demoncat

Twomey literally said he was “very ill” during the game against Carlton He’s one of the most respected journos in the industry and doesn’t post without facts to back it up

I instantly feel better about Saturday night 🤣

I find it bizarre that we didn’t rate him higher with our second pick in 2023 Seemed to fit the bill as a speedy midfielder who can run for days If we were looking to inject more speed into the way we play, he and Windsor would have been a great one-two punch

The club is taking the [censored] at this point Their refusal to use any different midfielders - even when one is SICK WITH THE FLU - is becoming a joke Why couldn’t Rivers take his role for that game? Why couldn’t Langford get some CBA exposure? Hell I’d even take bringing Laurie in for a game to give him a go For anyone who can’t see how stubborn Goodwin is, this should show them exactly the kind of mindset he has And it’s going to run the club into the ground next year if he’s still our coach

Becoming the new West Coast is worst case scenario but unfortunately it seems the club is determined to go down this path It doesn’t help that we have a coach in survival mode and an FD who thinks we’re just one preseason away from our stars getting form and our gameplan “clicking” Even our reported play for Joe Daniher - as much as I love him as a player and think he would be a great get for cheap - signals to me that the club wants to retain our senior players and “go again” next year without significantly turning over the list

It’s totally desperate And I love it 🤣

That’s an interesting way of looking at it I’ve always been frustrated that we’ve rarely been able to put away bottom six teams like Geelong, Brisbane, Dogs etc seem to always be able to do From 2021-23 it didn’t matter because we were always competitive and mostly won against the best teams (until finals time), but as you say perhaps it was the canary in the coal mine that there were deeper issues at play - the most prominent being that we never developed a consistent mode of scoring That tied with not being consistent across four qtrs meant we were always gettable if the goals weren’t flowing Now we’re less competitive and still can’t reliably score and seem to be playing even less qtrs of football The cliff is here and it sucks

That’s a good perspective Brenno and one I largely agree with I just think it’s part of the cost benefit analysis you do when assessing your list Sure we won’t bring in two draft picks or players whose best is comparable to Trac and Clarry (when they’re fit and firing), but can we bring in multiple players who in the sum of their parts make us a better team? The answer might be no and as much as we want change it’s better to retain our most of our senior players - I just hope the club is open to these conversations more than anything

I love Viney and think he still has a role to play in the coming years, but a four year extension when he wasn’t even out of contract until end of this year said to me the club needed a feel good story to cover the issues with Trac and Clarry Bringing in Nathan Jones as midfield coach was a similar move - I mean in what world does a club who thinks they’re competing for finals bring in an untried coach to oversee their midfield? Again, love Jones, but those moves just reek of a club who panicked and were looking to do PR by extending/bringing in some favourite sons

Miss you Pig 🐷

Million dollar contracts aren’t an issue in of themselves but they are if they’re taking up cap space with players who aren’t performing / they limit the club bringing in additional players (and to be fair I’m only assuming that the latter might be the case) We might have to agree to disagree but I think given the state of our list critically assessing player’s contracts and doing cost benefit analysis is reasonable, because at the moment we’ve got a lot of money tied up in players who aren’t currently justifying their price tags

That’s true, but the argument still stands when making those trades subsequently allowed them to trade in the likes of Hill, Mitchell and McStay (all of whom were an integral part of their 23 flag) Regardless of the reason for the trades, it opened up opportunities for the Pies to bolster their list and address their needs Besides, ard we really in that different of a situation when we have two players on 1 million plus who aren’t performing anywhere near their contract value?

-2.8 is diabolical

And this is the scariest part of our situation

I’m so confused why this keeps happening Finals out of the question, Goodwin confirming we’re in transition and we’re not running ANYONE else through the centre bounce? I know centre bounce isn’t everything when it comes to midfield minutes but even then it seems that the usual suspects are still the ones lining up around stoppage Why isn’t Rivers going in there? Why can’t we give Laurie a few games with midfield minutes to see if he can make it? Langford a few CBAs to get experience But no I’m sure everything will turn if we just keep playing the same players in there week after week

Reckon we’ll be lucky to crack 50,000 members next year if he’s still in charge The worst thing that’s happened under Goodwin is that thousands of members have dropped off because they’re not buying what he’s selling People will accept losses if they can see the vision of what is trying to be achieved and that the players believe in the process - neither of these things seem to be true right now Give me what Richmond is going through right now than another year of this

To answer the question of this thread - yes, it is time to start a rebuild The only problem is we should have started moving on players a year or two ago - instead we’ve felt the need to keep our senior players at all costs like it’s a PR exercise to cover up how poorly the club has been tracking Don’t get me wrong - I love all of our 2021 champions - but this group has gone as far as it can and 2026 is going to be even worse if tough decisions aren’t made

Can I be both depression and acceptance? 🤣

Take notes Dees

He’s definitely one I’d be getting in the ear of Wasted on the half forward flank while Rioli and Noble take his half back minutes and the Suns prioritise their young mids

Reckon you must be pretty flexible with the mental gymnastics you’re doing there Bing Saying that we have a group capable of playing finals after conducting an internal review during the most tumultuous off season we’ve had in a decade wasn’t just a PR exercise If they genuinely thought it was a good idea to announce this while conceding internally it was unlikely we would play finals, then that’s a damning lack of judgement from the current admin But hey I guess the promise of finals sold so many memberships this year right? Oh wait…

The club clearly misjudged where this playing group is at They set returning to finals as a pass mark so by their own metric this has been a failed season Clearly the messaging has changed now that finals are out of the question and it has become clear that our core group of players aren’t the ones who will lead our next flag tilt The club either lied to supporters in their comms or showed poor judgement in assessing this list and what it was capable of this year - why some posters can’t admit this is beyond me FWIW I’m at peace with this being a development year and am really confident in our younger players and believe some of our senior players can contribute at a high level for years to come, but let’s not rewrite history

Thanks for the write up I’m very curious how they’re going to square the circle of seemingly wanting to retain players like Clarry and Fritsch but then being on the hunt for midfield and forward half talent Obviously Goody can’t come out and say that anyone is going to be traded but it’s difficult to get a read on just what the club is prepared to do to stay active this off season

You’ve got to give something to get something, and I don’t think we can afford to go into 2026 with largely the same list as 2024/2025 It might not be Fritsch but it’s the kind of conversation I hope the club is open to having if the right offers present themselves

He’s the perfect cherry on top player for a contending club It might be an obvious thing to say but it’s no surprise his best goal kicking returns game when we were contending across 2021-23 (minus his injury effected back half of 23)