12 minutes ago, Biffen said:

After some gloating and justified derision of Tom Morris and “his supporters “ (which might be his own accounts) I got DM’ed by Tom Morris.

He said he would provide a link then linked to himself “ breaking” the CP story.

I explained to him that his source may not be reliable if he is the source.

Either way, he and purple are going to extraordinary lengths to justify their “story” to the point where I’m wondering whether it might be a complete fabrication.

Petracca should pick his media commitments better.

MFC should wake up now and become more ruthless, more professional and less accessible to the media.

I found it strange TM would contact a random on X and Barrett was even weirder with his unhinged rant.

The answer isn’t less access to the media - it’s engaging in the right way. And the leaking that pits club against player (and the reverse from his agents) is obviously happening - regardless about what you think about the embellishment of Morris and Purple.

What an absolute debacle.  Like a nightmare really.  Tracca has been trashed, the club has been trashed, we have all had sleepless nights.

So it is all good for now, but if any club starts to accumulate first round draft picks for 2025 it will all start again

And Tracca, try and get some clean possessions in the first quarter of any game next year.

Petracca spoke to the players before committing to know he'd be okay at the club.

He's happy his grievances about the club have been listened to and that all he wanted. He knew a deal couldn't be done with the clubs he wanted and then moved to mending fences at Melbourne.

A lot of work for club and player to ensure we don't have a repeat in 2025

1 minute ago, Ted Lasso said:

If Trac was anywhere near as good as he seems to think he is on and off the field he would be determined to play a leading role in helping the MFC get back to where it belongs, rather than looking for a chance to jump ship. 

Is this something Ted Lasso would say?

15 minutes ago, Biffen said:

After some gloating and justified derision of Tom Morris and “his supporters “ (which might be his own accounts) I got DM’ed by Tom Morris.

He said he would provide a link then linked to himself “ breaking” the CP story.

I explained to him that his source may not be reliable if he is the source.

Either way, he and purple are going to extraordinary lengths to justify their “story” to the point where I’m wondering whether it might be a complete fabrication.

Petracca should pick his media commitments better.

MFC should wake up now and become more ruthless, more professional and less accessible to the media.

I found it strange TM would contact a random on X and Barrett was even weirder with his unhinged rant.

TM has DMed me as well when I had a go at him….seems desperate to be seen as a serious journo, this was over the Viney to North beat up. I told him he starts with a kernel of truth then puts serious mayo on everything with extrapolation and that’s what footy fans despise.

Just now, Fritta and Turner said:

What an absolute debacle.  Like a nightmare really.  Tracca has been trashed, the club has been trashed, we have all had sleepless nights.

So it is all good for now, but if any club starts to accumulate first round draft picks for 2025 it will all start again

And Tracca, try and get some clean possessions in the first quarter of any game next year.

Are you sure he will play many in the first half of the season? He had injuries considered similar to a car crash. Not to mention the mental side of the last 3 months. 

29 minutes ago, Lord Neville X Flash said:

Stop buying the media crisis narratives. They were wrong and are now clutching at straws to save face

The fact TM is saying Melbourne were the ones pushing the "brand petracca" narrative is evidence of this - the media, Barrett in particular, pushed this with zero evidence

Pretty naive if you think no one from the club talks to the media.

48 minutes ago, Watson11 said:

Because my belief is he raised serious issues in the club confidentially, issues that need to be addressed, and the initial leaks more than likely came from the club

That sounds fair to me. But every indication is that he wanted to leave. I can sympathise with enormous frustration. But I find it very difficult to admire a desire to just walk away. 

7 minutes ago, old dee said:

Are you sure he will play many in the first half of the season? He had injuries considered similar to a car crash. Not to mention the mental side of the last 3 months. 

He might not ever play again, it is a tough contact sport, and can you imagine the drama if he did and got injured.

2 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

That sounds fair to me. But every indication is that he wanted to leave. I can sympathise with enormous frustration. But I find it very difficult to admire a desire to just walk away. 

Quite obviously the injuries had a big impact on him physically and mentally. I had a big injury at 18. It affected me mentally for some time. I don't find it hard to believe at all. 

1 minute ago, Fritta and Turner said:

He might not ever play again, it is a tough contact sport, and can you imagine the drama if he did and got injured.

If we suspected that to be the case, we would have traded him for unders to the club of his choice. 

Will he ever be the same player again? Well that remains to be seen. I think his ego would certainly drive him to try.

He will play again though. 

