titan_uranus

You’ve got to let this go. The pick we got for Frawley was 15-odd better than what Hawthorn got for Buddy. It’s what happens when one club is at the bottom of the ladder and the other is near the top. Plus no matter how much you rate Jordon he was fringe this year (12 games in the 22, 6 more as sub), he will be on a moderate contract because we weren’t rushing to throw him one, and midfielders are of higher supply than key defenders. How you can so clearly say McKay is “worse” than Jordon despite them playing vastly different positions for vastly different clubs is beyond me, too. Pick 39 is pretty reasonable for a midfielder we clearly weren’t all in for.

Pick 39 is IMO fair. Good luck to JJ.

If one game is enough, we’re sweet with Ben Brown after his brownlow vote from Round 1. One game is not nearly enough. Lobb has a persistent career pattern of inconsistency and poor effort. He’s no more a “goal kicking back up to Max” or “cover for Petty” than Schache, but triple the cost.

Does anything ever please you?

I don’t care how bad a year Oliver had. Absent destructive cultural problems, he remains a top 10 competition player. Trading him ends our premiership window instantaneously (yes, that’s a hill I’m prepared to die on).

Yes, hindsight is 20/20. With 20/20 vision, I have no idea why you would want to take Rory Lobb. He’s horrendously inconsistent, doesn’t work hard enough and isn’t tough enough.

It’s the MCG’s capacity.

Jay Clark suggesting we should trade in Lobb because the Dogs don’t want/need him and we need a forward.

It seems I’m in a minority here. I enjoyed season 2023 more than many other season (2021 the obvious exception). IMO the quality of the game is trending upwards and equalisation is working (has there ever been a better bottom 4 side than 2023 Gold Coast?). Combined with great crowds for great at-stadium atmosphere, and I’ve loved it. I completely agree that the MRO system is broken. I don’t subscribe to the corruption guff many on here believe from the Maynard incident - the rules are murky and there has been inconsistency as to classification of bumps for years - but the entire system is stuffed and needs an overhaul. I also agree that umpiring is at historic low levels of performance. But for whatever reason, I can get past that and enjoy the sport. I’m super excited for 2024.

Things I’d like to see: 1. No trip to Geelong or, in the alternative, Collingwood, Carlton, Richmond or Hawthorn also going down there 2. A proper bye - no more Thursday night game after KB 3. More travel pre-bye than post-bye 4. A few more afternoon games 5. West Coast in Melbourne 6. Port Adelaide in Melbourne I expect we may get some of these but not all. I also expect to see a tonne of Collingwood and Carlton in prime time, and too many Thursday night games.

I said this last night and will double down today. IMO this is your anti-Collingwood bias speaking. There were a handful of goal of the year contenders in the first quarter alone. The first half was a great blend of high scoring but high pressure - it never felt like a defence-less shoot out. The second half was lower scoring but still intense. I hate Collingwood, and Nick Daicos more, and Howe possibly more again, but the game was fantastic and they are wholly deserving winners after the season they’ve had.

I did. I was there. It was fantastic. Put your MFC-disappointment and your hatred of Collingwood out of your mind.

I reckon the only part of this that is correct is that Collingwood should have won by more. How you reached the rest of your conclusions is beyond me. It was fast, skillful, aggressive and exciting.

It was one of the best games of football in years.

I don’t know, feel free to look and find out. All Vic sides get big home games against other Vic sides, and home games against interstate sides.

I know the popular thing to do is bag the umpiring. But we have so much to learn from that game, and from Collingwood. They just won a GF with Frampton, Mihocek, Cameron and Cox as their tall forwards/rucks. They are relaxed, they balance defence with offence, and their supporters support them no matter what. They were the best side all year and it’s hardly like they didn’t deserve to win today. Brisbane were great, and it will go down as one of the all time best GFs, but rather than trying to tell ourselves they only won due to our poor QF kicking or today’s umpiring, let’s all acknowledge reality - they are the benchmark and they are better than everyone else.

Given he’s a free agent, we only get a pick if the AFL gives it to us, and one of the key considerations appears to be the terms of the new contract. So if he’s not on big bucks in the new deal at Sydney, we may not get any compensation, bearing in mind he was clearly a fringe player for us.

If he doesn’t go on big coin there’s every chance we don’t get anything.

He has a premiership medal for being the sub in the GF. He may not have got on the ground but it could have been far worse (see, eg, McStay, Adams and Noble this year, or Rich and Gardiner/Payne for Brisbane).

I get the sentiment but as @Axis of Bob says, some of the needs on our list are very unlikely going to be filled by elite kicks. That's largely because, as much as we need better kicking, the competition isn't flush with elite kicks and certainly not in the ruck or key forward positions. If Naughton were available he'd make us significantly better instantly, and that's assuming his kicking for goal remains as it is now.

Well on this front we are 2nd best in the league (took this from the Useless AFL States page):

Bengals, Steelers, Chiefs

Sorry if this is too late - Bills, Eagles, Cowboys (like many others!)

Or perhaps Gawn’s palm on the line… Or the ARC overturning the ANB goal… Or Melksham’s ACL… Or our own inability to kick easy shots on goal…

Agreed. They are under enormous pressure and don’t currently look like they can cope with it. We were always going to be in with a shot if we’d made it. A genuine shot at the flag was thrown away in the 90 second disaster last week.