Dee*ceiving

Obviously highly unlikely but Smith would be ideal for us. Has pace and we've got a spot for him on the inside if he really wants it (not sure why one would though? I wouldn't count out the Pies in a two horse race with anyone for a signature, even the Cats (sadly). Cotton on can become Nike pretty quickly I suspect and there's plenty of real estate in Melbourne too

Gonna need to find some blokes with pace I reckon. None of Silvagni, Martin & Parrish will help in this space. Don't mind the idea of Marhsall but we couldn't make Gawn/Grundy work, Marshall is a different player but I have low confidence this FD could come up with more than one plan. If the first doesn't work it will be discarded like a four n' twenty wrapper

Clarry is an absolute champion of the club. Unfortunately we haven't had as many as most other clubs over the last 40 years. He is not the first champion player to have a form slump following injury, personal challenges or other matters. Plenty of them have and from my recollection those that were 27/28 all or at least most got back to their best form. Clarry is will be back, it might not be this year but does that really matter. The goal from here should be to get the team fit, confident in a game plan and aligned/unified ready for preseason 2025.

That's the part that annoys me as well. Why the wholesale change? As a close observer I would agree we've vastly overcorrected. Not sure how intentional it was, but it's happened. Then the 3 contested bulls in the middle have presented a range of other challenges to our midfield effectiveness Tracc, needed up forward then mauled by a Collingwood player Clarrie, no preseason, hand injury & potentially mental health/behavioural concerns Viney, seemingly carrying injuries since Rd 4 or 5

Sparrow's best game for some time IMO, but agree not to level he ahs been previously (has plenty of mates you could say that about). Windsor looks tired to me. Needs a week off

That 70m penalty was absolutely bizarro. Shouldn't have been paid in the first place then raced forward from just beyond the D50 to the F50! WTF?

Good questions Why. Re: the first one I think the why is known, we were getting to finals and falling just short despite winning contest and I50s etc. The theory was our method to winning those things was causing fatigue and resulting in many of our I50 entries being poor, into a congested forward line etc. This was resulting in lower score conversions, eg, more rebound 50s for the opposition and difficult shots at goal taken by fatigued players. It's time to accept that the gameplan change isn't working and move to improve it. I think we've been hamstrung by the salaray cap the last couple of years. We got in who we could. Losing LJ was a big blow and taking the gamble on Grundy only to give up at Rd 17 a horrific own goal. Hunter was actually pretty good in 22/23 (though i agree he can't kick over a jam tin)

Seems odd. Not sure how it relates to our chances on the field though?

We've gambled on players form, fitness and positions all season. Sadly a lot of those gambles have failed. Begs the question have we been gambling more this season, possibly out of desperation? Or have we gambled similarly in the previous 2-3 seasons but had more of those gambles deliver a positive return?

I would agree in that we haven't heard boo from Roffey or Pert

Ridiculous assessment of the analyis djr...but each to their own FYI it took me 10 minutes

The failure of the FD to make Gawn/Grundy work was astonishingly poor. They had one plan! One! It's a 23 game season, why was it necessary for them to both picked every week? Could we not have planned for them both to play ~16 games? Hence 7 games where only one of them plays? Could we not have been smart enough, injuries permitting, to make sure these games are against teams that play two ruckmen? Could we not have used this flexibility to avoid Max travelling interstate 8+ times a season? Could we not have subbed one of the two off occassionaly if it wasn't working mid game? Max didn't hit the scorebard for a run of 4 games, in June... R13 defeated Collingwood 66-62 (BG: 13 disposals, 5 marks, 26 HOs 1g1b; MG 15 disposals, 6 marks 17 HOs) R15 lost to Geelong 63-78 (BG: 13 disposals, 5 marks, 19 HOs; MG 15 disposals, 1 marks 23 HOs;) R16 lost to Giants 45-47 (BG: 15 disposals, 3 marks, 16 HOs, 1g0b; MG 20 disposals, 2 marks 17 HOs;) R17 defeated Saints 79-58 (BG: 13 disposals, 3 marks, 17 HOs; MG 16 disposals, 6 marks 21 HOs;) After neither of them were able to hit the scoreboard, in the middle of winter. During a period where our highest conceded score was 78, we went 2Ws & 2Ls vs 4 teams that played finals where one game was played in a hurricane we completely abandoned the concept. Brodie was sent to the VFL until R22 a 56-60 loss to the Blues in the wet! Please! This was a balls up of epic proportions. Had we played one ruck v Giants and one v Blues we probably win both those games. Why on earth did we pick Max, Brown and Grundy to play the Giants, in a Hurrican in Alice??? Max should have been rested that game and come in cherry ripe v the Blues. Many of us raised these questions at the time and we were 100% right! I am a big SG supporter, have been all along but not being able to at least try another tact or two is utterly pathetic and now we've gifted the Swans exactly what they needed to jump from 6-8 to no. 1.

