titan_uranus

4 minutes ago, At the break of Gawn said:

Got the 10 coaches votes. Nice to see that Hardwick and King both gave the same votes. They see the game as good as anyone.

Gives Gawn the lead overall. 29 votes from a possible 40 is supreme. Bont is second on 28, then Butters on 25 and Daicos 24 (from 3 games though).

11 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

Well, we were favourite in the betting market.

I’ll take your word for it, it just surprises me.

12 hours ago, Adam The God said:

We were favourites in the Carlton game too.

I also disagree with thia sentiment going around that if we lose this week it will undo all of our work.

We will have slip ups this year and it would put us at 3-2. I think most fans would have taken that going into this year. I certainly would have.

That is not to say we should lose to Essendon...

Were we favourites v Carlton? They were coming off the (uninspiring) win against Richmond and we’d just been belted by Fremantle?

As for the whole “undoing the GC win”, my view is that early season positivity, and wins, is critical to driving long term success on and off field - we need our players to believe and we also need our fans and supporters to get on board. We’re building that now. Losing to a side on a 17-game losing streak and who have won just 4 out of 16 quarters for the season is going to put a dent in those things (like it or not, but you know as much as I do what Demonland is going to look like if we lose).

I’m very much accepting of slip ups, bad games and beltings coming our way this year. I fully expected Sunday to have been such a game, and next week v Brisbane is obviously another one to watch. But the opening month of the season changes things a bit, and IMO there is a lot to lose, overall, if we lose this weekend.

3 minutes ago, biggestred said:

Yeah the ages are listed under each team. All good. We might have the 2nd oldest list though?

Ages don’t show on mobile I don’t think.

We have an interesting age profile. 8 players from Sunday are over 30. But then there was not one player aged 27-29. Just two players are 26 (Petty and Chandler), and just one 25 (Sparrow). The other 12 players are 24 and under. So it’s just over half under 24, a third aged over 30, and a tiny amount in the “prime” ages of 25-29.

A really different challenge this week. First game for the season where we’ll be favourites. How will we deal with the pressure of expectation? Being the hunted, not hunters?

It’s a big test IMO. All the gains of yesterday will be undone if we lose to Essendon.

1 hour ago, ElDiablo14 said:

I am already feeling angry we couldn't come back against Flogmantle.

We did though. We were actually pretty good after the disastrous first quarter. Just can’t give Fremantle a 40-point headstart at home

IMO we’ve only played two “bad” quarters so far - first vs Freo and first vs Carlton.

Here's one.

We have won 11 out of 16 quarters so far. No matter what happens tomorrow, that will put us 2nd in the competition overall, behind Sydney on 12.

4 of the 5 quarters we've lost have been first quarters - have lost every single one of them. But that of course means that from quarter time onwards, we have won 11/12 quarters, with the only loss being the third vs Fremantle where we weren't even that bad, we just got trampled by a flag contender at the top of their game.

1 minute ago, Kev said:

We never looked timid, we have belief in ourselves.

Great pressure game, consistently pushed them down the line without the angled movement.

Love when we get the ground-balls. If we weren't first to it then we were on their shoulder.

A game of great moments, and we scramble and fight well.

Windsor's touches make things happen.

Amazed by our wingers (Langford, Langdon, and Culley), two way running and getting forward marks.

Lindsay is playing well, composure, and with King creating a very high defensive line our backs become goal kickers.

King adjusted the structure, and kept King and Rioli quiet after a fast start.

Sparrow and Steele closed down Rowell.

Latrelle will get even better I reckon.

Kossie playing with extreme confidence, remains untouchable.

So happy for Melky.

Max, what a great leader.

They are playing with a smile.

Good shout here @Kev . Low possession counts for all three, and Culley didn't touch it all that much after quarter time, but on TV at least I felt like they were constantly presenting in the forward line and getting back on defence. Langord kicked 2 and Culley should have kicked at least 1.

I'd still like them to be getting more of the ball but we are the sum of our parts and gut running wings are key.

Just now, BoBo said:

Dons won their second half against the doggies after getting pounded in the first half, so you can assume they’ll take turn around into this game.

If we play like we did today then we win, but conversely this could be a ‘back to earth’ kinda game if we aren’t switched on.

Let’s get it done Dees

Presumably the Dogs eased off?

Agree with you though. All the gains from today will be undone in an instant if we lose next week.

Team-wise, reports are we want to get a look at Kentfield but I'm not sure we want to change our height/forward set up right now. If we do, we'll have to drop one of TMac or Petty, probably the former, but I'm not convinced that's the right call with the way Petty is getting involved as second ruck.

