We all need to accept that we are just not a good FC anymore, me included

Sucks we don't own our 1st round pick which will be a Top 5

Trac looks already checked out, see how Kozy goes this week

Oscar Allen will never consider us now. Hawks will get even better

2 minutes ago, SthSea22 said:

We all need to accept that we are just not a good FC anymore, me included

Sucks we don't own our 1st round pick which will be a Top 5

Trac looks already checked out, see how Kozy goes this week

Oscar Allen will never consider us now. Hawks will get even better

We undoubtedly have the talent to be a finals team. These big names need to pull their collective fingers out and get busy.

The idea of trading Oliver or Petracca let alone both of them beggars belief!

Play the kids! Then what!

Ponder this about our list:

Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 24

Only 8 players between 50 and 100 games.

Who will do the heavy lifting around the midfield, set standards and take the heat while Kozzie, Windsor, Kolt, McVee, Langford, Lindsay etc learn the ropes and mature to the 100-150 game mark. It can't all be left to May, Max, Lever, Viney who will retire or have their own issues staying injury free to play out their contracts.

Neither Oliver nor Petracca are at peak match fitness. Oliver had 18 months of not playing or limited in playing to AFL level. Petracca missed half a season, lost 7.5 kgs, moved heaven and earth to get his body back to an AFL level.

It will take some time for them to get back to their best and I'm confident both will.

3 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

We undoubtedly have the talent to be a finals team. These big names need to pull their collective fingers out and get busy.

I just can't see it happening anytime soon mate

Who would have predicted at the start of the season that we lost to both NM and GC by a combined 20 goals?

On 29/03/2025 at 16:17, adonski said:

I think the 2 first rounder stuff for Petty was a myth..

It was completely made up by Kane Cornes.

1 minute ago, Lucifers Hero said:

The idea of trading Oliver or Petracca let alone both of them beggars belief!

Play the kids! Then what!

Ponder this about our list:

Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 24

Only 8 players between 50 and 100 games.

Who will do the heavy lifting around the midfield, set standards and take the heat while Kozzie, Windsor, Kolt, McVee, Langford, Lindsay etc learn the ropes and mature to the 100-150 game mark. It can't all be left to May, Max, Lever, Viney who will retire or have their own issues staying injury free to play out their contracts.

Neither Oliver nor Petracca are at peak match fitness. Oliver had 18 months of not playing or limited in playing to AFL level. Petracca missed half a season, lost 7.5 kgs, moved heaven and earth to get his body back to an AFL level.

It will take some time for them to get back to their best and I'm confident both will.

Sick of hearing the excuses for Trac

He has checked out and won't be at the FC next season

7 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

The idea of trading Oliver or Petracca let alone both of them beggars belief!

Play the kids! Then what!

Ponder this about our list:

Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 24

Only 8 players between 50 and 100 games.

Who will do the heavy lifting around the midfield, set standards and take the heat while Kozzie, Windsor, Kolt, McVee, Langford, Lindsay etc learn the ropes and mature to the 100-150 game mark. It can't all be left to May, Max, Lever, Viney who will retire or have their own issues staying injury free to play out their contracts.

Neither Oliver nor Petracca are at peak match fitness. Oliver had 18 months of not playing or limited in playing to AFL level. Petracca missed half a season, lost 7.5 kgs, moved heaven and earth to get his body back to an AFL level.

It will take some time for them to get back to their best and I'm confident both will.

Your right, we continual to bring in the young players when they are ready. We also need to ensure we retain experience on the list otherwise the young players will get smashed and have no one to learn from. We have made that mistake before, so did the Roos and they are still trying to climb out.

6 minutes ago, SthSea22 said:

I just can't see it happening anytime soon mate

Who would have predicted at the start of the season that we lost to both NM and GC by a combined 20 goals?

I don’t think it’s going to happen soon either. Doesn’t change the fact we have talent and likely more at year’s end. It’s looking like we need a new coach but that’s not decided yet. He’s got 6-8 weeks to recover this. With the talent he has there’s no doubt he can recover but does he really want it? Like is there a burning desire? Currently I don’t see it.

8 minutes ago, SthSea22 said:

Sick of hearing the excuses for Trac

He has checked out and won't be at the FC next season

I agree. That was clear when he pulled out of a contest against North. He will play as he wants this year.

I’m not even know him. Practically won us the flag but being realistic the Club that badly let him down last year is now on the skids. Within the next 3 weeks he may know we can’t make the finals. I do t see him going 100 per cent if that’s the case.

14 minutes ago, SthSea22 said:

Sick of hearing the excuses for Trac

He has checked out and won't be at the FC next season

I don't like the bloke for what he done to the club last year, but even i think this is a bit harsh.

What he went through with that injury is quite significant. Remember, he wasn't allowed to get his heart rate above a certain level for 3 months, which was a brisk walking pace from memory. The amount of fitness he would have lost in that period isn't something you just get back over a pre-season and a bit.

9 minutes ago, 48 Year Now said:

I agree. That was clear when he pulled out of a contest against North. He will play as he wants this year.

I’m not even know him. Practically won us the flag but being realistic the Club that badly let him down last year is now on the skids. Within the next 3 weeks he may know we can’t make the finals. I do t see him going 100 per cent if that’s the case.

Agree

Would not be surprised he sits out a big chunk

1 hour ago, Fat Tony said:

There have just been a handful of seven-year contracts that have been good for the signing club. I didn't argue that they were the wrong call at the time. I just said that the Petracca and Oliver contracts only made sense to give us a chance from 2022-2024 and we are now paying the price.

Then they’re not “bad” contracts. They’re just what we’re left with on the other side of 2022-24.

They should be who we rebuild/reset around.

The issue with a rebuild right now, is we still need some talent coming through.

