Adam The God

Did you change your name to Demonland4276 literally after Max said what he said at the BnF?

PJ's speech. ?????

Your entire opinion is based around the assumption that Jesse is the one that drove this. I'm more open to the possibility that a few parties were/are involved. Freo with a tempting offer. Melbourne realising it could improve its list by trading him. Jesse taking that all in and deciding he'd be open to moving. He thinks on it some more and he realises that he'd prefer to go. I wouldn't begrudge him in that situation. So without knowing the full details...

I'm not actually that convinced by this argument. I have absolutely no inside knowledge, I don't know Jesse personally, but from the outside, it seems more complex than 'I've had a hard time, so I want to reset and go back to Perth'. But I could be wrong I guess.

Meh. There are plenty that haven't gone back too. Buddy never seemed to entertain a WA return for example. We just have to create a culture of success that sees that the majority of players we want to keep are re-signing. In the age of FA, no club will ever be entirely immune from shedding players they'd rather keep. FWIW, I reckon Farmer regrets leaving and Thompson never won a flag, so neither of them got (the ultimate) success with their moves home.

IMO this is slightly unfair. I think through 2016 at least he was a B+er, but I completely agree on the conundrum and that's basically what I was getting at. For me he was on the fringe for much of the year and because we had better players on the inside and at half back, the only place we could play him was on a wing. Taylor Duryea. Not sure I'm thinking shallowly at all when I'm acknowledging the difficulty of even leaving him out of the leadership group next year. I want to win a flag, so we should be making list decisions and MC decisions based on ensuring we field the strongest side from week to week. I also want to treat a loyal servant of the club fairly and respectfully. I'd keep him in the leadership group but I don't think he should be captain, because he won't be a walk up starter next year. Despite what Plugger says (:D) I do have an ability to see the player for what he is (we just simply disagree, Plugger) and that's, in his prime, a B+er, but we have improved our list so much and he's grown older and slower, and it's time to make a grown up call on him. As above, that must be handled delicately and intelligently.

I don't hate Jones. I just don't rate him higher than a B grader in his prime. If you take his body of work this year, it's pretty clear he's on the cusp of the 22. I think most would agree with that.

The Pies have lost out on May by the sounds of it.

Posturing. They're hardly going to say we'll do a fair deal. He is their captain. But at the end of the day, they'll take a first rounder. Whatever we can give them.

I'd have Tyson on par with Jones and that's probably being a little kind to Jones. If Jones wasn't captain and a loyal servant of the club he'd be a fringe player next year. As it is, I think the club has some tricky moves to make in regards to him. We certainly can't play Lewis, Jones and Tyson in the one team outside of the centre square. They're all simply too slow. But all are contracted for next year. But at least Tyson has age on his side. Despite the numbers going off the list this off season, I suspect we'd still do a deal on Tyson if we could get one.

You know what. It's not actually the worst idea from Carlton's perspective. Weitering for Tyson and Frost. @Ethan Tremblay what have you heard?

I'm somewhere between you and Dazzle. I accept that it takes all types and Jesse is the polar opposite of a Petracca. He's an introvert, rather than extrovert, but I also align with the 'feeling' that many seem to be expressing here. Yeah, it may seem like the easy thing to say now that he's going, but it is something many of us have either felt before or expressed on Demonland in one form or another over the journey. I don't wish Jesse any ill will, but I don't want any other team compromising my club's potential success. Where that sits, I don't know, but as long as we improve our list, it's potentially a win-win for all involved.

You're more than likely right.

And what happens if he does come back here and contributes to winning a premiership? I was initially against the idea but if our FD and our leadership team support the idea, I'd support the club. At the end of the day, the best thing for the club is winning premierships and if he can contribute, I'll put my previous hatred aside.

50,000-55,000 should be the goal next year. If we can win the flag in 2019 or 2020ish, we should be aiming for at least 10,000 more on the previous year and a few more three game memberships and we'd be a shot at 70,000 IMO.

Time to change all that superstitious rubbish; curses, numbers etc. Hopefully. ?

Wouldn't have thought I was bragging. But we certainly have more supporters and we apparently clearly could afford to bottom out... however many times we have. When I was growing up, Carey and his Roos were dominating the competition and either winning flags or going very close. They were the Friday Night Specialists. Yet, they never managed to convert this into memberships or supporter base. If we'd been in the same position during the 1990s and won flags, we'd be in a very different position membership-wise than we are now. In fact, if we win a flag in the next 2-3 years, I strongly believe we can reach 70,000 members. North could only dream of this.

They do this because even when they're in the finals they've got bugger-all support. They can't afford to bottom out and they know it. Ironically, it means they'll struggle to have the ultimate success as a result.

I reckon we realised that it was such a close year and next year is likely to be the same, with no absolute standout team. If we fix our obvious defensive deficiencies, we could win a flag as early as next year. So what currency do we have? Well, we have a talented KPF who has already presumably told us earlier in the year that he will not commit further than 2019 and with this, we saw an opportunity to strengthen our list with picks acquired from the trading of the talented KPF. We have been flagging this sort of thinking in the age of FA for a while now and I think we're biting the bullet irrespective of rule changes. Although, you may well be right and they have had some impact on the decision making. It would be irresponsible not to take these impending changes into account.

Where our advantage can be exploited is the inability to transition defensively. Oliver and Brayshaw are ordinary at this. If we're going to win a flag, our two-way-running must get a lot better and far more consistent.

Carlton are nowhere now, but this conversation isn't happening if Collingwood don't choke yesterday. How old is Kennedy now? At least 30. Where were all their other premierships? He did nothing against Hawthorn a few years back. I reckon it's clear they both got something out of it. Was Basil thinking this with 2 minutes to go yesterday or did he feel it two minutes later? I reckon it's a cheap and simplistic call to make, but then Basil is a pretty ordinary commentator.

Basil isn't exactly impartial though. Very Western Australian. I reckon West Coast did well out of it, but so did Carlton. They got the best player in the competition at the time. It's a win win.

I still can't believe Hardwick didn't send someone to Sidebottom last week. Ridiculous coaching.

To be fair, Tom is still a very ordinary defender. The only reason he turned a corner was we threw him forward. I think OMac has a higher ceiling than Tom in a defensive post simply because he's a better kick and decision maker. However, his strength and smartness are still issues. We'll see how he plays with another pre season. One thing's for sure though, if May comes, Frost and Oscar will be fighting for the one spot.

I agree, but I don't think it helps when your midfield goes missing (ie last week).