leave it to deever

I think it's fair to assume after two games that we are not going to win a flag this year. I thought we played really well against a very good team in the Giants but Sunday's game was a fiasco. What then will determine if Goody will be around next year? Does failure to make finals justify removing him? Goody did a remarkable job helping this club win a flag. It was 56 years of misery and pain ended by a coach where so many other coaches failed. A flag comes from a combination of many things. Obviously it takes a great collection of great players. And we certainly did have that. In spades. We came so close to winning another in 23. So Goody has been an exceptional coach. And while he's not perfect it has to be recognised that it's a very difficult job. Now we find that many of those players have had injuries ,have left or other issues. Goody doesn't have a great list anymore. I mention all this because I don't want to see the man unceremoniously removed from the job. In today's footy age, coaches resign, get pushed out or sacked in a whirlwind of media judging. These things often have a force and momentum of their own. I have a feeling that Goody won't be coaching at Melbourne next year. The question isn't really should Goody be removed, it's really a question of when and how. Perhaps the club should find a new coach ASAP with the view to let Goody bow out gracefully and the with the respect and kudos he deserves. He certainly warrants leaving the club in a dignified manner . He achieved the ultimate prize that a plethora of other coaches couldn't achieve. He should not be in the centre of s#t storm media prophecy calling for his blood week in and out until it comes to fulfill itself as they always do. And as much as I don't like the word, it is time for a rebuild and as such getting a new coach would help with that. We have often used the term premiership window with the 21 crop of players. For a combination of reasons, this window is well and truly closed. Time to start making a new one. And along with it, time for a new coach.

Tx 58er. Although do you think he is strong enough and has the right body type to succeed as a classic in and under ball getter? I see him more as a wing type player.

Tx for the PC. Another insightful one in times when many of us are baffled. The scary summation for me is the observation about how our backline is failing us. First the fwd line, then the MF and now this. Despite my calls before this game of possibly moving May fwd....scrap this....we are in trouble in our defence department. Mays's absence was very much obvious. I thought Petty played well but he seemed alone. Maybe Bowey a little better than he's been but he needed to be. The real issue is Lever and May both being injury prone. They are getting on in years. With having to move Disco fwd we are struggling everywhere. And back to our forward line, it's no different. In the PC , someone briefing touched on Max spending more time fwd. Just no for me. If he's not rucking he should be resting. And I'm sorry but he is just a terrible set shot. Up there with Tracca. The p.c. was right about the form of Jvr. It's gone south further than Macquarie island so with him joining the company of Fritta, our backline struggling and our mids all over the shop, we are in for a good deal more pain.

There you go #demoncat At around about 0ne hour and 15 minutes.... I think it was George on the outer that sums up your concern about Ed Langdon's change quite succinctly. Not in these words but probably similar.... Ed Langdon is not a ball magnet...he's more of a ball mover. Not to say he doesn't get his fair share of disposals but rather his strength lies in his speed and skill rather than his strength.( If that makes sense.) I think in the p.c. they allude to the fact that Ed is not your typical strong mf who gets in under packs like Viney and wins the ball in tight comps. For me, the mids are there to get the ball to Langdon type players who use their speed and silky skills to move the ball down the ground. So yea not a great move.

