Gawndy the Great

Interesting to know. Will give us a clue as to whether we were genuinely cooked or just mentally off or just not good enough when we played the Lions. Blues will throw the kitchen sink to avoid 0-3. I think some will start to lose belief given their first half performance last year. Funnily I’d be much more confident if they beat Collingwood last week. Right now it’s 50/50 for mine.

Does that take him to free agency?

That doesn’t make sense. You mention LY was on. What does that mean?

Who is LY?

Yeah I picked up on that too, which does at least confirm it’s not just the collective DL bias. The anti Melbourne sentiment in the media is real. Would be good to plant this seed across multiple platforms to see it gets traction and maybe some clarity. I mean we have the best record in the last 4 years and yet we are only remembered by the straight sets and the other stuff we cannot mention. And yet other clubs seem to get a free pass. The Cats were the PF chokers only just a few years ago, Pies/ Doggies / Dons and drugs were synonymous and yet it’s ok. Of course every team is vulnerable when losing, but we are 6-2.

It’s a very dicey one. For me, prior to his injury, I’d have no hesitation. But with it, you just get some uncertainty with the longer term impacts of his injury. Trust the club to do the right thing here….

I thought he was a RFA at 2025?

He still has one and half years on his current contract. No doubt his management will recommended contract until free agency. Personally, I wouldn’t want to go beyond that either given his recent run of injuries. So maybe a 2-3 year extension for now is best for both parities. If we go beyond that we are really putting ourselves at risk but completely understand if we did.

My thinking exactly. WHen Oliver gets to his elite self, he will attract a tag, that will free up Petracca. The one dis on Trac is his defensive game. He needs a more defensive presence, which can be then used to work the tag to our advantage. He needs to improve this.

What i take from this is what a load nonsense the expected score is. Essendon are not 16th, Collingwood are not 3rd. Also did the expected score predict a draw for Collingwood?? i find that hard to believe. As for us, we have only lost one game to expected score (against PA), which is probably right.

Goody 5 - Lever 4 - Pickett 3 - Holmes 2 - Guthrie 1 - Gawn Scott 5 - Holmes 4 - Guthrie 3 - May 2 - Gawn 1 - Petty There's a few other way to get the same outcome, which sees Goody give May 1 vote instead of Gawn and a bit of shuffling from Scott. But the bottom line is how Scott didn't find room on his votes for Hawkins, Cameron, Danger and Rohan.

ill post it to the coaches votes thread

Coaches votes are up. Confirm Scott is a complete [censored]. His players were "off" but he proceeded to give most of his votes to his own team. He has given Holmes and Guthrie the 5 and 4. Other interesting insight is Goody didnt give May any votes (presumably). There is a combination where he does give Maysie 1 vote albeit at the expense of Gawn. VOTES PLAYER (CLUB) 8 Max Holmes (GEEL) 6 Zach Guthrie (GEEL) 5 Jake Lever (MELB) 4 Kysaiah Pickett (MELB) 3 Max Gawn (MELB) 3 Steven May (MELB) 1 Harrison Petty (MELB)

There is no doubt an element of that too.

We win this and I think we consolidate our premiership credentials. We lose and we go back to the pack. We have plenty of time off in the last month so should be right for Thu night despite 5 day break.

Was our game plan that we saw on Sat night adjusted for the Cats or was it an example of the new direction we are heading?

I thought I did?

I think what people want to see is a performance like this every now and then to know he has what it takes. As he matures you’d expect consistency to improve, but you need a taste. JVR was having a huge influence at VFL level in his 2nd year so thats what people try and compare against. The year is still young so if he can start stringing a few of these performances together his confidence will improve and he may just get a crack at the AFL.

Bevo must be Devo with that performance. Surely not long now.

Mate it’s not negative whatsoever. It’s simply highlighting what happens if you don’t put work into him. It’s been a known fact for the last 4 years and why the whole forwards marking the intercept is a modern part of the game plan. It’s similar to the difference between tagging and not tagging Trac/Oliver. When you let him run free he will likely punish you.

Maybe so… I think it’s more what happens when you don’t put the right person in him. Henry (his direct opponent) gave him no respect and despite kicking 3 goals on him, probably gave up more in the scoring chains he set up.

I’m thinking Tommo is a shoe in to Norf. We should extend Tmac for another 1 season I think. But can’t stop Norf throwing stupid money at him.

I loved Windsors goal. Big moment and he missed a sitter earlier. He went and actually kicked through it and split the middle.

I’m not convinced yet. It was a stellar game and it does look like an upward trajectory in performance for a few weeks now. I’d give it a few more weeks to see where he gets.

It’s going to be hard to beat for the GOTY I reckon. That degree of difficulty on that was off the charts.