titan_uranus

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.

I don’t agree with the premise of your argument. The three years under Roos fixed a lot of problems but it’s a bit of a stretch to suggest Goodwin was just handed everything he needed. At any rate, Chris Scott fits the bill of the question you’re asking. And is the only one of the coaches I mentioned who has more flags than Goodwin. I’d also argue that Voss, Longmuir and McRae started off with stronger platforms based on their clubs’ lists and cultures. And plenty of other coaches have failed with more.

Free entry for kids isn’t going to make parents take their kids to a night game. Again, a night game against an interstate side in the middle of winter at the G is a ridiculous timeslot.

Yeah but you said his body is made of paper, he’s 30 and he has ongoing soft tissue. Despite that, you think another club (but not us) can and will turn that around? Hugely different situation to the players you mentioned. None of them were leaders of their respective clubs, Bennell didn’t even have a club, whilst Daniher wanted out of Essendon and McCarthy couldn’t get a game when fit. I agree that on recent form Salem’s not attracting a high pick. That’s my point and what makes this silly. Given who he is at this club (ie a leader, at a time when we need to be playing a lot of kids), getting a third rounder for him means IMO we’re much better off doing what you seem to think other clubs can do and get his body right so that he can continue to be a leader of this club.

Go through the coaches of the better sides this year: Longmire's just "coached" Sydney to a 112 point loss. In consecutive weeks they've kicked a total of 12 goals, 3 of which came in the last 10 minutes of junk time last week. This from a side with about two best 22 players missing and with the so-called unbeatable midfield of Heeney, Warner and Gulden. Just one flag, none for 12 years. Fagan's had his side up for 6 seasons now without a flag. Even if he wins it this year, that's no more than Goodwin Longmuir is unproven and has only made the finals once so far Hinkley was booed off his home ground five weeks ago and has had the job for 10 years without even a GF appearance, let alone a flag Chris Scott has two flags, but it took him 11 years to get the second one, despite having a list with Hawkins, Selwood, Dangerfield, Cameron, Stewart etc. on it Beveridge is 8 years post his flag without a second one, despite a list with the game's best player on it and a midfield that bats deeper than anyone's. Missed the finals last year, and when they're struggling resorts to pot-shots in the media and dropping players out of nowhere Voss is struggling to even qualify for finals (was in the bottom 4 until two-thirds of the way into 2023 and hasn't quite got there yet in 2024) despite having Cripps, Walsh, Curnow, Mackay and Weitering McRae is still odds on to miss finals the year after his flag Mitchell is discussed in some circles as the second coming of Leigh Matthews but hasn't actually achieved anything yet Kingsley is like Mitchell except with one prelim appearance Hardwick is a great but has taken GC and cannot get them to win a game away from home, despite what I believe has been a relatively smooth run with injury this year Goodwin has a flag and, unless Collingwood pulls off something extraordinary from here, will be the only one of the last four premiership coaches to get his side back into the finals the following year.

If you have Carlton, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Essendon all missing finals...you must have us making it. Can't work otherwise. FWIW Carlton's last two games should mean they can't miss, as that's enough to get them to 14 even if they lose to Hawthorn. Hawthorn have to beat at least one of GWS and Carlton and then they will get to 14 given they have the bottom 2 in their final fortnight. GWS remains at most risk of being the side Hawthorn passes. They can beat Hawthorn tomorrow and still miss as they close with Brisbane, Fremantle and the Dogs. No guarantee to win any of those, so even with a win tomorrow they'd stall at 13. If you are still playing at home, I think possibly our only realistic path to finals now is for us to take GWS' spot, which requires this: We win all three (obviously) (gets us to 13) Hawthorn loses to both GWS and Carlton and take a percentage beating, such that we finish the season above them on percentage at 13-10 GWS loses its other three games (Brisbane, Fremantle, Dogs) and sheds enough percentage for us to pass them, also at 13-10 Collingwood loses to at least one of Sydney and Brisbane (they'd cap out at 12) Essendon loses at least two of Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle (they'd cap out at 12.5)

If this is correct, why the [censored] would any other club take him? If your answer is "leadership", think about how players like Rory Atkins to GC or Hugh Greenwood to North have gone. And if you think we'd only get a 3rd round pick for him, that only confirms how silly this proposal is.

May out, I vote Petty to take his place. Get a three-game head start on what should happen in pre-season, which is that Petty returns to defence.

Did you read anything else I wrote?

I don't agree. It's obviously uncontroversial that we didn't know we were going to lose Brayshaw. But the rest is precisely what good list management is supposed to cover for. During our "up" period over the last four years, we have IMO relied too heavily (both in our list management and on game day) on Gawn, Oliver, Petracca and Viney being fit and able to carry us through seasons. The list needed more attention to the midfield over the last few years, not just last year, to ensure that with the inevitable injuries (long term or short) and fluctuations in form/fitness, we wouldn't be caught out like we have been this year. Of course, list management isn't the only reason for our current predicament. Injuries have played their role. But I feel the problem with the position you take on here is that you put injuries as the far and away biggest determinant/factor, almost to the point of disregarding other factors. Obviously no Trac/Gus and Oliver/Viney/Gawn injured/unfit makes us worse, but Collingwood are closer to finals than we are and have had a much worse spate of injuries this year than we have.

If Goodwin had a 1-3 GF record having had Buddy Franklin for those 3 losses, and was coaching a side with Heeney, Warner and Gulden in it which trailed 71-0 in the second quarter, this thread would still exist. The double standards on Demonland are profound. Watch any of the spineless drivel Sydney served up in that first 1.5 quarters and ask yourself whether that was any better than anything you’ve seen from us this year. And then remind yourself that their opponent is a side whose crowd booed their coach off the field a month ago.

Thanks @WheeloRatings . An absolute disaster for us. We are, right now at least, not able to play good football when the ball is stuck in our back half.

@WheeloRatings when was the last time we had such a low percentage in our forward half?