NeveroddoreveN

i would love to see a stat on where Max Gawn hits the ball from Centre. My bet is that over 80% are a cute little tap over his left shoulder. The problem starts there imo, super predictable. It also sets up no space for any of our mids to really do anything constructive. Clarry gets ball but can't go forward as Gawn is blocking path there already, so handball backward to Viney 2 feet away, who charges and coughs up the ball. It seems like all our players set up like Under 12's compared to other teams. We don't seem to create any space for each other at stoppages, by giving these crazy little hot handballs that generally go backwards until someone finally takes responsibility to kick it. How about running forward and creating guys??? The hot potato handballs we seem to do a lot of are fraught with danger and it really feels like beyond Clarry/Petracca there is no one to break lines. If we continue the dinky handballs i hope our mids and ruck learn to shepherd for each other,(graduate to U14's footy). Viney seems to be cause of many issues in and around stoppages. He wants to get his hands on the ball first, and see him itching to get in and get the ball. He loses track of his opponent nearly every time. He competes with same ball as Oliver/Petracca way too often. If he gets it he just charges and gets caught holding the ball way too often, or another stoppage. When he plays a defensive role he does not seem to be able to decide when to stay in/out. He very rarely holds his ground on the outside of a stoppage. Like a bee to the honeypot he gets dragged in nearly every time, which creates less space, and we are left with nobody to defend opposition goalside. We seem to lack creativity in this area of the game called stoppages. There is not much strategy that i can see, it is everyone see ball, get ball. There is so little craft which is an indictment on these great players, and even moreso, our array of coaches. Feel like our gameplan is to actually lose all key areas of the game but have an amazing backline and we can start attacking it from there. Stoppages used to be our strength, if we had more than Plan A at them they could become a strength again. We are just too predictable to play against. Comes down to craft/tactics/game plan and working hard without the ball to make it easier on mates. We play like a selfish team of individuals mainly. Apologies Petracca as i know he is busting his gut to do the right thing and create. Much more i could say on just this area of our game, this is enough for moment though, i need to wake up, caffeine calls!

1. Oliver 2. Petracca 3. Langdon 4. May 5. Viney

Really?

I am approaching 50 and have more mobility than Tom. No amount of coaching is going to fix his body. We have the ability in our list, we need to get the best out of them. We will likely be stuck with him for few more years as no team in their right mind will be interested in him. We are likely stuck with Simon also fwiw! We will change his assistants no doubt but i am not confident with Simon at the helm we will see the best of many of our players. His idea of a system or brand is shonky beyond belief!

His 6 goal game against Carlton took well over 3/4 of the season....he was an absolute liability up until that stage. No doubting his best was good enough prior to these last few seasons. Brown was dropped after his 1st game....i don't believe he has nearly had the same run of underperforming the Macca was given. Brown is 10x the player Tom is atm. We persisted with Tom for far too long. We have struggled to connect forward of centre for a long time, Tom is the main reason for that. Goody picked him though, i blame him more.

I think here lies the issue. He made a mistake and owned up to it by telling little porky pies....NOT by being honest. He would have been fearing he had blown his career and has scrambled a story together that does not quite add up. Football clubs are not run by fools, and don't like to be treated as such. It is a shame but i would say him not telling the truth will hurt him the most here. Reading between the lines but so much of his story just don't 100% add up. Most likely gone.

Brown played much better than Tom with limited opportunities. Tom should have been dropped early in 2019...his form was horrible. It took him over 3/4 of a season before he had one good game and got promptly injured during that game. Fast forward to 2020 and he was almost a liability for over another half a season. Again he should have been dropped multiple times. The coach stuck with him for nearly 2 years where he barely warranted a game. Nothing McDonald has done over that period has been of AFL standard. Might sound harsh but my eyes tell me he has been awful, don't need to look at stats to confirm this! I really hope he gets an offer from another club, even if we have to pay a portion of it. No way he is getting back to his best, looks completely shot as an AFL player.

