Ron Burgundy

I have supported this club for a very long time. I regard this as one of the saddest developments during this time. And this really sucks following a season filled with so much optimism and excitement.

I was trying to delete an earlier post which was both unfunny and overly sarcastic. And this is all I managed to achieve. I'll be on the trade table too soon if performances like this continue. ....... For all the differing views on Watts (and I respect the competing views), this has been very poorly handled by the club. The discussion should not have been so openly had through the media. It lacks class.

Yep, we didn't want to play finals. That's why we played a dude not in our best 22 in the most important game of the year. We were clearly looking at the bigger picture - maximising the trade value of one bloke on our list, not fielding our best side. ??

Woewodin received 12 Brownlow votes in 2003 and was top 3 in the Copeland the year after. The trade sucked. But, given that it's so long ago and several people here can't remember and otherwise hate facts and objective analysis, keep posting this stuff - some people might buy it.

I need to listen to you more. There is clearly so much learning to be unlocked here. Let me know when you finish high school so I can really loop into your wisdom.

I'm having this very debate with a mate at the moment. Is Lever more likely to want to leave the Crows following a Grand Final win or a loss? I dunno really - I just suspect a loss will leave him less bonded with the Crows than a win.

I'd love to know what Jordan Lewis thinks about this.

A big element of the Leading Team's formula is about involving players in key issues and empowering players about many matters that have traditionally been decreed from the Mount. In short, it is about creating trust and reducing the feeling of being coached in an autocratic regime. I am very nervous about this one. And that's only partially due to my affection for Jack Watts. It's actually principally due to my experience in people management in a group environment. It is critical to have one's ear to the ground on this stuff, to sense the temperature of the team on certain decisions. I really rate Goodwin as a coach, and I think the club is very fortunate to have him. But I fear he's potentially going to make his first big mistake here. I sincerely hope that, before he pushes the button on this, he listens to quite a few experienced heads about this, eg, Paul Roos and Todd Viney.

It's no longer possible to delete posts, even accidental ones. I was simplying trying to edit a typo in an earlier post from 'to' to now read 'too'. And now this. Sorry folks. Hope the club keeps Watts, by the way. ?

I agree - really good player. Would suit our needs.

The problem with most first year coaches is that they try to hard. They squeeze the grip too hard, they lack soft hands, they micro manage far too much. Watts loves the club. He is clearly a decent individual. He is talented. He is popular. He is MFC. And, like us, he craves ultimate success at this club. Let him breathe Simon. Give him some space to do it his way (within team rules, obviously). I reckon you'll be rewarded for it if you do. It'll be a sad day if Watts is traded this year. I reckon the movie script will have been cut a few scenes too short.

Nice work Robbie! I say, bring back the humanity to this game, to this forum.

He absolutely was in 2016. He won a few games for us single handedly. Watch, for instance, the Geelong game earlier this season again. Watts was unbelievable.

To be honest, I differ on this one to many here. I'm just concerned about his recent and current form and, relevantly, his value going forward. What he was like 5, 6, 7 years ago is irrelevant to me. He was in AA form last season and again this season up until he did his hamstring mid-year. After that, he was indifferent, albeit punctuated by a few really good moments. Unless we can get something really good for him, I reckon we'd have rocks in our heads to trade him for not that much in return.

Nield made several statements of intent too. Simiarly, he only wanted blokes who'd willingly eat road kill and run head first through brick walls (Brent Moloney aside). Whilst this had immediate and superficial appeal to success-starved fans, history shows that it was absolutely the wrong approach. Fortunately Paul Roos took the conch and fixed most of these mistakes. Relevantly, he created a decent club culture. Right now, I don't expect Roos would be seeking to trade Watts, and that concerns me. Not in an emotional sense, but in a clinically rational sense. It could do a lot of damage to the culture of the club and create negativity within the player group. Many Richmond supporters who now think of Dustin Martin as a favourite son wanted him out the door for a first rounder a few years ago. But it's hard to replace talent like that. In this regard, I expect there are far fewer talented players like Jack Watts out there than there are James Magner's and Tom Couch's. And this is why some people here are emotional about this. Watts is our Tom Lynch - he's a gun deliverer of the football, he has great vision and skills, and the club is potentially about to trade him for a pack of cheezels. If this is the case, it does not appear entirely sensible in the medium to long term either, in a rational sense. This is actually big picture thinking IMO. Perhaps it's just a different picture to the one you're looking at.

