Adam The God

I think we'd have to look at it, but I'd rather keep JVR and give him rhe second forward role with no Rick responsibility, play him next to LJ and Petty/Turner.

Is that Jesse Hogan trying to get LJ over the line? That'd be nice. Fritta Petty Chandler Kozzy Hogan LJ @george_on_the_outer gets his three tall forwards and we have some genuine goal scorers inside 50. We can dream.

I think you really went out on a limb. Well done. We'll expect some more inside gossip as it comes to light.

My view on this stuff is fans just have to get used to these big, long term contracts. From a list management perspective, nothing can ever be fully locked in unless player movement changes (which it won't). So this gives the club some assurance over the short to mid term. And if we never want to trade him, we could well hold him to contract ala Clarry and Trac. It does have some other flow on effects for us. 1) it stops the external noise that could become a distraction for the club. 2) it shows potential trade targets that we can keep our best players and that they want to stay here for the long haul. 3) it allows us to know exactly what we can do this year and next with our TPP heading into likely compromised drafts. It's clear to me that we still have the list to challenge for the flag (not this year necessarily, but next), but we do need to get creative and nail some trades and recruits to plug those holes on our list. Namely a tall forward, an x factor small forward and a different type of mid with zip and ball use to complement the new brigade. Signing Kozzy allows us to be more aggressive in the player market ASAP.

I think his salary will be too high if they're only covering 20%. We'd need them to cover upward of 50%+, I reckon.

His wage is the sticking point. Depends how much the Dogs would be willing to pay.

Sorry, this is @junk.

I think so too. We've been crying out for a gun KPF. Well, here's our shot.

Ah, my son is also called Bort!

I think it's a false hope unfortunately. He'd be brilliant.

I agree with you Steve in terms of midfield balance and Viney and Clarry in the same midfield. It's why I'd play Viney forward or as a tagger. And what happens if Jack retires early with concussion symptoms?

I don't think we necessarily need to choose between either or. These guys that have been programmed to play a certain way for so many seasons were never going to be able to change the way they played immediately. We are starting to see better decision making from Clarry and Trac. We're yet to see them and Viney play together recently, but for Clarry and Trac, they've shown positive strides over the last 8 weeks. Clarry's little dink kick out the front of the stoppage was genius. We smashed Collingwood in centre clearances and had a better inside 50 to score ratio than them. This is on our mids. Our forwards failed to convert the shots. If Trac and Clarry continue to improve over the course of season we'll need both of them to win contested footy for the duration of their contracts.

Would be a handy get.

LJ, JUH and some more bang, bang, bang in 2026.

Is he mates with Kozzy, Messenger? I thought he was mates with Clarry.

Steve said it would be announced this morning. What do you reckon of that @dazzledavey36 ?

I've got my son to love Max. I'm trying to get him to love another, so when Max retires he's got someone to love. Kozzy has been the obvious one. So if this deal goes through, I'll have a successor to Max.

Now we just need someone to cut up Simon Garlick saying "Get your mouth on our players", as per the Will Smith edit.

Me too mate. Thought he was second best on the ground, but I note he didn't get a single coaches vote. I had him as a damaging score chain player and a vital extractor on the day. But we all see it differently. I think Clarry can play much better mind you, but that's because for a while there he was the best player in the competition.

What absolute nonsense.

Playing at my old stomping ground, the Knights. Very good. Thanks for the insight mate.

#we'renotdeadyet

We have a few seats up the front here. A few more jumped off yesterday. In the last month, we've played the last 3 grand finalists and are 2-1. And that 1 was a single point defeat. We're not dead yet.

I agree. I think we can still make finals. It might just be you and I that think though, mate.

Fascinating. If I've understood this correctly, fitness can still be the major factor for the inaccuracies in key games and almost certainly a key factor in our inaccuracy this year. I also wonder how much psychology comes into it. Fritta has been up and down with accuracy, a player with a very solid technique. Even Melksham yesterday missing two he'd usually nail. Petty is totally a confidence player and can shoot the lights out (think that long bomb from way outside 50 against Freo) and then miss from everywhere. He needs an early goal. It comes back to psychology and I also wonder how much comes down to game style. Melbourne plays a far more brutal game style (given our best players are contested beasts) than Collingwood (whose best players are silky, evasive, fantastic users). So you've got not just physical exhaustion, you've got mental exhaustion, and after using your body as a battering ram to tackle, or win the ball, or bring the ball to ground versus 2 or 3 opponents, by the time you get the shots on goal, the lactic acid is such that you're more likely to miss. When we play our brutal contest game (like yesterday) we beat up teams around the ball like no other side in the comp. We generate more inside 50s than most sides. This, I think, goes some way to explaining this data.