Adam The God

You're kidding right? Roffey went because of one interview? The less said about Pert's off field reign, the better.

I think there's a difference between the culture of the football team and the culture of the wider club. Our admin has been highly suspect, hence Roffey and Pert going.

💯

I reckon in that second quarter we saw glimpses of our future midfield. We had Clarry's hands back to his best again, releasing to Langford, Lindsay and Kozzy on the outside. We pushed Bison and XL up for a number of stoppages in the first half of the 2nd, and we really dominated. I loved it.

24 touches, 6th most on the ground, at 75% DE, 3 goal assists, 9 score involvements, and always in the right place to receive on the outside of the contest. Kid is a jet.

A JT gem, as is XL.

I don't think so. He gives us great bounce and offence from half back. He was a serious thrust as a half back in 2023 and IMV, became our barometre in terms of transition footy.

Luker is the same height as Mihocek. He has mongrel, attacks the contest, seems to know when to go, and is a nice kick.

I wrote this somewhere else the other day. With Turner tracking as an AA level defender (statistically speaking, he's already there this season), if Kentfield can solidify his spot in the 22 in 2026, JT has plucked two KPP beauties from mid season drafts. Turner's recruitment more than offsets whatever happens with Jefferson. But if Luker can make it, that will really solve some problems for us.

Kentfield is Mihocek 2.0, I reckon. Very excited by him. Loving Adams' development, Ricky has some nice moves, awareness and good crumbing ability, and Howes should be in the AFL team.

JJ was always a fringe played though. And now he only gets a game because he's a tagger. You can only keep so many when you're consistently top 4, and we were when JJ was here. As for Derksen, I agree with you.

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.