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Please!!!! The Eagles were missing their best player this year in Yeo, and their captain and best player Oscar Allen. Stop using injuries as an excuse. Our core of guns are NOT paying well.

Guys, going to cut off the questions here. I think we have more than enough in what should either be a cathartic or depressing show. Me: Binman:

It's very hard to trade in top quality players when you are consistently finishing in the top 4, and have no trade currency. We paid a lot for May, Lever and Langdon, who basically secured us a flag. We could have traded pick 7 last year, and we would have if something good was available. We went hard for Lynch and Hawkins, but would you rather one of them or Windsor? When you are consistently in the top 4, you have to go after free agents. Quality free agents recently have been few and far between, unless you think McKay on $800k would have made us a premiership threat. To get quality in our position, we have to trade quality. Would you want to trade Oliver for JUH for example? JJ and Harmes are not winning their sides flags. They are good solid foot soldiers, but JJ is surrounded by enormous quality at Sydney, as he was at Melbourne in 2021. The players you speak of like Hunter, Schache and Billings cost us absolutely nothing in terms of picks and salary space. They are not the reason we are where we are. Grundy was a great get, that unfortunately was handled very poorly.

The day after losses like these are the worst. Think I had nightmares of Reid pushing over/fending off our lightweight, once vaunted midfield brigade, turning on the jets and scoring a ripper goal in front of our noses. There was also us getting outmarked everywhere, and just flopping about, unable to make or stick tackles. I honestly don't mind losing. Can't win 'em all. BUT only if we turn up, respecting our opponents, having a dip for 4 qtrs. None of that happened. We turned up expecting a win, and got OWNED by a bottom 4 team. A true nightmare.

Only a Melbourne player could cop a whack to the head and end up having surgery on his knee!

Tmac has gone on record to say he can't play forward anymore, as he can no longer jump at the ball after his foot injury. Our midfield is our number one failure right now. We have to fix that part of our ground as a priority.

So the club can't deal with 10 day breaks, 9 day breaks, 5 day breaks. We need the perfect amount of breaks between games? We are really trying to find ways to cope with the performance of the team.

