Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Thought Disco had a great season and was one of our shining lights up forward. Still can't fathom why he was the starting substitute against GWS in Rd 21 and again the following week against the Bulldogs as I thought he'd been pretty good in the weeks prior and plays both tall and mobile. His accuracy in front of goal from a variety of positions, situations and distances was very good and he was actually a much more effective goal kicker over the season than Petty. We only lost that GWS game by a smidge in the end and his goal kicking ability could have been the difference and kept our season alive.

Don't count me as one of the doubters, but I think impatience goes at least part of the way to explaining my own feelings on the Roo. We got absolutely spoilt by Jessy Hogan being a contested marking beast and better than your average mature KPP from pretty much day dot and Jackson was similar. We have also had a significant No. of somewhat overhyped false dawns with key position forwards like Watts and Weid. Can definitely see the potential in Jacob to dominate games and give us a great focal point up forward. His set shot goal kicking is already elite. Personally I just want him to deliver on that potential right now, while realising that's a somewhat unrealistic expectation and that statistically he's already actually maturing at a rate that is up there with the best of some of the recent elites of the league. Can't wait to hear more and even louder cries of ROOOOOOOO echo throughout the G in coming seasons.

Now currently the AFLW all time top goal scorer. Doesn't surprise me in the least. From the get go, Kate was a super and reliable shot on goal and knew how to get it in dangerous spots. One of the few players at the time that I felt comfortable would nail most of her kicks for goal if she went back and lined up. Has been great seeing her keep taking her game to new levels in recent years and starting to get some credit for it. Agree you @spirit of norm smith what a star and how blessed our AFLW team have been to have such great leaders and great people over the years.

Interesting. Work rate seems to be there, but impact less so, or less obvious. He's got a great kick on him and a tough/strong body and mindset, so I see heaps of potential upside to Tommy, just needs something to click for him to go to that next level. Maybe Chunk can help him? As an asides how impressive is it for a player of Tommy Mac's size and age to be still right up there for distance covered. He was always the top distance athlete, but to keep kicking on at his age and with some of the injuries he's had is amazing. Nothing but respect for T Mac.

From what I can recall, that respect and good rapport with the players was something Paul Roos had going for him in his first stint at the Swans. I really don't know if Jones has the same football genius as Roos or not, but I'd also contest that part of the Paul Roos brilliance was to simplify things down, communicate and get the buy-in of his playing group. I'd further add that I really do wounder if all this tactical genius stuff is overrated. My coaches always had the view that footy was a simple game played by simple blokes. I actually think the key to the tactical side of it is having a game plan that is both simple enough, but different to the one that's been in vogue for the past few seasons that everyone else has worked out how to play against. Surely the senior coach and other coaching staff are more responsible for overall game plans. I'd also contest (pardon the pun) the in the midfield alot of the tactics are about the close in tough stuff, body positioning, understanding your opponent and how to get under their skin and/or how to defeat their strengths that guys like Jonesy would have an innate understanding of. Glad to have Jonesy back in the fold and really keen to see the influence he can have on the team again.

I think winning the flag in 21 and the exciting footy we played doing it largely took care of the club finances and membership - even I probably could have acheived a similar result at the MFC I'm those circumstances. Not to say that Pert deserves no credit for some of the achievements at the club during his time though. The venom and polarisation of this topic has got way out of proportion I feel and I think we'd probably be in agreement on that.

I'm not sure I'd give him that much credit for that and more so to Roos, Jackson, Goody and Gawn and Co. Winning in 2021 was a cumulation of those foundations IMHO. Honestly, I'm not close enough to the issues to know how Pert and/or Roffy have impacted club culture in the past few years good or bad, but I really do hope this helps clear the air and lets us move forward without this issue as a distraction. Do actually feel the problem has been somewhat overblown due to media beatup and us having a sub par on field season - if we didn't have a horror season injury wise and had won the flag no one would be talking about changes within the club's administration and Pert etc would probably be lauded for being master managers.

Wow. Really shows what a freak talent Jake Lever is and how (pardon the pun) well we did to have recruited him over. As an asides, along with loosing Brayshaw, Patracca and an injured Clayton Oliver, being down one and or both of Lever and Steve May really hurt our performances as the season wore on. He's a player you often don't notice when he's there, but it make a huge difference to our defence when he's not. Those critical of our 2024 drop off really do need to take a look at the injuries we copped to key players throughout the year as a moderating factor while making any judgements.

