At the break of Gawn

I'd rate our trade period an A alongside the Saints and Lions.

1 hour ago, titan_uranus said:

Also, the absolute gall of Kane to say Koz has been let down by the club.

All year Kane’s been saying we can’t keep playing Trac and Oliver in the midfield.

If we’d kept them and made no changes into 2026, he’d have said the same thing - “all well and good to reward Pickett with the money but by continuing to play Petracca and Oliver in that midfield, they’re just not letting him be the best player he can be”.

Kane flip flops all the time to just suit his own narrative. Imagine if we make finals next year and Blues are bottom 4, he'll say how Guerra and King are geniuses for blowing the place up while Carlton have let down Cripps etc for not moving on Voss. Yet no one will pull Cornes up on what he said 12 months ago which opposes this.

42 minutes ago, Trident22 said:

The toxic culture the media banged on about for years was developed by guys like May, Clarry and last year Petracca [censored] on us all as well.

I'm actually more worried about May being around next year than Trac or Oliver. I think he absolutely needs to go for this cultural reset.

4 minutes ago, Mouseymoo said:

I wish my workplace was so toxic as to pay me over a mill a year to kick a footy and act like a child.

Toxic workplace give me a spell. We may be a rabble but he's had too long leash his whole career and as soon as a new regime enters that actually demands a modicum of professionalism, he throws the toys out of the cot and pots the club on the way out.

Good riddance to the spoiled little [censored] I say.

I for one actually believe that the meeting (which was at Clarry's manager's office) was actually centered on his on-field role and the flexibility that King wants his midfielders to possess.

However, I don't think Clarry has the emotional intelligence nor self-esteem to take on this feedback in a professional manner. Instead he takes it completely personal, gets defensive, blames others (like the club), and throws insults instead of taking any responsibility.

I haven't seen much mention of a future first pick. What if the Suns offer us pick 6, 17 and and their future first? Mind you their future first is likely to be in the teens. I really hope we don't go for that because I'd love to get Humphrey but surely future firsts or second will come into the equation?

Also, wouldn't Jason Taylor be heavily involved in these discussions if the Suns start just offering us picks? You'd think JT would have to have someone earmarked in the top 10 that he believes will be a good player. There's no point Lamb coming to him and saying I've got you picks 6 and 7 and then JT saying, 'Well that's great but the players likely to land there aren't going to suit us".

Does 6 and 7 get it done?

I find it amusing how some posters are worried about Clarry or Trac getting back to their best or becoming even better. The major flaw in both their games is their ability to use the ball. I honestly can't recall too many players who've made significant improvement in their kicking over their careers. Once a poor kick, you're usually always a poor kick. So unless Trac or Clarry learn to kick like Errol, they'll just be your average accumulator who continue to make poor decisions and skill errors by foot.

I understand that King, Guerra, Lamb etc are all thinking about the best interests of the club, but when you lose arguably 2 of your most liked players amongst the fan base (Pickett and Gawn probably the most liked) you're going to see a dip in membership. If we start with a similar 0-5 next year with another bottom 8 finish, I can almost guarantee you we'll have the smallest membership number in Vic by the end of 2026.

Probably one of the worst videos I've ever seen

If this interview had only been a few hours later we could have got a good insight on Oliver...

5 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Viney Pickett Langford

I'm taking Rivers over Viney

Why isn't Viney being told the same thing if we're completely looking to revamp our Midfield?

I'm not sure if there was much truth at all to Trac's own narrative about trying to improve the club and professionalism. It's actually very ironic because Petracca's professionalism was questioned for a number of years when he first got to the club and it was Goodwin that played a major part in getting his off-field professionalism 100% which turned him into such a powerful midfielder.

Since Petracca's trade request at the end of 2024, the club has sacked the President, CEO and Coach. I reckon Guerra is telling the truth when he said he was surprised, because the club has moved mountains after Petracca's tantrum at the end of 2024.

This is exactly what I want to hear. If he goes, so be it, but we must be adequately compensated.

So given that Trac met with Melb the end of last week I would think that meeting wouldn't have included King given he would have been focused on the GF?

Just think it speaks volumes of his desire to exit if he hasn't even sat down with King.

