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Huge news for us and a massive win!

Leaving the house

Tom was terrific in 2018, in fact he has been a really good servant of the footy club, was more than a capable defender and made a great switch to the fwd line and played significant part in lots of great victories. There does come a time though when things have to move on and Tom is sadly part of this. There is no spot for him down back, and his fwd craft is no good when he cannot mark or turn or run and that does not look like getting better. Its a no brainer that he moves on for both him and teh club, i really genuinely hope there is no bad blood as it is just the way it is. As i always say, the minute you pull on a Red and blue jumper for either 1 game or 200 games you are a demon for life and Tom will be remembered as a really good Demon.

It seems clear to me that we've agreed in principle with Brown and his management, and that's why we're now being open about trading McDonald again. I'd expect Brown to announce us as his preferred destination in the coming days.

Reported on SEN that Collingwood has told Phillips that they are open to trading him. We must ask the question. Perfect for the left sided wing as a left footer. 24 years of age. Runs all day. I would be prioritising Phillips over Smith. Get it done Dees.

big thing that favours brown as a modern key forward over t mac is his height and reach - he's got a solid 2-3 inches of height, plus brown is one of those forward who marks the ball at the top of his reach in terms of who i'd prefer as our key forward going forward, my vote definitely goes to brown

Just read mine and it looks like we're getting Earl Grey. Anybody know much about him?

We need a strong showing in 2021 and finals of itself won't be a pass mark. Top 4 is probably it, personally it's GF for me. I've read a lot of the posts and my initial thoughts were 3 years is too much. ..but my thinking has been swayed by the arguments that he doesn't cost us anything but probably a list spot in his 3rd year. I don't think that's a lot to pay for a shot at a premiership. We get 1 or 2 good years then he's a bargain...

what noted carlton nuffie riley beveridge actually said in the video is that he thinks that while they'd love to land an oliver type, he thinks they have capacity to add a player at the level of the next tier down

If we need to make a tough decision out of Hunt and Hannan, I'd re-sign Hunt and show Hannan the door. He was disappointing this year aside from the Richmond and NSW hub games. In 4 games towards the end of the season he averaged 5 possessions, 1 tackle and 0 goals. That can't cut at it this level.

Shane Woewodin vs Melbourne (2003-2005): 3 games (1W-2L), 17 possessions per game, 0 goals, 0 Brownlow votes. His best game was the first game back, which was a behemoth 22 possession masterpiece in a game Collingwood won by 10 goals. Unluckily overshadowed for a Brownlow vote by approximately 9 other players, one of whom was Simon Godfrey. We were put to the sword.

I think you've got a warped view. Goodwin is going to recruit to play finals in 2021 because he wants success not to save his job. He will ultimately stand or fall on whether he leads us to flag success. There's no job retention incentive for him, if he ultimately doesn't deliver flag success then he'll have job security as a well paid assistant coach elsewhere. You either believe we're in the flag window in which case recruit accordingly or you don't which means draft. Don't get caught half way between. We've shown balance - we effectively drafted in 2019 and 2020 and brought in Langdon and Tomlinson. IMO it's fine to concentrate on mature players now to fill in the missing elements.

Confirmed by his manager Michael Pickering that Melbourne are talking to him about Isaac Smith and that we are definitely in the mix

With the confirmed news that Tom Mc will be moving on ( if a club wants him) then i would think and hope (but this club.. not expect) they have a pretty solid and good understanding of what they will get to cover his position. In all likeliness, Gawn will ruck and drop across half back, Jackson will ruck fwd half and roam, Weid will be teh CHF.. i think they need an anchor, lead out of the square fwd. Brown is that.

C'mon binman, Watts was a no hoper. Guys like that who see footy as a hobby rather than a profession are locker room cancers. He had 10 years to prove his worth here and has subsequently retired without firing a shot at Port. Good luck to him it seems he got what he wanted out of footy but the club was right to move him on if anything they probably did so too late in the piece.

