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Brayden Maynard’s acquittal was a heinous miscarriage of justice by a King's Counsel that absolutely should have gone to appeal. Maynard weaponised his body crashing into Brayshaw's head at a 45° angle with his shoulder and elbow tucked into his body whilst maintaining eye-contact with Brayshaw's head. Maynard’s first action was smothering with arms outstretched to spoil Brayshaw’s kick. Maynard’s second action was bumping Brayshaw head-high with his shoulder and elbow tucked into the body, causing serious injury. If a player jumps off the ground front-on to smother, and then braces and bumps the kicker head-high resulting in serious injury, then the act of smothering is careless. AFL Law states players can be reported for: "(vi) bumping or making forceful contact to an opponent from front-on when that Player has their head down over the football" . The act of kicking clearly comes under this provision. An aggravating factor in this case is the career-ending and life-threatening potential that front-on hip-and-shoulders pose. Not only was Maynard let off, but there is no deterrence for players from front-on smothers that risk serious injury. The verdict shows that the AFL is not taking reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of players. Additionally, the fact Michael Christian, the current Match Review Officer threatened to resign if Maynard was charged shows the spectre of Eddie McGuire still hangs over the AFL like Donald Trump in US politics. ROTTEN TO THE CORE.

Alternatively, it might say something about how he rates Richmond's list.

Roses are red, Violets are blue, Who is the new guy, To wear red and blue?

3rd in the grand final sprint yesterday! He had an ok first year. Didn’t get much of the ball and was safe but not all that amazing when he did get it. Seemed to stick to the task defensively but there were plenty of times when he was just at a contest but not owning it with decisive marks or spoils. Once or twice a game he would have an intercept mark or spoil that would make you take notice. In the rehab group for most of last summer though so I expect we’ll know a lot more next year.

I don't care who we take with our first pick, So long as that player is an elite kick.

Humans have a great need to look at the result and then make up a story that explains that. Look at the difference between the Qualifying and Grand Finals. In one, we were inaccurate despite being territorially dominant, with Collingwood taking their chances despite enormous territorial deficiency. Because Collingwood won a close game people try to make the story about Collingwood's superior forward efficiency against our useless fixation on territory. Yesterday the roles are reversed, as Collingwood were dominant in territory but wasteful and Brisbane were efficient with get chances, but because Collingwood win we still search for reasons why Collingwood were still efficient (like looking at rushed behind our shots outside 50 etc - not picking on any posters in particular) because humans need to tell the story. The fact is that luck and randomness have so much influence on the outcome but everyone is very uncomfortable with that because a coherent story is very important to us. If we're making decisions about the future we can get clouded by the results and end up focusing on the wrong things.

His performance yesterday plus the finals has catapulted him into elite status for small forwards of the competition. To then put on that performance yesterday in front of 100k is seriously impressive. Hope Kozzie was watching.

Hey mate, yeah, O’Sullivan’s a good user of the ball and a reasonably good decision maker, would be comfortable if we went that way. Much surer with ball in hand than Petty (as an example) and could either play key post or third tall/intercept defender. Overall, Watson’s kicking depth is ok. What I’ve seen over the course of the year is that he can rush his kicks and can be inconsistent by foot. He can do the brilliant (and does so quite often), but I’m not sure if he puts a bit of extra pressure on himself to do too much to make things happen, but that’s when he can get the timing wrong with his kicks. That’s how it looked in the GF. Eastern’s overall depth and scoring power wasn’t great this year, so understand why Watson might have felt that. He plays a million miles an hour all the time, if he drops that just a little and picks his moments a bit better, I get the feeling that his field kicking and overall game will be the better for it.

But we love a goal, And that's his main role. We played a tall, who must have a stench, As we kept the poor guy, stuck to the bench.

They were the most consistent team for the year and had the least structural injuries when it mattered. The one week when they won territory, they were as inaccurate as we'd been in our two finals. My view is we left a flag on the table this year, but clearly our injuries in the same zone of the ground caught up with us, and our inability to convert our territory dominance were the biggest reasons for this. We'll make tweaks, list changes and be there again next year. Given Collingwood actually won something this year, I expect this to solidfy the sort of ball movement all teams need. But the elephant in the room to the 'we need to be more offensive' group is that ultimately defence is again what won the finals. Collingwood's explosive ball movement was not a huge factor in the finals series. It was their defensive unit that exceeded expectations IMV, and won them the flag, rather than their forwards or their offence. As is always the case. Clearly Bobby Hill was the exception to this, without him against us in the QF and no Bobby Hill yesterday, and they don't win either game, so one forward certainly had a say in their results. But for the most part, having the entire team behind the ball and then countering attacking worked. Defence will still win finals and GFs remains a truism, it's just about our coaches maximising our territory dominance and kicking a winning score when the forwardline is crowded like it was for Collingwood yesterday.

