Rodney (Balls) Grinter

1 hour ago, spirit of norm smith said:

No love for Tmcd or for Viney!! They again showed renewed vitality

Both were better than Salem in my view, but I'd probably gave given them to T Mac - he's been a powerhouse down back this season. Sure his aging body catches him out occasionally and he gets beaten, but on the whole, his defensive play has been first rate and saved us numerous times. Has been a realitive saviour in the absences of May and Lever, which make his performances even more impressive IMHO. That all said, I think May's game against Richmond was also first rate. Got beaten a few times by a quality opponent in Lynch, but generally held him pretty well when it counted. Felt they got off the chain a bit more when he had to go off. His presence down there is also such an influence on the whole back 6, demanding high standards - his rip at Rivers case in point.

All of this not to say that I thought Salem played badly. To the contrary, I'm very glad that he seems to be improving his form and having more of an impact on games again.

5 hours ago, Swooper1987 said:

We've been very fortunate with quality rucks in my time supporting the Demons. I first remember Big Carl, then Garry Baker and Crackers Keenan; into Peter Moore; then Steve O'Dwyer and Jim Stynes; Jeff White; Darren Jolly and then Mark Jamar and now the greatest of them all in Max Gawn. The ruck has never been a position we've had to worry too much about. We seem to be good at finding them.

I'd definitely add Steff Martin to that group as well.

To think that at one point we had all of Mark Jamar, Steff Martin, Max Gawn, Jake Spencer and Jack Fitzpatrick at the club at the same time. Although Fitzpatrick never quite made it, he wasn't that far off the mark and did have some good football qualities about him. Spencer was the kind of solid backup option that we'd love to have now.

And if only we could re-recurit another young Cam Pederson. Was a great forward/ruck on his day and very handy backup. If AJ can produce the sort of career with us that Peddo had, I think we've done well.

The other recent also rans of quality that we never really got the best out of of course are Brodie Grundy and Majak Daw.

23 minutes ago, BLWNBA said:

Is Max playing his final years out elsewhere?

Not a chance in hell.

30 minutes ago, Deestroye said:

Yeh.. cos that works against Max.. oh wait it doesn’t.

Trying to find another Max would be like trying to find another Gary Ablett senior or another Wayne Carey. Every club would love to have one, but the reality is that very few ever will, so they just work with someone who is competent enough at that position.

Hawthorn one a bunch of premierships with Ben McEvoy as their main ruck. He was an above average ruckman, but nothing as good as Max.

Is such a dichotomy:

We want a team that puts itself in a position to compete in finals every year;

Vs

Let's take it one week at a time.

Personally I think we have way underachieved the season to date and have more upside than alot of the teams above us. The V12 firing on 7 cylinders is a reasonable analogy. Trac and Clarry are better than current form. The past few weeks we have seen what happens when Kossie, Max and Vines start to fire.

We will need things to go right injury wise from here and a few young players like JVR etc to stand up and take the next step, but if that happens, I think we are better than alot of the teams currently above us.

Who knows.

Asides from the 2021 Geelong examples, Max has kicked numerous clutch goals for us in the past. Fortunately his shots in the past few weeks haven't cost us games, so let's just hope that he starts kicking them when we really need one next time.

On a semi related note, you know, for all of his critics, suggesting he was soft, didn't try etc, I seem to recall one of the best games I saw Jack Watts play was a game he took over ruck duties, when Gawn was out before the game injured, then big Pencile Spencer got injured during the game and we were low on numbers on the bench (coincidentally might also have been against Richmond too) Jack absolutely gutted himself that game trying to play as an undersized ruckman and did a pretty decent job of it too. Would like to see that level of effort and desperation more often from our developing / frindge players.

At least they gave Fullerton a go. If he does stand a chance at making it longer term, he'll be better for the experience and knows what the level he needs to make looks like.

Was also very happy to rest Max for that last 10-15mins. At least Goodwin seems to be learning the wisdom of resting your aging stars when there is the opportunity to. That said, the percentage we lost in the last 10mins could hurt us if we're in the hunt at some stage. Really need someone who at least breaks even in the ruck. That said, at least one of those was pret much an own goal courtesy of Trent Rivers and there's also 17 other players that should pick up the slack when Max goes off. We really need to lift that part of our game. That also said - junk time is what it is as well to some extent.

1 hour ago, Trisul2 said:

Fantastic presser from TMac:

Media Conference | Tom McDonald

Class act is T Mac.

Great insights on the Kossie situation as well as playing against his brother I thought.

22 minutes ago, BoBo said:

Picket wasn’t happy with Picket that’s for sure.

Hard task master that Mr.Fence. Bloke kicks 5 goals and takes hangers and he's not happy with him? Sheesh

Sheesh. Is the the Nick Dacos thread or the Harvey Langford thread? Less said about that filthy lot, the better. Gees imagine if we were approaching a Pies game and they had "what they're saying at Casey Fields" thread.

On 20/04/2025 at 09:35, old dee said:

I don't think he has the talent to be more than average. Average is not good for a kpf.

Easy up. From what I recall JVR's goal kicking and contested mark stats are up there with guys like Schwarz at a comparable age.

His set shot kicking is pretty elite.

Think he's got plenty of talent and capability to be way more than average. Playing as a key forward for us over that 4 week period would be enough to get many down on form and confidence.

On 20/04/2025 at 17:19, VNightCityLegend said:

Well said, mate. Listening to Gawn post match on 3AW, it sounded a lot like he was happy with Fullarton’s debut and appreciated the assistance he got in the ruck.

