titan_uranus

Yep: Petty hasn’t played defence for 15 weeks. Does he do it next week? Or does Adams get a go? Can’t keep playing Tholstrup. As much as we need to be playing kids, he’s undeserving of his spot. Tomorrow ought to be an audition for his spot (and Sharp’s too IMO).

We’re entitled to say he needs more time. We’re also entitled to say it doesn’t exactly look promising right now. Let’s hope a big pre-season and more maturity/experience spark him. Right now, I think we simply have to give his spot to someone else.

I don’t care how impactful the umpiring was. This result was utterly predictable and represents everything that is wrong with us. More inside 50s. More scoring shots. Far closer to our first choice side than them. Yet a slow start, wasted chances, inaccuracy all combine, and we lose a close one. To a side devoid of confidence and going no better than us. I’m sick of the “it’s all Goodwin” vs “it’s not Goodwin at all” stuff. If you hold either view, you’re wrong. It’s a whole of club problem. Goodwin’s clearly struggling - when the same mistakes occur each week from the same players, it’s unfathomable to suggest that isn’t even in part on the coach. But similarly, to isolate Goodwin from the rest of the club is nonsensical. We have a list full of players who cannot deal with pressure (physical but more so mental). We have players who don’t appear able to fix longstanding and obvious mistakes. And we, most of all, have a list that has been built to fail. Far too many players who do not possess AFL level skill, or cannot demonstrate it due to a lack of physique or intensity.

Carlton are decent enough starters. We are not. If they get an early jump on us, and they get their hopes up, I’ll be a bit concerned. Would love to see us start well.

I'm only slightly less grumpy about seeing Sharp back than I would have been about seeing Spargo back. So I guess that's a win. Howes unlucky but TMac didn't deserve to be dropped to make room for him. I suppose we just won't see Laurie or Billings again this year, or ever.

That's Essendon's lowest home game crowd, excluding the COVID years, since 2016, the year they had players sit out due to WADA bans, and they went 3-19 that year. But everyone knows now, particularly over the last few weeks with the focus on the timeslot, that Thursday nights aren't for crowds, and they aren't for the fans of the sides who are playing that game. They are primarily for TV, and casual viewers who can't deal with a night without football. Hopefully tonight, next week's awful Hawthorn v Carlton, and Round 23's Essendon v St Kilda, will see not just awful crowds, but awful ratings. In the last 1-2 months of the season, there just aren't enough good games to have a Thursday night game, given the restrictions on 5-day breaks and getting sides into the timeslot. Run Thursday nights to halfway through the season, at most. Otherwise the AFL will continue to kill the goose which laid the golden egg, and everyone loses.

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.