Leaderboard

Houston is already a whipping boy and he doesn’t even play for us yet

Impossible to fathom the negativity of many on here re last nights loss. Just a friendly reminder that we had multiple stars missing, one down on form, late withdrawals through illness, others obviously hampered and coming up against a premiership contender now second on the ladder with few injuries that smashed the ladder leading Swans by 20 goals last week. Seriously, what were people expecting.l? I for one was delighted. Billings or Thostrup kick either goal and we win. Decisions went against us. A number of players showed plenty. With not much to play for the spirit, aggression and pressure was immense. We lost by a kick. Take a reality check. Suns won. We drop to 13th. Losing never good but this was the next best thing.

If Houston were a free agent I suspect the majority view here would be that he’d be a great addition. We just lost yet another game hallmarked by our poor foot skills and we are seeing increasing calls for McVee to go into the middle. But attaching pick 6 to him is where most of us feel uneasy. IMO trading pick 6 in this draft out for a 28 year old half back just isn’t the right move.

Yeah, how crazy to sub a kid who was clearly gassed,and had - a player rating bested only by hore and the sub - 25 supercoach points - 8 disposals at 25% efficiency (meaning only 2 of his disposals were effective) - only three marks on a perfect night for footy - no hit outs - one score involvement - only 5 pressure acts - zero tackles on a night where we had 18 tackles inside our 50 (probably our season high) - and as our key forward had one shot at goal for the grand total of no goals and no points. But sure, let's sack the coach for subbing him.

Bump - just because we need to honor this superb leader.

you know its not Carltons day when Cripps gets pinged for a throw

Undermanned, with sick players pulling out and others still playing, against a side with one regular out, who were playing for top 4 and who beat the top team by 19 goals the week before. We lost by a kick. That is a fantastic effort.

Thought we played a lot better last night. Lacked the polish to finish the job against a red hot contender though. Loved Kozzie’s game. Absolutely embarrassing reactions in here. I would hate to think about how some people here deal with real problems in life judging by the way you react to a footy game. Bunch of miserable [censored] making this forum more unbearable by the day.

Gawn remains quite comfortably the best ruckman in the comp

I was there tonight, sat in the MCC, and thought it had a real finals-like atmosphere. Sheffield Shield finals.

Absolutely. A lot more kid and family friendly. Saturday night games are trash.

Will always be remembered for spewing on Scully

From a Herald Sun online report on an APS v AGS game played at Caulfield Grammar School featuring a number of high profile potential players including “Noah Yze (Caulfield) Yze imposed himself on the contest in the first quarter with three marks that set up two goals. One was an intercept mark that led to a goal assist to teammate Charlie Rowe and another saw him slot through a major for himself from range. The 190cm Yze is linked to Melbourne through his father Adem, and has already played two games at VFL level, kicking a goal in one of those and laying seven tackles.”

I saw nothing tonight that suggests he's worth pick 7.

Of right we are back to honourable losses are we? The brand sucks and the fan base is voting with their feet.

Have to agree that the coaching last night was really good. Just didn't have enough quality to match Port's.

Spot on. On the board they show the players at the quarter time break, in the reinforcements/solutions section they had the word corridor at quarter time (along with the pressure rating 1.83, conquest and contest). Presumably that was to reinforce the strategy to deny port the corridor. I'm not sure exactly what some posters expect - particularly those who don't rate the playing list or coach A bit of perspective wouldn't go astray sometimes. Many posters expected we'd get flogged. As did the punters - we started @ $3. We are clearly cooked. Multiple players are clearly carrying injuries, including 4 of our best 6 players (Lever, gawn, viney and clarry - whose hand is causing him obvious issues). Including smith and gus (and it makes zero sense not to),we were missing six of our best 23 (7 if you include Spargs) - one of whom is arguably the best player in the AFL (tracc) and another is arguably the best KPD in the AFL. Therefore we were missing more than a quarter of our best 23 and half our best six players (gus is/was in my top 6). Those players are replaced by, as tou suggest, vfl level players. And we are having to play a bunch of kids who are clearly paddling Our elite midfield is missing tracc and Gus, maxy is labouring and clarry struggling What would have been the point trying to take on the corridor and try and go fast? We didn't have enough players with the skills to execute the sort of high risk kicking and split second elite decision making that method demands. And more crucially, we also lack the all team running power and speed that method demands. Port would have demolished us if we tried to play any other way. Opposition teams have been looking to run us of our legs and spread us wide Port are one the hardest running teams in the AFL from their back half. For pete's sake they scored 148 points against last week doing exactly that to the team on top of the ladder. 148 points. We kept port to almost a third of that score on a perfect night for footy, with as you say plenty of VFL standard players running around, a bunch of kids, multiple players who'll need post season surgery and a team who are collectively gassed. And we almost beat them. Top work goody.

