Adam The God

9 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

You would be giving Melksham and TMac another 12 months on todays Performance.

Lever is now a serious liability, Playing him in such a crucial position has to be looked at long and hard

💯

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.

6 minutes ago, Spargonicus said:

Total gun. Such a good decision maker, great positions and game awareness.

A JT gem, as is XL.

10 hours ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

You'd think Rivers by now would be playing in the midfield.

Serious problems if he's not playing a majority of midfield minutes next season.

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.

4 minutes ago, JJJ said:

Kentfield is intriguing. A tad undersized perhaps but good mobility and good hands. Mihocek is not a bad upside comp.

We are screaming out for a small forward with a bit of a skip to his step. Mentha is the only player playing tonight who shows glimpses.

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

3 minutes ago, Adam The God said:

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.

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.

Just now, Redleg said:

Wow!

He is a tagger.

Serong got 11 disposals on him instead of his usual 30 plus and Freo lost by a goal.

Hasn't missed a game for the Swans since he went their and was in their GF side.

I only mentioned him and Bedford to show that we trade players to give them more opportunities, in a post about Derksen and the giants doing the opposite.

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.

2 minutes ago, Billy said:

Yep if we don’t move with Goodwin, he will keep playing his washed up favourites in 2026 to the detriment of the long term development of younger players

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.

Just now, ijustwannaseeaflag said:

Moniz Wakefield will take his place. McVee isnt a shattering loss

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

25 minutes ago, Redleg said:

JJ says hello.

You reckon?

35 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

The problem with persisting with our current coaching and football department personnel (not anyone specifically - just generally), is we’ll see an exodus of quality I think.

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

12 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

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.

4 minutes ago, DubDee said:

And people want to move him fwd

He is having a fantastic season

mid season rookie pick. what a beauty!

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

1 minute ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Can you see Max playing past 2027? Even 2027 looks like a stretch.

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.

21 minutes ago, ElDiablo14 said:

Him and Bowey few of the highlights of our season.

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

8 minutes ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

I do wish Goodie would actually say something in his pressers instead of just sound bites and sweat nothings.

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.

1 hour ago, titan_uranus said:

No, it doesn’t tell you how much or often a side scores.

You can move it as quickly as you want but if your final kick is constantly a turnover, you’ll never score.

You are overlaying your own assumption that faster ball movement is conducive to higher scores, but the stat itself doesn’t say anything about scoring.

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.

14 hours ago, titan_uranus said:

It’s just speed. It says nothing at all about scoring, efficiency, winning, turning it over, anything. It is nothing but a measurement of speed.

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.

On 02/07/2025 at 10:55, Dr Don Duffy said:

There’s plenty of evidence about big injury breaks negatively impacting a player’s performance. Bowser last year is a case in point. Lever another one this year, but it is a recurring phenomenon with lots of other examples.

For that reason I’m not writing down the Kolt on the basis of form this year. Ditto Luker Kentfield for the same reason, and the FD obviously agrees, given the contract extension for him.

And agree with @rjay that this principle adds merit to Lindsay’s performance this season.

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.

28 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Id like to understand more about the ball movement measure. Of course we're going to be one of the quickest ball movement teams if we are just slamming the ball on the boot and kicking it as far forward as we can without trying to retain possession, hit up a target etc. It is related to our poor inside 50s, we just slam the ball on the boot and kick it on top of players heads or to packs. Perhaps we should be more considered with our ball movement and focus on retaining possession, kicking to teammates advantage and being in the best position to score goals instead of just moving it forward as quick as we can at all costs.

Being quick at ball movement doesn't mean we are a quick team, or even a good team.

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.