The Taciturn Demon

Definitely. Gets to those contests and puts himself in a great position to kill it. Only two games, but a winger who contests hard at both ends... I'm liking him a lot.

Did O'Hehir play as a tall defender in the Crows game?

I think they became obsessed with filling the Alex Neal-Bullen role. Fair enough - but they haven't found a replacement yet.

Not sure if I think he can get back to his best, but I'm seeing a glimmer where before there was only depressing ploddery. But the above point is a good one.

Very astute, very charismatic and often funny. That's extremely rare.

This is really compelling.

Yes.

How am I going? Fine - thanks for asking (that's not supposed to be snarky - I mean it). One thing I've noticed mentioned a lot is that "this is a business", the implication being that in business cold, commercial decisions are made and if you're an adult you accept them. I've always thought of this as a strange assertion, whether you take it as a kind of metaphor (AFL clubs are akin to businesses) or as a literal statement (AFL clubs are now, in many ways, exactly the same as corporations). Businesses certainly make ruthless decisions. They also don't. Businesses want you to believe they are the ultimate meritocracies, their every decision based on perfect analysis of perfect data. They're not. Modern businesses aim to maximise profit, sometimes to an absurd, pathological extent. Football clubs don't. I'm fine, but not because I accept football is a business. It's because I accept football - the football we're talking about here - is elite level sport. It has a far, far greater claim to true meritocracy than business. And it has something the vast majority of businesses don't have: very large numbers of people emotionally invested in its success. I don't see sacking Goodwin as a rational business decision. I say it as the natural conclusion to several years of viscerally disappointing performances. As Goodwin said for much of the year, the AFL is about "outcomes". And as he said for several years, when describing poor games, we weren't "at the level". That level is the very top. Everyone there has been tested over and over and over again and deserve enormous admiration for making it that far. But those tests continue every day. And eventually, everyone is found wanting, whether through age, a lack of new ideas, a drop in enthusiasm or numerous other things. Goodwin deserves the most generous applause for not just getting to the rarified position of AFL coach but reaching the absolute pinnacle of elite sport success. But what he achieved didn't entitle him to a job in perpetuity. I feel I owe him gratitude but not vicarous resentment or outrage. I'm fine.

He sounded like a child who knows they might be a year too old to still be excited about Christmas being excited about Christmas.

And, sorry to seem obtuse, but all of these things were on Petracca's mind last year?

It was incredibly disappointing. I'd go further and say that making three finals series in a row is certainly good by Melbourne standards. By other teams' standards it's thoroughly mediocre (and that's being very generous). Sydney - rarely out of finals. Eight finals appearances in a row between 2010 and 2018. Geelong - rarely out of final. Eight in a row during the glory years. Six in a row under Scott. Collingwood - eight from 2006 til 2013. Brisbane - seven over the last seven seasons. Hawthorn - seven in a row during the glory era. West Coast - six in a row under Simpson. Numerous other teams have played in four consecutive finals series in the last 20 years. And several teams have put together much longer finals runs with small dips out of the finals in between. The last time we put together four finals appearances in a row was under John Northey.

Do these problems remain - at all, mostly or in full?

I think the vast, vast majority of supporters who take a close look at the game (as opposed to saying they barrack for Melbourne and glancing at scores every now and then) don't think this. They understand very well that premierships are extremely hard to win. But they do crave multiple solid performances in finals in consecutive years. It's not a guarantee of a flag, but it gives you a much better chance than hoping everything goes right in a single season.

Good grief. Would have guessed 27. Really like him.

Goodness. So true.

I think that's right. But surely that depth should get used in a season like this.

Very good point. I think there is an enormous amount of wishful and magical thinking when it comes to player trading - in the media, among supporters and often within clubs. Some of it's cynical - click-bait stuff about a "mega trade" that the author or conceiver knows wouldn't happen in a million years. But some of it is earnest - "the market is a magical machine that conjures exquisitely fair transactions (all of which favour my preconceptions, biases and preferences)".

Yep. And as a ruckman, if you're not taking contested marks, you're not doing an extremely important part of your job.

This may be true. From what I know, this has never been a problem - at least during games. Instead, 2025 Oliver at top gear and 2021 Oliver at top gear are two completely different footballers.

This is a good defense of the area, but I think you'll find the hate is very much genuine.

I'll take "I hate Melbourne" over "I barrack for Melbourne, but they should merge".

Geeze, the St Kilda and Carlton games really broke a few people. And understandably so. But I was expecting this thread to be pretty up-beat. I think Culley was good. Yep, the opposition was poor, but he showed he can take a grab in a way very few of our midfielders can. And I'm very much in the @Trident22 boat with his kicking. He may fade away into obscurity, but I think he showed that when your season is over, you get a chance to experiment - and sometimes those experiments uncover something you weren't expecting.

There's a lot of depressing stuff in there, but nothing more deflating than the Keith Thomas thing.

He's played three VFL games. Ever. I reckon he's a really solid footballer.

This is the crux of it for me. It has nothing to do with medical negligence. We shouldn't need excuses to try new players and configurations at 6 and 13, and after an astonishingly bad previous two weeks. But if we DO need to find reasons for change, a bone fracture seems like a decent one.