fr_ap

No- it's not. Read the 7news article. Club has confirmed.

You're going to stop supporting the club for trading one player? Beyond pathetic. If this happens, the reasons will be valid. Based on information you don't have.

Yes, that is what is happening and the club has confirmed it, if you care to read one of the articles on AFL.com.au, channel 9, channel 7 or The Age.

Pathetic

When was he on 360? Wouldn't mind finding the episode and listening

It's not made up

Dreadful player

I think if he was in the ground he'd struggle aerially. Not sure on this

How do you sell the idea to anyone then? Everyone's seen that Max is better as the only ruck. Whoever comes needs to be comfortable with that unless they are a genuine forward-ruck. From our perspective that's an issue though because we do need an able backup in the increasingly likely case of injury or decline to Max. Whoever we approach, we can't say 'you and Max can play together' because we couldn't do that with just about the best and most different ruck that was available last year

Worth a look but he'd need some arms/coaching wrapped around him imo. That club has completely shattered his confidence, has looked a shell for a little while now

Good discussion guys

No, they likely won't. We all said it about the demons of 21 and the Bulldogs of 16. They had a lot fall into place and played well on the day. As their rise showed and as our stagnation post-21 showed, things are never as good or as bad as they seem. The reason for this is that honestly - most lists across the comp are pretty even. Every team has their 3/4/5 stars - and if they roll, you can throw a blanket over the rest. It all comes down to coaching, connection, mentality, and a bit of luck. Players matter far less than everyone thinks they do.

The luck I'm referring to is their statistical profile, not luck within the game which they clearly deserved to win on the day. Statistically, they are the weakest premier since the 16 Bulldogs and I think the 94 bombers before that. Every footy model out there has been saying this. They don't rank in the top metrics anywhere near where most premiers do. Whether it's a statistical anomaly (luck) or whether they have found 'new metrics' is open to interpretation, but 1 premiership and 2 years of close finishes is a small sample size and does little to dissuade. Mathematically, they were lucky to win the flag. I'm not saying their players aren't good or that they didn't own the moments, which they did, very well. They have unbelievable chemistry as a unit and work harder off the ball than any other team. I'm just saying that over the 200 year history of our game, very few premiers have played like that. People will say it's a new age or a new paradigm, but these things are rarely true.

Honestly the discussion on Hill is nonsense. Pure utter nonsense. Fair play he turned in his best ever game at the best possible time. But that was his career high. Kozzie Is younger and has already had several bigger days than that, and regularly kicks more goals and has more involvements and defensive acts than Hill does. We all dislike it when he flies unnecessarily, but let's not get lost in the moment. 2 (3?) of his goals were as simple as getting loose and receiving a hit up kick for a simple set shot. Koz also does this - not as often as he should which says more about our ball use not finding him. The one snap Hill did back on his left is a goal Kozzie has kicked many times. The guy had a good day in a team that is statistically one of the luckiest sides to win a flag. Don't overplay it. Kozzie's output puts just about every small forward other than Charlie to shame.

Looks a good decision maker and has composure in traffic - although not exactly quick. I'd expect him to settle into AFL reasonably quickly - not sure on ceiling. Difficult one to judge

? Why are you talking about Larkey lol

Que?

Where did I pot the Richmond model? We have literally followed most of what they did - right down to Track mirroring Dusty's rise statistically before breaking through (hasn't reached quite the same heights). That includes the break through flag, and now in the years that follow, losing small forwards and depth players who've gone on to better things. The difference is that they went and got Lynch, while we got 1) no one for 2022, and 2) Grundy for 2023. I'm well aware there weren't many terrific key forwards on the market and certainly none of the calibre of Lynch. But you'd think one would have been available with the kind of money we spent on Grundy. Don't all be so sensitive. Call it what you want - a mistake, an experiment, whatever. We played a hand and it didn't work. Richmond made a similar choice with Lynch and it went a long way towards flags 2 and 3. Ask any Richmond fan and they'll tell you how important it was.

Spargo leaving would not surprise me. Clearly been unhappy for most of the year and it's a position we have multiple options in including AMW (who needs to be in the team soon), and McAdam, who is taller but still not a big forward. We really are following the Richmond model of losing all our premiership small forwards. If only we'd followed with the key forward acquisition ...they wouldn't have won #2 or 3 without Lynch imo. Using Jackson's dollars on Grundy was a massive mistake.

Very well said. They have picked a game style that suits their strengths. We've picked one that suits ours. It's not as fun to watch, but we're statistically the best team over the last 3 years. Giants aren't. Gamestyle is a big part of that. Re. Bedford, Hunt and others - something to consider is that when a player leaves the dees, they invariably do quite well. Imo this says more about our development than the team they join. Bedford was very very raw when he learnt his craft at Casey, and we coached and guided him for 3 years to the point where he was a weapon down there. He can be proud of himself, but he also owes us a debt of gratitude. AMW is tracking in a similiar way in that he is now a very important player down there. It won't be long before we see him in the team. Ditto Hunt. There are probably 20 players more talented than him on the WCE list. He had a great year because he brought Melbourne standards and Melbourne development with him. I know we're all in despair ATM and it sucks. But you need a lot of luck to get there - particularly with injuries. We could not find continuity in our forward half all year and in reality it was always NQR. We had method troubles in mid-21 but not the personnel issues we had this year.

Tou che. Didn't realise what I did there haha

Wow mate you are in for disappointment if you think this is a formality. They have a terrific list, several gamebreakers (Brownlow medallist, Coleman medallist) and have lost one game in 3 months. What is it Super funds say? Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance? It's no wonder they need to say it so often, people just assume the status quo will continue forever.

Getting huge vibes of us vs Hawthorn semi in 2018. They are where we were and we are walking wounded and arguably on the decline, as Hawthorn were. I hope I'm wrong.

The midfield is a bit of an issue for mine. They beat us in there in Rd 22 when we had Brayshaw in, and they were missing Walsh and cerra. Now they're both back in and we have ...JJ. Ouch. Overall the team is NQR and I think we all know it. Wish us luck ...

Gee mate. It's almost like you have no understanding of football