I reserve the right to hate that football club as much as I like without judgement and without lectures.

A relatively even year which saw 15 teams still in contention for finals until very late in the season has papered over some serious issues. None of which are particularly new but all of which are just adding to the running-down of the asset. The unholy alliance with Channel 7 and the Herald Sun to package everything that happens to suit the easiest marketing targets is incrementally grinding everyone else down. Similarly, the dysfunction boys club in commentary and governance is both a continuous loss and a real risk. The token efforts in the salary cap, performance enhancement and gambling areas are like a slow-growing mushroom waiting for someone to step on it and puff out a burst of choking spores. The overuse of rules interventions and ad hoc politically influenced interpretations has combined with the under-resourcing of the actual officiating professionals to slowly grind that part of the game down. The less reliable it is, the more it becomes what people talk about in a surly way, rather than just a disappointed-on-the-day way. The fixture is tilted every year for commercial advantages to the 'aggregate' rather than competitive integrity or fair commercial opportunity for each club. We all know this, to the point we openly say 'we'll get better fixtures when we play better'. Two senior coaches - the two most successful coaches in the game - had mental breakdowns this season. Gold Coast is being kept at AFL level by nonsense levels of academy concessions, and Sydney not only is only relevant due to its own previous huge concessions, but it only made finals on an obvious yet uncorrected goal umpiring error which would not have happened in any other professional-level sport in the developed world. Second-tier competitions continue to slip just a little every year. Simplest to say they are not keeping up with inflation. Right now the AFL resembles the Mayan empire at its peak, destroying the soils on which it relies, to attend to the infinite greed of the priest-lords.

A few posters on this thread seem to think people are commodities. TMac has been part of the backbone of MFC through thick and thin . We must be a Club who bind through loyalties and I feel some posters do not seem to have a loyal bone in their bodies ! I recognise that both of them are in the twilight of their careers (bodywise), lets shwo some sembalance of respect !!!

So then you want Watson, he's very slick, Can take a nice grab and is also so quick.

Even with the injuries to Petty and Melksham we were better team in both our finals yet found a way to lose. This year was a massive fail, no excuses at all. That’s why I’m still gutted and couldn’t watch yesterday.

He’s not AFL standard , to slow and lacks lateral movement. Good state league player. Trained with West Coast during their Covid years and they didn’t take him on

Everyone has different tastes and preferences of course but to say the game was boring yesterday is ridiculous. Ripping first half chock full of outstanding goal kicking. Both teams took the game on. 3rd quarter sagged (understandably given the hot day) but it was tight and tense throughout. Tough crowd to please.

Is that Jeff from Finance behind him?

Well ....... surprisingly....... the sun still rose this morning. Albeit at the wrong time !!!!

Just returned from the Swan Street party/puke zone after picking up my daughter, who couldn’t persuade her friends to go elsewhere for the night. It was a descent into Hell. A morass of morons chanting and droning the same old monotonies. It’s where this horrible month has been inevitably heading, once that thug opted to ‘flinch’ and put his shoulder into Gus’s face. As much as it hurts to say, I thought Collingwood were the better team today, but the AFL gifted them their opportunity, not suspending Maynard, a 6 day break for the Giants (Carlton gets an 8 day break of course), then the umpires stopped doing their job in the last quarter and ignore 5-6 blatant Giant frees. And now the calendar is scarred.

Regarding the OP, Joe Daniher nearly got Brisbane over the line. A quality key forward is still hugely valuable.

Mihocek is a very underrated player. much better than people give him credit for.

I find myself sitting here, the day after, wondering if this has genuinely been a good year for the AFL in terms of showcasing the sport and taking it to a new level. The general footy public mainly think it was the bees knees and I get that straight after a sleeping giant has triumphed, even haters of Collingwood are getting swept up in the Eurphoria of it, there's a reason they are the most talked about sporting club in the country. But let's look at it as a whole, did this season do what the AFL wanted it to do? Off the top of my head the Gather Round appeared to have been a success and the level playing field and standard of finals games but I think of the following things and don't know if they add up to a great look for the league: - Concussion: Does the AFL care enough? The Alir and Jones incident was a total joke. Then the Maynard and Gus incident, the player got off and the story sold papers but did we actually learn anything from it? - Fixturing: Where do you start? - The MRO: New rules every week and what could now appear to be a conflict of interest in the position. No consistency. - The rules: Still no clarity on the stand rule and a heavy penalty for the slightest of movements on the mark. A heap more nonsense 50 metre penalties and a sport that has never been harder to explain to a new fan. - The Brownlow: Losing more credibility. Yes Neale's year may have been better than we thought but the number of shock 3 voters and non votes for others seemed high. - And lastly, the umpiring: I take nothing away from Collingwood who have been toughest the longest in 2023. But with wins by 7 points, 1 point and 4 points, knocking out a key player in the first, having at least 3 no calls in the prelim go their way and then the rub of the green in the Grand Final culminating with the most ridiculous advantage of all time, it's almost fitting that this season was underlined with that as the exclamation point. Nothing is ever perfect but I felt this season missed the mark on quite a few quality metrics. A big club winning the flag is not papering over the cracks, it's wallpapering over a gaping hole. The league has got their TV cash and Gil leaves on his horse into the sunset while Dil picks put a new $5k Herman Miller task chair for the office. Yes there is some saltiness right now but I'm keen to hear views on this. Was it a good season for the AFL and the game in general? Happy to hear both sides, keep it respectful.

