22 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Or maybe Oliver just needed time to recover/get fit/ adapt.

Such a trucker question for the new coach: dos Oliver go (with nothing in return) or stay?

He absolutely stays subject to putting in a huge 2026.

Tracc is a massive worry (above the shoulders).

Constantly fumbling, non-committal at moments when its his turn to go. Hearing footsteps when playing in front or going for ground balls.

I understand why he has the yips but for as long as it lasts we are effectively a quality rotation down in the mid-field in terms of where we were at from about 2018 - half way through 2024 (in terms of his levels during this period up to and including the injury).

The other issue is Viney who has lost so much leg speed he is under a stack of pressure everytime he gets the ball, resulting in way too many turnovers or missed connections when he does win it.

Lots of issues to consider going forward (amongst other factors eg; Picket's horrid field kicking and some forwards not leading up at the ball carrier or into open spaces often enough) for the incoming coach.

It will take a pre-season and at least half a season or more just to iron out some of the woeful habits / non-habits that many of our forwards exhibit and some of the woeful field kicking that results in too many easy scores from turnovers to the opp and far too many losses in close games as a result. Windsor and Riv other examples of bog ordinary field kickers alot of the time.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by Demon Dynasty

48 minutes ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

Any one else think Oliver - whether by chance or plan - suddenly looked a lot better today?

Gotten better as the season has gone on because he is finally getting closer to full fitness after missing so much footy. Spent more TOG today as well than he has in a while.

Oliver will be back to his best with another full uninterrupted pre season under his belt. I have no doubt about that.

His quick hands in close are going to become more important the less we play Viney and Trac as midfielders and the more we try to get Kosi Windsor etc on ball to use their speed and skills.

1 hour ago, GawnOfTheDead said:

So, I want to know everyone’s opinion on Chaplin not putting his hand up.

He says he’s learning and happy to, but also wants to be a senior coach.

I feel he wants to do it anywhere but at Melbourne and I’m curious on what you guys thinks going on there?

To go along with a narrative we needed a new voice. Chaplin has been there 8 years, he is was never going to be that new voice. The board would likely have told him you should just enjoy the coaching gig for 3 games. Don't put your time into applying for the job, we don't want to waste your time, or ours!

I think these next 3 games will help his credentials to being a senior coach either way.

Fwiw if he had the opportunity to coach Melbourne he would want it 100%. We are super likely to be the ones pushing him not to apply....Not that he would prefer to coach anywhere BUT Melbourne imo

3 hours ago, doomsday dee said:

Who ever is coach,will they have the balls or the backing to move on Salem,Viney and Tracc,if not its more of the same

Salem has been one of our best, most consistent players in the past 5-6 weeks.

usually over 450m gained

today, 24 touches at 95%

I wish we had more players that kept the ball like him.

*I am aware he is not fast and cannot kick very far. not saying he is perfect but he doesn’t turn it over

Does anyone know who the best senior experienced assistant coaches are?

eg Fagan, McRae types

Inside the echo chamber of the AFL media these things seem to get a momentum of their own. The talk about appointing Buckley is 90% media hype and 10% demonland speculation

I’m not a no for Buckley but I’d like the club to ignore the noise and focus on putting together the best recruitment process possible.

David King implied on First Crack tonight that the board may not have been across the evolution of our side this year when they decided to sack Goodwin, interesting comments, gone from bottom 4 in ball movement and points from back half to top 4, the implication was the Simon may have been a little stiff

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by Greg Schneider

19 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

His quick hands in close are going to become more important the less we play Viney and Trac as midfielders and the more we try to get Kosi Windsor etc on ball to use their speed and skills.

Not sure if I think he can get back to his best, but I'm seeing a glimmer where before there was only depressing ploddery. But the above point is a good one.

22 minutes ago, DubDee said:

Salem has been one of our best, most consistent players in the past 5-6 weeks.

usually over 450m gained

today, 24 touches at 95%

I wish we had more players that kept the ball like him.

*I am aware he is not fast and cannot kick very far. not saying he is perfect but he doesn’t turn it over

Sometimes you have to play as a defender,his lack of defence is causing goals

Just now, Greg Schneider said:

David King implied on First Crack tonight that the board may not have been across the evolution of our side this year when they decided to sack Goodwin, interesting comments, gone from bottom 4 in ball movement and points from back half to top 4.

Too little too late. We’ve won two games since round 11 against bottom 4 sides.

1 hour ago, Greg Schneider said:

David King implied on First Crack tonight that the board may not have been across the evolution of our side this year when they decided to sack Goodwin, interesting comments, gone from bottom 4 in ball movement and points from back half to top 4, the implication was the Simon may have been a little stiff

The past 3 weeks we've played bottom sides and the Bulldogs (who can't defend). The most impressive thing we did these 3 weeks was be 46pts up against the Saints who are tracking well with the underlying numbers.

5 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

'Adding some recruiting experience' soubds a lot like a Tim Lamb replacement

5 hours ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Cracks started to appear as soon as we lost against Carlton in 2023.

Said the same thing at the time, and even though its taken time... The Titanic which was the Demons, slowly but surely sunk!

48 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Whoever is feeding information to Tom Morris needs to be forcibly removed from planet earth

Let’s just start with the MFC

2 hours ago, adonski said:

Oliver is a must keep for me. Not a lot of point trading him for a 2nd rounder is there, could just keep him round for a further 12 months and trade him for nothing next year too. Would be even easier then, with one less year of his contract on the books.

