Nasher

Has anyone actually confirmed the reason, or are we all just calling Bartlett churlish based purely on speculation.

Yep. In addition, with the prospect of being involved in complex trades such as a Hogan one, Mahoney and Viney will want to spend precisely zero minutes on guff trades. They’ll turn up to the trade table with St Kilda with a pen ready to sign whatever is put in front of them, say “hey look everyone, we look after our players, even when they’re fringe players wanting to leave”, and get on with actual business.

You’re kidding. I’d take any reasonable offer. He’s not quite at “free to good home” level but not far off it for mine. A third rounder is probably around the mark. Given we’re moving on quite a few this year, I’d also consider any moderate risk mids they had on their list (ie classy but injured, or hasn’t quite come on), and whatever exchange of later picks; I don’t know what they have in stock though. I like him when he’s going: he’s tough and quick, but he’s so unreliable. He’s in the infirmary as often as he’s out of it and he is capable of being a total passenger when in the side. If the shoe was on the other foot, would you want to give away a second rounder?

If we receive a top 10 pick I’d say we wouldn’t take it to draft, it would be used in a package for another player.

I find myself far more ambivalent about this than I would have been three years ago. That said, we don’t need to delude ourselves in to thinking we don’t need him or he won’t be a loss; he will most definitely be a loss. But if it has to be, it has to be. Early in the rebuild, this would have been an enormous setback. Right now, we’ve got two other lesser but competent key forwards in TMac and Weid to mean we can still kick goals without him. We’ve got shrewd list managers who know how to get the job done in the trading department. There is an opportunity to use this situation to fast track development in other areas of the ground we are lacking, such as Tyson and Jones playing wing or going in to the VFL grand final without a ruckman. I still hope he doesn’t go, but if he must, we’re in as good a position to deal with it, and possibly even use it to our advantage, than we ever have been.

He’s been a good servant of the club over the years, and developed himself in to a handy player after an ordinary start under Neeld. He’s probably the type of player that perpetually needed a fire under him to keep him performing, but that’s okay, we’re all different. He was the ultimate spare parts player and would jokingly make reference to it whenever interviewed. His best effort was no doubt in 2017 when he single-handly had to carry us in the ruck when Max was injured through the middle of the season. This was a Herculean effort that shouldn’t be understated. He comes across as a team man - always seemed happy to share in others achievements that didn’t involve him, like grinning from ear to ear in the rooms after a win he didn’t play in, or his embrace of Harrison Petty in the video the club put after the Petty was told of his debut. In the latter case, Petty’s selection was ahead of Pedersen himself. Thanks for your services Cam and all the best.

WTF? Surgery on BOTH shoulders seem to indicate he is actually quite destructible.

Ever considered changing your username to dropkick? It would be more fitting.

Yes. I truly hate the telecast of the Brownlow. Can’t help myself though.

I’m amazed at how well you guys remember who played well in what games. I’ve got a pretty good memory but I reckon I’m doing alright when I can remember whether or not we won the game, let alone who played in it and if they went well. It shocks me every year.

When has anyone said we were guaranteed a prelim? We could get smashed by injuries next year and finish 14. Everyone with a brain is aware there are no guarantees. It doesn’t change the fact that our list profile is still heading in the right direction (towards peak), which maximises our *chances* of doing well. Chances being the operative word.

As others have said, the initial disappointment for me faded quickly. I was through the worst of it by the time I’d polished off my pulled beef and gravy roll when the third quarter started. I’m just excited now and miffed that I have to sit through another long off-season before next year. It’s a month shorter than normal this year though! Regarding leadership and culture change: Jack Viney is about as hard to listen to as any skipper I’ve seen, but his post match with Burgs is worth a go. To paraphrase he mentions that he’s proud of the effort and growth of the team, but that we absolutely have to take our chances when they arose. To me it’s the first sign I’ve seen that there’s more to his leadership than “leading by doing”. I truly think he gets it. This team to me has a track record of learning from its poor performances. It’s becoming cliche when Goodwin says you win or learn, but I think the team’s actions match. Bring on 2019.

