Colm

We were top 4 this time last year and he was sorely missed come finals. You’re right, he’s a top pro with a great attitude I’m sure he’s chomping at the bit to get out there. I still feel that the team has let him down a bit with current ladder position. If we had managed to put 2 more wins on the board( any 2 of the blues, WC or Lions) then it would be a very different situation he’s returning too. Hope he plays this weekend.

Feel a bit sad for him. He’s done everything in his power to get back playing as soon as possible- probably thinking we would be in as good a position as the past two years in terms of ladder position and flag chances. Sadly we are nowhere near it. ☹️

Thanks Chaser- I was trying ( with little success) to stream it through my phone onto TV via that page. I’ll try it with the laptop tonight.

Anybody got a good link to watch replays of the champs? My Foxtel box isn’t recording at the min. Have tried it from the AFL app but it keeps saying the stream is over 2 mins in. Not up on YouTube yet either. Im not exactly a wiz with technology but it seems harder than it should be.

Good to see the Trac incident didn’t have any effect on Moore- still only too happy to put his knee into another players back.

Agree Jaded. A slightly different approach to our fitness program might be in order. We have had the Burgess philosophy for about 5 years now. Change is as good as a rest. The comp is all about the survival of the fittest now. Rivers is looking good in the middle but needs a bigger tank to play there week in week out.

Thought he played well last night just a shame he couldn’t convert. He’s an emotional big lad and the goal scoring is between the ears for him. He’s conversion rate was much better last year. Could still be a cracking forward if he can sort his kicking much like Harry McKay has this year. Failing that he will still be a very good defender. Sign the contact Harry. 🤞

I’m not sure the masses are listening to you WCW. We have drifted out to $6 now. All the better for those who do put the house on it I guess.

Not super confident we will get up tonight but hopeful we will be competitive. If we can’t get up things I’m hoping to see are- Clarry finding a way to be effective with a tag. Either going to Neale as others have suggested or going to half forward and having an impact. Rivers having a good game in the middle. Kolt to have a big game. Rising star nomination would be the dream scenario but just building on last weeks performance and getting a bit more involved for longer and I’d be happy. AMW to start and not look out of place. Doesn’t need to play a blinder just play his role and build his confidence. Go Dees

I believe I read in another thread that the player, club and AFL are all waiting on Sport Integrity Australia completing their investigation.

No we are not. We have taken about all we have at Casey and there’s bugger all left. If we had the quality there then Casey would be winning a lot more games this year. We have a lot of work to do to if we are to get both lists in better shape. If we don’t get out trading and picks spot on over the next couple of windows we will be in the familiar territory of being bottom dwellers when an expansion team comes in.

Despite his form issues so far this season, I’d love if Harry signed new contract. Be a nice little pick me up if both him and Langers signed on the dotted line sometime soon. @Dannyz any updates on either of them?

This is the problem with attracting free agents- you have to pay them more than they are worth both in terms of dollars and length. I wonder if what’s happened with Gus and Clarry have us a little gun shy of offering big long term contracts.

Full interview was much better thanks for putting it up. What a quality human being this man is- very lucky to have him play for us. I’ve zero doubts he will be playing for us next year. Hope his recovery goes well and he takes as much time as he needs to fully recover. On a slightly different topic I googled both his name and Clarry’s to check how old they will be going into next season- jeez there has been some amount of muck written about both of them lately. I’ve completely turned the media off this year( probably easier in Tassie) and get most of my info through DL now. Media really are going for us in a big way. Myself imposed ban will be in place for a long time to come I think. Hope the recovery goes as well as possible for Trac and he returns as the happy go lucky bull of a player he has been for us for so long now.

Be nuts to trade Clarry. Apart from the fact that he’s ones of the best players to ever play for us I just don’t think it makes sense to trade him. He'll be back to his best next year and at his best he’s in the top 5 in the comp. If we trade him with his form slump, off field issues and length of contact we will get way unders for him. Proper A graders are very hard to come by. There's a far better chance that Clarry will be back to A grade form next year than any player or pick we get in return for him.

Why thank you Roost, I’ll gladly take him. Any chance you could give me an upgrade on Tim Lamb while you at it?

I think we should go to the draft this year with as much draft capital as possible. Hopefully we can bring in one or two UFA,s too. We probably need to go hard at next years draft too before we start trading top picks for players. That’s 2 years to add to our crop of young players and one to target more mature players through trading before the Tassie team enters starts in 2027. I remember being super impressed with Richmond’s recruitment in 21. A year after their last flag and they went to the draft with 5 picks inside the top 30. A year later they added Hopper and Taranto. But look where they are now. I don’t know if they over estimated the quality on their list and the 5 they picked certainly have really starred so far. But it goes to show how difficult it can be to get these things right.

Can’t say I do. Bit surprising we haven’t heard anything since he was included in the Allies team. Any info from our draft gurus?

I’ll second this as a topic for discussion. Nathan Jones said it a few weeks ago, we all need to reassess our expectation of Melbourne, on the weekend we were without Trac, Gus and Lever. From a purely leadership perspective that is massive. On top of that we have Oliver really struggling and several player out of form and low in confidence. Post game thread went into meltdown even though we won. There will be a time when we will wish we could see the likes of Max, Viney, Clarry and Maysie running round the G one last time. If we reset our expectation it might allow us enjoy wins like we just had. Love the Podcast lads. Keep up the good work.

Think that pick is currently pick 30. In a draft that is meant to go pretty deep that’s a good pick.

Agreed. @Lucifers Hero has always been one of my favourite poster.

How good would it be if Max played until he’s 37. Not sure it’s on the cards though. At the time of his 200th I remember him saying that he wanted to enjoy it as he didn’t think 250 games was very likely.

There clearly a wide range of reasons for our midfield drop off. Oliver being so down on form, the return of the tagger has also meant teams are able to tag Trac. Previously when teams tagged Trac, Oliver would have a field day and vice versa. Losing Gus has clearly had a big impact too. Id love to see comprehensive state on our overall fitness from last year to this. Feels like we just aren’t fit enough this year. New game plan, overall coaching, strength & conditioning and player development all probably require looking at. No one can look at those stats and say some level of change isn’t required.

No I said May if we don’t believe we are going to be in the top 4 next year. Don’t think anybody on Demonland would ever say we should trade Max.

We are a nice club who’s culture is soft as butter and every other club knows it. I love Max to bits but his leadership style couldn’t be any softer. Goody has very little aggression in him either. Lack of response to Maynard in last years final or last weeks game is just one example of how soft we are. How many times do teams go after Max all game on and off the ball. Zero reaction from any of our players including Max. Why wouldn’t teams continue to do it. It’s not just on field either we are soft as off field too. We let Grundy go for a bag of chips because it was the right thing to do and we are nice. If Petty doesn’t sign a contract we will get bugger all for him too because nobody will believe we will hold him to the last year of his contract. We are too nice to do that. Going off the reports it looks like some of our new recruits might have a bit of aggression in them( Kolt and Kentfield) so I’m wondering if it’s something we are trying to address but it’s just as likely that we will coach that aggression out of them. Also I’m not talking about thuggery, just a willingness to stand up for your teams mates and go hard at the footy when required.