There is always a game where you realise your side and list is not quite good enough to win a flag and this was it for me. It was also a game where we all saw why we offered three first rounders (two last year, one this year) for Harley Reid which at the time I thought was exorbitant, but clearly was not given his match winning ability. Based on Goody's post-game quotes, it appears that even Goody is aware that his list has flaws and he will need to tinker with things to give us a better shot at it. Some of the tinkers will come at the mid-season draft where Tubby Taylor should get two shots at unearthing players who could add something - replacements for Brayshaw and Joel Smith. The others will be to his line-up for the Saints and while I reckon his conservative approach will see just three changes, he could make a statement and make up to five. Clearly we missed both Langdon's run and Rooey's competitiveness and they are montes to come back. And we will lose Lever. Ben Brown's mobility at 31 means he is also out. Jack Billings is tricky in that he is set to play his old side and will want to make a point. But I think we again saw when he again missed a set shot from close range that the mental side of his game has been ruined by being at the Saints for so long. Billings is a beautiful kick and has amazing vision, but sadly in front of goals he loses his mojo and he no longer has the line-breaking ability or the presence in tight. He was worth a try and for all those who think we got it wrong, please remember that Collingwood was also into him and could see the potential if he could overcome his mental gremlins. Blake Howes has taken a huge step forward this year and being a quick defender (yes he was a winger last year) with good height he has the tools to make it. He has also now had a good taste of it and shown that he is almost there. But he now needs to go back for a few weeks and dominate at VFL level and take the game on more. As a medium defender with a long kick, he has to provide instant rebound and so far he's shown us that he can play pretty tight, but he lacks the physicality and the attacking presence. Tom Sparrow is a goer. He works his butt off and he is genuinely a key member of our midfield grunt team. But he's just not impacting enough in the midfield transition and his link-up work lacks quality. It is time for a new role - some would say in the VFL, but I reckon he's so disciplined that a role down back beckons. A few of questioned McAdam, but he's only played one game and deserves another shot at it. Complicating things is that Sestan, who can play the similar goal square lead-up role is ready to debut. Sestan's debut will have to wait but at least we have another option. Chandler is another who needs a rethink. He's too small and not quite quick enough to be an explosive small forward against the good sides, but like Sparrow, he has an incredible attitude and his work ethic is top notch. He is also clever and has good vision and he can kick it a long way for a little bloke - to me he's ideal for our left-side wing. I's time to try Bowey in a new role - to me he deserves a shot in our midfield or as a small forward, because if he gets it around the 50m mark he can go bang or is clever with his dink kicks. As a defender he's just not quite providing the drive we need and we want the ball in his hands because he can use it. Finally the Petty situation is also tricky because aside from the Cats game, the switch forward has been a flop. Yet he's the one player who can mark it when he goes the big fly. With Lever out, he's ideal to have a week off forward duties and play the sweeper/intercept role on Owens. Tommo deserves a game but I don't see T.Mac being capable of keeping up with Owens, so he has to play on Caminiti with Maysie on Max King. Finally there are many who say Windsor needs a break this week and they might be right. But if he plays he will be able to play on Darcy Wilson and that is an ideal match-up for both of them. As to who comes in aside from JVR and Ed, we do need to see what Fullarton can do. Sure he may not make it, but we recruited him as back-up and he deserves a shot at it. And if he can't win it, then sub him off and flip Petty forward. The other player that is an obvious sub is Tholstrop. In terms of Saints, Ross loves tagging and will have a plan for Trac, but I'd start him forward each quarter and give him a run on the ball midway through each quarter. Apologies to Moniz-Wakefield and Sestan but I'm sure they've been told they are close. So after all that: Out: Lever (conc), Howes, B.Brown, Billings In: JVR, Langdon, Fullarton, Tholstrop. B: McVee May T.Mac HB: Sparrow Petty Salem C: Windsor ANB Chandler HF: Bowey JVR Langdon F: Pickett Petracca Fritsch Ru: Gawn Oliver Viney Int: Rivers (def), Fullarton (fwd), Woewodin (wing/def), McAdam (fwd) Tholstrop (sub)

He is a better player than Billings for starters.

Shades of Jack Watts debuting against the Pies. Let’s not kill this poor kid because we are in panic mode.

Ok looking forward for the rest of the season. It’s not a terrible draw, we only play 5 games with clubs ahead of us on the ladder. (Right now it’s Pies, Port, GWS, Essendon) We don’t play Geelong or Sydney again. So here’s the run from here: Saints Freo (home) Collingwood North Brisbane (Away) West coast (shivers… home) Essendon Freo (Away) GWS (home) Bulldogs Port (home) Gold Coast (away) Collingwood. 13 games left. currently on 6 wins. We HAVE TO beat: Saints, North, west coast. No excuses with these games. We shouldn’t drop any of these games if we want to finish Top 4. These are the easiest games So there’s 3 wins we should bank. Takes us to 9 wins. Less easy: Gold Coast/Bulldogs We should beat both these teams. Bulldogs finding some form and Gold Coast scored 164 points against Geelong. We play Gold Coast away and they almost beat us last time up there from memory… so let’s say we drop that game but beat bulldogs. Takes us to 10 wins. 50/50 games: Freo (twice)/Brisbane/Port That’s 4 games. Brisbane have the wood over us, Port will want revenge and can win during the season and Freo… not confident of winning both encounters. Can afford to drop 1 of these games. So let’s say 3 wins out of 4. Gives us 13 wins Hard games- Essendon GWS Collingwood (twice) Soooo, Pies are back and just as flukey as ever, can we beat them once? GWS are in a lull, but they did this last year about the same time and romped home. I expect them to do that again. They’re a bloody good team. Essendon are 2nd on the ladder after 10 rounds. The nightmare is real. Let’s say we win 2 (big if) of these games. 15 wins. last two seasons that places us: 4th in 2023 or 5th or 6th in 2022. We basically have to beat: North, West Coast, Saints, Bulldogs, Gold Coast, Port, Brisbane and both Freo games. And 1 win out of Pies (play them twice), Essendon and GWS Thats 16 wins in total for the season to guarantee Top 4. It’s an even spread this year so 15 wins might also get us in. Hopefully it’s a crazy season and 14 wins get us in but I wouldn’t hold my breath. essentially 4-5 losses and we don’t make Top 4. This loss to West Coast has really [censored] things up. A lot harder now to make Top 4.

