Accepting Mediocrity

Is he though? It's been demonland narrative all year, but the stats don't really back that up. Compared to 2021, he's averaging the exact same number of goals, marks and disposals. He's averaging more goal assists, overall tackles and I50 tackles.

This narrative is an absolute myth that refuses to die. When Frawley left, he was a 25 YO, All Australian Full Back, and one of the very best key defenders in the game. He was absolutely worth Band 1 Compo at the time - not our fault he peaked so young. McKay is a handy player, but can't see how he falls into the same category.

Harsh. You don't play 200 AFL games without being a consistent performer. His 2018 season, in particular, was exceptional. It's a game of fine margins. If he nails those 2 set shots in the qualifying final (as he usually would), suddenly he's had a pretty good finals series. He'll be a handy depth player next year.

You severely overrate draft picks. Look up the 2017 and 2018 drafts. With all of the benefit of hindsight, choose 2 players that would have been available to us (i.e. pick 10 or later (2017) and 19 or later (2018)). See if you can come up with a better pair than Lever and Petty. Lever is a cornerstone of the best defence in the business. He had a down year, but his b & f results prove nothing other than the fact that he's been injured for a fair chunk of 3 out of 5 seasons at MFC.

There is no universe in which we got '"bent over" by Adelaide. You don't get a proven, 21 YO gun key position player without paying a premium in draft picks, even if uncontracted. Just as Freo will need to come up with 2 first round picks (or equivalent) to land Jackson. If we'd played hardball, maybe we'd have got him for a 1st and a 2nd round. Maybe. Alternatively, maybe Adelaide would have walked him to the PSD, or struck an 11th hour deal with another club who were willing to pay a fair price. Or maybe Freo and GC wouldn't have been as keen to deal with us the following year and we would never have landed May. Dodoro plays hardball and 'wins' every trade week. How's that working out for Essendon?

Bagging the Lever trade is such a weird hill to die on. Sure, we got Lever and Petty (and, as a direct consequence, a [censored] premiership flag), but with the picks we gave up we could have had... *checks notes* Liam Stocker and one half of a 29-year-old Bryce Gibbs... Lever could retire tomorrow and it would still go down as one of our best trades in the AFL era.

Mate it's impossible to comment since I wasn't on the jury and didn't see the evidence they were presented with etc. All I'm saying is that if I was, say, 60% convinced that he was guilty of murder, that wouldn't be enough for me to find him guilty on a jury, but I'd have serious reservations about recommending the bloke as a potential dating candidate to a friend. But that's besides the point - my point is aimed at those posters who argue that it's unreasonable to form an opinion on the matter before all the accusations have been tested in a court of law. It's frankly a ridiculous assertion given the circumstances.

Here's the thing Prodee. We aint in a court of law. We're posting on a footy forum. The weight of evidence required to convict someone in court vs inform a personal opinion are very different things, surely you realise that. The reaction from Demonland has pretty much universally been along the lines of: "Jeez they are some very serious allegations coming from a growing number of sources that would be oddly specific to make up. On the balance of probability these accusations likely carry weight. If this is shown to be the case, there will be very serious consequences for the perpetrators." A neighbour of mine was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife. There was a bucket load of circumstantial evidence that he was guilty, but ultimately not enough proof to secure a conviction. Would I have found him guilty if I was on the jury? No. Am I glad the justice system places the burden of proof on the accuser rather than the accused? Yes. Do I personally consider it far more likely than not that he is guilty? Also yes.

Fair response mate - but if the journalist in question (and legal team) haven't done due diligence, his career will be over and he will be sued to within an inch of his life. He's put his (highly decorated) journalistic career on the line here. Those aren't the actions of someone operating on a hunch.

I find takes like this disturbing. The same can be said for any crime committed away from public view - rape, paedophilia, domestic violence, etc. Doesn't mean that these crimes can't and shouldn't be punished. I'm all for innocent until proven guilty and all that, but there is a significant (and growing) body of evidence that some seriously abhorrent [censored] went down at Hawthorn. This isn't coming from a single jaded ex-employee - it's coming from multiple ex-players, partners, families etc - and given the standards of the journalist in question, you can be sure that there's corroborating evidence in the form of emails, text messages, etc. Not to mention the early retirement and subsequent comments from Cyril Rioli etc. On balance, the possibility that the available evidence has been fabricated/ embellished by multiple witnesses appears to be extremely remote.

Hard to disagree with any of that Dazzle. But then, I was pretty vocal about wasting a first round pick on a highly speculative small forward (Kossie) over Brodie Kemp, and couldn't for the life of me understand why we'd pick a ruckman in Jackson at 3. Plenty questioned the recruitment of Lever and May. Our list management team have serious runs on the board. If they're chasing Grundy, they'll have a plan for how to use him. I'll back them in.

