mo64

I must be the only person on here that isn't that fussed with Jackson leaving, especially now that both WA clubs are in play for his services. The down side is we look like blowing salary cap and draft capital on Grundy. If you ask any neutral supporter, they fail to see the hype on Jackson. He's in his 3rd year, and I doubt that he finishes top 12 in the BnF. He struggles to take a contested mark, and hasn't shown any forward craft. His strength is his ability at ground level for a tall, but that's why you have midfielders. And he could develop into an exceptional tap ruckman. But a ruckman who can't take contested marks around the ground like Max, aren't worth big dollars. As for his decision for returning home, I fully understand it from what I was told. I'm sure some of the Perth media know the reasons, but due to their personal nature, I doubt that they'll come out.

Absolutely. But given the amount of games he's played, I'm thinking a pick in the 35-45 range.

Are you serious? Now you are trying to change the whole narrative. Very few dispute that we and other clubs undertake loading of some sort. The whole conjecture was whether our 3 losses midseason were the result of loading. It's was binman's belief that it was a major factor, and we would steamroll teams come the end of the year due to our superior fitness base. You and the other hardcore "loadists" like binman and von, believed that our fitness levels would incrementally improve until we reached our optimal level on GF day. Just a shame that we never made it.

Kane Cornes' tripe is just the entree before Trade Radio starts. Adam Cooney and Brendan Goddard will provide a full degustation menu of offal.

1. Coaching dept mindset (arrogance to believe that we could defend a lead) 2. Coaching dept game plan 3. Players mindset (once it happened 2-3 times, doubts crept into players mind) 4. Coaching dept team selection (poor structure, not dropping out of form players, not resting banged up players) 5. Fitness (key players banged up, which has nothing to do with general fitness). 999. Loading

Agree. And you can never accuse us of being "flat" or "not switched on", because our 1st quarters were generally our best.

Craig McCrae took over the club that was considered a "cultural cesspit". And right off the bat, his star player DeGoey reinforces that opinion. Fast forward, and a team most expected to finish bottom 4 are now in a Prelim. If you think that "culture" is so important, then it clearly hasn't been a challenge for McCrae. Or maybe his players are just playing a better brand of football and have self belief.

I think the term "culture" is the most overblown term in AFL. Every year the premiership team will refer back to some isolated incident that changed the culture of the club. If you have talent, prepare well, are well coached and perform on the day, success usually comes your way. For once I agree with Saty. It's twaddle.

What games were you watching? In the finals we conceded more goals in the 2nd halves when we were passive. And we never used tempo control in 2021. It was all about getting it forward quickly and locking it in, or long down the line and get a stoppage. Nothing changed from 2021 to 2022.

Totally disagree. For starters, Goody continually embraced our imperfections at the start of the season because we were winning. Once we came up against better teams, our wastefulness came back to haunt us. We continued the game plan of kicking into the forward pocket even when we were in total control. The scoreboard never reflected our dominance. The only time I can remember us trying to quickly transition the ball out of our backline was in the dying stages of the Carlton game, when Hunt basically changed the game. You are correct that Brown became ineffective as the lone key forward, so why not trial JVR? Our defensive structures fell apart in the 2nd half of games because our defensive pressure dropped off. And most of that was due to our lack of forward pressure. What were Neal Bullen and Spargo doing in the team if they can't apply defensive pressure?

For starters, the Pies aren't going to pay half of Grundy's contract for 5 years ($500k pa). Secondly, giving up a 1st rd pick on a player who struggled in 2021 and basically missed all of 2022 through injury is insanity. He is not a current AA player, so his deeds in the past are irrelevant. The Pies need a majority of Grundy's contract off their books in order to get the players they have targeted. The fact that they see Grundy as being surplus to their needs is telling. He's a salary dump, and we are reportedly his only suitor. A token pick is all we should be giving up.

