leave it to deever

I found that game pretty strange. I thought from the get go that they would seek blood for what happened to Gus. Their mates career and future health was so unceremoniously upended by that thug. Alas Tracca was out their shaking hands and smiling. I would have thought I'd see a face off like Fury and that Ukrainian fighter . But there was no bite amongst them. Looking back, I guess if they didn't fire up when Gus went down ( your excused JV) then there was no reason to believe they would on the day you mention. Silly me. I feel sorry for Gus. Not just the playing career ended but .....gee where are my mates? That sounds harsh but there's a little bit of truth there. I wonder if it's a case of not wanting to burn players from a possible future club change. Keep ones options open. Certainly, Maynard doesn't suffer from this. But of they couldn't show some biff against the pies after that, then there's fat chance they'll give it to other teams. Unless of course and I suspect it may be true that a lot of our players are scared of a lot of the cwood players. I would be. They get let off for a lot.

I for one certainly had the Swannies pencilled in for a cup before the game. I thought the Lions would have run out of gas. A flag well and truly deserved.

In all fairness 58er, you calling out someone as glass half empty is pretty rich. Fair shake of the sauce bottle. A great deal of your posts are just you having a negative crack at someone. Your contributions are often more of a glass too many. I don't mean to be deliberately rude or critical but you speaking of glasses full or otherwise, the saying glass houses and all that, seems quite appropriate. Cheers .

Thanks Rif. I do acknowledge your footy iq. I do believe there is a cloud over the first two players I think. No one can argue that in their previous prime that they are not the two best players about. But unfortunately one has struggled with form for quite a while and the other has had issues with the club and has yet played since his well known anger at the club and a significant injury. Giving them both the benefit of the doubt, I can't do the same for Petty. Not as a forward at least. Which I think leaves our forward line with just Jvr as our only real tall. And as mentioned he's often playing in the middle for ruck duties. And while a solid young player, he's still learning. I like Spargo but he's no superstar and we are not really lacking goal sneaks. And I do worry about Salos injuries I think there has been too much going on in terms of morale and the club not being able to solve our forward line problems. We lost Jackson and then Grundy . While the Grundy fwd experience didn't really pan out at least they were great back up rucks for poor Max who is carrying a huge load. We have lost Smith as well. Fritta didn't have his best season last year and Tmac is definitely not playing fwd again. I appreciate your positivity but I think we will struggle again ammasing big scores. Can't see us winning a flag with our current forward line. And I imagine Jvr will be required to play in the middle even more. I think we will be one of the four clubs fighting for a finals birth and probably won't make it. Unfortunately 2023 was a big loss for us and our best shot of winning a flag. Losing Melksham and then having Gus knocked out by that dog was really bad luck. We could have rolled the pies had those players not gone down and then won another cup. Shame. Maybe if Gus wasn't whacked we could even have won without Melksham. Id say it was just bad luck but I still maintain that it was a deliberate act on por Gus. Plus we kicked ourselves out of both finals by errant scoring. An issue which has been around for quite a while as has our lack of a couple of big experienced fwds like Tmac. Remember how potent it was when he was in form as a fwd alongside Hogan. Imagine if we had that firepower again with some of the crumbers we now have. And Fritta as well. Wow. Alas our two power back big fwds last year were a young Jvr and all at sea Petty. Night and day. That for me is the biggest hurdle. I just don't believe we have the necessary players and I'm not sure all the players have the necessary mind set. I do so hope I'm wrong.

I don't feel too confident. I'm bouyed by the fact Tracca is staying. Will be interesting to see how our kids go. Anb is a big loss. Expectations are lower for me so I won't be too disappointed if we don't make finals again.

Tx Layzie Sorry I quoted you by mistake earlier. Much appreciated. I'm missing footy.

I'm really surprised by this. Didn't we recruit Grundy as part of a solution to providing a tall option fwd? Have we replaced another fwd who hasn't played for reasons I don't want to discuss? As talented as Fritta is, he can often be out bodied. Tmac is no longer a fwd option. So why do you think this isn't an issue? And I think Jvr is still developing and has had to play in the middle often. So who do we really have? Not having a dig. Just genuinely interested. Cheers.

Reading this article... Melbourne to explore forward line troubles in off-season doesn't fill me with great confidence. We have experimenting enough and for too long. No more bandaid solutions. There has to be at least one proven big fwd we can lure. We must have have a bit of cash to spend.

I feel most have been more than patient with Petty up fwd. He's clearly more suited down back where he has proven himself a very good defender. Has shown a couple of strong games fwd but for the most part either through lack of confidence or skill or both, the jury is in for me. Not a forward. Case closed I hope. Genuine flag contenders go into a season knowing they have proven players in key positions and the experimenting has stopped.

I like the look of this player up forward. He's shown some strong skills as a decent forward. But it's early days. Petty did the same in 23 but then for the most part was a complete bust as a forward. Returning a goal about once every three to four games. Ughhh. Let's throw everything we can at sourcing a proven fwd for 25 and not keep hoping and gambling on finding someone already in our ranks.

Hi good Dlanders. Due to a few health issues, I've very much been out of the loop regarding our trades and expulsions etc. Have we picked up a couple of tall fwds yet to fix a problem that I'd say 99 % of supporters agree on. That our fwd line has been lacking a big bodied , uninjured, experienced tall player that can compete for the Coleman. Perhaps we are missing a decent full forward and chf. In any case our fwd line has cost us possibly two flags and has been a problem very much unprofessionally ignored by the club for three years in a row. Have the powers to be woken up and done anything about it in the last four months? Much obliged.

Hopefully he can put 24 well behind him. Showed his great skills in a few games but the season as a whole was a complete bust for him. Not confident that he will be able to turn things totally around because the spotlight will be intensified all year and there will be more pressure on him. Also the team structure has changed with the loss of Anb and Gus. And how Tracca will perform will also have an impact on Oliver's season given how closely the two work together. However he is one of the games true elite and perhaps he will dig deep and rediscover this. I don't believe another season from him like 24, will see us playing finals.

I have a feeling we may see him spend time in the middle. Needs to work on his disposal a little bit a lot to like about this young bloke. Limited game time so I don't believe we have come close to seeing his full talent. Hard at the contest.

To me it seemed to start after he came back from that nasty shoulder injury.

The elation for some who can't wait to put the boot into Watts as he returns to the club .