MaccaR

In other trade news, several industry insiders who have nothing to do with the MFC are of the firm belief that there is a chance Max Gawn will finish his career elsewhere after they heard reports at a local cafe that he has long been jealous of the Langdon Wingers Club and is looking for an opportunity to play on the wing at another club, probably Geelong because they seem to attract every talented player available. Tom Morris has also reported that the MFC has at least 22 starting players of which only a handful have had rumours thrown around. Tom thinks it would be highly beneficial if WA clubs enquired about Jacob van Rooyen and Trent Rivers and maybe throw some shade onto Caleb Windsor’s contract. Others are reporting that perhaps they should dig up and revive the old Harrison Petty rumours to SA.

I spent most 20 years of my life in the military until my ex-wife forced me to make a choice between my career and family. I left the military and moved back to the state my ex-wife was from as she insisted, she needed 'family support'. Less than 2 years later we were divorced. I suspect AFL clubs, similar to the ADF are greedy institutions with little time for spouses and family etc. I don't blame the Ex for wanting to move, the ADF gave her little support. The pressure to balance the demands of family and an organisation that wanted to 100% own you were immense. I can't imagine what it would be like being a player in an AFL club, but I suspect it is on par or worse than what I had in the military. I also wonder if the club is starting to have some distinct generational divides. In the military we had a lot of people in their 20's and 30's and the two distinct groups were kids, or no kids. I had kids in my 20's (24) and this separated me from childless under 25 group that could party and the over 30's with kids who didn't socialise as much and seemed ancient to those under 25. I note a lot of our leaders are now over 30 and tending to families while we have a strong group of under 24's coming through. Maybe our leaders are not connecting with the young crowd as well as yesteryear. Long story short, good luck to Nibbler. I will never forget beating the hell out of the seat in front of me at Bellerive Oval in 2019 when Nibbler shanked a kick into the forward line that cost us the game (my son still talks in embarrassment about it). He has redeemed himself tenfold since and become a great clubman. Best to him and his family.

I am not buying into the doom and gloom......yet. If the pattern continues downwards in 2025 I will re-assess. I understand the feelings though, but I put it down mostly to PTSD from our horror years before Roos came onboard and righted the ship. It has not been a great year, but considering we are technically only 2 games and percentage out of the 8 after a horror run of injuries shows how even a competition it has been this year. With such a tight race for finals, teams need to be having some luck with injuries and good stretches of form and we have neither for the season. I can't name a single team this year that hasn't at some point been horribly out of form for several games. At least we didn't win in 2021 and instantly drop out of the 8 like Collingwood this year. Imagine being a Carlton supporter, they arguable have had the same level of talent (if not more) than us and continue to underperform every year. St Kilda fans must be just about the most frustrated set of supporters in the AFL. Fremantle have never won the premiership. I would say something about Gold Coast supporters, but I have never met any. Goodwin has done a great job of keeping us competative over the years through several challenges, even winning us a cup in the process. Our drafting has been A+ Our talent development has been A+ Our talent retention has been (outside of LJ) A+ Have a look at clubs like Gold Coast, for most of their existance they have basically been a development squad for other clubs. The fact that our players constantly keep re-signing is a sign to be that they enjoy being at the club and subsiquently respect and enjoy playing for Goodwin. What we need to improve, more than anything is our trading. We will have an easier draw for 2025, a longer pre-season and time to do surgeries etc, a good draft hand this year, hopefully no more off field antics and distractions and plenty of time to analyse opposition teams and game plans. Simon Goodwin is the best placed person to attempt to right the ship next year. If we continue downward then I guess we start the conversation as to whether he is the best person for a re-build.

I like to consider myself a realist. So, my opinion is that Goodwin has enough runs on the board/credits in the bank (etc) to be given respect and time to, at a minimum, see out his contract until the end of 2026. I am strongly of the opinion that we can have another crack at the flag in 2025 with a serviceable trade period, solid pre-season and better luck with injuries (and please, no more off field controversies this off season). Goodwin clearly has some strengths, while clearly some areas that could do with minor to considerable improvement. Outside of Jackson, we continue to retain all our star players (I read this to mean players enjoy being at the club and thus like Goodwin as a coach). Our drafting and talent development is also so far ahead of the dark days of Watts and Trengove etc that I am left impressed every year. Room for improvement minor - I question some selection and game day decisions, we struggle to adapt quickly. Room for improvement major - Our trading last couple years has been, if I am being nice, disappointing. This may be a side effect of keeping so many players and having less room in the salary cap. But I really felt after May, Lever and Lingers (and lesser extend Brown) that we were becoming a destination club. Summary - I think we have huge potential for improvement in 2025 and I do not believe we can be much worse than 2024. If we are bottoming out in 2026 then we need to decide if Goodwin is the coach to conduct a rebuild. But he gets to stay until his contract finishes.

I live in Tasmania, I thought about walking to the G but then remembered I would also have to swim Bass Strait. I pay a membership and watch every game the Dees have played in Hobart and I regularly travel to Melbourne (God's city) to watch a weekend of footy. I have held membership since 2008, when I paid for my first membership while stationed in Afghanistan with the ADF (figured I might as well donate my war cash to a good cause). I wish we had a million supporters like some of the other clubs, but I like to think our supporters are more about quality and respect than feral devotion (Port Adelaide supporters were the worst when I lived in Adelaide).

