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I wonder how much of that is the players around him, as much as the coaches. His main KPF team-mates were: 2016: Hogan, Watts 2017: Hogan, Watts, Tmac (part) 2018: Tmac, Hogan, 2019: TMac, 2020: Jackson, TMac Hogan might have been a strong performer but he was but a kid. Many observers note his poor body language at times, and also that at times of poor form he often stood still and waved for it, instead of leading into space. Watts was not a key forward, and played more as a flanker, utility. TMac is not a true forward in terms of craft. He had a period where he marked and kicked superbly making him the no. 1 forward. But leading patterns and separation from opponent aren't nessecarily his strengths. Jackson is a first year player with limited football experience. Who has Weid had to learn from or emulate? Who has lead had to work with in terms of leading patterns?

All the best mate.

Since shameless promotions seem to be ok, below is video of my son’s band. He’s the lead guitarist. PS - Werridee, just loved your idea of infecting this topic with another “best of” collection - brilliant!

That's funny, I think of people who don't know how to use apostrophes.

100% correct.It just stuns me with the borders. It is a virus and there will be a vaccine in march. if WA wants to play hardball then sit out eagles and dockers for the season. mcgowan can get stuffed.

Fans of "The Sopranos" tv series will be familiar with this song but maybe not this version. Intriguing band. Wish I'd discovered them years earlier.

Happy New Year and let's hope 2021 has a little less drama... an appropriate tune for the times:

I have personally had a terrible year. Bring on 2021. Let's move on.

Absolutely LOVE this... it's like Folsom Prison Blues (melody) on steroids! Your son's a [censored] good guitarist as well!! PS. Nothing wrong with shameless self-promotion... it's the best way to get things out there.

I hear you brother. My 2020 started ok, but got progressively worse as the year went on. Living in Brisbane, working in a professional role and for a company moderately impacted, COVID wasn't a big thing for me. Missing finals was a 'very ordinary' way to end our, season, but was a pleasant experience compared to some of the personal hell I've been through over the past few months. Mate of mine suggested that instead of new years eve parties, everyone should have a f#@$ off 2020 party on Jan 1 and that sounds like a dam good idea to me.

All in all the narrative generally follows the performance. Very few people see it coming, they use perfect 20/20 hind sight to tell the story of how Hardwick or Clarkson, or whoever, was always a genius. If Goody coaches us to a flag everyone will say how they saw the seeds of brilliance even in the dark times of 2019. If he flops, well that is another story entirely. People are already warming up that narrative. As for me, I can see a definite game plan based around winning the ball at the contest and pushing forward aggressively. We had problems with getting spread from the point of contest and we seem to have addressed that now. We were leaking goals due to some poor positioning and an overly aggressive press. We have addressed that too, our back 6 are starting to gel and seem to know where to be. I think May and Lever are a big part of that, they both know how to organise. Our forward structure and entries have been a big factor in our losses. I don’t think that is news to Goody or the tactical geniuses on DL. A really big part of that has been confidence though. Fritsch couldn’t miss in 2018 from within the 50 meter arc. With his confidence down and pressure on him to be the major goal kicker he could barely put it through from directly in front during 2019 and to a lesser extent in 2020. Another factor has been forward half pressure. It seemed like when we eased the press our system didn’t adjust to keep the ball locked in the forward half with reduced numbers. Back to that confidence problem, that played out across the whole field in 2020. Suddenly we were making basic skill errors and turning the ball over way more. I think that was mostly between the ears. This team needs to notch up some wins and get some swagger going. We need to stop worrying about drinking our own bath water and embrace a healthy arrogance, and not give a toss what the media says. I am one who believes we do have the people do get the job done. I see talent everywhere and with quite a few, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg. Kossie, Jackson and rivers all have a ton of development in them. I’m watching Baker carefully next season, he has had flashes of real brilliance but let’s see. Brown was the piece we absolutely needed, the competition between him, Weid and TMac will be very healthy. I see Jackson as something completely different and I’m really keen to see him develop. To say we don’t have a game plan or a recognisable style is just wrong. Sure, it is a work in progress, and sometimes we go to pieces or make a string of basic blunders, but I for one can see what Goody and the coaching group are trying to put together. If they tune it and get results they will be hailed as geniuses, if not well, let’s just wait and see. There is plenty of time to get the knives out and carve into our own when and if that happens.

You are not alone.

I hope your 2021 is much better, Wrecker. Best wishes and better fortunes to all.

