17 minutes ago, john delosa said:

when someone strings a few coherent thoughts together online, the assumption is it must be a machine.

Not sure that's the reason!

20 hours ago, Taz said:

I think it's much more likely there is a middle ground where May, Lever, Trac, Clarry still play good footy in 2026 and beyond. The continued development of Windsor, Langford, Lindsay, McVee (hopefully), Bowey, Tholstrup, Turner, Rivers, Sparrow and possibly Kentfield, Culley, Moniz-Wakefield and Howes should keep us around the mark. Unfortunately, we still need improvement forward of centre and line-breaking/good ball users - which I struggle to see us doing in this trade/draft period.

I take it by "around the mark" you mean finishing 14th again?

Assuming we'll see improvement from May, Lever, Tholstrup, Sparrow, Kentfield, Moniz-Wakefield and Howes is delusional in the extreme.

8 hours ago, GS_1905 said:

He said 15,blokes in the footy trip, any idea on who was there and who wasn’t?

Apart from Max, Langdon & Melk, who posted on Instagram No, I do not know. However, given that 15 AFL-listed players were playing at Casey, the list narrows so it is fair to assume most of the players from the last game.

Sam Mitchel is also a grub, snake in the grass going after all the AFLs wounded bird players...I don't believe the narrative that "everyone is doing it" either, I think a lot of coaches and staff have a bit more respect and professional courtesy than this bloke. He just has no problem meddling, and I don't think anyone would like him much apart from Hawks fans.

Kade Chandler finishes the Bluey above Oliver

Go Figure

21 minutes ago, Young Angus said:

Sam Mitchel is also a grub, snake in the grass going after all the AFLs wounded bird players...I don't believe the narrative that "everyone is doing it" either, I think a lot of coaches and staff have a bit more respect and professional courtesy than this bloke. He just has no problem meddling, and I don't think anyone would like him much apart from Hawks fans.

I would absolutely kill for Sam Mitchell to be our coach.

9 minutes ago, Dee Boys said:

I would absolutely kill for Sam Mitchell to be our coach.

So would I.

And I would absolutely love if our coach was out there being proactive and ruthless with recruiting, regardless of who it is.

11 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

So would I.

And I would absolutely love if our coach was out there being proactive and ruthless with recruiting, regardless of who it is.

It blows my mind that anyone at Essendon would be more annoyed at Sam Mitchell than themselves for pushing so many players to want to leave with pure incompetence.

Merrett, Ridley, Draper and I’m sure more we don’t know about yet. It’s not Sam Mitchell it’s Essendon being a mess

30 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

It blows my mind that anyone at Essendon would be more annoyed at Sam Mitchell than themselves for pushing so many players to want to leave with pure incompetence.

Merrett, Ridley, Draper and I’m sure more we don’t know about yet. It’s not Sam Mitchell it’s Essendon being a mess

Yep.

The carcass is ripe for the picking. Good on Mitchell i say.

9 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

That's what new coaches do @jumbo returns they sort ch it out!

Hope so

1 hour ago, Kent said:

Kade Chandler finishes the Bluey above Oliver

Go Figure

That maths mate. It figures

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

So would I.

And I would absolutely love if our coach was out there being proactive and ruthless with recruiting, regardless of who it is.

I get this way of thinking - but there is a line. I think Goodwin had it right on this topic. He talked a lot about being ruthless and all, but he also maintained a high regard for respect. Respect in your team mates, footy club, opposition, society etc. I don't think you can pick and choose when and where you are respectful and where you are not. That is what i liked about Goody and it resonated with me personally.

Talking to contracted players -Harley Reid, Merrett and Allen are just the ones we know about - In my view is wrong. Now maybe in his defence, the players demanded the meeting and Zac's agent is behind this storey playing out in public - similar to Trac last year. We need to put a spotlight on the PA's - i know the personality types of what it takes to be successful as a PA and id hardly be out of line by suggesting that they are not the most morale and ethical lot going around.

37 minutes ago, GS_1905 said:

I get this way of thinking - but there is a line. I think Goodwin had it right on this topic. He talked a lot about being ruthless and all, but he also maintained a high regard for respect. Respect in your team mates, footy club, opposition, society etc. I don't think you can pick and choose when and where you are respectful and where you are not. That is what i liked about Goody and it resonated with me personally.

