Deeko2

Admittedly, I have never attended a B&F but the fans do get the chance to occasionally mingle with the odd player don't they? It's pretty sad to say, but I'm actually a bit thankful he won't be there just out of fear of a fan, downing a few too many chardonnays and getting a bit 'passionate' towards Christian and maybe whoever he takes to the night. Might be best just to stay away for now, get himself 100% for next year and allow everyone to fall in love again once he starts playing wonderful footy and we start winning some more games.

I agree with all your post DeeSpencer. Just on the McAdam pick, I don't think any of us expected our team to slide so far this year and expected a top 4 finish at the time the trade was completed. Achieving this would have seen the capital dished out around the mid to high 30's (following compo picks) which is where the value really reflects. I remember when our interested in him was mentioned that I had a lurk around the Crows pages. The general vibe was they all seemed pretty upbeat on him as a player and not super keen on him going. On Lamb, I think this offseason will be seen as a failure already by most. I can't see any talent really wanting to come to our club in the short term until a few well documented challenges are cleaned up. I can see another period of delisting a few NQRs and maybe picking up a couple more NQRs.

IMO, the below are the only ones who I'm backing in as best 22. Still not sold on Petty/Turner as key forwards and we need a ruck/forward to let JVR develop solely as a forward. FB: McVee May Lever HB: Salem McDonald Rivers C: Langdon Viney Windsor HF: Chandler ???? Kozzy FF: Fritsch JVR ???? R: Gawn Trac Oliver* (based on decent preseason) Really, on paper, that team is fine with enough fire power around the pill and enough skill/talent to be be able to adapt to some quicker ball movement. I'd rather Petty heading back as I think that's where he plays his best football which means Lever can go defend a mid size forward although it still leaves us tall down there. Happy with McDonald this year but I still think Petty will go back and take his spot at some stage. Still not sold on Jeffo (sorry PicketFence) but may be scarred from the one game I saw him live last season which was fairly underwhelming. He's obviously came on a lot since then and I do hope he can prove me wrong. I'm still bullish on a top 4/6 spot in 2025 if the veterans (May/Gawn/Viney) can remain at their current levels and we can get Oliver back to his best whilst seeing some further improvements from Windsor & McVee. Just need a clean offseason (from now). We really need a young one to come in and explode on the scene to give us a huge lift but I just can't see any of Tholstrup, Turner, Moniz-Wakefield, Laurie, Bowey, Howes really being much more than role players at best. Here's hoping P5 can hit the ground running.

A superstar player who's enjoyed a great career and is clearly a wonderful leader. Very happy for the positive thread as with so much negativity on the others, it's turning me off wanting to visit the page. We've been incredible with our ruck development over the years in Stynes > White > Jamar > Gawn with quite a few All-Australian nods between them all. I really do enjoy listening to Max speak. He always seems so genuine and just simplifies things so easily removing some of the [censored]. We're lucky to have him and I'm happy he's signed on for a few more years. Even though he's getting a bit older, at least he's not getting any shorter and will be a challenging match up for all opponents until the end of his decorated career. Congratulations on #7 Max.

Not sure if having a club President rock up on someone's doorstep is a good thing. They really need to be separate from the footy department in my view. I can't see why she wouldn't have at least made a phone call to him wishing him all the best in his recovery - especially being our best and probably most marketable player. That seems a big miss for me. It definitely wasn't a wonderful interview but I'm not sure what more can be said at present.

It's always amazing how winning just sees all the negative news disappear. You make some good points Macca about our core group and young players coming through. Right now however I'm so torn between going all out for another flag/s for 25/26/27 or do we just go all in for a big rebuild and start fresh for 2027 onwards. We know that we have some wonderful players in Max/May/Viney/Trac (hopefully) who can really own and dominate September action. So why would we bother wasting there remaining years on a rebuild? I've been one of the few that was in for the Dan Houston trade (admittedly never for the price of two first rounders) thinking that bringing in another gun player, plus a fit and firing Clarry along with Trac staying and getting fit, would see us straight back to pushing for a top 4 finish. I get where you're coming from saying it's not doom and gloom if players mentioned in other threads do leave however. We'll be able to inject new talent into the squad. The old saying around 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush' always rings in my mind when trading players for picks however. The only thoughts I have around hitting the draft again is we never know how they will come on against players potentially leaving who we know are exceptional quality. I'm happy for us to hit the draft with our high end first rounder/s (say under pick 12's) but use the remaining for trading in some existing talent.

I don't know if it would start over. The way I see it, the attempted spill is primarily for the racing area. I'd imagine that the centre vacant area strategic plan would still be moving along as it's not mentioned in the article at all. Just my guess.

It didn't mention our development at all. More to do with differences of opinions in the location of mounting yards, the replacement grand stands and the sale of Sandown.

No one will take him with his body falling to pieces and there is really no need for the Tigs to move him on. I doubt there are many on big coin at tigerland at the moment with the recent retirements and trades, so they need to pay someone. The only way they would get rid of him would to be continue paying some of his contract and trade him for a high draft pick in exchange. So effectively they'd be buying a decent draft pick which makes sense for them in rebuild mode. The only temptation would be if his injuries were impact/once off injuries. But when its soft tissue and feet, then it's a no go. He'll finish at the Tigs. No one else would be rolling the dice on him.

In the words of the famed poet/philosopher Ricky Bobby, "if you ain't first, you're last." I really couldn't care about the 14th place. The moment we couldn't make finals, I still wanted us to win every match but had more interest hoping results go our way for the highest draft pick possible.

