BW511

Interesting that the crowd pitch involved him playing back. Wonder if he has a preferred end of the ground? He looked very happy kicking six snags against the Tiges

The article is flimsy at best. He says it won’t happen this year but maybe in the next few.

I understand completely that we can never compare potential with known talent but it’s not like the known quantities (Trac/Clarry/Viney/Max) are suddenly going to improve their ball use. Chocco was bought in specifically to focus on this skill, Grundy has stated he’s never done so much kicking work in his life. Also, many of the elite TAC guys have been training and preparing like AFL players for years leading into the draft, the jump is probably not as big as it once was. We’ve seen multiple first year players (Daicos/Ashcroft) transform their respective sides from year one. If the Clarry stuff ends up going anywhere and we have the chance to snag 3 top 10 kids or 2 and a known player, I believe we’ll be much better for it in the medium term. I mean Trac has been parked in the forward half plugging a hole for half the year, he’s an immediate replacement for Clarry and you know he’ll be breathing fire in ‘24.

It’s become increasingly clear that the MFC acknowledges our kicking skills have cost us over the past few seasons and in particular, 2023. With potential for significant change (Clarry out or a supercharged version) in 2024, there’s a hint of optimism in me. Just wish it didn’t take this long for the poor skills to be in focus. I’d love a mini reset for ‘24, if we did lose Clarry and landed Reid + one or two of the other top enders, we’d suddenly have more scope to expand our game by finishing off the hard yakka. The way we play the game seems to be emblematic of everything the club does, we’ve taken the difficult path for as long as I can remember.

Clarry out for Reid and the choice of McKercher/Duursma/Watson/O’Sullivan in would be a very spectacular trade period! Ballsy AF from a club that’s been lamented for its lack of dare for 3 years

If the finals version is his ‘feeling good’, I’d hate to see what he looks like with a knock or some soreness. I’m starting to think McKay, at a high cost, is better than Lynch for a desperate Premiership attempt. I’d rather invest long term and let him grow with our group post Max, May etc He can hit the wings and the neat goal kicking of Petty & JVR can stay closer to goal. Traditional CHF role.

I work with a reasonably thoughtful Carlton tragic, their supporters have wanted him gone for 3 years running.

That’s a whole lot of pressure to heap on Curnow in 2024, particularly with him being potted from everywhere about his poor finals series

Interestingly, Collingwood’s head psych/wellness employee sits on the bench for their games. They take it very seriously

How many roles did Yze miss out on prior to this?

This seems like it’s made for McQualter, very influential at Tiges over their successful years, was interim head coach this year and went close to landing the role permanently. He’s clearly well above a regular assistant

From the outside, it appeared this way. Thanks for confirming 😉

The Cadman talk should just reiterate to people how good JVR is/has been for a second year player. He’s not necessarily kicked bags of goals or taken marks but he’s up to the physical challenge of AFL already

I like the idea of recruiting Naughton to play a shared swingman role with Petty. Both aerial threats and could go either end depending on matchups. Wouldn’t mind Naughton being a bit more of an attacking tall back ala Darcy Moore. I have a dogs supporting mate who constantly bemoans the fact they don’t at least try Naughton at CHB considering there deficiencies at that end.

Nice to see an actual rumour. Anyone follow WCE enough to know what we are looking at?

I wouldn’t value the modern Brownlow as anything other than a bit of marketing for the AFL.

I’m not sure he gets guaranteed game time anywhere

Except DeGoey, who had about 15 seconds and two tackles

Few people in here think the forum/posters owe them something. Strange place to be. Hopefully we can pull something off so we don’t have to be reading this thread in September 2024

Happy to agree to disagree.

I think Lever is probably too settled in our structure but considering his limitations as an actual defender, he inflicts no damage as an offensive weapon either. Very prone to brain fades too. I think he gets a very cushy ride

I have 3 big concerns going into 2024 and beyond, in no particular order: 1 - We are in desperate need of skill, from HBF through to FF. There’s only 2 blokes I’d put in the elite category with field kicking, Bowza and Salem. Unfortunately, due to injury, Salem has not been fit enough to get the required space to use it. He’s spent the year dump kicking. Collingwood, Brisbane and GWS all play very attacking games based on skill. Aside from being much better to watch, it’s more natural for players and I think it would gain a lot more ‘buy in’ from a group. 2 - Burn out. I think our game plan is too physically taxing to sustain for 3-4-5 years in a row. We’ve made slight tweaks but it still revolves around an enormous amount of effort across the board. Physically and mentally, I think our guys have lacked a bit of zip all year. No doubt the effects of consecutive straight sets exits will add to this. 3 - Gameplan. We have a very defensively minded gameplan and yet it’s still extremely susceptible to being opened up. We have beaten teams that employ faster, more attacking game plans but they are still there and we aren’t. Yes, there is luck, injuries and dodgy umpiring but at the end of the day it’s bloody hard to win and even harder if you aren’t there. I think the easiest way to address these issues is much the same as everyone else. Draft mids that can kick the ball exceptionally well. Bring change to the coaching panel. Allow ourselves to take more risk, across the entire organisation. Everywhere we look, we are playing it safe.

Collingwood definitely played through Sidebottom a lot because he made Langdon look stupid. He’s a shadow of himself after being KO’d

Whenever goal kicking comes up, I think of the famous stories about Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant just shooting ridiculous amounts of balls before/after training. Our guys could fix it if they wanted to and I think after the manner of exit this year, they will be asked to. Must be infuriating for the coaches to have guys on $400k-$1m a year and we have to waste time on goal kicking