TeamPlayedFine39

Hard to disagree on the whole with the OP. System trumps talent in modern football and whilst we have had a very good list, it’s only found any success when paired with a very good (defensive) gameplan. Funnily enough, in a knee jerk reaction to terrible goal kicking in ‘22, we have moved away from our proven system and the whole house has fallen down. Premierships are hard to win - just ask Blight’s Cats (89-95), Thomas’ Saints (04-06) and Lyon’s Saints (09-11). Essendon’s great team of the late 90s to early 00s only won one, modern cats have never gone back to back and Collinwood’s ‘10 dynasty only lasted a year! The ‘great’ John Longmire only has one flag with Sydney 12 years ago and the premierships that the afl ‘handed’ the expansion teams never panned out, despite their list and draft concessions. Premierships are hard.

Sydney’s best is the best I’ve seen this year. I’m thinking this is a little slump like we had two-thirds of the way through ‘21 rather than the complete unravelling we had at the same time in ‘22.

“Dad, will you watch the Boomers with me tonight?” ”Sorry son, dad needs to go to the footy by himself or he’ll get guilt-tripped on his internet fan forum.”

From whipping boy to club cult hero! Loved the passion, determination and effort that he brought to us, especially 2017.

They, along with a few others, should have gone hard at Tomlinson a year or two ago. He’d walk into the doggies back six.

Agreed. I still think Disco and Petty would make an excellent defensive duo, with Lever as the third. Can’t really settle them there with May and now TMac playing as they are.

This is the last 10 players taken at Pick 35: Harrison Wigg, Marcus Adams, Josh Prudden, Oscar Clavarino, Bailey William (WC), Flynn Perez, Connor Downie, Paul Curtis, Olli Hotton, Cooper Simpson. Most aren't on an AFL list and I'd only be tempted to have a look at Bailey Williams, though he's a long way off being a star.

We have a log jam of 'just ok' small forwards and you want to get rid of the best of them? Love chandler - tough, hard runner and is team first player. 24 years of age and coming into his prime.

Good player and leader. Just what we need down there. Welcome back Melk!

Would love to hear from seasoned VFL watchers how Jefferson’s last 5 weeks compares to the performances Fritsch was putting on in 2017 to be drafted?

Well done AMW! Very happy to see so many players getting an opportunity this year! We’ve got a glut of players on our list who have served a solid VFL apprenticeship and it’s great to see they’re finally getting their chance. We need a mini-rebuild / refresh of the team and it’s exciting to see who will be part of it going forward.

Thanks for this. I agree with the original poster; we hear so little about Adam’s that I often have to check the injury list. Does he at least stop his opponent? Always a place in the squad for a lock down key defender.

Re-signed him late lat year to the end of 2024.

Last night was an improvement and you could teammates going out of their way to encourage him - clearly a confidence player in very poor form. Makes that great pack mark in the 4th being denied by the umps even more frustrating - could have given him a huge boost! I maintain that if his future is with us, it’s in defence. What makes it difficult is that two of our most consistent performers this year in May and TMac are keeping him out.

Make the finals and win in the first week. That gets the finals monkey off the back and then we reset, refresh and have one more crack next year with Max and May.

I would be shocked to see him back this year. Following Dustin Martin's kidney injury a couple of years ago, it was shocking to see how much weight, fitness and conditioning he lost after such a long hospitalisation and recovery. For a player as big and powerful as Petracca to get back to anything resembling match fitness would be remarkable and may even be asking a bit much from him.

If you read this thread through the lens of a small number of people winding up everyone else is actually a good read! Surely no one seriously wants to bring Jeffo in… There’s player there… just not quite ready yet. His two year extension last year shows the club’s faith and hopefully he’s been reassured to build his game and body in the VFL.

I agree with everything you’ve said but none of this was part of the post/preseason narrative. We choked last year in the finals. Plain and simple. It wasn’t the game plan, selections or strategy. We choked in front of the goals when we had more than enough opportunities to win each final. The fans and the media screamed for gameplan changes; and that’s what we’ve got.

Love watching Bontempelli play. (not against us though) Most of my ‘favourites’ from other clubs have retired; I find it a lot easier to appreciate opposition players when they are close to the end.

I probably would have give the 5 to Waterman; he was immense and a great comeback story. A lot of Fraser Gehrig about him. Reid is something else! Probably worth the 3 first rounders we could have offered and even the 2 and 3 Nth wouldn’t cough up. Only injury can stop him imho.

Reminded me a lot of the match against Essendon last year during Gather Round. Opposition playing well and our entire line up looking off the pace. It’s not yet a pattern but we’re yet to string enough consistent performances together to be counted as a threat. We’re a finals team but not sure how much further than that.

Heeney is going to make Brownlow night pretty boring…

I don’t. But it’s the kind of passive aggressive posturing that Scott wheels out after every loss. It is in his character. It would be surprising for Goodwin to ignore Lever’s massive individual contribution to our win. That would be highly out of character for Goodwin.

I think Oliver returning to form on Saturday will help Petracca. He’s been struggling with 100% attention whilst Oliver’s been injured.

I’ve always found the Coach’s votes to be impartial and respectful to the spirit of the award. I’m both very surprised to see such a lack of sportsmanship and very unsurprised to see that it’s come from Scott.