Being a rabble will not help our cause. Oscar Allan is looking around, and would NOT want to come here for obvious reasons. Why? To lose more than he is currently losing. We are currently jostling with the Eagles for the spoon. And I don't want to remind everyone what they did to us over there last year. Could see that happening again.

Anyway, it's cyclical - if we don't correct our trajectory this year, we are making a poor case to a) keep important players to help guide any youth we attract, but we are also making a poor cause to attract the next generation. This is partly how we were stuck in the doldrums for years - it took a long, long time to get some talent across. Took some luck, as well.

We need to turn our year around - as that is the pitch for current and future years.

Regardless of whether we are in/need a rebuild.

51 minutes ago, Lucifers Hero said:

The idea of trading Oliver or Petracca let alone both of them beggars belief!

Play the kids! Then what!

Ponder this about our list:

Players with 100-plus games: 14
Players with less than 50 games: 24

Only 8 players between 50 and 100 games.

Who will do the heavy lifting around the midfield, set standards and take the heat while Kozzie, Windsor, Kolt, McVee, Langford, Lindsay etc learn the ropes and mature to the 100-150 game mark. It can't all be left to May, Max, Lever, Viney who will retire or have their own issues staying injury free to play out their contracts.

Neither Oliver nor Petracca are at peak match fitness. Oliver had 18 months of not playing or limited in playing to AFL level. Petracca missed half a season, lost 7.5 kgs, moved heaven and earth to get his body back to an AFL level.

It will take some time for them to get back to their best and I'm confident both will.

I wouldn’t get rid of both and would probably rather Trac went before Clarry. It’s not a matter of them getting back to 100% or not. It’s a matter of us needing capital to rebuild. We have to move quickly and try to rebuild before Tasmania comes in.

1 hour ago, Roost it far said:

Oliver and Petracca need a new coach. I’d be replacing love with reality. Ideally that new coach is at Melbourne.

We had the reality bus previously now we have the love boat

Not saying the negativity here isn't warranted as I've contributed to it for sure.

But wait until after the Cats game in Geelong.

Spoiler alert...... complete DLand implosion.

Sure won't be pretty.

On 29/03/2025 at 16:11, adonski said:

Probably need to turn Trac + Kozz into 4 first round picks

No one is offering 2 first rounders for petracca… we will be lucky to get pick 18 and not have to pay for his remains salary. Both trac and Oliver’s extended contracts are a problem

28 minutes ago, Colm said:

I wouldn’t get rid of both and would probably rather Trac went before Clarry. It’s not a matter of them getting back to 100% or not. It’s a matter of us needing capital to rebuild. We have to move quickly and try to rebuild before Tasmania comes in.

It doesn't help our first few games have been against teams with lots of young pointy end first round midfielders who have exposed us.

We went all in on our crop (Viney, Brayshaw, Petracca, Oliver etc) in search of a second flag.

Obviously some things have not gone to plan but the midfield re-build is underway with Langford, Windsor, Kolt and Lindsay etc

3 hours ago, Macca said:

An argument could be put forward that the issues with the new game style is a player issue, not a coaching issue

That’s pretty much what I think.

Coaching is a big factor, you have to use training to get players confident and drilled at making the right decisions. But it also takes time and the right players.

Langford played without the same apprehension and with more skill than our experienced mids. Unfortunately his inexperience and lack of speed hurts defensively.

Pickett will help. More midfield time for Tracc could help if he cuts down his turnovers. But we need more skills than we’ve got on the list!

55 minutes ago, Kent said:

We had the reality bus previously now we have the love boat

Pain Plane?

2 hours ago, darkhorse72 said:

Agree they have great list management and refresh when needed. I believe with the focus on frequent early draft picks and playing the kids we are already doing that process. The difference between us and a Geelong recently are the recruitment of high quality established players. Though we were in line to do this with Houston for the first time in years. (Though long term I prefer the players we drafted) We have lots of what appears to be good young talent to keep the team competitive.

The issue is how the talent is being used. Can a different coach with a different philosophy improve the team? Based upon our last 20 games, our current model is not working.

Thanks for the respectful and considered response! It's engagements like this that give you hope!

Good point around the questioning of the use of talent. I feel like things haven't been the same since Trac got injured, which is when the 'rolling rebuild' started.

The other thing I keep coming back to is how poor our 'elite' players have been the last 2 weeks when compared to R1. There is obviously something going on. I'm a bit believer in players being responsible to do their best, but it's the coaches role to enable that. Something is definitely not happening to get them going and it needs to change.

5 hours ago, Go Lordie said:

Rebuild? What do you think is happening? Six debutants in two games is not a rebuild? Geelong doesn't rebuild. The Swans don't rebuild. They add to what strengths they have. They don't sell Petracca, Oliver, Gawn and bring in teenagers. Look at Hawthorn, North Melbourne - they are playing with enthusiasm. Our problem is mental, not physical.

I absolutely accept what you're saying Go Lordie. Even still, a number of players need to be off-loaded at season's end.

The timing of deciding to rebuild right now would be strange after repeatedly trading away future first round picks.

I think the question is a good one but I feel they've already gone too far down one road to turn back and go another way.

15 minutes ago, layzie said:

The timing of deciding to rebuild right now would be strange after repeatedly trading away future first round picks.

To get better first round picks.

Which is a rebuild, no?

We've already seen the benefits this season with both Lindsay and Langford. They both come straight in and fill a roll.

4 hours ago, Roost it far said:

We undoubtedly have the talent to be a finals team.

There are a dozen other clubs who could say the same thing. You then lose a few important players to injury or whatnot, you have an unsettled line-up, you have players coming back from long-term/serious injury, etc.etc., and you quickly get passed by any of the other 12.