Gawndy the Great

Parfit hammy

Both team are struggling to cover the ground. Looks like under 8s on the seniors oval.

The guy is clearly soft tissue injury prone. What a shame. No way GWS can win this. They just lost 2 key forwards. How lucky are the cats.

100% agree. We speculate on this trade, but it has to be on our terms, if he is requesting a 4year deal @ 750K then it simply will not happen and we would be negligent as a club to allow that to happen. Once he nominates we have the upper hand or Freo risk him walking away for nothing. So its the contract that will be the key puzzle piece.

I think that is massively overs. We are basically swapping 4 players for 1. Realistically its either one of: 1. Weid (or other fringe player) + future first 2. Future first + second (or future second) The kid is good, but on present form i would say is equivalent or marginally better than someone like JJ or Rivers. Ill caveat it with that i havent watched too many Freo games, but from the media, its generally Brayshaw and Mundy that takes the plaudits from that midfield.

We are in the box seat: 1. Form 2. Health of playing list 3. Game plan. If we can get to the big dance, then i might change my mind as anything can happen on the big day. But this premiership is ours to lose. I don't think Port pose any threat give their form against top 8 is quite poor i think. Their win against the Cats was more a capitulation of Geelong more than it was the Port stamping their authority. I think Lions / Dogs are the more likely team(s) to get through on that side of the draw.

I find it quite bizarre as well. Could it be a little bit of jealousy and blowback from dominating the other awards? I do recall a few players in the past saying they rely on media / stats...but if that was the case then we should have had Oliver smashing it. In the end it doesnt really matter because i dont think this aware is that prestigious anyway.

Neeld was just an angry man who may have some footy smarts but lacked personable qualities. Given the onset of millennials at around the time he came to MFC, this was just the perfect storm.

Also playing most games at the scg where the ground is small doesn’t suit his intercept game.

not the end of the world. Would have been a good get though.

Want to play and think we'll play Geelong. GWS are without some key players, but their midfield core are still in tact and genuinely worry me. They always seem to be show up against us and they are contested, smart and clean. A bit like the Bulldogs outfit but better. Mumford also seems to play to hurt so could cause some injuries to our midfield group. Geelong are old and slow and invite pressure. It is no surprise that they seem to drop out of finals consistently in recent times as their gameplan simply does not hold up in finals. We will be fresh, hungry and are in great form. Given Connors is gone, they really don't have another full time tagger which plays to our strength. Their forward line is worrying but under finals intensity, we should limit clean supply at the source. They are no certainty against GWS so will boil down to which team has more energy.

Seem to be fun to be around, but clearly lacked the winning edge and intensity that was required to be in a high performing team. Really sad to see such a waste of talent - but it is a game for the elite performer AND trainer.

AFLCA Gary Ayres Award for the QF. See here Qualifying Final: Melbourne v Brisbane Lions 10 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 7 Christian Petracca (MELB) 4 Charlie Cameron (BL) 4 Lachie Neale (BL) 3 Jake Lever (MELB) 1 Max Gawn (MELB) 1 Alex Neal-Bullen (MELB) Leaderboard 10 Clayton Oliver (MELB) 10 Isaac Heeney (SYD) 9 Travis Boak (PORT) 7 Tom Liberatore (WB) 7 Christian Petracca (MELB) 7 Ollie Wines (PORT)

Would be great to have Josh as the AFL GM. Will at least have some sort of connection with the MFC. Does anybody know if was pushed out to have Richo take over his role or whether his exit was self-initiated?

Don't open that can of worms @Demon17 still makes my blood boil that it wasn't even looked at.

So Stevic's final remarks are damning for Greene. Acknowledged it is not a good look for the game, it was disrespectful etc, etc. I think GWS had a defense structured around Stevic's response...that has failed. Greene is gone.

That is crazy! How can you possibly defend this? 6 weeks minimum.

Put him on a 2 year contract and when Ben King requests to come back to Vic at the end of 2022 we offer Weid and another player/1st round pick.

Agree it was disappointing, but this is where i think the AFL have shot themselves in the foot by introducing the concept of outcome over intent. If we were to measure this on outcome, then there is nothing to look at and this is where Trac's opinion makes sense - not saying its right, but im doing my best to understand this. He is young and probably a bit naive to understand the broader implications at play here. Do we know whether there is a personal friendship at play here? is it possible he is just trying to stick up for his mate?

Absolutely. it takes 2-3 seasons to build the body and engine to compete consistently at AFL level and LJ is definitely ahead of the curve here. He has a fantastic attitude towards training and learning as well - looking to avoid the same mistakes that Maxy made earlier in his career (Gawn is going to be such a pivotal role model). This guy can be anything and will cause so many headaches for the years to come in terms of match-up. Rivers, Kozy and LJ will become very good players and to think that we have Trac, Oliver, Lever and bunch of others still in their early 20's. Such an exciting time to be part of this football club.

The Geelong/GWS game will be an interesting test of resilience both physically and mentally. The pending suspension to Greene and key injuries to the GWS will flatten their sales, but their midfield can still run rampant and ultimately is where Cats can come undone. The GWS should take some confidence into this game given their recent victory and there seems to be a swell in team dynamics and connection (albeit Greene may have put a spanner in the works here) The Cats on the other hand, look flat and cooked. It has been a long season and they are out of form too. They might get Zac Tuohy back to inject some better ball movement but i think they are also carrying some injuries. We are definitely on the better side of the finals draw.

Is the 55 inclusive of players and coaching staff? If so then, i dont think she really had much of a say as they would have absolutely had to have priority.

The feeling in the media and social media has a similar feeling to the incident that Jack Viney was involved in. There is no doubt that the sitting tribunal members will closely monitor this feedback in order to have some measured response - love it or hate it, i think it makes sense. The punishment is what will be interesting. Remember people were calling for 6 weeks for Viney. Given Greene's record, i think there will be an enhancement of the suspension.

I think ANB was the sacrificial lamb. Not many have been suspended since that let alone getting 5 weeks.

Essendon will be better for the experience. They were lucky to make it to be honest. Dogs still horribly unconvincing. I think Brisbane will waltz into the prelim against Port.