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Lewis saying that some of the things Kosi does onfield remind him of the one and only Cyril Rioli? Hardly surprising. Not sure why some can't believe that comment, or have morphed it into a Cyril Vs Pickett debate. Pickett possess similar traits, without question. His evasiveness, reaction time and vision are all at the top top end. And they're traits that were stamped to Cyril. The ability to turn a contest at which your team is at a disadvantage into a win and then shot on goal. It's the pressure acts, the follow up and the delivery through vision that sets these guys apart. It's incredible to watch. There were a number of passages of play where Pickett produced those type of passages and as he gets fitter, stronger and more confident we'll only see more. Obviously the two players have differences and I'd argue that Cyril has him covered in some areas. I had the pleasure of watching Cyril play at Scotch College as a school boy. But that's not the point. It's that Pickett possesses some extremely rare and valuable attributes that all teams would be desperate for. We're extremely fortunate to have him and watching his career unfold will be spectacular.

Love this.

Really. I haven't seen a game live in 18 months, wild horses couldn't keep me away, I'm sure there will be plenty of others who feel the same

If it's going to be 50% of capacity, I've half a mind to attend. *No jokes about only having half a mind, either!.

It's not like it's just the pies we need to be worried about though. I haven't read most of it, but this thread is kinda stating the obvious though I think there would be 17 other clubs that would be into Trac. I'm not sure he'd be up for leaving us just on the basis of team performance though, I suspect it would be a bit more nuanced than that. Despite his exuberant persona, Trac seems like a fairly level headed, mature and I think he's also getting to an age where he would expect of himself to be contributing and thus owning some of the leadership and direction of the club. So if the team wasn't performing, I expect he might actually feel some degree of ownership for that and accept the challenge and responsibility to turn things around. I'd hope he'd only be seriously looking elsewhere if we were heading towards being an absolute basket case.

Play finals at the very least otherwise we risk losing him. We can’t expect an A-grader like Trac to rang around waiting for us to get our act together when he would grace any team in the league. Not much point worrying about it in pre-season though. Let’s see how the season pans out before fretting about his contract.

And why should he leave at all. He will be well looked after l am sure of that.

while you are at it, please make it two.

I see Picketts role to create opportunities through pressure acts and ground balls. He is not going to be a high volume possession getter nor are many in this type of role. It is also not unusual to look back at players in this role being a touch off in their first year seizing opportunities, which he was. The key for me is how many times he was at the right spot as well as how many times he was at the right spot in multiple points of a possession chain. It is worth looking at for his first year his average pressure acts and ground ball gets against others in similar roles. Note I have excluded Cameron and Papley who I would suggest play more as leading forwards not pressure forwards. He is no guaranteed elite but for a first year he was above average in both and certainly has good numbers to become an elite in that role at minimum as he builds his endurance and strength.. Pickett; Pressure Acts 14.9, Ground Ball Gets 4.1, shots at goal total 26 D Rioli; 14.5, 2.9 , 23 Tippa; 14.3, 3.4, 32 Butters; 13.1, 5.1, 18 Butler; 16.3, 2.6, 45

Don’t care if he’s friends with Kanye or Guy Sebastian.

Home games at the Gee no problem if we have 25 to 30 thousand paid up members turn up. Should have priority if it comes with a designated seat. If there is 50 to 60 thousand cap to the Richmond game and the Queens Birthday game against Collingwood we have them as our home games in 2021 lets see what sort of an outcome eventuates with the seating; Interesting times ahead.

You're weird unit Nudge. You quoted a post from 2 months ago that I actually forgot it existed.. The moment has gone.

It’s also the single BIGGEST factor in why MFC are super confident about this season, they blv they can run teams off feet late in quarters and that 4th qtr they’ll have a massive adv. we will see if it is warranted. Also.. word at coterie is our b22 is currently looking completely diff to what many might expect. JJ/Sparrow likely to get inside mid rotation for R1 with extra mid depth needed for aforementioned factors. F50 gonna be very very interesting indeed w/talls spots so competitive. Jackson’s ability to pressure will help and Weid likely to play further up so that might help us get an extra small from elsewhere down there in time to help with pressure and crumbing. Spargo is a lock, that much seems clear. He’s won the smalls spot w/Kossie & both will get mid-time potentially also.

