At the break of Gawn

Genuinely annoying that the Melb v Dogs GF was in Perth. Two teams that aren't there that often and two Melb clubs (I'd count Geelong as Victorian but not a Melbourne club). The last time a GF was like that was 2010 (Pies v Saints). Another Geelong grand final is just becoming boring.

Would be amazing. Hope it's true.

Wouldn't be touching him.

💯 Agree. Wouldn't touch him. Chaplin is a far better assistant to lead the defence. King worked with Jennings at the Dogs who has been great at GWS.

I wonder if the work experience kid running our social media made an error sending out the tweet which disabled comments on the post or perhaps they were worried a few Melb supporters would have gone to town with "good riddance" on the comments...

I've been super impressed with all of King's media appearances so far. I have to admit, when it was announced, I was like "what about Bucks?". But after listening to King speak, his conviction with what he believes this team can deliver, and his confidence leaves me feeling very optimistic for 2026. In some ways, I can understand why Buckley wasn't chosen. He's been out of the industry for so long that you've got these assistant coaches in clubland who are up to date on the latest strategies, technology, stats that only clubs have access to, which would leave someone in the media for 5 years way behind in trying to win that job. Honestly, if Tassie don't run a proper process and just hire Bucks, they're derelict in their duties, and probably just reaffirms that it'll just be an ambassador type role for a few years like Sheedy was for GWS. Also with King, I wouldn't be surprised after hearing him speak, someone like Petracca would start to reconsider about being traded. Unless it's someone like Hawthorn, he could end up making it worse for himself.

The social media intern at it again https://x.com/SeanBalor/status/1966558289769996630?t=QPHn9FOcN7r8bYWAimOX_A&s=19

Maybe I'm listening to too much of Cornes because he went on a 20 minute rant yesterday about Merrett being a poor clubman and captain.

Skipworth was never going to get it. He pulled out just to save face. This is a guy who lost to McQualter for the Eagles job. Bullet dodged imo. King on the other hand, probably would have won the Eagles job had it not been for his health scare on the day of his interview. I liked the idea of Bucks because I thought his profile would help the club, but, I and many others on here, had lingering doubts about his ability to actually coach. Just ask any Collingwood supporter and they get confused as to why everyone was keen on Bucks. The club has run a proper process and King was the best candidate. Let's get behind him. I'm looking forward to the first King's speech to the playing group which hopefully they share on social media.

The pre-finals bye has really taken away the advantage. I really feel that in 2021, the no bye really helped us continue our momentum into that QF. Thankfully it seems like they're scrapping it for a pre-grand final bye like they did in 2021 and matches that of the NFL.

Apparently the record is 8. He's not far off breaking it...

Port 2023 probably comes close but that's about it. Fogarty played some of the worst finals I've seen for a forward (including Curnow).

ANB 0-6 in his last 6 finals. Unbelievably unlucky.

So he was our second choice? "Nathan Buckley's presence was a curiosity all along as Bucks was interviewing Melbourne as much as they were interviewing him," he said. "Right at the end, he couldn't answer the question if they offered him the job would he take it and I know Tasmania plays a role in that somewhere."

Why isn't Essendon getting the same culture bashing as Melbourne last year? Last year the narrative was how terrible Melbourne is and how all the players want out. No one ended up leaving. Essendon has 3 of their most important players all wanting to leave (2 100% gone) and it's all about Merrett being selfish and not a true leader.

But good on them for getting away with that. Why aren't we using the same tactics? I can't think of any other team dropping 17% of members in 2 years in my whole time following footy. The trend is usually always upwards. It's an absolute disaster and probably the most pressing issue after finding a coach and the home base.

King still not a fan of Brad Scott...

I've still got a bitter taste in my mouth about this when I saw last month the Dogs and Saints had more members. I know for certain we have more supporters than those 2 clubs. In 2023 I honestly thought we were going to overtake Hawthorn in the next year or two and even get close to Essendon. Instead we've gone backwards fast. If that rabble of the Saints can sell more hope than us then something is drastically wrong. Our whole membership department, marketing and strategy needs to be reviewed.

If Buckley does indeed decide to take the Tassie gig, he'll forever be bashed by the likes of Cornes and other media personalities for giving up a real shot of success as he coaches a bunch of kids to 3-5 years of bottom two finishes before eventually being moved on just like every other foundation coach. It'll be an absolute disaster for him.

I'm definitely clutching at straws here, but hear me out. I don't necessarily think Skipworth bowing out of the gig is all that bad. This is a guy who lost to McQualter for the WCE job. McQualter was less than impressive at Melbourne and he's just had the worst season in VFL/AFL history. The term "highly rated assistant" is used far too often. They describe every assistant as "highly-rated" in the AFL media. Yze, who had 2 or 3 attempts for a senior position lost to Kingsley (3rd consecutive finals series) and Brad Scott (who got alot out of that aging North list). Yze was a good candidate but you can understand why GWS and Essendon went with their choice. Skipworth, on the other hand, being overlooked in favour of another assistant in McQualter isn't exactly a glowing endorsement.

One of the worst in the league and just slightly better than Brisbane who stop giving score updates once they start to lose.

I assume Chappy will do the Goodwin role tomorrow night? Would have been better if it was a bit later in the year so the new coach could be there.

Quite a few Freo players I heard in interviews praised the confidence in their fitness to be one of the best last qtr teams this year with many come from behind victories. I hope Melb makes some enquires.

I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of this week it's down to 2. From memory, Guerra said that the best two candidates will present to the board who will then weigh in on the selection. You'd expect then from the 15th to the 19th they interview the two and decide who's the best candidate to then announce on the 22nd.