Maynard's initial intention was to smother. His second intention include zero compassion for an opponent

Sadly not one person held him to any account or even bother to challenge the broad narrative that it was a footy act. I have no doubt that if not Collingwood and/or during finals he'd have been suspended. From that vision it can only be one of two things. One, and at best, Maynard made himself into a missile and acted cowardly by by only protecting himself with no regard for Gus Two, and at worst, Maynard deliberately took the opportunity to maim his opponent, someone in a helmet with a history of concussion and one of the oppositions best players in the first qtr of a final.

We'll have cash this year, first time in a while though we did have enough to get Grundy last year. I think that would be a win for us even though I feel Clarrie could still get back to his best. When you add in his long term contract and recent issues it could solve a problem. Not sure why North would want to do that though. If resolved to losing LDU I'd think they are better off taking the FA compensation to the draft. Also not impossible he stays. They have a some good young players and managed to sign Larkey longterm. At 25 it wouldn't be a terrible idea for him to stick with the Roos

The psychology is being underestimated I feel. Off the back of 2020 and through to mid 2022 Goodwin & Gawn (and others) managed to galvanise the group. To play for the jumper, give it everything, back eachother, respect the game and appreciate the fans. It stuck fat for ~18 months, then took some body blows but hung in for 12 more months. I feel now it's been irreparably damaged. Goody looks & sounds exhausted to me. He's taken body blow after body blow for 2 straight years and tried manfully to hold his head high but the bludgeoning has been immense. On top of that club has kicked a number of own goals that just heaped on more pressure. A tired leader is not a good motivator

Not advocating for that exactly but I do feel we have become too nice. We let a lot of things slide by because that's how Max is and it's how Goody wants us to play but I feel it's gone to far now. We are being bullied. We need to get angrier and stand up for ourselves. It doesn't mean smashing peoples heads or breaking ribs, just be harder! I agree we should have known better than to send him back out...BUT It's so pathetic that a journalist feels the need to applaud Collingwood for not worsening an injury they caused as if they applied some form of chivalry. Complete nonsense and unnecessary. Disgraceful bulltish!

I'm not sure we'd make it if we played north 10 times... Ok, joking somewhat...for now. I'll revisit in 10 days 😉

The wins from here would be... See what's on the list No more long-term injuries A top 5 draft pick Wooing a free agent or two Maybe uncover a helpful strategy or two

That's exactly what I'm saying mate. Seasons cooked. If anyone is unfit, physically or mentally, don't play them. If you can get them fit and back playing footy before next season, great. If not have them as good to go day 1 preseason as possible Agree. Personally I reckon the coach is exhausted. All coaches carry a big burden and Goody's has been bigger than anyone's for the last 2 years. Might be time for him to take a break from footy. Players will sense when the coach is tapped out. If he is I'd suggest a tapped out coach won't be much of a motivator

I'd agree with the poster above. Use the rest of the year to trial some kids, get blokes fit and prevent anyone we really need next year from being run into the ground, eg. Max & May. If Viney is injured, don't play him. If Clarrie isn't fit, get him bloody fit! I'd also suggest we go back to playing people in their proper positions. Get Langdon on the wing, Petty in the backline & Sparrow in the middle for starters. And start hunting for FAs...now

Brayshaw was definitely the glue. A selfless player and person. Wonderful leader.

Duh! Scrutiny of the Pies has been outlawed... What a class act! A superb human being. All the best Trac, love ya!

I am also of the view we won't play finals. Mentally shot, you can see it on the players faces and their efforts on the ground. Bullied by Collingwood twice in a row now, barely gave a yelp physically on Monday Completely gave up for the first time in years vs Fremantle Embarrased by the Eagles I wonder if we've underestimated the losses of Melksham and Hibberd to, in the sense of their leadership and harndess. Could probably add Harmes to that as well. We have no one that plays on the edge now, Viney is to banged up and we've done our best to coach it out of Pickett.

To be fair, we've had our share of coaching blunders recently. - Couldn't find a way to make Gawndy work, more appallingly giving up on it after ~10 games then gifting him to the Swans - Picking underdone players/players showing no form at VFL (Clarrie, Hunter, Petty, McAdam) - Not playing Langdon on the wing, going from 500m gained to ~100m gained per game - Not playing Sparrow in the centre with time up forward (has actually taken marks and kicked goals from 50m enough to suggest he might do it again) - Continually playing backmen in the forward line - Drastically changing the gameplan post Yze - Seeing Max get owned in the center v Sydney and again v Collingwood (no adjustments)