Talking to contracted players -Harley Reid, Merrett and Allen are just the ones we know about - In my view is wrong. Now maybe in his defence, the players demanded the meeting and Zac's agent is behind this storey playing out in public - similar to Trac last year. We need to put a spotlight on the PA's - i know the personality types of what it takes to be successful as a PA and id hardly be out of line by suggesting that they are not the most morale and ethical lot going around.

Look where thats gotten us over the past 4 years....

33 minutes ago, GS_1905 said:

I get this way of thinking - but there is a line. I think Goodwin had it right on this topic. He talked a lot about being ruthless and all, but he also maintained a high regard for respect. Respect in your team mates, footy club, opposition, society etc. I don't think you can pick and choose when and where you are respectful and where you are not. That is what i liked about Goody and it resonated with me personally.

Talking to contracted players -Harley Reid, Merrett and Allen are just the ones we know about - In my view is wrong. Now maybe in his defence, the players demanded the meeting and Zac's agent is behind this storey playing out in public - similar to Trac last year. We need to put a spotlight on the PA's - i know the personality types of what it takes to be successful as a PA and id hardly be out of line by suggesting that they are not the most morale and ethical lot going around.

Unfortunately AFL is a corporate beast and with that comes the behaviours of that beast. Ethics and morals barely exist, if at all. It’s money and power and you either play the game or end up like Essendon. We have to play the game as it’s only going to get worse.

Edited September 11Sep 11 by Roost it far

14 hours ago, Older demon said:

First off, Sam Maclure is a grub.

His article today shows he has no bounds for his dislike of MFC. He states that it is (in his opinion) a bad look that Clayton and Christian accepted their life memberships last night after wanting to leave last season. He fails to mention that ten years of service and 200 games get you an automatic life membership. Does he think they should not have accepted this honour?Well, both players hit that target this season. At no stage last year did Trac ask to leave. The context of last night was that Clint asked why Trac was so dedicated. His answer is "It's my job"

Sam, if you view this site, you should be ashamed of yourself. You distort the facts and create chaos, and wonder if we started making up rumours about you. Trac is on the record that he is MFC through and through. He admits he wears his heart on his sleeve, but he is a thorough professional whose commitment to training and getting the best out of himself is obsessive.

Another tidbit. Yes, the attendance was down last night. Last year, there were about 110 tables of 10. Last night I saw about 70 tables of 10 with lots of MFC staff and past players at tables. Maybe that is how the numbers were swelled. A chat with the Demon Army confirmed they were given 2 dates, and that last night was changed from the original. This was confirmed by an MFC official who told me the club had moved the function forward. Some players, after their exit interview, were heading off to Europe today, having booked their tickets on Monday so they have clear air and do not need to return to the club for a while, unlike having a B&F in 2 weeks, which they would have to come back to. As it is, Max and a few others had spent the last 8 days in N.Z. having a post-season wind down (alias footy trip).

I used to think we deserved everything we got from the media in the last couple of years, but geez they love sticking the boots in, even Adam Simpson criticised that Buckley had to go through the same interview process as the rookie coaches

Could you imagine if the club didn’t do a comprehensive search

“Oh it’s a boat race, Buckley always had the job blah blah blah”

9 minutes ago, Billy said:

even Adam Simpson criticised that Buckley had to go through the same interview process as the rookie coaches

Yes thought that was interesting. Simpson comes across as a decent person (I'm still not sure he's a great coach). But my take on this was I think he was thinking "that could have been me and I'm a premiership coach". Of course he wouldn't want to have to go through all of that again.

Back in the day I remember Sheedy getting narky at us as we told him anyone applying had to go through the process. There are a lot of egos in footy and particularly when it comes to senior coaches. But of course we want to go through a process. We might think Buckley is the front runner (or that could just be media talk) - but even so, as if we wouldn't want to know what other options there are.

And it is also an excellent opportunity to steal some IP from some of the most successful teams going around. I have no idea what the questions would be like but surely they would ask questions that get to "what are some of the strategies / frameworks / habits that have been a point of difference at another football club you have spent time at that you would look to implement at Melbourne?" Regardless of who you appoint, you have 5 ideas from people who have seen success just from that question.