Losing LJ was a massive loss, but there was nothing we could do about it…

The solution is to target undervalued assets and build the list without compromising it. Free agents, fringe players cheaply available, mature age pick ups, trade back in drafts and accumulate bonus picks. As well as trading our players when the time is right to sell high. And if you do chase a big fish make sure you’ve got them on the hook and pay with peanuts (late first rounders). There’s really 2 factors that make chasing Houston in any way feasible - Port are willing to let him go for a fair price for compassionate or other reasons and we can get the deal done with a package of later picks.

Dead rubber game played at Saturday 1.45 on the Gold Coast, with a forecast of sunny and mid 20s. If you ever wanted to debut a young tall forward there would be no better time to do it. No pressure and perfect conditions.

He's been a good pick up

Wanted to give some kudos to Petty. Thought his tackling was really good, took some great marks. Well done, Petts.

I agree, think hes an excellent defender, what I will say about him as a forward is its so hard to judge if he could be decent forward with how we play, I think prime Carey would look ordinary in this system. Cant help but feel we are wasting JVR's breakout years (might end up wasting his career). The use of Fritsch is mind boggling, having him as a stationary contested mark target to slow ball movement and bombs down the wing outside 50 is the last thing you should be doing with him and exactly what the opposition would want. Kozzy should be an all Australian by now and have opposing defenders [censored] themselves every week 1 on 1 inside 50 with some space on the back of quicker ball movement. We rely far too heavily on scrapping goals from pressure as has been proven all year (14th in the league for scoring) . Nothing ever comes easy for our forwards, our F50 is constantly flooded, they get no quick ball movement, not enough space to lead, rare one on ones, horrible delivery from the midfield for the most part. People can say the players love Goody all they like but eventually this boring game plan will drive some of the forward talent we do have on our list away.

I was disappointed that we didn’t get to the game last night as I felt that we had a chance for some salvation. Still we watched the game on Ch7 and what a pile on that was even Jonesy piled on us at every mistake and opportunity. I thought that Max was BOG, Kozzie had an excellent game, very dangerous and the umps refused to pay him a free even when bought down by a high tackle. Overall I felt like it was a good team effort with an even spread of players but just lacking the experience, class and polish to make the most of our opportunities. As mentioned previously Jack Billings and The Kolt could have made heroes of themselves but lacked the composure to put Port away. Another lost opportunity but when we bring the heat we are very hard to beat, next two weeks will be very interesting.

Here Here! 1 Does anyone, including the players know what game style we are playing, seems to be so many variations that players themselves seem to have no idea 2 Never a plan B Much less plan C 3 Continues to try to make a natural Defender Petty into a forward! Sorry Simon but 6 goals in 19 games is a MASSIVE Fail 4 Forward line has been on the nose for all but 21 When BBB, Fritta, T Mac and Jackson fired, since then nothing has been done re leading patterns and horrible Goal kicking. Stafford needs to go as well! 5 Continues to play guys based on misguided loyalty that they can never will be dropped. Chandler, Fritta, Petty,Melksham,Lever, hell even Clarry! 6 Casey guys must wonder how to get a game re above. 7 Midfield is a Haemoraging wound and Mc Qualter from where I sit has done little to fix it.This grappling style is so antiquated it is sheer luck when and if it comes of. 8 Recruiting is and has been a shambles, Yeah I know Billings played quite well last night, but he is soft, Shache is finished, as is Hunter, Mc Adams is a bust, Why did we recruit Fullarton??and Tomlinson is NQR, so all things considered recruiting has been very ordinary! 9 We never hear from Kate Roffey, why not? 10 We gave Grundy away for a penny pinching Mc Donalds Meal, what a MASSIVE BLUNDER! Could yet play in a swans PREMIERSHIP team. So my vote is in we need a new coach that has new game style policy, better flair and a bit of ruthlessness!

