rpfc

I think we need to calm down... We have had a terrible start to the year and I really do think that this group having a month less break/pre-season for the first time in their careers is having a pernicious effect on the group. We have played poorly but our midfield finally has a constellation with Gawn, Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw and Harmes, our forward line has a proven goal scorer when in form, and our backline has solid base to build on assuming (yeah, yeah) that injuries are not permanent features of careers. I don't think we can claw our way back to relevance for this year but we are not what we used to be.

It’s stunning how quickly some players can simply lose any semblance of how to play to a consistent game plan. But we do have to face facts - our top end talent falls away rapidly and our bottom 6 players are VFL calibre. That, and a month less of a preseason than we usually get adds up to this nonsense.

I gulped when I saw the bump but... On point once again.

Powerful

We have had a shortened summer (by a month) for the first time in the careers of all the players. They are not prepared just yet and I hope they get there soon or the season will get away from us. But Goodwin knows, from the sporadic selection of our smalls in the forward line and back line, that we don't have trusted talent in those positions.

Whether or not I agree that we did anything 'wrong' we have been made to face a truth no other club has had to. Every year the AFL allows clubs to sit players and play youth, with the incentive of a higher spot in the draft. We have learnt from it and we are a stronger organisation. But we are alone in that damnation. The AFL are the ones that need to learn.

The only question I have is if Ron Burgundy loves Simon Goodwin?

You old drunk...

Hunt is highly regarded by Goodwin and co. - how do I know this? (Considering this isn’t coming from a board member I ‘know’ nor talking to staff at training...) Because they played him against Sydney after being out for an extended period. They rushed him in because he’s a point of difference or just better than similar players we have. He will earn his games this year that’s for sure. The wing/HBF will have some pretty handy players fighting for spots; Lewis, Jones, Stretch, Fritsch, KK, Salem, and Smith with Hore and Wagner behind those above. Some will have to find a place elsewhere or stay at Casey.

Well, snorting ice cream will do that...

How much ice cream do you have to eat to get as drunk as that?!

Following around the best players in the game would have helped. And, I harp on this a bit, but he was in his 5th year on the list... As a former rookie listed player, he has had no pressure and plenty of time to develop and be ready for his moment.

You’re amazed? There were reports the AFL were not consulted. There were reports internal staff were blindsided. There were reports that this was less a board decision and more of a Bartlett decision. And yet it is amazing that there is negativity...

@Colin B. Flaubert - My consternation over the Pert appointment was the process which I have heard (outside of Caroline Wilson’s word) was old Melbourne; rushed, the board not fully supportive, the AFL blind sided. I am most definitely supportive of the club and hope he does well, but I hate that Bartlett has allowed even the perception of this kind of amateurish behaviour with one of the most important decisions a club can make.

That would effectively be a 6 year contract from now... Gotta be irresponsible, surely...

All good points, especially the one about hitting Hawthorn recruiters in the face with a skillet...

Just leave the nicknames to @Petraccattack...

That’s the spirit...

@Rodney (Balls) Grinter - what time travel sorcery is this?!

We played half a season like that a few years ago and we looked like sheep walking on its hind legs... The MFC tradition of being poor and unloved is one I can leave behind. Bring on the stickers...

This is where you lose me. It isn't a fact. We traded him out, we actively sought another player knowing we would use what we got for Hogan to source that player. Now there are whispers to the contrary of your whispers. You should be more equivocal with your 'inside knowledge' if indeed you have that inside knowledge. Because it sounds like you are not told much of the truth. I told you I believed my lying eyes and my lying eyes were right. And that is a fact.

Done now. I swear...

Maybe. We've got a star tall defender and a best 22 winger out of our loot - can't tell you what BL and GWS get out of theirs...

He’s still working out who the muppets are around here, apparently...

Observable reality (if you’re smart enough) screamed that we came into this trade period ready to trade out Hogan and move on May. The fact that Mahoney inelegantly admitted that we won’t get May if Hogan isn’t traded revealed how desperate we were to send Hogan to Fremantle; we were actively recruiting a player with the riches from trading Hogan. ! Its a maths equation: x requires y and we want x, so y has to happen and did happen.