GS_1905

It will be TMac or Lever/Howes.

Its a fine balance between cutting to deep or not going far enough. Id also prefer we hang onto our senior players and hope they are able to change and adapt to the new plan and become elite in their roles. We will launch back into contention if they can do this. Oliver is regaining some form, however his impact on the game still hasn't reached his pre '23 hammy levels. With Trac, he was our highest impacting player as well down on his pre-injury levels. I do think he still needs a few more games before he achieves peak fitness. If we can keep Kozzy and he wants to stay, that will be a massive win. At the end of the year, we will need to assess the list position, player requests and the like. I wouldnt be surprised if we offloaded all of Oliver, Trac & Kozzy, but i wouldnt be surprised if we kept them all as well.

How is this for some conspiracy theory. Mitchell meets with Oscar with no intent to recruit him. Leak the meeting to the media Oscar steps down from captaincy and creates a real icy environment for all players Harley already unsettled, final nail in the coffin Harley has already been ptiched by the Hawks Harley seeks trade at end of year. Mitchell the ultimate strategist wins again.

Just said, he would only go to a premiership favorites...Hawthorn or Brisbane. Hawks i can understand - no issue when we were in a similar position, we were able to attract BBB, Hibberd, May and Lever, which were all instrumental in our tilt at the flag. So far they are mimicking our moves to a tee. But Brisbane just lost Daniher to retirement, were gifted a bunch of Top 3 draft picks and academy players in the past couple of years and now can essentially plug their only list hole in 1 season. I hate harping on about inequity but we have such a retched run with our list it just aint funny. Some in control, some out of control.

I know Matt through junior footy. He may have played for the Bumbers but I always found him to be friendly and respectful. He gets paid to make headlines and I have always thought he looks incredibly uncomfortable doing it as it doesn’t come naturally for him. Personally I wouldn’t put him in the same class as McClure, Barrett and Morris.

Zero shock factor about this. It’ll be a discussion all throughout the year. If you could trade one and get Butters in, surely that’s a net positive?

Fritta got to be dropped. May also running out of credits

A massive improvement in available players. Making it easier to drop those that are not performing.

Funny how Hawks are into Reid, Butters and Allen… who were we into after 2021? Billing’s? Schache ? Hawks haven’t even won anything yet.

I think that is one great observation re Pendles and Sidebottom. They were well and truly on the express train to retirement. It is amazing what McRae did to that list. Well and truly reinvigorated the club overnight. I see Bucks in the same way I see Goody. Disciples of outdated , unexciting brand of footy. They belong to the halls of history that tried to change and adapt but failed. We need to think about transitioning from Goody in a way that doesn’t pull the rug out from underneath the players feet. I

Bring in Hinkley as an assistant next year. He’ll be sacked by the bye round. Hell then get Butters over the line with whatever we can muster with the change we get from Oliver or Trac or both. Keep Kozzy at all costs.

Just like Collingwoods ability to win close games in ‘22 where we all thought it wouldn’t continue in ‘23. The only way Hawks don’t dominate for another decade is if the game changes back to a form of contest / stoppage game. If that happens they are well and truly ******.

Love your optimism. Not a chance in … Demonland

Well the wave of attacks was in full launch today. It will ramp up this week and become deafening following a predictable capitulation this week against one of our rivals.

At what point do we say that experiment has failed?

Well done Langers.

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Let us just beat Essendon and Richmond. If we cannot muster those 2W's then I'm afraid we are truly staring at a winless season.

We have seen so many teams start the games this year with pressure games 200+ sustained for multiple quarters. You can see it clearly on the telly, when there is an intensity to the game. When i refer to effort - this is the only thing i look for. I know we will make mistakes and changing gameplan i expect them. It'll annoy me but i can walk away thinking we are trying something new. However, i don't understand why we dont bring that frantic pressure we are seeing from just about every other team. Have we even got a quarter over 200 yet? Part of me thinks that it is planned, i.e. not to spend our tickets too early or save the body? Is that because we are not fit enough? What if its not planned? What then? I really hope somebody asks these questions of Goody and others in the club. Pressure is how you generate turnovers more effectively. Turnovers are crucial to the transition game all over the ground. So to me pressure is fundamental to this game style, that doesn't need a pre-season to train. It just needs you to turn up and fight (very close to inserting Trump's fight GIF).

No tough love from Goody?

As a Melbourne supporter, im afraid this scenario is always in play. Im not surprised that we have allow a series of things that are incredibly difficult to [censored] up with a sprinkle of MFCSS. It is typical Melbourne. We need help to save ourselves from ourselves.

I’m pretty sure I heard Gawn say it in the lead up to the season. Something along the lines we know we have the talent on the list.

Top 4 was what they were saying in pre-season. They dont say those things publically unless they are confident. What i think is they got served a reality check the last two rounds.

I don't like the bloke for what he done to the club last year, but even i think this is a bit harsh. What he went through with that injury is quite significant. Remember, he wasn't allowed to get his heart rate above a certain level for 3 months, which was a brisk walking pace from memory. The amount of fitness he would have lost in that period isn't something you just get back over a pre-season and a bit.

I seriously cannot recall beating Geelong last year. Having a major "Mandela Effect" moment.