Funnily enough, I'm quite confident that we will make finals (and possibly top 4) this year. Still not quite so confident that we'll get to attend many games that involve regular sized crowds; I doubt we'll see normality return until a vaccine has been distributed to the 70% or 80% (I think it is) of the population (I think that is the point at which the risk is supposedly mitigated).

We both need our football club to fire up. Finals in 2021 would be a good start.

Good luck Tim, hope its nothing.

Yes OD, I'm expecting that is what will happen, but if I live another 30 years on one, I've just about hit the ton, so I'm not sure I want it to be quite that effective ?

Got Athiri & Li'l Hank up late with a couple at Ascot to come. Been a good day By the way, if I lose you won't be hearing from me! haha

Worse case is you end up with I kidney. My dad live for 30 years with only 1. Good luck mate.

I nearly went Bella but dropped on sensationalism, been on it a few times.

I firmly believe that Richmond and Geelong would’ve got the job done had they been sent to Cairns to play Sydney and Freo instead of us. Why? Because good sides get the job done when the whips are cracking, and they were certainly cracking in the 4th and 3rd last rounds of the season. Case in point being Geelong. The last round of the season they were down all day against Sydney and were playing terribly. However they willed themselves over the line because they had a top 4 spot to play for. I’m positive they also would’ve got the job in the adverse Cairns weather because that’s what high quality sides and coaches manufacture on a regular basis. Conversely, we had a rare finals appearance at stake and the destiny was in our own hands. Unfortunately it took us 3 quarters to wake up on both occasions and the club blew another opportunity on behalf of their supporters. I’m blaming Goodwin first (after a repeat of 2017) and then the playing group second. Another season of missing finals on the back of blowing a crucial game against a bottom 4 side and he’ll need to be replaced.

Zero There will be at least one more outbreak in one of the 5 States in which AFL teams are based before July which is probably the earliest month by which we will have around 20-30% of the population vaccinated. After July the vulnerable will have been vaccinated so the Premiers might be prepared to be a bit more lenient with their border closures. No more than 50% crowds until May at the earliest is my guess in Victoria. TBH the AFL might be better delaying the season openers until May. I'm sure the players are sick of hubs. As it has started, 2021 will be a sputtering year where we take a few steps forward and then get belted back. By September we should have a fair idea of the world's roadmap to exit this mess. Anyway it's only footy...many overseas are now fighting for their lives

I’ll give it a look, had a good win on evening glory and miss Albania

Q: What did the dead blues singer have inscribed on his gravestone? A: "Well, I didn't wake up this morning."

Pencil us in for 2 wins at Marvel, dead set specials at our fortress.

I know this is a Sam Weideman thread but as promising as the Weideman/Brown combo was in 2020, Tmac still has a big say as to who plays key position in 2021.

Quantum Mechanic held up at the top of the straight for 3/4 of a furlong. Being a backmarker that can happen but is definitely one to watch as it still nearly won and was flying home And I've gone for some value in the Perth Cup with another horse carrying the Bob Peters cerise colours Perth Cup R8 No.13 Midnight Blue (10.00/2.50) ... a lightweight chance and drawn nicely Truly Great too short for my liking although it is the horse to beat

Missed the post, see it ran 3rd. Perth Cup is insteresting, I’m a massive fan of the fav truly great and 2.15 is value for it until I saw it’s carrying 60. No idea what that means for it, might go another if I have a punt on the race.

There are still a lot of ifs in the Forward line, including Ben Brown.

Very nice, hardtack. A Hoodoo Gurus tune, if I'm not mistaken?

Second to none in ‘21. Best wishes to everyone.

I'm afraid I have mentally written off most of 2021 Can we skip it and move to 2022

I reviewed the Alister Clarkson Coaching history he was appointed after the 2004 season. Richmond and Hawthorn was granted 2 free hits before the first pick recruiting Roughead, Franklin and Lewis with their first 3 picks. It took him till 2008 to win the premiership. The players already at the club were Hodge another free hit and Crawford. At the time the club was not expecting to win the 2008 premiership because they believed the side was too young. Hawthorn won the game 18.7 to Geelongs 11.23. Their next grand final appearance was 2012 which they lost to Sydney. Maybe Clarkson is a great coach but Norm Smith went to Fitzroy as Captain Coach in 1950 and as coach in 1951, he took over the MFC in 1952 as coach with Checker Hughes as chairman of Selectors and won 6 premierships in the 1950's and 1960's. Chris Scott was appointed the coach of Geelong in October 2010 and won the premiership in his 1st year and has been there abouts but has not won another, questions must be asked about is coaching in Finals because he had excellent teams but fell short. Nathan Buckley was appointed coach of Collingwood at end of the season in 2011 and has fallen short in 9 years at the helm. In conclusion coaches need 2 things luck and cattle to win finals and premierships.

