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Just the title on the other thread makes me nauseous. Goodwin has delivered a period of sustained success. No real evidence of disharmony at the club. His career tracks alot like Luke Beveridge, sustained criticism from a 30/20 hindsight POV. No appreciation for the fine margins and luck involved by those calling for his head. Anyone would think he is Neeld 2.0 Has done an amazing job of blooding new talent. Has made the occasional blue with selection, and perhaps could have been more ruthless regenerating the side after '21., but hard not to support the list that delivered a flag. His method has been consistently good, if the team had executed better we would have played in the last two prelims. They don't hand out top 4 spots in a packet of corn flakes. And I'm sorry that 17 other clubs don't lay down and give up their generational talent. Be real, the Max replacement is never going to be satisfying, deal with it.

dustin-martin-calls-time-on-decorated-afl-career One of the greatest players: elite talent, humble and fair. Classy farewell statement. He will be a much deserved AFL Legend. Travel well Dusty. The article above has been amended to include the retirement of Hawkins. This link is just about Dusty and deservedly so. dustin-martin-retires-calls-time

You're*

My favourite thing about Dusty is that he didn’t have to be dirty or disadvantage his opponent, he just beat them as honestly as you can, every time.

Hard to beat 2021-2023, went on a 17 game winning run which most of us haven’t seen before and probably never will again. A flag in the middle of that run. Have faith he will have us competing again soon.

JVR on the record about something that didn’t exist? JVR kicked 36 goals from 18 vfl games in his first year and they deliberately held him back from a late season AFL debut so he had a big summer to get physically ready. Jeffo in year 2 is now right on pace for where JVR was in year one. There’s some risk and reward to playing him when he’s still not physically ready but it shouldn’t matter much either way.

spoke to someone today whose mail is normally very good and said we are a better chance than not to have him with us in 2024 doesn't think it'll be two first rounders also thinks we'd be mad to trade out of 2024

he's 8th on the vfl goalkicker's tally with 29.19 from 16 games, of which i think the first three were played in defence averages per game 9.6 disposals 6.2 kicks 3.4 handballs 3.8 marks 1.9 tackles 2 goals a game (probably closer to 2.5, 3 for games played forward)

No words in this thread will have any sort of effect on how things play out. The club will part with Goodwin when they feel the time is right. Judgement should be reserved once his tenure is complete, not during. He's lead this team to a flag before, no reason he can't do it again. I'm confident we'll be right in it again next year if we get a better run of injuries. Injuries has had a huge toll this year, along with Clarry's preseason. Resilience is required, both from the playing group and some very reactionary supporters around here.

Wholly uncalled for. There is room for debating @WalkingCivilWar’s views on the club given her close connection to the players/coaches/staff. But what cannot be debated is her connection. Which she owns from being completely devoted to the club. I’d like to think the players would tell you to [censored] right off, but I might leave that to WCW.

Hard to disagree on the whole with the OP. System trumps talent in modern football and whilst we have had a very good list, it’s only found any success when paired with a very good (defensive) gameplan. Funnily enough, in a knee jerk reaction to terrible goal kicking in ‘22, we have moved away from our proven system and the whole house has fallen down. Premierships are hard to win - just ask Blight’s Cats (89-95), Thomas’ Saints (04-06) and Lyon’s Saints (09-11). Essendon’s great team of the late 90s to early 00s only won one, modern cats have never gone back to back and Collinwood’s ‘10 dynasty only lasted a year! The ‘great’ John Longmire only has one flag with Sydney 12 years ago and the premierships that the afl ‘handed’ the expansion teams never panned out, despite their list and draft concessions. Premierships are hard.

Perfect time to play him. May out. Petty down back. No Casey game. Have a feeling it won't happen. Hope I'm wrong.

Love your work & passion WCW but think you lack objectivity. Coaching is not a popularity contest & sometimes requires ruthlessness. Some of the selection decisions in recent years seem based on favouritism not form. I don’t care if the coach is loved or not. He will be judged on his record with the talent he had on the list.

True legend of the game. It's been an absolute pleasure watching this man go about it, the term generational is thrown around too much at the moment but he is someone who has defined his and then some. When you see kids at junior level running around doing the 'don't argue' you see this effect. Not that I would have begrudged him the chance to head north for a few years, it is rather fitting to see him retire as a one club player. Thanks for everything you've given the game Dusty.

Langdon is a lot like Alex Neal Bullen. Does his job every week. Always plays. Never gets injured or suspended. Pops up with an outstanding performance a few times a year. Has clear defincies, but you live with them for everything else they bring to the team. Love the signing, alongside Windsor it means we don't have to worry about our wings.

