praha

Watch them get pumped next week and need to beat us to make top 4. We all know how that story goes. But if the roles were reversed...

You mean the rebuild that led to a GF and Prelim? Yes he never won a flag but got bloody close, coached in more finals appearances and never finished lower than 12th. We played in a Prelim and then finishing 17th. And backed up a flag with four straight losses at the MCG (never been done before) and two likely 14th placed finishes. On the flip side you have Goodwin who says we have a great culture and close to a flag in what would be a contract year. He was delusional.

Do you have more context here? Also I doubt he "threw him under the bus". He'd have likely been consulted by the board during the process.

Interesting article. In my view the board doesn't make the call about the list needing a revamp without doing its due diligence. Which suggests to me that either some leaders within the playing group, or some in the coaching group felt, or both, felt we were heading in the wrong direction. Interesting that Goodwin felt we would be contending again next year. Of course he would say that though: final year of his contract with no extension in sight. Which then begs ANOTHER question: had Goodwin presented to the board that we need a list revamp and rebuild, would he have been kept? Just fascinating that one of the triggers for his sacking was that he felt we'd be contending in 12 months. I think we have the pieces to play finals and should be playing finals. It just really does seem like a big delusion somewhere.

For anyone in the know, if Caulfield doesn't happen, what are our options?

You really want to go there? Comparing underperforming lists?

You missed my point. If North and Saints are struggling it is BAU for the league. It is not detrimental to the league and sport growth. Sydney can't afford to not be playing finals for as long as North and Saints have.

I like Longmire because imo coaching Sydney is the toughest gig in sport. The Swans are highly scrutinised internally at the AFL because they need to be playing finals to ensure the sport maintains a foothold in the state. There is a lot banking on their success. He did that for more than a decade and imv got Sydney playing good, feared footy for a sustained period. People criticise him because he lost 4 Grand Finals... but he got there. Do not understate how bloody hard it is to win Prelims... and to get there. He is definitely our man if we want to take this core back to contention quickly.

....a new coach? We deserve better than what we're witnessing.

2022 and 2023 seasons were pointless given we couldn't even get past the Semi in both seasons. There is a reason why no other team has lost in straight sets two years in a row from the top 4. Even Port has somehow managed to find its way to Prelims. You simply can't excuse that. No one is going to look back at the period and say, "well they were in the top 4 for a really long time." Who cares? We didn't even make a Prelim. Losing ANB and Brayshaw were the big losses, losing Harms hurt but I reckon losing Hibberd and Brown had a bigger impact than Harmes. BUT to say those losses would translate to being a bottom 6 team... it doesn't compute for me. At least I thought we'd be competing for top 8. Which we absolutely should be. Losing those players doesn't somehow translate to literally all of our top 10 players bar Gawn and Pickett being well below their best despite being under 30 and well in their prime. We have faced challenges but we are also grossly underperforming. The St Kilda loss was in my view symbolic of where we are truly at.

Sometimes I feel that having so many heavy corporate hitters amongst our fanbase is actually detrimental. Too many clashing personalities and self-interest. Almost every issue with this club can be traced back to the board level.

He cannot surely be that dense. He must have surely seen the writing on the wall after the Saints loss. There was no coming back from that.

Disgraceful isn't it. But it's common from the club and makes me think the club is trying to get on the "front foot" by going to the media first. In the comms/PR world there is a cohort who are obsessed with controlling the external narrative and they forget about the internal narrative. Players finding out after the public is absolutely disgraceful. Whether it's Melbourne or otherwise. BUT it might also be the boarding leaking.

I was genuinely of the belief they'd come to an agreement and he'd resign with a similar payout to what his contract stipulates. I am not comfortable with it being a sacking. He deserved better. But let's move on quickly. I would suspect they have eyes firmly on Longmire or Simpson. Buckley seems destined for Tassie.

And when you make Gold status (albeit after 20 years) you're guaranteed (in theory) a Prelim and GF ticket if your team is playing. When I became a Gold AFL Member in 2010 we were being hyped as the next Dynasty with a midfield of Scully, Grimes, Trengove, and Watts. 15 years on and I've never attended a Prelim or GF as a participating club member. Sad, innit?

Geelong has missed finals only 5 times this century and only twice since 2006. Their players are all absolutely adored by the umpires, they get an unprecedented amount of government funding for facilities, and they somehow manage to recruit and keep superstars at well below market value. I admire the footy they play consistently but there is something NQR about that club. Compare them to West Coast who dominated for decades and had a similar record and financial stability (up until recently).

I thought it was as good as win as expected against a very poor side but the first half was very poor. Third quarter and second half of the fourth were great though. I am genuinely curious and somewhat excited about the next three weeks. A bit scared about the Bulldogs but genuinely optimistic vs Hawks and Pies.

16k is actually not bad.

Disregard.

Predicting a 3.1 to 2.9 final quarter in favour of West Coast.

10 goal quarter. How bad are West Coast

Petty lucky. His positioning was shocking.

Eagles will surely go into the last quarter thinking they're a chance.

Well done, Jai. Now, sub him off.

Magic, Ryan and Kelly are all ready to absolutely explode and take this game over. You can smell it.