16 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Came incredibly close to winning 3 in a row!?

Haha what planet were you on at the time mate? we were not even close, at all. Couldn't even win another final let alone winning 2 finals in a row just to get to another grand final.

Talk about massive overreaction.

We came close by finishing top four.

Closer than.most clubs.

Yes as mentioned we fluffed the finals through the things I mentioned.

But you have to acknowledge the many wins we had to make those finals.

Big picture aside from the finals we had good seasons.

Settle down Dd. Quite a few of the players in 22 and 23 played their hearts out. Your bitterness and whinging can't take that way from them.

As if you could ever dream of playing as well as the ones who let's us down.

Plus as mentioned we wouldn't have beaten the pies if Gus wasn't knocked out. And more than likely one the gfs instead of a mediocre Cwood team.

If you can't see that we were incredibly close that year, then I suggest you follow a sport you can understand.

16 hours ago, Wells 11 said:

To be fair we lost 4 close finals, any one of which we might have won. Yes we lost them ALL and I get it… that’s all that counts. But I do think we were close in 22 and 23.

Pies were lucky to win that Gf.

If Gus wasn't ko by Maynard that would have been ours.

Also Milkshake went down when in career best form.

Huge factors despite BBB and Tmac no show in their respective finals.

Gus and Jake were big factors.

6 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

instead of a mediocre Cwood team

If Collingwood were mediocre, what were Carlton?

You can give me every single excuse in the world and I'll never believe we did well to get 'so close' against THAT Carlton team.

34 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

We came close by finishing top four.

Closer than.most clubs.

Yes as mentioned we fluffed the finals through the things I mentioned.

But you have to acknowledge the many wins we had to make those finals.

Big picture aside from the finals we had good seasons.

Settle down Dd. Quite a few of the players in 22 and 23 played their hearts out. Your bitterness and whinging can't take that way from them.

As if you could ever dream of playing as well as the ones who let's us down.

Plus as mentioned we wouldn't have beaten the pies if Gus wasn't knocked out. And more than likely one the gfs instead of a mediocre Cwood team.

If you can't see that we were incredibly close that year, then I suggest you follow a sport you can understand.

Delusional.

Finishing 4th is completely different to saying we were close to a 3 peat mate. You have

Once you finish top 4, finals is a completely different season and the staked go higher then a normal season.

I have zero care factor on the players played their little hearts out. This game is based off results.

No one ever remembers players from a losing finals teams. So realistically, its completely irrelevant.

48 minutes ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

Pies were lucky to win that Gf.

If Gus wasn't ko by Maynard that would have been ours.

Also Milkshake went down when in career best form.

Huge factors despite BBB and Tmac no show in their respective finals.

Gus and Jake were big factors.

Weak excuses.

What were Brisbanes excuse this year and last when they were hit with lengthy injuries to some of their quality players.

1 hour ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

Plus as mentioned we wouldn't have beaten the pies if Gus wasn't knocked out. And more than likely one the gfs instead of a mediocre Cwood team.

If you can't see that we were incredibly close that year, then I suggest you follow a sport you can understand.

I totally understand the loss of Brayshaw on a cultural level but I still don't really see how his injury was the main reason why we didn't beat Collingwood. We lost that game largely on the back of poor entries inside 50 and inaccurate kicking. That doesn’t have much to do with Brayshaw.

And it's also worth remembering that Collingwood were missing Nick Daicos that night. It's not as if they were without their setbacks as well.

54 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

have zero care factor on the players played their little hearts out. This game is based off results.

True red and blue supporter you are not.

Some of those blokes showed more guts and effort in a year than you may do in a few decades.

There is a lot of luck involved in footy.

Yes great teams override the bad luck.

But our 22 and 23 teams is when our fwd line started to implode. And as mentioned with Gus and Jake there is a high chance we could have had at least one more cup.

Many punters would agree we were a better team than the pies one that just scraped in to win their gf.

Just because we lost both finals two years in a row doesn't mean we were not close.

We certainly were not smashed by the pies or Carlton.

You can't say injuries and the loss of Gus didn't contribute. Of course they did.

And you don't get two years of two chances by being an ordinary team.

So yea we came close.

Whats all this delusional referencing? It projects back onto your good self.