Please don’t assume Goodwin’s gender.

I think Goody needs to change his assistants - time to freshen up the team to take us back to the top…

i laugh at people thinking we should of won 3 flags, winning 1 is hard enough, winning 2 is bloody lucky, you wont see another 3 peat again

2023 Draft: 7/10 Trades: 2/10 Pick swaps: 2/10 When you are only one year in, it’s hard to be categorical about players but in round 10 in Perth it is was categorical. We needed to offer West Coast more than the kitchen sink for pick 1 – Harley Reid was that good! Our pre-season had largely been dominated with our offers for Harley with both our first rounders (Freo’d pick had fallen to No.6) and our 2024 one in the mix. At the time I thought we were being way too generous, but once he lined up for the Eagles you could see why – stars don’t fall in your backyard everyday. Behind the scenes Tim Lamb had made some plays – lining up Tom Fullarton and Shane McAdam to help our forward line. While the Clayton Oliver hospital night was all the rage, Lamb was also discussing with Goody on whether to keep our new forward project Harrison Petty with the Crows apparently talking two first rounders for him. On the basis of six goals in 17 games so far as a forward this season, you’d have to say we should have sold. The Crows were also into Tom Sparrow, while I think Charlie Spargo was also courted for a bit by the Roos before both decided to stay. But Lamb’s clearout did continue. Brodie Grundy was offloaded to Sydney for pick 46 and a future second rounder – that wasn’t far off what the Pies got from us. But lafter failing to re-sign premiership sub James Jordon, losing him to Sydney for nothing (he was a UFA because he was demoted to our rookie list three years earlier) was another blow to our midfield reserves which were also hit by popular team man James Harmes going to the Dogs for a future third rounder. Lamb also cleared out our draft picks 14, 27 and 35 to the Suns for minimal gain – we moved up three spots to No.11, which became 13 after the Academy kids. The Saints ended up getting Darcy Wilson with the pick, but I suspect we would have been able to secure Tholstrup anyway with it. We ended up giving a future second rounder to the Crows for McAdam and pick 47 to the Lions for Fullarton. Based on AFL output this year, we lost both deals and given the reluctance of Goody to play Fullarton in the AFL even with Gawny out, you have to wonder whether the coach was fully consulted on this move beforehand. Then late in the trade period it became clear Jack Billings was out-of-favour with Ross Lyon and the Pies had the inside running on him until we made a late bid for his services. Jason Taylor did really like him back in 2014 and Goody was worried Lachie Hunter’s left-side wing spot might become available. So we snared him with our future third rounder. Billings is classy, but like Schache, the physical nature of today’s game has gone past him. With the Eagles ignoring us on Harley, the spotlight was on Taylor with his first two picks – 6 and 11. It’s too early to tell if Taylor was on the money, but I was surprised that we didn’t go Nate Caddy – given his lateral movement in testing and our forward failings. Windsor is a clear talent though, but so far Caddy is shaping up as the next Charlie Curnow and after Harley, the best pick in the 2023 draft – apologies in advance to the classy top 10 who all look the part with the Crows Daniel Curtin (pick 8) the only exception. 7 Caleb Windsor – He has pace and a touch of Robbie about him. Whether he develops into an elite midfielder will be decided in a couple of years when he graduates to our onball division. He does read it well and his height means he’s good defensively in the air. I’d actually play him off half-back next season, especially if we don’t get Houston, as we need that Jordan Clark style dash off half-back and unlike our other small defenders, he can aerially cope with a three-quarter tall. 13 Koltyn Tholstrup – Taylor jumped him up the order after visiting him in WA and he does have that brashness that we needed. He’s also got the hardness and a thumping kick, but whether he has the pace to replace Clayton as our inside mid hard-ball getter is unclear and it’s hard to see Goody moving him in there until 2026 anyway. We apparently were also interested in Tassie’s James Leake (pick 17), who is yet to play for the Giants, but probably will make their team come finals. So Lamb’s late pick swap didn’t help as we could have had either Tholstrup or Leake plus Brisbane forward Logan Morris if we’d been smarter. Father/son Kynan Brown – with no-one bidding on him during the main draft, we automatically were able to take Nathan’s son who had a ripper season with Oakleigh and Vic Metro but probably didn’t tick the great prospect boxes needed to be taken early. That’s a blessing for us as he certainly has a great work rate, seems to have a great character, plenty of smarts and tackles with passion – he logged an amazing 24 tackles on a wet day in a VFL game against Frankston recently and he will never forget his Nick Larkey tackle which saved the game for us in his AFL debut. He certainly deserves more AFL game time and don’t be surprised if, after another season of weights, he lines up for us in AFL rd 1. With Hunter and Billings on the way out, I’d be preparing him to play left side wing next year as he kicks well on both sides and has his dad’s determination. We also reinstated Jake Melksham via the rookie draft and went back to Marty Hore after he dominated for Williamstown. Both safe moves, but not requiring the use of Taylor’s skills. As a footnote, when you watch videos of players you often don’t get the full picture. But aside from the videos of the kids who go in the top two or three, there has been two that have stood out to me as amazing over the years. The first was Caleb Daniel’s highlights from the U18 carnival in 2014 – what a player. The second was Arie Schoenmaker last year – wow what a left foot – think Paul Wheatley and add some. Daniel was deemed too small and fell to pick 46, while Schoenmaker’s attitude cost him and only Ross Lyon and the Saints were willing to give him a go at pick 62. I reckon the Saints like the Dogs with Caleb are on a winner. Friday: The conclusion of the series and the coming draft

