At the break of Gawn

I highly recommend watching this. King's analysis of the downfall, the list management decisions and then the discussions on next coach is very good.

Yep although I don't agree with his sentiment of 2021 being the AFL's most interrupted season. That was clearly 2020 by a big margin!

Interesting thoughts on Buckley

Saw a tweet about Goodwin's impact on the league and thought I'd share it here: "Let’s also not forget how he was the catalyst for a complete shift in the way the game is played right now, Melbourne played such a high hurt, contest dominant and defence led style that teams physically couldn’t compete with. So they had to change, and now this high transition, high rebound and turnover footy is so prominent in the league, all to counter what Melbourne were so dominant at".

For those saying Longmire isn't interested, here's a clip from "on the couch" in July 2013 where Jackson is being interviewed and at the time Roos had said he wasn't ready to coach again. A lot can change 4:20 mark

Not one Carlton player selected in the 22 under 22 speaks volumes. They're lacking a lot more than people think.

This really tempts me about Buckley. If you had to script a fairy tale flag, this would be the best story and it would [censored] off Collingwood people to no end. Just imagine him becoming a "Melbourne person" for life. Eddie wouldn't know what to do with himself!

Feel this could be a blow out now. The sacking of Goody would have flattened a lot of players. I expect a terrible first half before a bit of a response after half time to then end with a 10 goal loss.

Beautifully written. Thank you

Here's a pros/cons list I've quickly done: Longmire Pros: Proven track record that's recent. I think his grand final losses are overblown. The dogs were gifted with some unbelievably biased umpiring decisions, the Cats of 2022 were unstoppable like us in 2021 while I think if you look back on 2024, the Swans were on the decline much before the grand final and had a very makeshift forward line. He's well liked by his players, charismatic, values kicking and the outside game. He has a strong reputation and will help us bring players in and retain players. The other thing is that Horse comes from the Roos model that was set up here which created the stability to set us up for 2021. By selecting Longmire we still tie back to that legacy. Cons: I worry that he may have a completely different view to the board. The board thinks this list can play finals, he may disagree and from the outset cause tension. This was Mick Malthouse's undoing when he joined Carlton. Note, I think this also might be an issue with Carlton again for Horse Bucks Pros: Charismatic and has an enormous standing in the game. I can guarantee you someone like Petracca would love to be coached by him. He's Well liked by players, a big profile and someone who will help make us relevant again purely because the media love him. If we start performing well, we'll quickly be seen as a destination club again. Also very close to being a premiership coach and a good tactician. Cons: He was a very dour and defensive coach which annoyed a lot of Collingwood fans. He's been out of the game for quite some time and I wonder how well he'll pour his heart into this gig given he has black & white running through his veins. Goodwin loved making Melbourne great again while I think Buckley would get more satisfaction in making himself a premiership coach rather than making Melb great. This is just purely speculative but he seems more self absorbed than Goodwin was or what Horse is. Simmo Pros: Premiership coach, charismatic, deep thinker and seemed well liked by his players. Feel he's similar to Goodwin with his approach. Also a great tactician and took the completion by storm with the Weagles web. Cons: It's hard to ignore the rapid decline of the Eagles and some of their putrid performances under him. He once coached a team that let the Swans score 200 pts against him. I understand they had a ridiculous injury list and some of the shocking list management decisions crippled his team but how much is he culpable for their decline? The board would have to do a lot of digging I think on him. Hinkley Don't even bother considering. No real success with a terrible finals records. It's remarkable he lasted this long and probably should have been sacked immediately after 2023. The untried coach Pros: The board goes through an extensive process rather than directly appointing one of the above or rather shortcuts the process with a confirmation bias on one of the above. The AFL landscape has seen some terrific recent success stories such as McRae and Kingsley. However, in McRae's case the whole footy department changed so you'd think at least 5-6 changes. Could we follow suit and be back in the top 4 in 2026 or would the luck run out here and we become a similar case to a Brendan Bolton or a Rutten? Cons: The riskiest approach in my opinion where we have to ultimately rely on this board and the coaching selection process they set up to be watertight. This is a board that hasn't gone through this process(probably ever) remembering that Paul Roos was basically selected by the AFL. Untried coaches also mean greater issues with player retention for this off season and also in some ways hurts our relevancy. The Suns wallowed in this for ages until Hardwick came in and all of a sudden they're a destination club.