Both of those 'trades' sucked. History confirms this - neither trade ultimately produced the positive impact/return the MFC wanted. Sure, people get over things, including sickness and death - but history doesn't simply erase responsibility for, and the consequences of, bad desisions. I have been really impressed with Goodwin to date, but, if true, this has the potential to be an atomic mistake, particularly if it is not handled very sensitively with the player group and supporters, and especially if the club does not receive a commensurate player in return. I reckon I'm as passionate and as loyal a supporter as anyone, but this has the potential to inflict major brand damage for me early into the Goodwin years. In short, Goodwin will be setting the bar at an extreme level on this one - he cannot expect any tolerance on his own performance next year if he's not prepared to extend it to key personnel himself. In fact, I just don't bloody need this right now. I'm still coming to terms with our loss to Collingwood in round 23. Need scotch right now ...

This thread's depressing.

I'm doing exactly the same. I put it down to the fact that it's not actually a done deal, and I really want it to be a done deal. It's also why I'll be supporting the Tigers hard on Sat. I don't want Lever to feel ultra bonded with the Crows if they win and then for him to do something really stupid like sign a new contract with them. He needs to climb Everest for the first time with this club.

What I find interesting about this poll is that many people, me included, were slightly unsure of the need to appoint Viney as a Co-Captain at the time, such was Jones' strangle hold on the Captaincy. Viney, it was thought, would make a good VC. IMO Viney did a great job and completely vindicated Goodwin's decision. I like the idea of those two sharing duties for at least another year though. Jones is still absolute relevant as a Captain of this club.

Have to say I absolutely trusted Goodwin's judgement on Melksham. He got this right. Melksham, like Vince and Hibberd, has absolutely delivered for a second round draft pick. He kicked some really important goals this year and played some very effective shut down roles. A genuinely good Demon.

The general consensus amongst most experienced and reasonable observers seems to be that we have finally built a very talented and capable list. Sure, it has the odd hole, and it probably requires a couple of top line additions (eg, Lever, Gaff or another experienced outside mid), but it is fundamentally a very talented and well balanced list, albeit still young. With a good pre-season, our younger players having had another year under their belts, a better run with injuries, adding a couple of new players in the post season, and a better run with injuries, most commentators have us firmly in the 8 next year, if not higher. Culturally, Goodwin, McCartney and co seems also to be taking the core of this group in the right direction. The challenge will probably ultimately be keeping the core of this group together. In this context, I find it frustrating to read posts such as trade Gawn particularly given that we've just delisted Spencer and there is no sensible plan as to how we'd fill that void. It's as though we won the spoon again this year and everyone's on the table, just for the sake of it. In short, I'd like to see some calmer, more reasoned discussion. That said, I'm well aware it's a trade thread and everyone is entitled to their opinion blah blah etc.

Dead set - some of the discussion here is the stuff of nerdy 12 year olds playing Dungeons and Dragons.

Perhaps he's involved in the trade. Straight swap or throw in a pick as well?

I agree - he's clearly worth far more than that. I'm genuinely sick of seeing the MFC being ripped off in these trades. 22 first rounders. Nothing less.

As if we would trade Oliver or Petracca. To suggest that is genuinely ridiculous. Fair dinkum. I feel as though I'm reading the notice board of my 4 year old's preschool. PS. Petracca sounds like some kind of cool dinosaur to the kids. Henry loves him. Favourite player territory.