Just now, FreedFromDesire said:

From what I can tell, Christian hasn't come out to the media at all, so I think calling him 'petulant' and 'selfish' is pretty unfair as it currently stands.

I think he needs to refute the story pretty quickly or we can fairly assume it has come via his manager.

6 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

the pressure to keep playing was from his teammates and coaches, not the doctor.

I've now come across this numerous times. Is that true?

I understand football is a brutal sport and the airbrushed veneer we see is vastly different to reality "inside the club", but demanding a badly injured player return to the field is nothing less than appalling in my eyes. 

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

The reason we are low scoring and play a defensive style is that our best players are poor kicks. Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Gawn, ANB and Langdon are our main kickers inside 50 and none of them are skilled enough to regularly hit targets.

If Longmire or Scott were coaching they would ultimately have us playing the same way, because Goodwin's game plan is the best way for us to win.

If Longmire and Scott were coaching us they would trade/draft in players who could actually kick.
How many years has Goodwin been in charge again?

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by Fork 'em

What evidence is there to suggest that Trac or his management went to the media, Tom Morris of all people, and had a vent?

A few people here have said for weeks now that Trac and his family are not super happy. Maybe his cousin or his brother or his nonna said something to someone who said something to Tom Morris who was like "amazing news, I love to burn my football club".

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Trac is behind any type of leak. 

To the folks who are suggesting we trade Clayton…

I saw this post today on the MFC Reddit page, which I’ll paste below. Could be codswallop, could be true..,

 

“When I get my coffee on a sunday morning | often run into a certain Melbourne player who will remain nameless out of courtesy. Our chats are super brief but this morning was quite interesting. I've been noticing that in almost every game Clayton Oliver has been getting in scraps and it happened again last night. I said to this Melbourne player this morning "what's going on with Clayton, seems like players keep targeting it to get him to react". They respond to the effect of "yeah everyone seems to have an issue with Clayton and just abuse the s**t out of him". "About the d***s stuff?" I said. They replied with "everything, d***s, his family, his mental health. The worst abuse imaginable, it's ridiculous".

Let’s just assume for a second this is true (it doesn’t strike me as obvious malarkey). It tells you a couple of things. The first is that Clayton’s perceived “poor attitude” may not be down to an unwillingness to work hard for the club, but feeling mentally exhausted from dealing with what is described the above. The other thing it suggests - and you have to read a bit deeper into this one - is that his teammates feel an urge to defend him even when it’s just speaking to supporters in public. Something they are not at all obliged to do. If there was any ill-feeling between the players and Clarry right now, such an exchange would never take place. 

And sure, maybe it just didn’t. 

But it does tie in with how I’ve always viewed his year - as one that would test his absolute limits, not so much as a player, but as an individual. He’s had to overcome more than most - injury, a relationship breakdown, possible substance issues, depression, lack of fitness, more injuries and possibly on top of this, steady waves of scorn and ridicule from his peers. 

In light of all this, I think his progress as both a player and an individual has been highly admirable. And from what I can glean, his efforts to turn things around have not gone unnoticed by his teammates. Suggestions of trading him at this juncture not only display a lack of empathy and understanding, but are foolish in terms of our future success. For I cannot shake the feeling that he is going to come back next year with a point to prove, and very much the means to prove it. 
 

(Sorry about the big font. I do enjoy and appreciate DL, but dealing with it on an iPhone can be like time travelling to the early 2000s)

Edited August 13, 2024Aug 13 by Mel Bourne

1 minute ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

I've now come across this numerous times. Is that true?

I understand football is a brutal sport and the airbrushed veneer we see is vastly different to reality "inside the club", but demanding a badly injured player return to the field is nothing less than appalling in my eyes. 

The players would not know Petracca was that badly injured. The doctor did not know how bad it was.

Football is a ruthless game. No AFL games are won easily and there would be players with injuries who continue playing every game.

4 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

What evidence is there to suggest that Trac or his management went to the media, Tom Morris of all people, and had a vent?

A few people here have said for weeks now that Trac and his family are not super happy. Maybe his cousin or his brother or his nonna said something to someone who said something to Tom Morris who was like "amazing news, I love to burn my football club".

There is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Trac is behind any type of leak. 

If it has not come from Petracca's management, then he should put it to bed via a statement. Otherwise, it is a fair assumption.

 

1 minute ago, Fat Tony said:

Football is a ruthless game.

It's incredibly tough. Every time I sit at ground level, watching Max alone exhausts me. It's a relentless barrage of physical pressure. The resilience of all footballers at the highest level is remarkable. 

