Swooper1987

King and Hardwick in total agreement on the coaches votes: Gawn 10 Steele 8 Pickett 6 Sparrow 4 Melksham 2 Thought the young fellow Gulbin from GC might have snuck in, but goes to show how comprehensive the win was.

Prior to the last couple of seasons at St Kilda he was one of the competitions top tier mids. Equal third in the 2020 Brownlow (tied with Petracca), twice an All Australian, a couple of club B and F's and club captaincy. King has reminded him how to enjoy the game. Form is temporary, class is permanent. He's classy on and off the field.

Hardwick was adamant in his presser that Gawn was easily best on. I'm not going to argue with him. Gawn 6 Steele 5 Koz 4 Melksham 3 Sharp 2 Sparrow 1 It was a pretty complete team performance. Every player had their moment.

Gawn - another huge game. 11 marks, 4 contested, 7 clearances, 15 contested and 83% efficiency Tholstrup - disciplined and stuck to the role with heart and desire. Steele - a lot of it and some decent tackling but sloppy ball use (52% efficiency) hurt at times. Langdon - was very good. Did his job. Salem - just a game really but was in our best few. Lever - stuck to his task. One of those games where if something could go wrong it did. Without Gawn we'd have lost by 80 plus. In saying that, I'd still like to see us run with two rucks. Give the Moose a run.

Agree with this. Gawn is by far the best ruckman since Madden. Leadership, fitness, durability, impact, and a fair measure of skill. Simon Madden was definitely a better forward than Max and he was a wonderful, surgical ruck. It was a different era and Madden always played in the same side as other ruckman (Moss, Crow, Justin his brother, Merrett, Salmon, Somerville). Max has done it by himself. He's also a premiership captain.

In an era of broadcasting giants, he stood the tallest. It was a great time for sports commentary, but he was the Richie Benaud of the AFL (VFL, WAFL).

I thought our blokes looked pretty good. Rivers the best of the lot after a sluggish start with his disposal. He worked his way into the game beautifully. Pickett was always lurking and looked dangerous but missed a couple of pretty straightforward opportunities which would have made an ok game a good one. It was Max's first extended run since last season after recovering from his finger break and spending most of the last 4-6 in rehab. He still looks fit and his ruck work in the second turned the game in the Vics favour. 68% game time was more than enough for him. No ruck dominated the night, and that was not a surprise given how many of them were on the ground. All in all, no injuries for us and a promising start from three crucial players. The game overall - I loved it. It was a step up from Home and Away, as it should be, and I liked what I saw of the new rules. Big tick from me.

They are a great media unit. Have ben super impressed with them since late last year. A definite change for the better.

He attended Melba College (a Government School) in the East. His brother is in Year 11 there. He didn't do Year 12 and decided to work.

We obviously remember it differently.

It's great. Everyone complained back when 4 became 5 in a 12 team comp. Everyone complained when the 6 was introduced in 1991. The first final 8 system occurred in 1994 in a 15 team comp - yes that's right - only 7 teams didn't make finals. Fremantle and Port took the comp to 16 teams by 1997 with the removal of Fitzroy and it's stayed that way since, with some system modifications in 2000. For 25 years it's remained unchanged even though the competition now has 18 team (soon to be 19). It will help alleviate the unfairness of the fixture and it takes out the most boring weekend of the footy season.

If Rivers develops greater consistency in his game, which he will have the opportunity to do with more midfield minutes, then he is by far and away the best long term option. I'd make him a co VC with Viney and Lever next year.

He was (is) a superstar of the comp. True, he is a burst player, but that doesn't mean he's not putting in for the full game. He's a matchwinner in much the same way as Tim Watson was at Essendon. He is a Hall of Famer and we were very fortunate to have him for the bulk of his career.

Yes, but it had to end. And now it has ended, time to move on and embrace the next pantheon of champions to wear the red and blue. There is so much to look forward to in 2026.

He'll become an all time great, and probably within the next two years. I think he'll also step up into a leadership role and become even more influential. By the end of his career he'll rank amongst the very best ever to have played for the club and maybe even the best of all time. Great thread!