Tony Tea

If Tayles and the recruiting crew think Nick Watson is competitive enough to cut it in league footy, and that lack of size is not an issue, a I'd have him. Players who can manufacture goals out of broken play are gold.

Absolutely love his balance, poise, smooth movement and tidy ball use. When he fully develops an AFL physique he'll be a star. AA defender in the making.

We would have cooked him. We won the flag in 2021 because we didn't pick him.

The Hoops of Kardinia Pork would probably have a bigger average if they weren't endlessly rebuilding stands.

AFL-bound, for sure.

I'd have him if he fell into our lap, but I'm not splurging to get him.

Depth is a funny thing. You don't want anyone on the list who is shirty because they aren't getting a game. But if someone is a valuable role player, you need to get them in the 18. In round figures, we have around 10 always picked no matter what, around 5 rolers who always get picked, around 5-10 rolers who get rotated through the 22, Petty & Fritsch who would be straight back in, and 10-15 in development. Plus, Grundy, who's an outlier. That's not a bad list profile, although I'd like a little more footy talent in our 10th to 15th ranked players.

Who'll be first to send condolences to the West Australian media who'll now have to find someone else to bombard their front pages and news bulletins.

A player repeatedly touted as a Demon recruiting blunder retires on the same day as a player repeatedly touted as a StKilda recruiting blunder, which handed the Demons a recruiting bonanza. What goes around...

I've been a voting MCC member since the mid 80s and I have never voted in an MCC election. I will if Will Fowles ever runs again. Against him; even if it means supporting Australia's worst person (apart from Fowles).

Ban knee-drop tackles.

Whatevs. He shouldn't have been sleeping.

I have a Bombers work colleague who is mad that we fobbed Weid off on Essendon because his hands are as bad as I told him they were.

It's a regret of mine that I never went to Windy Hill.

What's the definition of madness? Melbourne kicking it into their forward line and hoping for something different.

We've banged our heads against a brick wall of a forward line long enough. The Deenasty is vanishing before our eyes. (Probably from all that head banging.)

We won the 2021 flag because of everything that happened back then

I can't see any non-smoking gun that would exonerate Harmes, and it looks more guilty than Hunter, so take the week and move on.

Our weaknesses have been on display for 12 months. I don't think that qualifies as kneejerk. But yes, plenty of posts, mine included, have been pessimistic and critical and maybe it would be a good thing if we all toned it down. Maybe.

Well, I agree with the Pie.

It came to an abrupt end in the middle of 2022.

Carlton are rolled gold certainties next weekend. We're cooked.

We had one pretty great year.

We're not winning it this year. Look at West Coast. Simpson came on board for the 2015 season and with a system similar to ours (bouncing off McGovern and Barass) built to a flag in 2018. Not that WC had to do as much building as we did, since they already had a lot of good players. But then a few teams sussed them in 2019, more in 2020, more again in 2021... 2022, 2023 and now they are a shambles. As the losses and injuries and age profile took their toll, the gameplan static, confidence and hunger ebbing, virtually no players improved, they became easy-beats as other clubs streamed past. That's what we have to avoid. Our current players must get better, our gameplan must evolve, our ability to deal with opposition adjustments must improve. Last year we struggled to beat the strong, well-organised sides; same this year. Collingwood on face value is a much better side. Brisbane hard to toss. Port up and about. Freo getting their mojo back. The Saints with their defence first mantra will be a challenge for our dodgy-fwd-entries. Even the Dons made us look silly. The Dogs are on the improve. Adelaide will chip it around and avoid bombing to May and Lever - separating the defence becomes meat and potatoes for competent oppositions. If all we are doing now is trying to fine tune 2021's style we are cooked. I'm not calling for wholesale changes, but wholesale sameness doesn't cut it against hungry challengers. Well, perhaps I am calling for wholesale changes, and all that that implies. We're already hovering on the verge of FTB status. Dare I say it - 2021 was a weak year. Or was 2021 our Hawks 2008? Have we got two or three more years of development before we back up with another flag or three?

Collingwood's tactics can be summed up by the old military maxim: get there first with the most.