TeamPlayedFine39

The problem with discussions on tanking is that there is no standard definition in the AFL community for what exactly ‘tanking’ is. Each expert, commentator and fan seems to have their own definition meaning people can be right and wrong at the same time.

Both eligible for ‘24 draft?

FWIW… AFL media has Freo’s draw ranked the equal most difficult and FoxFooty has it ranked the 4th most difficult. Its starts out easy and gets tough in the second half. They were expected to easily bank the first two games.

I think Jackson has the potential to be one of the better players in the league but, as we know, environment and culture are huge factors in developing talent. Fremantle has a poor record of developing imported talent. It may be the club, the city, the perth media or the fact that they repeatedly pay a huge price in salary and picks for ‘savours’. The pressure and expectation is immense and the likelihood of disrupting the harmony of a playing list is high. They trade away role players to make room for big names. Their recent drafting has been strong and they’ve brought in solid lesser name trades, but the big fish seem to come back to bite them. Hogan, Bennell, McCarthy, Lobb… Jackson?

I’m gonna remain confident that he’s avoided a worst case scenario. There’s not enough media noise for me to think otherwise - the media always seems to get a leak or a tip on a serious injury to a star. Max’s injury has been overshadowed by the power outage, but there’s still not enough noise for me to think it’s worse that a medial (which is still pretty bad). Bring on Schache for 6 - 8!

This and NES International Cricket are all the stimulation a developing brain needs.

This must be how the impoverished feel when they see the wealthy complain about taxation…

In the absence of May, Lever was immense. Best on IMHO.

That’s an insane number of pages devoted to just two teams. Why would you do it to yourself?!

The Freo boards are turning on LJ in a big way. Young players with huge prices on their heads open themselves to unbelievable pressure and scrutiny. (But their managers would never tell them that) Nowhere to hide in WA.

6. Lever 5. Gawn 4. Pickett 3. Petracca 2. Brown 1. Tomlinson

Laurie is a huge surprise! Either as a sub or we’re replacing Fritsch with a smaller option considered how tall our forward line is already. Good on him!

ex-billionaire ex-Lion sounds better.

Fair enough, but is it any more our heart than Victoria Park was for the Magpies or Glenferrie was for the Hawks? I think the MCG is part of our identity; an oval 500m down the road is not. But it really is a matter of opinion, which is what I suggested in my original post. I am curious to know what the supporter base feel about it. Board after board tells us it’s important, and I’m not so convinced the majority agree now that we see it’s all a bit of a pipe dream.

That’s what I don’t understand. Why do we need to train near the MCG? If we had access to the G, then that’s another matter, but as it stands we are training in sub-standard facilities just to be close to the MCG.

Perhaps there has been some fan/member engagement from the club, but of the many surveys I receive from the club every year, I have never been consulted about my feelings on a training base. I know the fan base is only a small part of the decision making process, but there is a long held assumption and policy from multiple MFC administrations, that we MUST be in the CBD/MCG precinct. Having watched Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Brisbane, West Coast, Fremantle all move away from the traditional homes in order to significantly upgrade their facilities, we've now spent decades waiting for something that, realistically, doesn't seem to be happening. There's no votes in developing another sporting center in the CBD, if anything, you'd lose some. Cutting down a single tree from a public green space would results in protests at best, which club and definitely government don't want. I'm 40 years old and in my lifetime, the MCG has never been exclusively ours. I hold no real allegiance to the area outside of the actual MCG. I want to see us develop a facility that can hold its own against other teams in the league and that requires space and political will that simply doesn't exist in the MCG precinct. We are hamstrung by the promises of multiple boards.

I’d like to see the players enjoying their football. 2021, the team were clearly enjoying their football and celebrating each others success. They’re looked fresh, happy and enthused. 2022, they looked like they were ‘all business’ and it seemed to weigh them down come the second half of the year. I would like to see them hungry and happy.

Plenty of hilarious videos about Gawn and Grundy being in love though…

Made the trip into Gosch’s after checking the website this morning - even now it still says it’s on at Gosch’s. Very easy thing for the club to fix.

Thanks for the update! Has this been announced by the club yet, or is this inside information?

Fremantle have a very strong developing list but the biggest dangers that they face are cultural/above the shoulders. Are they a young team, who made a big leap last year, who think that it will ‘just happen’ for them in 2023? (See MFC 2001, 2003, 2005,2019 and Carlton seemingly every year) To afford their big signing, have they lost too many solid role players? How does the group feel about the players they let go to accommodate a high priced recruit? How does the group feel about their own pay cheques with a largely unproven new teammate?

Obviously, plenty to play out, but there's definitely room to manoeuvre into one or even two top ten picks.

Cox was an unbelievable player; such a smooth mover and was every bit as damaging as Cousins, Kerr and Judd in that WCE team. Completely different from Gawn though. If you had to pick one for your team, it would depend upon gameplan, teammates, etc. Cox was a genuine midfielder (ruck rover), probably closer to Grundy 2017-2019 and of course the OG Jim Stynes. Both six time all Australians so Gawn is every chance to go one up in the next year or two.

Maybe it’s just the fact he’s clean shaven, but he looks like he’s slimed down quite a bit.

Home games for both Anzac eve and Kings Birthday is good for the $$$ side of things. Happy to be at Adelaide Oval for Gather Round, a venue we play very well as well as playing a franchise in Northern Territory so we may outnumber opposition supporters.