dee-tox

Buckenara's columns and list analysis are ghost written by Hun. They are made deliberately provocative so punters like us can disagree with them.

Sometimes a show of faith in the coach combined with a woman's touch can work wonders!

Really? The inaccuracies, the unfinished sentences, the hyperbolic rantings, the cliches... His commentary was horrendous. Luke Hodge wasn't much better. Kudos to James Brayshaw though. Never been a huge fan. But he was factual, read the game beautifully, accurate and when the time was right to get excited he came up with: Bang... bang, bang, bang, after Oliver's goal! Loved it. Taylor and Hodge versus Brayshaw and Daisy was like chalk and cheese.

JT was a Mark Neeld appointment believe it or not. Liked what he did at Collingwood.

Yep, this is the one that got me off the couch and fist pumping down the hallway! The degree of difficulty was immense but Fritta made it look easy. How he can fly onto Wood and Max's shoulders, land on his feet, off balance gather the ball one handed and put it through I'm still in awe of.

Salary cap may be a factor here. You'd imagine he'd be on 550K plus signing a three-year deal before the start of the 2019 season. In 2018, he was one of our best and most important players.

The biggest surprise of the last month. Became undroppable after the Lions game and thrived in the two biggest games of the year. Two 50-metre kicks on Saturday really stood out. The 53-metre goal off one step in the third and the 50-metre pass to Brown for the first goal of the last. Superb. Add to that supremely fit and prepared to get down and dirty. Brilliant acquisition!

Yeah, that's the short-term view but imagine having Jackson and Andrew running around for you in 2025! Also, you can be one serious injury away from disaster...

Max is 29 and Majak 31. You could easily make a case for another young ruckman.

Interesting that we have seemingly kept Baker, Hore, Daw, Chandler, Bedford and Brown. Melk is a question mark.. Out are Jetts, Vanders, Jones, Lockhart, Bradke and Nietschkze. We'll need to fill four or five spots. Whether we'll do that by the draft or whether someone from another clubs wants to walk into a premiership team will be interesting. Do we need to upgrade anyone from the Rookie list?

Majak Dawn... Sounds like me on Sunday morning!

Cooked.

I know this is tongue in cheek but makes you wonder why Choco seems to have an expiry date at many clubs? As he said in the ABC article no one has wanted him. for a senior role and we picked him up from Werribee. His knowledge of football is amazing and he obviously knows how to motivate and develop players. I wonder if some clubs have seen him as too big a personality? I have heard second hand that our media dept. are keen to shield him away from as many interviews as possible. Anyway, I'm glad we have him. Sometimes being a maverick goes a long way. What he has done with the young guys as well as the senior blokes has been amazing.

By jees, didn't Salem play three crackers as well!

Took time to come good but Roos seemed to be huge influence on him developing into probably the best small defender in the comp. between 2015 and 2019. Tough, courageous, team-orientated. Hope he is able to stay around the club in some capacity.

Interesting. Vanders physicality in 2018 made the whole team walk taller. Cruelled by injuries. Lockhart I always thought had something. Courageous, decent pace and decent overhead. Thought he would be the Nev replacement.

I think what yesterday and probably the whole year proved that development is everything. You get the right people in position (Choco Williams) and ordinary, seemingly delistable guys like ANB go to another level. Then your kids (Petty, Rivers, JAckson, JJ, Sparrow, Kozzy grow much faster than expected. Much faster than other clubs as well. Sure I think a bit more depth in hard running skilled ball carriers are needed but even with picks in the 20s and 30s you can unearth blokes and at the same time not ruin your salary cap. This is what we'll do here in my opinion.

How good is the commentary on Oliver's goal late in the third? James Brayshaw: Bang, bang, bang! Made up for Taylor's appalling calling. Good job Angus' uncle!

Love it Biffen!

Imagine if no one had kicked six in a granny since Jarman? Imagine in the most crucial period of the granny he kicks two in a minute including one that should be in the most incredible goals in finals history? The skill of jumping on Wood's head, falling down, springing up like a panther and kicking a goal was beyond belief. This man wore number 31 with absolute honour.

Bloke kicked c. 60 goals for the season but yet has been subject to some pretty ordinary comments from some so-called 'supporters' all year. Even in the Game Day thread he was subject to some ridiculous criticism because he had a five minute patch where he fumbled a couple of times. A skinny kid deemed not good enough to play TAC becomes the best medium sized forward in the comp. That's an incredible story.

It's 7.30pm here and I'm yet to have a drink. Couple more random observations. The kids! Sparrow, Rivers, Bowey and Jackson were phenomenal. Christian Salem should be the Gary Ayres medallist. Hibberd was incredibly solid. Played almost a Nev role. That game plan devised by Goodwin and co. is inspired. To see it work all year and into the Granny is what set this team apart. The second Fritsch goal in the third where he attempted a speccy, fell over, sprang up like a cat and kicked a goal all in less than three seconds was freakish! Petracca's game get better after you watch it a second time. No superlatives to describe it.

6. Trac 5. Salo 4. Jackson. (Changed the game). 3. Fritta 2. Clarry 1. Sparrow

We did it! It's surreal but two observations. How good was Luke Jackson! This team was amazingly fit. Kudos to those responsible!