Bonkers

With Gawn, Trac, Clarry and Viney we have something to build around. We also have May to come back in. I think the real improvement will come once the new additions settle into the side. If we can add Windsor, Lindsay, Langford and Kozzy to that midfield rotation by the end of the season that will give our midfield a more dynamic mix and more than just the stoppage dominant team we built our flag around. A couple of concerns for me is we don’t have a dominant forward, but that is something widespread in the AFL and there is only a couple of teams lucky to have them at the moment. The new players like Landford and XL may allow us to play CP forward more towards the end of the year and he is a genuine match winner, as is Kozzy. The other concern is that we are being burnt in transition regularly off our half forward line. I’m not sure if it’s whether we don’t have enough pace, or not enough pressure but GWS we’re willing to gamble a few times through there yesterday and got rewards. We haven’t been able to add that to our game, but there are some signs with Windsor and XL that it may change. We are reliant on the development of the younger players to move us forward. We are a work in progress. I’d rather be glass half full after yesterday, there was a lot of positives and the pressure and intensity was there. Special mention to XL who really impressed, he has great awareness and footy smarts, great skills and seems a natural at AFL level, seeing or reading the game before others.

Watching the replay 11:37 left in the first quarter. Dwayne Russell “It’s their home, but it’s not really their home. They live in a shed really. In fact they don’t get to be on this lounge room floor all that often” Pretty sure he is just making things up as he goes and saying whatever weird stuff comes into his head.

Out of curiosity what is your knock on Jagga? From what I have seen he has some of the most natural ability and skills in the draft? He is a player profile we don't currently have as he uses the ball wall in short, runs hard, accumulates and links up play? He may not have the size or top line athletic attributes of others perhaps? Edit: Just noticed he ran a 6:27min 2km time trial.

Surely you get an indication of what the other party is willing to pay before you go and tell a player to have a look around. I'm not having a go at you by the way, just that this whole process and the way it has been orchestrated by the club is an absolute [censored] show. I'm all for having honest discussions with players and so forth, but how could the club allow Clarry to go and have a chat to Geelong knowing they had sweet F All to offer? The stupidity and incompetence is bewildering.

Like I said, you should consider editing or removing your post. He is currently head of the board of said, City on a Hill. The church isn't right wing, it is just a church like other churches. He didn't write an article as you have mentioned. He hasn't given any sermons. No worries, you can leave your post but, I think it's quite ironic you are willing to character assassinate someone for something you don't seem to know much about and have listed factually incorrect information.

That's not an accurate assessment of the situation or Thorburn's character. You should consider deleting your post.

Potentially low risk with high reward if the price and terms are right. Not sure if we would have any more luck getting him fit than what Carlton has though.

I wonder if there is any chance the club may consider trading next years first rounder into this year to have another pick in the first round? Probably depends a little bit on what we would require to draft Kalani White next year I presume.

She is his commercial and brand manager since April, not just his partner. As people have mentioned his player manager advised against this course of action in terms of seeking a trade, they went ahead anyway.

For the naysayers who mentioned it was all media noise, Jon Ralph reported on Fox that Petracca and his fiancé both personally approached other clubs to find a trade solution to get out of Melbourne in the last few weeks. They also exhaustively approached pro scouts etc to find a potential trade route. Don’t shoot the messenger.

John Ralph has mentioned that Smith has been asked by the board to fill the vacant position on the board at the end of the year. He also mentioned that he won’t considering sitting on the board just to be a board member and that if he accepts he is likely to be the next president and will replace Roffey. edit: spelling

I'm pretty sure we traded our second rounder for McAdam? We may have got a second rounder back in the Grundy trade?

Reminds me of the Billings and Hunter trades, washed up and past their best. Can’t say I’m excited about this or the current direction of the club and overall recruitment strategy at the moment. Bring on the external review, accountability and transparency at all levels of the club.