The same can be said about the move of Petty to the fwd line last year. From memory, he played an absolute pearler against the tigers and booted a bag of sausage rolls but sadly, that's pretty much where the experiment ended. I mean he showed the occasional glimpses of good work but he's just not a fwd . For reasons beyond my limited comprehension, defenders don't convert well to being fwds like fwds can become defenders Tmac is one of the exceptions to this rule as he became one of our best fwds after years of defending and pretty much set up a lot of our wins in 2021 to put us in flag contention. Maybe he was originally a fwd in his salad years. I'm not sure he could play fwd again given the injuries he's had and plus he's doing a bang up job in his old role. Although I do wonder why we haven't tried him again. Maybe we are worried he will get injured. But back to Langdon....you are spot on in calling this change out. It didn't work. And while one could rightly argue that more time is needed than just one game, we don't really have that luxury. And yea it's early days but I foresee hard times and trouble ahead. I know Jbr and Fritta are struggling but if one of those were injured, then oh boy. But back to Langdon. We need Langdon in the position he has absolutely dominated in. And done so many a time. I'll hold off on giving Goody a serve because I feel he's doing the best he can with limited options. He's also been quite flexible and open minded with some of these decisions. I used to think he was quite stuck in his ways. Not anymore at least. But back to Langdon... When he's in top gear, he is a weapon and then some. Let's hope we see him reaching those cogs this year. And in his true position. In fact if we look at our 2021 list and see who is playing in their respective "lower gears", there are quite a few. Fritta Jvr Lever Spargo Bowey And on Sunday we saw The Three horseman of Max, Tracca and Oliver struggle at times. Yes Oliver had a very high possession count, he used the pill poorly more than once. In fact they all did. Last year after that infamous Freo game last year they did so as well. Well Tracca was injured. But that's part of it. With that tremendous talented trio below par or injured or out, it's very noticable. We had May and Kozzie out. Also since 21 Anb and Jackson and BBB have gone That's a lot of stardom out of form, missing or injured for sure. In footy dollars it's a mountain of moola. If you had all the blokes mentioned above playing their best , then you could fill the other spots with unknowns and still come out on top. So there are clearly a lot of problems. But back to Langdon. He's not alone.

May used to be a fwd and if your happy to try Petty there, then why not. Well mainly because we tried Petty there and it simply didn't work. I think I'm fair it calling that out. I'm sure most would agree he didn't do well playing fwd. And as for Turner, I said well maybe. I was non committal because I saw my own double standard. But again mainly because of Petty not doing well there. He averaged less than a goal a game and why he played the odd good game, they were well and truly far and few between. May is different to those two. He is much stronger and unlikely to get moved out of position. I believe we need someone that can take a few pack marks given the way we bomb it in. i wasn't having a go at you. Apologies if it seemed gruff. Cheers.

After Sunday's tripe, please let me vent 74.

He won't be sacked. Not during the season. If we continue to stack up more losses like Sundays, he may retire. If we finish 14th again then I can't see him coaching us next year though. And if it gets to that would probably be for the best. And yea he's a premiership coach but like the players, you still have to keep performing. And if we have two years of no finals after two outs in straight sets, even after a flag, surely that's the breaking point. The North outcome strangely feels like the game we lost against Freo last year. At least we have time to turn it around but zim really not hopeful. And zi try to be. It's just Sundays game really exposed some deep core issues and it's not something a new coach could turn around promptly.

I had to quote you because there's no pull your head in emoji. Pyhi.

Kinda of like not doing anything to fix a dodgy forward line for three years. Yep the cubs shown some significant signs of craziness.

Changing coaches is not going to change the negligence of the club's poor drafting in regards to a decent hand for Max who could also help our fwd line. The club wasn't off course with the Grundy experience except for two small details... Grundy doesn't mark and he's no fwd. I mean other than that it was a brilliant move. Also it's not going to reverse the bad form of our only TWO tall/ fwds in Fritta and Jvr. ( Disco and Jeffo don't count as yet). Or produce another key fwd somehow. I mean it's not like Goody can put a rocket up these two by dropping them. We don't have anyone to fill their place. So there's that. However, I'll go to my grave yelling Goody cost us a flag with the five game part timer in Laurie as the sub when Gus was almost decapitated. Sure just one player but we were effectively one man down because of it in a game that went down to the wire. And while Goody couldn't predict the sub would be needed for the whole game, that's kinda of the point. Laurie was so far out of his depth in a normal game not to mention a final in front of 80 odd thousand. My goodness Simon, what were you thinking? I know, I know, it's history. But how often do you get a double chance in this game? And this is why he gets the benefit of any doubt. Flags are just so rare, you have to hang on with both arms to any coach that delivers one. But one thing for sure, complacency is a success killer in this game, so it's a fine line. In any event, these things have a momentum all of their own. A couple more performances like Sundays and the noise around Goody will get very loud. And while I'm sure the club will keep him all year, failure to make finals again will produce a cacophony of coach killing calls, that the decision will be made for it. Just saying.

