VNightCityLegend

To be honest, don’t really care we head back down to that $h!t hole in round 4. We play that ground decently well across the Goodwin era. Lost a couple due to our choke and not necessarily Geelong playing great. Easy draw and here’s hoping the !nbred are in contention for the finals again and we knock them out in the last round.

Skipped uni and decided to head down for renewed hope after watching a diabolical Tottenham go down to yet another formerly winless side. Crystal Palace and now Ipswich. Really hoping Tottenham would deliver some positivity after a woeful 2024 from the Dees, but so far, it’s literally like watching Melbourne. Miss “easy” goal attempts, loads of possession/disposal which ends up to nothing, a list/roster capable of more, under achieving… Tough couple years supporting both teams. Anyway, great to see the players back and with off field issues no in the rear view mirror, all eyes onto 2025. If we are to threaten next year, the young guys who started training today should/could be massive catalysts as we can no longer rely on the likes of Lever, May, Gawn, Viney etc because they are not only aging, but also susceptible to injury.

Gawn should keep the captaincy for as long as he wants. Nick Maxwell was a dud compared to past captains and did extremely well controlling a team with the [censored] likes of Didak, Shaw, Swan and Johnson. Gawn is very much this style of leader and is 5x the player AND he still has at least 2 years of top level football left I reckon and any following years would see him taper off but still be an important contributor. As long as he feels he can no longer mentally lead (or god forbid get injured and force early retirement), then the likes of McVee has a lot of time to further grow into the role should it arise.

As someone who is friends with a Nottingham Forest fan of 25 years and to see them currently third on the EPL table, I can never understand the cheering and death riding of other teams and trying to will them out of existence. To see Forest catapult out of nowhere to sit in the top 4 and the buzz it bought to my mate and their multiple millions of fans worldwide is something that is always great to see as an avid sports fan. Always nice seeing the “inferior” clubs have their time in the sun and actually making the most of it. We saw it with Fitzroy, most fans of the Bears couldn’t bear (no pun) to switch alliances to Brisbane because it simply isn’t the same as fabric and identity of the original club. Not to mention we, Melbourne FC were in multiple dire straits these past 2-3 decades and came out of it ok. Make no mistake, if North ever does relocate, the club would never be the same and would devastate the ever loyal fanbase.

Good effing riddance! Culture suffers everywhere he lands. Main catalyst for Collingwood’s shambolic cultural standards and was a massive part in our troubles. No coincidence that at both clubs, regardless of being successful premierships wise. Really [censored] me off about how he publicly shopped Oliver around. Your job isn’t to list manage!

I’ll preface to say I am a Tottenham fan, but to quote CR7: “Love makes me strong. Your hate makes me unstoppable” About time this fanbase and club grow up a bit. Who gives a [censored] if we are hated? Does that deter Collingwood? Whether people like it or not, the Houston u-turn isn’t a good look. I am no fans of them, but this is why I admire the likes of Djokovic and Ronaldo a lot. They turn negative press into muesli bars and eat them for breakfast, whilst putting out elite performances with each and every tennis/football/soccer match. They embrace the hatred.

Well said, mate. Being in the same management group as Petracca should also put to bed any discussion that all our issues we primarily media fabrications and hyperbole. Not only would the media open themselves up to legal action for lying and making up stories, so why would they? Also, there is no doubt some of the leaks would have come from the management group themselves. Where there is smoke, there’s fire. What’s done is done and in order to move forward, both the club and their fans just need to accept that a lot of [censored] ups happened and cannot be swept under the carpet hoping it would sort itself out.

Would be nice to have landed him, but very overrated in the regard of the media trying to paint Collingwood as outright flag favorites just because of this very acquisition. Not a top 10 player, not overly quick and for all the talk, only rated 15 by Champion data. 28, so people really see that much more improvement in him?

Still better than that [censored] Owies. So glad we didn’t pick him up. 🤣🤣

I am 8 years younger than Nadal, but in spite of this I still managed watch and follow his tennis journey from 2004 and the way he has been able to chisel out his physique whilst maintaining the aerobic and strength durability through 15+ different kinds of injuries is just unreal. Looking at Trac now, he is cut from the same cloth. I’m a straight guy, but I can’t stop staring…. I was fairly optimistic for 2025, but looking at the work Petracca is putting in, I am almost certain we will bounce straight back into top 4 calculations. Surely the club would have learnt some valuable lessons and use the off season troubles as fuel to attack 2025 head on.

I don’t usually care about media narrative (whether potting or praising us), but this isn’t surprising. Cam Luke has been one of our biggest supporters alongside Rohan Connolly for years now. Luke always lights up when any discussion involves Max Gawn.

There’s always some truth to what reporters report and people in the industry know that, and hence why people like Sam McClure and Tom Morris are still in the job. Like them or not, fact of the matter is, if someone came in and just made up stories they would (a) never last in the industry; and (b) would get sued into oblivion. Where there is smoke, there is fire. As someone who re-watched Suits the other week, to quote Harvey Specter: “Get your [censored] together. Winners don't make excuses when the other side plays the game." Point being, the media is part and parcel. Just gotta get our own backyard in order. Whingeing like Andrew Bassett does nothing but make you seem weak and insecure as both a club and a fanbase. Big or small, anyone who thinks we don’t have problems are deluded.

We were $51 right after the GF for the 2025 flag, but it seems as though punters are starting to realize that all the things that could go wrong did go wrong. We are not as bad as our results this season and now are rated a $26 chance. That top 10 is a nice blend of gen Z and absolute top line established players, so if Petracca can come back and become even half the player he is/was then it would be great. Oliver, Salem, Lever, Sparrow and even May in spite of a 10 finish were clearly down on output when you consider their lofty standing in the club. With stability, rookie players like Brown, Tholstrup and Jefferson can really surprise similar to the players Brisbane blooded. We have the list, so it is now up to the coaches to instill the confidence back in the side. I’m confident Goodwin has genuinely learnt a lot and is already hard at work doing all he can to get us back to where this club needs to be.

Unpopular opinion, but if it’s at the expense of Oliver, I wouldn’t take it. I still believe Oliver can come back as one of the elite mids of the comp. He can still find the ball no problems, but just lacked the polish due to obvious reasons and the lack of match fitness as a result of. I trust Lever and May can come back to peak fitness/form and with McDonald having a successful year down back amongst others like Howes who is flexible, I would be hesitant to pry a star out of their club under contract. Far too big a price to pay. Mackie is the new Dodoro, so there’s that… he would be asking far more than Oliver and a future pick.

Looks as though the punters agree with you. I don’t know, I want to be a realist and accept we are in a mini rebuild and are at least 2 years away from contending again, but can’t help but look at how sporadic our season had been. I know it’s a lot more nuance than that, but I sincerely still believe we have what it takes to finish top 4. We had a team which came off humiliation defeats to Collingwood and Fremantle, scraping past lowly North only to then go up to Brisbane against a red hot Lions and only losing by 3 points after a freakish McCluggage goal. We know Windsor, McVee are 200+ gamers if injury free, but I still honestly believe we still don’t know how good the likes of Tholstrup, Turner, Brown and Woewodin are gonna be. I even look at someone like Howes as someone who can offer the value Wilmot offers to Brisbane in a settled defense. It’s not a big stretch to suggest Oliver can come back to 2021-2023 form and Petracca is doing all he can. An extended break also gives the likes of Gawn, May, Lever ample time to get as a ripe as possible. I like to believe we can be one of the biggest bounce backs in 2025.