praha

I met Cripps once when he was doing promotion for a product I was doing PR on. He is a very nice and humble guy. Way too good to have wasted his career at Carlton. Carlton is a genuine chance to finish bottom this year.

The vibe in the city ahead of the Richmond v Carlton opener was unmatched. They've sucked the life out of opening round with... Opening Round™.

Something to consider with the Pickett deal: he is in year 6. Not signing him big meant he potentially walks and we get a compo pick. On a long term deal, dealing him means we hold the cards and get a more valuable return back. As we did with Petracca. Had Petracca walked after his last contract we would have ended up with pick 10 for him.

I will die on this hill: May's performance in that Semi is the best ever by a full back.

That is actually what is happening.

Gee, the club must be very confident about Caulfield.

The peninsula would be far more appealing to an inner-city kid though. There is way more "life". The peninsula is really just an extension of Melbourne now since they built Peninsula Link. The surf coast is borderline rural.

I get Brent Grgic vibes from him.

The redevelopment of Moonee Valley Racecourse must be playing a role here. No racing there for 12 months at least. If that wasn't happening right now I imagine MRC wouldn't have as much hesitancy towards the tunnel and impact to racing.

Yes Oxdee I too am bewildered at the lack of knowledge about the intricacies of infrastructure funding on a fan forum about footy...

My first and only game at Windy Hill. I remember we parked on Pascoe Vale Road and walked what felt like 20km for little old 5 year old me. I dont remenber the outcome of the match but I remember my dad and uncles going absolutely ballistic angry at one point. I think potentially that final kick. Anyway when we got back to the car my dad's Pajero had been broken into and his Aviator Raybans and pager were stolen lol

It seems difficult and complex in the context of how long it has been and for how long we've been talking aboit a "home" (decades). Everyone has gone through this. It doesn't make for big news bevause when Hawthorn, Essendon, Richmond, St Kilda, Footscray have gone through it they've already had homes. Footscray had to go to Mordor and back to get their redevelopment off the ground.

Two weeks of training? If we were in the season it would probably be 4 weeks but back training sooner.

*Sunday

8-10 wins. At least two Rising Star noms. An AA other than Gawn. Beating Collingwood, Geelong and Carlton.

This has always been our biggest problem. We don't have a social footprint. Clubs like the Bulldogs and Saints are "small" but they have community presence. We don't have a footprint in any specific region outside of claiming a "spiritual home" in the affluent inner-south east, political wastelands that are either Liberal strongholds or taken over by Independents. In a state like Victoria, that is a big issue. The Bulldogs have fantastic presence in the West, far greater than Essendon imo. We are competing for state money in areas that don't really demand it: politically or from a community perspective. Honestly as this point we should just redevelop Casey and make it a permanent home, increase presence along the Peninsula. Mt Martha and beyond is basically dominated by Demons supporters (except during Summer).

We were definitely a chance but we choked. Which is a dirty word here. We simply weren't polished or refined enough in our attack and we panicked often. Hawthorn of 2012-2015 and Geelong of the 2020s wins that game every time with that many entries. What separated us from the great teams was being able to perform on the biggest of big stages: finals at the MCG.

So we were close... 4 times in a row?

I mean, it's cheeky. But it's dumb. Daicos is a gun.

The issue was never really how Oliver "looked" though. He has been doing extensive self-care in his own time (physically, at least) since at least the end of 2022. We know this because he shared it often on social media. I was against getting rid of him right up until we did and I realised why the club feels the way they do about him. His behaviour and reaction post-trade hasn't been great towards a club he won 4 B&Fs and a flag at... but at the same time I empathise with him because who wouldn't feel bitter when you're pushed out the door of a place you're trying hard to be better in. As I mentioned earlier in the thread I fully expect him to start strongly and make a big difference initially at GWS, but I dont think it'll last long. If he ever does get back to his consistent best I reckon it won't be for at least another year or two. And let's be real about the interest. At his age, with his history (both storied and not-so-storied), the only teams that would be interested would be those that consider themselves in the window. Then remove those teams who dont need a player like Oliver. THEN remove those teams that aren't prepared to manage his behavioural issues. It was always going to be a small pool of interest but he was always going to find a home. If it wasn't going to be GWS another suitor would have popped up.

Voted the best game of the year. https://www.afl.com.au/news/1459803 Must admit, it must have been a great game to watch as a neutral if you stayed tuned.

Captain obvious. We're in rebuild mode. I wouldn't expect us to play finals until probably 2028.

You're not wrong but the cost to build a green rating-building is astronomical. But that's the societal expectation these days. And cost expectations are relative. The LA Clippers stadium cost 2 billion USD and it seats 18k. But it's the best fan experience in the country, probably in the world. So relative to construction costs for a modern stadium in Australia in 2025, 1 billion is actually reasonable... but that comes with an expectation of an exceptional fan and public experience. Marvel cost $850 million in 2024 dollars. And the stadium is pretty average. Excluding additional costs to upgrade and still the fan experience isn't great. The cost to build in Australia is just too high to get true value for money unless you go above and beyond.

He was the gazelle before he was the ox. 9 goals vs Sydney at the SCG in 1994 one of the single best performances I've ever seen from a Melbourne player. He was good in 1999 but the team had a shocking year. 1994 was easily his best year. If not for injuries to pretty much every single one of our best 22 at some point during the year we could well have gone all the way. We had the pieces everywhere.

The game changes and evolves in waves. It'll soon return to what it was 4-5 years ago, probably again in Oliver's career. It is always dictated by the best team. The best teams since 2021 have been fast chaotic scorers which ironically was how we played in 2016-2019. We set the standard in 2021 and much of 2022 with a hyper defensive team style that Richmond won flags off and set the standard for: scoring off your defensive line and at stoppages. Collingwood and Geelong flipped that with super quick transition that unsurprisingly teams like Melbourne couldn't keep up with. It'll take one team perfecting the defensive line against that type of attack to once again return to how it was at the start of the decade. We'll probably get there before the end of this. I fully anticipate Oliver to start strongly, fall off pace a bit, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is back in the top 10% of players by 2028-2029.