Why do posters get so precious about what Cornes says about our players. What did he say about Clarry this morning that was unfair or untrue? When he talks trade i take with a pinch of salt. when he talks effort and application he's usually on the money.

Petty competed really well last night I thought. Best game I've seen from him in a long while.

I want to give as big shout out to Chandler. From where i was sitting he worked hard sally night doing heaps of unrewarded things.

The Billings haters need to open their eyes. He had 23 disposals with 7 marks and 3 tackles. Our 4th highest on the AFL fantasy points… He clearly isn’t the reason we lost!

Now that 2024 is officially done and dusted from a finals perspective. I thought I get a positive thread going into 2025 , because I'm sure there will be plenty of negative ones. For me some of the positives are. -judd mcvee - continual improvement and one of the best small/mid defenders in the comp elite user of the ball and ability to shut down the most dangerous small forwards. -Caleb Windsor- Skill, poise, speed and tough at it, exactly the type of player we need more of . One of the best debut seasons I've seen. What are yours?

How good that he spewed up on the wretched piece of 💩. It's like he predicted the future 😂. Probably Prentergast's finest bit of work at the club.

Good grief this is an awful take. Let's take a look at players who have kicked more then Harrison Petty this year. Ben Brown - 7 goals Max Gawn - 11 goals Jack Viney - 8 goals Christian Petracca - 14 goals Alex Neale Bullen - 8 goals Ed Langdon - 7 goals Kade Chandler - 17 goals Caleb Windsor - 8 goals. Daniel Turner - 12 goals He's played 18 games pretty much as a full time forward for a total return of 6 goals. Poor Benny Brown has only played the 6 games and he's still kicked more then Petty. I didn't add Pickett, Fritta and JVR because they've done what they're main objective is as a forward and that's to kick goals amongst other things. Then you have both our wingman and a back man who came to the year only having played 3 games that have already surpassed him this year with their goals tally. I understand that he contests well and will take the odd good strong mark, but your main role in all that is to kick goals and he simple doesn't do it. He's a defender first and foremost and a good one too. He's simply not a forward and it's been a waste of an opportunity with him down there. We have nothing for life after May unless Goody pulls the pin on this whole forward experiment thing which has been nothing short of a failure.

To not have players who can play attacking Football is a blight on the Recruiting Staff and Coaches. This has been going on for Seasons now. If you are satisfied with last night’s standard of game, that’s up too you. Personally i think the Club has strangled itself over the last 3 years, and i hate seeing it. Last night we dragged Port down to a low level of game. Doesn’t satisfy me at all

The club owes it to its members to drive a high standard. It doesn't owe anyone wins, sure, but it certainly owes it to those (like myself, and many others here) who pay a lot of money every year to support the team to ensure that everything is being done to prime us for success. Keeping the same forward coach and giving him three seasons to fix a problem that gets worse year on year? That's not ROI for members, and we have every right to demand that errors like that are rectified.

It’s all about Game Style The Coaches have suffocated the attacking side of our game it’s a bad watch

Carlton’s dynasty has died before it even started! lol

The problem is that we actually have a really good drafting record under Jason Taylor, he has a lot more wins than busts, and if we recruit Dan Houston it perhaps makes us better for 2-3 years, but then the cliff comes and we are trying to rebuild right as Tasmania enters the league. I am all for recruiting Houston, but not if it means including pick 7 in the deal, we need to keep using our strong draft selections for the next 2-3 years to stay competitive and find our recruits outside of that.

