At the break of Gawn

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.

I really can't understand his draft selection if I'm being completely honest. He's not skillful, he's not quick, he's not tall, he's not mercurial, so what were his strengths? His draft profile says he is a fierce competitor with an enormous work rate. Did Kolt win our 3km time trial in 2024? Because Darcy Wilson did at the Saints. To me, he seems like another Goody selection where he's valued competitiveness over what's required in the modern game. I thought by the 2023 draft we were done with this mantra but perhaps it only hit home in 2024.

Credit to Goody and the coaches. I thought at half time we were going to be overwhelmed with North's use of the corridor and drive off half back from McKercher and Daniel. However, they really put the clamps on them and we shut down their flow. Really impressed with Fritsch's game higher up the ground, Trac and Oliver's clearance work was the best I've seen in months and Langford is a star.

Tholstrup's efforts have been diabolical. Not sure how he didn't get subbed.

North are the second most accurate kick for goal in the comp. We should poach their skills coach.

Roos have had 10 day break. Watch them run all over us

Should be sued for malpractice.

This is all coaching for me. Goodwin doing nothing to stop their use of the corridor. Feel like we're going to get overrun here in the 2nd half

Getting belted in clearances once again

I'm actually feeling very confident on this one. Despite the last few losses we've actually played patches of good footy. I expect it all to come together today. Dees by 40pts.

I don't mind the deebrief pod. Sometimes when I feel like listening to a quick rant about the club it definitely helps. I like it when they have Cados on. He actually sees the game pretty well and he's usually pretty optimistic. One thing Demonland can learn from this pod is the length. 1hr episodes are a lot more digestible than 2.5hr shows.

I agree the whole the coaching dept needs a reboot. Changing Chaplin from defense to forwards coach was a horrible idea. You've got probably the second best defensive coach in the league (behind Matthew Boyd I'd say) and you move him to the forwards coach? The only conclusion I've come up with was it was to satisfy Chaplin's ambition as a senior coach and round out his experience. So defensively we're the worst we've been in a decade under Bassett, while our forward line has actually gone even further backwards. Regarding the midfield, Yze made some tremendous changes around the guys ability to burst from stoppage and chain up. It was a pillar to our 2021 premiership. What I think did start to rear its head in 2023 was the poor inside 50s. McQualter comes in and that entry issue persists from the mids but then he changes something around our method and we start losing clearance and contest. 2024 was diabolical for our midfield. In 2025 I think it has improved on 2024 as we were the best clearance side for our 7 week patch but unfortunately we've lost focus again. Starting 2026 I'd be moving on Richo and Basset and put Chaplin as defensive coach. I haven't given up hope on Jones as I think he's improved alot of the mess McQualter made.

I watched the full interview and I've noticed in the last 3 media interviews/pressers, Goody has mentioned "building towards our next premiership team/list". It seems like a change of narrative where he's preaching patience while acknowledging supporter frustration. Reminds me a bit like Clarkson...

So you're telling me, as a mid, Petracca attended the most center bounces, but he didn't even get one center clearance 😳 He also attended probably another 30 stoppages yet he finished the game with 0 clearances. Jake Soligo is half the player Trac is and he had 5 center clearances. That's a very good reason to take him out of them next week and play him in the forward 50 and drop Fritsch.

I just remembered that it was only a bit over 4 years ago against the Crows that Clarry played one of the greatest individual performances probably ever played by a mid at Adelaide oval. 40 disposals, 3 goals, 14 clearances (including 7 center clearance). Think his player rating for that game is still in the top 10 Crazy to think how much has changed with him.

A poor decision maker and a poor kick. Our 2023 draft haul is looking incredibly grim at the moment.

Anyone have any insight on why we overlooked Curtin for Windsor? Was it just the go-home factor fear after Jackson? Curtin looks streets ahead of Windsor and his athleticism is unbelievable.

Bring Petty in and drop Fritsch. There's no way Petty's ground level stuff is worse than Fritsch leaving us look too tall. North play with 3 tall defenders so it'd be a good time to try 3 talls up forward. Dropping Jeffo after 1 game will do nothing for him.

All I'm calling out is that if we had beaten the teams below us in those blocks our season would still be alive.

I have to admit, May's positioning is still first class. If only he still had his 2021 level fitness. If he mellows out after retirement I reckon he'd make an outstanding defensive coach.

The first block came against: 8th 16th 7th 4th 13th The second block has come against 15th 1st 11th 7th 3rd If we had gone 2-3 in both those blocks we'd be equal 6th on the ladder. The North, Essendon, Saints and Port games have cost us our season.

It's just a game of whack-a-mole with us. You fix our intercept defenders but then we get belted around the ball which has been a strength of ours before the bye. You fix our goal kicking from the second qtr onwards but then we don't get it in there enough (mostly due to being belted around the ball) McVee's had a couple games like that. He just plays too loose. Salem was garbage and Bowey got shut down Rankine and Soligo love playing against us. Also, Fritsch has had some poor games in his time but that was horrific. But who comes in for him? I'd actually rather Petracca play that half forward role and leave Viney, Oliver and Pickett in the middle.