Nobody rated that dumb American and said dumb American nearly got the Pies into a GF off his own boot.

Not saying Fullarton will become a world beater, but if he gets a decent go at it and can become half as good as someone like Darcy Cameron, who I think gets underrated year in, year out, then we would be pretty happy I’d reckon.

If he does come into his own and becomes a solid contributor, it could release a lot of pressure on JVR.

Good on Tommy. I recall when he was first recruited many thought what a prudent selection he was. I get that for the past 12 months he seemed somewhat underwhelming and didn't have the imeediate impact and presence of someone like say AJ, but guess it can still take some people time to settle at a club and find that confidence.

A few other comments have alluded to the time it can take for talls to mature. Well right now Tom is at that age of 26, so maybe it's come his time.

Probably the biggest thing I'm guessing the seletors saw in him was someone who was giving maximum effort and that's not something to be underrated. If he only ever becomes a solid no frills depth key position player / ruck that is still pretty valuable for us. What if he actually makes it?

Looking forward to seeing what Tom can produce over the next little while.

9 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

One of the more remarkable wins I've seen, given the month that preceded it.

When Turner went off at half time the script was written - gallant first half but our second half worries and personnel difficulties were going to kill it for us.

But if we'd kicked straight early in the fourth I reckon the heat would have gone out of it and we wouldn't have had to hold off their final comeback. Which, at any rate, I thought we did superbly well.

Blending our desire to move quickly with smarter short kicks and better forward structure with leads up at the ball carrier worked a treat, but that was all secondary to our pressure and intensity which we kept up for the entire match. We made it our focus and unlike the last month, we actually executed.

Can't add any more superlatives to Pickett's game. When he is that focused, he is a top 10 competition player. Petty's a confidence player and that early goal where the ball was delivered to his chest on a simple lead up at FF was the perfect start for him. Gawn and Viney led from the front, whilst Langdon continues to quietly put together a sneaky good year. Rivers found the level he's been missing all year, and as others have said, Tholstrup brings spirit which our last month has been lacking.

I still think we have a massive problem with Salem - dinky kicks under no pressure which repeatedly miss targets and expose us on turnover. But that's for another day. A win like this deserves to be savoured.

I hope we look back on today as some sort of turning of the page. We need to work out how to extract that pressure and intensity each week, not just when we're at rock bottom. If we can do that, I doubt we'll still be 17th in a month.

Agree with all that.

Thought Bowser played a ripper and T Mac continues to hold together the backline that's consistently missed it's star KPPs. Really hoping we can get McVee back and playing at his usual level sooner rather than later.

Continue to be impressed by Langford and Lindsay, though I think Winsor hasn't got back to what he is capable of since returning to the side.

3 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

HOW BLOODY GOOD WAS THAT WIN !!!

All the emotions running amok but the main one was RELIEF. So, so proud of our boys.

PS: ‘twas my lucky Melbourne socks that did it.

I wore Melbourne socks today as well!

Didn't think anything too much of it at the time other than they were a pair of clean socks without holes in the and it was a Melbourne game, so what the heck.

But as it turned out, maybe our sock powers combined in some hellish Desmon spirit today!

3 hours ago, Superunknown said:

They seem a reasonable bunch and quite similar

Probably good to have a beer with and hate on the filth

Like the Brisbane fans

On a similar note, from a FB post of them all whining about not getting a free kick for that Dick guy in the last quarter:

Only one thing worse than the umpiring...Kelly Underwood...oh my aching 👂

6 minutes ago, Stiff Arm said:

His return to his best form has been one of the few positives of the season to date.

3 hours ago, dees189227 said:

Kozzie that'swhat we need every week

https://www.afl.com.au/video/1303065/pickett-raises-the-bar-with-aerial-wizardry?videoId=1303065&modal=true&type=video&publishFrom=1745037093001

Loved these moments from Kossie today and played a ripper all round as well.

41 minutes ago, GS_1905 said:

I think at face value those two have been contributing to our woes. Not solely responsible, but the forward line functioned better without them today. I hope they are made to earn there way back.

Want them to have earnt it, but I also want Fritta and JVR to find their way and find some confidence and form as soon as possible. We're a better side when Fritta is at his best and JVR should be the future of our forward line and stamping his authority all over the place.

Happy and somewhat relieved to get that win today. No way should we be a 1W and 5L side that's in the bottom 4.

Didn't expect to see Oscar Mc Donald out there today. Good on him. Keeps persevering and keeping his AFL career alive.

Hated seeing that goal kicked against us, but still happy for Oscar at the same time.

Would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for the banter and sledging between T Mac and him.

5 minutes ago, jaydenh10 said:

petty forward, so turner down back??

Could work. Disco was a good back before he was a forward. Think he's a better forward than Petty though

5 minutes ago, frankie_d said:

Still on track

love the optimism

And dominate? Wow, that is optimism

I have near zero expectation we can win this game today, which probably means we will.

We've got to turn it around sometime right?

Looking for some enthusiasm from big Tommy and Disco Turner always provides good value IMHO. Good to be getting some more games into the Kolt, Lindsay and Langford.

9 hours ago, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

Hawks have won 16 of last 18 games. Far from fragile sadly Goffy.

They are also damn good to watch as hard as that is to say out loud.

Yeah, nah sorry. Never good watching Hawthorn win. Was much better them getting beaten every week.

Still they haven't actually acheived that much yet. If they can go another decade or five without winning another flag, now that would be damn good to watch.