Hahahaha cus they the best judges? Mate if u went by posters or track observers for list Mgmt decisions, our list would be FULL of highlight hypers or training drill standout only spuds like NEWTON, TAPSCOTT, BLEASE or COOK or HULETT. let’s let one the best rec teams in the land decide if he is worth it maybe... cool

I'm going to put it out there that a big part of our membership drop is club incompetence. I have rarely experienced a poorer purchasing experience than for my club membership. Every year I buy a family membership, I do not want them to store my credit card, I work in IT and I have had a fair bit to do with ticket master, i wouldn't trust them to hold my beer much less my credit card deets. Every year I try to buy online and am unable to purchase without going on a payment plan which involves ticket master storing my details. Every year I end up calling the club and asking why they don't have a simple purchasing experience and why I am forced to call them in order to buy. Every year they say they will look into it, blah, blah, blah. this year you can't seem to even get through to the club so how are you going to buy? How I feel is not really relevant but the above hurdle alone will likely drop about 10% of applicants. I have done a fair bit of shopping cart optimisation over the years and payment method is massive source of cart abandonment, 10% for this kind of thing is conservative. For a target of 50,000 members that is 5,000 lost memberships. Some people will be loyal or keen enough to follow up on the phone but a fair whack will not, for a $230 membership the full 5000 lost memberships is about $1.1m in lost revenue. Wake up demon administration!

Kirk Fletcher and Josh Smith are another couple worth a listen if you haven't already 'Earl'. Jack Pearson in almost any genre...plays great blues, did a short stint with the Allman's until Dicky Betts killed his ears...The Nashville guys revere him.

I believe technically we can still get Oscar back as a pre-season supplementary... (Ducks for cover)

Had a look down at Casey today for training. I’m not the best training observer and the view wasn’t the best as you have to stand on the outside fence. So can’t go up to the boundary. Trac hasn’t missed a beat. Dominated the match practice. Played through the midfield. Ben Brown presented well and kicked a couple if not more. A big unit and as expected has long run up. Fritsch looked sharp up forward. Tmac played mainly a high half forward role I thought. Turns out wing/forward. Got a bit of it and looked to be moving well. James Jordon played through the midfield in what seemed to be the A team. Got a bit of the footy. Rosman I didn’t notice too much in match practice. But took a nice grab playing forward. He’s a big unit. And moves well. Bowey seemed to injure himself early in the session. Came off and rode a stationary bike. Then came back out later with some skills stuff. Didn’t look like anything serious. Chocco has them doing a fair bit of skills stuff. Starting out with short kicks then longer type drills I thought the skills looked pretty good and there seems to be a focus on moving the ball quickly out of congestion. Jackson didn’t do much but was out there early and then later. Maybe having a light day or has a niggle. Didn’t seem injured. (Read afterwards he has Achilles awareness and will be back training next week) Gus I believe did some skills work Hibberd didn’t seem to do any training. I saw him kitted up but maybe doing work inside as he walked past a couple of times. Petty seems to be in full training. I thought I saw him in match sim. But seems no one else did. Harmes seems to be back in the midfield. Got a bit of the footy. Also I thought Spargo and ANB were lively up forward. I also thought I saw Melksham participating in the skills work pre the match sim. But I think others have reported he missed. However I’m sure it was him.

I've never paid much attention to this playoffs comp but it looks like fun. Must remember to join next year.

I agree. Finals may not be enough. I guess we all have extra reason to hope that the pies flop this year.

I think we should immediately get on the phone to Tom Brady. He has got a perenial loser into the Super Bowl. We need him desperately.

