6 players on debut in round 1

They are rebuilding on the run

In desperate need of a fresh new coach

Out Viney, Oliver and Salem for a start.

37 minutes ago, Undeeterred said:

This, completely. It’s time

i still maintain we should have taken the 4 first rounders we could have had for Oliver and Petty when we had the chance.

Petty might’ve fetched 2 firsts but the crows could’ve asked for something back and they were late firsts in a really shallow first, personally still rather Petty given the state of the rest of our talls. If we move him this year or next we can get a better pick in a better draft that the stuff the Crows offered.

Oliver was flat out untradeable after 2023 and last year Geelong offered us nothing. No picks and we paid plenty of the contract. If we can get his decision making somewhere from the current terrible to ok he’ll have value after this year.

The only player who we really missed the window to sell for picks was Fritsch. Top 30 pick in last years draft and see you later.

3 minutes ago, Flowergirl said:

How do Collingwood get this done? They have no trade or draft capital, unless they give us gun player, which they won't.

You can trade 2 years of first round picks as of this year. So Collingwood could give us their 2026 and 2027 firsts.

1 minute ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Petty is only 25 and an established KPD, Fritsch is a gun fwd.

Was he hoping after todays effort people realise the problem is bigger than Fritsch’s lack of fwd pressure.

I agree the problem is much more than Fritsch’s forward pressure. But he’s generally disinterested and his base skills (uncontested marking and goal kicking) are way, way off.

Petty’s just going. I liked his Round 1 game but he can be better. The hard call will come as we can’t play all of May, Petty, TMac and Lever.

1 minute ago, titan_uranus said:

I agree the problem is much more than Fritsch’s forward pressure. But he’s generally disinterested and his base skills (uncontested marking and goal kicking) are way, way off.

Petty’s just going. I liked his Round 1 game but he can be better. The hard call will come as we can’t play all of May, Petty, TMac and Lever.

Retire TMac, I’d target Leek Aleer as May’s replacement.

3 minutes ago, adonski said:

White may look at today and think there's no chance he gets a game at the Suns ;)!

he'll certainly get far more opportunities in red and blue than in red

petracca and pickett are the likely 'highly valuable' assets that we have, potentially mcvee if he doesn't sign on to stay on, and fritsch will be wanted by someone

trade options, with some theoretical value:

• fritsch - second round pick from someone who needs a midsized forward (can see the bears for instance being very keen)

• mcvee - future first (hopefully) from meth coke

• petracca - future first from the filth

• pickett - two firsts over multiple years from flagmantle

• sparrow - maybe a 3rd round pick

players we are stuck with:

• laurie - contracted til 2026

• mcadam - contracted til 2026

delist:

• billings

• hore

• howes

• verrall

• woewodin

retire:

• mcdonald

• melksham

potential father / son and academy picks coming in:

• toby sinnema

• kalani white

it all comes down to what value the top 5 can achieve for us

it's got to happen this year tho, before the taswegian franchise comes in and sucks the life out of four or five drafts

Kozzie and Clarry keep. Gawn and May at the end and need replacing. Brand Petracca has to be on the table. Petty and Sparrow have not come on like they should have.

Mcvee, Windsor, Langford and X can all get the footy and hit a target. They are the rebuild.

32 minutes ago, seventyfour said:

You can trade 2 years of first round picks as of this year. So Collingwood could give us their 2026 and 2027 firsts.

I don't think that will cut it.

1 minute ago, Flowergirl said:

I don't think that will cut it.

i would be amazed if we get more than one first rounder for petracca

and we'll have to pay him to leave

37 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

I think Petraca has made it clear he wants Collingwood, so it'll be up to him to find the right deal.

He doesn't even have a registered agent.

I believe we are trying a rebuild / refresh of sorts on the run.

One of the challenges we are facing is that with injuries to a range of players (senior through to very junior) and the odd suspensions, we are unable to establish a starting 22 / 23 who can build together.

Looking back to the good old days - player x would look over his shoulder (or not look) and know that play y would be running through, ready for the hand off - at the moment, player x would be hard pressed to know if it's player y running through, player z laying a block (ha!), or player w setting up for the short kick etc. etc.

It's a long season, and I remain hopeful that we can lock down a side that plays together for a few weeks in succession - they may even enjoy a win along the way... that would be nice.

2 hours ago, BDA said:

Fritsch stays. His form is horrible but he’s the only reliable goal kicker we have

His set shots were hardly reliable today. Confidence has gone.

2 hours ago, adonski said:

Parallels with Collingwood 2021 when they finished bottom 4 & Buckley left

Funnily enough they didn't have a 1st round pick that year either

Having one of the best father-sons of our time helped though..

2 minutes ago, layzie said:

Having one of the best father-sons of our time helped though..

No doubt. But the Pies didn't have a good young group of players to build around at the time (still don't) they bottomed out, we do (I think). Might not be a Nick Daicos in our group but we're not starting from ground zero. Pies rebounded quickly, we can too but we might need to extract a fair bit of value from a Petracca come end of year.

You don’t start a rebuild after 3 games. All our best young players are already playing AFL and we’ve locked in all our veterans on long term deals. We fight to try to win every week.

2 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Petraca to Collingwood to play alongside his BF Maynard 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢

carlton and pies are nearly in the same boat as us, that does nothing for him, both clubs have an aging list with no future picks to give us, the only place he can maybe really go is tigs unless we send him to wc or some other [censored] team

3 hours ago, Return to Glory said:

Agreed, re Bombers pick but some players will want to go and we may have to make some tough decisions based on the squad not being good enough.

Melksham. Tmac. Billings. All will retire.

Doubts over so many … Laurie, Woey jnr, Sestan, Kentfield, Adams, Hore, McAdam, Spargo.

That’s 11 to go. Some might question or think that’s harsh. I think it’s needed. There’s young players needed and the talent is available.

4 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Melksham. Tmac. Billings. All will retire.

Doubts over so many … Laurie, Woey jnr, Sestan, Kentfield, Adams, Hore, McAdam, Spargo.

That’s 11 to go. Some might question or think that’s harsh. I think it’s needed. There’s young players needed and the talent is available.

Spargo will get a new deal, Adams is contracted till 2026 isn't he

1 minute ago, adonski said:

Spargo will get a new deal, Adams is contracted till 2026 isn't he

Thanks. Spargo needs to do a lot more. A lot more. He wasn’t impressive at all in 2022 and 2023 and as we know was out injured in 2024. Seems to be our players have average performances and still get new deals and extensions. Accepting mediocrity is our weakness.

Yes 100%. We need to do this before Tasmania come in, get the lot for Trac, Kozzie and Oliver

31 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

His set shots were hardly reliable today. Confidence has gone.

His confidence is very low no doubt. But I believe he can get his form back and start contributing again and kicking goals

14 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Melksham. Tmac. Billings. All will retire.

Doubts over so many … Laurie, Woey jnr, Sestan, Kentfield, Adams, Hore, McAdam, Spargo.

That’s 11 to go. Some might question or think that’s harsh. I think it’s needed. There’s young players needed and the talent is available.

SONS, I don't quite understand how we've gifted games to Billings, who's certainly not the future, but barely given Sestan a look in. We know what Billings bring....not much unfortunately.

The rebuild has already commenced. 4 1st rounders over the last 2 years

Quite a few 1st choice players 24 or younger.

Sinnema and White this year to come in. White likely will chose use as we have very few 200cm+ players. GC stacked with talls.

Prasad next year.

We do lack a potential gun KPB given May and Mc are not far off the sunset.

Gawn has not got that long left either.