Nothing quite like losing to a bottom 4 team to get the Demonland traffic up and welcome a whole bunch of new posters

I'm quite enjoying this banter between 1975 and 2024.

How stupid do North look for winning that meaningless rd 20 game to miss the wooden spoon!

Fritsch 1 tackle, Brown 1 tackle, Petty 4 tackles. Jack Darling 12 tackles.

Our first quarters WCE 4.3 to us 2.1 Carl 5.0 to us 0.0 Geel 2.4 to us 3.2 Rich 1.3 to us 2.3 Bris 4.2 to us 2.0 Our percentage in the first qtr is 88% 2nd is 109% 3rd 125% 4th 163% This is where our coach and our leaders are infuriating. Obvious problem We do Sweet FA about it. No come out breathing fire, no insane pressure Same old rinse repeat. Our fwd line this week Petty and Brown and Fritsch barely touched it again after their stellar 1 possession first half last week Stubborn Simon is back.

Apart from a handful posters, reading this thread shows me that most do not understand: how the draft works player trading rules pick trading rules Next Generation Academy rules father/son rules the history of the relationship between the VFL/AFL and the MCC/MF, nor watch the VFL regularly. The root cause of our winter of discontent has little to do with traits of individual players or game style in May 2024, and everything to do with the fact we left a premiership on the table in 2023 with no one else to blame but ourselves.

i'd trade in charlie curnow and harley reid

Please reward Woey with starting in the 22. Thought he was amongst out best. Only one of few that looked composed.

Absolutely deserved what we got. Arrogance and questionable team selecting bringing in underdone players. Oh but don't you ever dare to question the team selections on here 😅 because the coaches always know right hey? I'm actually not surprised by this loss. Mids have been awful last few weeks and to see an 18 year simply just bully our senior and more experienced players around stoppages shows how much they're starting to fall off the cliff. Viney and Oliver are simply shadows of their best, Sparrow is an embarrassment, Salem can barely hit a leading forward. Defence got absolutely exposed tonight. May and McDonald were genuinely awful, Howes is just so weak in the contests, Bowey is another who's just a shadow of what he's previously produced. Rivers is a turnover merchant. Brown can retire on the spot. No more please. Forget the good citizen stuff, he simply cannot play for us anymore based on that performance. Petty can go back to defence, he was just as bad. McGovern and Barrass embarrassed both of them on the spot. Last but not least, coaching tonight was awful. Not once did we try anything to mix it up. Our mids was getting smashed and not once did we try Rivers in there or leave Pickett there for significant time after he looked dangerous earlier on. Defensive set up was completely obliterated and of course we make Darling look like Wayne Carey tonight after he hasn't had a kick in 2 years. Some serious soul searching from this performance.

I’m available

To all the posters saying a 6-7 goal win was guaranteed/a must - that mentality is exactly why we lost. Because it was shared by this team. We expected to walk up and win, but the Eagles, like every other team know that if you show up and work hard from the first bounce, you can beat us. Which they did, but in truth they humbled us, and we were also embarrassed by a first year player. Our midfield is non existent. Our backline was woeful. Cant blame Lever, as you cannot say we are nothing without one guy. Umpiring didn’t cost us. Outmarked and outworked everywhere. A disgrace. The team wants to talk about earning respect? None. Zero for tonight and last week we did nothing for a whole half+ So disappointed.

It's such a niche player to be linked to, it must be real...! A left-footer with silky skills, Ryan Angwin is a versatile footballer with a high footy IQ. After managing just one game in 2022 due to a fracture in his lower leg, Angwin added 15 games to his career tally in 2023, often used in a variety of roles by coach Adam Kingsley. A composed decision maker who is creative by foot, Angwin is also a great athlete, highlighted by his strong time for the 2km time trial.