Fair calls. Wouldn't have picked Taj as playing 16 games in season 2024, but maybe he was sub for 75% game time in a number of them and that's why I have that perception (like that ridiculous situation when Kynan Brown was put on the ground with like 2mins to go). I stand corrected on him being contracted till 2026, although I did recall him being contracted way longer than what I thought his performances to date seemed to justify, last time he signed up. In that case, he'd want to really turn it on next year, otherwise I think we've really wasted a list spot over multiple seasons. Again I struggle to understand the rationale in investing so heavily on the main list with Laurie, when we can recruit guys like Judd McVee who come up off the rookie list and look like much better quality players from day dot. Even players with ability like Nev Jetta spent time being dropped onto the rookie list while we worked out if they could really make the grade. Part of me feels that he's been given more time to develop because we invested realitively heavily at the draft with him at pick 22 and want to try to squeeze blood out of that stone.

Agree with much of the above only it would be nice to release those guys to be used further up the ground to hit up targets inside 50 more, particularly Judd, Salem and Bowey. But also agree with you Re Laurie's kicking. It's suposed to be one of his assets, yet so often I watch him collect the ball with time and space, then proceed to shank or grass the kick into our 50, giving our forwards no chance and turning it over.

Baffles me a bit how Laurie got so much game time ahead of Woewodin and Kynan Brown this season. I hear the reports and see the stats that he seems to dominate some games at Casey, but struggles to find the same aggression and poise at AFL level in pretty much every game I see him play, bar perhaps 5mins of a game last season where he snagged a couple of clever goals. He was recruited based on being an elite ball user in the mold of Jake Bowey, but I'm yet to see that he's really in the same class as Jake. I'm guessing if he doesn't step up and find his feet fast in season 2025, he will be overtaken by the other similar emerging players we have on our list and find himself without an AFL contract at seasons end. I wish him luck, but just don't see it happening based on results to date.

Look up resilience and tenacity and you'll find a picture of Tom McDonald. Together with Jake Melksham making it back and impacting a few games, I think T Mac was one of the few MFC feel good/winning stories of the season. Could be forgiven for dropping his bundle and having a mediocre season at Casey with the personal off feild family trauma he had in the off season. But I don't think giving up and throwing in the towel is in Tommy's DNA. I really love the verbal sparing between Tommy and Max. Max exadurates and talks him down, that he's an ordinary bloke, but it's clear he has huge respect for Tom as a person, a footballer and professional athlete. There were a couple of games where he was a bit below par and also a few where his frustration with the teams performance/predicament got the better of him and that was clearly evident in his emotional response on the field. But by in large a really solid year when we needed him down back. My biggest regret is that Goody didn't use T Mac's refound confidence in cluncking big marks more and swing him forward in games earlier where Petty was struggling to impact up forward - I think we could have pinched a few there with his presence and goal kicking ability. It probably could also have helped Petty regain his confidence a bit using a defender to lead him to the ball and not having to be the target of defensive spoils every contest.

Yeah, well they were 2 wins and 5 losses (your point I'm guessing) after a bunch of almost seasons. If only Picket was in charge of the Lions maybe a decent coach could have been put in charge and won them the flag!

I'd say impatience has alot to do with it Watson and I quite often find myself falling into this trap with JVR. I'm guessing the lack of other well peforming big key forward options around him at present also has a fair bit to do with it as we are actually looking to him to be the man and the focal point of our attack. I also think we are somewhat forgetting that LJ had a bunch of other mature key forwards around him that took the brunt of the defenders and pressure off him most of the time. Even then, for most of our 2021 season the story was that we were great defensively, but our forward line was a weakness, which really only clicked the last 3 or 4 games of the home and away and kept surging with momentum in the finals series.

Well he was kinda hobbling on one foot in the end, but I guess he held it together for long enough to get them over the line hey! A bit like Steve May in 2021. I remember reading Leigh Mathew's autobiography and one of his big take away is that good luck with injuries is pretty key to winning a flag. Similar to the aforementioned Neale and May examples Mathew's did also admit that Jonathan Brown was pretty banged up in one of the Lions three peat flags, but passed a fitness test and thus played. I'm thinking that there is probably some value in star players just being out their to soak up some opposition attention even if they don't have a huge impact in their own right, so long as they can bluff it well enough.