Is Rivers fit? If so, he can have a go in Laurie's spot, on the proviso that he runs both ways and lays some tackles.

I missed the game today but have been able to watch the replay.

We are playing proper top 8 (let alone top 10) footy. Time will tell if we can keep it up all season, but if we can dominate Gold Coast, with their level of talent (particularly in the midfield), then we should all have hope that we can be better than just a mid-table side.

We are combining elite pressure with both a willingness and an ability to move the ball quickly and score. We still get opened up the other way, conceding another 89 points, but today a lot of that was their accuracy (their expected score was 74 - they were nailing their shots).

I felt we were on from the start but just missed some early shots (e.g. Culley and Mihocek missing sitters) when they nailed theirs at the other end. Probably never should have been 3 goals down early, but yet again we kept our composure, maintained our belief, and backed ourselves in to turn it around. That also applied when we were 2.7 at one stage but then righted the ship and at one stage were then 12.9.

Steele is getting better, which is amazing. But he's not on his own for defensive pressure, with Chandler, Sparrow, Sharp and Windsor all pulling their weight.

Petty works in the ruck, which I didn't have on my 2026 bingo card. Anything is better than JVR rucking but getting Petty involved in the middle is working, he is following up at ground level and we're not losing forward structure. It works particularly well when he can follow an opposition tall forward who goes in as a second ruck. The intrigue will come if/when we want to take a look at Kentfield as another tall forward, because we can't afford to get any taller than we are now.

Interestingly we reduced the number of players we ran through centre bounce today - just Steele, Kozzie, Windsor and Sparrow. No Tholstrup tag in there, but also no Culley or Langford, continued to be pushed to wings. A tick to King and the FD for that decision though, as whatever focus we had on stoppage worked today.

I'm still unconvinced by Laurie, though. To be fair, I was unconvinced by Sharp going into 2026 and as each week goes by I look more and more wrong about that, so I'm prepared to be wrong about Laurie too, but I just don't see it, I'm sorry to say.

6 - Gawn
5 - Steele
4 - Kozzie
3 - Sparrow
2 - Melksham
1 - Sharp

@Lucifers Hero why did I doubt you!

Amazing. We are far more the real deal than I had wanted to let myself think.

8 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I like that you have Petty in the forward line. It was Easter last year they moved him to the forward line and he kicked 4 snags. He’s been a really shaky defender this year… and early last year.

With Heath, Kentfield, Jeffo and AJ all having good games and the latter three kicking 11 goals between them at Casey today, but with Adams being well beaten, I think we have no choice but to continue to back Petty in as a defender. There’s nothing else on the list in the KPD area, but (untried or not) there’s some KPF depth.

Just now, titan_uranus said:

Didn’t see the game but hugely promising result and reports on here.

I’m a Kentfield fan so I’m rapt to see so many glowing posts about him. But had I just looked at the stats (obviously not a substitute for actually watching the game) I’d have imagined Johnson or Jeffo would have had the better games - both had more disposals, scoring shots and marks.

Can’t edit my post but I wanted to add - can those who watched the game let me know what it was about Kentfield that made him stand out over the other two?

Didn’t see the game but hugely promising result and reports on here.

I’m a Kentfield fan so I’m rapt to see so many glowing posts about him. But had I just looked at the stats (obviously not a substitute for actually watching the game) I’d have imagined Johnson or Jeffo would have had the better games - both had more disposals, scoring shots and marks.

We do have all four of our KPDs in the seniors this week, which I imagine won’t be a common occurrence…

But it does show that we are more than a little light on KPD depth on our list.

Adams isn’t it, sadly.

2 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Are GCS really that good!

Huge wins vs Cats, Eagles and Tigers. Yesterday's results say it all about the last two. Cats were missing Danger, Stengle and Cameron and the game was played in hot humid weather.

So nothing to rave about for them so far.

Their midfield this week is rather ordinary. Neutralise the injured Rowell and we will win!!! We can either have Kolt shadow him for the day or have Steele guard him at CB and Howes pick him up when he goes forward. Sure they still have Anderson and Miller but that won't be enough.

Maybe sacrifice JvR or Melk's game to lead Collins away from our targets.

Dees by a heart-stopping 7 points.

See you at the G D'lamders ❤️💙

Love the optimism but if Witts, Anderson, Rowell, Miller, Powell and Weller is “ordinary”, I shudder to think what word describes our midfield!

Witts is one of only a few rucks in the league who challenges Gawn regularly, which hurts any advantage we might otherwise have had with Max.

I agree with you though that they haven’t been properly tested this year, given the Geelong game was at home in humid conditions, and obviously they’re missing their best player from their first three games (Trac), but they’re still a lot of talent.