I know this is off topic but the Fox Footy article has a mention of something that makes me roll my eyes every time. They claim this great victory that Howe was turned from forward into defender. When he left us he was playing in the exact role he's doing at the Pies but when he left they said, "you are a forward and we will play you there". Sure enough he goes to the forward line and is useless, they switch him to defence and say, "jeez Bucks is a genius moving Howe to defence!" Anyway, mini rant over. With Tom there was be a hint of sadness about him leaving, he was pivotal to our 2018 Finals run and provided one of my favourite moments in recent Dees history with his winning goal agains the Eagles in 2017. I confess I was actually a little happy when I heard a few weeks ago that the word was he was staying and setting himself to get leaner and closer to his 2018 body shape (apparently he bulked up to match the gorilla style defender and improve his contested marking). But it does also seem like there's a fracture in the relationship between club and player, he's been taken over by Wied and LJ, and in the games he's played he has shown little to give us confidence of a return to form. It could well be that a change of club could be a good thing for him, and moving him on will free up our salary cap. It's sad, but I hope whatever happens (stays or goes) the Dees fans treat him with the respect he's earned over his years with us. Certainly the garbage that has been said about Oscar would understandably make him want to get out of here.

Well he should be recruiting to play finals in 2021. I'd be more concerned if a) he wasn't trying to play finals in 2021 and/or b) we were going to the draft this year with a view to rebuilding for 2025. What are you expecting him to be aiming for?

Not unless he gets rid of his Mrs

Oh, I though Jack Darjeeling might have been on our radar... I'll see myself out...

Broomhead would appear suited to the sweeper role.

I like Mitch and that goal he kicked against Geelong in the final will live long in the memory. I think we need to renew through our half forward-wing line on our list though. If the Doggies are keen, good luck to all involved.

I still dont know what to make of him looks the goods then goes missing for long periods Has some usefull skills I would probably try to keep him

Jokes aside Ed Langdon running at the G

I'm torn on this one. I want Essendon to get nothing and I want Carlton to pay through the nose.

All Australian team 2020 Defenders: Luke Ryan: 20 tackles in 17 games. Harris Andrews: 16 tackles in 15 games. Brad Sheppard: 34 tackles in 18 games. Darcy Byrne-Jones: 32 tackles in 18 games. Darcy Moore: 14 tackles in 18 games. Nick Haynes: 23 tackles in 17 games.

I'm pretty sure 18 clubs including ours will be showing interest in him 'dazz'...

I would be totally fine with us trading our 2021 1st round pick if it brings a quality player that will take us closer to a flag over the next 3 years. We have effectively used 1st rounders in 2019 Jackson and 2020 Pickett.

At the risk of going over old ground, i disagreed with the goody's decision to trade jack and even with the benefit of hindsight i still think it was a mistake. The gist of my argument was (and remains): We were (and remain) a woeful kicking side, at a point in time where it has never been more critical and he was by far out best user of the football (and still would be) Makes zero sense to trade a player that helps address our biggest weakness - our appalling kicking Jack was by far our best 'assist' and last kick inside 50 player , so again it makes zero sense to trade a player that plays such an important role in the team - it is no coincidence that since he left we have ongoing 'connection' issues with our forwards The idea that was oft floated at the time that fritter adequately addressed the issues noted above was a furphy - we still could have drafted fritter and and had two decent kicks in our forward line (though it has become apparent fritter aint in Jack's class when it comes to kicking) Sure jack was not never as physically committed to the contest as he could/should have been and sure he had a reputation as bit of a party boy but every great team has such players Every great coach finds a way to get the best out of super skilled, but perhaps not 100% committed players, when required - it is no coincidence Jack's best season at the dees came under Roos, a coach famous for his ability to harness the talent of different cats You don't need a team full of jack viney's, myopic, driven players who want to run though walls - and history has shown that goody's desire to build such a team has put us well behind the eight ball And i question how strong a teams culture really is if it can't manage to incorporate players with different approaches and mindsets In any case Jack was by all accounts a pretty good trainer and barely missed any game though injury, which suggests he looked after himself pretty well and had the required professionalism (questions over his 2017 rehab notwithstanding) Jack was a heart and soul player and his team mates loved him as did most fans - beware unintended consequences trading such players All that said I fully acknowledge i have no idea what was happening behind the scenes or the factors that drove goody's decision (though I'll hasten to add most others don't either, despite all the gossip and assumed knowledge) and i fully respect his decision, as evidenced by the fact i have not banged on about it (much) since or bagged goody for it Leaving aside all of the above my response 'not in my opinion' was only in part about the merits of the decision to trade jack. It was as much about the flawed logic, in my view, of the idea his time at Port is proof we made the right call. The fact is we will never know what might have happened if Goody had stuck with Jack. Who knows he may have found a way of getting the best out of jack, just as his mentor, Roos, had. After all the best coaches get the best out of their players. And it is worth noting that jack was playing some pretty good footy in 2019 under Hinkley off the half back line (including a terrific game that helped bury our 2019 season) before his terrible injury. By the by same applies to Hoges - another player who was apparently a party boy and was accused of being bad for the culture (and another player who I'd love to be still at the dees as, like jack, he has a skill set we are in desperate need of). His travails at freo are not proof we made the right call to get rid of him.

