The difference is I don't make up stuff and pass it off as fact.

7 hours ago, Bowserpower said:

The difference is I don't make up stuff and pass it off as fact.

I’m sure no one ( except perhaps a few journos) “makes up stuff”. What would be the point? You’d be ostracised like there was no tomorrow on this site if found out. People pass on information they are told - some correct, some not always correct. So what.? Are you silly enough to take as fact everything that is stated on a fan’s forum? Heaven help you if you are. Maybe this is not the place for you.

So glad I visited this thread 🤯

Actually quite interested to see how he travels in his new club.

Hes played some good footy and I'm really happy for him.

Whatever issues he's had....a move may really help him.

As for the knockers here, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have a flag without him so he's paid the club back a lot.

I hope he goes gangbusters at Gws.

Tx for the memories and ignore the critical people here.

Edited April 2Apr 2 by Dee Vinci

3 hours ago, Palace Dees said:

So glad I visited this thread 🤯

It's almost as entertaining a read as the 484 page Farewell Jesse Hogan tome

Edited April 2Apr 2 by John Demonic

On 31/03/2026 at 16:55, Demonstone said:

Schrodinger's cat was named Oliver. Was he there or wasn't he there?

Possibly. But I wager yes. But we can all agree Carlton were not last week towards the end.

Edited April 2Apr 2 by Dee Vinci

Interesting stat on First Crack tonight

Clayton Oliver, Lachie Ash and Finn Callaghan have had 45 kicks i50 and GWS has only taken 1 mark from those kicks.

Liking our boy Steele with a 95% disposal rating!

Yeah well take another crack at Clarry

Yes Steele has been good but STILL STILL People want to denigrate a MFC legend in Clarry!! DEESGRACE

6 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Interesting stat on First Crack tonight

Clayton Oliver, Lachie Ash and Finn Callaghan have had 45 kicks i50 and GWS has only taken 1 mark from those kicks.

Liking our boy Steele with a 95% disposal rating!

2 hours ago, picket fence said:

Yeah well take another crack at Clarry

Yes Steele has been good but STILL STILL People want to denigrate a MFC legend in Clarry!! DEESGRACE

Both Tracc and Claz are and will be legends of the Dees.. and us supporters love what thy were apart of at our club.

But both could not hit targets going inside 50 and along with Viney we were worst in the comp. That issue alone was never resolved because our game plan was bomb it in and keep it there. It work to a point but made us work twice as hard as the opposition for our goals.

4 hours ago, picket fence said:

Yeah well take another crack at Clarry

Yes Steele has been good but STILL STILL People want to denigrate a MFC legend in Clarry!! DEESGRACE

Facts are funny things.

2 hours ago, Rednblueriseing said:

Both Tracc and Claz are and will be legends of the Dees.. and us supporters love what thy were apart of at our club.

But both could not hit targets going inside 50 and along with Viney we were worst in the comp. That issue alone was never resolved because our game plan was bomb it in and keep it there. It work to a point but made us work twice as hard as the opposition for our goals.

Maybe, just maybe, the gameplan was reversed engineered to accommodate for the limitations of the players.... as in.. rather astute coaching.

The downgrading of Goodwin/Viney/Tracc and Clarry, in terms of their skill sets - who has given most of us the happiest days of our sporting lives - beggars belief.

By the way... every supporter believes they're in for a dynasty when their team wins a GF... rarely happens...and when it doesn't.. the narrative is that FD has failed the supporters 🤔

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Engorged Onion

6 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Maybe, just maybe, the gameplan was reversed engineered to accommodate for the limitations of the players.... as in.. rather astute coaching.

The downgrading of Goodwin/Viney/Tracc and Clarry, in terms of their skill sets - who has given most of us the happiest days of our sporting lives - beggars belief.

By the way... every supporter believes they're in for a dynasty when their team wins a GF... rarely happens...and when it doesn't.. the narrative is that FD has failed the supporters 🤔

Or maybe astute coaching would have been to put in players who could hit targets so we didnt have to bomb to medium fwds who got outmarked.

What becomes apparent in a team environment is that individuals can be more worth than they're trouble, BUT when that flips...

2 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

Or maybe astute coaching would have been to put in players who could hit targets so we didnt have to bomb to medium fwds who got outmarked.

Do you mean not drafting them?

In which case you may not have a premiership. Pretty sure you/we all were lauding Petracca, Oliver and Viney during that period of time despite their shortcomings... thank god for Ben Brown's long arms...

