BDA

I’m no fan of Eddie. He should have handed over the reins a long time ago. He has run his mouth off way too often and made some indefensible comments over the years. And he has to be one of the worst commentators to endure. Hopefully he gives that away for good as well. The only time I want to see Eddie is for the ritual camera shot of him when Collingwood lose. I’ll miss that. I do hope the TV companies maintain that custom. All that said, pretty sure we wouldn’t be fumbling around trying to get our home base project off the ground if Eddie was in charge.

Not the worst idea for a stop gap (assuming his health is ok) but I don’t think we need to be looking at emergency options yet. BB will be back in rounds 2-3 and we have cover in TMac, LJ and M Brown until then.

Wonder how Laurie and Bowey feel, watching this footage and seeing the coach question their selection?

I still reckon we should make the 8 at the least. We didn’t have B Brown last year and Weid was in the 2’s for the first 6 weeks (I think) so we’re pretty much as you were and we should have played finals last year. A leaner TMac to find some form, LJ to continue his development and Fritsch to bring his shooting boots. Petracca to chip in. Maybe Maxy bobs up with a few. Midfielders to deliver half decent ball and we should be ok. We won’t be blowing teams away but we should still win more than we lose. B Brown will be back and should be hitting his straps by rounds 6-8 and we’re in business. The danger now is we do exactly what Kane Cornes said we would do, let our heads drop, lose winnable games early and have to play catch-up for the season.

I had a lot of faith in Weids and thought the arrival of BB would be the catalyst for him allowing him to take the second defender each week. He's missed a lot of games over the few seasons through injury and poor form. I'm starting to lose faith.

I think we should wrap TMac, LJ and Mitch Brown in cotton wool until round 1.

This is fckd. Stage set perfectly for TMac to redeem himself. Come on Tommy boy, we need you to come through for us.

If he turns the clock back and fires like its 2018 then i'll tip my hat to him. Don't think it'll happen though.

He may no longer officially be president of Collingwood but the reality is the club and Eddie are joined at the hip. He’s all over the TV and radio so it’s not like he going to quietly wander off into the sunset. How can the new president and board get any clear air to settle into the role and chart a new path when Eddie is so ubiquitous. It’ll be like the former PM’s sitting on the back benches. He’ll be there, looming large in the background ready to comment on each and every issue the club faces. I can’t see him toeing the party line and keeping his comments to himself. Plus it’s pretty obvious he didn’t want to leave so what are the chances he becomes a destabilising influence, bides his time before the challenging the new board and re-takes what he believes is rightfully his? A very interesting transition period coming up.

I agree with the sentiment. Unfortunately for Eddie he was a very poor listener.

The recruiters should have final say. Goody might not be around too much longer so he shouldn’t be making the end decision.

Massive game. Big test for the girls.

But we haven’t missed the boat yet for Dusty Martin. Here’s hoping he falls out with Richmond, we convince him to join us (on a multi-million dollar deal of course) so he can stick it to his former club. He leads us to the promised land picking up another norm smith while he does so. It’s written in the stars.

Ah. that would explain it. Still. quite possible no spectators would have turned up anyways.

Ah. you mean this guy?

Just watching the GWS v Adelaide ALFW game. I can see 1 spectator (probably wandered in by mistake). Perhaps the crowd are located on the near side out of camera shot (but I doubt it). Makes you wonder about the sustainability of GWS??

Beautiful evening out at Casey. Stiff breeze but thankfully not the gale that often blows. Top marks to the grounds staff, the deck looked immaculate. Thought it could be one of those days when Frederick marked and goaled early but after that there was really only one team in it. Out delivery inside 50 was poor in the first quarter but improved as the game went on. Ball movement was pretty good actually with one passage in the third quarter in particular where we almost went coast to coast. Bannon can play. Showed real smarts to leave her opponent sitting on her [censored] while she took a simple mark and goal. Her positioning is very good, she knows how to nudge and outbody in the marking contest. I think she’ll be a great player for us. Goldrick is a ripper. Knows only one way to play. See ball, attack ball. She beat Brennan all ends up and ran off her all day. All in all I though it was a good performance. We need to sharpen up in certain areas for sure but we’ve got 2 wins in the bag which will give us confidence and belief for the much tougher assignments which lie ahead. Go Dees.

Bit of a nothing comment from Cornes. Our head coach won't allow excuses this year. Goodwin is coaching for his job so either he gets a tune out of the team or he’ll be sacked. BB injured is a disappointment, but we have depth. His injury won’t provide cover if we continue to bomb aimlessly into our forwards.

Is inclusion of a player in the photo a definitive indication that they will be given a spot on the list?

Who was left out of the official team photo?

As long as we limit the supply into Frederick and Brennan we should be ok. Richmond don’t really have any weapons other than those two.

I've been a Spargo doubter. Will be very pleasantly surprised if he develops into a Gray type.

None of the track reports I read noted that he was “obviously” in discomfort. And I’m not sure what injury “forecasting” is. There’s no way to predict when a player will get injured. Do you mean ongoing monitoring of the knee given his history? We’ve got the best in the business in Burgess leading the fitness and medical team. He got our full list fit and firing last year after the shambles that was 2019 so I think he deserves a bit more faith. From all accounts BB was training well and other than the bandage on the knee was showing no ill effects at all. I think we all need to take a chill pill and let the medical team do their thing. Much better to get this treated now than after the season had started.

The gift the keeps on giving

I'm not an expert but this doesn't sound too serious. Best be conservative, get the knee right and make sure he's right for the rest of the season, including finals.