As a young fella struck with the dreaded 'left foot' dominance, I was fortunate to have my Dad speak to one of his students - Bill Barrot - who turned up at our home on several occasions in the late afternoon to teach me how to drop kick in Central Park, Malvern. That drop kick technique was awesome. It evolved rather rapidly into a pleasing left foot stab pass that, over the succeeding few years, became a 40-50 metre bullet, so I had many opportunities to feed leading full forwards with a variety of teams in the 'local' leagues from then on. The rules were simple: keep your nose over the ball and follow through (1) with the thigh and (2) then with the straightening of the knee, foot rigidly plantar flexed. All I had to do then was to make the whole kick as smooth as possible. Tassy Johnson was the best exponent of the drop kick imaginable and as Demons3031 has iterated, his full back kick out at the 'G always made the centre circle zone or frequently, almost to the CHF zone. Hassa exploited this regularly, moving laterally and then doubling-back to a pre-determined target area. The drop punt, in my mind, ruined it all, including the torp, the place kick and the flick pass. Progress is sometimes a negative but there were compensations from the changes, no doubt.

We were masacred by pre-season injuries in 2019. We were flying into the finals in 2020 until Cairns. The Demonland podcast gave a good explanation for our first loss there. I'll back Goodwin this year.

Yep, no other player leaving cut deeper for me. I was 15 at the time and he was one of those players that almost always created a moment every game that made it worth the price of the ticket. Really happy the club has reached out to him, perhaps he’ll be a supplementary rookie. I’m sure he’s a long way off given he hasn’t been drafted but it’s totally worth the effort to have the possibility of Wiz Jnr kicking goals on the MCG for the mighty Dees!

Why? Surely many coaches improve in all sorts of ways, including game day coaching, as they gain experience. Goody has made a point about being a life time learner so I can't see why he can't improve his coaching.

There should always be questions asked by the board of any sporting club if all is not going to plan, doesn't mean they are pressurizing anyone, Goodwin and the coaching staff know exactly where they stand and I doubt he will be in panic mode all year.

Every supporter did. Could have won a premiership with that guy.

I checked out the current assistant coaches at all AFL clubs, and there are only about 3 that played as forwards, and I was talking about current coach's and there is 1, so history hss nothing to do about the present coaches, overall 96% of all coaches are non forwards.

Here are highlights ( with English commentary!): Sinead Goldrick ( 7), Niamh McEvoy ( 14), and Lauren ( Speccie) McGee (8) are our girls..... McGee gets a yellow card in the last 30 seconds, but if she was playing AFL would get a crowd cheer instead.....Goldrick shows her AFL level skills multiple times, and there is no doubt about the fitness of any of the girls, in this game they run all the time.

Yes. Soz ... I can't get rid of my pedantry.

Yet more shameless self promotion... Last Sunday (20th Dec) we (The Branch Covidians) played in an event called COGIG19, which is an online streaming festival running over a period of 19 days and aiming to set a new world record for online acts performing out of one location as a festival; achieved by the middle of the first week. It featured artists from all over the planet. This link is to a YouTube playlist of a half dozen songs, I cut from our stream and edited; hope you enjoy if you feel inclined to check them out: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaAej3xGM_ZUSe8n8A5L8GXdEZaJp9KwJ

I do get tired of the perfect weather and fantastic nightlife though.

Yes the other sides get serious.

we have a pretty good win rate in the meaningless games. It's the ones for points that we find harder

We are so frustrating and can't be trusted. It's not pleasant watching them, it's a chore. As a long time supporter I'm tired. Tired of not seeing them fulfil potential. Tired of seeing them drop games they should win. Tired of watching subpar skills. Tired of having [censored] Robbo as the game day hype man. Tired of seeing Trac, Clarry and Brayshaw not got back and take their time off the mark. Tired of seeing Melksham give away stupid 50s. Tired of not seeing the club hire a vodou houngan to calm the uneasy spirit of Norm Smith. Tired of saying wtf happened to Tom McDonald Tired of seeing spuds like ANB on the list Tired of Greg Stafford being our goal kicking coach (pre-Choco) Think of this as my MFC Festivus - I got a lot of problems with you people!

Facts are they are the property of the footy Club when under contract. That is a given..

Agree but in this instance I am talking about a guy who "retired" and then signs with St Kilda. Read what he said on the St Kilda Web site to their members.. He is two faced and its all about the money not the BS he said to their members.

Came to us for an AFL career, went to the Hawks for a flag then went to St Kilda for his superannuation fund.