We would be mad to play Gawn. Absolutely bat**** crazy. Port don’t even have an amazing ruckman. Try out Fullarton for all I care.

I like to consider myself a realist. So, my opinion is that Goodwin has enough runs on the board/credits in the bank (etc) to be given respect and time to, at a minimum, see out his contract until the end of 2026. I am strongly of the opinion that we can have another crack at the flag in 2025 with a serviceable trade period, solid pre-season and better luck with injuries (and please, no more off field controversies this off season). Goodwin clearly has some strengths, while clearly some areas that could do with minor to considerable improvement. Outside of Jackson, we continue to retain all our star players (I read this to mean players enjoy being at the club and thus like Goodwin as a coach). Our drafting and talent development is also so far ahead of the dark days of Watts and Trengove etc that I am left impressed every year. Room for improvement minor - I question some selection and game day decisions, we struggle to adapt quickly. Room for improvement major - Our trading last couple years has been, if I am being nice, disappointing. This may be a side effect of keeping so many players and having less room in the salary cap. But I really felt after May, Lever and Lingers (and lesser extend Brown) that we were becoming a destination club. Summary - I think we have huge potential for improvement in 2025 and I do not believe we can be much worse than 2024. If we are bottoming out in 2026 then we need to decide if Goodwin is the coach to conduct a rebuild. But he gets to stay until his contract finishes.

I am a fan of Jeffo, though not as big as Picket Fence and have posted since last year I thought he would make it, given time. While I am happy for him to get a game this year, we shouldn’t expect too much, given the way we are playing and the fact that he will be nervous and won’t have played with most of his teammates before. I hope we don’t start rubbishing him if his first game is a poor one. He is showing a bit now and hopefully he and JVR can form a great key forward combo for us for years to come.

You really clutching at some straws here.. First of all, the Brayshaw one I get, unexpected retirement which obviously shakes the place up and comes at a time where from a list management perspective, you simply don't get the chance to fill the void. Smith isn't a big loss at all, he'll most likely be delisted this year and someone that continued to struggle with injuries.. makes sense in a way with his complete lack of professionalism. On Petracca, we still had a fully fit trac against the likes of West Coast and Fremantle and it made zero difference to us getting thumped. On the injuries front this year alone, Gawns missed 2 games this year, May had only missed one game prior to this rib injury on the weekend and Lever had missed 4. These are absolutely not long term injuries. This whole injuries excuse is getting tiresome. Brisbane lost Kiddy Coleman to an ACL at the start of the year and someone who was probably a Norm Smith winner had Brisbane gotten up in last year's grand final. Incredibly important across half back who just sets them up beautifully with his precise foot skills. They also lost Lincoln McCarthy to another ACL this year who is one of their hard working half forwards that's similar to ANB in terms of importance to the team. They've had their second best key defender in Jack Payne miss 7 games this year to injuries and then Will Ashcroft has missed half a year to a knee injury and looks like he hasn't missed a beat. What have they done? Made zero excuses and just got on with it. They've found soldiers to help fill the void and have even had to rely on 1st and 2nd year players as well. We haven't even been hit hard with injuries at all this year. Petracca is probably the only best 22 player that is out with a long term injury as it stands. We have zero depth because we failed to address and fill that void. That's absolutely on the whole coaching staff and recruitment team. That should not be an excuse when they clearly refused to address this in the off season especially around the ruck situation.

