praha

Yes, we're all aware that people need to leave Melbourne to see sustained success. Nothing new there.

Yep shocking. This game doesn't even feel finals worthy.

Man I would love GC to win. I don't hate Brisbane as a whole as much as I do some of their players and honestly, either of these two winning the flag is better than any of Collingwood, Hawthorn or Geelong.

The pre-finals bye destroys all momentum but Hawthorn was always a legitimate chance irrespective of where they finished. They have one of the best defenses in the league. I think the third best. IMO it was always going to be between Hawks, Adelaide and Crows for the flag. I can totally see the Hawks absolutely pummelling the Cats next week on the turnover. Watch them absolutely tear about the corridor of the MCG.

We are shocked by it because we never saw such a sudden shift in momentum under Goodwin's tenure. It was either all going right or all going wrong. We always needed a pre-season to reboot. Collingwood in 2022 and then 2023 (they lost to West Coast early in 2022 and looked destined for bottom 4 before eventually making a Prelim - it turned overnight for them). Lions in 2024 after starting 0-3 and being like 3-9 at one point. Hawthorn as well after being 0-5. We looked destined for a similar run this year when we were 5-6 and had just smashed Sydney. Instead we went 2-10 to end the year and rightfully sacked the coach. While Hawthorn's shift has been sudden, it is not really surprising when you really consider the pedigree and football experience of Mitchell. He just oozes success. That killer instinct is so important. It gets you over the line in close games, and gets you belting anyone that even remotely buckles under pressure. As we saw tonight. I would fully expect Hawthorn to win next week.

Adelaide really staring down the barrel of doing a Melbourne.

I'm actually happy we didn't get Buckley. Seemed less likely by the day and with every article by Caroline Wilson, or by the AFL about Tassie. Timing seemed very peculiar. At least King has been recently active in coaching.

I think the one constant here is simply Geelong's player development. Tom Stewart - He was pick 40. We've gotten lucky with a few in this range. Stengle - He couldn't get a game in one of the strongest teams of the modern era in Richmond, and couldn't break into an Adelaide team who themselves had a number of strong small forwards. As for Martin we simply didn't have a spot for him at the end of last year. I don't think that when the club was signing and re-signing players in 2021 and 2022 that they could have possibly foreseen that checks notes Jack Martin would be available. The question here isn't what players Melbourne missed out on. But rather what they're doing with the players they are bringing in. You just know that if Billings and McAdam ended up at Geelong they'd be locked in their best 22 and playing AA-calibre football. I mean, no one was saying our Recruitment was poor even 12 months ago. We've had a really poor 12 months of football and now suddenly our list Management is being compared with the flag favourites lol give it a spell!

I know we have had trouble on field and in the lockroom but I would immediately be gutting the marketing and membership departments. To lose that amount only four years after a flag... that is just absolutely shocking. Really reminds me of 90s Melbourne, run like an amateur club that hasn't moved into the professional era. I imagine signing Buckley won't prompt a bump in membership but nothing short of a trip back to finals would help. We are at real risk of falling behind North next year.

-18% drop in 2 years. Shocking. That is embarrassing. Seven thousand fewer members than the Bulldogs, and the Saints, who have played in one finals series in a decade and have 1 flag.

Worpel to Geelong lol they're taking the [censored] at this point.

Gee The Age is campaigning hard for Buckley to go to Tassie. It's quite blatant.

My guess is that Prelim week is a marker for the general public but the club pretty goes on break after the GF so at least then the coach will be in and ready to go for when players return from leave.

Once again the AFL screws Melbourne!

Was always going to happen. Even with three Hawthorn footprint in Tassie, Collingwood has a HUGE support base there. Getting Buckley on was always a priority.

[censored] Freo as well. Their supporters are so weird. They have such a weird sense of self-worth. You'd think they were West Coast. Such an irrelevant club.

It's Freo. Their gameplan is entirely "bring the opposition down to our level and then hope our mid-tier forwards snag a couple out of their [censored] to get us over the line". It pisses me off seeing Jackson and Bolton wasting their careers there. They are a [censored] club.

I don't respect them at all. They are gifted tax payer money simply for the privilege of being in a voting belt held by the dominating party of the last half century. On top of that, all of the shenanigans they pull to get players there. It's blatantly shady. Players suddenly walking into large multimillion dollar properties. Partners suddenly in high paying jobs in the region. Players consistently taking far, FAR below their market value to a degree only seen there. Even Collingwood has their contract challenges. Somehow Geelong manages to re-sign stars on minimum wage. Yeah right! They've been doing it since the 90s and imo it really kicked into gear during the Thompson years. [censored] them.

Carlton 2022 Semi tops it in my view. Footy kind of died for me that night.

It's still Crows, Hawks or Pies for me. I reckon the Crows could get the Cats on the G.

I've never wanted a team that isn't Melbourne to win more than I want Brisbane to win tonight.

Weirdly probably the first time in my life I was barracking for Collingwood. Adelaide absolutely deserved that last night. After how their supporters carried on with the whole Rankine fiasco, and how cocky they have been all year, they were due for a belting. Loved seeing.

Both Cripps is missing but so is Gawn. How many Captains are in the list? (Serious question)

This is peak story manufacturing by Morris. How easy must it be to get a successful AFL journo career. If Buckley gets the job, Morris is right. If Buckley pulls out, Morris is right. If Buckley wants the job and doesn't get it, which is extremely unlikely, then Morris was right until he wasn't.

Pity no one at the club will be able to read them.