On 12/08/2024 at 10:31, rpfc said:

Would love to know what his concerns are, beyond the obvious management of his terrible injury. 

He is the next captain. Max should hand it over if we can calm his concerns. 

I am a bit disillusioned tbh, we are playing like the team played in 2015-17. Just minimising damage and little excitement and intent. It’s gotten a bit better but it’s galling watching the Dees versus a Hawks or any team that plays with confidence.

We have to keep him. We just have to keep him.

But if we don’t - clear it out - we are not going anywhere if we lose him.  

Losing Petracca would be the modern equivalent of losing Barassi. The kids who have jumped on board the last 5 years would leave in droves. Probably plenty of their parents too.

Edited August 12, 2024Aug 12 by Dr. Gonzo

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:06, middleagedemon said:

Glad you're on board my friend. 

Agree, top post. 

And he said it with respect and threw in some hope. 
 

Go figure…… 

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:41, WalkingCivilWar said:

I heard it’s the boot-studder. 🤫 

Boot studiers left all clubs not long after the 64 GF as I recall.

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:45, MurDoc516 said:

If you told Petracca he would be playing with the likes of McAdam, Billings, Fullarton, Schache post 2021 GF win he would ask why he was traded to North.

Our recruitment  trading has been so [censored] bad it's insane.

Our recruitment  trading has been so [censored] bad it's insane.

Corrected.  Recruitment has been pretty great actually.

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:46, Stretch Johnson said:

Tracc knows what he's doing 

And I suspect that Tom Morris Minor doesn't.

Edited August 12, 2024Aug 12 by monoccular

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:31, Earl Hood said:

Yep I noticed Melbourne Storm are wallowing in ineptitude with their training facilities. 

Who are Melbourne Storm?

Edited August 12, 2024Aug 12 by Fork 'em

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:08, Jaded No More said:

Why? We’ve won more H&A games in 2021-2023 than any other club. That usually results in getting more FTA games. 
Don’t worry it’s back to Sunday twilight next year. 

Because we're not a big club. Collingwood play their home games against interstate teams during the afternoon. Why are we playing them during the most poorly attended time slots (Saturday and Thursday nights)? 

Edited August 12, 2024Aug 12 by At the break of Gawn

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:31, Earl Hood said:

Yep I noticed Melbourne Storm are wallowing in ineptitude with their training facilities. 

Come on Earl. This is a tired argument. AFL clubs have elite facilities. You think running around Gosh’s park this summer will be just fine? This attitude is exactly the problem.

This is what will happen next…

1 The club will say nothing to be seen here, move along.

2 Christian will indicate that he has had a difficult time of it, and initially he and his family were disgruntled with the way things were handled.

2 Christian will say that these issues have been discussed with the club and all is good!

3 Christian will say he loves the club and he wants to be a one club player

4 The club will release a statement that emphasizes that Christian is a required player and respected leader of the group, who has been earmarked as a future captain.

5 Tom Morris will serve up a grab that reiterates that Christian Petracca would leave the club if he wanted to, but at this stage he doesn’t want to!

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:09, Dr. Gonzo said:

Losing Petracca would be the modern equivalent of losing Barassi. The kids who have jumped on board the last 5 years would leave in droves.

My daughter is already asking what club he would go to.  I just found out she supports Tracc, not MFC!

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:07, At the break of Gawn said:

I'm absolutely convinced that the club is pushing these night games against interstate teams. Something doesn't smell right that we have the most FTA games this season. 

We have a new head of our media department and ultimately a plan to grow the brand. Unfortunately no one wants to watch us. There is a reason why we aren't going all in on youth. We can't afford to get sloshed by 100 points on FTA. 

Seriously, it is crazy that both games were Saturday night prime time. Our media relations team is doing something right. pity it's probably had the opposite effect.

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:09, Dr. Gonzo said:

Losing Petracca would be the modern equivalent of losing Barassi. The kids who have jumped on board the last 5 years would leave in droves. Probably plenty of their parents too.

And condemn us to another 57 years of gloom.  The new curse of CP5

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:38, Jaded No More said:

The Viney thing is literally laughable. 
North are probably looking to bring some mature leadership to their club, and because Todd works there Viney’s name was probably brought up. 
Do we all really think Jack is going to leave to go to a wooden spooner in the twilight of his career? Like wtf are people on?

Hawthorn finished 16th last year, GWS 16th the year before. Things can change quickly, North have a lot of good young kids coming up.

Petracca is a great player but he is turning 29 and on $1.2m+ per year. If he leaves we will get a massive haul of picks and cap space.

The Cats lost Gary Ablett Junior and the Hawks lost Buddy and it didn't kill either of those clubs.

