The Taciturn Demon

And so they should.

Interesting to see what back six or seven King goes with. I just had a little go at a possible Round 1 team and realised, there's not an overabundance of small defenders on the list by any means. Now that Bowey is out, I reckon only Turner and Petty are immediately on the sheet. Jiath, too, but mainly because you don't trade for a 26 year old, 75-gamer and then play him in the reserves (not completely convinced he's going to play 100 or more games for Melbourne). So that's two talls and a dasher. AMW looks in a great position to become the 'lockdown' small after McVee cracked the sads. If Rivers starts in the middle, which I think he will, maybe Taylor gets an early - even Round 1 - gig. AMW Petty Salem Taylor Turner Jiath (Horses for courses on the bench - May, Lever, Adams or McDonald if the opposition is tall; Lindsay if they're smaller.) Who am I missing?

"Salary cap's a bit tight. Let's trade Caleb Windsor for a fifth rounder - am I right or am I right or am I right?"

I'm not entirely convinced that Ned Ryerson would do a worse job.

Pretty sure that's Bunjil, the main deity of the Kulin Nation. The constellation at the top is Aquila, also associated with the eagle creator, Bunjil.

Ah right. My mistake. It's a shocker. Personally, I think most of the Anzac Day ones are far worse.

The 'worst' one described as a cheap cubist print was an attempt to recreate the first jumper we used in the VFL, which was mainly blue - the strip down the middle was where players laced up the guernsey. I don't think it's in the top 20 worst designs we've worn.

The mark in front of D'Ambrosio at about 1:00... if he can do that more at AFL level like he did in the Under 18s he'll be a nightmare for opponents.

Me too. And if that's the case, Gold Case will want to trade with a year left rather than the year after when he's out of contract.

I always thought "25" was an odd number. Then when Oliver was traded for nothing it became clear that Oliver might well have been in King's 25... but was number 24 or 25.

I'd love Nev Jetta to come back to Melbourne. He did indeed coach Fitzroy, but not the amateur team - the Fitzroy Stars, who play in the NFNL. He coached them to their first flag in a very long time: https://www.afl.com.au/news/1448112/neville-jetta-nominated-for-coach-of-the-year-at-national-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-sports-awards He still has a role at Collingwood.

Interesting. A lot of the (very little) stuff I hear from the club on the women's team is that X, Y or Z (often a player) "suits the way we play". I would have thought a new coach would bring a new way to play... unless it was Shae Sloane who has been part of the Stinear programme for so long.

Great news. Brilliant return to form recently. Pity about the injury.

If Collingwood were mediocre, what were Carlton? You can give me every single excuse in the world and I'll never believe we did well to get 'so close' against THAT Carlton team.

Stop. Stop. She's already dead.

Good to hear. That makes much more sense.

Really tough. Denby Taylor and now Rigoni. I also find it quite bizarre that our two top draftees from last year are without a contract almost a full month after the end of the season. I suspect the tiered salary system is a bastard to work with as a list manager.

Me too. Looks like a stem-the-bleeding kind of setup.

Really interesting question. The fact it's so difficult to answer with any certainty doesn't strike me as a good thing. On the subject of the thread, I'd be incredibly disappointed if we lost games this year playing an old and experienced team. We should be pumping games into the under 25s.

It's bizarre. Two shocking trades in a row.

I've seen some bad trade deals in my time. Can't remember a worse one than this for Zanker.

I think that would be unlikely. They got Todd Patterson from our women's programme and Derek Hine is the big boss. If Jason Taylor went there he'd presumably need to take a role below the one he has at Melbourne. I agree we need to keep him, though.

He's in Howe (7) territory for me. There was zero chance you would have made the AFL without us, [censored]. Hope you can find some gratitude between barnstorming runs off a half back flank for Peel Thunder. At least Howe got to a hundred games for us.

"Pack up". Jesus Christ. Nah, but we have to be 'grown up' about player movement.

December 2025: Eight teams should make it at least to a Prelim. October 2026: Oh my god! Only four teams made it to a Prelim. Here's why those who failed to make it should now merge or be relocated...