At the break of Gawn

I wonder if all this bubbling tension of Curnow wanting to leave was put to rest last week which led to Curnow's uptick in enthusiasm against us. If we had faced them a week earlier we probably would have rolled them by 3 goals.

This would have been 100% Petracca's decision. The Drs would have asked him if he was feeling well enough to play and he would have put his hand up and said yes. I can think of at least two other occasions where Trac has played with the flu. Some players decide they can't pay and some push themselves through it. It's how Crisp and Stynes get to ridiculous consecutive match streaks.

Thankfully Dan Butler (aka Cyril vs us) and Issac Keeler (aka Wayne Carey vs us) both aren't playing. It'll be an interesting Judd McVee watch on Higgins though.

Don't get beaten by what you know. Wilkie dominated us last time and Melksham was no threat at all. I'd be bringing in AJ for Tholstrup and play with an extra tall. It'll be a dry game and Wilkie is too good for Melksham even with all his smarts. AJ can take Wilkie and be an aerial threat. This will leave Melksham to play on someone like a Stocker. Sharp to play a lockdown role on NWM. Petty to come in for May Ins: AJ, Petty Out: May, Tholstrup

Baffles me how the Saints have a pretty expected loss to Geelong down at GMHBA and there's 3-4 articles about Ross, yet we lose to half of Carlton's VFL side and no Criticism on Goodwin except a 1 min snippet.

After watching the Presser last night, I'm starting to wonder if Goody is starting to lose some of the players. That's now a couple of really poor starts where he's indicated that the players effort and intensity were to blame. Goodwin is banging on about not wanting to waste a minute of this year and set us up for next year but it seems to me the players just aren't buying that message.

Just watched the last qtr of the Freo win. I can't believe Maynard intentionally shoved Reid into the bench and no one at Fox mentioned it. Also, loved the post-match interview with Serong and how he mentioned all the confidence he has in his team's fitness. Reminds me of us in 2021. A far cry from our deplorable fitness program in 2025.

Unless he miraculously turns things around next year or in 2027, his selection will go down as one of the most baffling I've seen. I still don't see what his strengths are.

Another nothing game.

Surely the media goes hard on Goodwin this week. I'm absolutely over his spin. We may be building towards our next premiership team but it won't be under him.

I still have PTSD from "Up goes Acres! Goal! Goal! GOAL!" I'd be happy with a win of any margin but if we can beat them in a thriller it'd be extra nice. In all seriousness, they have a lot of key outs and May always dominates Curnow so this is a game we should be winning. A loss will just continue to put more doubt on Goodwin. 2021 was built off the back half of 2020. Collingwood won 4/5 from their last 5 games at the end of 2024 and brought that into this year. Let's try and build momentum into 2026.

I was reminiscing about the 2021 grand final and re-watched some old interviews. Garry Lyon pondered whether there had been a greater midfielder at the MFC than Clarry after 2021. I know his last 50 games aren't what we would have thought, but you surely can't find a player who had a better first 150 than he did. Congrats on the 200, Clarry. Whatever happens with the rest of his career he's always going to be a MFC legend.

The draft bio I read compared him to a Cam Zuhaar but he's 190cm and can play as a third tall with his leap.

If I had to try and compare him to someone it'd be Cam Rayner. Similar height and potential to be a high impact, explosive player. That's who he should model his game off but also to be 10x more consistent than what Rayner is. As a first round selection you want a player who can have a significant impact on the team.

The mediocre side that is on one less win than us that also beat us by 5 goals? Wilson is still having a far better year than Kolt (who I can almost guarantee he'll get dropped this week). He's an elite runner who finished 4th in the rising star last year and had had games of 3 goals. Put simply, at this stage, the Saints chose the better player.