JJJ

I don’t think playing a meaningless round 24 game would dilute their hunger and appetite for putting in the hard yards. If it did we’d have other problems.

It’s really hard to understand why he was targeted. My mate in Adelaide told me he is a medium lead up forward. Given we have Fritsch in that role I was confused. When I saw him play for Casey I was shocked at his fitness levels and intensity. Then when he was selected to play with the big boys, I interpreted that as a desperate, ‘throw [censored] against the wall and see what sticks’ exercise. One of the many unusual decisions by Goodwin and the match committee to play a guy who had shown little in the VFL and looked undercooked.

It’s not a non story though. Oliver has mucked up. So have we. He legitimately wanted out. The journos were correct in that sense. What Morris may’ve finally figured out is that it’s almost impossible to trade him. Especially now that we’ve decided to not have a fire sale.

I like it. We are the pin cushion of the league, clubs and oppo supporters at the moment. Don’t mind a bit of push back!

I’ve mentored youth for free. I’ll chuck Clazza into the stable. If it keeps him happy and gets him back to 2021-2022 levels I’d pay to do it. I’ve met him a few times and I think he is a really good bloke. Very affable.

We want to take 3 picks inside the top 30 to the draft is what I was told. Which makes the Freo 1st round pick rumour more interesting. I am not sure TBH but I know senior leaders from the playing group think we will bounce back hard. It would be difficult to think that after the last month or so, we’d be confident that Trac will be 100% and that Oliver is back to his normal levels. Which we need to be Premiers.

In addition to that, remember when Richardson said the last thing we wanted to do was get younger? We were primed to add a 2x AA to what we thought was a list on the verge of a Premiership.

That’s not the case. We were prepared to make the trade. It didn’t have to be our 1st rounder, we were prepared to trade out players to get additional draft capital if required. We were still confident he was coming to us in the midst of our end of season slump.

We’ve done this before and managed to get back into the first round 12 months later. It’s safe to say, the club thinks this is a good draft to sink their teeth into.

I think Tim Lamb might have the worst job fronting up to the media. That was hard to watch when he paused on some questions.

If the Pies get Houston…. Phark!

I agree with you. But, what if Trac and Clazza came out early and stated their commitment to the club as soon as the rumours started? They didn’t. We looked stupid. The length of the two threads is reflective of our management and comms.

Nibbler will be missed for sure. Great leader. But I wonder how Adelaide intend on using him? Pick 28 in this draft is not to be sneezed with the talent still available. Good luck to him. His acceptance speech was second only to Brayshaw as far as the messaging went from Friday. Class.

There is also a difference between Petty wanting a trade and the 2 best players in the last 30 years wanting a trade in the same off season. (Just on Petty, his situation changed but he also tanked his value, Adelaide withdrew the offer and tried to low ball him) We should be happy that the club has settled on a course of action. What we shouldn’t be happy about is how we’ve had our logo used as a pin cushion by the media. Unfortunately it’s mostly self inflicted. Trac’s little adventure is well documented. We handled that situation like rank amateurs. Oliver’s situation is similar. We’ve had many opportunities to resolve this months ago but we’ve let things fester. I am happy for people to believe whatever they want in regards to whether it’s the media or player agents or inside sources but let’s all be honest and admit that a lot of these rumours and stories come from the players.

Lamb was pretty careful with his wording as to how we got into such a hot mess but he was definitive about where Oliver will be playing next season.

You’ll note I said trade prospects also….

And lost any appeal to free agents and trade prospects in the process. Genius.

Yep. I agree. Player agents generally are ok as leaking info can cut both ways but at this time of year, they’re pretty leaky. Some players do it under their own steam too. One of our own players did that this season. Offering info for the story which helped the player too. Happens at every club.

There are plenty of people working in the AFL landscape that just see it as a job, they are not passionate about the brand/club. Some of these people might feel a bit of a rush by telling a journo one or two things to start. Then it becomes something more permanent.

Like him or loathe him, Garry speaks the truth. Players like Oliver are very hard to find. From a talent perspective it is an irrecoverable position. On a side note, I found Tom’s line of questioning and statements about footy clubs to be humorous. The guy has no [censored] idea about the fabric of a sporting organisation. If I were Garry I would’ve told him to back the truck up. And punched him in the mouth…..

Im sure this is public knowledge but I’ll repeat it anyway, Clazz has been a load since his first season. When Brendan McCartney was at the club, he got so sick and tired of Oliver’s antics that he sat him down in his office and showed him a long list of names. He said, “do you recognise these names?” ”yeah some of them” McCartney replied, “these are all the people at the club who think you’re a [censored]!!” McCartney was really good for Oliver in those early days. Oliver was unaware that his behaviour was so impactful to so many people. McCartney was no nonsense and steered Oliver the right direction in terms of professionalism and treatment of others.

This has been an achilles heal of Goodwin for some time. Some players within the group think he has double standards. Players like Oliver get special treatment while others are yanked in and out of the team week to week. Can’t be good for team moral. (I’ll avoid using the C word) I agree with you, if half of the [censored] that was spread about Oliver last year was true, we should’ve made him do the hard yards at Casey.

This is true. Even 1 season playing for Collingwood would increase his income from social media to a place he couldn’t with us. And, if he is chasing success we are in such a state at the moment who is to say we will bounce back in 2025.

She’s got her hands full with other ventures. Tabcorp is probably her main priority. Not sure she did much anyway.

That’s not a horrible outcome I agree on that. I think Houston is a gun but I am not sure his play off half back is as big a requirement as some class in the midfield.