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

 

The next time Damian Barrett says something good about the MFC will be the first time. He hates us. He is so pro-Geelong it's beyond funny.

18 minutes ago, rpfc said:

Is this something Ted Lasso would say?

Ted Lasso managed to turn a vein, egotistical young man in Jamie Tartt around by benching him, perhaps the same needs to happy to our very own Jamie Tartt. 

Believe. 

The gaslighting in this thread is off the charts.

The writing was on the wall after two straight set exits. In hindsight it's crazy we didn't see this coming. 

I honestly thought (as did almost everyone else) that we would turn the corner as a club after we won the flag. We are still a semi-pro organisation masquerading as a big club. We have heavy hitters at the top end of town but that's it. The denial from club leaders, prominent supporters and even some players was straight up gaslighting the obvious. 

Tom Morris' report on SEN this morning was an indictment on club leaders. The last three seasons should absolutely burn the club internally and by all accounts it simply hasn't. It has to burn everyone right through the club including supporters. Instead we celebrate when we beat Essendon and pretend like everything is okay. We're still stuck in a 90s mentality as a club. If we want to play with the big boys we absolutely have to be filthy with this. Collingwood couldn't handle missing the finals despite getting within a kick of a flag in 2018 and multiple Prelims. It didn't take much to absolutely gut the place and reboot. 

We just don't have a hunger as a club to be feared. It took two finals series for us to lose all respect we gained from 2021. I honestly don't blame Petracca.

Collingwood and Hawthorn would come out breathing fire next season if they went through this. Richmond did after going through similar with Martin.

I just can't see it. And again I'm in a "happy to be proven wrong" mindset.

Edited September 2, 2024Sep 2 by praha

18 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

Pretty naive if you think no one from the club talks to the media.

People know Dan Houston wanted to leave - when will Port Adelaide stop this humiliating debacle and plug the leask

54 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yes but if he has had further time to reflect he may have changed his opinion since then. I can understand how someone who suffered a traumatic injury may be in that thankful/lovey dovey mindset shortly after but then change their tune down the track once they've had more time to process and dwell on things. I'm not saying it's the reality but it may be his perception.

I think its more so the trip to Noosa and how it was handled rather than the post injury itself. I think the disconnect between the playing group and himself personally was the crux of the issue and potentially the optics of Trac as a result. I dont see how a disconnect like what is being reported happens though, surely someone had enough brainpower to call him up or even Richo up and be done with it. Still feels a bit trivial though.

10 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

The next time Damian Barrett says something good about the MFC will be the first time. He hates us. He is so pro-Geelong it's beyond funny.

I actually think Damo has been pretty good with the Trac stuff, i think he's one of the few journos who has done a really good job of seeing the fault in both sides of this situation. 

He's given Trac as many good clips as he has the MFC, and as far as i can see the MFC might be a basket case, but Trac hasn't been a saint either.

9 minutes ago, Lord Neville X Flash said:

People know Dan Houston wanted to leave - when will Port Adelaide stop this humiliating debacle and plug the leask

I mean Houston and Port handled that pretty maturely I think. They were happy for him to go if a good deal could be done, it couldn't be and he was invited back into the fold. But to what you're saying, every club has leaks, it's true. Ours is a sieve and the leaks present a pretty adversarial relationship between the club and players who step out of line.

Players having issues with their clubs is nothing new but good clubs should handle all this stuff in house. No coincidence that numerous senior players have admitted to be frustrated by club comms recently.

Edited September 2, 2024Sep 2 by KozzyCan

On 01/09/2024 at 09:34, Demonsone said:

Why does it take Trac to raise issues which is more than just winning as it’s clear there are deeper issues around culture for the club to take action?? Is the football dept asleep at the wheel?? 

It is all a sign (signs) of leadership, at multiple levels and responsibilities, culminating in multiple oversights and continuing poor decisions and influences. External reviews are the key to identifying and ameliorating such issues; it is commendable that at least, DL contributors have recognised key issues and put forward multiple suggestions that perhaps nail solutions and immediate options. Change is imperative. Go Dees.

I took a couple of days off to breathe (in the middle of which Trac made his statement).

Jumped online to see case closed, but nah just a million more pages and fewer answers than before... 🤣

38 minutes ago, old dee said:

Are you sure he will play many in the first half of the season? He had injuries considered similar to a car crash. Not to mention the mental side of the last 3 months. 

