titan_uranus

Wow. Speechless.

Goodwin said in the presser we had gastro through the group this week. Half a chance Oliver and JVR had it at some point I reckon. Both looked like they had it from the first minute of the game.

If Houston were a free agent I suspect the majority view here would be that he’d be a great addition. We just lost yet another game hallmarked by our poor foot skills and we are seeing increasing calls for McVee to go into the middle. But attaching pick 6 to him is where most of us feel uneasy. IMO trading pick 6 in this draft out for a 28 year old half back just isn’t the right move.

6 - Pickett 5 - Gawn 4 - Viney 3 - Petty 2 - ANB 1 - McVee

No doubt these were the good parts of his game. But he fumbles, he misses easy kicks, he is still too soft, and he dropped his head badly after his howler dropped mark and missed snap. IMO, the good did not do enough to outweigh the bad. But I might be too harsh on him.

How many bemoaning the coaching were saying pre-game that we wouldn’t get near them? If you can’t react to a loss with anything other than “poor coaching” or “sack Goodwin”, just don’t bother. Our set up, effort and intensity is what had us leading the side sitting 2nd, fresh off beating the side sitting first by 100, all night. We lost this game because we’re woefully unskilled, incapable of executing basics under pressure, unfit and panic in close games. Billings drops a chest mark then panics and misses the snap. Kolt misses from 20m. TMac turns it over under no pressure. Langdon fumbled his first touch how many times? We’re carrying unfit players. We’re not aerobically fit enough and so we have players unable to spread or close down space in close games as needed. Despite all that, we kept ourselves in it. Our defensive set up and our brutality at contest for 3.5 quarters, coupled with Kozzie and Gawn masterclasses, was fantastic. But all for nought when we cannot sort out the basics. I’m glad we used McVee in centre bounces more. Should keep doing that now that we’re done. Bring in Bowey or Woey or AMW to cover and run him through the middle more. Time to “manage” Oliver. Get him off for surgery if he needs it or otherwise just start his pre-season ASAP.

Yes. I pretty much explicitly just said that. I also consider this year to have been a significant disappointment, and I was filthy at the two finals losses last year too. The two concepts aren’t mutually exclusive.

It’s funny, Cornes’ article is getting all the attention but earlier this week on SEN Brad Johnson had the counter argument which AFAIK hasn’t been mentioned on here. Collingwood tonight have become very likely to miss the finals. Which, if it happens, will confirm that we are the only one of the last four premiers to make the finals the following year. It’s time we stopped going on about “wasted dynasties” and started acknowledging that in the current era of AFL-driven hypercompetitiveness, winning a flag is difficult, and being successful in back-to-back years is even more so.

Those handful of deliberates late were a bit much. Thankfully Collingwood were the ones to cop them.

Tom Morris just reported that North is targeting Jack Viney to “reunite” him with his father. Demonland implosion incoming…

The changes are more logical than some on here want to admit, but they're equally uninspiring for those of us who have enjoyed seeing fresh faces in the side. I get why Hore and Salem are playing, and more importantly I can accept why AMW isn't, but if I'm honest I'd still rather see AMW out there.

Signing Brayshaw when we did, on the terms we did, was completely reasonable. The "history" of concussions was a thing of the past and what happened to him at the end of 2023 doesn't mean our decision was wrong. Signing Clarry when we did, on the terms we did, was probably something we had no choice over. If we didn't do it, someone else probably would have, irrespective of whatever he was dealing with off-field. There are very valid discussion points around Grundy (not so much trading him IMO as failing to make it work), Petty and the depth list management issues though.

Because they want the suspense of the Sunday having top 4/8 impacting games (people will probably watch the Friday night game regardless), and probably to ensure Foxtel has some good games that round.

There are two MCG games, the other is Rich v GC. They don’t want dead rubbers on the Sunday so they had to put one on Saturday and one on Friday night.

Wholly uncalled for. There is room for debating @WalkingCivilWar’s views on the club given her close connection to the players/coaches/staff. But what cannot be debated is her connection. Which she owns from being completely devoted to the club. I’d like to think the players would tell you to [censored] right off, but I might leave that to WCW.

