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It's the hair. Never should have cut it

AJ had 5 or 6 direct goal assists today caused entirely by chaos. Same impact as good as 4-5 lace out target hit ups. His skill level will need to improve long term - that can come as he gets comfortable with the level and the speed. As a big man effectively playing 2nd ruck, his ability to compete and defend is far far more important than being able to kick straight

This is actually totally incorrect. Their pressure was over 220 for the entire first half - that is something very rarely done. They totally came to play. They were a bit impotent up forward without amartey, but Heeney and Warner both fired at different times and they still played dangerous footy through the corridor. Of all the things going well (and there are a lot ATM), I am absolutely thrilled with the full ground defensive application and intent. We are fighting for every inch, desperate on defence, all the time at any spot on the ground. Goody always said that would unlock our attack - certainly did today. It does result in messy shots - but the weight of numbers usually eventually tells. I will say we had a very kind umpiring performance - but it's not really important. It was probably a 3-4 goal favourable umpiring performance (really), but we missed at least 3-4 absolute gimmes you'd kick 8 times out of 10 anyway.

JVR still has currency. Huge trade candidate imo

Though he missed the goal, loved how he stepped up to that moment instead of chipping it to the top of the square. Good instincts and leadership

His goal was everything Jefferson is not...jeffo would have been loping at 1/8th pace back at the original contest. AJs clearly not overly skilled (his shot on the run was genuinely hilarious) but will give his all again and again for the team. It's an indictment on Jeffo that we had to go pick a mature age bullocking psycho out of the hardest working team in the VFL. What is it they say about hard work beating talent?

I agree. I liked the draft selection as he's a naturally offensive mid with an eye for goal. He hasn't done himself too many favours with the opportunity he has had, but I feel he's never been given the 5 game stretch that Henderson, Kolt and many others have enjoyed to see what they've got

Needs a trade Bill. Has some AFL level attributes and hasn't been given a fair go to see if he can develop any others. That the likes of Henderson were plucked from the VFL and played within 2 weeks was totally unfair. Guy is amongst the hardest trainers at the club and consistently Casey's best player. Not saying he's A grade or even B or C....but we don't really know do we?

It's all been said in here, a tale as old as time for us going forward. The game plan/coaching generated plenty of shots at goal from kickable positions. The coaches did their job. Including the forward coach (yes, that's right). The reason no one leads and we can't buy a goal is not coaching - its that outside of Koz and Fritsch who is mentally cooked, we have no natural forwards. Spargo is close & was ok today - but he doesn't impact the scoreboard enough. He's just not that player. Melk has great forward craft and we miss him when he's not there. He also makes other forwards better (a clear trait of a natural forward). I have held concerns on JVR for a long time, well before his dip in form - actually BECAUSE he's such an accurate set shot. It's papered over a lot of cracks as he's only needed 1 or 2 shots a game to look like he's done his job. He struggles to create separation, has hard hands and lacks lateral agility. He's easy for an AFL KPD to defend as he can only kick goals one way - a mark or a free kick. He doesn't generate any other looks because he just doesn't know how. If he kicked set shots at a league average rate, I think the concerns around him would have come to the fore more quickly

I can understand there are some who don't see it with Kolt, but I think the coaches will be ok with where he's at. The best way to describe him is that for a 10 gamer he's actually doing the hard things quite well. He knows when to lead, takes front position to win frees, doesn't often get outmarked even against very senior players and knows it's his job to bring energy and pressure and culture. It's the easy things that are letting him down - I think those will come. The danger is that he's a classic utility that never finds a position. He shows flashes of being a good forward, and there have been moments as a contest mid too (one notable one in his first ever pre season match against Carlton). He's made of the right stuff though - will go a long way to giving him the best chance.

Langford makes some mistakes, but a few of them were in service of the game plan hitting up the corridor / 3 qtr kick - I'd rather see him make this mistake at this stage. He had a couple of very important defensive involvements when he was almost last man, and I watched him work up the ground to get involved in the play afterwards. Has quite a tank. He's not the prettiest player - Lindsay is an easier watch, but takes fewer risks. When Harvey he is involved we look a better team imo and he has an air of unpredictability to him.

He always does that. Hams it up - has a rep for it. Players have spoken about it in the past. Re. JVR - what people are missing is he often looked his best as 2nd banana with petty or brown or another taking kpd #1. He's not at the level to take the best defender - doesn't have the skills or the strength yet. He will look more like the JVR we know as a 2nd forward and will at some point come back into the team in this capacity.

Koz...

It's not hard to understand ...he plays for himself. Culture killer. The best clubs understand that a team is a mix of people and personalities as much as football or positional abilities. The pies are very strong and well run club and have a bold FD that act on what they are seeing. He's been OK at the Hawks in a team they were trying to inject personality into. Now they're getting serious he'll fall by the wayside.

The reason North looked amazing against us is that we apply absolutely zero pressure. No physicality, no desire from us since round 1. All Carlton had to do today was be a little harder...put a few goals on north and their very attacking mids drop their heads. They don't work two ways. We didn't even try to test them - we are so so so slow, lethargic, one dimensional and gassed that it genuinely provides energy to the other team

Oh?

Some of the guests he has on are reasonable but I find him completely melodramatic and frankly damaging to the club's brand. Reminds me a lot of the blues supporter podcasts/twitter accounts/channels. All incredibly dramatic, up and down, entitled, and damage the perception of their club. Not all publicity is good publicity. We all hate the filth but the perks of having a 90 IQ average supporter base is they are loyal to a fault. They cheer when they are losing, they back their people in when things are bad and don't drag the place down. I am aware of the slight hypocrisy in this post.

Rare to see so many of us in violent agreement. Says a lot.

I think it is time - but who are we left with? Chaplin? He's in charge of the fwd line.... Jones? Too new Bassett? Maybe but has a bit of a topsy turvy record with people. Richo and choco won't do it...the fact they are presiding over this mess says enough. It's going to get worse...much worse, before it gets better. Roos understood he had to make a list and cultural change. That now needs to happen again. We will lose many fan favourites. Goodwin our 'premiership coach's on paper only. Roos, Jackson, Viney, Mahoney the real legacy and the ones who actually turned the place around.

Burgess the secret weapon. Adelaide totally transformed, they remind me of us in 21

Those saying 'of course he won't stand aside, it's his job and his income'....that's literally what the best leaders do. Longmire did it..Roos did it. Plenty of other examples. Happens in large organisations all the time.....you think the CEOs on several mil and huge influence find it easy to walk away? Of course they dont....but most are very well resourced and connected anyway and certainly land on their feet. AFL coaches are the same.... The other piece though is the best leaders walk away on their own accord....only when they know it is the best thing for the organisation. That is - there are leaders who are ready to replace them and reshape things. I'm not sure Goodwin would have tremendous faith that a standin president, absent CEO, and new group of coaches would do any better or be more stabilising than he is. Richardson doesn't inspire confidence in anyone either.

What happened? All the earlier names you mentioned were long term lures by Mahoney and Todd Viney. All those since the flag are Tim Lamb.

Should have moved on to Yze when we had the chance.

Is this honestly new news to you? At what point during Oliver's adventures down the well, Petracca's brand-driven off season episode, Viney's drawn out contract negotiation or May's latest pub scuffle were you convinced our leaders were acting in the best interest of the team?

I perhaps wasn't as strong calling for Goodwin out in 22 but I flagged a lot of issues at the time too and got my head chopped off. Wasn't hard to see if you really looked.