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 .

Hope he stays. A club can't limit itself to picking only local players but it if it's a choice between two similar players, it's getting to the point to pick the player in the same state. Love you Kozzie. Must be hard for him with a young family.

I was talking about Nibbler aka Anb.

Nice work Saty. Others could certainly take a leaf here. Cheers. Ps if you ever get to his ear, perhaps a quiet whisper to chase a little more ( just saying). Other than that, also a kind word to him about his elite kicking from the boundary line. He is pure class. And when on like are other elite skills contenders in KP, are a joy to watch. I look forward to next season to see them both firing in a grand final. Backed up by a Andre the Giant type full forward with five or six years experience under his belt. Well why I'm spending, another at ChF although I'm not sure where Jvr slots in. Oh yea and a couple of star players to replace the huge losses in Gus and Nibbler.I'm not greedy. It would be handy if one of those giants could give Max a chop out while we develop our final recruit in a Ruckman. We have a wonderful track record in this last department so perhaps he should be out primary list replacement. Bring it on.

I gave him his dues. I just put it out there that some a new coach might help clean the I'll will that seems to have amassed recently. It's not a vote against him per se but rather a new start.

All isn't well. Either the media has for some reason invented an agenda or some of the reports are true. Every week it's a a new report of discontent from someone. Gus and Anb were out of our control but the whole Tracca and now Oliver rumours are dominant. We've heard reports about JV and JP too . It hardly sounds like a destination club. I also think we need to address why we have ignored our fwd line issues for three years. Plus the people responsible for collecting other clubs hand me downs that haven't really added anything. Perhaps it might be the time for a new coach. Goody deserves credit but his exclusion of Grundy and selecting of Laurie were big mistakes for me in a finals series we should have won. 2023 was ripe for us but those decisions didn't help. Anyway maybe a review wouldn't hurt but I hope all the noise in the press is unfounded.

I hope this is just a rumour..... undervalued...hmmmm. Must be.

Comforting to know that despite Anb being pinged for being pushed over the boundary line at the Gabba, we would have beaten the reigning premiers.😁

Good post HT I'll have to agree to disagree re the talent issue. As far as I'm concerned she may have a reasonable voice despite what I hear as a limited range but it's hard to ascertain where talent ends and auto tune begins.. The issue for me is the songwriting ability. Many people with the aid of a modern keyboard and music technology (which has gone leaps and bounds in the last decade) could turn out stuff like hers. In fact Ai will far surpass her. But I guess that's true for a lot of acts these days and despite my objections the same for performers of yesteryear. Although I sometimes wonder if it's getting worse. I mean where are the songs like Rafferty's Baker Street or Queens Bohemian Rhapsody? I guess the rest is just a matter of taste. We are probably both fans of H and C but it's true that some variety makes things spicy. But spot on about reducing the cost of Grand final tix. They are way too expensive. And when you have two istate contenders, it's a heap lot more with flights and accommodation. With the good old airlines jacking up their prices bang on time, I imagine a family of four would be set back possibly close to 3 or 4 grand. Would that be accurate? A mate of my daughter paid six hundred for a tix. I think that may have been from a scalper. I know some fights were seven hundred from Brisbane. That five million would help put a dent into some of that. But yea there are some creative ways to spend that five mill for sure. A free round, I think is great as it might be a good way to encourage those who don't follow this magnificent code to go to a game and presto their hooked. Another thought would be is to have competitions each round for the average punter. Like selected people from the crowd to kick the longest , handball comps etc...like the basketball challenge. But the point being is Five million is a lot of dosh . A lot for five mins of pop . I guess that's why it's called pop. I'm closer to the end of this existential rollercoaster than the starting line so I'm not the best one to consult as to the best entertainment. But I'm sure amongst footy fans... especially the ones who have memberships, if a poll was done, KP wouldn't be close to the top by a long way. So it's both $ and relevance for me. It's not the first time either. As mentioned re my age it means I'm a huge fan of Mr Loaf ( rest his incredibly gifted soul) and Kiss. But it goes both ways. There would be a lot of footy aficionados that are not fans of these acts. And yea you can't please everyone but this time I really think it was a case of hardly pleasing anyone . Not really into Robbie Williams but he was probably the closest the AFL have done it pleasing the most. So credit paid when due. And spot on about repeating the same acts. Except of course for Mike Brady who has the biggest superannuation policy with those two songs he has. I don't tire of those for some reason. They are up there with the National Anthem and have a wonderful nostalgic feel about them. But there are people much better qualified than me and even more so than the AFL to organise this. I guess at the core of it all is frustration at not just the money which has in this expensive day and age probably excluded quite a few hardcore fans from actually going to not just the granny but also a normal game. Tbh I think a lot of my ire is in the apparent need to have to book an overseas act in the first instance. It smacks a lot of insecurity and culture lacking. I mean don't we have enough oseas influence on television. In particular American television? The one area where this country punches well above its weight class is MUSIC. So it's really irritating when we look past all of OZ musicians. I really do believe the AFL feel that an American name helps promote the game. Or in some twisted logic tries to say " hey look at us...we are important ." And it's just not true. I dare say not a single person in Oz or the USA would now be regular footy fan because KP turned up. Surely we are grown up as a nation to back local acts. Anyway, I've had a good rant here. Despite the free round idea, maybe some wizz kids here can suggest some inventive ways that five mill could be used to promote the game and or help the real supporters afford to go to more games. And maybe the powers to be could do a proper survey of members desired music tastes next year and book an act that pleases more than this one most likely did. Cheers.

