Members' Wing

Not once in the entire article did McLardy try to take any credit for it though! He simply said he was thinking of people like Jimmy and Robbie Flower who would be enjoying this so much. He's obviously been asked for a quote, all he's said is that it's taken a long time to get the whole club right and now finally it is, which I don't think anyone can argue with. Rome wasn't built in a day, it's been the hard work of many people over the last decade that has got the club to where it is today. Including Jimmy and Don. The gist of his quotes are that he couldn't be happier, especially for people who have been there for the long haul like Jones, Gawn, Viney and Mahoney. Not sure how it's destabilising in the slightest, and how you could hold that view unless you didn't read the article?

Ignorant and incredibly disrespectful to a bloke who loves the club and inherited a position he never wanted. Put in an unbelievable amount of work for no reward, to the detriment of his own business and personal life, in incredibly trying times. Not your best post Adam.

Again - ???. Been common knowledge throughout AFL circles for over 15 years that he's just about tactically inept.

Christ. How dare anyone show any confidence or ambition ?. If you want to be successful you can't have a team of introverted robots.

Agree. The other thing I like about Fritsch is that he's got so much development left in him. Like Oliver he took a slightly different path to the big time compared to most players on AFL lists and hasn't been as professional for as long as some others his age. Once he develops physically, both with his tank and upper body, and also gets used to the game plan and being in AFL environment he becomes a seriously damaging player for us. This is opposite to someone like Billy Stretch who has basically lived the life of a professional footballer since he was 16 with access to far better coaches, programs and facilities. I still think Billy has a place on our list going forward but there's not nearly as much upside with him as with Fritsch.

He's only 22 mate.

Brayshaw a free agent? Huh?

?

Viney has only been in full training for a week or two. I'd be stunned if he played against St Kilda.

Huh? You'd go into round 1 against Geelong with barely any of the senior team having ANY meaningful match practice? They'd be unbelievably rusty then in round 1 and would completely blow up about halfway through the third quarter.

As someone who hasn't always enjoyed the tone of a lot of @Satyriconhome's posts, I'll give credit where it's due and say your posts of late have been interesting and informative, and largely free of the tiresome blinkered condescension. When you're like this you're a very valuable poster. Keep up the good work.

Well it's not a non-story. Considering that clubs try to be relentlessly positive with the messages coming out at this time of the year, I'm really disappointed to hear Misson say, verbatim; “They’ve come back in OK shape – some that we would’ve liked to have come back a bit better". Especially after the statement they made by trading Watts.

I poked my head in for 15 minutes this morning at Gosch's. I'll leave the observations on the minutiae of the drills etc to those who care more about that, but my biggest take out from my limited time there was the increased size of Weideman across his whole upper body. He's now a really good size. Whether he gets much game time this year I don't know, with TMac likely to go forward, but physically, he's now just about ready.

People seem to have comprehension issues, and as soon as they see "two first rounders" panic and ignore all other elements of the deal. Let me say again, according to the AFL draft points calculator, the end result of this trade is we have given up the equivalent of pick 10 and pick 32. Pick 10 and pick 32 for the best young defender in the game. If you're upset about that then you've got rocks in your head.

Griffen AND pick 6.

Interestingly enough, using the AFL draft points calculator, we've actually paid LESS than our initial offer of 10+27 (2100 points). Cannot for the life of me understand the tantrums on here. We've just landed the best young defender in the competition for the equivalent of a first rounder and a second rounder.

Someone's daft alright.

Watts wouldn't be on much money? Huh? When he was coming out of contract last year he was on the restricted free agent's list, meaning he was in the 10 highest-paid players at the club. So after already being in the top 10 highest paid players at the club after what you and many would deem a disappointing career, he has his breakout year. After a terrific 2016, he signed a deal while he had the highest bargaining power he's had at any point during his time at the club. It's therefore safe to confidently assume that he'd currently be among the top 5 or 6 highest paid players in the club. Your Weideman/Watts theory is completely nonsensical.

Exactly. No way you can play Hogan, TMac and Weid in one forward line in the modern game and win more games of footy than not. Forward pressure would be just about non-existent.

Wasn't talking about you specifically mate, more some of the doom merchants who love to call for change for change's sake. This is the sort of thing I mean;

Don't disagree with your points but last year we had the least injuries of any club, and by a considerable margin. People love scapegoats. Seems like Misson and Rawlings have become them in the last month or so, despite people having very little idea of how they're going as 95% of their work is done behind the scenes.

Huh? Lever is 21. He's not even close to being a free agent.

So you're saying Watts doesn't kick the ball well? Rriiiiiight...

Sorry but that's just wrong, Watts is consistently in our top 2-3 players every game for distance covered.

The fact it's only a one year deal is telling. Big year for Aaron.