1 hour ago, praha said:

Let's be honest, if Gold Coast is serious then it will win and win comfortably. Just as Sydney flexed last night, if you're a contending team then you just don't drop games like this. A pass mark for me is a good contest within 5 goals.

Agreed. Like Fremantle, they’re just a much better side than us, particularly in the middle.

I’m hopeful that we start well and maybe put them under early pressure, which they haven’t really had this year so far. But if they are 30 up at quarter time, I won’t be surprised.

13 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

The Eagles are way more important to the competition than the Suns and GWS combined.

Freo don't really cut it.

Yeah but is their current period of awful-ness impacting their existence in any way?

2nd most members in 2025, at 107,079, up nearly 4,000 on the previous season (despite 2025 being a 1-win season, and their fourth consecutive season in the bottom 3).

They have a wait list for reserved seats. They averaged over 42,000 to their home games last year - Fremantle, who were a top 4 contender for most of the season, averaged 46,000.

Their supporters haven't dropped off yet. They finally have some promising young talent (Duursma, Reid, CDT, Shanahan).

They're effectively the biggest/richest club, whose demise is almost entirely self-inflicted. The AFL doesn't have to worry about them, because they'll always be big/rich, and the tide will eventually turn.

Keeping GC and GWS viable and ensuring there is constant competitive/interesting AFL product in NSW and Queensland is far, far more important to the AFL than helping West Coast get out of the hole they built for themselves.

22 minutes ago, Nascent said:

I think Luker will come in for Fritsch.

Laurie is competing with the likes of Sharp, Chandler, Latrelle and perhaps Culley, and is fighting a losing battle with his lack of pace and size.

Would've loved to seen him get more games under Goodwin when he deserved a run at it. Unfortunaly for him I think it's going to be another bridesmaid year as an emergency.

(Now watch me be wrong tomorrow)

We’re going to be extremely tall if we are replacing Jiath, Cross and Fritsch with Turner, Melksham and Kentfield.

4 hours ago, Redleg said:

So what do we actually know?

We know that a player and his partner were discussed at a partners’ online meeting with club officials.

We know that the intention of the meeting was a welcome and to show that the club supported players and their partners.

We know that this discussion occurred, but that it wasn’t the reason for the meeting.

We don’t know what specific details were discussed and if they were public knowledge, or private communications, or came from other sources.

We don’t know if any person prior to the meeting asked for some info on the situation, for whatever reason.

We know that someone leaked the meeting to the media.

We don’t know how the other attendees felt about the discussion.

We don’t know if the leaker was accurate, truthful, or had an ulterior motive for involving the media.

We don’t know if the person who went to the media, first raised a concern with the club and if they did, what the club response was and why they then felt it necessary to go public.

We don’t know if anyone, including Officials present, suggested an end to the discussion or that it was inappropriate to discuss.

We do know for a fact though, that many on here love to go off without proper and full knowledge and understanding of an issue and spout garbage condemning people.

We also know that some people on here think that any story with a shred of criticism or negativity towards the MFC is a witch hunt.

The club issued an apology within an hour or so of the story coming out yesterday.

Morris has heard the recording of the meeting, and quoted directly from it - Richardson felt the need to say words to the effect of “can we keep this information to ourselves”. We don’t know what he said which led to him then asking everyone to keep it on the DL, but if he felt the need to tell everyone to stay quiet, that’s pretty much all we need to know - he should not have been sharing any information which he wouldn’t be comfortable with being out in the open.

It’s a bad mistake. The club has owned up to it.

It’s not a witch hunt. It’s not some sort of “media madness”. It’s not a storm in a teacup that Demonlanders are over-reacting to.

Didn’t think we’d see Turner, Petty, Lever and TMac in the same side this year, but there we go.

[censored] hell.

Just when we thought we had turned a leaf on this [censored].

There may be mayo on it from the disaffected whistleblower but even then, how did anyone at the club not clock that sharing private information about sensitive, personal allegations was inappropriate?

Well-intentioned, sure, but not smart.

At least we appear to have acknowledged and apologised for it today.

On 31/03/2026 at 06:39, dees189227 said:

He can also use the ball properly.

He has been outstanding & it's good we've finally recruited a player from another team who isn't a dud

To be fair his kicking is probably his biggest weakness. Hasn’t been disastrous for us yet, and he’s easily making up for it with the rest of his game, but his kicking isn’t ideal.

Is the Fritsch thing official?

If so - [censored].

Just when he hits form. With games against Essendon and Richmond on the horizon, too.

Melksham presumably comes in but maybe Jeffo can hit some form at Casey and get a run?