3 hours ago, Ted Lasso said:

It blows my mind that anyone at Essendon would be more annoyed at Sam Mitchell than themselves for pushing so many players to want to leave with pure incompetence.

Merrett, Ridley, Draper and I’m sure more we don’t know about yet. It’s not Sam Mitchell it’s Essendon being a mess

+ laverde who wants to go to gw$

28 minutes ago, deelusions from afar said:

Yes thought that was interesting. Simpson comes across as a decent person (I'm still not sure he's a great coach). But my take on this was I think he was thinking "that could have been me and I'm a premiership coach". Of course he wouldn't want to have to go through all of that again.

Back in the day I remember Sheedy getting narky at us as we told him anyone applying had to go through the process. There are a lot of egos in footy and particularly when it comes to senior coaches. But of course we want to go through a process. We might think Buckley is the front runner (or that could just be media talk) - but even so, as if we wouldn't want to know what other options there are.

And it is also an excellent opportunity to steal some IP from some of the most successful teams going around. I have no idea what the questions would be like but surely they would ask questions that get to "what are some of the strategies / frameworks / habits that have been a point of difference at another football club you have spent time at that you would look to implement at Melbourne?" Regardless of who you appoint, you have 5 ideas from people who have seen success just from that question.

The club would be learning a lot from the ‘process’ too.

I’m sure they’d be asking each prospective coaches view on the list, where the improvement comes from and how they would go about it.

If it ends up being Buckley’s gig to lose, he’s also gaining a host of new ideas from highly regarded external voices along the way - albeit, via the club

Edited September 11Sep 11 by BW511

6 hours ago, john delosa said:

If you reckon that was AI, then maybe you’ve just forgotten what a coherent argument looks like!
Funny — when someone strings a few coherent thoughts together online, the assumption is it must be a machine. Says a lot about the age we’re in.

I also ran it through a ChatGPT detector, came back as 99.3% likelihood of being written by AI. Loads of people use it, no need to be embarrassed.

4 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I also ran it through a ChatGPT detector, came back as 99.3% likelihood of being written by AI. Loads of people use it, no need to be embarrassed.

Funny isn’t it.

I have never used it to communicate. Only to ask it random questions instead of Google.

2 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Unfortunately AFL is a corporate beast and with that comes the behaviours of that beast. Ethics and morals barely exist, if at all. It’s money and power and you either play the game or end up like Essendon. We have to play the game as it’s only going to get worse.

Yes, you are right but it doesn’t mean you can’t have one without the other. It says a lot about the club if that is the view you take.

32 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

I also ran it through a ChatGPT detector, came back as 99.3% likelihood of being written by AI. Loads of people use it, no need to be embarrassed.

Detector can think what it likes I know where the words came from.

6 hours ago, Young Angus said:

Sam Mitchel is also a grub, snake in the grass going after all the AFLs wounded bird players...I don't believe the narrative that "everyone is doing it" either, I think a lot of coaches and staff have a bit more respect and professional courtesy than this bloke. He just has no problem meddling, and I don't think anyone would like him much apart from Hawks fans.

The particular way he is around the players is quite intriguing after a win or loss. He just looks sneaky.

3 hours ago, Roost it far said:

Unfortunately AFL is a corporate beast and with that comes the behaviours of that beast. Ethics and morals barely exist, if at all. It’s money and power and you either play the game or end up like Essendon. We have to play the game as it’s only going to get worse.

I would argue Essendon played the game in the stupidest, most over-the-top way possible and are still paying for it 12 or 13 years later.

8 hours ago, poita said:

I take it by "around the mark" you mean finishing 14th again?

Assuming we'll see improvement from May, Lever, Tholstrup, Sparrow, Kentfield, Moniz-Wakefield and Howes is delusional in the extreme.

If we could learn to win a few close games and adjust our game style, we could be back in the finals and who knows what happens from there. The expectation that seasoned players, who took us to finals and a premiership, rediscover some good form coupled with growth in our young talent is hardly delusional.

There's enough evidence of that happening throughout the league that makes it a reasonable proposition. But you do you.