i'm finding it hard to care too much about selection. its just shuffling the deck chairs at this stage

that said, would have thought Adams deserved a go for a few end of season games

6 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Dunstan was never even given a game?

Added to our list as experienced depth, he played five games in his first season with us and none in his second.

2 hours ago, Deeoldfart said:

Sometimes reading the pregame thread saddens me, because there is not much balance, and an abundance negative comment. This is one such occasion.

What is there to be positive about with this club? Kozzie is about the extent of it.

1 hour ago, Strawberry Fields said:

Fair enough… I guess I try to think of the positives. If Goody is coaching for his career, then I would have thought he’d want to win. For those Goody haters I assume they’d be happy for a loss to hasten his departure.

Either way I find the aggressive criticism confusing.

Yes, he wants to win games using the same players in the same positions who have shown they are not up to it for the last two seasons. Instead of trialling new things to set us up for 2026 he is trying to scrap wins or limit the damage against mediocre teams to keep the wolves at bay. We should be focused on 2026 and beyond now, not winning or minimising the damage in meaningless games vs the Saints or Eagles in the next two weeks.

4 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

What is there to be positive about with this club? Kozzie is about the extent of it.

But.. the young players loveee Goody?

Edited July 25Jul 25 by dazzledavey36

3 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

But.. the young players loveee Goody?

Loving your coach doesn't mean it's a healthy environment. They may love him for any number of reasons, it doesn't mean it will set you up for success in a professional environment. Barassi was hated by some of his players, he went alright. Pretty sure the players weren't enamoured with Norm either.

14 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yes, he wants to win games using the same players in the same positions who have shown they are not up to it for the last two seasons. Instead of trialling new things to set us up for 2026 he is trying to scrap wins or limit the damage against mediocre teams to keep the wolves at bay. We should be focused on 2026 and beyond now, not winning or minimising the damage in meaningless games vs the Saints or Eagles in the next two weeks.

Ok. Which players do you think should be in? Also, over the past two weeks, post match interview players have spoken about implementing a new gameplan. So my guess is they are focussed on 2026.

Are you saying Petty isn’t in our future? Sparrow? Howe? I think there’s a lot of dreaming here about AJ and Laurie somehow tearing things up at AFL level when they haven’t in the past.

I’m no expert. But sometimes you have to trust the experts.

42 minutes ago, John Demonic said:

Laurie has had more than enough chances, whereas Dunstan was never even given a game? Although it was understandable at the time, given the plethora of inside mids and we were contending.

But with the season done n dusted and a need to bring in the next generation, how are we still kowtowing to the same senior players and not debuting more players? Get the feeling there are some big ego's in the club that are running the joint to the detriment of future development of the rest.

Laurie hasn’t had a good run as a mid tho, at Casey he does well in the midfield, at seniors he is either Sub or small fwd. if you truly want to see what he can do, give him some midfield time.

McVee. McDonald. Howes.

Salem. Turner. Bowey

Langdon. Trac. Windsor

Viney . Petty. Fritsch

Melksham. JVR. Pickett

GAWN. Rivers. Oliver.

Int. Sparrow. Langford. Chandler. Lindsay.

Sub. Spargo

Just to be clear, Harry Petty’s 2.2, 12 disposals and 4 marks warranted a game over Kentfield (4.0, 9 disposals and 6 marks) and AJ (5.2, 21 disposals and 12 marks).

You can’t even make this stuff up anymore.

@cameronburt

2 hours ago, John Demonic said:

Is Culley being Dunstanned?

Hopefully Culley isn’t as limited a player as Dunstan

2 hours ago, BW511 said:

That’s fair but how did Petty, Spargo and Sparrow go last week?

Sparrow has been solid all year at AFL level so automatic in

Spargo had 22 touches and 2 behinds,

Petty 2.1. Lucky to get a gig but an experienced senior player

5 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Thing is, we dont need another Viney type player..

We will when Vineys body gets too battered and he retires. We can keep him longer by rotating with a similar tyoe.

If you are saying we dont need a hard at the ball gatherer with inconsistent delivery.... That is another discussion.

2 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

I reckon the perennial misery-mongers are in the minority on here, it’s just that they’re the most vocal and because they repeat themselves to the point of distraction there appears to many more of them.

The overwhelming majority of people who read this site don’t post but I’m guessing many of them are optimists who dare not post lest they’re brought down by the belligerent usuals. I say this because I’ve received PMs from quite a few ‘lurkers’ and/or folks who rarely post over the years expressing appreciation for standing up to the ‘Congregation of the Miserable’ as one such poster put it.

Sadly, it’s only gonna get worse.

Agree. The sad part is when you stick up for the selection or Goody the negatives assume you support everything Goodwin has ever done.

it’s possible to like some things and not others. We are getting like the US where you must be extreme to one side. I like to judge things on its merits

13 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Just to be clear, Harry Petty’s 2.2, 12 disposals and 4 marks warranted a game over Kentfield (4.0, 9 disposals and 6 marks) and AJ (5.2, 21 disposals and 12 marks).