But Petracca was in extraordinary pain. They might not have known the extent of the injury, but they could surely see this wasn't the time to take the "suck it up" line. Demanding he return to the field strikes me as both unprofessional and futile. Even if it turned out it was badly bruised ribs, is he going to tear it up?

And on the subject of "suck it up", is there a history of Petracca taking the easy option that would make these insistences necessary? I've never seen even a hint of it. 

Sorry, I'm not having a go at you or suggesting you're making it up. I'm also not saying football clubs should be like kindergartens, where everyone's feelings are scrupulously taken into account. But this strikes me as really poor. If there's truth to Petracca's disgruntlement, I can easily see this being at least part of the cause.  

2 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Thank god because I was worried we were looking to trade him for Peter Wright 🙄

 

Tracs disillusionment with the club was on show before his injury.

Our season was already shaky but our era ended against Freo in Alice. 

It wasn't just the lack of effort that stood out to me that day, it was the arguments and finger pointing amongst players. Trac was extremely vocal and yelling at the bench several times, something I've not seen from him before.

Who could blame him, he appeared to be one of the only few players that GAF that day.

Just now, Jaded No More said:

Thank god because I was worried we were looking to trade him for Peter Wright 🙄

Media blowing it up as usual

He has every right to be upset with the direction of the FC 

Maybe the kick that we need to start recruiting needs

5 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

Still not addressing the fact he’s unhappy with the club in the first place.

Just now, At the break of Gawn said:

Still not addressing the fact he’s unhappy with the club in the first place.

How about we wait to read the statement first before having a meltdown?

1 hour ago, 58er said:

Really what are you on about? Nothing has been said or intimated of any link whatsoever.

Are you just being mischievous or can’t stand the silence about our two champs. 

Trac is going through a tough time and his family have ( in supportive ways as his ethnics would demand) are having to deal with a very sad and long recovery from a dangerous accident on the field. 

Clarry is really struggling fitness wise  but trying to be the best he can at this stage of the season. A forward pocket /half forward flank with cameo role on the ball is what Goody should do on the field to make best use of his ability at this stage for the team and himself. 

Are you happy or can you see a real link in my summary? Hope not because none exists and why should it? 

that was the point of my question, why is Clayton even mentioned in this thread?

 

1 hour ago, Sydee said:

Exactly - contrast Butters and JHF with our midfield in terms of ability to hit targets with smart kicks they are light years apart

Quality Mids who can get speed on the ball and kick well and find targets consistently should be our #1 priority in this pre season 

⁶

Butters is a genuine jet.

He's up there as one of my favourite players to watch in the competition and especially Saturday night where he turned it on.

He's proving that you don't need to be a big bustling midfielder to be one of the very best in the competition.

His movement around stoppages and ability to manoeuvre his way around tight situations is ridiculous. 

This is another reason why you can never question Jason Taylor amongst other things. He was trying desperately hard to trade up to select Butters but unfortunately we couldn't pull it off.

He's just got the eye for talent.

Tom Morris is a misogynistic hack sacked by Fox. 

How he back in the media is due to some redemptive [censored] peddled by Hutchinson. Boys club.

At 9 he'll have clickbait kpi's to  meet.

Achieved this week thanks to demonland.

Will we never learn

23 minutes ago, Demonland said:

 

We don’t want the Club to confirm he won’t be traded, we hold the cards, that’s obvious. We want to know what the hell is going on that has made him unhappy, why this was leaked and what we are doing to right the ship. I’ll hold fire until I see what comes out, but it sounds like more tone deaf responses 

Just received & read perts email. 

Seems pretty straightforward. 

Yep a pretty obvious “we are talking to key players about improvements going forward and Trac is going nowhere”. 

We are doing the right thing reviewing where we are at and trying to leave no stone unturned in returning back to final contention. 
 

Cue the meltdowns that our club is falling apart and everyone is unhappy. 

Well the statement is in. It says he isn’t leaving, but also says tht he has expressed frustrations. Tracc needs to talk

 

4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Butters is a genuine jet.

He's up there as one of my favourite players to watch in the competition and especially Saturday night where he turned it on.

He's proving that you don't need to be a big bustling midfielder to be one of the very best in the competition.

His movement around stoppages and ability to manoeuvre his way around tight situations is ridiculous. 

This is another reason why you can never question Jason Taylor amongst other things. He was trying desperately hard to trade up to select Butters but unfortunately we couldn't pull it off.

He's just got the eye for talent.

Imagine if we'd managed to land Butters. Our midfield would have just about perfect balance.