dee-tox

Little off topic but watched the girls play Saturday. One thing that struck me is their preparedness to share the ball in the forward 50. Was fantastic. That was a hallmark of our team in 2021. We have lost that. Number of times guys like Gawn, Petracca, Pickett and Fritta all have a low percentage ping from around 50 was disturbing. Share the ball and better goal kicking will result.

Fair bit of shoot the messenger in this thread. It is not the role of a journalist or commentator to protect his or her of old club. That is delusional. When you lose four finals in a row you will get heavily criticised. Some criticism will be warranted. Some will be off the mark. Just like this website. And I would back posters on Demonland to know more about their team than some of the 1,800 accredited journalists! For what it's worth I'm a believer in things usually are not as good nor as bad as they seem.

Lynch and Aker were kicking them from everywhere! Great to see. I'd pay money to witness a repeat of that this year!

Will be a good player elsewhere. Only 22 and seems to lack a bit of confidence. We do need players that make more of an impact though.

Not at all. Hardly radical suggestions.

One of the things I kinda admire about Goodwin is he doesn't do exclusively outside mids. The opposite of that is our ball use at times is ordinary with Oliver, Viney, Tracc, etc having some of the worst disposal efficiency in the AFL. We obviously need elite users and decision makers that can get their own pill. How many of them will be in the draft this year? Someone like Gulden, Butters, Horne Francis, etc. would be perfect ?

Based on this year he did pretty well. They aside from a couple of good, young midfielders have a very ordinary list.

Port really did overperform finishing third. Apart from four decent mids (Butters, Rozee, Horny Francis and Drew) plus Houston and a decent small forward in Rioli what else do they have?

Absa-bloody-lutely! Despite being labelled as such they are a proper club not a soulless franchise. Credit to Kingsley he has Whitfield, Kelly, Coniglio, Ward and Green playing great football. Last year the first three looked like they were going through the motions. They have the weapons to worry Collingwood. Fingers crossed. Plus they have a cool theme song!

Exactly this. Also Rivers went up a notch at times.

I've been a relative fan. Young, hard running blue collar mid. Solid citizen as well. But now I think we can do better. Apart from his first game back this year he's been bog ordinary and we have to find someone better. Someone that is more attacking and can make more impact.

1. Get Matt Flynn in as a free agent. 2. Draft Duursma/McKercher and O'Sullivan as first round picks. 3. Get Blake Howes fit and firing for 2024. Can replace Hunter whose lack of kicking depth is a problem. 4. Use second round picks to poach a 195cm + pack busting key forward and/or a tall hard running mid that is an elite kick. 5. Examine Chocco's role as goal kicking coach. Abject failure this year. 6. Two new assistant coaches. Get on the phone to the likes of hated former players like Joel Selwood or Trent Cotchin. 7. Prune the dead wood if possible. Pay out contracts of BBB and TMac, free agents Jordon, Tomlinson and Harmes. Delist Dunstan and maybe Melksham. 8. Scour the VFL for the best mature players with upside.

What do we need to do in 2024 to take the next step? Obviously, the last two season's we've finished top-four only to lose four MCG finals. Is our list good enough? Do we have the right game plan? Can we add to our coaching staff? Are we happy with our player development? Is our fitness and conditioning up to scratch? Are we happy with the overall direction of the club?

No, no, no no!

6. May 5. Smith 4. Spargo 3. Lever 2. Kozzie 1. Oliver

Wasn't confident coming in and then was calm mid-way through the last quarter. Then we couldn't finish it. Almost predictable they would kick the last goal to win. Our leaders, MAy aside, couldn't show the way. Four finals losses in a row. This year it was simply poor execution. Our best were the unsung heroes. Spargo, Smith, Sparrow, etc

Four of these blokes are contracted... Tommo and Harmes may want further opportunities but I can't see BBB and TMac kissing half a million dollar contracts goodbye!

Collingwood's leading goalkicker kept to five kicks? Won or halved every one on one duel i saw. Pretty decent shut down job I would have thought. How exactly did we adjust our defence?

Fair enough. But if the Dogs are holding back on offering him a contract then rest assured he ain't that good. This is a club that took our C graders Hannan and Baker off our hands!

He's yet to play an AFL standard game and at 23 you'd have to wonder whether he ever will. He'd be competing with Fritta and now McAdam.

Not strong enough in the air I'd say... Tommo's strength is at ground level and neat disposal.

Well, if Hibbo had played his last game he can be immensely proud. His job last week was top notch. Assume TMac has to give Max a chop out. He has a massive role to play. I hope he is up to it.

So it appears we're going to turn the list over a bit this pre-season. I like it. If rumours are correct Harmes, Jordon, Tomlinson and Grundy could all be going. Jordon is worth keeping IMO. Hibbo has retired and we assume Melksham will get one more year. There are question marks over TMac and BBB although contracted? Who of the rookies apart from McVee, do we have to promote? We only know of McAdam coming in. There could be plenty of movement and maybe worthwhile keeping our two first rounders and two second rounders in play?!

Not sure it is Goodwin being outclassed. The opportunities were there in both the third and fourth quarters. The Langdon advantage, Fritta missing from 30 metres out, Kozzie snap, TMac shank, etc. The gameplan and the effort were there. Then there are the four goals in the third that Collingwood scored. I've never seen our defence get done that easily.

Jordon for Brayshaw. Grundy for JvR unless BBB is miraculously fit. Spargo for Laurie McKay is out so no need for Tommo/Turner. Martin should be out so not sure Hibberd's role...