praha

his game against Carlton in the 94 finals was amazing.

good on him. I don't think he'll crack the side, might be given a chance, but I guess he was destined for SA anyway to play in the SANFL and Port thought it would be better to fill their cap with an establish guy of character and skill than a nobody. I suspect this is more of a coaching gig than anything.

jkh brings pressure which goody is big on.

sean charles Wonna

he was still a great player after that third recon. not a superstar like he was destined to be, but still very good. We've actually lacked that exist type of player since he retired.

"Dees supporters indifferent on team's draw" 'Fewer than half of Melbourne supporters believe their team has a good 2018 draw, with some claiming it's a 'financial disasters' while others bemoan the club's two sold home games in NT as reason for fewer MCG games and only one Friday night game." It would be factual regardless.

I wonder if crowds play a factor. Had we played our two NT games away or at the MCG, our home average goes beyond 40k, and our total average goes above 45k or whatever it was. I totally get the financial benefit but I have to question the long term affects of this deal. From a fixturing standpoint it's a nightmare because the AFL treats it as a home game, even though it really is an away game. We get fewer games at the MCG, never get a home game against Essendon, and potentially miss out on Friday night games year after year because our attendances take a hit, and you have the physical strain on a playing group that is obviously affected by playing in those conditions. I really can't wait until this deal is done with, UNLESS we can start playing consistently good football there and winning games either side of those matches. Our fixture is that little bit more gruelling because we're subjecting oueselves to playing in conditions that local NT teams don't even play in.

Our draw this year was tougher and we won 12 games. What pisses me off about this fixture is lack of prime time. Calculating matches against top 8 sides from the year before is pointless because anyone can bounce up and down. Teams that played Hawthorn twice in 2016 originally would have seen it as a negative but by round 6 it was a positive. Richmond was the opposite. Teams were happy to play Richmond twice in 2017 until they realised they were pretty good.

Our final game of the year and inability to make finals again has cost us.

I agree. Despite coming first in goal kicking accuracy, we should sack the goal kicking coach. While we're at it, we should demand Jack Watts back from Port, get back to the two draft picks we gave up for Leaver, and dump Lewis back on the Hawks and for them to return the packet of chips we gave them for his services.

What else are they supposed to do? Give him a reach around while he's walking out?

Maybe he could help us buy a flag.

"Lewis is a bust" I'm starting to really resent and feel embarrassed for our support base.

All these news posts now about Old Lady Barb calling up SEN, having a cry about Watts being traded and threatening to not renew her membership. Embarrassing.

I know I'm taking the [censored].

Well, he did make our 150 Heroes back in 2008. No Jakovich. But Hopgood made the cut

No Paul Hopgood?

What rubbish. Outright rubbish. Saying a player isn't up to standard, or is not playing consistently, or is not where the club thought he would be after 9 seasons (!!!!) is not disrespecting him. This is common place in the league and happens all the time during the season. Why can't it happen during the off-season? Is Watts really that precious that he can't be criticised? People asked Goodwin and co. why he was being shopped. They were honest. Let's take a look at this history of this kid. 1. He's drafted in as the messiah and is absolutely hounded and mismanaged as a result. 2. Part of arguably the club's worst ever period. 3. Given absolutely every chance to succeed and grow as a player, nurtured by Roos with positive reinforcement for three years (!!!). 4. Club changes, grows, evolves, gives players all the resources they need to succeed and improve as players. 5. At the start of the 2017 season, Watts is dropped ahead of pre-season games. Mahoney at the time: The club came out to bat for him -- AGAIN -- because he was hosting Skwosh events and taking party buses to Portsea Polo right in the business end of pre-season training. This is well-known and digging deep enough into Instagram and Twitter will bring about photos of this. That's not to say these players aren't allowed to party but there is a clear correlation between the sudden amplification of these images and him being dropped from pre-season games. 6. He is dropped after coming back from an injury, rumours of him not committing to rehab circulating. Again, a quick glance at Instagram show him having a "Sunny dayzz with my boyzz" in Byron Bay right in the midst of his time off for injury. 7. The club encourages him to explore his options, and STILL manages to find upside. It might be a backhanded compliment but it's essentially a "You're super talented, mate, but we're kind of over this [censored]". That was all that was said. It's about reasonable expectations of what's expected from a nine-year player with leadership aspirations. Stringer's issue was less about performance, more about his personal issues, which is why the club didn't come out swinging, because they know there's more to his training and performance issues. Watts decisions to get loaded on a weekday during pre-season, or go to Byron Bay for partyz wif da boyz mid-season while injured, is totally, 100%, unequivocally on him. We have spent the past 4-5 years trying to nurture and guide this kid after ruining the first 4 years of his career. What else can we possibly do? I really like Watts, I think we got unders for him, but if you take a moment to really consider this and look at this history, it is absolutely no surprise that he was moved on. He was in a comfort zone and may very well excel at Port. It was never going to happen at Melbourne.