If Tomlinson doesn't come in now I have no idea why he is on our list. Yes, he's no world beater but has been Casey's best and is the natural replacement. Petty has to remain up front given the paucity of forwards. I'm not overly confident this will occur.

Better now than later in the season. Though once again, it confirms that so often players are carrying injuries we don't know about that must be impacting their performance. Not an excuse for Sunday, but I wonder if there wasn't more going on than we knew - Max for one, May for two. Why was May playing on the less dangerous, less mobile forward, especially once it was clear that Waterman had McDonald's measure? Just idle conjecture, but I know from being around elite level sport in various ways from time to time that all isn't always as it seems.

considering how pathetic we were without him yesterday this is a massive loss

It's one of those line-in-the-sand games. Teams are allowed to lose. It's normal. But we were bullied by a bottom 4 team - who will finish bottom 4. The midfield were owned by a 9-gamer. Behind closed doors, they should feel like the ego took a solid hit, because it did. We came off a 10-day break and had no excuses not to come out and torch them. SO What does the team stand for? Is it about respect? Because none was earnt yesterday. It eroded some of what we have done. Because our regular poor starts, and wasted chances show we haven't learned anything. Whatever we do this week has to be sustained from here on in. Not only because the last two losses (wasted against the Blues because we turned up in 4Q, and yesterday...) mean we are now behind the pack - so we have to win tough games, but also because the yoyo-ing through respect and waste/embarrassment is seriously tiresome. Of all the teams in the league, we always seem to play 'inspired' opposition, even if they're battling. And the honest reason is because they see us as beatable - with good reason. We start slow. Take teams for granted. Waste chances. Our best and worst is light years apart. We essentially have created this circumstance. The only way to end that is to stamp it out by 4 QUARTER FOOTY EVERY WEEK, and respect for our opposition. So, whatever we do against the Saints - will, and should be the year ahead, if we're serious about respect/another flag.

Laurie still turning the ball over too often through the middle at VFL level. Sometimes under very little pressure too. Hits the panic button and clangers it straight back to the oppo. Has some serious work to do here before you'd reconsider bringing him back in imho. If we were going to trial anyone from Casey i'd rather Kolt for a block of matches before Laurie (at this point). The guy at least has some wheels, white line fever and hits in hard once the ball bounces.

So we'll be better placed to beat the Eagles in Rd 17?

three first rounders and then if you believe the reports we tried to sweeten it with a couple of second rounders and meth coke STILL said no... justifiably reid is an absolute freak of a first year footballer

