The Taciturn Demon

He definitely can. And as a leader of the club, you can't just shrug away his responsibility (I did with my comment earlier, so sorry about that). If the rumours of a "suck it up" approach to Petracca's injury are true, that concerns me. But all a lot of supporters have to go on when judging people at the club is public statements. At a time when a lot of what we heard was incoherent, insincere and corporate waffle, Gawn came across as honest, reassuring and realistic. He strikes me as a good person with a deep love of the club. If that's all a facade, he is a brilliant actor. I'm not convinced that if another person had been captain during this time, things would be significantly different. He also remains the most reliable player at the club, which is vital for a captain.

Beatification? Yes.

They do.

Going by the Port praccy match, not quite there yet.

Very good win. 6: Hore 5: Mackin 4: Chaplin 3: Heath 2: Goldrick 1: McNamara

This is such a good point. I heard Bob Murphy say a similar thing a day or two ago. So much of modern media is financially invested in and ideologically predisposed to player movement absolutism (player movement is good in and of itself). One thing you very rarely hear about in the media is the many, many, many times a trade move clearly doesn't work for the player who's decided to leave.

I know a lot of people have asked "What did you want Roffey to say?" This interview demonstrates (to me at least) that as difficult as interviews on this subject are, they're not impossible. Now, it's very difficult to be as charming and self-deprecating as Max Gawn. And it's much easier to do an interview when the tone is friendly than when it's inquisitorial. But it's not that difficult to be "across your brief" and (carefully) honest. "Authentic" is massively overused, but that's what Max was. Happy to be told where it went wrong, but that to me is a very good interview. Maybe I'm falling for spin, but I feel slightly better after listening to that.

I'm not sure if this is quite the right question but: what's the knock on Kynan Brown? I didn't quite understand why they brought him in, barely played him then consigned him to Casey, even after the season was clearly gone. Another way of putting it: he seems like a goer and we kept playing end-of-career plodders and then wondering why our effort wasn't "at the level".

Sadly, this is a template for a few of the public statements I've heard from her. I thought her point about Viney - clearly a media beat up - had the potential to be the basis for a strong argument. Something along the lines of "If I carried out my duties based on every single media rumour or demand from a pundit, I'd never sleep." But the stuff about the media quickly descended into, as you said, incoherence.

I don't expect the President to be a polished media performer. I do expect them to be, if not a nuffie in a business suit, at least across a lot of club stuff and well-connected with every important person at the club. Important people include all the players and their immediate families. What I took from that interview, and a few Roffey public statements, is that she's neither a good media performer nor obsessively interested in everything happening at the club. In the Whately interview, she seemed to imply that she hadn't spoken with Petracca's family because their absence from the club made it inconvenient. If that's not outright negligence, it sounds like the excuse of someone who doesn't really have the time to be President. I like the idea of a president saying "This isn't my area of expertise; I'll leave it to the people we employ to do specific jobs". But talking to players and their family after a very serious injury and a very public desire to leave seems like something clearly within a president's remit.

The end of last season was worrying and I reckon we'll miss Casey Sherriff a lot. But the team we've named against Geelong still looks pretty good and Beasley and Wotherspoon looked good in the praccy match against Port. Interesting to see how we go on the weekend.

Such is my disdain for Barrett, I read this as completely unironic.

I genuinely don't get this. Even if you put aside the fact this is such a weird and self-aggrandising thing for a non-American sportsperson to concentrate on, does it even bear weight? In 2022 there was only one team that got higher home crowds than Melbourne in the home and away season. In the finals we played two interstate teams and averaged 70,000. In 2023 we were comfortably in the top four for home crowds and all crowds during the home and away season. Our two finals both had crowds well over 90,000. In 2018, our crowd numbers were strong, as well, in the home and away season and in finals. This year, our crowds fell away very badly... after the King's Birthday... when Petracca wasn't playing. Is this literally just a desire to play for Collingwood, which has had very good crowds for 30-odd years, or is he unaware that every other club's crowds wax and wane depending on how they're going?