This is a good post. Principally because it acknowledges that multiple factors go into our performance. It's not just one. It's certainly not just fitness/injuries. It's not just list management. It's not just our game plan, or our ball movement, or even our skills. And it's not just the loss of Gus. It's all of them. I don't come down as harshly on Goodwin as you do, but one area that we have to acknowledge he failed in this year was his attempt to change us after the 2022-23 finals failures by changing our set up and relaxing our press in the first third/half of this season. It didn't work. I think the idea to tweak was correct, but we went too far and, regardless, didn't get it right given our playing list. The lack of a proper second ruck/forward is an absolute disaster of list management/coaching, however you want to split it. Running Gawn into the ground on 1.5 legs and relieving him with our only promising natural tall forward is bananas.

Are you serious? They beat Essendon by 10 goals last week! This week they got flogged by the premiership favourite, a side they are nowhere near right now. Does Sydney lack pride and have they put the cue in the rack too, after consecutive weeks of beltings?

Our 2016 list had 9 of our eventual 23 premiership players on it. Ridiculous to suggest Goodwin took over some sort of Rolls Royce.

Essendon will beat GC next week. If Carlton lose to Hawthorn, Essendon will move back into the 8 with two to play. Admittedly their last two are Sydney and Brisbane, but with Sydney's form nosedive, how can you say right now that Essendon can't win that? If they win that, they get to 13.5. The only saving grace here is the prospect that they can still miss finals from 13.5 (Carlton and Hawthorn have easy fixtures to get to 14 wins, the Dogs too, and Fremantle just needs one win to get to 13.5 and will hold them out on percentage if needed).

Probably helps fitness-wise in the last quarter when you haven't travelled for 10 weeks and play an interstate side who travels every second week. Still, that's despicable from Fremantle. Top 2 is on the line and they've lost to a side who hasn't looked capable for a month, from 25 points up with 15 to play. But hear me out on this: Fremantle's had one decent win since Round 7, which was vs Sydney in Round 16, and even that now looks less strong given Sydney's fallen in a hole. Since Round 7 their other wins have been Richmond (twice), St Kilda, us (twice), GC and WC.

IMO the clear number 1 factor isn't fitness, it's skills. We turn it over far too often across our own half-forward line and get burnt the other way because we're not set up deep defensively. Meanwhile our own poor skills mean that when we take the ball of our opponents we don't generate enough shots and then we don't convert them. I also think another key factor is our woeful midfield. We concede too much territory from being so poor at stoppage that we're playing too much of the game in our back half and spending too much time and energy defending, leading to more poor kicks out and more turnovers. We're not a side/list that can compete when we're 18th for clearances. Being so poor at stoppage is a big reason why we're 12th for inside 50s. Plenty of other factors at play, including our own desire in the first half of the year to play less of a high forward half press, and obviously we're worse in the middle given no Trac and half an Oliver, but our collective midfield efforts this year have not been good enough.

I understand you are in favour of re-shaping the list and our best 23 but the only thing worse than signing Clarry to the massive contract we gave him, would be to trade him for a 2nd rounder and pay part of his wage. If any club thinks they can get Clarry back to pre-2024 levels, then we should believe that too. In fact, there's an argument he can only do it here, with the support networks he has relied on to keep his life on track around him.

Top 8 is nearly set. GWS probably just need to find one more win, albeit that's tough with Brisbane and the Dogs away and Fremantle at home. If they lose all three, Hawthorn can pass them by winning all three (Carlton, West Coast and North), and can even pass them with a loss to Carlton next week, provided they make up the percentage gap. The other 7 sides shouldn't miss from here - Carlton and the Dogs have easy enough fixtures to win 2 more games each and get to 14 (Dogs should make it on 13 due to their percentage anyway). How classic for us will it be if we miraculously go 3-0 from here, finish 13-10 and become the first ever (I think) side to miss finals on 13-10?

GWS’ accuracy was the only thing keeping them going the last month, and helped them against us last week. 2.9 today. Of course it’s against Hawthorn that they finally have an accuracy stinker. Hawks win this, they make finals. Brace yourselves, everyone. It’s happening.