Adam The God

He has shot Bambi before. The names Watts and Hogan come to mind. I think we'll see Viney and Trac playing more regularly forward and the midfield start to look more like Kozzy's. And if we don't, I doubt Goody will survive next year.

I think we need both. I hope both re-sign.

You reckon?

Except that's never been the case under Goody...

Interesting, as this goes against @Dannyz info from last week or the week before that Judd had re-signed. I'd trust Danny ahead of the HUN.

He definitely has forward potential too, but it's pretty clear he's going to become an excellent defender, if he isn't already.

Injury permitting, he looks like he could have 2-3 seasons left. I have 16 locks for our 22 next year and then I have 7-8 senior players with question marks over them. Trac, Clarry, Lever, May, Viney, Fritta, Salem and even Petty. List management at the end of '25 is huge. As is getting a top midfield coach (Cam Bruce?), maybe even a new forward coach and a new head of footy. Possibly too much change, but we'll see. We won't and shouldn't move on all of those senior players either, but surely 1, 2 or even 3 will go. This will also mean we need to get active in the FA market and recruiting at least 1, probably 2 first rounders in the so called weaker and conpromised draft. There's no reason we can't be playing finals in 2026 if we pull the right levers. As the commentators said today, kick straight the last 4 weeks and we'd have another 4 wins and be sitting on 9 wins. But as Goody said in his presser, obviously it's an outcome based industry and we have to start winning, however the really positive signs are the results against the really top teams in the comp. Brisbane, Collingwood, Hawthorn and Adelaide. We dominated all four teams at various stages. Should have won 2, possibly 3. We've been in all these games, but it's the consistency that we haven't been able to get. We can complain that I'm making excuses all we like, but there are genuine factors in seeing a shift in game style take place and get results. It is not unreasonable to think things can turn quickly in 2026.

Try Turner, Bowey, Langford, Lindsay and Kozzy. This is the next core.

I found his post presser today exciting. He was clear and urgent in wanting to pursue (as quickly as possible) the new game plan and meld the senior players with the new to get our next premiership side. He spoke specifically about Max, Viney and Trac all having plenty of time to win another premiership. The player he conspicuously left out was Clarry, and rightly so IMO.

Caleb will be a very good player. He showed plenty last year. Playing him at half back out of necessity has probably stunted his growth a bit, but he's also had injuries to deal with this year. He'll also have learnt a lot from playing in defence, which will be helpful on the wing or in the midfield in 2026 and beyond.

No, I'm relaying the Fox Sports article on ball movement. "In general, the quicker you go, the more likely you are to score - every team scores more moving the ball quicker." As I said in my previous post, it doesn't mean everything, but of 75% of the game is about ball movement now, and you've got Collingwood leading the league with slower ball movement and Brisbane winning the flag with the fastest ball movement last year, it doesn't say much else. With regards to our own play, it can mean we're getting it in quickly, but not making the right decision going inside. That's where expected score comes in and where we should have won more games if it weren't for poor accuracy.

Well, it does, the faster you move it, the faster you score. What it doesn't take care of is accuracy.

The idea that Kalani was ever playing anywhere but Melbourne was fanciful.

I don't like writing negatively about younger players. I think it's really harsh and not very sensible given most players take time to come on. Liable for egg on the face. That said, the highlighted bit above is why I think inevitably in another down season for the club as a whole, we are seeing Kolt scrutinised. Last year, the natural comparison to Kolt was Windsor, who had a terrific break out season. You could immediately tell Windsor would be a ten year wingman. We trusted his blue chipness so much that we moved him after one season into a really important half back role. Whether we should persist with that is for another post. This year, Kolt is compared with Lindsay and Langford, two guys that pretty much from their first full games have shown elite traits. Their impact at times has been significant too. This is why, fairly or unfairly, the spotlight is on Kolt. I don't see any elite traits, but this has to be tempered by the injury interruptions and other factors.

Champion Data have said it's the most important stat in footy. So it definitely carries some importance. But Daniel Hoyne has also said "there is no right or wrong, but it is all about the return that you are getting on the scoreboard from that method that you choose to implement". So despite that, last year's premiers Brisbane were the fastest team in the comp last year. Ball movement is about how quickly you move it from D50 to A50. So yes, it doesn't automatically mean goals but as this Fox Sports article notes (https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2025-speed-of-ball-statistic-explained-every-team-ranked-from-fastest-to-slowest-afl-ball-movement-stats-champion-data-numbers-latest-news/news-story/8e4894d20931117b3a3311bf98ba3a51), "in general, the quicker you go, the more likely you are to score - every team scores more moving the ball quicker". The important thing to note is "score" versus "kick goals". We don't have enough good finishers. Aside from Kozzy and Melksham, who can also be wildly inaccurate (see this season), we have too many mids and KPFs who cannot finish their work inside 50. It's not a game style or ball moment problem, it's an accuracy problem. It's why Fritta's inaccuracy this year been super costly, because we don't have enough solid kicks inside.

As @Jaded No More wrote in another thread, if I were CEO, I'd be getting the best suited head of footy above Goody I could. That would be my first move. That new head of footy has some huge decisions to make about list management, line coaches and even the senior coaching position. I'd also be calling up Monash and trying to eek put an MOU vis a vis a Caulfield partnership with their sports science school.

How many times have we talked about execution. That's been the constant theme for 8 or 9 years. I and others wanted Viney to play as a pressure forward in 2020 because his ball use was a killer in midfield. In 2021 I also lamented our goalkicking. I said if we didn't kick straight we wouldn't win the flag. We had an incredible finals series where we kicked mostly straight. The way you're framing these things is like no one has ever said them. Our ability to execute has constantly been a Demonland trope for as long as I can remember...

Where's the facepalm reaction when you need it? What twaddle.

Posters, myself included, talk about mental fatigue, but it's one of many factors, just as learning a new zonal system. I noted on AFL360 while I was in the pub that we're the number ball movement team in the competition. It's a marked shift in the way we play. IMV, not enough emphasis is placed on this shift in the way we're trying to play. This also explains teething issues, but I've outlined my position now on the rest of the season.

We've reverted game style and as we saw with 2019-2020, it can take time to click. Our zone last week was all over the place, for most of the game, which suggests we're having teething issuss with that. The wingers often get caught no man's land (ie Langford and Lindsay). No doubt you'll disagree, Picket.

And let's be honest, our admin and board is an utter shambles. But who stridently defends the guy that has overseen it all collapse in Brad Green? SWYL. I find the idea that you'd sack Goodwin after '23 ludicrous too. No other club would do this. If Brisbane had done this with Fagan after three straight sets exits (one with a huge home ground advantage), he wouldn't be a premiership coach. I'm in complete agreement that how we finish this season matters a lot to Goody's future. If we fall in a hole and win only 2 or 3 games, we need to look at change in 2026 irrespective of his remaining year. But if we see some further progress, he should coach out his contract, with finals the savour for him.

Some of this is fair, but your centrepiece of mental fatigue doesn't really hold given the amount of best 22 changes over the last 4 years. It's practically half the best 22, and it's the old players that are the ones butchering it and struggling to come to terms with the new way the team is trying to play. It's more likely, as you imply, a multitude of factors at play, which @binman has always stressed.

Dangerfield is a marginally better kick (per DE), but the big difference between the two players is Trac's TOG is quite a bit higher. In order to get more out of Trac, maybe we need to play him more in bursts like they do Dangerfield. I'd be trading Clarry before Trac though...

Bergman is a good player, but fancy him earning more (potentially) than Kozzy. Chalk and cheese IMV.

He was one of many parts that turned the ship.