It might be a big call, but he has surpassed his old man. Best father-son we have had in a long time.

Correct. Spencer's wife was Tasmanian I believe, and thus the move. I seem to remember Norm Smith said we would have won a fourth flag had he stayed. There is a great story from Spencer about how Norm Smith used to always get stuck into him about needing to be a better player and calling him a 'plodder' (someone who can run all day and yet have little impact). Spencer changed his training and focused more on speed drills and became the star that Norm Smith new was hiding inside. Just goes to show how a good coach and good development and training can make or break a player.

My dad was at the same school with him in Tassie, although my father is a few years older (and still alive, RIP Max Walker). My dad played cricket with him, he was a batsman and (from all accounts from my dad) a terrible bowler who bowled with the wrong leading leg. My dad also played football with Peter Hudson, as well as playing at the infamous Queenstown football oval (for those not in the know, the oval is gravel. Yes, gravel. No one leaves without donating skin). 189cm would struggle in the ruck these days, I very much doubt if there are any key position players under 190cm these days in the AFL.

At this point in time I dare say the Free to Air channels will be throwing every dollar they have at broadcast rights, as sport is likely one of the few ways the free to air channels can remain relevant. Sport, mostly AFL and cricket are about the only reason I still watch free to air TV.

Agreed. I think our coaching team have been mostly great at development and game day planning, but we not a great gameday coach. Regardless. I do believe our issue is being predictable. We were super predictable in 2021 and we were unstoppable for much of the year and in the finals. I stand my ground that Ross Lyon is the most predictable and boring coach in the league and I can not understand why St Kilda went Round 2 with the guy (unless it was to mentor a new coach much like Roos did at Melbourne).

My PTSD from following the MFC is so great that I didn't crack open a beer until we were 50 points in front in the grand final in 2021. So did I think we could lose to Brisbane in the last quarter, yeh bet. I do not disagree with your sentiment. My problem, and I feel other posters issues, is I do not think it is about being predictable as you describe. The best teams in any sport are predicable. Happy to argue otherwise. The most chaotic form of sport strategy I have seen recently is Bazball from the English cricket side…..but this is still predictable in that we know they are going to do it. AFL is so fast that the players have little time to think, they therefore need a predictable game plan that they have practiced. I think you are confusing being unpredictable with being able to adapt to the situation. And I would agree, I think our coaching staff often struggle with gameday coaching. But the best teams thrive on predictability. If a player can not predict what their teammate is going to do……? If you want chaos ball…..I can highly recommend coming down here to Tassie and watching some of our local football leagues. Spoiler, the predictable teams are winning by over 100 points every week by doing well what they do.

Demon's are the most predictable team in the AFL. Ross Lyon: 'Hold my beer' I would also argue that Chris Scott and the cats have been pretty predictable each season, albeit they adjust their game plan to suit their list....and they have been blessed with a pretty good list over the years. I note there are a few stories this week that other clubs have worked out Collingwood and Craig McRae. It's probably fairer to say, that when you are at the top, other clubs will invest more time in analysing and researching the team.

Made the trip up from Hobart as we are missing our standard Bellereve oval game this year. Lads looked sharp and seemed to spend a fair bit of time on forward entries. Petty seemed mostly forward and in good spirits. The mood seemed energetic amongst the players. Clayton seems raring to go.

Long time lurker. Been a member since 2008 (I know because I was in Afghanistan at the time when I 'donated' some of my war pay to sign up, who knew I would be lucky enough to get more PTSD from my football club than a warzone). My son quit playng in 2020, somewhat because of covid but mostly as he was a ok player in a really really good side and got relegated to the 2nd team where he was an ok player in a bottom of the ladder side. Didn't want him sitting around all weekend so signed him up to boundary umpire and he has loved it ever since. He gets paid over $100 to run for 2 hours. Bottom line, I got sick of hanging out at games in the cold and watching him run so this year I joined him. For context we live in Hobart Tasmania. Now, Tassie is different from Victoria but some observations. I have been critical of umpiring, but I have a new perspective. The state of umpiring here in Hobart is dire. Even in 2020 my son didn't need to train to get a weekend gig. I know I am reasonabley fit in my middle age, which is a big tick for running the boundary, but with zero experience I waltzed into running the boundary for Seniors in the TSL with my son. Field umpires are mostly my age or older and most have to do 2-3 games a weekend due to the low number of umpires. They are desperate for field and boundary umpires. 80% of the boundary umpires are under 14 years of age or younger. My son and I umpired a game where the 3rd boundary ump was 11. The money is good for a 16 year old, but for me....it's ok, beer money at best. Certiantly at my age I ain't motivated to do any more than I currently am doing. As for my son, it is not even factored as a career choice and he loves it. We need better pathways to recruit, mentor and guide young umpires to the top level. (Yes, for a start stop mucking around with the rules). But bottom line, any young kid that loves footy most likely plays. My son go a fair bit of stick for umpiring instead of playing from his mother's (Ex-Wife) family (Cough surname Wade, cough). Having said that, it is a position that attracts certain types that love authority but have no natural personal authority attributes in the real world. As a sign off, umpires are definately bias (don't get on their bad side), and they have bad days, but the responsibillty of the current state of the game rests squarely on the AFL, and we all know they care about only one thing $$$