Wiseblood

Steven May has been excellent today. Easily his best game for us.

Not unless you can provide them. When we got ourselves back into the game in the second quarter, Viney was instrumental in that.

Misery loves company.

I'm bloody loving this.

What's that got to do with the reason he was put down there? And he was prone to errors, but no more so than anyone else down there during the earlier and middle parts of the season. Anyway, let's move on y'all. We're playing good footy so let's enjoy it.

I know. I'm sorry I tried to make sense of the situation.

He still packs his dacks when he gets it, but you're right. He had a good second term and looked like the player that kicked 20+ goals last season. We need him to back it up in the second half.

TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Who would you have put there? With those guys out we were already forced to play Oscar, J Wagner etc down there. We needed a little but of class and footy IQ. Granted, he never always hit the target, but he did it more often than others.

I agree - I've always felt he was a forward, but necessity predicated that we needed him elsewhere. Hopefully he now stays there.

When May, Lever, Jetta and Lewis were all out, we almost didn't have an option but to put him back. Now that they're all back we have the freedom to stick him there.

Full credit to Goody and the coaching staff. The move of both Lewis and Fritsch (from the first bounce) up forward has been a masterstroke and has contributed 5 of our 7 goals. Can't fault the endeavour, the effort and the willingness to fight for the shirt. The skills, especially under pressure, haven't always stood up but on the other hand we've played some ripping footy. Fingers crossed we can keep it up and cause an upset!

I know. Cheers. Stevethemanjorda n Also, I had to look up who Steve Jordan is. I'm assuming it's the drummer. Looks alright, but he's no Sugarfoot.

Good and fair post, mate. With the season the way it is we're far more flippant and cranky with one another, and I get that it is hard to look at things rationally when we're second last on the ladder. I hate where we're at, and I'm not accepting of it, but I am accepting of the reality of the situation. As we've both said, there are many variables that have hurt us this year - some avoidable, others right out of our control. But Goodwin won't escape the criticism if we're in the same position next year. Our list, even with its gaps to fill, is too good for that. With Misson out and someone fresh in, I have hope that things change on the injury and fitness front, and this is the first step to a return to where we should be. Other big decisions need to be made, and I'll be waiting to see how we go about this. It will shape the next few seasons for us.

I see your points, but a little harsh on Nev. He's two games back from a significant injury. He deserves a little more time before we write him off. Hibbo has been... okay. He isn't the Hibberd of 2017 but it's not as if he's a liability.

That wasn't really the point, Moonie. It's more around how they try to stuff us last year with Jesse, but this time we have more power. I'm sure a trade will happen if he wants to come here, but we have more leverage this time.

I 'hope' for rational. You don't often get it, but it's there.

I want to follow up my post above by looking at a predicted 'Round 1' side from March 10 that was chosen by @Clint Bizkit. Here is the side that would be, in his opinion, our starting 22: FB: Jetta May Hibberd HB: Lewis Frost Salem Centre: Brayshaw Oliver Jones HF: Petracca Weideman Fritsch FF: Melksham T. McDonald vandenBerg Foll: Gawn Viney Harmes Int: Hunt J. Smith Stretch Spargo This team, from what I can gather, factors in the fact that Hannan wouldn't be ready for Round One. He is one guy who was instrumental in our finals run who has struggled since getting back on the park. We've missed him this year. Of the back line - May and Jetta, as well as Jake Lever, have missed large chunks of the season. They're our three best defenders. Lewis, who was borderline best 22, has been injured and in and out of the side. Frost and Salem have had good seasons while Hibberd has been just okay. The forward line is where it gets worse. Vanders, another who was an important cog in our finals, hasn't played a game. Melksham has missed large chunks of time. T Mac had off season surgery and took forever to get on the park. Even Joel Smith, who is on the interchange, hasn't played a single game for the season. Fritsch has been handy, but has spent more time back than forward, while Spargo has had second year blues, and has had them hard. Trac has been the shining light, while Hunt has been good. Weideman, another kid, has struggled big time. Our midfield has been a disappointment, but all of them had off season surgery and took time to get going. They are still working on, and struggling at, the two way aspect of the game. Oliver and Harmes have been good for most of the season, but Gus is waaaay off the mark. Put it all together and you get what we have now. Also, the injuries have forced us to play both Wagners, Oscar Mac, Preuss, ANB, Tom Sparrow, Dunkley and others when they're either not ready for regular AFL footy or just not up to it. Just look at the makeshift forward line we put out there last weekend. We did well to get as close as we did.

What are you sayin'?

Had a look at who liked this post and laughed. The wrist slashing committee is patting themselves on the back. They love it and wallow in it. Again, as I said in a post I quoted you in earlier that you've ignored, the way you speak about those who actually want to discuss this rationally with you is pretty poor. I would have thought you're better than that.

I think it pisses people like me, and others, off how you can generalise our feelings about the season as just 'shrugging our shoulders' because we look at things in a rational manner. Do you really think after each loss I shrug my shoulders and move on? Of course not. No one here would have that reaction. I just choose to look at things a little deeper than jumping off the deep end. I'm not saying you do that personally mind you. But the past, to the current crop of players, is totally irrelevant. The '87 Prelim, Norm Smith sacking so on and bloody so on have nothing to do with the current people at the club. Nothing. And even if it was relevant, what do you want them to do in terms of acknowledging it? Do you want them to discuss how we shouldn't run over the mark in a Prelim every time they review a game? I'm not in denial. I'm living in the now. And the now is that, after four years of good, incremental progress and generally good list management, we've had a shocker this year. The only unprecedented part is potentially how far down the ladder we finish, but we aren't making finals so I'm not too fussed where we finish due to what we've slogged through this year. Other clubs have done it - the Hawks won a flag and then missed the finals. The Eagles were great for a few years and then dropped right off to finish for a season in the bottom four. I'll make it clear that I'm not comparing our side to the Hawthorn's of the late 00s, but it's not as if Melbourne are the only club to do this. And there are major circumstances as to why. I acknowledge that changes need to be made, both in the box (I think Misson moving on is a very good thing) and on the field. We've got some crucial decisions to make, no doubt about it, but we won't be basing it or thinking about the past. We need to think about what's best for the club moving forward. To me, the only people who are scarred by the past are supporters. If those supporters want to live in the past and slash their wrists about it, be my guest. I won't be joining you. I'm already looking ahead with anticipation at how we go about our off season and getting back up the ladder again in 2020. I'd expect the club to be doing the same.

I'll be interested to see how we negotiate with Freo as well after the rubbish from last year. I can't see them attempting to do us any favours, although finishing on the bottom means we possibly hold all the cards in terms of him going into something like the pre-season draft.

Langdon isn't a defender. Not from what I've seen anyway. And he has what you're asking for - outside speed.

I agree - Goodwin hasn't been going on and on about them. The media might be, and the fans (like myself) will bring it up as part of the explanation for the season we're having, but I don't think the club has made a big deal out of it at all. I think Goodwin plays a pretty straight bat about it. The fact is that we've had off season surgeries and numerous injuries at different times to deal with. We need to learn to handle it better, but the fact is that we've had a large number of them and it's tough to overcome.