Temporarily Hopeful Demon

He played like Chris Judd at his peak in that game. He was bursting through stoppages at lightning speed and kicking goals for fun. He was only 23 at the time and I thought we'd be getting performances like that for many years to come.

Despite how grim this season has been I thought I might continue my love fest for Kozzie. How good is this guy? The biggest knock on his game in previous years was his inconsistency but 20+ possessions and 2 goals minimum have almost become a norm for him this season. I will be seething if he doesn't at least make the AA squad of 44.

It's just so depressing that our two best midfielders of this century have regressed so rapidly in such a short amount of time. Even last year I was horrified at the thought of either of them leaving but now it just doesn't phase me. It's a shame because they both looked great in the practice game against Freo.

Honestly I've found this season so draining and deflating to the point where I just don't really care. I know that sounds bad but that's just how it is. My only consolations from this game is that Pickett boosted his AA chances even further and Melksham continued his heart-warming resurgence.

Wrong thread

Melksham and Pickett were really the only two shining lights. Other than that it's hard for me to think of too many positives. A few junk time goals made it look far more respectable than it really was. Gold Coast could easily have been 10 goals up at quarter time. We would have been absolutely [censored] if Melksham wasn't playing. It's really not a good sign that we basically had to rely on an injury prone 33 year old to carry our forwardline. We desperately need a change up fast. Our gameplan just isn't holding up. This club seems to have this delusion that we can keep doing the same thing every week and get a different result.

I really wish we'd stop picking and choosing when to show up. It's infuriating.

What worries me most about this whole thing is that I don't really care

I hope like hell we can belt Carlton like this when we play them. They look so gettable.

Yeah they were always pretty inoffensive to me even when they were decent

I feel happy for north. [censored] Carlton

Jefferson's a good example. He's shown nothing at AFL level yet and you keep telling us that he's got it. He's not and never will be a quarter of the player Gawn is. And I hate to say it... Oliver. I know he's been a brilliant player for us and I've still got a soft spot for him but you never held him accountable for a litany of poor performances that he had last year. If Gawn ever dropped off to the same level that he did you'd be calling for him to go and never come back. You also started a thread on Brodie Grundy and suggested that he was better than Gawn when literally no one else has that opinion.

You seem to have completely different standards for different players. It's weird how little you give Gawn credit considering some of the players you give free passes to.

The umpiring was [censored] atrocious but jesus we are terrible in close matches. We lose basically every game that's decided by less than a goal. We had more than enough opportunities in the last few minutes

You didn't earn that Daicos

Umpires don't usually bother me too much but this has WWE written all over it

I personally disagree that he has barely played a decent game since 2021. He was third in our best and fairest in 2023 and he was actually having a pretty good season in 2024 until injuries started taking their toll. But yes, he's definitely in poor form right now. I'd take Tmac over him in a heartbeat.

What the [censored] is the main reason behind our [censored] goal kicking. Is it psychological? Are we not getting enough proper practice? Is it to do with the way we play? I really want us to get to the bottom of this because it's just bizarre.

Ffs St Kilda have been handing this to us on a [censored] platter and we still can't put get anywhere close. This team just isn't normal.

Can we please just never play in Alice Springs again? There must be something with that ground that really sets the players off

He was genuinely a really good player in 2018/19 but it was pretty clear even back then that he never impacted games in the same way that Gawn did. He's always been a poor man's Dean Cox.

It's crazy that Grundy was once considered by many to be a better ruckman than Gawn

I reckon he is just about our most clutch player. Here are some games/moments where has stood up and has allowed us win important matches: -Round 22 2018: Kicks 4 goals and gets 20 touches, helping us break our 12 year finals drought. -2018 semi final: Kicks a goal from outside 50 in the last quarter, putting a massive halt to the momentum which Hawthorn had been gaining. The crowd went absolutely insane after that goal. -Round 22 2022: Kicks 4 goals to help us win a total scrapfest against Carlton, who at the time were playing for their season. That game was mostly known for Pickett's goal right before the siren but Melksham was the definitely the main catalyst. Round 18 2023: Kicks a goal right before the siren to give us a 1 point win over Brisbane, who happened to be 5 goals ahead 10 minutes beforehand. We probably wouldn't have made top 4 if it wasn't for his performance that night. Round 10 2025: Kicks 4 goals straight to help us win another close game against the Lions. We wouldn't have won that match without his accuracy given how wayward our goalkicking was, especially in the final quarter. I just can't be convinced that his injury late in 2023 didn't cost us a preliminary finals spot at minimum. He's the perfect player to have in close matches.

I said this in the game day thread but Salem's little dinky kick to set up Trac's goal was my favourite moment of the day. It was basically a carbon copy of the first goal of the 2021 grand final. The nostalgia I felt watching that piece of play was next level.

Yep I just can't be convinced that it's some coincidence that his one poor year (2023) came when he had a shaved head.