Another great thing about this re-signing is Windsor has a wing partner for the next 4 years and we can really plan around that. Brilliant.

Has played 16 games this year and has kicked 29.19 If you want to include last year, he's played a total of 36 VFL games and has kicked 52 goals in the two years he's played VFL.

Jeffo in the MFC media Bain Marie, warming for his debut this week..,

Good on you Dusty Martin, another Legend of the game clocking up the magical 300 games, 3 Premierships and if you don’t mind 3 Norm Smith Medals what more can you say.💕

One of the greats and a privilege to have witness during this era. His performance in finals and especially grand finals was ridiculous.

Perhaps the greatest big game player of all time. Congratulations on an amazing career. Loved watching him turn it on.

A very good re-signing and indicates that MFC isn't in as much disarray as the media and and portions of Demonland claim it is.

If absolutely nothing else, it shows that the guy can coach.

2017 Failed badly 2018 Coached well 2019 Failed badly 2020 Failed badly 2021 Coached very well 2022 Coached very poorly 2023 Coached well - unlucky 2024 Started well then the wheels fell off Considering over the journey he inherited the best defence, midfield & ruck in the competition this is a pretty sketchy record.

That is just not true in anyway. Whilst things aren’t currently looking good I hate the rewriting of history We actually looked very good heading towards the end of the home and away season 2023. We won 8 from 9 heading into finals and looked to have solved our scoring issues with Petty and Melk looking good forward with the normal fwd mix. Petty went down in Rd 21 vs North and after a close loss to the Blues we changed the dynamic with Smith, Mel, Roo, Fritta and Kozzie fwd and were travelling well. We absolutely destroyed the Swans up there in the final home and away round but unfortunately lost Melk to the ACL and Fritta injured the foot which hampered him for the remainder of the year So please don’t tell me we didn’t improve since Rd 11 2022. We may have won 10 in a row to start 2022 but I reckon we weren’t actually playing that well and some opponents were actually a bit overawed by us

I will be forever thankful to Goody and the club for providing me with a long awaiting bucket list moment in September 2021. After many years of loving this club through some extremely dark times, Goody gave me a moment in my life I will never forget. #foreverthankfultogoody ❤️❤️

Who let this man in? In - MFC supporters Out - Werribee and all his negative cronies

We cannot give up 2 firsts for Houston. 1 pick, take it or leave it. If they don't accept that then we take a star mid in the draft and pick up Cumming, Perryman or another half back for far far less. If we finish 13th and then somehow miss finals again next year, we could end up giving up pick 6 and roughly pick 10. No player in the history of the game has ever been traded for that much. If we were getting prime Buddy or Dusty then sure, but we aren't. I love Houston as a player and think he would fit in well but, we must stick fat and not sacrifice the future. He's also nearly 28. It could be a Taranto and Hopper situation if things don't go well. Not worth it imo.

Lingers! The best winger in the game. Love the 4 years. The guy is a freak and will be 32 by his final year of contract. No problem with that at all. He may even get another contract or two after that. Well done, Tim Lamb.

Stoked to have him sign on. He's been a terrific player for us.

You forgot to mention his game plan it's terrible. Too defensive. Won't win another flag playing that way.

Well put Dee fence, all your comments are valid and in my opinion 100% spot on. From one who reads most of what is written by others but has only ever commented on three occasions, on this occasion felt a need to support you.

Yeh but you’ve got no idea

Be interesting to see what they do with Jake Melksham at the end of the year. You could mount a case to keep him on as depth and experience body, but then may decide to move him on to clear up some list space on our rookie list. Very interesting few weeks coming up. I believe he is wanting to go on for another year.

Update with some welcome Good news ! Ed Langdon re-signs until 2028!! And about time !

Lube your bike chain, Lingers, bit squeaky.

Finally they caught him and got his signature

You don’t think the fittest man in football can play another 4 seasons?

Good positive post and I agree he has many great traits that we overlook. Flags are mighty hard to win and you have to have everyone fit and going at the right time of the year. I agree that tactically he isn't a Longmire or Scott but the is a great man manager. Look at Sydney now shades of us in 2022 win the first ten then a few injuries and the bottom falls out of the club. We have been consistently rewarded with success and wins for the last 5 years. The only downside is he has raised our expectations and we expect a lot. How many have Geelong and Sydney won in all their years of sustained success?

Robertson has some attributes, but class ain't one of them. Which is why he's playing twos.