It's actually possible to be disappointed but not choose to post negative post after negative post on a game day thread. Everyone here wants the team to improve. It's not a case of 'accepting mediocrity', it's just choosing not to act like a pill when the players don't perform to your liking. The club owes us nothing but gives us great enjoyment win, lose or draw. In summary, lighten up. It's boorish.

This is exactly the sort of thinking that saw us go out in straight sets 2 years in a row and miss the finals this year. Keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. There is a word for that.

My excuse is the game plan is boring as [censored]. Missing finals and wins and losses are irrelevant, if you play an exiting style supporters will turn up.

Personally I'd rather not trade our leading goal scorer for the last 5 seasons!

I lasted 20 minutes watching on TV The gameplan is a hard boring slog to watch, i hate saying that, but it’s the truth 7 goals on a dry fine evening is just not good enough I hope the Board and Senior Management have the balls to look very seriously at all this…

Newsflash - a forward is expected to actually kick a goal or 2. A bit like being a great defender but always getting goals kicked on you.

IMO the best thing out of last night was the performance of Petty and Turner. Both ventured high and impacted. Good to see Turner taking a few marks and getting hands on a few ground balls. If Jeffo comes in and becomes a regular then Turner may go back if required. According to Nathan Brown Kolt is rated very high internally. Give him a pre season or 2 and he should be really good. Like to see more of Riv and McVee in the mid.

I don't know why we have this self flagellation/obsession about low crowd numbers....it's just how our supporter base is when the side isnt winning, and no different to many others in the comp. Carrying on about it isnt going to change anything....

A really honest assessment of this group would say that Windsor, JVR and McVee look like real prime talents - although JVR's second form slump of the season has me concerned when other young forwards are finding a way to kick 3 every other week. Making him ruckman for a fortnight after his best patch of the year was robbing Peter to pay Paul. Rivers and Pickett obviously stars, but they'll be in year six next year and can't really be considered young guns in the build. Bowey has barely had a good game in two years. Rubbish by foot at the moment and has a lot of work to do if he doesn't want to continue the slow journey towards Casey. Turner has some good assets. Sticky hands and a good kick at goal. Fades in and out of games too much at this point. Moniz-Wakefield has dash. No idea why people are pencilling him in as some star though. Was getting the ball 10-15 times off the flank in his first few games and doesn't seem damaging by foot. Lots to work on, but has some tools to develop. Tholstrup has a huge amount of work to do. In my eyes, he has no obvious strengths at AFL level. He had some form in the VFL where he'd win clearances and kick goals on the run, but he's showed neither of those at AFL level yet. Not pencilling him in by any means but obviously hope he comes good. Woey could maybe be a player long term. Good endurance runner, brave and actually has an eye for goal on the run. Again, lots would have to go right because he isn't taking his chances just now. Jeffo - who knows. Much better back half of the year for Casey and should be playing AFL this weekend. Brown - great tackler. The coaches don't have much faith, but I'd love to see more. Howes looked good early in the year, but has looked lost at sea since he was dropped after the Eagles game whenever he's come in. Don't think he's a defender, but don't know where else he'd shine either. I've been a fan, but am concerned.

Life is too short to watch Goodwins putrid he plan in action

Or maybe they just had poor games? They both trained fine all week by all reports. Every loss we always seem to want to invent excuses. Chris Scott said the exact same thing after the preliminary final back in 2021 and he got absolutely smashed by our very own supporters on here. Goodwin says the exact same thing and some are happy to give him a pass. To be honest I thought there should have been others that should have been subbed out instead of JVR.

He is a good player who would allow us to play McVee and Rivers in the middle, but he’s certainly not worth a first round pick. Let alone two.

Based on that alone simply cannot give our first pick for him. This draft is jam packed with gun midfielders. Cal Twomey saying that any of them could be considered puck one. Lunacy to give that up for a half back. Yes, his kicking us elite but we have viable options there already. I will totally lose faith in our recruitment department if we cave on thus one. Having said that not sure how the deal gets done if we're hellbent.