BW511

I think you are being reasonable @Better days ahead, but also feel like we are always waiting 4-5 games for things to gel/address a weakness/make a change/come into form/get back from injury/find a home base etc etc

I tend to agree that the press doesn't help us at all. We can win contested ball in the middle, but the important first or second disposal is a real weakness. This is compounded in the forward half when we have 80% of our players in there. We don't have the players capable of kicking flukey goals, yet that's how we plan on kicking them

Agree with the fact we got what we wanted, but none of those players were the premier player in their given position. During that period I reckon there has been a better version of every single one of those players move clubs. May could be excused, as he is probably in the conversation now - he wasn't at the time. Edit: @spalding I know the part about the player targeted wasn't what you were specifically questioning.

I don't think Salem is a line-breaker, he's good at opening up the game for others with his quick short kicks. Among a million other things, the club just continually behaves like a small club. As discussed, plenty of other clubs have targeted players and got them. We just don't work hard enough to get the best available in, which is infuriating for supporters who watch Nathan Jones hobble around on a wing

I'll just add, Baker is absolutely useless in the air. What really kills me is the wings have been a weakness of ours for many, many years now. I'd argue that a high quality pair of wingers would do more for us structurally than anyone else we have recruited in the last 5 years, maybe bar May. We are heading into 2021 in a worse position than this time last year, so I'd love to know how anyone expects us to be a Top 8, let alone Top 4 team

After yesterday's showing, we will be going in to Round 1 with a lot of blokes rushed back and short on match practice. Hope that doesn't hurt us further

That side is not filling me with confidence on the cusp of Round 1

The current board might be gone because of this

I’d rather commit to Casey and make it our own, than spend the next 5 years in limbo waiting for announcement on a facility that takes 2 years to build

We are not talking about a big name, first 18 recruit here. This is a bloke who is insurance, so it doesn’t make sense to uproot his life. If he was handed a 3-4 year contract, I’d guarantee he would move

I think this has more to do with where he lives, rather than where we train. Plenty of people have turned down jobs due to travel, but you can bet if we had been the only club in the race, he’d be doing it happily

Any errors you can point out @picket fence, just want to make sure you are not Saty in disguise. Appreciate the efforts to get down there and give us something to get excited about. It's interesting you keep bringing up Daw, yet the club and everyone around keeps talking him down.

Howe wasn't anywhere near as good with us as he has become either, he was getting there though

Wish his first instinct was to give it off, rather than engage in body contact

One thing that is not ending is our premiership drought

Richmond seem to have very good awareness of where their teammates are, or perhaps where they are supposed to be. When we get the ball, you have absolutely no idea what will happen

If he is to convince everyone he has turned the corner, you would like Tom McDonald to kick 4. Would like Jordon or Sparrow to get plenty of footy and raise a few eyebrows over the starting midfield mix in round one

Sorry, I didn’t realise they bled money down there. They do win lots of games of footy though

If we are using travel as an example, the people of inner Melbourne expect people of the outer suburbs to travel to games, yet would not be open to doing the same? There are plenty of people who live further out than Casey Fields who may suddenly be interested in going to the footy too. Warragul, Mornington Peninsula, Bass Coast. I think a 30,000 seat stadium at Casey would be a game changer for us. As discussed, Geelong absolutely clean up from their ground and they will be hosting finals there before we know it. I think the club is stuck in a never ending cycle of mediocrity, we don’t win enough, we don’t get members. We can’t do anything elite facility wise because we don’t have enough members ($$) and we can’t win games because of it.

So once in every how many years?

Agree wholeheartedly. I don't think we will have a facility within 5 years, not within the city/MCG precinct. We don't have the supporter base and therefor power to make something happen

Understand that completely, but my point still stands. The arrogance of the club has done nothing but harm it's cause. We are the only club in the AFL that doesn't have it's own facility, it's not due to available land or money, it's due to stubbornness and narrow mindedness.

Think the MCG Precinct and inner city mentality is probably detrimental to the club in the long term. With the spread of our population away from the inner metro area, why focus on an area which has zero growth. We are a club that has a small membership base and attracts very few supporters to our games, we need to be creative with our membership and keeping them engaged. Where the players want to live should rank very low down on the priority list.

If Hunt is moving back as suggested, he is a strong chance to be one of either. I think with our dire forward situation, T-Mac will have the biggest target on his back. Would like Jordon to be the surprise, he seems to be attracting plenty of attention already through club commentary (Gus and Gawny) or track watchers

Not me, in fact I would encourage it