Trac (most valuable asset aside from Pickett), and Lever (surplus to needs and a player of decent trade value) are the only two names I'd consider

Probably a moot point anyways, a new coach is unlikely to want to trade away a teams better senior players

I

Though a loss we are all to familiar with, I’d say any coach would be excited on the mixture of senior and young talent, posts on moving Viney , Trac Salem are our leaders and heart /soul Viney … Trac in transition to pay fwd & are playing the young mids for their development.

The correlation between the use of the word ‘process’ and people who just dislike Nathan Buckley (mostly for clueless reasons) is overwhelming.

10 hours ago, Greg Schneider said:

http://sen.lu/4ftm7KJ

Am starting to wonder whether all the Buckley banter and talk of other 'stellar' selection possibles might all just be fugazi ??

Might we actually go for a more left field assistant/senior in waiting paired/matched with sound assistants and FD head ??

That is my preference.

We really need a FRESH approach and result.

8 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Might very well be the case. But he could indeed lose.

It looks like it's Bucks v the noobs

My interest here, as indeed I would suspect that of most of us unwashed watching on.... is who are they, the Noobs ? ( being sounded/considered )

Edited 13 hours ago13 hr by beelzebub

7 hours ago, Redlagged said:

I

We shouldn't even be looking for a coach who isn't prepared to trade out those stars.

If our board thinks this list will win another premiership without big change they are kidding themselves, and if they are of that thought and hire a coach that thinks the same we are in for troubled times.

Yes its good enough to be competitive middle of the road, but surely that is not what we want.

11 hours ago, Demonland said:

He comes across very well.

Be fascinated to see what he does in last two weeks.

9 hours ago, Jaded No More said:

Gotten better as the season has gone on because he is finally getting closer to full fitness after missing so much footy. Spent more TOG today as well than he has in a while.

Oliver will be back to his best with another full uninterrupted pre season under his belt. I have no doubt about that.

His quick hands in close are going to become more important the less we play Viney and Trac as midfielders and the more we try to get Kosi Windsor etc on ball to use their speed and skills.

When you say hes missed so much footy, exactly how much are we talking about? Because so far this years hes only missed one game this year off the back of two last year. So a total of 3 games in two years so far which is really a solid effort.

The excuses were out last year with the broken hand and everyone said he only needed a full preseason and he will be back to full form.

Did the whole pre season so he came into this season fully fit and ready to go.

This isnt a criticism of Oliver off the back of yesterdays performance because he was actually quiet good, but honestly, we really need to stop finding every single excuse in the world for Oliver.

He's been okay year this year, but not great to justify the 1.5ml we are paying him. Champion data alone has him ranked the 211th best player in the competition. That's only a slight improvement from last year.

I watched Marcus Bontempelli yesterday who mind you is two years older then Oliver and missed the first 7 games of this year with injury and you'd excuse him if he was playing poorly this year because the difference in terms of input and class between he and Oliver/Petracca was stark.

Can't be justifying excuses for Oliver this year when someone like Bont who only a few years ago Oliver was rated above him, has missed significant chunk of the first half the season with injury only to come out and put in a quality season so far where hes still rated inside top 10 players of the competition this year.

I mean its not even guarantee that Oliver will be back to his best anyhow? The game is sliding away from having a contested beast inside your midfield and turning into a more quick transition, free flowing game. This is where Oliver has been caught out at times this year.

I'm still in the trade Oliver camp at the end of the year and have been for a while, but I also now understand if a new coach wants to try and rediscover his form in some capacity.

4 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

When you say hes missed so much footy, exactly how much are we talking about? Because so far this years hes only missed one game this year off the back of two last year. So a total of 3 games in two years so far which is really a solid effort.

The excuses were out last year with the broken hand and everyone said he only needed a full preseason and he will be back to full form.

Did the whole pre season so he came into this season fully fit and ready to go.

This isnt a criticism of Oliver off the back of yesterdays performance because he was actually quiet good, but honestly, we really need to stop finding every single excuse in the world for Oliver.

He's been okay year this year, but not great to justify the 1.5ml we are paying him. Champion data alone has him ranked the 211th best player in the competition. That's only a slight improvement from last year.

I watched Marcus Bontempelli yesterday who mind you is two years older then Oliver and missed the first 7 games of this year with injury and you'd excuse him if he was playing poorly this year because the difference in terms of input and class between he and Oliver/Petracca was stark.

Can't be justifying excuses for Oliver this year when someone like Bont who only a few years ago Oliver was rated above him, has missed significant chunk of the first half the season with injury only to come out and put in a quality season so far where hes still rated inside top 10 players of the competition this year.

I mean its not even guarantee that Oliver will be back to his best anyhow? The game is sliding away from having a contested beast inside your midfield and turning into a more quick transition, free flowing game. This is where Oliver has been caught out at times this year.

I'm still in the trade Oliver camp at the end of the year and have been for a while, but I also now understand if a new coach wants to try and rediscover his form in some capacity.

I think one thing with Clarry that it’s worth pointing out.

of the one dimensional inside bull players that dominated the league 5 years ago, the game has basically moved on from them now. The challenge clarry has got is two fold because he has to not only get his body and mind right, he needs to add more strings to his bow.

I would even argue patty cripps who’s the best at that role has been largely ineffective this year because the game is changing.

So I agree it’s not injuries with Clarry, probably a bit mindset and a bit the game itself is changing and as a result he’s gone from elite, to a pretty good player who can be exposed

1 hour ago, The Jackson FIX said:

The correlation between the use of the word ‘process’ and people who just dislike Nathan Buckley (mostly for clueless reasons) is overwhelming.

It’s a fair critique though isn’t it?

You don’t have much of a process if there is a preordained pick as some on here believe (or perhaps know).

Personally, I have always liked Coach Buckley but guess what I would prefer to do?