The kick - mark game is ok at times when you need to slow play for momentum purposes to cool an oppo run on or to ice a quarter or match winning lead in red time. To start the match (and continue it for lengthy periods throughout) playing this method is going to slowly cost you on the scoreboard both offensively and defensively. And lose you alot of matches againat the top liners and occasionaly against lessor likes as we witnessed yesterday. Especially as the game progresses, fatigue starts to set in & skills drop off slowly or in some cases depending on the player and where he's at (eg; fitness / form / coming back from injury too early ... eg; Bowsa) ... dramatically. It also doesn't work well when forwards don't play in front a kick up the field and/or don't work hard enough (or are unable to for whatever reason) to present as the next outlet for those coming off HB or through the middle under pressure. To see our lack of forward craft in general still persisting this far down the track post 2021 is infuriating and super frustrating. Especially when you watch many other clubs do it better, a number of which were well behind us (in general) in their development in 2021. To move away from the kick - mark rubbiah you would probably need to switch out a few players whose DNA is based on playing a mostly short / possession game such as Salo and Bowsa. T-Mac has also had this side trained into him in the off season probably because he couldn't be trusted with longer passes (say 30+ meters). We are overweight these players now and lack serious running power off HB. Aside from Rivers, who tends to go on a solo and hang on to the pill for too long too often and McVee, if he feels confident in working off his opponent up the field a little. The only options i can think of to replace the likes of those two at present (via Casey) are Woey (comes in from Sub) and Moniz. Moniz would definitely give us more running power off HB vs say Bowsa and personally i think he'd bring a better game at ground level plus a little more pressure around stoppage. Salo is a work in progress through the middle but TBH im not sure it's a project worth persisting with at this point. I'd much rather see Salo moved into the Billings role and use his kicking skills to try and find targets with the last kick inside 50. He can also kick the odd goal on the run (rarely but it does happen). I'd also look to bring in Kolt from here and just blood him through the middle for the rest of the season with a view to seeing IF he can play this role in place of the likes of Sparrow or Salo. Both of whom just don't add enough value here for mine. At least trial it for four to six weeks and go from there. So to change the above plus try & fix some of our forward woes you are looking at... Out: Bowsa, Billings & Sparrow (sub), BBB, Petty In: Moniz, Kolt, Woe, Fullarton & JVR Sparrow as sub, Salo into the Billings role. Moniz takes the Bowsa role. Kolt takes the Sparrow role and potentially Sparrow tactically subbed in. In the first few matches you would probably need to ease Kolt into the Sparrow role by initially playing him as sub first. The other option is to also bring in Sestan to replace Salo but probably a tad early in terms of his tank / knowing the role / second efforts. I'd experiment with it though against the likes of the Kangas & Tigers to see what he can bring to the table playing the Billings role vs Salo and at least find out where his development (want) is at and go from there. We also desperately need to get Clarry back to peak fitness / form but i'd say that horse has probably bolted for season 2024 now. Bottom line though.... if we continue on this current path we'll be lucky to make the eight let alone thinking of a prelim so you may as well try / trial things to see where the list amd certain players are at in orfer to prep yourself for the trade period and off season, hopefully setting ourselves up for a tilt at 2025.

Eagles monstered us in contested marking all around the ground. That's why we didn't generate many turnovers imo. Waterman and Reid played like the second coming of Carey and Judd 2.0. We didn't play our best but please dont talk about loading Binners.

