Bring-Back-Powell

Wouldn't say no to a Wednesday night game in town after work.

Had a great career at the MFC, particularly his first season of 2017 when he made the AA team. One of our better trades in recent years. Was a victim of Goody's roulette selection wheel in the 2023 finals series as he was dropped for the Blues final.

Collingwood beat us fair and square. They were more finals ready than us, attacked the game harder from the outset(Maynard aside) and kicked their goals in bursts. The Carlton final was the one we really should've won. Brisbane would've been an easier prospect IMO due to their MCG record, but we'll agree to disagree.

And yet each game is played for premiership points. If we took this year’s game against Essendon seriously, when we went in as red hot favourites, we would’ve won and finished second and avoided the Pies in week 1 finals.

I did 6 Gather Round games this year and then fronted up the following week for Anzac Eve. Next year I’m shooting for 7.

Disappointing.

Max Gawn polled coaches votes in 5 of the first 9 games that the combo played together. All five of those games that he polled were dry weather games. Grundy didn't play well in 2 of the next 3 games (Geelong, GWS and St Kilda) and we all know how bad the weather was in 2 of those games. To say the combination didn't work is ignoring what happened in the first half of the season, and Goodwin made a selection blunder in the dry semi final simply due to valuing T Mac and Schache ahead of Grundy. With that being said, Grundy is a ruck by trade so I have no issue that he chased a starting ruck role at Sydney.

Had a really poor year. Started 2022 in great nick getting 20+ touches and a goal a game but has gone backwards ever since. Became a genuine liability in his final games for the club. Think of the two first quarter elementary set shot misses against Richmond, and then being unable to execute a 20 metre pass to a loose teammate close to the boundary line in Hobart. Needs to be a tagger ala 2018 or somehow re-create himself as a permanent medium forward as he is a natural goal kicker when he has confidence.

Accuracy. I'm sure there are a million and one other factors to consider but if you take a study of the last 3 years, our 2023 season was the second costliest behind Adelaide's 2023 season, based on the metric of having more scoring shots than the opposition but losing. We had 5 games this year where we outscored the opposition but still lost the game. As a poster mentioned earlier, we had 8 more scoring shots than GWS in Alice as well as Carlton in the semi. Not only are these numbers unacceptable, but they're unsustainable for the opposition to rely on our gross inaccuracy. To outscore the opposition twice by 8 shots and lose both times is a complete outlier and won't happen next year IMO. If we lose the same games or more next year, it will be due to simply being outplayed rather than inaccuracy. In the last 3 years, Adelaide (in 2023) had the most games of outscoring the opposition but losing the game (think of their heartbreakers against Collingwood) and they did this 6 times, one more than us. This suggests to me that they're coming like a bullet next year if they tidy up their accuracy, which they will. As mentioned we had 5 games where we outscored the oppo but lost the game. In 2021 and 2022 this only occurred twice (key games included the Brisbane 2022 semi final and the Adelaide game in 2021 where we lost by a point). In 2021 GWS did this 3 times and in 2022 Essendon and the Dogs did it 3 times. This proves that our 5 performances this year where we outscored the oppo but lost are hopefully an outlier, and if we do fail to take the next step it will be due to other inherent issues.

Jordon's probably the more reliable player in terms of getting a solid 20 touches a game but Sparrow has more upside. Sydney are absolutely excited to have JJ on board. Kinnear Beatson was extremely bullish on what he can provide when interviewed post trade week.

“Probably personally, it (my decision) was playing on my mind a fair bit towards the back end of the year" In accordance with his semi final against Carlton.

Looking at that fixture I reckon attending 7 out of the 9 games is achievable.

You can easily see through the fence during closed sessions at Casey. I remember watching a closed session during the productive 2020/2021 pre season. The training staff are particularly pleased when spectators are watching from outside the ground as they don't need to retrieve the ball when a player boots it out of the park. I would highly doubt Goodwin, Richo and Co. would come over to someone and tell them to leave in these upcoming sessions.

If I attend, I’ll be submitting the following questions: 1) what was the rationale and perceived competitive advantage behind playing one man less than our opponent in the semi final, on a warm September night. Bearing in mind that the opposition’s sub was instrumental in setting up the winning goal. 2) Why did we play one tall defender short against Collingwood in the qualifying final when McStay kicked 2 goals on smaller opponents and 2 goals was essentially the difference. We demonstrated in the Essendon, Fremantle and Carlton (rd 22) losses that playing just 2 tall defenders is a losing formula. 3) Why did we travel back to Melbourne between our West Coast game and Gather Round, rather than setting up camp in Adelaide prior to the Essendon game? A game that proved to be our most lethargic and poorest of the year. Where was the foresight and innovation that the Dogs showed when they went from Gather Round direct to Perth (rather than heading back home) and had a solid win over Freo? 4) How is the club addressing our gross inaccuracy in the finals series, and ensuring that next year we give ourselves every opportunity to win a final rather than lamenting miss after miss.

No issues here. For a club that's finished in the top half the ladder in 6 of the last 7 seasons, it's logical that we wouldn't be rated highly in the young core. In the MLB, perennial play off contenders such as Houston Astros (dead last) and Atlanta Braves have the worst farm systems/youth talent while teams such as Baltimore and Chicago Cubs that have been out of the playoffs for years have the best 2 young systems in the league. (although Baltimore finally made a 5 minute playoff appearance this year)

Well that post aged atrociously. Credit to Brisbane, 4 goals to 0 in the last qtr.

Good 3rd quarter by North. awesome inside 50 tackling that have resulted in goals. Looks like the Brisbane grand final losses (women’s, men’s, BBLW and NRL) are going to continue .

All three lads have got some work to do if we’re to be victorious in this trade. From the Gather round onwards, Jackson was outstanding and exciting for Freo and was the forward-ruck we were screaming out for in the Carlton final. He’s proven to me that he’ll probably be a regular top 10 commodity in the AFL after being critical of him in 2022 and suggesting that his 2021 GF was a bit overblown. Makes it all the more frustrating that he phoned in the 2022 finals series when we needed him the most. Two of Windsor, Jefferson and Mr Sunglasses would have to be regular top 50 players to win this trade I reckon.

You're right you don't wish ill on any player. But if this had to happen to a Collingwood player I would have preferred it happen to a certain player other than McStay.

McStay - McGone for 2024. https://www.afl.com.au/news/1069199/magpie-heartbreak-forward-dan-mcstay-set-to-miss-2024-after-acl-tear Thought he was influential in our loss to them in week 1 finals.

Agreed. T Mac should be hunting down Tomlinson's spot as the second key defender behind May, with Lever taking the oppo's #3. Otherwise he plays VFL based on his finals performances up forward this year. Nothing ever good results from only having 2 tall defenders. Refer the Essendon gather round game where their resting rucks kicked goals on us, and the Pies week 1 final where McStay got a hold of us.

That's fantastic. Our forward line needs a 'superb' JVR.

Probably not a coincidence that they're also the two best players at the club and have been to at least 2 of 3 non compulsory sessions.

The game should be at Marvel where they could get 30K and everyone can get a ticket and sit comfortably with a spare seat or two between groups of people. Instead people are going to get stuck in like sardines in the crappy legends stand with thousands of people missing out on tickets. The AFL's decision making makes my head hurt at times.