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Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in 2026

Featured Replies

8 minutes ago, Gator said:

It's relative for ruckmen.

Gawn is not a poor kick. In fact, he's one of the more reliable.

His retention rate for kicks is equal second, along with Rowan Marshall, for all main rucks. As an example, it's better than Tim English.

While his kicking efficiency percentage is only behind English. Granted, it's not a stat I'm mad on, but for rucks it's as reliable as you're likely to get.

Come on Gator. Don't wee on my leg and tell me it's raining. 6 goals from 25 shots this year.

 
2 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Come on Gator. Don't wee on my leg and tell me it's raining. 6 goals from 25 shots this year.

Goal kicking =/= field kicking

21 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Come on Gator. Don't wee on my leg and tell me it's raining. 6 goals from 25 shots this year.

OK. I didn't know that you're disengenuous. Noted.

When you said, ''Added to that Gawn is a poor kick and Langdon below average'', am I meant to take it that you're also referring to Langdon's goal-kicking ? Or more likely, his general kicking.

You were clearing talking about Gawn's general kicking, and I responded accordingly.

Now you're bringing goal-kicking into it. Everyone knows he's not a good set shot, although 2025 was far worse than most other years.

You were clearly referencing Gawn's general kicking, which is not ''poor'' for a ruckman as you incorrectly assert.

 
31 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Come on Gator. Don't wee on my leg and tell me it's raining. 6 goals from 25 shots this year.

I’m with Gator. He is clearly a poor set shot at goal but oddly his field kicking is pretty good

1 hour ago, Gator said:

OK. I didn't know that you're disengenuous. Noted.

When you said, ''Added to that Gawn is a poor kick and Langdon below average'', am I meant to take it that you're also referring to Langdon's goal-kicking ? Or more likely, his general kicking.

You were clearing talking about Gawn's general kicking, and I responded accordingly.

Now you're bringing goal-kicking into it. Everyone knows he's not a good set shot, although 2025 was far worse than most other years.

You were clearly referencing Gawn's general kicking, which is not ''poor'' for a ruckman as you incorrectly assert.

Of course kicking includes goal kicking and Gawn is not a good kick. He is fair around the ground and usually takes safe options under no pressure (after a mark or free) but he is not a player we want kicking inside 50 or for goal. He was one of the worst set shots in the competition.

IMO our good kicks are Pickett, Fritsch, Melksham, Chandler and Langford. JVR is an excellent set shot. The rest are AFL average or poor.


2 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Of course kicking includes goal kicking and Gawn is not a good kick. He is fair around the ground and usually takes safe options under no pressure (after a mark or free) but he is not a player we want kicking inside 50 or for goal. He was one of the worst set shots in the competition.

IMO our good kicks are Pickett, Fritsch, Melksham, Chandler and Langford. JVR is an excellent set shot. The rest are AFL average or poor.

And Bowey

5 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Of course kicking includes goal kicking and Gawn is not a good kick. He is fair around the ground and usually takes safe options under no pressure (after a mark or free) but he is not a player we want kicking inside 50 or for goal. He was one of the worst set shots in the competition.

IMO our good kicks are Pickett, Fritsch, Melksham, Chandler and Langford. JVR is an excellent set shot. The rest are AFL average or poor.

Lindsay? Salem? Bowey?

9 minutes ago, Fat Tony said:

Of course kicking includes goal kicking and Gawn is not a good kick. He is fair around the ground and usually takes safe options under no pressure (after a mark or free) but he is not a player we want kicking inside 50 or for goal. He was one of the worst set shots in the competition.

IMO our good kicks are Pickett, Fritsch, Melksham, Chandler and Langford. JVR is an excellent set shot. The rest are AFL average or poor.

Of course he's not a good kick. An [censored] knows that.

But he's not a poor kick for a ruckman. I said there needed to be context.

This site is getting harder and harder to read. It's beyond pointless.

 
6 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

I don’t know if this has been mentioned previously but this from the Herald Sun, is particularly damning about our midfield and is something that the new coach will have to address immediately.

IMG_2795.jpeg

What makes it worse is this comment re one of our young guns who is being groomed for a future place in the middle:

Caleb Windsor got some midfield time but the top 10 draft pick was also officially categorised as a poor kick by Champion Data”.

When recruited, Windsor was regarded as a good disposer of the football.

Just goes to show stats can be pretty useless and cherry picked to suit any narrative. I don't dispute our three mids aren't great kicks, however Merrett and Horne-Francis are brilliant kicks. Merrett is amongst the best in the league. Trac, while he can be a butcher, has been amongst the highest score involvement in the league for about 5 years straight now.

21 hours ago, john delosa said:

I’ve never seen Trac himself say a bad word about the club — unless someone’s got actual quotes, this feels more like whispers than facts,
Funny how silence gets turned into headlines. I’ve yet to hear Trac himself bag the club — but in the echo chamber, whispers become ‘fact.’ That’s not evidence, that’s just propaganda with a guernsey on.
If Trac’s been bagging the club, he’s done it in invisible ink.

Actions speak louder than words.


8 hours ago, Whispering_Jack said:

I don’t know if this has been mentioned previously but this from the Herald Sun, is particularly damning about our midfield and is something that the new coach will have to address immediately.

