1 minute ago, deelusions from afar said:

On McAdam, is there a version of the universe where we gets back to senior AFL next year and has an impact? I remember the signs being really positive before his last injury.

see my post (above) ⬆️

😊

Edited September 11Sep 11 by Ghostwriter

16 hours ago, praha said:

I think the one constant here is simply Geelong's player development.

Tom Stewart - He was pick 40. We've gotten lucky with a few in this range.

Stengle - He couldn't get a game in one of the strongest teams of the modern era in Richmond, and couldn't break into an Adelaide team who themselves had a number of strong small forwards.

As for Martin we simply didn't have a spot for him at the end of last year. I don't think that when the club was signing and re-signing players in 2021 and 2022 that they could have possibly foreseen that checks notes Jack Martin would be available.

The question here isn't what players Melbourne missed out on. But rather what they're doing with the players they are bringing in. You just know that if Billings and McAdam ended up at Geelong they'd be locked in their best 22 and playing AA-calibre football.

I mean, no one was saying our Recruitment was poor even 12 months ago. We've had a really poor 12 months of football and now suddenly our list Management is being compared with the flag favourites lol give it a spell!

Stengele could get games at both of those teams he just couldn't keep himself out of the night clubs, and some may say nothing has changed.

28 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Shane’s rehab is coming along very well. He’s working so hard and is determined to be back on the park early in the season. He said himself that recovery from this injury is different in that when he went down he was at the point of being the most confident and in the best shape he’s been in his whole career, therefore he knows he can get back to that point again. This is absolutely crucial because lack of confidence in himself (as well as in his body) was always an issue for him.

Shane is the only player who, when asked which training facility they prefer, has said hands down: Casey. And believe me, I’ve asked pretty much every one of them at some point or other.

Despite the drive to Casey, which no one likes, Shane prefers Casey over AAMI because the facilities are “amazing” and because they don’t have to share them with every man and his dog as they do at AAMI. He said this means he can rehab at the best level.

He also gives huge props to our physios/medics for tailoring the perfect schedule for him.

The difference between when he first came to us and the present time is astounding in terms of confidence and just as importantly…pride.

I can't wait to see him out there. I reckon 2026 will be his year, and he deserves it.

16 hours ago, praha said:

I mean, no one was saying our Recruitment was poor even 12 months ago. We've had a really poor 12 months of football and now suddenly our list Management is being compared with the flag favourites lol give it a spell!

Let me go on record and say I was.

Never liked the Grundy move, saw it as a waste of time. Hated the Lachie Hunter move, just a disaster. Didn’t see the point of Billings.

I had some optimism for Fullarton because almost every 200cm athletic guy improves in the ruck in their mid 20’s. If he was able to ruck 20% he had the ability on the lead to get out of the way up forward. Turns out he was the exception.

Was all for McAdam but not at the price.

And I didn’t like the cost of the Tholstrup trade up that I maintain was never intended for Tholstrup, hence the last minute dash west to meet the parents.

And can’t say I was on board with the Lindsay trade up either, just too many picks in a deep draft.

We’ve burnt 3 x second rounders and 3 x third rounders on moves that have got us nowhere and if we kept those picks we’d have a bunch of guys going in to years 2, 3, 4 and be a in a stronger position to chase some real difference makers this year.

50 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

The difference between when he first came to us and the present time is astounding in terms of confidence and just as importantly…pride.

That's great, but why does it take a serious injury at age 30 for him to get to that point?

If he had turned up in proper condition with the right attitude two years ago, most of us would be more understanding and supportive.

It is very hard to see a new coach hitching his wagon to an injury prone 31 year old next season when younger, more reliable options are available.

23 minutes ago, poita said:

That's great, but why does it take a serious injury at age 30 for him to get to that point?

If he had turned up in proper condition with the right attitude two years ago, most of us would be more understanding and supportive.

It is very hard to see a new coach hitching his wagon to an injury prone 31 year old next season when younger, more reliable options are available.

It wasn’t the serious injury that got him to where he is now. My point is the serious injury hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm nor his will to succeed. In fact, it’s bolstered his commitment.

Shane came to us, as you say, not in proper condition and not with the right attitude. That’s because he and Adelaide weren’t on the same page. They weren’t a good fit. I’m not blaming Adelaide for how Shane was at that time, I’m saying it wasn’t working for him nor Adelaide. I like to think our new coach will take this into consideration.

Another big difference between us and Adelaide with respect to Shane’s ‘transformation’ is that Adelaide doesn’t have Matty Whelan.

Edited September 11Sep 11 by Ghostwriter

44 minutes ago, poita said:

If he had turned up in proper condition with the right attitude two years ago, most of us would be more understanding and supportive.

It’s never too late to be more understanding and supportive 🙂

I had no idea our recent trading had been poor.

Why hasn't someone brought this up before!?!?!

Think I'll write an email to the club and tell them to 'be more like Geelong please'.

I am confident in McAdam IF he keeps himself injury-free

We have nobody on the list that has his attributes

On 10/09/2025 at 19:28, Cranky Franky said:

Actually plenty have been critical of list management for a few years.

List managers are supposed to improve us not send us backwards.

Losing Bedford, Hunt, Jordon, Grundy, & Harmes & gaining Dunstan, Schache, Fullerton, Billings & McAdam took us backwards.

Umm only Bedford has improved. As for our imports we took in high draft picks (Billings, Schache) hoping they could still realise their potential plus players like McAdam we hoped would plug a gap. Surely none were paid with top ten draft picks or anything. But anyway the hindsight comments were right.

It's so easy to forget that there can be good bad recruitments and bad good recruitments. There are Brownlow medallists picked up so late that every team overlooked him a few times in their draft and players everyone had as the top , or top 5 , pick who ended up nowhere near a top 5 player in the whole league. Maybe our recent selections have been quite poor. But there's a huge difference between our recruiters being clueless or being unlucky.