GS_1905

Sydney playing with 3 rucks

[censored] the media preaching Bailey Smith for sticking up his fingers. Just about any other club and he’s thrown to the wolves.

Or was over hyped and not really as good as we all had hoped.

So LDU is now officially off the table. I have sneaky suspicion he will ending up fading into anonymity. Might be wrong, but a 7 year deal without shooting the lights out. Plays some excellent games, but is inconsistent. Would have been a great asset at Melbourne, but at the 1.2M+ price tag, not worth it IMO, glad we ended up passing.

When, not if

And move it super quick before their defence sets up. You can just see this as the break out game for Ben McKay.

We shouldn’t have risked it. And traded up to take 18 or 19 for 20,21 and a f2. I get you don’t get them all right and we were probably going for Holmes and Bowey.

How did we end up with Laurie and Bowey and Geelong got Holmes.

Crows look very good , but there d50 will be their vulnerability. Maybe they’ll take Petty end of year?

Nibler is able to adjust to the crows game plan rather easily.

Really should have offered Tex a 3 year contract when he became available. Would have made such a difference to our fwd line.

Adelaide playing a pretty simple game. Not sure how we are struggling to replicate it.

It’s what happens when your mates with the players and not a coach.

Selection absolutely stinks. Stinks like 💩. How do you continue to give games to JVR, Fritta, Melksham after a hapless 4 weeks. I all hope they turn things around but you are giving non performers a free ride.

I haven’t listened to the media much this season for obvious reasons. But when I do I just pick up on the most bizarre commentary. Probably reading too much into it but it does reenforce this anti Melbourne rhetoric / vibe we all talk about. 2 examples Jon Ralph on the mid week tackle when the cast is talking about Houston’s failed trade to MFC, he moves his hand across his brow and says ‘phew’. I mean the guy is a Tigers supporter - yea we all no Houston dodged a bullet but we don’t need the saltiness. What does he care anyway?? Sam Edmund on SeN drive home today when taking about top 4 coaches or teams and the discussion was on how Brissy started the year by saying winning but not convincingly. A casual remark was made about Melbourne and how its start to ‘22 after the premiership was 10-0 but not convincing then how it all fell apart. True it did, but what about Pies or Geelong after their premiership year? They were completely hopeless and missed finals!!!! WTF!!! End rant. Good night.

There has always been an undertone of uncertainty with this team. I’ll admit there was a time in’21 where I had complete trust but before it started to come undone pretty soon after that in ‘22.

Reality is they are unlikely to get pinged for an extra step. But I get your point. Need both Windsor and bowey off HB running into square for a HB receive.

Did they already scrap his segment on 360?

Didnt think about Touk.. great leader IMO. He played well against us but not sure how his performance stacks up against us. But given Suns are about to turn a corner, he would be hard to extract out of the place. Brayshaw signed an extension already with Freo. LDU wont go from one basket case to another. Unfortunately i see a club like ours as the perfect source for other clubs to pluck mature players out of. Fortunately for us, most players are all signed up so at least we will get compensated.

Which makes getting to Collingwood and Carlton impossible. Bombers and Tigers are the only real options unless he wants to move to Geelong, which I’m doubtful. So he can play for a big VIC club and ultimately find himself in a similar situation as the Dees in a club that is rebuilding. Really the only move he’d be exploring is Collingwood. So they would need to move on some players to get in the first round of this years draft. Looking at their list I can’t see anybody that really hits the mark. It makes sense for sure, but there is so much contradiction on the player dynamics after last year so hard to get any sense of what’s true. It makes you wonder why we did so much to ensure we didn’t trade Oliver out - I thought all the hype around him falling back in love with footy and the club was positive and had me sold on a big year for him. He’s not going terrible but is not shooting the lights out by any stretch.

Yeah it’s a tough draw after 8. 2-6 is an easy fail mark. However to win 2+ games would suggest an improvement from our current footy because if we continue as is, then we are well and truely on the way to 0-8 at which point the above holds.

I think teh right time to make the decision is after the WC game. If we are any worse than 2-6, then times up. Reason being is that you wouldnt want the 6 month payout clause (applicable to Simon's contract extension) to impact the 2026 soft cap.

Butters makes lots of sense, but it will involve a move where Oliver and/or Trac is shipped off. A midfield of Langford, Butters, Windsor, Rivers, Lindsay, Kolt and then obviously some of Trac / Viney / Langdon / Sparrow. I think bodes pretty well for the future.

So is main training tomorrow then?

What does remain constant through most games styles is an ability to score from turnover. Which we bucked the trend in '21 (although our centre clerance dominance in Q3, probably fudged the stats on that night).