You can't deny Jake was in great form before going down or Gus knocked out didn't tip the closely balanced scales against us.

Both out of the teams hands.

In the 21 gf BBB kicked 3 and didn't dominate the scoreboard and Tmac struggled big time. Both these fwds were on their way out . So if they hadn't lost their form or we replaced them we would have probably had won. So yea we came very close indeed.

And I'll remember the teams because most of them were members of the 2021 side.

Players that played their hearts out.

While one can lament on not winning more, I prefer to focus on breaking a very long drought and the effort involved in getting into finals the years after despite the bad luck and pies violence.

Thankyou team of 21, 22 and 23.

You did a lot, lot, lot more than this year's mob.

14 minutes ago, Temporarily Hopeful Demon said:

I totally understand the loss of Brayshaw on a cultural level but I still don't really see how his injury was the main reason why we didn't beat Collingwood. We lost that game largely on the back of poor entries inside 50 and inaccurate kicking. That doesn’t have much to do with Brayshaw.

And it's also worth remembering that Collingwood were missing Nick Daicos that night. It's not as if they were without their setbacks as well.

We only just lost and the replacement for Gus was a four gamer kid. Make no mistake Gus was in great form and we effectively with pies villiolence

17 minutes ago, Temporarily Hopeful Demon said:

I totally understand the loss of Brayshaw on a cultural level but I still don't really see how his injury was the main reason why we didn't beat Collingwood. We lost that game largely on the back of poor entries inside 50 and inaccurate kicking. That doesn’t have much to do with Brayshaw.

And it's also worth remembering that Collingwood were missing Nick Daicos that night. It's not as if they were without their setbacks as well.

My argument was Gus not going down holds water because we only lost by around a goal.

Unfortunately Laurie was the sub and had only barely played five games at the tender age of 18/19.

Hardly like for like.

So yea I think on probability we would have won without poor Gus going down in the first few minutes.

Also dd says it wasn't close

After the pies game we lost by two points from really poor kicking at goal.

My point was Milkshake and Gus out made an impact.

Surely.

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Delusional.

Finishing 4th is completely different to saying we were close to a 3 peat mate. You have

Once you finish top 4, finals is a completely different season and the staked go higher then a normal season.

I have zero care factor on the players played their little hearts out. This game is based off results.

No one ever remembers players from a losing finals teams. So realistically, its completely irrelevant.

Weak excuses.

What were Brisbanes excuse this year and last when they were hit with lengthy injuries to some of their quality players.

I am not buying into the flags argument, but I think you will agree that injuries early in a game, are different to injured unavailable players for the game.

You can at least plan for it and select another fit player.

Losing a very good player and on field leader early in the 2023 Q F affected us badly, especially when the result was a 7 point loss.

Gus went off very early in the first quarter, after having one kick and one handball and was replaced by Laurie who had one kick for the remaining 3.5 quarters. He was basically ineffective from when he came on.

I think Gus was on around 25-30 possessions a game at that time.

We lost him and fresh legs at the end of the game, where it might have made a difference.

The team was shell shocked and the Pies then jumped us ,until we settled down later in the game.

Yes we kicked badly and that didn’t help, but I strongly believe we would have won that game if Gus wasn’t knocked out.

I always thought the winner of that game would win the flag and that was how it turned out.

No guarantee we win the flag, but our chance to was severely affected by the Gus knockout.

13 hours ago, bing181 said:

It's Goodwin's job to back his players, especially publicly. King will do the same, as does every coach, especially when players are struggling.

BTW, in how many other games did Clarry get sent out to play as a tagger?

I would say 3 to 4 games all last year. Great that Goodwin backed him to the hilt....fringe players would have been wondering how he was even getting a game. His form was pretty horrible most of the year.

27 minutes ago, Redleg said:

I am not buying into the flags argument, but I think you will agree that injuries early in a game, are different to injured unavailable players for the game.

You can at least plan for it and select another fit player.

Losing a very good player and on field leader early in the 2023 Q F affected us badly, especially when the result was a 7 point loss.

Gus went off very early in the first quarter, after having one kick and one handball and was replaced by Laurie who had one kick for the remaining 3.5 quarters. He was basically ineffective from when he came on.

I think Gus was on around 25-30 possessions a game at that time.

We lost him and fresh legs at the end of the game, where it might have made a difference.