Edited 14 hours ago14 hr by Engorged Onion

24 minutes ago, Engorged Onion said:

Do you mean not drafting them?

In which case you may not have a premiership. Pretty sure you/we all were lauding Petracca, Oliver and Viney during that period of time despite their shortcomings... thank god for Ben Brown's long arms...

No, I meant to mix up the centre square mix, and more in the last 2 years when it was obvious that teams had worked out how to nullify the game plan, and I know Koz started going in towards the end but it was never mixed up enough imo.

2 hours ago, Rednblueriseing said:

Both Tracc and Claz are and will be legends of the Dees.. and us supporters love what thy were apart of at our club.

But both could not hit targets going inside 50 and along with Viney we were worst in the comp. That issue alone was never resolved because our game plan was bomb it in and keep it there. It work to a point but made us work twice as hard as the opposition for our goals.

Agree with above.

However, on the last point our game plan last year involved much less bombing it long inside 50 than in previous seasons - i would posit we are kicking long to a contest inside 50 more this season than last.

In fact, unless there is clear, free target or one on one contest ahead of the ball (which is created by fast ball movement) most teams, particularly from centre clearances (because there's rarely a free player or one on one contests) are bombing it long inside 50 this season. Territory is still king.

In fact, one of the key reasons why Oliver, and particularly Tracc (who i think was dead last for retention of kicks in inside 50 last season) were so woeful going inside 50 last year was we trying to bomb it in less but neither have the skill to hit those 20-30 metre kicks to a leading or free player or weight a kick to the forwards advantage.

The other relevant aspect of the retention of kicks inside 50 and marks from kicks, is of course it's partly related to the quality of the forwards, particularly key forwards who can take pack marks, the quality of the crumbers and things like structure and system. And course forward 50 pressure is a big factor in terms of retention inside 50.

Jessie Hogan is struggling this season and not clunking his marks like he was in 2024. And atm they don't really have any other decent marking options up forward. That's no doubt a big factor in Callaghan and Claz's low % of kicks inside 50 being marked. Which is not to say both are not poor kicks - Claz certainly is.

Last season, we really only had JVR as a pack marking option inside 50 and he struggled all season. This season we have Checkers and Roo, and on the weekend, they moved Petts forward to put another tall making option down there.

Think of that terrific pack mark Checkers took at the top of the goal square on Sunday. I forget who kicked it in, but it was a bog-standard kick it long to the top of the goal square kick - the very type of kick people bemoaned us doing under Goody.

Checkers marked it and the player kicking it inside 50 would have been credited with both the kick being retained and marked. We don't mark that kick last season.

All that said, i agree we are not missing Tracc and Claz' kicking skills - or their dire lack of foot speed.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by binman

34 minutes ago, Gorgoroth said:

Or maybe astute coaching would have been to put in players who could hit targets so we didnt have to bomb to medium fwds who got outmarked.

As i note above - we are bombing it to our forwards (medium and tall) more this year than last season.

Don't believe me?

Watch the all the goals video from the Suns game.

Of the 16 goals we kicked, only five involved hitting up a target inside 50 (and one of them was a shank kick by Sharp to Melky):

• Koz out of the centre square spotting up Melksham

• Lever's beautiful pass to Langford

• Checkers hitting Sharp wit his left foot after inexplicably being called to play on

• Latrelle nailing a beautiful pass to Roo (the only pure goal we got from a leading forward that got free of their defender - Langford's lead and mark was under huge pressure)

• Sharp hitting Melksham with a shank kick

With the exception of the 50 to XL, the rest all involved either long bombs or shanks (eg Steele's scratchy kick from a centre clearance that checkers read best and marked) that were either marked (Checkers x 2, Maxy and Melk's screamer) or we won the resulting ground ball (eg our first goal - Salo's snap, Melksham's gather and handpass to Koz and Latrelle's goal after the cleaver kick off the ground by Koz)

RD 4 | All the Goals

25 minutes ago, binman said:

As i note above - we are bombing it to our forwards (medium and tall) more this year than last season.

Don't believe me?

Watch the all the goals video from the Suns game.