I agree. His recovery will be long and slow. I fear he will have little to no preseason as we know it. From the photos I've seen, it appears he has lost a lot of muscle mass and would have lost a lot of aerobic fitness. It's going to take time.  It will require very strong self-belief to get through this. How the club manages him will be critical.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

 

The media guys are going beautifully with this one aren't they.

TM: If he could have got out he would have (ipso facto he simply can't stand the idea of being at Melbourne anymore).

It seems likely that he could have gotten out...it just would have had to be to a club that might have had a smaller profile...one where perhaps he wouldn't be playing under the brightest of lights each week? I wonder if that would have impacted his brand? I guess not hey. It's much more likely Melb leadership got together and thought 'how about we make up some stuff about him being conerned about his brand to make him look bad'. Yep that sounds more like it.

Just like in many other forums around the world these days, the problem isn't so much bottom feeders like the AFL media, it's the fact that enough people believe what they hear enough to follow along.

And it's not that I don't believe we're a bit of a mess right now as a club...it's just that I'd much prefer to hear the facts of what's going on than supposition from people who just possibly aren't historically all that trustworthy. 

47 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

I think its more so the trip to Noosa and how it was handled rather than the post injury itself. I think the disconnect between the playing group and himself personally was the crux of the issue and potentially the optics of Trac as a result. I dont see how a disconnect like what is being reported happens though, surely someone had enough brainpower to call him up or even Richo up and be done with it. Still feels a bit trivial though.

It's an indictment on the playing group and leadership group if they allowed that kind of commentary to fester. Petracca had every right to take a mental break after what he went through. I'm seriously questioning the MFC players here, all the talk about culture, supporting each other etc and then they snipe one of their own behind his back after suffering a significant trauma.

29 minutes ago, Red But Mostly Blue said:

I took a couple of days off to breathe (in the middle of which Trac made his statement).

Jumped online to see case closed, but nah just a million more pages and fewer answers than before... 🤣

Yep; managed to push the post rate to better than 1 every 5 minutes now 👏

55 minutes ago, praha said:

The gaslighting in this thread is off the charts.

The writing was on the wall after two straight set exits. In hindsight it's crazy we didn't see this coming. 

I honestly thought (as did almost everyone else) that we would turn the corner as a club after we won the flag. We are still a semi-pro organisation masquerading as a big club. We have heavy hitters at the top end of town but that's it. The denial from club leaders, prominent supporters and even some players was straight up gaslighting the obvious. 

Tom Morris' report on SEN this morning was an indictment on club leaders. The last three seasons should absolutely burn the club internally and by all accounts it simply hasn't. It has to burn everyone right through the club including supporters. Instead we celebrate when we beat Essendon and pretend like everything is okay. We're still stuck in a 90s mentality as a club. If we want to play with the big boys we absolutely have to be filthy with this. Collingwood couldn't handle missing the finals despite getting within a kick of a flag in 2018 and multiple Prelims. It didn't take much to absolutely gut the place and reboot. 

We just don't have a hunger as a club to be feared. It took two finals series for us to lose all respect we gained from 2021. I honestly don't blame Petracca.

Collingwood and Hawthorn would come out breathing fire next season if they went through this. Richmond did after going through similar with Martin.

I just can't see it. And again I'm in a "happy to be proven wrong" mindset.

I can understand your disappointment as I share it but tbh I think this is a bit unfair

You make it sound like the team fell off a cliff after winning the flag in 2021. The reality is it won more games than any other team in 2022 and 2023 I think. Yes we lost the 4 finals but while incredibly disappointing there were some reasons. Some inaccurate kicking (all teams are guilty of this some days) and key injuries. This year was always going to be tough with losing Gus and JS before a ball was even bounced. Then to have more key players go down we were always facing an uphill battle. 
 

The reality is a few breaks go our way and top 4 could have still been possible. It is a very very even comp these days and if teams are a little bit off their game or have key injuries it has a huge impact on results.

I think it’s possible for this team to bounce back into finals next year so long as we have a fully fit Trac and Oliver. Big ifs I know they will be critical to our chances. We must draft in good ball users and I hope Langford is available as he looks exactly what we need.

Some smart trading would also help set us up for solid season (this has obviously been a weakness in the past couple of years with some highly questionable decisions). We need to find a solid back up for Max and some additional mid field depth. Anyone who bothered to watch Casey this season would appreciate how thin we are in the midfield.

I’m still trying to remain glass half full - if the train doesn’t get back on the tracks and show signs of improvement early next season I’ll start to have my doubts then. 

Edited September 2, 2024Sep 2 by Sydee