praha

Jesus... Stay safe!

I too have lost a bit of love for him now. But again it's not so much losing the player that bugs me. It's what it symbolises. We need to be beyond this sort of [censored] as a club.

Who were our line coaches in 2021?

I've said it here before but if any of Oliver, Petracca or Viney are traded I will cancel my membership. Not so much because they left but because of what led to it. This is such [censored] amateur hour. 1965. 1980s. 90s. 2000s. 2020s. Not even a flag can save us from being just the same old Melbourne.

West Coast loss.

Maybe it's just me but after reading the Peter Ryan article, it honestly seems to me like we have a classic case of too many high performers clashing heads. I've managed teams of 20+ people over more than a decade, if there is one constant it's that your best performers are also often your most disengaged and disillusioned, especially where there is internal clash with leadership and management styles. I learnt a lot during those moments and discovered that you either need to give those people an outlet to flay their arms about, or you ultimately need to help them move on. Wrapping their arms up and trying to silence them is the worst thing you can do. There is a really good example of this philosophy in Phil Jackson's book, he also touches on it in The Last Dance documentary, particularly in dealing with Michael Jordon's leadership style and Dennis Roman's *ahem* interests. There seems to be some conflict there between the top 10-20% of players and leaders, this is going to be a big test for Gawn and Viney, and certainly Goodwin.

The idea of a "rebuild" in the traditional sense is in my view flawed. You need to be in constant "build" mode ala Geelong, Sydney and even Hawthorn to an extent. You fail quickly and go all in to make your list better. Otherwise you risk bottoming out for too long like North and West Coast. Richmond is in for a world of pain. We have plugged holes with bandaid solutions, and the one long term solution to improve our list in Grundy we gave up on after 10 rounds despite us having played the best football we've played across two seasons during that period. In the span of 24 months we'll have lost Jackson, Grundy, Bedford, Brayshaw, Harmes, Jordon, Neal Bullen, and Hibberd. That's a combination of walk-up 22 and emergency depth. The depth we've replaced them with outside of Windsor just hasn't been sufficient. You win some and you lose some but we are on a one-way ticket to being perennial run-withs like Adelaide; plenty of talent but a dip in quality below your top 22 the size of the grand canyon. Goodwin can't afford to rebuild and I am sure he is aware of that. He wants to win now. They need to be far more aggressive but also patient. I still can't get over the Grundy fiasco. It's honestly making me question Gawn's place in our current predicament especially after Jordon Lewis' comments last night about certain players running their own agenda. None of it makes sense when you really think of it. Some here have an aneurysm whenever Grundy is brought up but I can't ignore the obvious alignment with just bizarre list and cultural abnormalities that persist. Now Houston doesn't want to come here. Who would the way we treated Grundy? And now ANB is leaving, plus your best player is disillusioned.... I'm sure players are lining up to come here... Goodwin and the football department need to start taking big risks now or he needs to step aside. And please stop bringing in plodders that can barely get a game at non-finals teams. If a player isn't best 22 at a bottom team then they shouldn't even be considered.

Well yes that's the point I was (probably) trying to make. I am battling daycare sick and piled with original codral so forgive my crypticness. If it's mistaken for hyperbole it's because it is. But I should be clearer in my hysteria.

Phew well that puts me at ease.

I don't disagree. I have two kids. Like I said i am sure his reason is genuine. I just can't escape the timing of it all.

He signed on for three more years in April 2023. He'd have known a baby was on the way. I know a lot can happen in a year and half, hell I was excited to start my new job in June 2023 and now I'm looking for the door. But he'd had ten years on the place prior to signing. Sorry but somethink stinks. I'm sure his reason is genuine but seems like a "may as well at this point" scenario.

Smith, Melksham and Brown aren't making us offensive gods. Our forward woes have been structural and gameplan for a while. We could bring in the best key forward and it wouldn't make a difference. Take a look at Carlton. Two key forwards and can barely score themselves. Voss and Goodwin don't coach all that differently. Give either list to Longmire or Scott (either of them) and they're probably the highest scoring team in the league.

We have a new head of our media department and ultimately a plan to grow the brand. Unfortunately no one wants to watch us. There is a reason why we aren't going all in on youth. We can't afford to get sloshed by 100 points on FTA. Seriously, it is crazy that both games were Saturday night prime time. Our media relations team is doing something right. pity it's probably had the opposite effect.

whilst still paying half of all of their salaries.

How do you think any club attracts high quality free agents? Like do you think players are attracted to Geelong's CBD? And do you think they just snap up prime real estate on the coast when they rock up to the open for inspection?

How the hell does an all-time club great "check out". How does it get to that? Like I am not giving him a pass at all here, but we're not being told something here. It reads to me like the club's collective EQ matches that of a potato. You then have the likes of Oliver, who goes off the rails and needs support. And the club's response is, "Shape up or ship out!". Oliver's 2022 season: 1. AFLCA Player of the Year 2. All Australian 3. Best and Fairest 4. ANZAC Eve medal 5. King's Birthday medal 6. Lou Richards medal The above isn't exclusive to 2022. Oliver's 2023 season: "His standards aren't up to it. He's on the trading block!" What the heck? Now Trac is saying he isn't happy with the club. Maybe Oliver isn't the problem here. Maybe in throwing Oliver to the wolves, it has divided the club. Which is ironic given some of the players we've brought in this past 24 month period.

We will come to regret trading Oliver if it happens. Even if he never gets back to his best, to turn our back on easily a top 10 maybe even top 5 Demon would be catastrophic. This isn't blood Treloar. Or Taranto. He's a 4x B&F winner. All Australian. An absolute champion of the club. My view as someone that has managed large teams of 20-somethings is that you have to really identify and understand the motivations of different personalities. He's still a kid at heart. They all are. What were we all doing in our 20s? It will be very hard for me to return if any of Viney Trac or Oliver leave.

The fall from grace comes after the flag. Hence the fall from the "grace". Also we didn't finish top 4. We finished 5th and 7th. And didn't win a final in that period. Geelong has missed finals twice in 17 seasons. Collingwood has played in 4 Prelims, two Grand Finals and won a flag in the last 6 seasons. On top of two Grand Finals and a flag at the start of last decade. Really is that the comparison you're making?

Last off season was almost exclusively about Melbourne. Much of the stuff reported on about the Bulldogs turned out to be true. They haven't done much since this moment. And they still might miss finals.

Make of this what you will but there is a lot of angst at the club at the moment. Lots of commercial and "coterie" frustration due to the club's performances. This stems from a brand of football that is unattractive and not bringing in fans to games. Additionally, ratings have been dismal for Melbourne games, which will likely see the club relegated to Foxtel next season. This is leaking out at the same time of murmurs about Viney and Petracca... very random criticisms of Pickett... ongoing talk about Oliver. There are media darlings that are planting stories to help ignite change internally. Where that change will be I don't know. But I am still dumbfounded that some here thought we would escape all of this after two straight finals exits, and the performance of the past 12 months. This is a colossal fall from grace that no other team has experienced this century. If we'd started the season like we ended it, we'd be bottom four. And we played our worst football before Trac was injured. Getting ready for a bumper off season.

Port, GWS, Carlton, Brisbane. Four games we lose through just dumb football. Like why are you hanging back defensively with 1 minute left? Push up! Put pressure on them. Anyway, good riddance this season. Let us never talk about it again.

Peak Billings snap on goal.

lol subbing JVR out.

Late season game against Sydney rings a bell. Similar vibes tonight. Had beaten them earlier in the season. Then got pumped.

night games against non-vic clubs just don't work for us.