Dr. Gonzo

Had some real similarities to the day Jakovich ran amok at Vic Park, benched early came back on and kicked 7.

Failing to make Prelims in 2022 and 2023 is a failure. We have failed the last 3 seasons. Also losing Semi finals means you didn't finish in the top 4.

Chargers 49ers and dare I say it Jets Stating the obvious but I thought we were really poor today, offense couldn't put drives togetger, struggled to establish the run game and defense was caught napping way too often. Players wide open downfield and couldn't stop the run at all but they were probably gassed because the offense gave them no reprieve. The drive that ended in the Hall TD was nice and Rodgers seemed to have plenty of time in the pocket which was a good sign, it was always gonna be tough beating 49ers at home but hoped with CMC out we may have given it a shake but were never in it after quarter time. The schedule opens up a bit the next few weeks, if we can't deal with a Levis led Titans you can forget about playoffs. Other than that was a greatly opening week of games starting last Friday with KC/Ravens, the Brazil game was good and then 6 if the 8 early games yesterday were live in the 4th quarter. The late games were pretty meh but then SNF went into OT. Love watching Redzone for the early games especially with big plays popping off all over the place. 10 early games next week is ridiculous, I wish they'd even out the games a bit say 6-6 or 7-6 split instead of 8-4 or 10-3. In betting news Cincinnati knocked me (and a third of the comp) out of survivor pool and also cost me $400 in multis! I had one 12 leg multi paying $330 for a $1 bet 11 legs got up and Cinci killed me 😔 I should remember never to get on Cinci or Chargers, whichever way I go they ruin me, tip them they lose, tip against them they win. Lesson is to stay away (saying that after I tipped the Chargers this week above haha - hopefully Harbaugh brings some consistency in their performances)

Get Graham Wright

I'm assuming @jnrmac meant when she started as President but I'll leave to him to confirm.

https://demonland.com/forums/topic/47695-mfc-strategic-plan-for-next-4-years/

Yes but don't forget they lost Ablett and Franklin respectively which would've helped with their TPP. I'm not sure how much less a lot of those players would have taken to stay at those clubs, maybe we paid top dollar for Petracca and Oliver but it's what we had to do to tie them up long term. With the expected salary cap increases they don't look like the monster contracts they may seem on first glance.

And yet Petracca has a premiership and a Norm Smith medal and Cripps has just lost an elimination final by 10 goals and never played in a GF. He may want to rethink his choices.

What's important is winning premierships. Anything else, like whether players are "nice boys" or friendly to the nuffies in the outer (myself included) is irrelevant.

This is a pretty rubbish post WCW, you complain when supporters denigrate our players due to their on field performance yet you're here denigrating one of our players due to his personality which is far worse. Like him or not Petracca is a legend of this club, playing a large hand in delivering us our first flag in a lifetime.

Hawks

So then just have a final 6 🤷

Yeah, don't think so

Any chance Smith can use his MCC connections to get us back in the MCG where we belong?

I don't hold much hope for Green but if he is just an interim for a couple of months til Smith can take control that's fine. Wouldn't want him long term though, think he'd be way out of his depth.

Not for long

Imagine that, trade Clarry and Trac wants out in 12 months 🤯

I don't think the points were well made at all though. Regardless of whether Petracca is in a good headspace, regardless whether ANB is or isn't leaving due to cultural issues, the fact he didn't want to go to a bottom feeder club - none of that dismisses the fact we have a number of big issues we need to clean up both off field and on if we are to become a serious footy club. It's just noise.

You're right, there's no issues, everything is hunky dory off field, no need for concern re player/staff behaviour, focus, preparation, no issues with stories leaking to the media, no issues with our performance since the flag - it's all just a massive beat-up by the meanies in the media who just hate MFC for some reason.

Fair points. Entrecote, Clarry, JS - not sure what else I can say without getting into trouble with Andy @Demonland but there has been other stuff in the papers some linked to the SIA investigation, some linked to the ongoing court issues with the board, some allegations regarding Goodwin - some of the allegations regarding Goodwin relate to behaviour outside the club, some to his conduct with other staff and his stance on player welfare. There is enough going on that you know where there is smoke there is fire. Again, I'm not that concerned about other clubs, I just want the MFC to get their [censored] together and gain the success we all crave. Stengle's may not have been a one off, you're right it's only what is publicly known. But now we are dealing in supposition and by the same token I could argue there may be even more going on at MFC we haven't heard about. The fact our best player and one of our senior leaders who takes his job as a pro athlete seriously had such grave concerns he wanted out is enough for me to say this has got to the point where it must be scrutinised and dealt with before the whole place implodes in on itself.

He will go down in club folklore if for nothing else than helping to turn the 2021 GF with some outstanding acts in the 3rd quarter. I can't believe we have to cop his salary, when will this club grow a backbone and stand up to the AFL?

Beat Collingwood!!!

With respect, you or I wouldn't know whether the off field standards have slipped. The players and coaches would know, are they doing the little bit extra they might have done a couple of years ago? Are they preparing themselves as well as they possibly can for each game/season? Are they holding each other accountable? Is the culture one of camaraderie and working to a common goal or have selfish habits crept in? Our best player and only Norm Smith medallist believes standards have slipped, our skipper at least partially agrees with him. I'm willing to accept their opinion over mine or yours. I think on field standards have definitely slipped. We don't have the same tenacity we did in 2021, we're not working hard to drop back and support our teammates, we're not working hard to pressure the opposition, plug defensive holes, run forward to make options. On Kings Birthday we missed two or three tackles in the opening minute on the wing which led to a Collingwood goal - that to me is a slip in standards, players not playing with a focused mindset and ruthless energy. Also with respect you say "anyone associated with bringing that Cup to us!" yet I would say our current CEO and President came in on the back of the hard work done by the previous regime (particularly Peter Jackson). I'm not discounting the work of Roffey and Pert but to say they brought the Cup to us is I think disingenuous when the foundation was laid before they took the reigns.

People keep referring to Stengle, but that was a one off incident at a club that has had very few of them over the last decade. Things were a bit looser under Bomber but Scott has tightened things up since taking the reigns. Compare that to the incidents at Melbourne over the last few years. Compare it to Oliver's ongoing issues last offseason. I have no doubt there are scallywags at all clubs, it's the nature of the beast, but it's how those clubs deal with it which is what speaks to their culture. I have no doubt Collingwood's issues run deep as well, maybe less so since McRae took charge but I wouldn't know for sure. Under Malthouse things certainly ran amok though. At the end of the day I don't really care what is happening at other clubs though. If they have a string of incidents the media spotlight will turn on them. It is rightfully on us at the moment though and we will continue to cop it until 1) these incidents stop happening, 2) our performance lifts, 3) we stop spruiking to all and sundry what a great culture we have (live it, don't talk it), 4) we stop having issues with leaks to the media and 5) we stop having public spats with our star player (via said media leaks) This is not some conspiracy, we have brought it on ourselves. We need to stop sooking about how unfair it is and actually fix it. We won't have any success until that happens.

Yep, I don't think anyone comes out of this looking good. Everyone's reputations took a hammering.