The fact that I know SFA about the top draft prospects this year puts the disappointment of losing a semi final in perspective.

Unfortunately we supporters don't get a say. And the reality is that no uncontracted player has ever been traded for a top 5 pick and gun young player who wasn't named Chris Judd. If WC's pick 2 (3) isn't the centrepiece of the deal, it will likely be Freo's 2 first round picks (2022 & 23) and steak knives. I'd rather pick 2.

It will likely be pick 3 after FS selections (Ashcroft) - but that's still a great result for us. We are never going to receive 'overs' for an uncontracted player. The best we can hope for is adequate compensation. Pick 3 is as about as good as we could realistically hope for.

Poor goal kicking, much like umpiring, is tempting to blame because it implies that we outplayed them in the remaining aspects of the game. We didn't. They had more scoring shots than us in any case. We might have been in a position to commit daylight robbery and pinch the win if we'd converted our opportunities in the last quarter - but up until that stage, we'd kicked remarkably well. That's not the reason we lost. We won the inside 50 count 56-50, led contested marks 17-6 and led inside 50 marks 11-7. That's encouraging, because those numbers are strongly correlated with winning footy matches. These stats are indicative of a game plan, systems and personnel that are largely doing what they are supposed to do. The key stat we got belted in was the inside 50 tack count: 13-25. That's where the game was won and lost right there. That's where the vast majority of their scoring opportunities came from, and we weren't able to generate many of our own. This isn't such a bad thing: this is an area we can address with an attitudinal tweak, rather than reflective of a broader systematic problem. If we get the chance to play the swans again in 3 weeks, I'll back us in.

Good call. He was #1 in the comp for forward 50 tackles last year. This year he's ranked 59th. He's actually averaging slightly more tackles overall though, just getting them further up the ground as you say. This suggests a slight shift in strategy rather than simply a lack of effort among our forwards. I think the absence of TMac is also a factor. He's surprisingly good defensively for a big guy - he was ranked top 20 for forward 50 tackles last year as well.

Our 2 key talls (BB & TMac) combined for 9 out of 53 goals we scored during last years finals series. Replace TMac with Weideman and we still win the flag. Granted, they both impacted in other areas of the ground (particularly BB), but we absolutely have enough firepower to win it without major contributions from our tall forwards.

You watched the prelim last year right? You could make a very good case that a lack of even a B grade ruckman has cost them a flag over the last few years.

Even funnier when you consider that the Crows spent pick 10 (along with another 1st round pick) on a 29-year-old Bryce Gibbs!

Richmond 2017 and Collingwood 2022 are polar opposites. Richmond went 0-3 in games decided by less than a goal that year, and finished the season with the 4th best percentage. They also had genuine star power and AA level talent in every part of the ground. And they had Dusty. Collingwood are a mile off. They've had unprecedented levels of luck in close games (statistically speaking, close games are essentially a coin flip). That might yet enable them to sneak into a top 4 spot, but I just don't see them having the talent to mix it with the best teams in September.

Jackson might be worth Young and a first rounder on the open market, but Jackson isn't on the open market. Obviously, they can't blatantly take the [censored], but any eventual trade will be skewed in Freo's favour and there's not much we can do about it. Look at it from Freo's perspective - why would they give up one of their most promising young players (contracted) when they don't have to? Any deal will be centred around picks, possibly with a fringe player thrown in. Freo will probably look at wheeling and dealing picks with clubs bidding on academy/ fs prospects to acquire trade currency in the mid-late first round. Jake Lever is probably the most valid recent comparison. The eventual trade was Lever, pick 37 (Petty) + future 3rd rounder for picks 10 (2017) and 19 (2018). He's uncontracted. If he states that he wants to leave, a deal will get done.

Wouldn't count on this - Sydney have North, Collingwood (at the SCG where they are 8-2) and St Kilda to come. Very good chance they make up the 4 points and 5% between us even if we go 2-1 from here.

Pretty much spot on I reckon. Oliver and Petracca are in, Max should be if he finishes the season strongly. Plenty of good defenders this year, but May has probably been of the pick of them, so should be a lock. Brayshaw a chance for a HBF/ bench spot. Kossie and Lingers are a fair way off the pace I reckon. Viney might be a sneaky chance if they throw in a left-field selection on the bench, but there are plenty of more eye-catching mids out there.

You could make a decent case for AA but there are probably a few ahead of him at this point. Curnow, Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron are locked in you'd think. Rightly or wrongly, the selectors like to throw goalkicking mids on the flanks, so those spots will probably go to Petracca and one of Bontempelli, Rozee or Cripps. Fritsch probably competing with Heeney and Charlie Cameron for the other spot. As good as Fritsch has been, Heeney has probably been better tbh.