Good point. Norths pressure with its high tackle count and numbers to the contest seemed far superior to our efforts. Especially in our fwd line. Our fwd pressure was terrible. N M seemed to waltz it out of their backline at leisure. Sometimes straight down the guts which often involved a score. Their clearance effort was far better too. Our over the head handballs rarely found their mark. In fact a lot of them were look away ones because of North's pressure. Suffice to say they didn't work either. Funny that.

What did Goody actually say about Max? Did he suggest Max was having some issues outside of the game? If so, is he out of line? Max has been the heart and soul of this club for the last decade and I personally would not be fussed if he ran over a seeing eye dog.

Viney should not be dropped. Fritta is very lucky. But I dare say if we play like this again this weekend, then the calls for Goodys head will start to grow. He's a premiership coach and that counts for heaps. But as the old saying goes ...a week is a long time in footy. Would be a shame to lose him but after yesterday, I'm not sure we are heading in the right direction. At what point do we seriously consider his replacement? Does failure to make finals again this year count?

Absolutely needs to be dropped. But we who can we replace him with? Probably doesn't matter because you can't gift him another game after that.

Ditto

Absolutely not. Well maybe Turner but we do not have that luxury as yet. And the high hopes for Jvr to be another champion chf are fading fast. I don't think putting him the ruck last year helped his form and confidence. As for Disco he's a lovely shot at goal but i think we are messing him around too by playing him in a position he's not really suited for. Id certainly try May fwd but we tried Petty there and it didn't work in the slightest. Here's an idea Mfc, rather than having to keep trialling players in positions they are not suitable for, how about simply recruiting some who are?

For sure. They still have issues growing grass due to the silly orientation of the ground and it's stand heights so there's that.

We haven't rebuilt the fwd line. I'm glad we are giving Jeffo a run but we really only have one replacement for Jvr and Fritta and that's Milkshake. And his body must be close to cooked. And he's not a tall fwd either. And Turner hasn't proven himself as a fwd yet. So yea my expectations are in check with a fwd line of Fritta, Jvr and Disco. For sure. But yesterday it wasn't just our fwd line. It was the entire team. Apologies to Chandler. But sheesh one player against last year's second last team. Now I really have no expectations

Yep. We played well against the giants but to be comprehensively smashed by last year's second last team is demoralizing. Fritta should be dropped for a month for his performance. Not a single tackle off the back of a lethargic game prior and a lackluster year last. It's one thing to have an off day but the zero tackle count really speaks towards attitude. I didn't play a great deal of the game and for sure wasn't very good but I always knew that if had trouble getting a kick, I could always lay a tackle. But the club hasn't really recruited any decent replacement for him for three years now. No wonder he doesn't fire. A game each week is a given.

Thank you. Someone's head should roll. Surely. I really don't know that much about footy but I certainly know that we have done absolutely nothing to fix our fwd line set up. Credit for trying the Grundy experience but we let him go and didn't bring in any replacement. It's just baffling

This is what really urks me. We've all said it. Those responsible need to go. Now. And as for the players that openly talked about trades, do we really want them at the club?

We have relied on May, Lever, Oliver, Max, Tracc, Fritta and Kozzie. Two were out. The two midfielders have been all over the place . Max gets no support and Lever and Fritta have gone backwards.

A couple more performances like this and absolutely.

Not disagreeing but how well did we do without one in 23? Melksham made a big difference and without Gus going down we would have more than likely won a flag. And yet here we are 18 months later playing like this. It's mind boggling. We know that we have had some players that have had trouble that has been advertised outside of the club. Our backline today put in its worst effort I can remember. But back to our fwd line, Fritta has a lot to answer for and Jvr has definitely gone backwards big time. Why has the club been so lazy on not addressing this glaring dearth of consistent talent? There's an old saying that complacency brings failure. Perhaps winning a flag after so long has contributed. For whatever reason, this was a great list we had and it deserved more than one flag. Surely heads must roll.