Lord Nev

You can call it harsh if you wish, but I rate his talent and footy smarts highly and I think he got better as the year went on, which isn't a 'harsh' call IMO given he was playing a completely foreign role for him. Had a sensational final series, but i think early in the year he was a bit patchy as he found his feet.

His defensive mindset, awareness and positioning on the wing got better as the year went on. Early on it seemed he wanted to play his game but in a different position, but from about mid year it seemed to really start clicking for him in how he should be playing his role and how important the defensive aspect was including things like spoils, intercepts and 1 percenters.

While I agree the role was pretty much the same, I disagree he was doing it well early in the season. Trying to find the round by round votes, but not having much luck.

Not sure if anyone has the round by round votes handy, but I think it's important to remember how much Gus grew into the role as the year went on. We all remember the late parts of the season and finals, but early in the year he wasn't very convincing in the wing role, so I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of his votes were in the 2nd half of the year once he figured it out a bit more.

Loving these few quotes from Christian in an interview with the HS today. Amazing to think of how much he has grown the last few years. “Someone sent me a tweet that someone had posted: ‘Petracca already back in the gym.’ “That’s our job, that’s what I get paid to do." “I don’t get paid to sit on my [censored], I get paid to train and get better for next year.” And this little bit was pretty wholesome too. Can't help but feel there's a lot of Max in this vibe but the whole club have really taken it on: “When we were out of lockdown and started to go out a bit, you’d see Melbourne fans, the smiles on their faces, and you realised what you’ve actually done in terms of breaking this curse, ending a 57-year drought,” Petracca says. “The person we bought our house off was a massive Melbourne supporter. The mum was an elderly lady, she gave me a massive hug, which was really, really cool. I couldn’t stop smiling.” https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/footy22-magazine-get-your-2022-afl-season-guide/news-story/dcacc42db654ef8a434dc71dd19f1db4

I'm not comparing Gus to Smith as such, more just thinking about how the 'defensive winger' role came about for us. It ended up being an important part of our success, both for the defensive attributes (particularly for a team known for giving up scores from turnovers out of defence) and possibly for the 'cultural impact' where a big name like Brayshaw is seen sacrificing stats for the sake of the overall team performance.

Which bit is wrong exactly? The stats? That they have different roles? That Gus was important? That Langdon will likely be offered a higher contract? Interested in how any of those things makes me 'biased'.

Quote exactly where I said that. Far out mate. Seriously.

"Had Langdon covered"? 0.5 more tackles 0.4 more clearances (with obviously more midfield time) 0.2 more goal assists Not exactly leaving him in the dust there. Langdon was ahead for inside 50s and score involvements by 0.1, so obviously 0.2 is when you 'have someone covered' hey? Metres gained +144 to Langdon Disposal efficiency +5.5% to Langdon Marks +1.2 to Langdon Gus was important last year, and shows amazing character to play the role he did so well, but I reckon you're underselling Langdon here a little and how different their roles are. Want Gus to stay, but have little doubt which one will command a higher price at contract time.

No one has suggested otherwise. Please go back and read the posts.

Exactly, and that's my point about the role itself.

Yet we chased Smith.

My guess would be Harmes' disposal and awareness would be detrimental on the wing. Definitely has Gus covered for pace, but I think Gus reads the play better and that's why he made the defensive wing role work despite not being a fantastic runner. Just intriguing if 'defensive winger' was even a role we had picked out given we chased Smith.

Genuine question: Did Brayshaw get played as a defensive winger because we needed one, or because we needed somewhere to put Gus that wasn't in the middle and we'd tried every other option on the wing? No doubt he played the defensive wing role really well for the most part in '21, but if we had a 2nd genuine gun winger would he have even been put there?

Jordon played the role for him a little in '21 didn't he? Might not have the tank yet, but attributes wise he's probably not a massively different option to Gus. There's also the possibility they look at one of the half back as you mentioned. Could see one of Rivers, Bowey or Hunt getting a chance.

But that 'incident' actually happened in 2020 or earlier (quite possibly 2017 or 2018), so wouldn't have thought the timing is relevant.

Yeah he is, and to be fair the article doesn't say he's put it off until end of season, so could very well be trying to maximize his offer and in particular his contract length given the concussion history.

Of course it is. If you think Kendrick Lamar saying it is the same as Donald Trump saying it then I reckon you should do some reading about the 'reclaiming' of that particular word. Appreciate the chat, but we'll likely start going way off topic now and end up going in circles so I'll just leave it with that. Have a great weekend mate!

Yeah, look I'm with you on 'cancel culture' as a concept. I think it only furthers division if you can't talk people around calmly with facts and understanding, rather than just screaming them down and trying to silence them, which only ends up reinforcing their 'victim mentality'. In saying that, I think there's a big difference between being de-platformed and being silenced. Free speech isn't free from consequence, and publishing organizations are under no obligation to provide people doing damage with what they say an audience. As for the 'N word' topic you've raised, that's another kettle of fish, and without going off track - there's clearly nuance in the context of treating it 'equally under the law regardless of colour'.

Not sure you're correct here. Healy helped us get Roos over the line originally, has talked up our players, stood up for Goody with all the stuff going on lately, and has made appearances on fan podcasts and the like. I think often people like Healy and Lyon get misunderstood by supporters because they try to be fair and balanced in their media roles.

No, they said they wouldn't be on the same platform as him. That's totally their decision, and they gave Spotify a choice of how to handle it. They didn't say 'you must cancel Joe Rogan's show'. This wasn't 'cancel culture'.

There'd be 'better' players, but geez, imagine a forward line mix featuring Brown, TMac, Kozzy, Fritsch and Jurrah.. Ooft.

Except the stance of Young and Mitchell wasn't 'cancel culture'. They both took a stand for their beliefs and simply told Spotify they would not be affiliated with Rogan through the same service. Neither of them told Spotify they must cancel Rogan's podcast.

“It might ultimately save the game, the purchase of that stadium.” Gerard Whateley agreed, saying it will help the AFL massively for two reasons. “There could never have been a better time to own (Marvel Stadium) than now and the foresight to buy it, they could have waited about a generation and bought it for $1, but they did spend the money out of the future fund,” he said. “I imagine it is going to serve them on a number of fronts. One is against the line of credit, but two will be the staging of a season when that comes. “It’s going to be the most important asset that the AFL has and I think we’ll look back and marvel at their management to buy it at the time that they did, without being able to forecast what would happen.” https://www.sen.com.au/news/2020/03/24/the-asset-that-puts-the-afl-in-a-much-stronger-survival-position-than-the/ The AFL has offloaded a prime piece of central Melbourne real estate, originally earmarked for the redevelopment around Marvel Stadium, for an estimated $60 million. In 2018 McLachlan struck an agreement with the Victorian government to invest $225 million into the Docklands precinct redevelopment as well as guaranteeing the grand final at the MCG until 2057. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-sell-docklands-real-estate-20200616-p5537q.html