I would have said TMac before the game but he was a strong contender for WOG yesterday. Definitely Viney for me though.

I’d say selecting Fritsch as a wing when he’s been playing his best footy off half back since Lever went down, in a cut throat prelim, also qualifies as trying to be clever. And all the discussion was around Fritsch vs Tyson - even Clint himself said in this thread he understood why Smith was picked. I thought it was obvious, rather than left field. Tossing that one in now is moving the goalposts. Anyway, it doesn’t matter now. I still reckon that with the level of pusitude we displayed, we could have picked Dorothy the Dinosaur and wouldn’t have been any better or worse off.

Yes, I get that. They even wear an MFC like jumper. That’s why I watched it too - I support the MFC and it’s players. Just saying it didn’t cut much, because I feel no connection with that club. I know others will feel differently, especially folks like drunkn who have a personal connection and others that go along and watch a lot, but for me it’s for interest only.

Disappointing for the boys who have been playing there all season that they couldn’t get across the line. Can’t say I feel too much personal connection to Casey myself though. It surprises me that some are behaving as if this is some extension of yesterday.

Seems weird watching a VFL game at a big stadium with a few people there.

That may be the case, but Fritsch not getting a touch with the way we were playing isn’t unimaginable either.

Remember a couple of years ago when St Kilda went past us? ? I agree with your analysis of the topic at hand.

The more I think about this, the more it makes me seethe. They’d have a handsome contract with the MCC anyway; they raise an absurd amount of money through this mechanism for a ballot that costs them near nothing to run, that half or more of the entrants end up ineligible to win anyway. I might write the ACCC a letter. Or more likely, just go to bed and wake up finding I no longer give a s*** about this silly matter ?

I want my $5 back! How's the cheek of charging $5 to go in the ballot by the way, and running it a week out, forcing 4 teams worth of supporters through the system? Ticketek probably made a cool $500,000 or so out of that little stunt.

You should know by now that on here, if you're not homocidal/suicidal over the result, it must mean you're happy with it.

Don't think "miss the mark with handballs, slip over, don't bother tackling, and kick the ball directly to Hurn or McGovern every time" are elements of the game plan. The game plan to me is this: Have Gawn tap it down a running mid's throat Failing that, contest the heck out of it If you don't win the ball, make sure the opponent's disposal is under as much heat as possible It's a game plan that stacks up - in fact, it's what West Coast just smacked us with today. We lost today because we didn't deliver the plan and the very good opposition did.

Well, that was a bitterly disappointing way to finish up. We were beaten comprehensively in pretty much every element of the game. Every single player got pantsed in that first half. People can rant and rave about individual insipid performances, and there were plenty of them, but like it takes a big team effort to win big games, the team collectively flopped on this occasion. It's not possible for every single player to be individually to blame. They beat us at our own game early and we couldn't recover. All the players get made to look much worse when that happens. It's exactly the same thing we were all laughing at Richmond about last night. Anyway I understand people's mode of grief is to blame Lewis or Jones or Goodwin or the the umpires or whoever. I'm perpetually frustrated at the way people become irrational and grossly exaggerate the magnitude of the problem after losses (and get told I don't care as much or I'm a happy clapper or whatever), but that's how people cope so fair enough. I'm gutted, but at the end of the day we've shown we can play a finals brand of footy in the previous two rounds, we didn't bring it today, and we therefore got given an education by the team that finished second on the ladder, and not by fluke. I hate ending the season this way but we got further than 14 other teams did, and we should absolutely build on that for next year. Chin up people. Bring on 2019.

I’m no Collingwood fan but I have to say I loved that. The Richmond fawning all year has been spew worthy. Seeing them trudge off was the best thing ever.