Yes sorry I should have said that it was just the leadership team in that zoom call. So it's either a player in the leadership team or a board member/club staffer in the know that leaked it

I'm not too fussed about the leak this morning. Lots of people blaming the club but everyone forgets that Morris leaked Hardwick's resignation which was way before the players found out. Brett Ratten's got leaked too in 2022. I for one think in this case it was a player. The players had an emergency zoom meeting at 8:30 and then by 8:45 Morris broke the story. If Morris trusts that source he's probably going to air it pretty quickly. I know for a fact that the bulldogs leaks in 2021 and 2022 that angered Bevo (which led to the infamous Bevo/Morris stoush) was from a player that Morris played cricket with. For me, today has been a bit of a sad day. I understand why they made the decision but I feel that Goodwin had started to turn things around. I honestly thought they'd give him some more time and see the other side of the transition. However, the growing issue with membership numbers, fan discontent etc was getting difficult to ignore What worries me a bit is that Goodwin seems like he was the last man standing of the Roos/Jackson era that rebuilt the football club. I might be wrong but the link to that legacy feels gone now and I'm not actually sure this board knows that they're doing. I think Garry Lyon summed it up best, where he said "You just hope this board is good and knows what they're doing". It's a defining day for the club. We'll either look back and day it was a masterstroke or a decision that has set us back and put us back amongst the Saints and Roos.

Coaches votes below: Melbourne v West Coast 9 Max Gawn MELB 9 Jack Viney MELB 4 Bayley Fritsch MELB 3 Christian Salem MELB 2 Clayton Oliver MELB 2 Kysaiah Pickett MELB 1 Christian Petracca MELB Great to see Gawn get the 9 although unfortunately Grundy also got 9 so he's still 4 above him on the leaderboard. Looking like potentially two rucks in the AA team.

This reminds me of an interview that Pert gave in early 2024 where he lauded the team for the 2021 flag despite having "bottom 4 training facilities". Makes me wonder what this group could have done if this club actually had it's act together.

Agree. He hit the contest harder than he has all season and had some of his explosiveness back I noticed.

If I recall correctly, Trac's player manager doesn't have the ability to facilitate a trade. Jay Clarke is just spit balling here. The reason Trac is probably quiet is because he probably doesn't want to leave anymore. Lever, Judd and Fritta far more likely to leave over Trac I reckon.

Dogs are 2-6 outside of Marvel and Ballarat. It's going to be a decent challenge but it's 9th vs 12th when you look at it on paper and it's at our home ground. At least we know who their mids are going to kick it to.

I had no idea he was so tall. Tall wingmen are all the rage in the AFL and having one on our side is a real advantage.

Pies had a similar dip in form in 2023 at this time. It was against Essendon in the last round that got them their mojo back. The last thing I'd want in this world is for them to smash us and then carry that form into finals. Beating them in round 24 to make them drop to potentially 5th would almost make up for round 23 2017.

Thank God this game is at the MCG. That drops at least 8 goals off what the Dogs can score.

Not giving up a goal on center bounce is encouraging considering the Saints dominated that in the last qtr

I'm not sure why there's so much negativity on the first half. We were up by 31pts at one stage and had the game well under control but the eagles kicked a couple of late ones. The third was great but the romp didn't really start until we kicked a few in succession from centre bounce and once we had momentum they couldn't stop us. Yes the Eagles are trash, but that's their biggest loss since round 1 and their second biggest loss for the year. The Pies only beat them by 29pts at the same venue. Having said all that, I really think we need to take another scalp to end this season. 3 poor performances will definitely hurt Goodwin's chances of coaching next year.

Paywall. Can anyone paraphrase it?

Possibly the worst WCE team to take the park with the outs they have. This really should be a 10-15 goal win.

Is there a chance that our 2023 membership number was artificially inflated? I've had a look at some of the other teams that have struggled over the last few years and none of them have a drop-off that we've seen. With Richmond, the Saints, the Hawks and North it's only been a 3-5k drop off. We're seeing a 13k drop-off. That just seems a bit ridiculous and I'm actually questioning the validity of the 70k in 2023 especially when you consider our home attendances.