Of the 16 goals we kicked, only five involved hitting up a target inside 50 (and one of them was a shank kick by Sharp to Melky):

• Koz out of the centre square spotting up Melksham

• Lever's beautiful pass to Langford

• Checkers hitting Sharp wit his left foot after inexplicably being called to play on

• Latrelle nailing a beautiful pass to Roo (the only pure goal we got from a leading forward that got free of their defender - Langford's lead and mark was under huge pressure)

• Sharp hitting Melksham with a shank kick

With the exception of the 50 to XL, the rest all involved either long bombs or shanks (eg Steele's scratchy kick from a centre clearance that checkers read best and marked) that were either marked (Checkers x 2, Maxy and Melk's screamer) or we won the resulting ground ball (eg our first goal - Salo's snap, Melksham's gather and handpass to Koz and Latrelle's goal after the cleaver kick off the ground by Koz)

RD 4 | All the Goals

We took 19 marks i50 and laid 14 tackles i50. 10 from 15 goals were from marks

Some of the goals were clearly longer bombs but the one to gawn was a clear mismatch strategy as Witts was standing the mark in the centre square. the 2 goals to Langford were from a clear mismatch in height and Uland and 1 other, a Sharp goal was a clear kick over the top as he was in clear in space.

combined That represents a stark difference to previous years

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by jnrmac

2 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

We took 19 marks i50 and laid 14 tackles i50

That represents a stark difference to previous years

Absolutely, i agree (though less about the tackles inside 50 -we have long been good at that, though not so much last year which was big factor in our 'inefficiency' - ie unlike this year were not failing to trap it inside 50 when the ball hit the deck inside 50)

Not sure that all long kicks qualify for long bombs.

In the past we had hurried kicks that went long, high and floated ie long bombs to i50 packs and most often intercepted. This year fwds have better running patters and are spreading better; sometimes leading, sometimes out-maneuvering their ops. Mids are finding them, sometimes with long kicks but rarely long high, floaters. GCS def were taller than our fwds yet didn't outmark us very often.

An example is Sharp's bullet pass from just inside the 50m line that found Melksham at the top of the goal square. It was low and flat. As an aside, two of Sharp's prior attempts were points when he burnt a player better placed and closer to goal. Reckon someone told him to lower his eyes. At the ground you could see players do that, look for targets and not just throw the ball onto their boot.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Lucifers Hero

The above half dozen posts have added so much more value than endlessly bemoaning the loss of or Clarry's misadventures.

Actually glad I read the end of this thread now.

On 02/04/2026 at 22:23, Dee Vinci said:

Possibly. But I wager yes. But we can all agree Carlton were not last week towards the end.

Achshually that was the related quantum paradox of function collapse.

2 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

Do you mean not drafting them?

In which case you may not have a premiership. Pretty sure you/we all were lauding Petracca, Oliver and Viney during that period of time despite their shortcomings... thank god for Ben Brown's long arms...

I think it is important to remember that Christian Salem was also a crucial part of that premiership and there are people mindlessly slagging off at him every week even though he's still a Demon.

In fact, pretty much everyone in that '21 team has their own cluster of K-Drama style anti-fans.

43 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Achshually that was the related quantum paradox of function collapse.

I think it is important to remember that Christian Salem was also a crucial part of that premiership and there are people mindlessly slagging off at him every week even though he's still a Demon.

In fact, pretty much everyone in that '21 team has their own cluster of K-Drama style anti-fans.

You can’t win a premiership with Mitch Morton 😂...matter of fact you can.

Here's the team... not one single player (including Max) has been immune from critique on here..and lets not talk about Goodwin, Chaplin or Stafford...

	14 Michael Hibberd	1 Steven May	8 Jake Lever
HB:	24 Trent Rivers	35 Harrison Petty	3 Christian Salem
C:	10 Angus Brayshaw	5 Christian Petracca	15 Ed Langdon
HF:	30 Alex Neal-Bullen	25 Tom McDonald	32 Tom Sparrow
F:	9 Charlie Spargo	50 Ben Brown	31 Bayley Fritsch
Foll:	11 Max Gawn	13 Clayton Oliver	7 Jack Viney
Int:	4 James Harmes	6 Luke Jackson	17 Jake Bowey
	36 Kysaiah Pickett	23 James Jordon (medi-sub)

Edited 10 hours ago10 hr by Engorged Onion

In a vacuum I reckon he’s been pretty good for GWS this year.

I don’t have the stats to back it up but the 2026 version looks better than the 2025 version and a lot better than the unfit 2024 edition.

However (right now) I don’t regret moving him on and getting in Steele. Not for a millisecond.