This is a good post. The nuffie Demons fan in me - my inner Swooper Northey - is screaming "How dare you treat the club this way!" I find the idea of a genuinely great player just walking away from a club because it no longer suits him outrageous. The angel on my shoulder, however, keep reminding me, this is a human doing completely normal human things: being overwhelmed and disoriented by trauma, finding confrontation difficult, telling different versions of a story to different people, getting bad advice from radically biased sources. I also have no doubt he has legitimate concerns that the club should treat extremely seriously. The "personal brand" and "bigger team" stuff is hard to swallow. The rest, if it's true, is understandable and even relatable.

Sorry - double post.

Harambe vibes.

Absolute certainty. Not just his injuries but the broader idea that "the market reality is..." All ably assisted by an AFL media overwhelmingly wedded to the idea that "all player movement is good". Weirdo libertarianism - we must bow to the market as a benign deity - is rife in that world. The problem is supporters will buy it. It's already creeping in to this thread - people are earnestly posting absolutely awful deals.

I often tell myself, as I pass 40, that under no circumstances should I become the old man yelling at a cloud that I see everywhere around me. But when it comes to "building a personal brand" I'm full on Grandpa Simpson. One of the biggest, most pernicious loads of [censored] dreamt up in the last century.

Am I missing something or is a "godfather offer" kind of irrelevant unless Petracca agrees to the trade? Free agency was a zero sum game. The (best) players got enormous power. The clubs had it taken away.

I'm not sure if the forward line is the least of our problems, but the midfield and the whole system of ball movement is absolutely number one.

That's generous. Both Fremantle games were abysmal. The West Coast and Dogs games were right up there in the same category. Both Collingwood games were really bad. We also beat North by three points. We were no longer difficult to play.

I think we need to win a final. (I'm absolutely amazed by how many supporters go with the "we put ourselves in a good position" line when talking about consecutive straight sets exits. It's like losing in a prelim and then saying "at least we won the minor premiership".) The problem is, I don't think we have the list for it. We may on paper, but almost every one of our best players has a question mark over them: Oliver - will he come back better (surely) or extremely good again (plausible but far from certain)? Gawn - incredible that he's still playing this well after being battered for 200-odd games. He may just keep on going, but, entering his mid-30s, it's no certainty that he remains the best ruck in the comp. Petracca - even if he wants to be at the club, a Round 1 game would be surprising given how badly hurt he was in still is. May - amazing that he's got this far with his history of soft tissue injuries. And even if he's as good as ever, we need to stop relying on numerous Steven May contest miracles to win close games - it's completely unsustainable. Kozzie - I'm really optimistic about him, but three weeks without him at the beginning of the season is annoying. Viney and Salem - both make us a vastly better team, but only when they're not carrying something, which seems to be often. I also think replacing Neal-Bullen will be more difficult than it might first seem, and apart from Windsor and McVee, there's no under 21 on the list who I'm confident will be a massive contributor next season. In addition, I don't buy either the "we lost a lot of close ones this season" line (we beat North, who'll finish the season with a percentage in the lows 60s, by under a kick) or the "we get an easier draw" optimism. Genuinely good teams don't worry about the evenness of the competition - they just keep winning. I think a longer pre-season is a genuine plus, however. All that's to say I suspect we're not good enough; it will take some coaching brilliance to make finals, let alone win won. It will be difficult, but it's not unfair to expect a coach coming into his 9th season to be well above average. Is Goodwin the man? Next year will be an excellent test.

Melksham gets an incredible run from the footy department and supporters.

Goodness, that Collingwood game was bracing. A fair few of our under 22s just aren't going to make it. I know you can't just pluck first round picks out of the sky, but if there's a way, we need to find it. Got to give Jason Taylor every chance to flex his professional muscles in November.

Sports Entertainment Network would use terms like "cage free" and "barn fresh" and would continue with 40 reporters per 20 square metres. The AFL would turn a blind eye.