The Taciturn Demon

Well, why stop at a Craig Bradley type? Why not Craig Bradley himself? Some would say "He's 60 - what are you talking about?" I'd say, "We're right in the Flag window. He's the mature and experienced final piece of the jigsaw puzzle we need. Start cutting massive arm holes in the number 21 jumper. Sorry, Jeffo, you're wearing number 30 now."

Good summary. Imagine going through the entire Petracca saga, ostensibly about an un-ignorable slip in standards, and then getting Stringer.

I think leaving Pearce out of my votes was bordering on scandalous. Chaplin seems hugely underrated to me.

I'd love Tom Sparrow to work on his agility and become a really strong midfielder who can hurt oppositions when resting forward.

My perfect player: - End of career - Played half a good season four to 12 years ago - I heard someone once say they were "clever with footy in hand" (I've seen no evidence of this, but it sounds good) - Studiously avoids contact

Has our handballing significantly improved or did our run out of defence and through the middle just make it look better than it has been before?

Has our handballing significantly improved or did our run out of defence and through the middle just make it look better than it has been before?

Underrated footballer. Very sorry to see her go.

No, because trading him to Richmond or North would get us what we want, but he'd never say yes.

That sounds fair to me. But every indication is that he wanted to leave. I can sympathise with enormous frustration. But I find it very difficult to admire a desire to just walk away.

You've got to give players games if you want them to accept new contracts.

How come?

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

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.

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.