You can’t even make this stuff up anymore.

@cameronburt

As laughable as it is superficial.

Kentfield has had a few strong periods across games - but he had zero pre-season and it's questionable that he could run out an AFL game - from what I can see, he can't even run out VFL games, he seems to manage a strong half but then not much. In any case, the club has all his figures and would know. AJ has had one great game after a long period out, before which he was about as vanilla as they come. Let him back it up.

2 hours ago, chook fowler said:

The only surprise is AJ missing out after his BOG last week.

If he backs It up this week you'd think he'd be close to selection. One game is not much to go on, great or not.

4 hours ago, Heart Beats True said:

FFS leave Jefferson in and give some guys like Adams and Culley a shot. Our selection committee is a complete joke. The season is gone hence let’s see if some young guys are up to it. Petty for Jefferson is prime Goodwin.

RINSE AND REPEAT GOODWIN

Not surprised at all by selection. It’s typical Goodwin shuffling the SAME deck chairs on the titanic and hoping we don’t simk.

It’s the perfect opportunity to blood new players and Goodwin just continues to stay true to what has worked so wonderfully well the past couple of seasons.

This is one of the reasons his time is up.

FFS puts us out of our misery.

17 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Just to be clear, Harry Petty’s 2.2, 12 disposals and 4 marks warranted a game over Kentfield (4.0, 9 disposals and 6 marks) and AJ (5.2, 21 disposals and 12 marks).

You can’t even make this stuff up anymore.

@cameronburt

Not sure if you aware, but the Selection Committees take into account more than just one VFL game.

Such as, is the player proven at AFL level? A premiership player does get some credits in the bank over VFL players and mid season picks

AJ has been given games and has done OK to average. If they keep banging the door down they’ll get their chance

5 minutes ago, DubDee said:

The sad part is when you stick up for the selection or Goody

Also the sad part is when you assume that all selection decisions are made by Goodwin.

36 minutes ago, bing181 said:

If he backs It up this week you'd think he'd be close to selection. One game is not much to go on, great or not.

The fact he’s played one strong game at VFL level is better than the automatic selection of Spargo and other favourites returning from injuries off the back of zero games at VFL.

2 hours ago, Strawberry Fields said:

Ok. Which players do you think should be in? Also, over the past two weeks, post match interview players have spoken about implementing a new gameplan. So my guess is they are focussed on 2026.

Are you saying Petty isn’t in our future? Sparrow? Howe? I think there’s a lot of dreaming here about AJ and Laurie somehow tearing things up at AFL level when they haven’t in the past.

I’m no expert. But sometimes you have to trust the experts.

Jefferson should be playing.

Rivers should be playing midfield. We should be running others through there as well like McVee, Windsor, Langford, Lindsay etc Running with Oliver, Petracca and Viney at 85% of our centre bounces is ridiculous.

I think Adams should be given a few games as well and even Kentfield if we are dropping Jefferson (if we were to play him the next 2 games would be ideal).

We should be playing an actual 2nd ruck and letting JVR settle into the forward role.

On Petty, nah I don't think he's our future, not up forward anyway. Shown enough to know he doesn't have the intensity or physical presence of a key forward. Maybe play him down back to replace May and give him another crack in defence, up forward no.

Spargo is ok when he gets the footy but we know what we're getting with him (same for Sparrow really but I like his overhead marking across half forward). Would rather see another player at half forward and if not a newbie like Brown or someone then play Bowey, McVee or even Salem across half forward and see what they offer.

Instead we'll just get more of the same old same old with the same players butchering the ball in the midfield, the same lack of co test up forward with Petty etc etc Do the same thing, expect the same results.

When the "experts" have shown again and again how poor their decision making is why would you trust them?

Edited July 25Jul 25 by Dr. Gonzo

3 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

The selection for this game is an utter disgrace. I'm not Jefferson's biggest fan (not that I don't like him, I'm just not sold) but for Christ's sake you have to play him. At least he's getting to the footy! Play him now when we have nothing to lose to let him get settled, gain experience, build synergy etc

Goodwin has lost the plot.

Yep gone into Bikini Mode , Cover yr aaarzze

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

Also the sad part is when you assume that all selection decisions are made by Goodwin.

You're right, the whole FD needs a clean out. Stale as day old donuts.

2 hours ago, DubDee said:

Not sure if you aware, but the Selection Committees take into account more than just one VFL game.

Such as, is the player proven at AFL level? A premiership player does get some credits in the bank over VFL players and mid season picks

AJ has been given games and has done OK to average. If they keep banging the door down they’ll get their chance

Is Petty a proven forward at AFL Level? Applying that same principle to AFL level, the selection committee would look at the wider body of work than just the one or two great AFL games Petty has played. So maybe the 9 goals from 20 games last year, or the 12 from 14 this year?

Edited July 25Jul 25 by John Demonic

Picking Petty as a forward is the definition of cowardice from the senior coach. He is absolutely desperate to pad out or win/loss record this season.