Neil Crompton

I was of the view that Woewodin would be one of the first recruits to play afl, but certainly Howes has some quality about him, and would not surprise. A few sessions in the gym would not go astray though.

I believe our year was already negatively “affected” to some degree or the Entrecôte incident would not have occurred. And I’m positive it had lingering effects for the rest of the year.

Yeah, but we got 10 first round picks by trading them - so not too shabby.

Luci, in your example, what happens in the following year when the Dons no longer pay the Swans? Could the Swans then be forced into some sort of salary dump to cover commitments made with the Dons money in the previous year?

Guess what guys, we weren’t good enough this year. Which was pretty evident from the bye onwards. Why? I’m sure it’s a number of factors, but that’s for our paid experts to sort out. However, I would suggest that the Melksham May incident would never have happened last year. What does that say about our culture this year?

Simply, we were not good enough this year. We all thought that we were better than that, but we really weren't. There is no shame in that. What would be shameful, given our player base, would be if we cannot, during the season review, determine what went wrong, and how we can dramatically improve next year. It's obviously not just a player problem.

Might be a few less members next year after our disappointing final series.

Chandler looked great again today - cannot see why he hasn't been given an opportunity at AFL. Bedford has so much going for him - but he tends to spend it before he controls it a lot of the time, which is very frustrating (and for him too i imagine). Sam looked good all day - and so pleased he looks to have found a role that could well get him back to AFL.

"I hope it's the making of a more adaptable coach!"

Help winning Casey a premiership maybe? I’d call that upside.

Dig deep boys

Von, every team has injuries and is banged up at this time of year. That’s not a valid excuse in my view. We’ve been overrun / outscored in 12 of our games this year, including 4 of the first 10 games when injuries / players being banged up were not an issue; and another 8 in the last 12 games of the year - and obviously again last Friday. While I agree with you that fitness and pressure are linked, but, as I said in my previous post, I don’t know why we’ve had these failures this year.

Nev, the big picture is we are not running out games like last year at this time, nor are we applying the pressure consistently like we did last year. At this time of year there are no good excuses for these failures. I’m not paid to know the causes of this, but our staff certainly are. Hopefully they can resolve them in the next 5 hours.

As an aside, if Grundy comes, will that spell the end to Max’s hold on an AA jacket?

Chookrat, I'm sorry but the Jolimont scheme was a planning mistake that was never going to be approved, nor will ever be.

I reckon we got the loading wrong, and needed to play an extra game to be spot on for the GF.

Haha you seem to know an awful lot about BBO’s habits Handley. Is there something you want to tell us?

I wouldn’t worry about it Dee, I have absolutely no idea of the meaning of what you have just said!

Bring in Chandler for ANB, Dunstan for Tracc, JVR or Smith for Melksham. And i'd like to get Bowey back in, but not sure who go out.

But who haven't we managed to beat with this game plan Jontee? The team that came first, the team that came third, the team that came 4th (twice), the team that came 5th (won one lost one) and the team that came 8th (won one and lost won). This plan would seem to now be obsolete and a hinderance against the better sides. Hopefully a better method next season.

You are certainly passionate about this supporter noise Dr G, but perhaps your message needs to be wider spread as I’m sure you are preaching to the converted on here. Just a few general points I’d like to add: - we are obviously, in the main, a far more conservative bunch than the pies, tigers and blues supporters - but they are not collectively called “feral” for no good reason. Although 80k turned up to Fridays game, there was no condition of entry that said they must make a lot of noise during the whole game. Your highlighted sentence above almost implies there is. - Think back to 2018 and the 2 finals we played. The noise was overwhelming because the brand of football we played then was fast and chaotic and generated so much fan excitement. As a team this year, we have been playing a really conservative, safe brand of football that is frankly uninspiring. Far too few exciting passages of play per game to really get the juices flowing and vocal chords singing. Improve our game plan and you will see a big difference in the level of noise. - our amazing cheer squad make an extraordinary amount of noise and it is a shame that it is not more infectious amongst the rest of the crowd. Perhaps if other supporters knew the Demon Army chants, that might assist in getting more noise participation. Perhaps if there was one particular chant that could be taught and collectively voiced (led by the DA) when we need a lift, that might help. Just a thought. May your voice be joined by 60K like minded supporters this coming Friday, Dr G, as the devastating realisation that our season could possibly come to a crushing end. If that doesn’t inspire noise, nothing will.

Again, I’m also envious of the way other teams use the full 180 degrees of ground available to them at the kick outs. The space this can and does create enables so many more options going forward. It can backfire, but more often that not, the risk is worth the reward if well executed. Unfortunately our mosh pit simply moves from the left hand forward line to the left hand wing, and our slow boring rinse and repeat plan continues to baffle us all. From an aesthetic point of view only, I much preferred watching the 3 other great finals games rather than ours - which is sad.

Watching the other finals, I admired - and am extremely envious - of how open their forward lines were and how forwards were often leading into open paddocks of space. Our forward line is like a mosh pit and no one leads or has space to lead. When you’ve only got one key forward, surely a mosh pit is not a winning plan.

The prophet

Gus has one poor game (by his standards) and you want to move him from the middle after 4 great games in the same role? Glad you are not the coach.