I’m not being a drama Queen, I’m just explaining how online selling works. I make no criticism of the people on the phones, they are usually very nice. The fact remains that if people can’t easily buy online using a payment method that they are comfortable with a percentage of them will drop off and not purchase. This is not an opinion by the way, this is one of the most heavily researched and documented subjects in online sales and marketing. I’m sure that Covid is a very big factor this year, both for the inability to get to games and the effect on many people’s finances. I am saying that the purchasing experience is also a factor and not just this year. Our incredibly aspirational membership goal will need every little thing to line up in order to be realised, and a user friendly online purchase of membership is a big part of that. But hey, you go ahead and stick your head in the sand and resort to name calling, that is quite a common approach here.

Easy fix. We target Maynard ?‍♂️

The cutbacks in coaching staff mean that Goody does some more hands on coaching which might be good for him and the team...like you, I love this vision.

IMO Pies just offloaded a whole heap of $. Not due to clearing space. Actually due to being well over the cap hence the bargain trade deals for Treloar Stephenson and Phillips. No doubt they’ll be into Petracca. I think Petracca is built for finals footy and if we don’t start making them then he’s a risk to leave. But are Collingwood in a better position? I don’t think so. Not unless they end up absolutely nailing the 2020 draft.

I was just keeping it warm for you Spirit

I can't remember where I read that season 3 was the last. I was under that impression but just doing some " research " have found they may be filming again in 2021. Shall see what happens.

I was asking SONS how he knows that Kobe has the "talent and the tricks", as it obviously hasn't been demonstrated to date if you can believe the draft. While i certainly hope he is the goods, in contrast, some people who have seen him play have said that he is very average in terms of underage skills. You obviously don't know the answer to that question either Nudge, as all you can tell me is to "ask around". Well i was asking around and nobody can confirm if in fact he does have the "talent and skills" or is it simply a case of wishful thinking by the original poster (and perhaps you). If you do know then please enlighten us all. (I note that SONS hasn't responded to my question, nor Dazzledavey36's similar question).

A wonderful guitar player 'hardtack'... Funny story, kinda backs up what you are saying about him being very unassuming. One of the top LA session guys got called to a producers house (think it was a film producer) to lay down some country licks. As he pulled up he noticed Albert mowing the lawn next door. When he finished his work he said to the producer, "you know all this stuff I'm playing I got from your next door neighbour." A little more Albert... https://youtu.be/h1Rx-zaBjow

I had the privilege of meeting and photographing this guy in Sydney about three years ago. He's not into all of the histrionics and pyrotechnics that so many guitar heroes are into, but maybe that's why Albert Lee has always been one of my favourite guitarists (Steve Morse and Vince Gill aren't too shabby either); he just plays the thing...

More important than doing the right thing is being SEEN to do the right thing. Nobody believes the AFL actually cares about this stuff for any other reason than impact on the bottom line.

Billy was a legend, no doubt about that...one of the first live show I went to was Billy at the Box Hill Town Hall. The first band I remember seeing in concert was Carson supporting John Mayall at Festival Hall...the other support was Company Caine. Broderick left a huge impression on me and to this day he's probably my favourite singer in 'Oz

This. I'm also surprised how much of this thread appears to discuss on-field leadership and seems to ignore all the off-field leadership requirements, most of which we don't really appreciate because it's invisible to us. I would have thought on-field leadership, while important, makes up less than half of the "duties" of being a club leader. I'm therefore not in a position to say who the leaders ought to be but stick with my earlier statement that I prefer a single Captain, Vice-Captain and Deputy Vice-Captain to ensure there is clarity among the team as a whole as to who is in charge.

If we have low injuries surely we only take someone short term if Deakyn or Kobe actually show significant development. Otherwise are we not best to sit and wait and see how players who missed drafting perform in feeders comps and load on two mid year rather than wait until next years draft.

Mate, you don't like Goodwin. We get it. You don't need to mention it in every thread.

Bugger, poor guy. I was really looking forward to seeing him attack 2021 with some purpose. All the best to him with his recovery.

