Dr. Gonzo

A 19 year old who hit the scoreboard for the first time last week kicking 2 goals (another chance went begging). Why rest him now with 4 games left? The time to rest him was probably a month ago.

Huge calls at selection this week! Great to see the coach/match committee make a statement after last week's debacle. Especially excited to see Petty given a chance to backup his 5 possession game (none inside 50) from last week. You're gonna wanna be there on Saturday, this will be one for the ages.

Not happening. We paid a 2nd for Grundy and Collingwood picked up a chunk of his salary still.

That fact we have a midfielder on $1-1.7m give or take for the next 5 years whose output is that of a plodder that can't kick or play any other position is a salary cap issue.

I think he's a young players being poorly coached and played out of position (backup ruck). He's not the finished product at 21/22 but he has talent to work with, he needs to be properly coached up to get the best out of that talent and a gameplan that exploits his strengths.

What would be worse is if they stayed and continued to deliver the output of this year (especially Oliver).

He does, he's just often overlooked. I saw it on the weekend there was a strong lead he presented up the wing towards the bench area another in the forward 50. Teammates don't honour the leads. Our gameplan is to kick long to contests and so he has been coached to sit back and wrestle with his opponent or try and get out the back. He's not the only one, all our forwards do it and it is clear they are being coached to play this way. The evidence is that they keep doing it without any adjustments or ramifications.

We don't desperately need a key forward. We desperately need classy ball users with high footy IQ.

I saw Roo and Petty on the weekend both give good hard leads that were ignored. You have to go out the lead (unless kicking to a better option) you can't ignore them and then bomb it to a pack. Petty's was in the last quarter and granted he probably would've fumbled or missed the goal anyway but at least he was offering an option.

With Oliver, it's not about what we get pickwise it's about getting his contract off the books. Gives us $1.5m to throw at another player/FA.

Dangerfields goalkicking was always his Achilles heel too.

Delusional. Oliver has to go, at this stage I'd let him go for a late pick as long as the other club was willing to take on his salary. Send him anywhere just get that contract off our books. Between him and Brayshaw's salary we'll have over $2m tied up in coming years. Petracca I'm willing to see how he goes after another preseason but I doubt he'll get back to the player he was. If we got a decent offer I'd listen but would never let him walk to the Pies out of principle. Hawks for Chol and their 2nd?

Clearly was worth bringing him in yesterday at the expense of Jefferson. Petty's stellar 5 possession game (none in the forward 50) would have been impossible to match 🙄

I'm not letting the players off the hook, I think they are equally as culpable as the footy department.

I think you're letting Goodwin off the hook. I agree that the senior players have plenty to answer for but Goodwin as senior coach has fostered the environment/culture that has led to this behaviour. There's been plenty written about Goodwin much if which I can't say on here but suffice to say there is reason to think Goodwin's relationship with the players has contributed to this mess. He is not an overly tactical coach (though has had some innovative moves in his time), his strength seems to be in his player relationship management. If that is not working or has led to the situation that we are in now then you would have to say his role is no longer viable. I also think you're under selling the list. 14 premiership players out there yesterday (and May and Lever also still on the list). Not overly old so I think painting the list as a "rabble" is selling them short. Not at a level to challenge for a flag but definitely good enough to challenge for finals.

Petty captain

I reckon Burgess was pretty good at the motivational stuff as well, Goodwin more the "people manager" which he is obviously very good at.

It was both

Yes and once those members are lost don't presume they will just automatically come back. They may be lost for good.

You could dissect the entire last quarter let alone that final 30-60 seconds. But just look at that, if Viney actually goes and stands next to Caminiti he would've easily covered the space Nas worked into. Then you have our mids standing around the circle instead of at the back of the square. Its mindblowing how inept that play was.

Walking back to the station he said "I'm going for Geelong now" (his mum's team) but we both know it's an empty threat. He's saddled with this curse now just like I was. He's at the age where he loves his footy, watches any game, watches YouTube vids on all the different clubs etc, starting to love the history of the game. Some weeks he's more interested in attending a neutral game instead of watching Melbourne play. It sucks because it impacts their enjoyment of the sport as a whole, I told him we'll use our AFL memberships to go watch the finals in Vic this year and either barrack for GC/GWS or against the Pies (depending on who is playing).

Careful or you'll be reported to the AFL Integrity unit

Me too, pointed it out a couple of time to my son to try and teach him what not to do in that situation. Not sure he was listening, was too upset with what was going on on the ground.

Good managers aren't loved, they're respected

Richo too