games is diminishing.

Viney just had his worst season in about 6-7 years and is 31 next season. Had a few good games this year, but he's rapidly in decline. No way to argue that. The fact he was one of our most consistent performers in 2024 is a reason we finished 14th this year.

We just don't have the cattle in the midfield to be competitive. 12th for clearances. 9th for contested possessions. 16th for ball movement. Our midfield is below AFL average in every single stat. 

Gawns year was phenomenal and contact injuries are just unlucky 

Think dees should focus on getting up the draft to fast track any rebuild, going to be to hard to get any player of quality with everything going on 

Jay Clark saying that we’ll chase Caleb Daniel if Bevo can’t guarantee he’s in Dogs plans going forward.

The Dan Houston alternative.

4 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

If he has no contract infront of him, then we could nab him as a delisted free agent, so no draft picks required in a trade. I'd be all for that. He'd be a midfield depth upgrade at worst, and lord knows we need to replenish our midfield depth big time. He's played some good footy in years gone by too and has a bit of pace and smarts about him.

On our midfield, it's gone from our biggest strength to our biggest weakness. We need both stars and depth at this point. Our midfield from our 2021 premiership team is in a sad state a few years on:
Gawn - Contracted, ageing and on the decline
Jackson - Gone
Oliver - Contracted, shadow of what he was and hopefully returns to his best next season onwards
Petracca - Gone?
Viney - Contracted, ageing and on the decline
Brayshaw - Gone
Neal-Bullen - Gone
Langdon - Contracted, performing his wing role
Harmes - Gone
Sparrow - Contracted, hasn't come on and is depth
Jordon - Gone

Currently on our list we've added Windsor, Laurie, Billings, Hunter, Woewodin and no AFL level rucks to the midfield since. Pretty sharp drop off considering you'd ideally be an attractive destination to play for when you're successful...

A bit tough to complain that we've lost Brayshaw, ANB and Petracca(?) when there hasn't been a trade and draft cycle providing any opportunity to replace them

Hopefully Jeff whites son nominates dees but gotta think this last few week might sway him to goto Gold Coast 

2 hours ago, ChaserJ said:

Jay Clark saying that we’ll chase Caleb Daniel if Bevo can’t guarantee he’s in Dogs plans going forward.

The Dan Houston alternative.

If @timlamb trues signs Daniel, he should be sacked. He’s another small player who was handy but had lost pace and is not best 22 anywhere !!! 

46 minutes ago, Garbo said:

Hopefully Jeff whites son nominates dees but gotta think this last few week might sway him to goto Gold Coast 

Yes the Gold Coast is breaming with success having just won 11 games in a season for the first time ever. 

9 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

as an inside mid he doesn't win enough contested football

as an outside mid he doesn't use it cleanly

he's too slow to play the nibbler role as a push-up half forward

i think there's a reason he's always on the outer at the puddy tatts - he's classique 'good, ordinary' and too good for vfl, not good enough for permanent afl

...yet he's available as an unrestricted free agent which obviously holds appeal...

Parfitt was a very good defensive inside mid for a fair period of time. Could really tackle and crash in hard.

But he's had a lot of injuries (hamstring and other leg problems) that have robbed him of that power and explosiveness.

When that happens with guys his age my initial suspicious is that aren't doing the work to get rock hard fit again and build back that explosive movement and fitness to repeat it all day.

I'd want him to train with us over summer and prove his body and work ethic are up to it.

Some good comments.  With all this drama , saw this

In the off season we need to recruit culture makers as well as skilled players. The loss of Gus, ANB, BBB is huge for our culture: aside from Max and Viney, I don’t see too many others who will put the club on their shoulders and  say “Follow me”.

Are we going to be able to attract anyone decent now…. Or are we back to paying overs for other clubs depth. 

Honestly and seriously given all that has happened this year. I CANT SEE HOW ANYONE would want to come to MFC. We are imploding and exploding at the same time!

48 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Honestly and seriously given all that has happened this year. I CANT SEE HOW ANYONE would want to come to MFC. We are imploding and exploding at the same time!

Too many fire lighters in our ranks PF, the club isn’t exploding / imploding the supporters are.!!!!🔥🔥🔥

 

1 hour ago, picket fence said:

Honestly and seriously given all that has happened this year. I CANT SEE HOW ANYONE would want to come to MFC. We are imploding and exploding at the same time!

Can I just add PF thank god that the opposition players don’t read Demonland.🔥🔥

 

 

 

I have a bad feeling we'll only end up being able to get the scraps that nobody wants by the end of Trade Week.

Hopefully an open cheque book will entice people.

16 minutes ago, Singa said:

I have a bad feeling we'll only end up being able to get the scraps that nobody wants by the end of Trade Week.

Hopefully an open cheque book will entice people.

Yes given our current reputation, I can't see us attracting much.  The drafting will be critical.

On 29/08/2024 at 09:18, Demonland said:

 

I'm not a fan as I think he is lazy, but.... Ryan is Kossie's cousin or uncle and apparently have a close relationship.  🤔

On 29/08/2024 at 11:57, IWAP said:

 

 

Big fan of this one, this kid would be a great replacement for Brayshaw.  Offer him the Brayshaw $$

On 29/08/2024 at 05:37, Singa said:

I have a bad feeling we'll only end up being able to get the scraps that nobody wants by the end of Trade Week.

Hopefully an open cheque book will entice people.

Better than "winning trade period" like Essendon seem to always do, but don't in the long run!

On 28/08/2024 at 15:24, WiseDeeMan said:

Am I the only one who does not want to give away draft picks? 

No.

On 28/08/2024 at 11:53, reynolds46 said:

I have no real knowledge of Brandan Parfitt or whether he is any good or not but he is on the move and fits the age demographic for our needs

https://www.zerohanger.com/out-of-favour-midfielder-reportedly-on-the-move-afl-trade-news-154543/

(Once again...?) it may as well be me:

Brandan: 'an' upgrade on a Brand.

 

Door. Me. Reunited.