titan_uranus

I reckon Tom McDonald's doing alright. But as @Wells 11 said, this question is redundant right now. We're so far off as a collective, it's not surprising that no one looks any good.

Again, if you want it to, sure. The point I'm making is that his body language can't be interpreted as definitively meaning anything.

Only if you want to interpret it that way. You could equally view it as a guy who wants to commit to this club and so is frustrated that we’re not winning. His passion and energy after his two goals looked genuine and strong. He’s an emotional guy. We’re playing like [censored] right now. It would be more worrying to me if he wasn’t reacting to our form, tbh.

Viney did 12 centre bounces tonight, out of 22. Oliver, Langford and Pickett all did more.

We did the "game plan that suits the players we have". It won't get us anywhere, any time soon. Carlton's trying it now, and are the only side rivalling us for underperformance.

I rarely think we ever lose a match at selection, nor do I buy into the "Goody picks his faves" conspiracy theory. But there's just no way I will be able to stomach seeing Spargo get another game. Not until he goes back to Casey and earns it. Right now he's a slow, possibly overweight, liability with no asset (don't tell me he can kick - that's useless if you can't get the ball in the first place). What the actual flying [censored].

Spargo - shouldn't be playing Sharp - not AFL standard JVR - needs a spell Melksham - not doing anything Salem - game's gone past Rivers - elephant in room

Agree. It's not like we traded the pick for an older player who isn't part of the future. We brought a top 5 pick from this year forward to a top 10 pick last year and get him into the system a year earlier, knowing that last year's draft was strong and this year's draft isn't.

Can't drop Langford. He does all the right things, even if he fatigued late. Our best last week, had a good first half tonight, is the future. I certainly wouldn't be dropping or even resting him if the replacement in your list there is Laurie.

Petty has to be dropped for Lever. Spargo and Sharp both have to be dropped. They are both absolutely useless right now. Both need to go find some VFL form. I doubt Lindsay will be fit so we'll have to find two replacements and I don't want Billings to be one of them. Laurie maybe, but IMO he's in the same basket as Sharp, Spargo and Billings. Too early for Culley? He didn't just "do his job", he did a great job. The anti-Sparrow bias on here is embarrassing right now.

6 - May 5 - Sparrow 4 - Gawn 3 - McDonald 2 - Chandler 1 - Petracca

This wasn't as bad as some on here are making out. Fritsch kicks that goal at the start of the fourth and it's a 10 point game with us having kicked 6 out of the last 8 goals or something like that, with genuine momentum and for the first time in ages, perhaps a lick of confidence/hope. But he misses, and like the rest of the last three weeks, what was left of our confidence disappeared. We did a lot right IMO. We clearly tried to move it quicker. We applied much better pressure, for much longer than the last two weeks. We actually even got a few coaching moves right (Sparrow to Holmes was a good move and to his credit Sparrow did his job excellently). But there's still so much we're bad at. Fitness. How the [censored] were we being out-run by an older side off a six (but really five and a half) day break coming off a game played in humid Brisbane? We have got our fitness all wrong I've been a JVR defender but he's going nowhere fast. He insists on playing back shoulder and running towards goal, when he does actually lead up he cannot take a mark, and he is a liability if the ball hits the deck. Right now, I'm very much in favour of sending him back to Casey to find some form. It's no wonder Trac's frustrated. Look at who he's got for company down there. Sharp and Spargo wouldn't be getting a game for any other side in the comp right now. Fritsch can't kick straight to save his life. Turner and Henderson can do good things but both are still learning how to be forwards at AFL level. We are so devoid of talent in our forward half. And then of course our skills. We are just so, so terrible by foot. I lost count of the number of times we had space in our forward line and kicked to a player's feet, or over his head, or straight to a Geelong player, or to the Geelong player's advantage. It's embarrassing at this point. May was unbelievable, Langford's first half was great but he faded badly, Chandler on a wing and half-back worked well I thought, I've already mentioned Sparrow's great tagging game, and hopefully Pickett's better for the run next week.

I can't get around the Spargo selection, but well done to him on 100 games. The other changes make us better. Not "we're going to beat Geelong" better, but better. I get that people want to see big names get dropped. They've been put on notice by Goodwin, so if the same players are listless (I'm looking at you, Salem, Fritsch and Viney), and if we get pumped again, the public notice to me signals they're on their last chances.

I’m on phone and it’s also the first day I’ve seen the red box with “3 viewers” next to each thread on the main forum page.

There’s no use being a good kick if you can’t get the ball in the first place. Our foot skills are horrendous but so is our run and spread, and unfortunately neither Laurie nor Spargo can run or spread to AFL standard.

Gee Culley’s come from the clouds. In the video Selwyn says he’ll play modified minutes in the VFL this week. The way our midfield’s going, we may want to call on him sooner rather than later… Kentfield and Tholstrup on the brink of doing the same next week.

As has already been said, there’s nothing sneaky about Viney’s poor start. He is arguably the headline of why we are so bad right now. As for your changes, I just can’t get around dropping Henderson when he’s cracking in as much as possible and can actually kick. I’d be dropping Billings instead.

It doesn’t look like we’re running well, so I think calling our fitness into question is fair. If it’s intentional, as you say, I think that’s moronic given the year and off-season we were coming off. Hitting the ground running (pardon the pun) should have been our core focus. If it’s not intentional, that’s just as bad. Why are we not fit? And if we are fit, then our lack of running is a lack of effort, which is just as bad again.

They’re beatable this week. Maybe not by us, but they’re beatable. Playing in fits and starts, off a six day break after a game in Brisbane humidity, with a question mark over Tom Stewart. I’d have a moderate degree of confidence if I hadn’t watched our last two games.

Then they’re not “bad” contracts. They’re just what we’re left with on the other side of 2022-24. They should be who we rebuild/reset around.

The Trac and Oliver contracts are only bad with hindsight. All clubs sign their elite talent to long contracts. We are no exception, and at the time they were both top 10 players in the league with no reasonable sign of either deteriorating (and Trac was in AA form prior to his injury last year). IMO, both were the right call at the time. I’m happy to debate the Viney contract though.

That’s not his fault, nor does it make the pick a blunder. He’s also been far from our worst.

He was pick 68. The fact he’s played at all means the pick wasn’t a “blunder”.

Almost none of this has anything to do with what I was saying, but ok. On the last para - I can guarantee you that if Green avoided answering a question about whether we still views finals as the expectation, he’d cop it on here for “accepting mediocrity” or not having a “winner’s attitude” etc.

Yeah this Mansell suspension is disgraceful. If it had happened to an MFC player this thread would be going bonkers right now. This wasn’t punishable conduct in the pre-season but is now? The MRO system is beyond a joke.