praha

They look far too quick and get into space way better than we do. We are defending well generally but if we turn it over at half forward they almost always score.

Neither. In fact it's probably made me against sacking Goodwin and giving him the time to reboot and right the ship now.

Revealed on Fox Footy that if we pay him out before end of his deal (2026) then we have to pay 100% of his remaining salary. Could be anywhere between 1.5-2 million. This would be included in the cap spend for football department spend meaning we'd likely have to pay a luxury tax of 75 cents for every dollar over up to a million, which would be likely given we'd have to pay good coin to get a half decent coach in. Club heavily scrutinised because most coached only have a 3-6 month payout clause. Goodwin has a full contract payout clause. So basically... unless he resigns we'll be with him for a while. I couldn't see us justifying that payout unless they have a good coach lined up.

And of course I plan to catch the 12:50, I get to the platform at 12:49:50 and the doors are closing... the train leaves bang on at 12:50. What is this [censored] leaving on time to the millisecond? I'll miss the first 15 minutes now.

I swear I saw us shortened to $2.90 shortly after Goodwin's press conference. It's now at close to $4 following news of May.

Going with two Carlton supporters and a Collingwood supporter today. All very into their football and with great insight. I am genuinely very interested to see what they make of us.

Compared to what?

I am actually quite concerned for tomorrow. I am also starting to feel genuinely concerned for the wellbeing of the club. 10k members down vs this time last year. Small crowds. 0-5. No first round pick. I just can't see how Goodwin coaches his way out of this. Pert and Roffey already fell on their swords. Things come in threes. Goodwin just seems like the inevitable third. It's almost like we have to fully move on from the remnants of the Jackson/Roos era.

Man North plays dumb sometimes. Like why do they just keep jumping on the ball. They've been pinged like 5 times.

If anyone thinks we are even a remote chance of winning tomorrow or turning it around and winning more than a handful of games for the year, please turn on the football and check out how bad North can actually be. This team beat us by 10 goals and probably should have won by 100.

We had one 😏

I tipped Collingwood. Something NQR about Brisbane. They have been smashed in parts of games and wheels were bound to fall off. Collingwood is exceptionally well drilled. They just go go go and ALWAYS kick to space. Their players work so hard.

I didn't say we should dump them though. I said if he wanted to make a statement then those are the players to go. He has dumped Fritsch and JVR for one of two reasons: Form We're simply trying something different If it's the former, it doesn't address the issue of delivery or structure. We are still a tall forward down because even though we brought Turner back, we dumped him for Linsday. If the latter, then that suggests our issues lie in the forward line. Either way the same issue persists in that we are basically putting it all on the house that the issue isn't necessarily our gameplan: it's who we have in the forward line. I just don't subscribe to that.

Did we? Where?

Sacking forwards imo glosses over the issue. We win enough of the ball but simply aren't damaging enough with it in transition nor in delivering inside 50. If Goodwin really wanted to make a statement he'd have dumped Viney and Sparrow. Playing forward is literally the toughest gig on the field. Fritsch kicked like 50 goals with some of the worst delivery in the league each of the last two years. I still don't think we're addressing the primary problem here. We're going to see a slight spark from players looking to prove themselves but unless there is a fundamental shift (or improvement) in the gameplan, cycling through forwards won't make a difference. This might end up like the GWS game where with 6 debutants we put up a fight against a contender but gee the Tigers and Yzevare going to be licking their lips. This has made be super wary of Goodwin. And it suggests our forwards are the problem. If we don't improve our scoring then this could be another foot in the grave.

With McVee returning I would assume that sees Rivers return to the midfield and Salem being able to push up the ground more. Still missing Lever obviously and an underdone May... structurally we are struggling as well.

I like the way he has spoken this week in press conferences but I'm not confident. Not once in his time at Melbourne have we corrected major poor form mid-season. We've either been consistently poor, consistently mid, or consistently good. This is undoubtedly his biggest challenge as a coach. He doesn't have the benefit of inexperience on his side as he did in 2017 and 2019. I'd be very surprised if he changes that trend.

Nicholson would be a great choice for CEO tbf.

They just grilled our membership dropoff on Footy Classified apparently? Did anyone see it?

They're also 12 years old.

Some might find this weird but much like my comment about how tragedy always finds Melbourne because it doesn't have a home, the Bulldogs have that underdog "woe is me" mentally drilled into the walls at Whitten Oval. They just aren't meant to be perennial contenders. I'm probably too idealistic but I genuinely think it plays a role. He got them to two Grand Finals, AND a flag from 7th against a very good Sydney team. He also got close to a second flag from outside the top 4 (close as in, made it to within a quarter and a half...).

There is a reason why Adelaide and Hawthorn won't truly contend- they can be scored heavily against too easily. It won't hold up in finals. But even if we go back to those fundamentals as you say, we are still horrid moving the ball forward. It wasn't just inaccuracy that killed us in 2023. We went forward against the Pies about 60 times and kept kicking it down Sidebottom's throat. The same issue persists. We can defend like superstars. It won't make a difference.

Jungle drums....

People might think I'm crazy but this all stems from lacking a true home of belonging. Do players feel at home in Casey? At AAMI Park? Your work is your home away from home. It's been an issue since Barrassi was playing. And we'll always end up in this cycle until we have a true home. It's a daunting task for any prospective CEO. And even tougher for a coach when he is trying to get his players "into the club". Pies players "hang out" at Olympic Park. Our players hang out on the golf course.

The most damning thing for Goodwin at the moment is that the review conducted at the end of last season clearly articulated that the broad expectation was that the List was good enough to not just play finals but to contend. This tightens the screws significantly on Goodwin. Once the CEO is brought in I suspect that review will be scrutinised and in effect, Goodwin and co. Unless we somehow work our way back to at least close to finals, I can't see how Goodwin coaches next year.