old55

No, a troll is specific. And it's totally ridiculous to call Clint a "Troll of the highest order". I tried to give you the history for accuracy, which I thought, given your posting history about the importance of words, you'd appreciate.

FWIW the etymology of "trolling" in the on-line world dates back to the early 1990s and originated in the Usenet message groups (a kind of pre-cursor to Reddit). There's still at least one poster who posts here that posted in the Usenet group rec.sport.football.australian - "it's only other Vets that understand" Trolling in this context is based on the fishing practice of trolling. Trolls deliberately post controversial bait in the hope of snaring other posters on the line to their undoing. It's got nothing to do with the mythical creatures who live under bridges despite modern misconceptions. To that end there are very few "trolls" on Demonland, but quite a lot on Big Footy - I've even done a bit on occasion myself there for amusement. They are most likely to be opposition supporters trying to get a rise out of you. That's not what's happening here - mostly genuine supporters are posting their mostly genuine views and there's genuine disagreement. In particular, the artist @Straight Sets Simon, formerly known as Clint Bizkit is in no way a troll and is not even a perennially negative poster, heaven knows we have a few of them - who I am just resisting calling out right here. Clint has posted here constructively for a long time. Yes, they've got a bee in their bonnet about Schache as the sub in the SF (probably the 20th most important factor in us not winning the flag IMO) and have run too far with it IMO with the screen name changes, but it happens - we're all pretty disappointed in the outcome of last season. PS. For @Demonstone amusement that is etymology of trolling, some knowledge of entomology can help with the bait.

I think @Bring-Back-Powell has a very valid point about our poor start I the QF and I believe it cost us the match at least equally with the loss of Gus and our lack of conversion. Macrae had Collingwood ready to rumble - including and evidenced by Maynard's "statement". Goodwin didn't have us in the same state of readiness and it's part of his job to know how to come up with a solution, not @Bring-Back-Powell who sufficiently described the problem.

As @beelzebub says, the viability of the location has nothing to do with supporter ease of access and everything to do with player and staff ease of acccess - so we can attract and retain the best available talent in both areas. Caulfield fits the bill.

In 2022 Collingwood lost finals by 6pts and 1pt, with a tidy win vs Freo at the MCG sandwiched in between. I don't think they threw the baby out with the bathwater in 2023 as a result. They did double down on practising close game scenarios though. In 2023 they won 3 finals by a total of 12pts.

Thanks. Our options would appear to be Geelong, the Dogs, North, Collingwood, Richmond or Hawthorn - maybe not the Dogs since we have them in R1. Knowing our luck, probably Geelong down there or North in Tassie since we avoided them in the regular season for once.

How did Weid look?

The only player I didn't see was Kade Chandler. As reported Salem left the track at the start so didn't participate. AFAIK everyone else was there and active at some level. Noah Yze has a good frame - looks to be 188 or so and broad shoulders so size won't hold him back. Right footer. It was a long session especially when kicked off with the TT. As reported Tommo blitzed the A team group in that.

Surely he should have followed Morrison's excellent example right?

Great work @Six6Six and a local personality unmasked too ...

I think that's a pessimistic view Dwight. Exposed by 7 points and 2 points in finals we should have won. If Angus didn’t get laid out we definitely win vs Collingwood and we played far better than Carlton but failed to convert. With an ounce of reasonable fortune, not even good fortune, we're reigning Premiers.

Agreed try going down to Swan Street on a Richmond home gameday and advise them that the Tigers actually finished 3rd in 2017, 2019 and 2020.

We were 2nd after Round 8 too. I think the post finals position is what matters. Sure H&A finishing position is important but only because of its influence on the final position.

I don't think that is correct, the final ladder is after the finals and the draft order and the next year's fixture (groups of six) are based on this. The Premiers finished first no matter where they were placed at the end of the home and away. Brisbane finished second, Carlton third, GWS fourth and we finished sixth.

Northern states teams need to continue to have priority access to draftees from their states. It grows the game there which is still necessary. They need to pay full price at the draft and use a pick within 18 (ie one round) of the bid that would prevent shenanigans like GC this year.

... we'll have finished somewhere from 9th to 18th?

From @DeeSpencer post on numbers it looks like 27 is still free for Marty Hore to take. That number has backline pedigree. Marty's original number 34 is also free so that would be appropriate unless they want to save it for Kalani White in 2026 but that's a long way off.

Kate's been working on a home base It's been more than a year or two We don't play home finals at Casey Against the Cats or Roos I guess patience is a virtue I got the straight sets red and blues

12 bar blues standard format.

Hence the term "small l liberal"

Who are the rucks we should have listed?

I predicted you predicted them.

I'm very happy with this outcome - it feels like Kynan will give everything to succeed and he can be at least a decent role player.

It may have been that someone else was also offering a deal to Geelong to pick Caddy and Essendon needed to trump that. As "Bnag" said ...

We don't have a player like Windsor on our list. Size, pace, endurance. Closest may be Blake Howes, but I don't think he particularly has the pace. Maybe Caleb's a bit like Max Holmes who we apparently also liked. That would be helpful.