Everything posted by Swooper1987
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Premiership Hero Ben Brown Retires
He played a major role in the 21 finals series. And a great bloke. Has a big future with our AFLW program I'd imagine. Thanks for everything.
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Jack Viney Extends Contract Until 2028
On the Couch tonight - Lyon supremely confident that Viney is staying and an extension will be announced this week.
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Max Gawn Re-Signs Until 2027
I know CD rating points aren't everyone's cup of tea, but in the game v North Xerri scored 7.9 which is his lowest rated game for the season. Gawn rated 18.5. Second time v Brisbane Oscar scored a whopping 7.1 to Gawn's 10.3. Gawn 16.5 v Briggs 14.0and that was Max's first game back from injury, but anyway his season has been so up and down that even in his down games he's still better than the bloke playing on him. (You are right that Grundy go the better of him in round 0 but we all know the reason for that).
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Max Gawn Re-Signs Until 2027
The most influential Demon of my lifetime and pretty close to the best ever player - probably only Flower ahead of him. The greatest ruckman of this century and the best since Simon Madden. And still playing at an elite level. A tremendous leader as well. Thanks for the show of faith Max!
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Dan Houston
More likely 4 or 5. 5 would kill off any chance of a premiership for him, which is a bigger punishment than anything else they can dish out. It's a shame for him because he has been a very fair player over his career.
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VOTES: Rd 23 vs Gold Coast
A really great team effort, driven by our leaders. 6. Viney - his best game of the season 5. Langdon - a brilliant running dispaly all day 4. Gawn - 9 goal to 1 when it was Gawn v Witts in the ruck. 3. Turner - an important role and got better 2. McDonald - steady and dependable all day. 1. Petty- some big marks and always a target Honourable mentions - Salem was great early and still decent all day and Neal-Bullen worked his way into it.
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How typically Melbourne Brodie Grundy
He's a small man in big man's body. Generally hits to his feet, creates a contest, lays a tackle and goes again. His clearance work creates turnovers mostly. He can't mark and he can't defend and he doesn't kick goals. None of this is news. It was a terrible decision to recruit him in the first place. I am pleased that King and co have finally noticed. Lucky for the swans that they have an incredible midfield (and that Collingwood are still paying a big chunk of his salary).
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Farewell Alex Neal-Bullen
A big loss if this eventuates. An important leader. And a great role model. Will most likely be top 5 in the Bluey this year. But if he wants outs we'll get it done fairly. Adelaide seems a better fit for him than Port.
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Welcome to Demonland: Max Gawn
He's also the third highest rated player in the comp this season, and over the past 5 weeks he's rated number 1 - which is a major achievement given he missed two games in that block. Should put to rest all this debate about the AA ruck.
- VOTES: Rd 22 vs Port Adelaide
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Welcome to Demonland: Max Gawn
What an astute pick he turned out to be. Who'd have guessed pick 34 would've trumped the 4 picks we had before it in that draft? Martin, Fyfe and Gawn - three all time greats from the 2009 draft.
- VOTES: Rd 22 vs Port Adelaide
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The 2024 Positives Thread
Some very promising under 22's. McVee, Windsor and JVR all look long term standouts. Gawn's season has been underrated by many. He is a victim of his own insane standards. Currently the 4th highest rated player across the entire competition this season. He will win his third Bluey in an absolute canter and should have a 7th AA to show for it.
- Stats Files - 2024
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POSTGAME: Rd 22 vs Port Adelaide
A great effort. Polish is lacking no doubt but overall, it would be hard not to be proud of the effort, especially given the illness currently running through the place - gastro I believe. We need to play the season out with the exact same effort we saw tonight and hopefully with better execution. I'm not for resting players and getting "creative' with selection just because we can't play finals. The only exception might be Oliver, who clearly needs medical intervention on his hand. Gawn is fine - he's been our best player the last two games and is still a dominant force. No need to rest him at all. I wouldn't mind seeing Fullarton get a game alongside him though. This next fortnight should springboard us into next season, much like the last couple of rounds of 2020.
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VOTES: Rd 22 vs Port Adelaide
6. Gawn - Herculean performance from the best ruckman in the game. 5. Pickett - our most dangerous forward. Hard to be critical but self control needs to improve. 4. Petty - 7 marks, 8 tackles. Played with desperation. 3. Viney - great first half, set the tone 2. Neal-Bullen - low contested numbers but got a lot of it and was always involved. 1. McVee - another assured display Thought Salem and Langdon were in the conversation.
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Captaincy
Another year for Max and then I'd be looking at a generational change for the leadership. Rivers is my pick. By the time 2026 rolls around he'll be around the 120 game mark and he'll turn 25 in July of 2026. He'll still have some experience around him to support him. Trac will be 30 at the start of 2026, Lever a similar age profile. He's already playing like a leader.
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NON-MFC: Round 22
Grundy makes some costly mistakes. They should not let him anywhere near D 50.
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Dusty Retires Immediately-ish?
Perhaps the greatest big game player of all time. Congratulations on an amazing career. Loved watching him turn it on.
- Ed Langdon Re-Signs Until 2028
- VOTES: Rd 21 vs Western Bulldogs
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A hopeful look at 2025 (from a pessimist)
The player ratings say that Gawn has had a big improvement from last year from 13.90 to 17.02. Tracc is roughly the same as last season but obviously nothing after round 13 and Oliver has had a massive drop off - 16.15 to 10.85. Brayshaw was our 5th highest rated player last season at 11.21. That loss, coupled with Oliver's decline and Petracca's absence is basically the reason for our season. Viney is rating similarly to last season. Rivers and Neal-Bullen have both improved by about 1.5 from last season. McVee has gone from 8.81 to 9.68. May and Lever have both also dropped from last season by around .6. So other than Gawn, none of our big guns have improved from last season. The decline in Oliver, May and Lever and the absence of Brayshaw cannot be covered by the improvement of players like Rivers, Neal-Bullen and McVee. Our best chance of a rebound in 2025 is to have Oliver back near his best and to find someone who can fill the role Brayshaw played for us.
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NON-MFC: Round 21
Stoked for Hogan. Has finally become the player he was destined to be. Good on him.
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NON-MFC: Round 21
Grundy has really struggled the last few weeks. Interesting they brought Ladhams in. He was hopeless too but might indicate the workload has got the better of Grundy. He looks the bog average player he did with us last year.
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NON-MFC: Round 21
The Xerri v Nankervis ruck battle was decent. Nank definitely the Tigers best and Xerri continued his good form. Xerri took the chocolates in AFL fantasy but Nank won supercoach. Was a good old fashioned 80's style ruck battle. Some of Nank's touch in the last quarter was exceptional. Xerri is the heir apparent to Max. He can take a decent grab.