With pick 5 we will hypothetically get a 200 game player of elite talent who we can shape the team around, most probably a midfielder to replace Brayshaw. If we trade for Houston and get 13 back, we get an AA half back flanker for another 70-100 games and a speculative mid teens pick. I’m not sure having Houston is really going to evolve our team that much that it will move the needle and put us back into contention. If we are looking to trade pick 5 I think we’d be better going for a Key Position player or an elite midfield talent if available as it is more likely to have a greater impact on our team. One of our best finishers going inside 50 at times was Windsor, if we can find a midfielder in the draft with footy smarts and is a good kick that should compliment our existing midfield.

Yeh it’s a good foundation or footing for our game. But that can be built upon in other areas when we have the ball.

What do those stats prove about winning games when you have more territory and more I50s than your opponent but don’t win the game?

I don’t see much difference in our deficiencies from last year. In a finals type game where the game was contested, tight and hard to score our forwards apart from Petracca struggled to impact the game until the last quarter. We had enough I50s last night and territory over the whole game to kick a winning score. That has been our issue now for 3 years. I can see that Goodwin and co. are trying to adapt and create different methods to create scoring opportunities. But overall our forward entries at times are still to often long bombs rather than using skills to hit up a free option inside 50. It’s a work in progress. The difference maker would be a reliable marking target I50 and some more efficient ball use going inside 50. Out of last nights game there are a few more concerns for me, we allowed Carlton to score 5 goals from Centre Clearance which used to be a strong part of our game. Another concern was the way that Carlton messed with our zone defence in the first quarter and were able to take 3 marks for goals. Their ability to take inside 50 marks in that period was the game difference in my opinion. Following that the game was an arm wrestle and we had to push Petracca forward to generate scores which moves him out of the midfield. We’d get some momentum but then Carlton would score out of the centre bounce again. The loss of Brayshaw is a big blow as he could cover many positions for us tactically. I may change my opinion if McAdam and Melksham can start making a difference for us in the forward line when they come in. At the moment we seem too reliant on our defence to win games for us.

Laurie should be pretty fresh, apparently he has a pretty big tank? Top 3 in the time trials at the club? He could be a decent option for this game after the 5 day break and potential tired legs in the midfield. Whether he is able to get his hands on the ball enough is the unknown. The other in is probably Bowey, I guess he comes in for Woey. In: Bowey Out: Billings Sub: Woey I wouldn’t be against Laurie as the sub and giving Woey some more minutes on the wing or through midfield. Laurie is more a like for like replacement for Billings however. The same applies for Bowey replacing Woey in the current lineup.

Yes this is something that is not really being talked about much amongst the media up until now. The team has really evolved a lot since the 2021 GF win, it’s not the same side and we have had to reinvent ourselves in many different ways. We’ve lost a lot of experience and talent from that team, we’ve also had positional changes. But the nucleus of the most important players are arguably still there in Max, Trac, Oliver, Viney and May. We’ve been forced to change the way we play, but also throw the magnets around a bit due to injury, age, retirements etc. To be 5 wins and 2 losses while getting games into the younger players is a good achievement. If they can tidy up their disposal efficiency a bit more then I’d say we are probably still a top 4 side. Let’s hope that as they play more together these sort of things gets ironed out a bit more and they make less mistakes in transition etc. Hopefully they get better as the year goes on.

AFL app is saying Windsor is injured. Not sure if it’s correct.

That may be the case but most of our errors have come from disposals that are under no pressure at all. Simple basics of the game.

What time do we find out when the AFL reserve will be opened up to GA and what bays do they usually allocate for GA on the night?

At Casey...

Ben Brown, Tholstrup, Windsor, McAdam and Fullarton will all be vying for best 22 spots based on current info. I'd say that is where there will be more dramatic improvement in our game rather than Jefferson, Laurie and Turner. Turner and Laurie really need to start pushing to become best 22, but the club aren't reliant on them at this stage to become best 22 for their to be improvement in our game, it's more of a bonus if it happens I'd say.

Great Interview, certainly gives us members and supporters more insight into our trade and list building strategy than the traditional media currently provides.