That was Melbourne's fewest inside 50s since 2015 (excluding 2020 with shorter quarters). Melbourne's worst inside 50 differential, 2021-2024 -21 v WC, R10 2024 -21 v Port, R3 2024 -20 v Geel, R17 2022 -14 v Syd, R0 2024 Melbourne's worst differential in points from turnovers, 2021-2024 -56 v WC, R10 2024 (14 v 70)* -50 v Syd, R12 2022 (5 v 55) -40 v Syd, R24 2022 (30 v 70) -35 v Frem, R11 2022 (24 v 59) * Equal 2nd most pts conceded from turnovers and 2nd fewest points scored from turnovers from 2021-2024. Melbourne v West Coast (Round 10, 2024) https://www.wheeloratings.com/afl_match_stats.html?ID=20241009 Key Team Stats Stats highlighted purple were won by Melbourne. Stat For Against Diff Disposal Efficiency 66.9 77.2 -10.3 Kicking Efficiency 58.4 74.1 -15.7 Metres Gained 5069 5935 -866 Inside 50s 36 57 -21 Shots At Goal 21 31 -10 Shots Per Inside 50 58.3 54.4 +3.9 Contested Possessions 123 123 +0 Ground Ball Gets 82 84 -2 Intercepts 60 69 -9 Intercept Marks 10 19 -9 Centre Clearances 13 15 -2 Stoppage Clearances 28 21 +7 Contested Marks 7 15 -8 Marks Inside 50 9 13 -4 Hitouts 42 29 +13 Hitouts To Advantage 14 7 +7 Tackles 67 63 +4 Tackles Inside 50 9 22 -13 Def One On One Loss % 20.0 30.0 -10.0 Contested Possessions For Against Diff Defensive 50 Hard Ball Get 9 3 +6 Loose Ball Get 16 9 +7 Other 9 3 +6 Total 34 15 +19 Forward 50 Hard Ball Get 1 3 -2 Loose Ball Get 7 15 -8 Other 8 11 -3 Total 16 29 -13 Post clearance Hard Ball Get 10 13 -3 Loose Ball Get 42 44 -2 Other 16 26 -10 Total 68 83 -15 Pre clearance Hard Ball Get 14 8 +6 Loose Ball Get 16 19 -3 Other 25 13 +12 Total 55 40 +15 Official data on pre- and post-clearance contested possessions are not available. These have been estimated by Wheelo Ratings and should be indicative. Other includes contested marks, free kicks, contested knock ons, gathers from hitouts, and ruck hard ball gets. Expected scores xScore Score Rushed xWin % xMargin Margin Swing Melbourne 65.2 70 3 1% +5.3 West Coast 105.5 105 1 99% +40.3 +35 Team Shots Score Accuracy xScore +/- xSc. / Shot Shot Rating Overall Melbourne 21 10.7.67 47.6% 62.2 +4.8 2.96 +0.23 West Coast 31 16.8.104 51.6% 104.5 −0.5 3.37 −0.02 General Play Melbourne 9 3.4.22 33.3% 21.2 +0.8 2.36 +0.08 West Coast 15 6.3.39 40.0% 44.2 −5.2 2.95 −0.35 Set Position Melbourne 12 7.3.45 58.3% 41.0 +4.0 3.41 +0.34 West Coast 16 10.5.65 62.5% 60.3 +4.7 3.77 +0.29 xWin %: win probability based on expected scores. Swing: difference between expected margin and actual margin. xScore: total expected score from all shots taken. +/-: total score above or below expected score. xSc. / Shot: average expected score per shot. This represents the average shot difficulty. Shot Rating: average score above or below expected score per shot at goal. Notes: Expected scores are calculated by Wheelo Ratings. Each shot at goal is assigned an expected score based on the distance from goal, shot angle, and type of shot (e.g. set shot, general play following contested possession, general play following uncontested possession, ground kick, etc) as a proxy for pressure. The model does not take into account factors like the player, whether the ball was kicked with their preferred or non-preferred foot, and pressure on the player when taking the shot. Rushed behinds are excluded from actual and expected scores. Pressure Team pressure Quarter For Against 1 205 175 2 180 207 3 176 164 4 171 208 Match 184 189 Source: Herald Sun Most Pressure Points Note: pressure points are the weighed sum of pressure acts. Physical pressure acts are worth 3.75 points, closing acts are worth 2.25 points, chasing acts are 1.5 points and corralling are 