Nasher

I wonder how many said this about James Harmes or Alex Neale-Bullen. Players can develop.

And you had to update it *yourself*? How could anyone live like that?! Nah, we had these when I was in primary school (90s). I remember once in 1995 we were doing a random quiz and the teacher asked which team was at the bottom of the AFL ladder. I put my hand up and confidently answered, “St Kilda”. “Someone check the ladder please.” “It’s Fitzroy”, said some snotty nosed brat. The two teams at that point had spent the whole season jockeying for the spoon and it had been Fitzroy the previous week. Whatever cretin was responsible for keeping it up to date had failed in their crucial duties. I was ropable and refused to look at one of those ever again.

The only downside I can think of is the captaincy may make Goodwin and co more reluctant to drop him than they otherwise might be when it gets to that point, but given Jones’ finish in the B&F, that point is probably further away than many think. That’s just me trying to come up with a counter-argument; I agree with your post.

You know there is officially nothing proper left to worry about when people start worrying Goodwin might leave for more money.

Even if Kolodjashnij turns out to be Viv Michie reincarnated, so what? The risk is super low but for the reasons outlined by ProDee above, the potential upside is enormous. The only thing at stake is the emotional well-being of fans who can’t cope with their own disappointment. I’m prepared to back him in; I think he will prove to be a great pick-up. If I’m wrong, oh well. This is sweating the small stuff.

This guy sounds like he’s on a one way trip to a mental breakdown to me, but that’s 100% rank amateur psychology for me. He’ll have no trouble adjusting to the professional demands of AFL footy, but he’s going to be culturally different to most footy players. Who knows what effect that will have - he may end up a social outcast or he may be able to positively influence it, or it might not have any effect at all. I don’t feel like any of us are in a position to tell how his fastidiousness will translate in to an AFL career, so I can’t conclude “steer clear!” or “get him!” like so many of you seem confident to do. It’ll be interesting to watch play out all the same.

The AFL is a governing body of a sport. It’s objective must be to do whatever is in the best long term interests of maintaining the health of the sport. Sustainable profit is a part of that, but it’s not all of it. I’d go as far to say if the AFL’s profit margin grows too large, it’s indicative that they are underspending on the game. Pointing to the fact that they have an ABN and report profit and loss is just silly - they’re an organisation with an enormous turnover; this level of governance is required by law. To say the AFL’s objective is profit is a bit like saying the federal government’s primary objective is to run a huge surplus every budget. It’s clearly not.

At risk of sounding like an old fart, it hadn’t occurred to me that there would be adults on Demonland still young enough for Colin Sylvia to have been included in their idols growing up set. His era feels too recent as the years fly by. It adds another dimension to the club’s collective grief that I hadn’t considered. Condolences to yourself and others out there in that boat.

When did you start using the Aimoo forum software? That site is still around believe it or not.

I reckon the challenge is how do you develop another ruck without interfering with the development of your existing rucks? If Preuss ends up in the VFL a bit, if Bradtke is also in the side, another ruckman is only going to get slim pickings as far as actual ruck time goes. Whether we take another ruckman depends on our view about whether Preuss will mainly play for Melbourne or Casey, which is highly speculative at this point. If Preuss plays VFL but we take another ruck, we end up crowding Casey with developing rucks. If Preuss plays AFL and we didn’t take another ruck, Casey only has one ruck and it’s a development opportunity lost. Tricky call.

You could also just set fire to it; at least there’s a much lower chance of it ending up in the hands of crooks.

There are murmurings that there might be an exchange of picks on the horizon, but I think it's more likely just what's happened is the end of it and there's nothing more to come. I thought the whole thing sounded bizarre to start with as I thought he was one of their better players, so I was expecting to hear outrage from the (few) GCS fans, or their administration, or whatever, but it seems they are happy enough to let him go. More to it than meets the eye I think.

Fitzroy in 1964 were the last team to go through a whole season winless, and before that it was Hawthorn in 1950. As we know all too well, there have been some terribly awful teams in that time, but even Fitzroy in 1996 won a game while in their death throes. There will always be awful teams, but the AFL as a competition is still even enough that they only have to play out of their skins once, or have some bunch of hacks coast and drop their game, and the awful teams will get their one win at least. It won't happen. Have fun flushing your $100 down the toilet lads!

Yay! I think. My experience there in 2017 was the pits. Seats where my kids literally could not see anything, food lines 100+ deep, and the MFC played like arse. Walked out of there irritated, hungry and miserable. Shame North Hobart oval isn’t up to scratch as an AFL venue. Have never been a massive fan of Bellerive, partly because when I was a kid in to local footy, it was the home of the mortal enemy.

Two players named Ciaran in one draft? Did they not know which was which so just took both?

This stings. We all have our views on players. We like to argue and get heated over it. Sometimes we’re bloody harsh about it too - we’re passionate football fans after all. That all goes out the window and seems so petty when this happens. All I see is a bloke I can identify, who is about my age, who has had his time cut terribly short. The idea that in your 30s your best years could be behind you and what lies ahead is absolutely nothing is sobering. I recently dealt with the death of a mate and the impact it had on his family is indescribable. The football world can offer an enormous support network; I hope Colin’s family has access to it. They are going to need all they can get. I am gutted for them. Vale Colin.

Nope.

Our position is we don’t close threads just because someone thinks we’ve finished talking about a topic. Closure is only for if the thread needs to be shut down in order to maintain the code of conduct or protect the site.

How many Jake Spencers (Js) though?

The club may take the view that it’s a waste of time trying. I’d be inclined to think if he still couldn’t manage it despite Scott clearly being frustrated by it and his career being at risk as a result, there’s a chance he just doesn’t have it in him. Like you it perplexes me how it can be possible to not be able develop that aspect to a player’s game in the AFL environment, but it would seem that it is.

Great idea. Give a guest who is giving up his time to the fans for free a grilling as if you’re frigging A Current Affair. If you want the podcast to be unable to attract guests in the future, this would be a good place to start. This is a good opportunity to get him to clarify things that aren’t clear or explain the process in making the decisions, but levelling the questions as accusations from an ignorant position would just make us look like morons.

Oh wow, nice get. Lots of topics you could ask Josh about: 1) how he made the transition from coach (Bailey brought him here as an assistant) to administrator - I recall him saying at one stage he didn’t enjoy coaching as he thought he would or words to that effect. 2) A bit of his time as a player. He was a battler/journeyman type as a player. 3) Some general background on what happens in trade week - are some clubs as hard to deal with as they seem and can that be an obstruction to getting deals done? 4) some specifics from this trade week - did the club have a view that Jesse going was inevitable eventually? How long had we been courting May?

It’s unheard of, really. He averages just under 10 games a season, so he’s been afforded a slack that very few players would have had. Hopefully things finally come together for him. Fair to say I’m not optimistic, but best of luck to him.

Cheap player in = reject from another club, must be fatally flawed Cheap player out = Mahoney blinked and let the MFC get bent over Stock standard goal post moving from those that aren’t happy unless they’re unhappy.

Agreed. I think my opinion settled on him when watching a rare televised Casey game last year where he kicked a bag of 7. He’d already shown his cleanly use of the ball in the seniors, but this game showed aerial dominance which hadn’t been evident until then. I’ve thought since then that as long as he has the appetite for hard work, for us it’s just sit back and patiently wait until he fills out and gains the confidence that comes with it. I understand why some want to see it to believe it; we’ve all been disappointed before, but sometimes I think people should just look at what’s right in front of them. Some people used Weideman’s name in the same sentence as Lucas Cook. That’s a position I didn’t understand even at the time and looks beyond stupid now.