titan_uranus

I’ve been guilty of assuming the jumper colours at training indicate selection. But I suspect this is the answer. Today, we saw photos of the following: Blue - Gawn, Langdon, Oliver, Turner, Fritsch, Trac, Laurie, Bowey, Brown, Windsor White - Gawn, Trac, Rivers, Woewodin (albeit these four were white vests over blue jumpers), Campbell, Laurie, Mentha, Billings, TMac So Laurie clearly in both blue and white. All told, tells us little I would have thought.

I wonder whether we can get away with just May and Howes for Lever and Sparrow. Play Howes where Rivers has been, play Rivers where Sparrow has been. Avoids us having to drop Windsor or Lindsay (who maybe need a spell, but otherwise I just want to see them keep playing and learning), and avoids a Spargo/Laurie inclusion.

Can you find me a single post, let alone a “conga line”, of people telling us what a great job Goodwin’s doing?

So that’s May for Lever, surely. Someone for Sparrow, and then the Petty question to be resolved.

I honestly could not be more happy with his season to date. He’s everything I’d dreamed we see, and more. Can’t wait to see what he can do off a full pre-season.

So is Goody only responsible for the unsuccessful picks, and JT responsible for just the successful ones?

As always, it goes both ways. There are plenty who “resent” anyone who thinks Goodwin should coach in 2026. Or who disagree with the argument that we should have won multiple flags. I argued earlier in this thread that the gap between the top 6 finishes we had in 2022-23 and top 4 finishes isn’t as huge as people on here now argue. For that I got called a “Goody acolyte”. I never said a word about my view on whether Goodwin is going well right now or not. Why is it that anyone who isn’t flatly negative is taken to “put up with the same deficiencies” just because they turn up each week? The nuance is gone. It seems you either have to be outright positive about everything, or outright negative about everything. Post anything that isn’t fully negative and you’re a “happy clapper”.

Grundy’s been good for the last 6 weeks. But AA selection comes from a season, not half. TDK was going great for the first 6 weeks but has fallen off a cliff. Xerri and Jackson are the only rucks other than Gawn who have had good form for the whole season, and IMO Gawn’s got both covered. Jackson being in a winning/finals side helps him a lot though.

Like I others I fully expect Spargo to get Sparrow’s spot. But I don’t want it to happen. I’d prefer Laurie, Culley or even Billings gets a turn, or even Howes in and Rivers up the field more. I just don’t see a world where Spargo meaningfully contributes to any successful 2026 season we have.

Does Petty come back? If so, for who? We gain nothing IMO by dropping Jeffo now. Personally, I’d leave Petty out. Who gets dropped for May? I suspect it’ll be TMac but it probably should be Lever. The story that will generate may well dissuade us. Does Howes get in? If so, for Sparrow? If not, for who? And who then gets Sparrow’s spot? I’d love to see us either reward Billings or give Laurie or Culley a shot, but I’m fully expecting Spargo or Sharp to come back, and I’m not really excited by that.

We were always on a hiding to nothing this week. A loss would have obviously been disastrous but a win leads to what we’ve seen already - “it was only North”, “nothing to be excited about” etc. Of course, all week we had people saying we’d lose, the $4.20 on North was stupid, we’d struggle to win again all year, so there must be a fair number of people who, whether they admit it or not, must have been pleasantly surprised today. Feels like Lindsay and Windsor are limping to the line. I want them playing each week if possible but if they can’t impact due to fitness, there’s no point. Langford though - no such concerns. What a gem. I found it super interesting that the only players to get centre bounces today were the rucks, Pickett, Trac, Clarry and Viney. It feels like after the disaster of the GC first quarter we’ve given up on trying much, if anything, new in there. We just have to persevere with JVR and Jeffo now. They have to keep playing together and learning to work together. Chopping and changing gets us nowhere. And on Xerri I reckon it’s a suspension for sure, but the standard 3 weeks off the table and not more. It was careless but those elevating it to a Gaff/Hall act are way off IMO.

Who does Adams replace? TMac/May, or Lever? I'm a bit worried about Howes being in the same camp as Laurie - too good for VFL, but not quite good enough for AFL. But unlike others, every time he goes back to Casey he seems to step up and play well.

I know he's not the future but is there any more Billings can do to get a recall? Best part about watching Casey for the rest of the year is watching Kentfield to see if he can keep this upward trajectory going.

They have, indeed, won just one fewer game than us to this point of the season. In a year where some thought they might not win a game and some thought we might play finals. FWIW though, that game was horrendous. They were terrible but won because Essendon were, somehow, worse.

Theirs were 2 years apart. 3 of 4 at their home ground. And the year in between they lost a prelim at home. How much different are they, really? Again, if we had that record the same detractors would be making the same arguments.

Not the only one. Brisbane too - they went out straight sets in 2019 and 2021. And I maintain that “final 4” or “final 6” are both “competing for the flag”. And that if we had made prelims and lost them, you would be running the exact same argument now - “two failed prelims”.

Rightly or wrongly, I always view the 2011 flag as the culmination of the Bomber Thompson era of 2007-11. The Danger/Cameron/Stewart era doesn’t go back to 2011 but even from 2016 when Danger joined them, the same general point remains - one flag from 10 seasons (if they don’t win it this year).

That’s not what I’m debating. We were “a chance for a flag” in 22-23 but these days those seasons get cast away as failures by those who succumb to the “we should have won multiple flags” rhetoric. And at any rate, for all the reinventing and competing they’ve done, my previous post remains true. If Geelong doesn’t win it this year, that’ll be 1 flag in 14 seasons of them being “competitive” under Scott. I’m not criticising them, I’m merely making the point that flags are hard to win.

Hey @Clintosaurus Gold Coast got about 5 free kicks in the last 5 minutes. I assume this is because the Collingwood conspiracy took a break tonight?

Noah Anderson is so [censored] good. Watch this game and tell me again how good our midfield is. An absolute mile off what Gold Coast have.

We were competing for them. We made the final 6 instead of the final 4. It’s worse, but not that much worse. If we’d lost consecutive prelims in 22-23, this board would be saying the exact same thing about Goody: “won a flag then couldn’t even win a single prelim”. @seventyfour is right. Winning flags is hard. It’s frankly insane how many people on here roll out the whole “we should have won multiple flags” line. At the end of this year, at least three of the following will be true: Collingwood will have won 1 flag from 4 seasons under McRae, despite having a stack of talent and a dream fixture Brisbane will have won 1 flag from 7 seasons of finals, despite their incredibly talented list Geelong will have won 1 flag in the last 14 years under Chris Scott, despite being in the Danger/Cameron/Stewart era the Dogs will have won 0 flags in 9 years despite having a list and midfield depth to die for

Playing his role he shouldn’t be mid-table for metres gained. I actually think he’s one of our bigger problems. IMO he’s just coasting through games, not influencing anywhere near the level we need from a half back who should be able to kick.

Chris Fagan is far closer to the “great to have a beer with” style than the “scientist in the basement”. And indeed, I’d suggest that a common link between the best current/recent coaches (McRae, Fagan, Longmire, Hardwick, Scott) is their ability to balance their connection with players with their professional approach to tactics/selection, without ever becoming a “scientist in the basement” who prioritises robotic/cold interactions.

I’m fairly confident this isn’t right.