BLWNBA

Can't say with 100% confidence, but I think from memory Hibberd's last two contracts were both one year extensions.

The Viney extension off the back of a preliminary chat with North, was one of the greatest sh*t the bed moments the club has had over the past ten years. Of all of the extensions we've given, this one was the most unpalatable. Ideally, Viney shouldn't even be in the best 22 by end of year if we were on the ideal trajectory, IMO.

And he didn't mind the odd Joe the Goose either! His first goal for us against Richmond in 2017 was perfection and vintage Hibberd!

None of this is ground-breaking, but all the salient points are 100% valid. The continued use of the same mid set up is baffling. If we're 'rebuilding', why we aren't trying Windsor, Langford and and XL at CBAs? Hell, throw Tholstrup in there because God knows that HF role ain't working out! Until we get a few nuanced, skilful users in the side though along with a genuine forward target and another small forward, we're miles off though.

That is always true, but quite a few of our actions / inactions were critiqued at the time, either on this forum or in the media. Edit: I'd also add that you would think a professional sports side may have better foresight than what we exhibited.

Agree, there's systemic issues across multiple areas at the club that were completely plastered over by virtue of our previous win / loss records and top four finishes. Although the signs were definitely there at the time, none of our current demise is at all surprising. Many of our on-field issues should've been addressed at the end of 2022. Although some may say we sought to make changes, I think our list management decisions at the time were questionable if you look at them without any bias or in totality of the list / deficiencies.

Is this based on what you would do, or what you expect will happen? A mix of both? A few 'interesting' outs, IMO.

Was he on Harvey the week before too?

Perkins - It's a no from me, though there may be some interest in someone else at the Hanger. Age-wise he fits into the profile we need, but I just don't see how he's a tangible improvement on anyone in our 22. Probably could add depth, but then again would he just be another Laurie? In my opinion, while we are probably lacking a bit of depth in our midfield stocks, if we're going after a mid he needs to be a point of difference from our current stocks and capable of hitting targets with creative kicking, and also playing week-in, week-out. Lord - He's never really set the world on fire and I'm pretty torn on whether he would be another guy that just sits in the twos with average output, or if he can transform into a genuine player. Similar to Jefferson, I think Lord has shown moments of promise, but has just never really delivered and torn a game apart. Similar to most on this list, I'd be inclined to look at him - cost dependent. He's reportedly a player we were / are tracking, and I wouldn't be opposed to him getting a list spot, but I hardly think he'd transform our side and he'd be another speculative acquisition based on potential cf. deliverable output. Derksen - Yes from me. Has shown good form in the VFL, would likely come cheap. In terms of age and body he could stand up to the rigours of AFL. Not expecting him to be the big great white hope, but at worst he'd be another depth player - particularly if we move past playing Goodwin's favourites. Although I do still hold some level of hope that AJ can fulfil that role down forward. Ryan - kicked goals in 10/15 games he's played this including two returns of 3 goals, three returns of 2 goals, and singles in five games (also had a game where he kicked 0.4). He also has an ability to generate I50s and win clearances, which is something I do like for our forward arc. Outside of Pickett, he'd also probably be a player with genuine 'crumbability' and given we're almost devoid of any marking forward, this is something we sorely need. I'm still probably slightly agnostic on whether he's someone who would actually improve our list in a substantive way, but as it stands I'd probably give him and the stats the benefit of the doubt and say he would add some level of improvement to our forward line; of course, it would be totally dependent on his price and what we'd need to give up. I wouldn't want this to turn into McAdam MKII.

From memory, haven't we had interest in him previously? Potentially misspeaking but I seem to recall us being linked to him loosely over the past few years.

But he’s really good friends with the players.

The difference is, IMO, Jefferson has at least shown moments where I think “maybe, just maybe” there’s something. Tholstrup (once again, IMO) hasn’t even shown that.

@john delosa I think we need some more ‘thumbs down’ in this thread!

Ollie, I have not seen one sign in all your posts that you are able of critically analysing the club. You defend it more viscously and consistently than any Collingwood or Carlton or whoever supporter does. You are not a supporter at all, in fact you may have Stockholm syndrome. Please seek help.

Beyond embarrassing, but glad to see the real MFC showed up tonight.

Hogan departs Melbourne “While we are disappointed to lose the high-quality player that Jesse is, we respect this decision and his request for a trade,” Mahoney said. “Jesse has been through some significant personal trauma in the past 18 months, and he has close ties to family members, including his mother, brother and sister, back in Western Australia. “As a club, we understand that being closer to family in Perth is Jesse’s priority, and we appreciate the positive impact this can have on his wellbeing.” Since debuting against Gold Coast in round 1, 2015, the forward has played 71 matches, including 20 this past season.

You don’t think their trade and free agency intentions back what they say ‘publicly’?

There's no point in raising this fallacy or pointing out this inconsistency because it's largely the same people who drove home the notion that the acquisition of Houston would deliver us a flag and we needed players for the now - not draft picks, but now speak of the goal-posts being rightfully moved during what is a 'development' year. Honestly, the desire from the FD to actively recruit Houston speaks volumes of where they assessed this list was at.

This is a major hurdle and contributory factor, IMO. For whatever reason, we haven't drafted elite users and seemingly haven't placed a significant emphasis on this at the draft table (although Laurie was billed as one of the best kicks in his draft year, from memory - but he seemingly hasn't developed and his future likely isn't with us). Arguably, it's because as a football club we've built a game around contested possession, stoppage power and territory but the contemporary game has seemingly moved on from this being the primary focus of the current game. I can see XL being the most likely of the current crop to develop into this category, and potentially Langford, but we need to address because it is becoming a huge issue for us.

I'm on the fence about whether it happened or not, personally. Though I think it's far more likely to come down to how desperate we are to regenerate the list, as opposed to receiving a crazy offer. I think the trade and free agency period will be very interesting for us and probably dictate our position over the next few years, against the backdrop of the impending Tassie concessions. You'd think that with some of the reported interests we have in some other players in the league, something has to give if we're looking to seriously move our list.

Reading the bulk of this clearly indicates why NAPLAN results show that one in three children are not proficient in literacy...

Laugh reacting to this, not your actual post.

There is ZERO selection integrity. You can throw Laurie into the mix too (no, I don't think his future is at the MFC either), with the juxtaposition of Petty in the ones. I mentioned this the other day and was met with the usual laugh reacts and vomit reactions from the regulars. How ANYONE can argue there is selection integrity, is beyond me.

I actually agree partially with what you've said, it's definitely a rock and hard place and regarding the supporter base, a response was never going to please everyone. But were the results this year really that unexpected against the previous three seasons? I'm not really sure that they were/are.