I enjoy a good concert as much as the next person. But this is the GF not a KP outing. The amount of props, pyrotechnics, dancers and gimmicks used by some artists is often done to disguise or distract from the fact that the performer is sub par in talent. An inverse relationship. Show business is fun but KP is in the business of making money rather than music. But that's pop music and culture for many. It would just be refreshing to have some talented musicians that can entertain by virtue of their talent. Before all the KP nuffies scream about how many albums she's sold , it is worth saying that is not a metric of talent but rather some great marketing and sales. 5 million is a lot of biscuits for the tripe she served. We could have spent half that on some local mutton. Or we could have presented a half decent local artists and all won. The Afl is obsessed with having to jet in some name from overseas as if we don't have anyone here frothing to take the stage. Yes Oz needs USA acts to be relevant. Wake up Afl. It's just not true. Despite or population, we have produced some of the greatest musicians in the world. The Superbowl doesn't fly in second hand hacks from OS every year. Why should we? Once in a while is ok but fgs take into account the demographics. Yeah so many die hard footy punters just salivate at the prospect of watching KP. I mean so many of my mates flew down to Melbourne and negotiated with scalpers just to get a glimpse of this women trying to be an artist. Good luck to her making the dollars she has but please Afl don't spend ridiculous amounts of moola on this hack that has no talent whatsoever. Money aside, there are 200 s of Oz artists that could do so much better. And if for some reason you just have to have an American act, find someone who has talent. This 39 or something year old woman is trying to be 20 and her computer software that turns out these intolerant songs is just as outdated. It's a nice sentiment to try to have inclusive entertainment. But I think with KP the pendulum has swung too far. I reckon it's fair to say that half or more footy fans on the day are male. And I dare say that at least half of them don't have KP in their Spotify playlists. So fgs why would you shelled out all that cash to fly her in?u niece was happy about it but she didn't even watch the gf on telly. It's just arrogant to pick an act like that without thinking who's at the Gf or watching on tellu Anywhoo maybe next time you might do better but I won't hold my breath. Like the Swans GF record of late, yours is pretty much the same. Except this year you've put done yourself. I know, I know, I know it's just an act for a few mins but I really think Five million is a very high amount of cash. You could use all that to have one round of free footy. Yep, a round in the middle of the year where footy fans could take themselves and their kids to the footy for free. Now that would be inclusive. And perhaps with 500,000 leftover for an oz performance on gf day instead. This final act not necessarily about the scratch but rather the talent. Seriously what the heck were they thinking. Biggest studf up by far. I mean just so many footy fans are KP fans. Not.

Perhaps to used to playing at the scg. Smaller ground. More crowd influence. Was 5 months since their last clash at the G. They beat the Hawks when in lesser form. The lions who used to struggle there had 2 games in the last five weeks there. Beaten by one point by pies and smashed the cats. Big difference .