In the scheme of our season, Kade has pulled his weight in terms of scoreboard impact: MFC total goal kickers 2024 1 Fritsch 41 2 Pickett 36 3 Van Rooyen 30 4 Chandler 18 5 Turner 17 6 Petracca 14 7 Gawn 11 8 Viney 10 9 Petty 9 9 Neal-Bullen 9 9 Langdon 9 10 Windsor 8 I'd love to players kicking big bags every week too, and an extra goal or thrice would be nice, but that's not footy in the 2020s. Play a role and everyone gets their lick of the icecream at some point - that's how the modern cleche goes yeah? Kade got his share of licks this year and I've seen him continue to improve and build his game year on year - maybe some more thricing in 2025 will come. I reckon that Disco Turner will have some funky moves next season too 😉.

I'm partially guessing, but I would have said more 2021 / 22. His 2023 was a bit below his par and he ended up being dropped and playing Casey for a fair portion of the season if I recall correctly.

Go easy- Chin goes all right. Makes good space, good strong mark above his head, takles hard, good at sneaking a goal here and there and I would have as one of our most solid and reliable set shots at goal from anywhere up to around 50m out.

His best is a definite asset to the side. He's pretty much topped the league in efficiency hitting targets inside 50 in 2021 and 2022 from recollection. Again at his best is an agressive beast and great at applying forward pressure. Although he had a mixed 2023, he was still one of our best performers in the final against Carlton. If we are to be up there again in 2025, we need guys like Charlie playing at their best.

Agree we could do with some more midfield depth, but I have some serious question marks with some of the above: After only a few rounds in, Billings didn't really look close. Can he put in a killer pre-season somehow and turn his career around at a late age like T Mac? I've got my doubts, but you never know. After pleanty of opportunities at senior level Laurrie just doesn't look to cut it for mine. I'd much rather put more game time and give opportunities to guys like Woey and Doggy Brown Jnr. Was interesting to see Judd McVee given some midfield time late in the season and if AMW can keep performing in defence, perhaps that opens up an oppertunity for Judd to spend more time as a mid?

May have been mentioned by others (pardon the bad pun), but will never forget the ripping game he played against Geelong in early 2021 after Hawkins smashed Steve's eye socket. Winning that game was so important for our belief and early season momentum and Tommo did more than just hold up an end in May's absence. I will personally remember Tommo as a contributing member of of premiership squad, not as frindge player in our team. Having players of his calibre as depth that season was huge. As a side note, I still can't believe that Hawkins didn't get suspended for that clumsy hit on May and really does make me think that we get harder done by that other charmed clubs/players. Kossie only has to look at someone and scare them into falling over and he is garrenteed a 3 week suspension.

Most players have some inconsistency to their performance year to year. ANB was brilliant in 2021, 2024 (third B&F) and I don't recall him being horrible in 2022 or 2023, just maybe not smashing it every game. His role also tends to go un-noticed. I felt Fritsch was down a bit this season, as have been other acknowledged quality players like Bowey and Salem at points, but I don't think we'd be branding them as fickle.

2020 was an interesting season for ANB and the club as a whole. Seem to remember him being cruelled by the AFL with what I regard as an excessive suspension for a sling takle early in the season, just as he'd worked his way into the side. Vividly recall his last game in 2020 against Essendon at Carrara stadium - he played a ripper, which was a bit of a preview of his potential in seasons to come IMHO. Will be interesting to see if Sharp can now step up and grab the opportunity that we will now provide him. I know Brisbane have a feast of brilliant on ballers, but I think they also have some aging stars amoung that group, so part of me is a little surprised that they let him go for peanuts in some respects. Guess there is a bit of a come home factor for Sharp as well, although from experience Brisbane is a great place to live and you'd think he'd be pretty happy up there. Anyways I'm not complaining with the outcome for the MFC at this point.

If Sharp can mature and develop into the ANB mold, then I think we've done well out of trading ANB to the Crows. Although I always saw early glimpses of potential in ANB, he didn't really start hitting his straps as an AFL footballer consistently until he had around 4 or 5 seasons under his belt. Alot of that development work has been done with Sharp and if he can make the grade, then I like that we're continuing to rejuvenate the age profile of our list, without bottoming out and/or ending up with a glut of aging starts that would set us up for a big fall in the future.

Don't think it's a forgone conclusion that explayers coaching at their former club is a bad thing. Of course it depends on the individual circumstances and the talent, buy for example Paul Roos at Sydney worked out pretty well. Not saying I have any intel on Jones being the same sort of all round coaching footy genius as Roos, but from what I understand, he was always well respected for his leadership and perhaps that's what he'd be helping to re-establish and reinforce?