The team was shell shocked and the Pies then jumped us ,until we settled down later in the game.

Yes we kicked badly and that didn’t help, but I strongly believe we would have won that game if Gus wasn’t knocked out.

I always thought the winner of that game would win the flag and that was how it turned out.

No guarantee we win the flag, but our chance to was severely affected by the Gus knockout.

Is that argument valid with Brisbane losing their number 1 ruckman in Oscar Mcinerney early on the 2nd quarter in last year's preliminary final and yet Brisbane still found a way as underdog to beat Geelong?

Or does that lense only suit when we have our red and blue glasses firmly tight.

Morale of the story is good teams still find ways to overcome adversity and win crucial moments.

You say the players were shellshocked? Well that to me sums us up the psychological issue of the players if they couldn't put that aside for two hours and focus on the game on hand.

You know what lost us the game against Collingwood 'Red'? It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact Brayshaw was out.

it was this 👇

We completely outscored them in the 2nd half.

The point is, is that we had ample of opportunities to win the game on hand well past the fact that Gus was out of the game.

Yet for some reason this is hard for @Previously known as LITD. to comprehend.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by dazzledavey36

Collingwood were all over us even before Brayshaw got knocked out.

I absolutely do not subscribe to the common theory around here that we beat Collingwood had the incident not happened.

Collingwood were the better team on the night for three quarters, were mentally more switched on from the get go, took their opportunities as evidenced by only kicking 6 behinds for the game and deserved the win.

The semi final result V's Carlton was completely flushed down the toilet and a game the club really let itself and its supporters down.

22 hours ago, Little Goffy said:

What is chronic failure in the face of every advantage.

Me at golf

1 hour ago, Previously known as LITD. said:

True red and blue supporter you are not.

Some of those blokes showed more guts and effort in a year than you may do in a few decades.

There is a lot of luck involved in footy.

Yes great teams override the bad luck.

But our 22 and 23 teams is when our fwd line started to implode. And as mentioned with Gus and Jake there is a high chance we could have had at least one more cup.

Many punters would agree we were a better team than the pies one that just scraped in to win their gf.

Just because we lost both finals two years in a row doesn't mean we were not close.

We certainly were not smashed by the pies or Carlton.

You can't say injuries and the loss of Gus didn't contribute. Of course they did.

And you don't get two years of two chances by being an ordinary team.

So yea we came close.

Whats all this delusional referencing? It projects back onto your good self.

You can't deny Jake was in great form before going down or Gus knocked out didn't tip the closely balanced scales against us.

Both out of the teams hands.

In the 21 gf BBB kicked 3 and didn't dominate the scoreboard and Tmac struggled big time. Both these fwds were on their way out . So if they hadn't lost their form or we replaced them we would have probably had won. So yea we came very close indeed.

And I'll remember the teams because most of them were members of the 2021 side.

Players that played their hearts out.

While one can lament on not winning more, I prefer to focus on breaking a very long drought and the effort involved in getting into finals the years after despite the bad luck and pies violence.

Thankyou team of 21, 22 and 23.

You did a lot, lot, lot more than this year's mob.

well said…and you haven’t included losing Petty in that list either.

17 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I miss him...

You're picking up the slack.

43 minutes ago, old55 said:

You're picking up the slack.

It's funny, because I use to actually get you both confused with one another.

Both of you were as simple as a dead lettuce leaf.

I suppose every club has one...

Time for this thread to close. It's waffle.

1 minute ago, BKKBooga said:

Time for this thread to close. It's waffle.

It is a sad thread about a a player leaving which is sad (for the most) and now we are focusing on other sad events that made us sad.

#Sad

On 15/12/2025 at 12:05, DistrACTION Jackson said:

What a ridiculous comment.

If the Giants laugh about that stuff then good for them, but it was an immature act.

Laughing doesn't win premierships..

Unlike Deeves, @Redleg , you weren’t labelled as delusional, despite expressing similar sentiments.

Seems some folks on here still play the man, not the ball.

Some doom-mongers on here just don't know the meaning of the word 'close'.

2 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Collingwood were all over us even before Brayshaw got knocked out.

I absolutely do not subscribe to the common theory around here that we beat Collingwood had the incident not happened.

