FabDemon

It’s a difficult question to answer because it’s always difficult to predict the future prospects of any team. I’d answer this way - clearly not with the Petracca who was at the MFC the last couple of years. He had to leave . With a fit Petracca with good morale, I see no reason why not. I tend to agree with Roos who stated he didn’t think we were as far off a Premiership as many people thought. But that I think would be with a fully functioning Trac and Oliver and realistically that was never going to happen at least at the MFC.

I’m absolutely certain that in any other circumstances they would have never let him go. Tonight clearly shows what he can do when clearly his morale is okay. Do I think our current team would be much better with a fit , happy Trac playing in it , of course it would . Unfortunately that was never going to happen. The MFC lost him mentally years ago.

You make it seem like his departure was some well planned decision, with the future in mind. The MFC had no choice but to let him go as his relationship with Club had so deteriorated to a point where his continuation at the Club was untenable. I have no doubt if there was any chance of him continuing at the Club , they would have retained him. They would have kept him till retirement. All the Club can do is make the best of a bad situation. Which I’m hopeful they’ll do this year under King. Tonight he’s playing as well as any player in the Competition. Players like that are very rare to find.

No it’s a huge loss for us. Petracca at his best is one the best players in the Competition. However, him staying at the MFC was increasingly untenable. He was very unhappy at the MFC for two seasons at least , especially after his serious injury. Therefore, there was no choice but to let him go . However, we are kidding ourselves if we believe that he’ll be easily replaceable or that his loss won’t be felt some time.

Spot on. It’s clear his morale was very poor at the MFC for the last couple of seasons. He didn’t want to be there, particularly after his serious injury.

I must admit that ,although I bear him no ill will , I’m finding it actually difficult watching him play ( so well ) for GC .

Actually Latrelle Pickett has only shown good form in the SANFL Reserves (Glenelg Reserve Team) and has shown little form when playing at the SANFL level for Glenelg . I was surprised they used such a high draft pick . I’m a South Australian but have to admit few quality SANFL players make it an AFL level , let alone a player mostly playing in the Reserves. But then again he may have unrealised talent . We will have to wait and see.

I feel your pain . I was at the 2021 Grand Final and the subsequent celebrations. There was so much talk then of a Dynasty, new training facilities, being a destination Club etc I am amazed how how quickly it has all imploded. Let’s just hope that things turn around . One lives in hope.

Terrific News ♥️💙♥️💙♥️💙

I think it’d be hard to argue it wasn’t a factor . It’s logical given we were the weaker team with a considerably less break . In any event , they were 4-6 goals up for nearly all the match . I suspect ( and can’t be certain) that even with an equal break, they would have comfortably beaten us. On many levels they were the more skilled, fitter side.

Please Binman , this week don’t point to some statistic that show some degree of competitiveness by this Melbourne team . I appreciate your positivity but the fact is we got soundly beaten. We were never in the match and the winning margin could have been even worse. This team ,under the former coach’s guidance, has fallen off a cliff since 2024 - its win / loss record falling from 80% in 2021 to 30% this Season. Many of the Senior players ( with Gawn being the obvious exception) , despite being highly paid and on long contracts, continue to seriously underperform and appear (at times) to be disinterested. The fact that some of these players were on Whispering Jack’s best player list is both surprising and concerning. The development of our younger players , at best , has been patchy and some have gone backwards. And let’s not start on our decline in fitness. As a long time supporter and member, I hope our new management and coach can arrest this slide but we will just have to wait and see.

You make a good point , the game plan works against teams with weaker defences. But surely a game plan is only worthwhile and sustainable if it works consistently against the top teams with good defences. Clearly our game plan has failed miserably in that regard . This is why our win loss ratio has plummeted and is less than half of what it was in 2021. I thought there was plenty of endeavour in yesterday’s game but it was the execution at the end which was and has consistently been the problem. Moreover , our mid field has gone from elite to average in record time.

Only recently. He did say Lever was probably the most obvious choice but Lever has ongoing injury issues. That makes sense as he seems to perennially have chronic foot and ankle issues.

Very interesting. I had a similar conversation with Gawn at a function . A couple of interesting things he also had to say was that Petty was exemplary at training but that he was doing his best “ playing out of position “. He clearly sees him as a back man. He also was the view Langdon should be the next Captain and asked what I thought of that suggestion. He also wasn’t a fan of Paul Roos’ treatment of players, especially singling them out.