mo64

This reminds me of the all conquering Bombers of the mid '80s. After winning the 84 and 85 premierships, they traded away 2 heart and soul players in Bradbury and Carey for big name players in Raines and Michael Richardson. They went into freefall. Gus is a heart and soul player. He's more important to the team than just a draft pick or a fictitious forward/ruck from another club.

You do realise that if we lose Gus as a Free Agent, then we don't get a compensation pick if we get a Free Agent into the club, who's in the same wage bracket. So there goes your idea of getting a compensation pick and McStay.

Good question. After a good win, I'll generally watch the replay more than once. Can honestly say that Rd 1 against the Dogs and the Brisbane game were the only times I've felt like we've played a full game, and bothered watching the replay on multiple occasions. I'm naturally a glass half empty person, and hated when the media and Demonland posters were suggesting we could go undefeated. Disappointed that we haven't blooded JVR and Laurie. The Port game was an ideal chance. All year we've played a quarter or sometimes half a quarter of exhilarating football, then seem to get comfortable with ourselves. Not confident going into the last 4 games. Anything bar a flag seems like a wasted year.

You are kidding right? Gus is likely to finish top 3 in the BnF as the season stands. You'd prefer a draft pick in the early 20's after F/S and academy picks? Bowey, Rivers and Hunt don't play anything like Gus in defence. Use the pick to lure key forwards you say. Like Who? At the start of the year I would have agreed with you, but Gus is important to this team on and off the field.

I think the whole "Gus wants midfield time" is nonsense. Over the past 2 seasons we've seen players change clubs and the narrative was that they would get midfield time. Zac Williams and Jye Caldwell were both given midfield time at their new clubs, but it didn't take long for their new clubs to realise that they were a liability in that role. The Bombers were playing Caldwell in the middle and using Merrett off half back. Unsurprisingly, since Merrett has gone back as a permanent mid, the Bombers have started winning games. If a club is using that as a selling point to Gus, then you would have to question their professionalism.

Hmm. I don't want to rob you of your last dollar. Let's just make the bet over our reputations on this site. In my case, that is probably worth less than a Zimbabwean dollar.

Is that an Australian Dollar or Zimbabwean Dollar?

Free Agency opens up a week after the G/F. Gus is saying that he'll make a decision after the season ends, so should we win the G/F, he'll do it in the midst of Premiership celebrations. Highly unlikely. It's never a good sign when a player comes out with what Gus said in the interview. If he's committed to staying, usually the player will say that there's just a few loose ends to tie up, but he'll stay.

Just like the BS that he'd already bought a house in Perth. You can believe what you like. I couldn't care less.

I've just retracted my "like". Your sources are miles off the mark. Care to share what connection your sources have to Gus?

Then why doesn't every Victorian kid that wants to come home, say they are open to go to the club that has the most draft capital to offer. These deals are orchestrated well in advance. And who knows, Jackson may be like Buddy and end up at the club that no one suspected. I haven't been told he's going to Freo.

Because they're of a private matter.

I didn't say he is homesick. As for wanting to play for Freo, I'd say that West Coast would find it harder to free up cap space in the short term to meet his asking price. And I'm sure Freo were in his manager's ear as a possible trade for Cerra. There are a couple of factors in play as to why he wants to return to Perth. Neither of which involve the Melbourne FC. I'll leave it at that.

Stop stealing Ethan Tremblay's thunder!!!

If Jackson has decided he's leaving, and my mail which details his reasons for returning home, then it won't be subject to a suitable trade. Jackson doesn't have any issues with the club, but if he feels strongly enough that he wants to return home, then re-signing with us for another 2 years won't be an option. A deal will get done, even if both parties may not be 100% happy with the end result.

I agree that his output was decent, and deserves a game next week hopefully with BBB. But the elephant in the room with Weid is his lack of competitiveness at the contest, and that was still on show against the Dogs. Goody wasn't enraptured with Weid's game, and no doubt it was for the same reason. He's been in the system long enough, so his physical development shouldn't be an issue. As others have mentioned, what's impressive with JVR is that he's hard at the contest. He didn't have a great game for Casey, but he was still putting his body on the line at marking contests. To say he's a whipping boy is nonsense. He's been in and out of the side his whole career, so clearly our match committee aren't satisfied with his output. The criticisms of him on Demonland are warranted.

Baker played well against the Dogs, and was clearly in the best. But his stat line was inflated by junk time disposals in the last qtr. My assessment of Baker is based on both this season and last. I thought he was a prospect when he first arrived. But now I can understand why he's not in contention for senior selection. Yes he provides an outlet, but his decision making is poor.

There is no way Baker gets picked up by another club. And to say that Jordon has played poorly is garbage. Spargo and ANB are forwards that apply pressure. Baker doesn't provide that at VFL level. The reason Baker got shuffled to the back line is because our Football Dept have high hopes on Blakes Howes as a wingman. Baker is certain to be delisted.

Baker accumulates possessions in positions on the ground that don't hurt the opposition. At AFL level he'd be ignored by his teammates. He also took some kick-ins after a point, where he moved outside of the goal square and is credited with a possession. His decision making with the ball is poor. This year he's been moved from the wing to half back. We have heaps of depth in that position, and Baker sits on the bottom of the depth chart. By all means keep him at Casey once he's been delisted. His big body helps the youngsters.

Chris Johnson who went to Carlton was openly told to f off during training by coach Dean Bailey, once it was known that Johnson intended to leave. Pretty immature by Bailey. It was nice to see CJ in the rooms after the GF.

We had 7 nominated in the All Australian squad. Our A graders hardly missed a game last year.

I've already said that we are probably loading. But it's you that's guessing that we are the only team impacted by it, and are trying to measure it's impact on us. You can't, it's as simple as that. But you can measure the impact of injuries and form.

Now you are just surmising to justify your argument. Nobody on here has a clue about what sort of loading we've done. The facts are that we've had injuries and inconsistent form from our A graders.

No.

I love Goody, but after the Gold Coast game when we hardly scored in the 2nd half which gave the Suns a sniff, Goody came out and said that we didn't need to score. That sort of attitude gets ingrained into the players. Once we have a lead, Goody will tell the players that we have the game on our terms. Then we try to defend the lead by playing safe down the line football. Once the opposition get a sniff, we can't redress the momentum. If you look back at all the games where we've given up a lead, the opposition has kicked the last 1 or 2 goals before the half time break. I can't recall the Pies game, but it definitely happened against the Dockers, Swans and Dogs. We go into half time happy with ourselves, whilst the opposition look at the scoreboard and gives themselves a chance. Not ashamed to say that I backed the Dogs at H/T when they were paying $4.50. I'd seen this script before.