IMG_2795.jpeg

What makes it worse is this comment re one of our young guns who is being groomed for a future place in the middle:

Caleb Windsor got some midfield time but the top 10 draft pick was also officially categorised as a poor kick by Champion Data”.

When recruited, Windsor was regarded as a good disposer of the football.

Nailed it !!!

I stumbled upon an ad with Petracca and Dangerfield.

Of course it was about cooking, Coles sponsored.

In the video Dangerfield is wearing Geelong's shirt while Petracca is in full "civil" clothes.

Clearly the ad is footy oriented, why no demons shirt?

Edited by ElDiablo14

On 04/09/2025 at 08:03, Bombay Airconditioning said:

About 6-8 weeks back there was a lot of keep Trac and trade Oliver from posters including myself, i think things have done a 180.

Why?

On 04/09/2025 at 10:43, dazzledavey36 said:

Dan Houston pulling out because of trac is the best thing that has happened to this club.

With Houstan, we have no Lindsay or Langford.

Exactly, saved us from Goodwin and Lamb's idiocy.

On 06/09/2025 at 09:33, ElDiablo14 said:

I stumbled upon an ad with Petracca and Dangerfield.

Of course it was about cooking, Coles sponsored.

In the video Dangerfield is wearing Geelong's shirt while Petracca is in full "civil" clothes.

Clearly the ad is footy oriented, why no demons shirt?

asa vs private arrangement, i assume


On 05/09/2025 at 11:21, Fat Tony said:

Come on Gator. Don't wee on my leg and tell me it's raining. 6 goals from 25 shots this year.

I think the point has been made regarding goal kicking Vs feild kicking, buy just to reinforce the psychological component and other aspects where goal kicking accuracy isn't a good metric for kicking ability, Xavier Lindsay, who I think most here rate as a more than reliable and capable feild kick, achieved a scoring record of 2 goals 6 behinds this season. My recollection is that like Gawn, many of Lindsay's shots were fairly easy, particularly for a player of his kicking calibre. I noticed this from fairly early on, to the point that personally, I had surprisingly little confidence in him taking shots on goal.

Honestly, this is something we need to work on as a team. We could have been at least a 10 - 20 goal better team and win another 3 - 4 games just if Gawn, Lindsay, Tracc and others quite feasibly turn around this aspect of their games.

Edited by Rodney (Balls) Grinter

23 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

I think the point has been made regarding goal kicking Vs feild kicking, buy just to reinforce the psychological component and other aspects where goal kicking accuracy isn't a good metric for kicking ability, Xavier Lindsay, who I think most here rate as a more than reliable and capable feild kick, achieved a scoring record of 2 goals 6 behinds this season. My recollection is that like Gawn, many of Lindsay's shots were fairly easy, particularly for a player of his kicking calibre. I noticed this from fairly early on, to the point that personally, I had surprisingly little confidence in him taking shots on goal.

Honestly, this is something we need to work on as a team. We could have been at least a 10 - 20 goal better team and win another 3 - 4 games just if Gawn, Lindsay, Tracc and others quite feasibly turn around this aspect of their games.

Field kicking is actually two skills. 1. decision making and 2. kicking accuracy. Players can be good at decision making which makes them look better kicks than they actually are. Goal kicking is actually the purist assessment of kicking skill we have.

Lindsay needs to kick the goals to prove he is a good kick at AFL level.

I'm keeping both Clarry and Trac. And I think that's what'll happen.

Edited by Adam The God

11 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

I'm keeping both Clarry and Trac. And I think that's what'll happen.

same. But I’m definitely Increasing tracs time as a forward and telling viney to work on a secondary role, letting clarry be the sole ball winner and adding more speed through the midfield overall.

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

Field kicking is actually two skills. 1. decision making and 2. kicking accuracy. Players can be good at decision making which makes them look better kicks than they actually are. Goal kicking is actually the purist assessment of kicking skill we have.

Lindsay needs to kick the goals to prove he is a good kick at AFL level.

I'd actually add a point 3 to the above being executing under pressure.

I reacall that in our better seasons gone by (2021 being the prime example) Max and Christian have been able to nail clutch goals from set shots and on the run, but have got progressively worse in the past few seasons. I think it's 80% in the head. When the team and individuals are playing with greater confidence, it just tends to happen as well.

I'm sure Lindsay will get better in front of goal as he gets the monkey off his back and more games under his belt.


1 hour ago, Ted Lasso said:

same. But I’m definitely Increasing tracs time as a forward and telling viney to work on a secondary role, letting clarry be the sole ball winner and adding more speed through the midfield overall.

Me too mate. 👏

19 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Why?

Just going off what I’ve read, I’ve been out of the country for 5 weeks so haven’t seen any footy for a while.

Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. Using raw numbers to argue form is like using a sundial to time a sprint — brave, but not helpful.

 
7 hours ago, Ted Lasso said:

same. But I’m definitely Increasing tracs time as a forward and telling viney to work on a secondary role, letting clarry be the sole ball winner and adding more speed through the midfield overall.

If Viney could kick better he'd be a very good lockdown small defender.

On 03/09/2025 at 03:49, Demon_JB said:

He was showing great form in the latter part of the season. I think we will see the best of Clayton next year. Wonder if he would be willing to take some sort of base pay cut and agree to be incentivised pased on accomplishments and KPI's?

I think that would be insulting! Back him to get back to near best next year!


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