Dr. Gonzo

The comms from the club suggest we won't be holding him to the contract. It's clear he won't be at the Demons next year, I hope we can get a 2nd but I'm not holding my breath.

I agree wholeheartedly, the opportunity is there though for someone to grab.

I'm a big fan of ANB but won't begrudge him going. His goal in the 2021 GF was the one that let me relax knowing we would win. Great servant of the club but let's be realistic, he is a role player not a matchwinner. And that's not to denigrate him, he is a bloody good role player but not irreplaceable. ANB leaving won't be the difference between whether we can challenge again in 2025 or not. Gives an opportunity for someone to put in the hard yards over preseason and become that gut runner, defensive forward, linkup type player. Could be Chandler, Spargo, Sparrow, Laurie, Brown etc I also wouldn't be banking on a big return for a 29yo role player, we may get a 2nd but more likely a 3rd I would've thought, especially with the SA clubs holding the whip hand knowing he has requested a trade back home. They may not be that keen about him one way or the other, like yeah they would take him but they're not going to give up much for him if you know what I mean. I would assume we would try and accommodate him returning home so would likely take unders to get the deal done.

The article says he spoke to the club about this week's ago. So why is it in the media today? Who leaked it? And what is their agenda?

I think every supporter base is fickle it's just that we have a small supporter base so when we drop off it is far more stark. I posted the other week I have mates and relos who are members of Collingwood and Carlton who would have been to no more than 10 games each over the last decade! A Carlton supporter at work is an MCC member and only went to his first game of the season yesterday. Every club has these fickle supporters but when you're hardcore is only 15k or so instead of 30k or so it makes things look a whole lot worse when fans drop off. It looks even worse for us on TV because 80% of our supporters sit on the broadcast side. I'm in two minds about this, it is a reality that we need to turn up for team morale, for finances and to keep the wolves at bay. But it is also a reality that supporters of other clubs are just as fickle and don't feel the same guilt/obligation to turn up every single week. The club needs to figure out a way to engage the supporters and make sure they don't drop off, but at the end of the day results and timeslots will impact crowds more than anything else. We probably should have played at 1:10pm yesterday and Carlton/Hawks on Saturday night. They still would have cracked 80k and we really should have got over 20k if not 23-25k.

They won't move Melbourne to Marvel, they may move two Melbourne home games to Marvel though (in addition to the NT game). If the club would fold because a couple of home games get moved 5 minutes down the road then we're not viable in a national competition.

Pretty sure that 2013 game was Easter Sunday - and in the depths of the Neeld era

Will Melbourne?

Hawthorn finished 16th last year, GWS 16th the year before. Things can change quickly, North have a lot of good young kids coming up.

Losing Petracca would be the modern equivalent of losing Barassi. The kids who have jumped on board the last 5 years would leave in droves. Probably plenty of their parents too.

Didn't he consider going to Geelong before our flag? He ended up staying but he did consider it.

In a dud draft 🤣

Unlike others who've been posting in this thread you're not usually one prone to hyperbole FTB so I'd like to know some specifics about where the discontent lies. Is it to do with recruiting? Conditioning/performance? Training facilities? Coaching? Allegedly Morris said the dissatisfaction wasn't with Goodwin, is it the line coaches/Richardson? Are the players dissatisfied with club leaders because of who they have put in those positions? I get the frustration, players like Petracca want to leave a legacy, want multiple flags, want to play in front of big crowds. But where exactly is the frustration/blame being directed? What specifically are Goodwin, Pert, Richardson, Roffey, the board responsible for that is leading to you calling for their heads? I'm just a nuffie in the outer, no connections to people in the club etc and obviously I'm not happy with where the club is at or the last 3 years but I'm also pragmatic to look at the reasons some of this has come about. I can understand if there's frustration with the coaches/recruiters but I'm not sure where the frustration would be directed at Roffey, Pert or the board - is it due to re-signing Goodwin? Poor FD appointments? PM me if you don't feel comfortable divulging specific info on here.

This is both wishful thinking and an entitled mindset that is a large part of the problems our club has faced over many decades. I agree night games vs interstate sides aren't great but if we were playing for top 4 against the Giants and Port as the AFL thought when scheduling these games we would've had much better crowds, probably around 35k. I disagree that moving us to Marvel won't solve a thing. Of course you are correct, it won't solve a thing for the MFC but it will solve problems for the AFL who want to maximise overall crowds and for Carlton and Essendon who want more home games at the G.

Can Houston go through the middle or is he better suited across half back? Because we need midfield depth with good ball use, a key forward and a backup ruck ahead of another half back flanker.

https://www.bigfooty.com/forum/threads/dees-to-marvel.1385443/ Its only a matter of time until some in the media (particularly those with Carlton and Essendon agendas) start pushing this. They want more home games at the G and someone needs to make way for them by playing home games at Docklands.

Wow, those Port supporters really are feral!

2018 was pretty fast and attacking

Yes but can he be a 4 or 5xAA? That's what we'd be hoping for if we trade out a top 6 or 7 pick for him considering his age.

Pretty sure Fritsch has copped it in the past.

Somehow I doubt that.

He's a good player but do we really need another half back flanker?? Unless we get him on the cheap I don't get the interest.

Forward half pressure. Needs to build on that to be dynamic with ball going inside 50 or dangerous around goals but look at how often he tackled defenders trying to get the ball out of our 50.

They roughed him up at halftime as well

Yeah Roffey should've dobbed that goal and manned up in the last quarter there 🤦 Thought the effort and intent was there, for those not keeping track we lost by 2 points to the team sitting 2nd with 2 games left. Kolt should've dobbed that goal but he'll be better for the experience. Billings should've kicked the goal too to make up for his poor game but kicked the wrong side of the foot/ball. Salem was a lot better, Petty was better but still should be the bare minimum effort there. The defence held up pretty well without May. Oliver was poor but I thought Viney was good, Max was Max and Koz was electric. Disappointed that Lever didn't spoil that mark that Narkle took to kick the matchwinning goal but he was good overall. Season was already over but I was pleased with the effort and our kids get some more development into them. We really need to focus on our ball movement and inside 50 entries over the summer again, our ball use is still sub par. In other news, Essendon lost after the siren 😍