1.2. ( https://www.championdata.com/glossary/afl/ ) Player Pressure Acts Pressure Points Season Average Jack Viney 28 77 63.1 Kade Chandler 21 52 49.3 Clayton Oliver 23 52 43.5 Alex Neal-Bullen 24 48 53.1 Christian Salem 26 48 29.9 Harrison Petty 20 48 29.8 Kysaiah Pickett 21 45 42.9 Trent Rivers 14 38 23.5 Tom Sparrow 13 29 49.1 Caleb Windsor 12 27 33.0 Taj Woewodin 10 24 14.6 Tom McDonald 10 22 23.9 Shane McAdam 10 22 22.0 Jack Billings 10 20 25.0 Jake Bowey 6 17 13.0 Ben Brown 7 17 10.3 Christian Petracca 7 15 35.9 Judd McVee 7 14 16.1 Bayley Fritsch 7 13 15.0 Max Gawn 5 12 25.5 Blake Howes 5 11 18.7 Steven May 6 8 9.3 Jake Lever 1 2 15.7 Source: Herald Sun Time in Forward Half Quarter For Against 1 43% 57% 2 31% 69% 3 69% 31% 4 26% 74% Match 41% 59% Source: Match total sourced from the Herald Sun; quarter values are my own calculations. Score Sources Summary Category Score Against Diff Kick-in 0.0.0 0.0.0 +0 Centre Bounce 4.1.25 1.1.7 +18 Stoppage (Other) 5.1.31 4.4.28 +3 Turnover 1.8.14 11.4.70 -56 Score Source For Against Match Season Match Season * Kick-in 0 3.0 0 2.2 Centre Bounce 25 12.6 7 8.0 Stoppage (Other) 31 24.7 28 18.7 Turnover 14 40.1 70 42.2 * Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by West Coast. Chain start region Note: region is from the scoring team's perspective. Category Region For Against Match Season Match Season * Centre Bounce Centre 25 12.6 7 8.0 Kick-in D50 0 3.0 0 2.2 Stoppage (Other) D50 6 1.9 0 1.8 Stoppage (Other) Centre 12 2.8 13 2.5 Stoppage (Other) Wing 12 14.0 6 9.0 Stoppage (Other) F50 1 6.0 9 5.4 Turnover D50 0 7.1 6 6.5 Turnover Centre 2 6.4 6 5.5 Turnover Wing 5 18.4 34 24.1 Turnover F50 7 8.2 24 6.1 Region For Against Match Season Match Season * D50 6 12.0 6 10.5 Centre 39 21.8 26 16.0 Wing 17 32.4 40 33.1 F50 8 14.2 33 11.5 Region For Against Match Season Match Season * Defensive 50 6 12.0 6 10.5 Defensive midfield 8 18.7 26 15.0 Centre bounce 25 12.6 7 8.0 Attacking midfield 23 22.9 33 26.1 Forward 50 8 14.2 33 11.5 * Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by West Coast. Points from defensive half For Against Match Season Match Season * 14 30.7 32 25.5 * Against season average represents average points conceded by Melbourne across the season, not average points scored by West Coast. Centre Bounce Attendances CBAs CBA % 2024 % 2023 % Clayton Oliver 24 80% 71.8% 81.4% Max Gawn 23 77% 84.9% 64.9% Jack Viney 21 70% 71.0% 72.1% Christian Petracca 19 63% 59.5% 61.1% Christian Salem 10 33% 28.2% 0.0% Kysaiah Pickett 8 27% 27.5% 11.2% Alex Neal-Bullen 8 27% 10.3% 2.1% Harrison Petty 7 23% 4.0% 0.7% Tom Sparrow 0 0% 40.1% 44.9% Trent Rivers 0 0% 3.2% 3.0% Tom McDonald 0 0% 0.0% 5.7% Jacob van Rooyen 12.6% 7.6% Josh Schache 8.3% 0.0% Koltyn Tholstrup 8.3% Charlie Spargo 4.2% 0.0% Bailey Laurie 1.5% 0.0% Ruck Contests and Hitouts Ruck Contests Ruck Contests RC % 2024 % 2023 % Max Gawn 66 73% 82.2% 57.5% Harrison Petty 23 26% 4.6% 2.0% Ben Brown 1 1% 0.2% 2.3% Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0% 0.0% 0.0% Christian Petracca 0 0% 0.0% 0.4% Clayton Oliver 0 0% 0.0% 0.1% Steven May 0 0% 0.0% 0.0% Tom McDonald 0 0% 0.0% 9.3% Tom Sparrow 0 0% 0.0% 0.0% Jacob van Rooyen 13.9% 13.1% Josh Schache 13.3% 4.1% Hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. To Adv. % (2024) To Adv. % (2023) Max Gawn 66 28 7 28.5% 30.1% Harrison Petty 23 13 6 35.3% 25.0% Ben Brown 1 1 1 100.0% 0.0% Alex Neal-Bullen 0 0 0 0.0% Christian Petracca 0 0 0 100.0% Tom McDonald 0 0 0 20.0% Josh Schache 100.0% 0.0% Jacob van Rooyen 29.0% 31.1% Opposition hitouts Ruck Contests Hitouts To Adv. Bailey J. Williams 67 24 5 Jack Williams 17 4 2 Jack Darling 5 1 0 Tom Barrass 1 0 0