I'm pretty indifferent on Trac staying or going. With a new reign beginning under King, I can see an upside on both sides of the equation.

I certainly won't lose any sleep about Melbourne's most expensive butcher becoming Adelaide's most expensive butcher.

What I do care about is a fair deal. Lamb will no doubt focus on Petracca's past achievements compared to his future potential when it comes to negotiations. I can't see a deal being done unless there's a player component if I'm being honest. Did you know Josh Worrell is from Vic? 😅

3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Ahhh yes, I was totally benchmarking him against Will Ashcroft, that’s totally what I was doing.

My point is that he's not some superstar talent we're letting go through the door with you calling it a "terrible result for the footy club". I actually think AMW would've overtaken him next year anyway.

9 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

9th in our B+F year 1. 7th last year.

Beaten by a couple of good players when our backline leaked like a sieve.

If you don’t think this is a terrible result for the footy club you’re kidding yourself.

Got no coaches votes this year. Average player rating of just 6.3 (career highest average rating of 9.2 in 2024)

You are really overrating him here. And before you say he's a 3rd year player, Will Ashcroft is also in his 3rd year.

Wow, so much outrage for a guy who even if he played all 23 games wouldn't have finished top 10 or top 15 in our BnF this year.

Let him go to Freo. I would be surprised if he starts in their 22 by round 1. He's not a dashing half back, his decision making is too slow as a midfielder, and as a small defender I've seen him be toweled up by Rankine and Higgins far too many times

See ya Judd.

Anyone see Scott's post match presser? Started his own monologue before any questions, again alluded to "extenuating circumstances", "challenges within the playing group" blah blah blah which none of it he would not elaborate on. Almost the exact same way he spoke about the 2021 prelim loss.

Since 2013, Geelong are 1 flag from 9 prelims.

Since 2012:

Flags won: Geelong 1, Melbourne 1.

Scott may be a terrific home and away coach but he's got nothing on Clarkson or Hardwick when it comes to finals.

46 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Absolutely. But the sense of motivation and self-belief we had in 2021 was off the charts, that's not something that's easy to replicate.

Personally, I still feel that we're a bit short for onfield leadership, much as Viney and Gawn do what they can. You think of Hawthorn with the likes of Hodge, Lewis and Mitchell running around, it was a big part of their longer-term success.

40 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

Think Jordan Lewis has spoken a bit about how when he was at the Hawks, by the time they came back to pre-season after winning a flag they had pretty much stopped celebrating completely and the mood was totally back to business. Due to COVID the club was still celebrating into December with the Members (rightly so) but I think when you're a smaller club that hasn't had much success it's hard to move on from such an historic, generational moment. Clubs like Collingwood, Hawthorn, Geelong etc haven't got that baggage so it's a lot easier for them to move on from the flag and get back on their bikes.

It was refreshing to hear Goody admit this, however I think part of our problem in some ways was how dominant our finals series and the age of our list. We made basically 0 list changes at the end of 2021 and there was basically no new players to come in with new hunger to win a flag. We rested on our laurels in a whole club sense.

Geelong made significant list changes after their 2022 premiership (albeit some forced due to age) to a point where there 2025 team is almost unrecognisable to their 2022 team.

Even Mitchell said in his presser after the prelim that they have to keep innovating because if they don't, they'll finish bottom 10 next year.

Melb of 2021 did a Blockbuster. Geelong of 2022 did a Netflix.

I hope Steven King has already asked Selwyn to get a high performance program going like this.

23 minutes ago, WERRIDEE said:

The silence is deafening when it comes to Petracca he done the same thing last year and it done him no favors. I don't know why does it it's stupid. Just come out and say are you staying or going. Oliver came out and said he's staying heard nothing since. Petracca has bad management it damaged him last year and it could damage him this year.

I suspect it's because Melbourne's list management is actually open to the right trade. It's all in a holding pattern anyway until King comes on board.

Unbelievable effort by Brisbane to make 3 consecutive grand finals. What a time to be alive to be a Brisbane supporter. Especially when they won it last year. As a supporter you could probably just enjoy the week much more this time and not feel as anxious.

Pies will slide out of the 8 next year. They went all in this year with their list and fell short. If Hill, Miocek and Elliot all go, I'd almost tip them to be bottom 6.