If Oliver doesn’t make some big changes to the way he plays, including significant improvements to playing “team first” footy, the Club May well consider that his trade value is attractive. I can tell you that Yze ran a lengthy video session this week based on the positioning and work rate of our midfielders particularly when we don’t have the ball, and Oliver, Petracca & Viney were the continuous culprits of most examples. I’m loving what I’m hearing about Yze’s intent to improve the defensive efforts, selfishness and team first acts of the big 3 egos.

Poor guy, especially after missing all of last year. Mature age out of the VFL, no football in over 2 years by the time he is back, it’s going to make it very hard for him.

The teams were picked with one team full of the guys who have been training well and those who would most likely have been picked in a game if we had it today against a team of the rest. My source from within the club was talking up the Weed to me as well, really rating how he has trained and become stronger and is looking really impressive, for what it’s worth.

So awesome. How amazing is Lisa Fischer ? There is a brilliant doco called "20 Feet From Stardom" about backing singers. In it Merry Clayton recalls doing the "Gimme Shelter" recording session. "I'm gonna blow 'em outta the room". I highly recommend checking out the full doco but here's Merry's bit

I hate the filth

Wdee Ejo minds the opposition small players ?? You continually overlook Lockhart snd indeed place Hore in the team ( now out and Locky still not in for that role) None except Salem who I like on the wing or HFF. Are small minders and we continually get burnt by oppos smalls viz. Daniels (GWS) Rivers has the ability but Lockhart brings the pace and aggression I think we need down back to break lines. PS They May be grooming Hunt agsin but I think wing or HFF could still be his position. Reckon Spargo Will make Round1 as he further improves and have a feeling Rodman might grab a wing. For improvement we must be careful to Not start Or hold on to spots for too many 2018 heroes ie Melky Harmes and ANB Vanders who are one of the reasons we have not improved as their form or game style have plateaued. The future is about our 2019 and 2020 recruits Development plus Brown and improvement in Fritta Tommo and I believe a rejuvenated Tommy Mac. Hopefully Sparrow and Jordan taking the next step to become best 25 ers. I am desperately hoping Yze and Chocco force Goody to Realise this as the sooner the better in our development This will have a big say on whether we are just making numbers up in Finals or IMO legitimately Competing for our Much awaited 13th flag!!

I feel sorry for any club having to decide on leadership positions and groups. All it usually amounts to these days is if you were in a leadership group and now you aren’t then your name gets flung around by the slot fillers on draft radio. I say name a captain and VC so there’s less to get offended next year.

I hate Richmond and Cotchin with a passion, I used to be really critical of Cotchin’s game. He’s come a long way in the last four to five years and is a very capable player.

Thanks BB. Jordan was certainly in the blue team wearing the #23. As mentioned before, he was one of the more involved in the match sim. Can’t put my finger on it but he looks like a likely type at AFL level. We’ll see what happens. ANB was also very busy alternating between half forward and midfield.

Good summary, i was also there watching from outside leaning up against what resembled prison bars. Petracca gave his all in the intraclub and was knackered when he came off. Jordan featured a few times. Brown at FF looked good. Hibberd in rehab saw him a couple of times. Bowey came off very early before match sim with hopefully only a little niggle. Did not seem bothered by it but went into the rooms for a while. Jackson had an easy day not taking part in the match sim or drills. Had his top off on the way in and has added a good few kilos of muscle. Looks like he is serious about his footy - in serious good shape for his age. TMac has trimmed down but still looks pretty big as he is big framed. Concentrated on ball movement. Looked sharp. Choco took an early drill concentrating on well placed short kicking. Another drill concentrated on moving the ball wide from inside to outside. Rosnan for the white jumpered team kept presenting time after time which was good but other options were taken in the main. His turn will come. Is tall, quick and took a good mark. Overall impressed by what i saw.

Thanks. Most sides have a turnover of 3-5 of their best 22 in a given year. Rather than play it safe I have tried to crystal ball what we might try and address from a game style but also with our influx of improved speed and kicking and a return to longer quarters and season. Historically I feel we have been a side with too many flankers and inside mid and not the right balance of mids, mediums, smalls and talls with balanced games. I feel we are starting to get that right list wise and also maintain some flexibility without having to make weekly changes.