The Essodus begins. Hope is true they we will be even more rabble without Merrett/Saad...maybe Daniher. Hahahahahaa!

Perryman i suggested in another thread would be worth a look at. McKay would be a better longer term option as a forward, Casboult if we just wanted few years of support for Weid.

Viney can read?

Maybe he just got news that he was getting contract extension and needed a good pi$$ up!

They must have a lot of fun in the showers, win or lose.

This Melbourne team just scream professionalism. 16 minute quarters and we play for 1 out of 4. They have a job which lasts just over an hour and they are [censored] around like teenage boys. No wonder we have no consistency if this is what they learn at training. Absolute muppets! Grow up children!

It's pretty laughable but there are rumours out there that he was meant to be tagging Cripps lol. Shaw might be another Goodwin, trying to put certain players in unfamiliar position is my only reasonable explanation. Other rumour that Harmes is asking his manager to look at options. If true i would say in both cases it is clear the player is not happy out of their best position. I could see it in both cases, both are somewhat out of favour!

I'd believe it. His contract should not be big issue, we paid him slight unders and got him for a longer period. Most of us have been complaining last few years that we have too many inside bulls. Trade and get in some outside run. I don't think a decision to get rid of Harmes, who is pretty limited when it comes to positions, is going to hurt us at all. In fact i think we'd be better off. He can't play midfield unless it is in a tagging role. Before he was a tagger with some success, he never had a best position... and he still doesn't. Trade imo, he should have some currency if 4 clubs are showing interest.

That game against Carlton he was meant to be tagging Cripps apparently....it is why he got dropped. He is an outside player and i think he would actually compliment our side pretty well on the other wing. i can imagine him having a fallout with Shaw if he is asking him to tag inside midfield bulls, it is not his thing. Will be his last chance at a 4th AFL club. He will be desperate to make it work. Easily in our best 22, massive upgrade for our wing opposite Langdon. Be silly not to interview him especially if North are going to pay fair portion of his wage.

Petacca out of the names mentioned is the only one that has any real flexibility atm....IMO you should not be playing all of the other 3 guys at the time. They struggle on wings/half back and half forward. I would be looking hard to trade at least one of these guys, they upset our balance nearly every team selection. It's harsh but i just don't see positions for them apart from mid.

Would take Perryman also, not getting paid a heap with other stars taking the lions share of money. Their list is rich pickings, surely we can nab a decent player from them!

They need a ruckman apparently....Preuss for Polec haha?

234 pages currently on him over there....from reading last 5 or so pages there sure is a lot being thrown up...Like he has chronic fatigue syndrome etc....feeling i get is most definitely don't want to lose him. i was surprised myself that a Collingwood supporter could be so eloquent and balanced. Certainly not your standard nuffy!

Take this down please mods if not permitted! From a Collingwood perspective, a supporter that takes a reasonably balanced view on Jaiden Stephenson .

Am i allowed to copy and paste something from Collingwoods forums regarding Stephenson?

May just come down to price. Saad reportedly 500-600k. Zac Williams closer to a million. I think currently Saad is the better player, in a much worse team. Saad just wants to play half back and attack the game, said to be unhappy with being experimented in other positions. Williams has more versatility but has a huge pricetag for what he is. Would be stoked to get either honestly, both are great attacking type players with plenty of flair. A backline of May/Lever/Rivers/Saad/Hibberd/Lockhart or Tomlinson sounds pretty amazing/exciting. I hope we get one of these deals over the line!

Lucky you are not negotiating then! Saad is a gun that would be in first 6-8 players picked every week for us. If he's available we should be offering 4-5 years and get him in. He could take Fritsch role of last season at half back, this year it has been Harmes spot. Saad would be massive upgrade on either. I can only think of Zac Williams that comes close to the flair of this guy in his role. Dodoro may be hard to deal with but not impossible. Essendon love him because he tries to negotiate good deals for them. If it were Peter Bell i could understand being more circumspect! I can think of plenty worse...