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12 hours ago, Demonland said:

Bit of list and trade targets talks from Talking Footy

That's excellent news that Chaplin is still under contract. Unless he ends up last man standing for the Eagles job then he's with us next year, and while we don't know from the outside, he does get spoken about as being well thought of in AFL circles.

McQualter is as expected. We wouldn't have been able to get him across if we only offered 1 year. It does seem his apparent specific area struggled this year from a strategic point of view though so I hope he can improve us next year with another preseason to work with.

Stafford is obviously the intriguing one. Does anyone know if he has any kind of strategic nous? That's a big area of need IMO, and we just simply can't continue with the same forward line coaching for another year. It does seem very apparent the club likes him, but at the very least we need to change his role I believe. I wonder if we would talk to a Ben Brown or Jake Melksham about the forward line role? Both seem likely to finish up this year in terms of playing career, but both seem exceptionally well versed in forward craft and structure.

As per the Petracca thread, I do wonder if the review will be more impactful now off the back of the current pressure.

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On 10/08/2024 at 12:59, At the break of Gawn said:

Hodge, Mitchell and Lewis are all Hawthorn royalty and club champions and none of them finished their careers at the Hawks. Viney playing his last 1-2 years at North won’t tarnish his Melbourne legacy. If Viney is open to it then I think it’d be foolish not to entertain it given where we are as a club.

His Dad and Max already work at North. It’s not a big stretch to see why Jack would say yes to it.

Max has signed on as tackling coach with Melbourne AFLW.

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18 minutes ago, FreedFromDesire said:

That's excellent news that Chaplin is still under contract. Unless he ends up last man standing for the Eagles job then he's with us next year, and while we don't know from the outside, he does get spoken about as being well thought of in AFL circles.

McQualter is as expected. We wouldn't have been able to get him across if we only offered 1 year. It does seem his apparent specific area struggled this year from a strategic point of view though so I hope he can improve us next year with another preseason to work with.

Stafford is obviously the intriguing one. Does anyone know if he has any kind of strategic nous? That's a big area of need IMO, and we just simply can't continue with the same forward line coaching for another year. It does seem very apparent the club likes him, but at the very least we need to change his role I believe. I wonder if we would talk to a Ben Brown or Jake Melksham about the forward line role? Both seem likely to finish up this year in terms of playing career, but both seem exceptionally well versed in forward craft and structure.

As per the Petracca thread, I do wonder if the review will be more impactful now off the back of the current pressure.

In the current environment Melksham might get another season.

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3 minutes ago, John Crow Batty said:

In the current environment Melksham might get another season.

That's true. We've gone from potentially expecting around 6 changes, to maybe more like 8-10. I would very much like us to focus more on quality than quantity with our recruiting this offseason, so if there's 'ok' players we can keep then I won't be upset.

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29 minutes ago, FreedFromDesire said:

That's excellent news that Chaplin is still under contract. Unless he ends up last man standing for the Eagles job then he's with us next year, and while we don't know from the outside, he does get spoken about as being well thought of in AFL circles.

McQualter is as expected. We wouldn't have been able to get him across if we only offered 1 year. It does seem his apparent specific area struggled this year from a strategic point of view though so I hope he can improve us next year with another preseason to work with.

Chaplin strikes me as someone who was a well paid player and a well paid assistant who isn’t all that keen on taking a bad senior coaching job, especially in Perth.

He’s done a fantastic job with our backs but they also need a new system and more attack. They’ve trialled both at times this year but it might take a fresh voice. So the question becomes can Chappy move to the mids or forwards?

McQualter had very little to work with this year so it’s hard to judge him. Although it’s potentially not going to get all that much better and he might be suited to take a different line.

Ive always found it hard to blame lack of forward personnel on Stafford, he’s developed talent when given it. But there doesn’t seem to be enough system with our forwards even accounting for the midfield supply. Leading patterns, blocking, the little attention to detail things go missing.

I wouldn’t be shocked if it was something like Chaplin to the mids, McQualter to the forwards, new backline coach and Stafford either stays in a ruck/stoppages/development job or moves on.

