Dee*ceiving

Loved big Cam. Should have played more games for Melbourne, particularly in that era. A big utility who could clunk a mark and hit a kick. Would be a great addition to our current team, playing forward and spelling Gawny in the ruck

Agree wholeheartedly. it's only be a few weeks but it feels like Brad's doing a very good job rebuilding trust among the supporter/membership base

I was there too. IIRC Ricciouto was sent forward in the last and it was he and a 50m+ bomb from Bryan Beinke (FFS), that sunk us. Neita oustanding that night & Robbo took some great marks but finished with 0.4, what might have been! The stats are incredible. We only had 220 disposals for the match, scoring 118 points. It's a completely different game now.

Wouldn't want the fact that Jackson left cloud our views on him. In my mind, we don't win the flag in 2021 without him. Max flagged late in the season 2022 to 2024 but was absolutely flying in 2021. This is not a fluke. I'd also suggest we win the flag in 2023 with Jackson in red and blue.

Joe Berry looks good, definitely a go-er with some footy IQ. A touch on the small side but tackled with strength and had enough leg in Q4 to slot a set shot from 45m...one for the shortlist.

Absolutely bizarre how they change rules on a dime. Grandfather what's there for a year or two then change. Amateur hour, again and again

Agree KC. The whole industry, including fans but most of all the media need to mature in this space. Clubs and players exploring options/kicking tyres is completely normal. It does not mean the current arrangement is untenable. I maintain if we introduce an ability to trade in contract players where and when the their current club wishes the whole competition will grow up. The league's participants are way to petulant for the size and wealth it presents as a whole.

A key forward like Carey lifts and straightens up a midfield

Could there be a mature age state player or delisted FA we've got pegged for that role? As it stands, there is no back up for May, Lever or TMac unless Petty, Turner or both return to the backline. Adams not shown near enough, I'd have thought, and Hore not really a like for like cover. Am I forgetting someone?

Also, the league/clubs/players should be insuring themselves suitably to minimise the financial risk of early retirement. Angus should continue to get paid whatever his contract was until it concludes, outside of any salary caps and not from MFC's bottom line because: His injury occurred in the field of play Was not borne of his own error The contact from the other involved party was avoidable and of severe and unneccesary force

The long term contracts are fine. Where the AFL is amateur hour is that clubs can't forcibly trade a player in a long term contract to a desitination of their choice but a player can hold their club to ransom by demanding a trade somewhere of their choosing.... and worse still the media actively support the players wishes as opposed to the club who is paying said player $50-$100k per month!

100 Couldn't find many bigger!

Great suggestion. These highlight packages can be misleading butI like what I see with Alix. Great hands, launches hard then seems to float through the air, and plays both ends of the ground. Lots of potential.

Of course Scotty Gullan has never lied, stretched the truth or drawn conclusions to get a spicy story out. Nor have any of his esteemed colleagues

Who else thought we'd struck gold after that first quarter?

Clubs courting in contract players has got hairs all over it. If a contracted player requests a trade the motion should be the club will seek to find a trade that meets or exceeds the players existing contract and satisfies the clubs on field objectives. Any other requests by a player, eg. state/team etc. should be considered 'nice to haves', nothing more. If a player wishes to get to a specific club, they can until they're OOC or do the work to ensure the preferred club can satisfy the club that you're contracted too and is paying you $25-$100k per month right now.

IMV, it's time we adopted a model closer to what's used in the US in terms of player movement. Much bigger names than Clayton Oliver & Christian Petracca have moved clubs over there. LeBron, Shaq, Shohei Ohtani...the fans hurt, lash out and pine for their lost stars but they move on and stick with their teams. To balance the power between clubs and players, clubs should be able to trade contracted players wherever they wish. Clauses to prevent/control this outcome are commonly included in long term contracts for the big stars. Implementing this will have players and agents thinking about this risk when penning longterm deals and stars won't be so quick to wantaway when contracted else a CP5 could find himself at GW$

What annoys me about the AFL and their nonsense, knee-jerk rule changes is that they have them take effect yesterday. If they carefully consider a rule change, socialise effectively and come to broad consensus that it makes sense, why not have it take effect in 2 or 3 years time so as the work put into academys and father/son or (eventually) mother/daughter planning that's in train isn't blown up in seconds. Amateur hour stuff!

Nowies, as in get Owieees in NOW-ieees or Owies? NO-wieees man!

you mean kicked 3 times as many goals?

Me too, a deep cut.

Our clearance numbers in a lot of games this year would suggest we could use another inside mid. Owies definitely hits the scoreboard but he is small and not super quick. Is he an upgrade on Billings/Spargo? Suspect yes...older than I thought though, 27

If things don't go well for us next year, does anyone think there's a chance Goody might walk away? Is it unreasonable to assume the club and the coach are mature enough to agree to an amicable split to avoid the trauma of sacking our only living premiership coach?

Agree, but prior to 21 we had salary cap space to attract big name players. Post 21 we have not because we needed to give the 21 premiership players long term high value contracts to retain then and because they deserved it. We had no coice but to play moneyball 22-24.

Re: the review of the process I agree entirely. The specific incident has already been litigated. The AFL and the invloved medical participants wouldn't appreciate the AFLPA dredging up findings that point to negligence, it would get very messy. It would make a lot of sense though if the focus is to develop an improved process/policy. Tracc's was severe but there have been many other instances in the last few years alone of players being sent back onto the field with broken ribs that lead to unknown internal injuries. Mason Cox only last year I think.