Someone get Oliver on the phone!

We won't know that until this time next year. But why have a coaching team at all if we're not going to value their player insights? They've made it clear that he wasn't up to standards. That to me is enough. Imo we should have traded Watts in Roos' first year. He stuck with him because he saw such a massive rot. That's four years of positive reinforcement, and it still needs to be drilled home. People hate change especially if it's unpopular change. But the reaction from a cross section of the fan base is reflective of how the club was run for decades. Even during the Daniher years, we were reluctant to trade or even drop poor performing players. I remember Yze not performing for weeks on end, being ineffective, but still getting games because he was close to the games played record. Eventually it got to a point where the coaching team didn't have a choice. We haven't been this brutal in my time supporting the club. People feel emotional because of what the club has put him through, but we can't praise the club and cultural changes, and then turn a blind eye to players of Watts' calibre. Nothing against the bloke but gee, he's ten years into his career now. He shouldn't need to be reminded. The simplest way to look at it is we lost a talented and skilled player. The cost is the risk. I'm confident it's as loud and clear a message as the playing group needs. He wasn't the isolated caused of the problem, but he was a catalyst. A bit like Vickery at the Tigers. Does anyone not think moving him on is *part* of the reason we saw such a significant shift? Someone takes his spot and establishes new standards and expectations.

If anyone here follows the NBA, they'll know that the league is filled with a whole bunch of unfulfilled talent, and potential superstars who never put in the hard yards or excel beyond a certain point to strive for greatness. Carmelo Anthony is a great modern day example. New York is arguably a better team now that he's gone, despite getting not much in return and losing 30 points per game as a result. I didn't like what we got in return, but I still feel this is an instance where we are a better team when you consider the variables. We can now as a club move on from that era and focus on a new core group. There isn't a young player in the team that was *expect* to be great, who hasn't yet lived up to where we thought they'd be. Oliver as exceeded expectations. Petracca is on track. Hogan is a workhorse and competitive beast and we know he'll have his break out season. Guys like Kent are fringe players that we *hope* to get more from, but don't necessarily expect it. We expected it from Watts and never got it. It's always wait wait wait. We needed to move on. I have no doubt this team is bound for greatness. We need competitors. Relentless, uncompromising competitors. It took ANB three seasons to be more important to the team than Watts was at any point in his career. Hogan, Garlett, ANB, were carrying Watts in the forward line. We needed Watts to do the carrying. He couldn't. That's fine. We moved him on. Time to get over it.

So we trade out Watts because of his standards, then force Vince, renowned for his standards and relationships at the club, into retirement, and bring in Rockcliff, a guy who before this year was a renowned locker room cancer. Makes sense. Port had a great trade period, but they've brought in three guys who, despite all being extremely talented, are known for inconsistency. I think it's questionable that Port are now in flag contention.

Out: Daisy Wagner Watts In: Oliver Nev Hibberd

I think he means we either keep Watts and struggle with the cap, or trade him out and pay a fraction. Paying part of a traded player's salary is not uncommon.

"Goodwin cartel" I like it. Can we start calling him The Don?