Collingwood were the better team on the night for three quarters, were mentally more switched on from the get go, took their opportunities as evidenced by only kicking 6 behinds for the game and deserved the win.

The semi final result V's Carlton was completely flushed down the toilet and a game the club really let itself and its supporters down.

Wut?

Here's the replay.

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1026065/match-replay-collingwood-v-melbourne?videoId=1026065&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1694131800001

The game starts at 0.00 time with Max Cox jumping early and driving his hip into Max Gawn's head.

Hill gets a quick pair of goals early, then thanks to Brayshaw's effort, Collingwood's lead is back to 1 goal after just 50 seconds after Hill's second.

After the incident -

12.08 on Brayshaw, "Such an important player for Melbourne, as well. His flexibility - he can go inside, he can play half back, half forward.."

Another commentator; "So with Brayshaw missing so little football, this team doesn't know much footy without him, so its going to be really interesting for Melbourne losing such an important player for their team."

Bailey Laurie is the sub trying to fill those shoes.

Melbourne gradually regain composure, in particular our midfield which clawed back from their worst quarter for the season in the first, to win the contested possession count by 24 after quarter time.

Collingwood do not kick a goal in the last 40 minutes.

The final margin is seven points.

7 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Wut?

Here's the replay.

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1026065/match-replay-collingwood-v-melbourne?videoId=1026065&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1694131800001

The game starts at 0.00 time with Max Cox jumping early and driving his hip into Max Gawn's head.

Hill gets a quick pair of goals early, then thanks to Brayshaw's effort, Collingwood's lead is back to 1 goal after just 50 seconds after Hill's second.

After the incident -

12.08 on Brayshaw, "Such an important player for Melbourne, as well. His flexibility - he can go inside, he can play half back, half forward.."

Another commentator; "So with Brayshaw missing so little football, this team doesn't know much footy without him, so its going to be really interesting for Melbourne losing such an important player for their team."

Bailey Laurie is the sub trying to fill those shoes.

Melbourne gradually regain composure, in particular our midfield which clawed back from their worst quarter for the season in the first, to win the contested possession count by 24 after quarter time.

Collingwood do not kick a goal in the last 40 minutes.

The final margin is seven points.

Not close at all. (Is there a sarcasm emoji?)

9 minutes ago, Little Goffy said:

Wut?

Here's the replay.

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1026065/match-replay-collingwood-v-melbourne?videoId=1026065&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1694131800001

The game starts at 0.00 time with Max Cox jumping early and driving his hip into Max Gawn's head.

Hill gets a quick pair of goals early, then thanks to Brayshaw's effort, Collingwood's lead is back to 1 goal after just 50 seconds after Hill's second.

After the incident -

12.08 on Brayshaw, "Such an important player for Melbourne, as well. His flexibility - he can go inside, he can play half back, half forward.."

Another commentator; "So with Brayshaw missing so little football, this team doesn't know much footy without him, so its going to be really interesting for Melbourne losing such an important player for their team."

Bailey Laurie is the sub trying to fill those shoes.

Melbourne gradually regain composure, in particular our midfield which clawed back from their worst quarter for the season in the first, to win the contested possession count by 24 after quarter time.

Collingwood do not kick a goal in the last 40 minutes.

The final margin is seven points.

and our last 5 scoring shots were behinds.,

8 hours ago, speed demon said:

Personally, I think King did what Goodwin couldn't. I wonder how much that played into the board's decision to change coach.

As has been discussed here ad nauseam, list management decisions are the prerogative of the List Management Committee. Neither King nor Goodwin get to decide who comes or goes, not in isolation in any case.

8 hours ago, speed demon said:

I wonder how much that played into the board's decision to change coach.

The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone etc etc. All of these decisions are linked, but reading between the lines based on the little actual info that's out there, it would seem that a gang of 4 of Richardson, Green, Smith and Guerra were fairly active in righting the ship and implementing a No DH policy. Goodwin was the first domino to fall, but Clarrie and Trac were probably already in the crosshairs by the time that decision was reached. Sacking a leader always creates a spill of other positions and makes change easier, even necessary.

3 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

Unlike Deeves, @Redleg , you weren’t labelled as delusional, despite expressing similar sentiments.

Seems some folks on here still play the man, not the ball.

No one was being called Delusional. I was referencing a poster who used to post under that name.