One major factor in Collingwood's win, despite their overall inaccuracy, was their finishing from set shots outside 50 at crucial times. Crisp x 2 (he did it against us too from exactly the same spot), De Goey and Sidebottom all nailed long goals - we very rarely do that. There's ball to be marked around the 50 and we can do that but we rarely convert from there - either the long kick to the pocket for a stoppage or take the risk of a point and turnover. Who do we have with the range and accuracy? Petracca, Sparrow and Rivers definitely have the length. Melksham has both but will be out - maybe McAdam can do it? Petty and Joel Smith may be able to - not enough examples yet. Salem probably used to be able to but seems to have lost a lot of depth. This is a very important asset when the 50 is crowded.

They weren't the only who said their game wouldn't stand up come finals. Could easily pick out a few more. They're quiet now.. How's their shrewed recruitment? Markov and Hill added for extra speed and skill that compliments their game plan. Kudos to McRea, he's a fine operator.

I actually don't know how to feel. I like *something* about Collingwood but I don't know what. They are just superbly coached. McRae is a very special get for them. Everyone here bangs on about our forward line but you cannot convince me they have more talent up forward than we do. It is 100% strategic. They set themselves up to succeed deep and quickly. We win long in defense and hope going to the well enough times will suffice. Never has a team been both so uninspiring yet so inspiring at the same time. They are either gifted wins through the opposition's own choking/incompetence, or they just *find a way*. They are undoubtedly the best in a very tight core of 4-5 teams that encompasses Melbourne, Brisbane, Carlton, Sydney and GWS. I am just shocked that they have won and won the way they did. Just truly shocked. Some here probably don't realise it bit we have absolutely thrown away a premiership this year with our choke in the QF. Good on Collingwood. Once they beat us they absolutely knew it was right there for them.

1. No trip to geelong. Thats literally all i want

Pretty definitive proof of the giant myth of the key forward and their impact on success Efficiency is King, speed kills, and hopefully our trade & draft period reflect that thinking....!

It’s been a great year for the AFL’s cash flow. It’s been a poor year for the fans unless you barrack for Pies or Blues. Umpiring quality at an all time low. MRO a joke. ARC a disgrace. Channel 7 coverage and commentary an insult to the eyes and ears. Game day experience at the ground loud and annoying. Ease of purchasing finals tickets negative ten. Yes record attendance and memberships, but how much of that is post Covid buzz and big clubs seeing success again (especially Pies and Blues), and how much of it is sustainable long term without proper investment in the quality of the above. From my point of view, I’ve never felt more disillusioned or disengaged from the AFL. I am invested in our club, but finding it harder and harder to stay involved beyond the 3 hours a week in which we play.

B+ for the short term (crowds, exciting games etc). E for the long term (meaningful change on the concussion-front, development of women’s game, technology improving the game)

We were realistically the best chance of beating them but we had two really unlucky things not go our way. 1. Brayshaw getting knocked out 2. A wet night at the MCG. If the weather was like the Carlton game, I think we would have won.

Reckon the rumours and riddles will start hotting up this week.

I tell you I cant stand Tom Mitchell World's biggest flopper and all time worst Brownlow winner. Could have been done for staging at least 8 times during 3 finals.

Except for Maynard knocking Brayshaw out.

All that matters is we know for certain now the contempt the AFL has for the MFC. McLachlan disregarded his own head injury agenda to please Collingwood and spit in our faces. No- one cared about Brayshaws medical condition except his angry brothers. It was all about poor Maynard . Did the AFL appeal the decision. Nope. Just crickets from AFL HQ. Dont forget 2 fwds from Melbourne's depleted fwd list were suspended during the finals. We got stiched up royally by the AFL. Collingwood is laughing at us. Their very public support of Carlton Swans and Collingwood is enough to put anyone off AFL. Just wait for the 2024 fixture. It could get ugly. The MCG is not our home ground. Its Collingwoods.