We are no longer in the conversation for this years flag. We’ve wasted our chances at winning a second premiership. Time to go down a mini/decent rebuild and get some list turnover. Our list depth is either too old or not good enough. Unfortunately some of our trade decisions have come back and bitten us on the [censored]. New leadership is needed, on-field and off it. Max, god love him, is no longer able to put in his Herculean efforts like he used to. Too much is being needed to be done by our best players’, and when they have down games due to always being looked upon to lead, no one else is stepping up. This has been coming for a couple of years, and despite our coach, pres & CEO continually saying they won’t be complacent, they have been left found wanting. We desperately need fresh voices, and those that have been in charge have refused to acknowledge or even allow this with their iron fists. Change is needed.

Why send Jefferson to the slaughterhouse?

What concerns me is that we lost seven games last year and we've already lost four games and we're not even halfway.

Is Marty hore available? straight swap for lever

Haha good god no, the kid would be crushed, physically but mostly mentally. He seems to be slowly turning the corner a little at Casey, that’s where he needs to stay.

The wrist slashing is predictable. Was a poor performance by us but a team with McGovern, Kelly, Ryan, Waterman and Darling all playing out of their skins is going to trouble a lot of teams. Then you’ve got Judd 2.0 in Harley Reid. Eagles were too good for us today. Still 6-4 and in the pack. I don’t think it’s our year but it’s as wide open as ever. Clear out the deadwood like Billings and Ben Brown for younger players and regenerate the list while still pushing for finals. Woey Jr showed plenty today.

Only one man can save us

How Far Harley? Appreciate we were woeful but when at the game I thought Harley had run about 25m: Watch this (are we allowed to post AFL.com footage?): https://www.afl.com.au/video/1134588/reids-ridiculous-double-fend-on-demons-stars?videoId=1134588&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1716113616001 Boy Wonder starts at the back of the centre circle and runs to within 7m of the wing of the centre square (that's 18m folks) let alone the 20m from the back of the centre circle to within 10m of the front of the square (need the help of a mathematician here as Harley does some left-right manoeuvres to add three more metres. Isn't it time players distance run was handled by the Fifth Umpire as they all wear GPS units and there is the "Metres Gained" tech?

The road to top 4? I think we just missed the turn pyke .

It's sad, but Brown - time to retire.

The opposition coach fails to mention the outstanding performance of Melbourne a couple weeks ago and Demonland loses its [censored]. Melbourne gets properly done and Demonland loses its [censored], mostly failing to mention the outstanding performance of the opposition. On their home deck, on the other side of the country. It's evident that like me, not many on here actually watch other teams. We were poor no doubt. Losing our backline coordinator in the early stages and our defensive organisation broke down. Definitely a concern, as is our midfield form and a bunch of other longstanding issues. But all credit to the Eagles for a fine display.

35 inside 50s for a game. Against last year's Spooner's. That is a player and coaching fail. I personally hate our new game plan. We don't have the kicking skills, and we are so slow to move the ball from the back half , it allows teams to flood back. The eagle forwards were in our forward 50 way to often today. I don't mind our coach trying new things, but this style has changed us for the worst. Id rather 60 inside 50s and hope we kick accurately.

Because he's cooked as per his VFL performance.

Well that's the first loss I've seen live of awhile. First off, Reid is a beast (Though he ran too far from the middle and was caught a few times, but that the modern HTB interpretations) To sum it up we looked slow across the field, not just out of the centre. They consistently had players quickly move to space, especially from their kick outs up the centre for easy mark, at our cheer squad end. After Lever went off, its seems our structure disappeared and therefore big holes everyone, that the eagles exploited.(You wouldn't have seen them on TV) For us moving out of defence we had no options and continually turned it over on the wings, or missed targets. Whereas the eagles held their marks where it mattered. In watching the game, up the half way through the last I thought we might get a run on. But were the players loaded up over the longer break!! We looked stuffed from running and couldn't cover the ground. Not a good night.

Time to hang up the boots Ben. Very disappointing past three games. Just lumbers about and barely breaks a mild jog. West Coast: 99 minutes for 3 touches, 1 goal and 1 tackle. Brisbane: 97 minutes for 4 touches, 1 goal and 0 tackles. Adelaide: 82 minutes for 5 touches, 0 goals, and 1 tackle.

I thought he spoke really well, and in all honesty carried himself like someone who was very aware how far off the pace we were tonight. I actually think Simon doesn’t get enough credit for how composed he is in front of the media. He gives them something, but never anything that will be of value to opponents.

The 2021 cup is in the trophy cabinet and there's no asterisk next to it.