Just want to congratulate you on the bolded phrase. I am so sick of commentators saying 'he marks the ball at its highest point' when what they actually mean is what you wrote.

Both have had injuries this year and struggled to find rhythm. It cant have been an easy year when out of form. I don't think either are to blame, but the quesrion is "who is more likely to hit form in 2021? I think that Brown (kicking 32, 41, 63, 61, and 64 goals in the 5 seasons before 2020) has a more consistent body of work behind him than TMac (one season above 23 goals) who although he has had periods of top flight football, it has been in patches and in different positions. Ben had an average 2020 (injuries and personal reasons). Tmac had an average 2020 (also injuries) but also a poor 2019, so has been out of form longer. Based on that, one could assume Brown is more likely to regain form, than TMac who has been in the wilderness for a couple of years now. TMac has always been a chaos player and he gets bogged down in structures which is why he gets thrown on the wing every now and then for a bit of freedom. Unfortunately chaos and freedom isnt a great way to find form at the top level, where even if you aren't in form, you need to find a way to do the basics and play your role. It seems Brown may have had a falling out with the coaching staff around their response in a difficult personal time (documented elsewhere). So it also could be that for both players, a fresh start, new environment, new coach, new game plan, will reinvigorate form.

Very few players spend 16 seasons in the AFL - that is a serious achievement. All the best, Lynden.

They can take Goodwin off our hands if they want though.

This is a silly argument. That's exactly what Goodwin should be doing. Our list is in "challenge now" mode. Gawn's at his peak. Our core list is coming into its peak. If the opportunity arises to bring a player in that will deliver a flag in the next 1-3 years, we should be exploring that option, not shying away from it because we're worried about what our list might look like in 2024.

I couldn't care less about what Collingwood supporters try to say on BigFooty. If he comes cheaply, he'd be a nice addition to our outside run.

Attending live matches... I hope.

And this is why we can't have nice things in the General Discussion forum.

hawks' mate tells me that they apparently don't offer anything more than two years to any player who is over 30 years old he thinks they're nuts - reckons smith is easily still in their best handful of players and given his skillset they should fight tooth and nail to keep him

You could have stopped at "plus brown is one of those forward who marks the ball"

Let's not re-write history just to have a crack at Goodwin, he was barely played in Roos's last year with us, because Roos wanted to bring through the younger guys down back. From what I understand there was no animosity whatsoever, he just wanted to go somewhere where he might get some games and the pies had just lost a number of key backs.

He is going to become the player which drives the team to move up the ladder, this is what we have been missing for a very long time at our club. 2021 can't come fast enough for me, looking forward to the club going up to the next level. Well done Trac?

Filth definitely brought out his inner bogan

Dunny a reliable and consistent performer playing Full back where I believe played his best football for the Dees. He certainly gave his all and was a fan favourite one l had time for. Off to the sunset with you Dunny you had a good stint enjoy your retirement.

Petracca took his game to another level this year however in the second half of the season he found an extra gear and shot to the next level again, 2 levels in one season Imo . The Brownlow medal count will be interesting to see in which rounds he votes best. Christian can dream of winning a B&F as a young boy as he did, one day it might be a Brownlow. However l hope he dreams of winning a Premiership with our great club The Mighty Dees!

Great career, all the best post footy mate. Never understood why we let him go at the time.

Always liked him and felt he was undervalued by our club and supporters at times. Wish him well

Dees weigh in.

Again. Why wouldn't that be the goal? We have a publicly stated aim of finals and a premiership in the next 3 years. We have Hibberd and Jetta aged 31, Melksham, Gawn and May aged 29. (We spent up on May for the purpose of finals) We have a core of players between 23 and 27, including 11 who will have played 100 games next year. It includes 3 of the better mids in the comp. Why wouldn't we be planning for finals next year? Do you really think he should reduce our chance of finals in the next 2-3 years in order to be more competitive in 5 years? His job IS to make finals the next couple of years and win a flag. Not to set us up for 2026.

I love trade time. I imagine Mahoney walking in to the Telstra Dome, calling a bunch of the over managers into a room together and announcing: "A bit of a long one but bear with me here everyone..."

Just watched this. He's an outstanding young man. Level headed, down to earth and family orientated. We're lucky to have him.