JJJ

I posted a month or so ago that the top 8 will take 13-14 wins. I just had a go at the Predictor over lunch and I have GWS in 8th with 14 wins. Crazy. When you have West Coast, North and Richmond anchoring the bottom of the ladder the way they are, there’s plenty to beat up on. Then you throw in clubs that have [censored] the bed like Sydney, Carlton and us, you can see why it takes so many wins to qualify.

This is my point. You’ve done a better job than I did of putting it forward. We have been completely unrealistic about our list and gameplan. So much so that we have a stated aim of finals and for two consecutive seasons and won’t be close to them. My next question is; who on Demonland legitimately thinks we can be Premiership contenders in 2026? My answer is absolutely no chance. So, in my opinion, we either build toward the next one now or continue to slowly sink. Does Goodwin figure in that next Premiership? Can we inject enough talent and smarts into the list and footy department to do it while we still have Max? According to our own metrics, we’ve wasted 24 & 25 with Max.

Why is there not a thread on the bye? I am super looking forward to it.

That winning streak was massively overrated on DL. It was fun but the opposition played a large part in our success in that they were horribly out of form or just plain [censored].

I found Garry Lyon’s speech interesting at the Hall of Fame night. He mentioned Balmey as one of his favourite footy people and immediately proceeded to say that he wished he played for longer under Danners. A new voice is needed in my opinion. At the moment we could barely do worse and yet people defend Goodwin. Maybe Goodwin is the Balmey in this case and a new coach is Danners? With the way we’ve structured the list and TPP we clearly think we can compete. By that metric, the last 18 months have been an abject failure. With Goodwin still struggling to implement a winning game plan, who is to say next year will be any better?

If the footy review at the end of the season is genuine, there is no way Goodwin can survive. Players love him sure… but he can’t instruct them how to play winning football. It’s a pretty [censored] simple equation.

I went to a Premium Members function where Danners said that if Travis Johnstone had Longmuir’s application to training and preparation he would be the best player in the league. Danners was super [censored] off when Troy left.

All these posts and no mention of the great Troy Longmuir.

They’ve tried to find him a friend up forward but the issue with that is how quickly the ball was slingshotting out of our forward half due to lack of speed and pressure. With Fritsch, Melksham and Petty as your building blocks, you must complement them with as many hard running pressure types as possible. For mine, Petty is done. What you see is what you’ll get for the next 3-5 seasons. The injury seems to have really derailed his development curve as has the constant changes to his position by the coach. He is a poor body on body player, with poor agility whilst also having nothing to offer below the knees. He can take a good mark when given a run at it and is an ok field kick for his size.

Was at the game yesterday. Not sure how old he is but he is small!

I thought Lindsay may’ve taken the subs vest early. He looked knackered in the 2nd term. 1 more game to go and he can get a rest. Don’t like resting kids unless they are hopelessly out of form, which he isn’t.

So we agree then. Disco stays back. Excellent. Draft for talent, trade for need. There has to be some uncut diamond out there wanting a crack at senior footy. Without doing any research, you’d have to think GC, Brisbane or Freo would have some young key forwards that are looking at options.

Umpiring was at best, a debacle. Even a few neutrals nearby were completely confused by some of the decisions today. Trying to explain the rules to a non AFL follower today was not easy. I thought we did a lot right but failed again with our connection to the forward half. The same thing that we’ve struggled with for 3 years. What I also found disappointing at times was the safe, kick it long down the line type of play. We have zero swagger and dare. There were so many times that we could’ve tried a switch or gone shorter but opted for the good old fashioned down the line kick. The Collingwood players could see it unfolding. Re Turner, I appreciate our requirement for a key forward. We’ve needed one since Jesse was booted. We got BBB as a rental for a couple of seasons but nobody has really stepped forward. No pun intended. My question is, do we compromise Disco’s development as a key back when he could turn out as our Tom Stewart? Ask anyone involved with Geelong and they will tell you, outside of Selwood, Stewart has been the most important player down there. We’ve invested top 20 draft picks in forwards, let them play. Let’s see what we have and how to complement them come 2025 trade week. Prior to that, drop Petty. Bring in TMac to play forward as the younger guys will clearly need the support. Make Petty compete with May and Lever for a spot down back. In the next 4 games, we should prioritise system and experience. Play younger players in roles they might graduate to next year. Roll the dice and see if we can move the ball in a way that helps our forwards. 2025 is over. The sooner the coaches let go of finals aspirations the better.

Standard.

Is that an offical diagnosis of Donald’s mental capacity? I thought maybe dementia. Damn it! Just realised I can no longer travel to the US with the above on the interwebs.

TDS… I am almost afraid to google. Is it an acronym for our half back line? Trent (Rivers) Daniel (Turner) Steven (May)

The best ability is availability. Especially when you’re a mature age recruit who has already missed games due to suspension.

He only has to start on him and cut off his supply from stoppage. Our defensive schemes are designed to pick up players in transition

I would love them to release Windsor up the ground a bit. Viney to come in and perform a shutdown role on a Daicos?

We were dead in the water at 0-5. Dead. I’ve enjoyed the wins but at no stage did I feel we were a chance to make September. You have to bank winnable games if you’re serious about playing finals after the season we had in 24.

Petty is so poor at drawing the footy. It’s a hugely underrated part of being a forward. I’ve said it many times on here, he’s an excellent 3rd man up type pack marker. He was borderline elite at it in 2021. Teams realised this and took his run and made him more accountable. Now we are trying to turn him into a forward (again) as he has size and a massive catch radius. He shows little nous or craft but due to a complete lack of options, we persist. Not to mention his goal kicking and awful ruckwork. 🤮 As much as I hate to say this, as I love the fella, but maybe Petty needs to go back in place of Lever? Lever may need to reinvent himself. Not sure what to. A defensive forward? Any thought of moving Disco forward again should be a sackable offence. He’s a much better back man than forward. Disco is so good that he could help extend May’s career down there. Allowing May to take lesser forwards and zoning off. May’s voice and kicking are still required.

Bad kicking is bad football. So yes, the goal kicking played a major part of the loss. But we weren’t ‘on’ from the get go. It looked bad early on. Why were we not prepared and ready to go? If the players were ready for the style of game how come they didn’t respond? If it’s on the players as some suggest, then why did the Board and Footy Dept state finals were a pass mark for this group? None of this makes sense to me.

Not to speak for someone else but I think the overall head to head is irrelevant. Lyon got Goody cold today. The players weren’t up for it and we didn’t do much/anything to respond to Lyon’s plan. To look at the result as anything other than a spanking across the board is doing the Saints and their coaches a disservice.

The lack of pressure was just so incredibly frustrating to watch on TV. I had people at the ground messaging me how poorly we responded to StKilda’s setup. They were transitioning at speed and with little pressure from us. Every time the Saints got the ball at half back we looked out positioned already. I’m on record for thinking Goody isn’t the guy for us so no point beating that drum, BUT when is the last time we’ve being challenged like we were today and the coaches have changed something to help us win the game? Lyon had a plan and the Saints delivered.

So did our players apparently. We were not prepared to get in a fight today. No intensity. The last quarter was appalling.