It's not the small forwards that the issue, it's the flawed system that Goodwin has that doesn't play to their advantages. Goodwin wants all our small forwards to be the link up option instead of actually being there for the drop of the ball. Too many times are smalls are pressed so high up that when we win back possession through sling shot we have no one in space to kick to their advantage I can't remember the last game where our genuine small forwards have created goals from being front and centre of the forwards or given the space and opportunity ahead of goal. Look at the way McRea uses Hill. In our system there is no way he gets so much space an opportunity as what he does at Collingwood. I'm all for Watson, but not if Goody is going to run with the same flawed system that he's had the past 2 years.

Magic Moments... Hill's mark Bailey's solo goal Cameron's run into goal square & goal

We lost to them by 7 points, with Gus ko’d 2 minutes into the QF, effectively losing say 30 possies from an experienced versatile player and replaced by a totally non effective player, so down a fresh player at the end and having 32 more inside F50’s. Poor goal kicking and without Petty, Melk and BBB, all of whom if fit would have been better than their replacements. Also with Gus out Tracc wasn’t able to go forward. They had Daicos out. 32 more inside F50’s is usually a 12-15 goal win. I wouldn’t say Binman and Binman PA were totally wrong, as with any luck at all, we win that QF and play off in the GF against one of Lions or Pies and possibly win it. Pies imo are well coached, but have had enormous luck this year and we had a lot of bad luck. Look at all the non Giants frees last week and Pies win by a Point. We haven’t won an arc decision in my recent memory.

I also hope Goodwin was watching, it's amazing what happens when you have a player that stays around the forward line but it was also bad coaching from the lions who allowed their players to be drawn up the ground and allowing that, it's been the pies game plan all year keeping Hill or Elliot to play that role.

Umpire tainted GF win! Daicos the ducker the outside softest player ever!

Langdon, like Samson, lost his strength when he decided to go bald. Please grow the hair mate!

Pendlebury and Sidebottom. Class. Efficient. Goalkicking under pressure. That’s why they won.

28% of Collingwood's goals this finals series. In all sorts of different conditions. He literally won them the flag.

Angus Brayshaw almost was! Brayden "the Thug" Maynard almost [censored] killed him! Don't ever [censored] forget that! What happened to Angus Brayshaw and the fact that Brayden "the Thug" Maynard never even got suspended will be one of the greatest injustices in the AFL in recent memory! I will be angry about it for a very [censored] long time!!! 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

Not to pile on you but what was the difference between regular season MFC in 2021 and last few rounds/finals MFC in 2021? Positive and confident ball movement would be right up there. It’s what Binman and a few others seem to think is a spigot we can turn on whenever we want. Its learned and trained and we have work to do.

Brodie lives around the corner from me. He’s a really nice guy (who grows some of the best Lemons in the neighbourhood). Every time I see him I’m always amazed at how thin he is. There’s nothing to the modern player, even the big blokes. He’s a really good player, that’s worked super hard for his chance and is incredibly professional. I’d love him at the Dees.

Petty's family home is in Wudinna, which is 570km from Adelaide and a 6 hour drive. He was a boarder at a school in Adelaide, but family ties are nowhere near Adelaide. He's contracted until 2025 and I have zero concerns about him leaving.

Collingwood were actually very efficient given they had a lot o difficult shots at goal.

Yep, exactly. I suspect an element of selfishness and 'me me me' has crept into our game over the last few years. In 2021, we did all the 1%ers. We did the little things we needed to do as a team. We were team-orientated. The examples that illustrate this were all for us to see in our two finals losses, and which totally cost us both games - particularly the Carlton game in the end. I am only speculating here, but I suspect Gawn turned around and told Goodwin he was sick of this combo situation (even though he signed up to it and agreed to it), Grundy was on the outer straight away because he wasn't part of the inner sanction power-base playing group (which Gawn rules), he expressed his displeasure, and his cards were basically marked not to play again because of his so-called attitude to the situation. Even after the 'stolen' Carlton game, Goodwin (who's the most robotic coach i've ever heard talk) basically admitted it was a mistake playing Grundy. In a round-about way, he knocked Grundy a few times - I've never heard him knock any of our other players ever (except for words about Jack Watts when he was traded saying, essentially, Watts was not prepared to push to the standards he expected). Total laughing stock situation. I get that Gawn has been arguably our best ever ruckman and will go down as one of our best players in modern history. At the same time, he is captain of the club, and his leadership in the Carlton loss was severely lacking, not only through the two easy misses and ridiculous touching of Oliver's kick at goal, but by the facade in the last 90 seconds of that game. If you want to run the place and dominate the situation, stand up and lead us to the promised land.

I know. But seeing them just win a premiership doesn't make that any sweeter at all. I don't care if we can beat them or not, all that matters is who stands up in September which we've been chokers the last 2 years and that's not a good tag to carry.