mo64

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.

I don't deny that training loading takes place, but if every club that's contending for finals is doing it, then the results amongst those teams is neutralised. Why will we be the only club that miraculously improves in the last 4 rounds? Burgo talked about it, so some think that it's the be all and end all to our results. Remember when high altitude training was all the rage after the Pies won a flag. Everyone started doing it. How can you properly load when so many of your key players have had injuries or Covid during the loading period? Add to that the difficult fixture. Our form slump is due to a number of things, with injuries and poor form being on top of the list.

Spargo has never been a true crumbing small like Kozzie or even Bedford. He's more of a link player, as is Chandler. But what I've seen of Chandler lately, he's better overhead than Spargo, and a more penetrating kick. At the end of the day, I agree that Chandler doesn't fix things, but his form warrants inclusion.

When Bedford was in the team, Spargo was playing further up the ground, so I can cut him slack for averaging less goals. But his possession numbers should have dramatically increased, which they haven't. He just doesn't get involved enough, wherever he plays. I haven't been a Chandler fan, but his form at VFL is hard to argue with. He even takes marks on the lead, not that we utilise that option much. He must get rewarded, and Spargo is the obvious one to get dropped.

Based on what? English is a very good footballer and far more consistent than Jackson.