I think that over the last couple weeks, our whole strategy going forward has changed. A fit and motivated Trac keen for next year with a driven Oliver and potential pick 10-15 (which I was expecting) and I can understand the desire to trade for players. I agreed with trading it and brining in more middle aged talent. We really can't burn P5 on a trade if this draft has so many 'gun' mids at the high end. We definitely need more kicking skills and speed around the pill. Looking forward to who we get. Edited for some horrific spelling....

It's all coming together.... Let's go Saints!

I was actually thinking about the Tigs list if there's anyone we could pry out. Taranto went there chasing a flag and won't be keen on full rebuild. I'd be asking the question of him as well.

Interesting email I just received saying the court had handed down it's decision against Peter Lawrence in favour of the current board/club. Without getting in to the case (as I really don't understand it to be honest), is something like this and maybe challenges with former leaders, the items that would suck the life and energy out of the board/leaders? I don't even know anyone in a position to ask or what would be discussed at meetings. Preferably, I'm wanting the board focused primarily on the Caulfield development and ensuring we have the right leaders/structures in place. Not have to worry about power struggles or internal politics. I haven't even worried about hearing from over the last few weeks with a negative slung around the club. You don't have to respond to all the gossip. I just want all their energy in going towards making the club bigger, stronger and better than ever and wouldn't mind a few more updates how we're doing this.

Yes, I know. It's not a great mindset. I'm definitely not saying we tank. I was at nearly every game during the poor years and never cheered on a loss. Winning is everything for a club and group. I'm more trying to sell the silver lining that a loss wouldn't be the end of the world in this instance.

I posted this in the draft capital thread about the impact of the result against the Pies. We could slip all the way down to receiving P5 if we lost. All it takes is: St Kilda defeats Carlton by say 20 points We lose to Collingwood by say 25 points Gold Coast defeats Richmond by 50 points None of these results are really unlikely and if it happens, we could end up 14th. St Kilda are probably next on the AFLs list of helping out and may get band 1 compo for Battle. So winning and ending up 10th would push our pick out to 10 at best. P5 vs P10 is obviously a huge difference against a dead rubber result. If it was any other team, I'd accept an honourable loss. I just can't deal with that against the Filth. This win really could finish the year with some great energy and good vibes into next season.

I don't know if the other teams really escape it. I have friends who sadly follow the Blues and Bombers and are absolutely convinced the media is out to destroy their clubs. It's all just shock factor clickbait. Bad news, drama, challenges etc is what sells and what generates clicks. The moment there is any sniff of negativity around a club/player these parasites in the media are just ready to pounce as it's all about who's articles are generating the most reads. It frustrates me but I get how it works. What frustrates me more however is when reporter 'A' runs with a half cooked story that the reporter 'B' also takes a grab. Then reporter 'C' comes along and says how multiple reports are coming out about *insert story here*. It then becomes sensationalised as if 'the jungle drums are beating' when it's all just comments and stories between each other. These 'journalists' are literally creating their own news half the time reporting on others news abnd with so much media starved and desperate for information and so many football shows/streams/podcasts now existing, the little story A becomes sensationalised to the biggest story of the year. Only for it not to happen and they go on with there work creating the next [censored] storm without holding any accountability.

Maybe you’re right. It was just something different compared to the year where we’ve almost become accustomed to being smacked around by the media and seeing clubs circling our playing group like seagulls around a chip. For him to come out and show his passion for the club and the “he can go to Tazzy” comments, it was just a very pleasant listen. A big let’s get this right together and the club is always first. I thought it was great

I actually didn’t think what Clarko said was to bad really. Just that he wants some players of high quality character which he sees Jack as. But wow, Garry did go full “red and blue” mode on the couch tonight. Was very passionate in his words and didn’t let Bucks or Browny get a word in. Really was great from someone in the media who realistically should be sitting on the fence when commenting on any club but his love for the dees really showed though here. Worth a look on Kayo.

I love BBB but it's a no for me. We need every bit of available game time to keep playing Petty/JVR/Turner together so they continue developing. For me now its all about the future and these three have had some good moments over the last couple weeks - I'm definitely against making any changes. I'm sure if he is pulling the pin that he'll get the chance for a great farewell either completing a lap after the game and again on GF day.

Having a look at the AFL ladder and I was surprised how easily we could slip to receiving P5. All it takes is: St Kilda defeats Carlton by say 20 points We lose to Collingwood by say 25 points Gold Coast defeats Richmond by 50 points All of the above seem very possible and this would see GC and the Saints pass us leaving us 14th - crazy noting we would finish with 11 wins. It goes the other way in that if we beat Collingwood and Essendon lose (playing Brisbane) then we finish 10th and get P9. St Kilda may get band 1 compo for Battle leaving as well which would push our pick out to 10 at best. I'm tempted to say all in for the tank...... but I just hate Collingwood too much.

Perfectly said. I think it was pretty clear that we were going after a key forward to improve a team well within contention. When none was available, we tried Max was happy to sacrifice his own game to try and become that extra marking forward a lot more. I don't think there was any other options out there so well done to the club in being proactive to improve. Sadly, it didn't work with both Max and Grundy sucking up forward. We did right by all parties and moved Brodie on. I've never understood why people saw this as a negative.

It was my second game for the year making the 6 hour drive south with the wife and wee-one to sit in the MCC. I thought I'd have a couple cheeky froths but was shocked at the $15.50 price tag for one plastic cup of Asahi. So that was it for me.

I know nothing about him but just had a little google and saw his last three games for Oakleigh Charges (round 3, 12 & 13) he has been named in the best players each time. Hopeful for a big second half of the year for the young fella.

That's not true at all. He was happy playing a lot of minutes in the FWD line in order to make the team better. He was on the front foot willing to sacrifice his game to try and make the team better as its nearly impossible to jag a high quality key forward so he/we tried something different. Its really very selfless This is definitely true and the reason he didn't play long minutes