  On 12/08/2024 at 08:48, dees189227 said:

I'd say our president and coach have some work to do to rebuild relationships. 

 

They only show up when we win, grinning at the race as the players walk down.

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:13, Dr. Gonzo said:

Hawthorn finished 16th last year, GWS 16th the year before. Things can change quickly, North have a lot of good young kids coming up.

Sure, but will North win a flag before Viney hits 35? Unlikely. 

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:12, waynewussell said:

This is what will happen next…

1 The club will say nothing to be seen here, move along.

2 Christian will indicate that he has had a difficult time of it, and initially he and his family were disgruntled with the way things were handled.

2 Christian will say that these issues have been discussed with the club and all is good!

3 Christian will say he loves the club and he wants to be a one club player

4 The club will release a statement that emphasizes that Christian is a required player and respected leader of the group, who has been earmarked as a future captain.

5 Tom Morris will serve up a grab that reiterates that Christian Petracca would leave the club if he wanted to, but at this stage he doesn’t want to!

Absolutely spot on

We need an AFL version of Uptopia. 

Ugh pies fans are on social media already declaring trac will be theres.

Our game plan is boring and our scoring has rapidly dried up.

No faster way to disenfranchise the players and supporter base than that. That’s on the coaches. Hope the board read them the riot act this off season, but given who is in charge, I very much doubt it will happen 

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:15, Jaded No More said:

Sure, but will North win a flag before Viney hits 35? Unlikely. 

Will Melbourne?

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:37, picket fence said:

Carltank have been doing this for years! Oh Wait!

Whenever I hear of coterie members I think Essendon ... Oh wait 😕
 

I think there's probably multiple layers to this, but the reality is that we as a whole club have failed in many ways since the flag.

1) We've shuffled deck chairs in trade with average players out and average players in just to tick the list turnover boxes.

2) Pert et al have not made any headway into a new elite training facility. It's all hot air every AGM about how much progress is being made. We still don't have a feasibility study, let alone any source of funding to pay for a state of the art facility. VicGov aren't going to fund it, the cupboards are bare and there's nothing compelling for the labor party to fund the toffy club's shining new HQ. We ain't Geelong.

If we're serious about it, we need a big fundraising campaign among the supporter base. Time to put the hand out. We also need to find somewhere feasible and accessible for a current and future supporter base. I personally don't think the middle of Caulfield race track is that place. If we were half smart, we'd look at location near a suburban rail loop station, somewhere like Deakin Burwood for example, central and accessible.

3) The stubbornness of the football department to not play players in their best positions. Harrison Petty could be an AA key defender. As much as Tom McDonald has had a great year back there, he isn't the replacement for May when he retires. Tom is nearly done.
One paced midfield getting smashed at stoppage and terrible centre circle formations. It took Trac's injury to legitimately make some changes to the midfield and bring some pace and run in there.

4. Players like Trac (I'll have a shot at him here) trying to do to much, and the players falling back into the rubbish culture of bagging eachother that they said they'd finally stamped out in '21. There's a fine line here, but the culture among the '21 squad was almost nauseatingly positive and it showed onfield. Consistently we saw levels of effort with strong tackle pressure. These days we only seem to play that way with backs against the wall when we're missing 'elite' talent through injury and can't get the job done despite strong effort. 

4) Pissweak supporters - we must also turn the mirror back in our own direction. I don't know about everyone else, but I've been to about 9 games this year and did legitimately have a school event on for my daughter for the GWS game, but I could've gone to the Port game and CBF'd. I hate it when we lose games to teams that we should pants, it's one of my greatest frustrations. But we need to all get better at turning up. The players aren't just saying it, it makes a big difference when they've got our support. Best example this year of the crowd getting the Dees up was the Cats game at the 'G. The place was pumping with loud and passionate Demons supporters and members.

We can make noise and we can make an impact, but we have to bloody turn up.

For these reasons and more I don't need to continue ranting on about, I think it's been a bit of a [censored] show. 
 

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:13, monoccular said:

And condemn us to another 57 years of gloom.  The new curse of CP5

Please dont go there, one curse was more than enough :(

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:16, Dr. Gonzo said:

Will Melbourne?

You said GWS and Hawks finished 16th not long ago… 

  On 12/08/2024 at 11:13, monoccular said:

And condemn us to another 57 years of gloom.  The new curse of CP5

Well seeing he won it, is it a continued curse of norm smith?

  On 12/08/2024 at 10:44, dazzledavey36 said:

Jesus this guy gets it..

GenX

I just wish Roffey would come out and say everything is fine

That would fix everything and show leadership

Or she could quietly go about fixing things and not pander to the whinging ‘supporters’