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12 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Chaplin strikes me as someone who was a well paid player and a well paid assistant who isn’t all that keen on taking a bad senior coaching job, especially in Perth.

He’s done a fantastic job with our backs but they also need a new system and more attack. They’ve trialled both at times this year but it might take a fresh voice. So the question becomes can Chappy move to the mids or forwards?

McQualter had very little to work with this year so it’s hard to judge him. Although it’s potentially not going to get all that much better and he might be suited to take a different line.

Ive always found it hard to blame lack of forward personnel on Stafford, he’s developed talent when given it. But there doesn’t seem to be enough system with our forwards even accounting for the midfield supply. Leading patterns, blocking, the little attention to detail things go missing.

I wouldn’t be shocked if it was something like Chaplin to the mids, McQualter to the forwards, new backline coach and Stafford either stays in a ruck/stoppages/development job or moves on.

All fair points, and given our defensive game style and the talent there it is a little harder to judge Chaplin from the outside.

Agree McQualter hasn't had our best midfield stocks to work with all year, but given who he replaced in our coaching lineup; strategy seems part of his role, and absolutely midfield strategy would be, and we saw what happened half way through the year when we had to revert to our previous clearance-focused style as the rebounding and skill based plan, which you would think was brought in by McQualter, was absolutely not working for us. So in terms of systems, if that was the case then it's not a tick for McQualter in my books.

Definitely agree with the forward line system issues, but I believe an actual forward, who has detailed experience with leading, creating space, and forward craft is better for us than simply a good assistant. While there are system/structure related issues there, to my eye it seems a lot of it is in that 'forward craft' arena in terms of knowing when and how to lead, where to move in certain situations, how to block for your team mates etc. Both Brown and Melksham seem to have excellent skills in those areas so to me, someone like that would be exceptionally helpful for a forward line list that includes very young forwards like JVR, Jefferson & Kentfield, and forwards who are new to that part of the ground like Petty and Turner.

So for mine, I would rather McQualter go to the backline, Chaplin to midfield & strategy, and one of those blokes listed above, or someone new in who has forward craft expertise, in to be in charge of the forward line.

Edited by FreedFromDesire
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38 minutes ago, John Crow Batty said:

In the current environment Melksham might get another season.

I wouldn't mind Melksham as a forward coach.

But I think he plays on one more year at least.

Edited by Binmans PA
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14 minutes ago, MrFreeze said:

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2024/08/15/should-roos-present-butters-godfather-offer-amid-links-to-two-victorian/

Would throw the kitchen sink at him, this years first, future first and ANB

Straight swap for Trac or they won't even entertain it

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Geez the media are going all out now. Wanting our guns to go to the clubs they support. No better than vultures. [censored].

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7 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Geez the media are going all out now. Wanting our guns to go to the clubs they support. No better than vultures. [censored].

We defied gravity for three years and now the buzzards and vultures are circling, the rumour mills are churning and we aren’t doing ourselves any favours that’s for sure.

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Ben Hobbs. Yes in a heartbeat.  Not sure why the bombers are putting him the Reserves this year.  
 

The media should [censored] OFF. !!! They hate the Dees and are like vultures circling to benefit their own desires.  Damo, Kane, Lloydy, Ralphy.  All can go get [censored]!! 

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20 hours ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Maybe we give TMac another year as well. He did prove rather versatile down back and wasn't in the bottom 6-10 performers overall. 

Turner will be preferred with a another preseason but we need depth still and he will be on close to base.  BBB will move on

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Given Gus's role as the glue that held the team together, should we consider him for an assistant coaching role? I understand that he sat on the bench for the first game and found it too emotionally stressful having had his career cruelly cut short but maybe he can return next year. Chaplin stays as backline coach, Gus coaches the midfield, McQualter does tactics and match play and find a new forward coach.

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34 minutes ago, Older demon said:

Given Gus's role as the glue that held the team together, should we consider him for an assistant coaching role? I understand that he sat on the bench for the first game and found it too emotionally stressful having had his career cruelly cut short but maybe he can return next year. Chaplin stays as backline coach, Gus coaches the midfield, McQualter does tactics and match play and find a new forward coach.

Apparently he doesn't want anything to do with footy atm.....

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