Simon, you are stating the bleeding obvious. You talk about our inefficiency going forward, and yet the coaching dept failed to change the game plan or personnel required to address things. That's on you and the rest of the coaching dept. And I'd like to know how pursuing Grundy addresses our "vulnerabilities". Lack of sustained forward pressure was an obvious vulnerability, so how does the plan of having Gawn or Grundy resting forward address that?

McStay is a far better fit than Grundy, but he'll probably want a 4 year deal on $600k-$700. So it's a no for McStay, and a no for Grundy.

No you can't. Weid is not a 3rd tall forward at AFL level. And your pregame spiel on JVR was off the mark. We played 3 banged up talls in BBB, Gawn and Jackson, and none of them could give 100% effort across the whole game. Regardless of the level of play, JVR gives effort every time you see him. And I don't see how JVR is any different to Jye Amiss, who made an impact for Freo in a final.

The ruckwork of T Mac and JVR when up forward has me thinking that Max plays 85% game time as a pure ruckman, and T Mac and JVR could share the other 15%. Ditch the idea of playing Max up forward. I've liked how Weid has developed as a ruckman, but he's not good enough as an AFL forward.

Hunt earnt his spot. Rivers and Salem were poor in both finals.

I'd had Turner ahead of Tomlinson. Most of the damaging AFL key forwards are either mobile (Curnow, Cameron, Naughton, Hipwood, Daniher, Riewoldt, McKay) or beasts {Lynch, Hawkins). Tomlinson is a straight ahead player with poor agility. I don't see him as an AFL defender any more.

Leave Spargo out. We can do better than him. If Bowey can't break into our backline, I'd rather have him playing whatever role Spargo plays. Bowey is better in every facet of the game.

Mitch White is so important in conditions like this.

Baker, lol. JVR goal after all that.

Adelaide have Rachelle and now Rankine. Fail to see how or why the Crows could get him this year. I'm sure Port are putting out the feelers, but I'd refuse to trade him.

So in 2 finals we've lost to a team with a journeyman ruckman in Hickey, and a team missing their regular ruck combination of McInerney and Daniher. If we give up cap space for 5 years, and a decent pick for Grundy, we have seriously lost the plot.

Two of the more laughable things happened in the 1st quarter when we were well on top. ANB marks 35m out directly in front, and passes it to Langdon on a worse angle. Langdon kicked the goal, but the thinking was idiotic. Then Jackson has a free on half forward and passes it to a leading Gawn in the forward pocket, and the ball spills out of bounds. This is symptomatic of our method and thought process.

I have a theory, and I don't think that fitness levels has anything to do with it. Our game plan revolves around winning contests and locking the ball into our forward 50. It requires an enormous amount of effort on the part of the mids and the forwards. With the talent we have, we build up a sizeable lead and yet invariably concede late goals before half time. The scoreboard at half time rarely reflects our dominance. At half time Goody addresses the players and tells them that we have the game on our terms. The opposition coaches of better sides will tell their players that it's impossible for Melbourne to continue at that intensity, and a 3-4 goal deficit is not insurmountable. Once the opposition get within a goal or two in the second half, it's almost game over. But I think it's more psychological than physical. I honestly believe that our players are not fully invested in our negative game plan, because they are not getting scoreboard reward for effort. Once that opposition have neutralised the game around the contests and the scoreboard, it all becomes too hard for our players to go again. The players have an ego/arrogance after winning last years flag. But they're coached to defend rather than show their talents. I think the players have lost the motivation to grind a game for 120 minutes on the back of the 2021 flag. Coaches like Paul Roos and Ross Lyon have limited shelf life at one club. Their game plans are too mentally gruelling on the players. If Goodwin wants a long tenure at the Dees, he needs to look at John Longmire, who's evolved from a negative coach to a positive coach. He's weeded out the "try hards" from the team, and replaced them with skilful players who also give effort. And after listening to all of the Burgess/Brukner podcasts in that last off-season, Burgo's role in the mental side of the game cannot be understated.

ANB played on Rich last time.