titan_uranus

I watched that video on instagram and didn’t think there were issues…

That’s twice you’ve run an “ends justify the means” argument. I don’t agree. We’d get bigger crowds with a whole host of bad or annoying ideas. That doesn’t stop them being bad or annoying. At any rate, we will see crowds and viewership diminish if we keep playing more games. Scarcity is an important concept and one the AFL doesn’t appreciate.

Yes. I hate that we’re in the bottom half of the competition after 22 games and yet would, if there was a wildcard round, still get a chance to play finals. Talk about rewarding mediocrity.

I always liked how we looked when Brown was in the side and playing well. He never gave anything other than 100%, even when his body and/or his limitations held him back. Obviously integral to the flag, for which he will always be a Melbourne immortal. But also should be remembered for being a great person and, I suspect, an under the radar key leader. Go well, Ben.

He’s also earned it off the back of his form since returning, IMO.

AFL 2024: Christian Petracca discusses his frustrations in meeting with Melbourne Demons teammates (theage.com.au) Not a lot new in this article, except this: "A source familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity to speak freely, confirmed a players’ meeting occurred on Monday. Another source, also requesting anonymity to speak freely, said there was no way a Petracca trade would occur."

But Trac won’t be interested in Richmond. They’re the only one of the big Vic clubs who are guaranteed to be worse than us the next few years. Their crowds have already dropped off, too.

On radio this morning Morris played two grabs from interviews Viney gave last week. The first was given on Thursday but wasn’t aired until last night. He was strong about loving the club and said “I love the Melbourne footy club…no plans to not be a one club player”. The second was the post-match with Lynch where he says “nah” straight away and then the “we’ll see how the year plays out”. Morris argued this shows a change in Viney’s thoughts. I disagree. I think it strengthens the argument that the “nah” was his true answer and the rest is contract negotiation talk. Two days earlier, which was well after the North target story broke, he sat down and said he has no plan to leave. I might be wrong but I’m not at all concerned.

The best they could come up with this morning is Carlton’s 2024 first, 2025 first and McKay.

Well that helps. Morris in his radio segment this morning said: - Trac went to Noosa for “private reasons” and teammates didn’t know what they were initially - Trac is “holding out” to see if he can find a club with three top 10 picks or two and a player - He’s still disgruntled but club doing what it can

I agree with most of this hut playing devil’s advocate, if the AFL allow clubs to trade picks two years out, most of those clubs will be able to offer first rounders in 2024, 2025 and 2026. If he wants to go, Trac will put that to the club with a trade request and try to convince us that we’re better off with three first round picks than a player who doesn’t want to be here.

How are Adelaide and St Kilda not numbers 1 and 2? David King had written us off prior to the Carlton pre-season game, whilst he talked St Kilda up all summer. Adelaide was supposed to be the next big thing and are going to finish bottom 4.

Yeah there’s something not right here. IMO clearly communication between Trac, club and players has broken down. That doesn’t just happen out of nowhere though and so there must I think have been a deterioration of his relationship with the club and his teammates prior. It also explains his social media silence. He doesn’t know what to say, and/or knows he can’t currently say anything, because he doesn’t know what his formal position is. Right now he’s thinking about the possibility that if he picks the right destination, the club will agree to trade him. If he thinks he can make it work, he will come out and say he wants a fresh start. If he doesn’t think he can make it work, he will eventually say something like that he’s had a tough year, emotions got the better of him, needed to take time away from the game and club to focus and reset but will come back to pre-season focused and committed etc.

Well, what I had expected would be a 10,000 bump in attendance off the back of their win yesterday evaporated with Carlton’s win. It really is unfortunate that our home game against them comes in a dead rubber. Any other week of the year and we pull a bigger crowd. Hurts the coffers.

@DeeSpencer again ruining what could be a good debate with unnecessary guff like this: Criticising his leadership by signing on at a time when commitment to the club has never been more important from our leaders is an absolutely awful take that somehow surpasses your other awful takes. Is there a debate to be had about signing him for another three seasons, instead of perhaps two? Possibly, yes. But as is so often the case you launch with ridiculous OTT stuff like this and put people off side. FWIW I’m with @Gator - lesser rucks have recently played to age 35+, and Gawn is not only the GOAT but he is physically gifted. Age shouldn’t constrain him.

So did Trac…

Correct. Fremantle’s destiny is out of their hands. They may be eliminated by the time they play, if those three sides all win. But if any lose, they will pass the loser(s) with a win because of their draw. Collingwood effectively eliminated (mathematically alive but need 150+ point swings or something).

If the statement had the reported effect, it can’t have been the first thing which impacted Trac’s feelings about the club. It’s far more likely to have been a straw breaking the camel’s back, or a further example of an underlying issue (eg his views on injury management, fitness and conditioning, player comms, public relations, etc).

Pretty sure the pressure stat came up on screen in the third and theirs was high, and higher than ours. It definitely felt like their intensity lowered as the game went on but IMO it was only the fourth quarter where it felt like they truly stopped. In the third I felt like we put a gap on them when they were still up and about.

Currently the four required outcomes for Collingwood to make it are all favourites (WC and St K over Carlton, Port over Fremantle, them over us). It’s increasingly frustrating that this would be us if we had held on last week. Just that one game changes, all the rest stay the same (ie keep the Freo and Dogs floggings, the other three close losses etc), and next Friday is almost a playoff for 8th.

@dazzledavey36 said in the post-game thread that we should be thinking about targeting GC players in the wake of yet another disappointing Suns season. I agree - surely whatever lure Hardwick had 12 months ago has worn off to an extent. Is Bailey Humphrey truly happy up there? Fiorini? Does Alex Davies have another level in him which a change of scenery might bring out? I’m far from the most knowledgeable on their players but there has to be some talent on their list that isn’t getting played.

I know, but I watched the team song clip on instagram a few times and I couldn’t see BBB or Hunter in the circle.

If the photo/unity was a message to anyone, it was to the fans/sponsors. Most assume that Trac’s social media silence is indicative of him wanting out. Whilst it might be, it could also be indicative of someone who has been too vocal and is now sheepish and doesn’t know what to say. It’s easy enough to assume he didn’t go to the GC because he’s disjointed from the club, but there is probably another perfectly good reason he didn’t go that we all don’t know about. I might be completely wrong and he could genuinely have thrown the toys out of the cot, but I just reckon we’re all prone to assuming the worst when we maybe shouldn’t.

Why hindsight? We all felt it at the time. Those two fourth quarter misses from Billings and Tholstrup hurt.

Unless you have Carlton beating West Coast, a 1 point win over us and a Fremantle loss to Port puts Collingwood in the 8. Carlton winning tonight pretty much ends them but the Blues’ injury list means that’s unlikely.