DeeSpencer

27 would’ve moved to 34 and there’s some useful talent there, not much special but a 50:50 of someone useful. 34 would’ve been in the 40’s and despite Freijeh and Dear no one rated the depth in that draft. But we also gave up a F2 for McAdam which became a great pick that took Nibbler to get it back. Only to toss it away again in the Lindsay trade. Definitely would’ve been better just to pay for McAdam upfront (if at all). How about 49 and 3rd round pick swap for Sharp! Way too much for a player we were doing Brisbane a favour by taking off their books.

Agree x 3. I don’t mind the aggressive trade ups when you’re looking for a missing piece (Pickett) or for a special player at the very top of the draft. But especially when it’s time for a list to take its medicine and rebuild the depth of talent you have to make as many useable picks as you can. This might not be the draft to do it but restocking extra mid round picks has to be a priority.

I suspect it’s the end for T Mc even if he’s been perfectly adequate. If he wants to keep going I’d give him another year but Melk talking about spending time with his family makes me think he’s had enough. Culley another year. Tom Campbell another year if we can’t find a ready made ruck. AMW another year. Billings, Hore, Fullarton thanks for your services. Spargo probably leaves as a free agent. Kynan Brown and Sestan maybe. Henderson, Woey, Verrall maybe not. Just depends how many list changes we make with trades in and out.

Be realistic, we aren’t going to play a bunch of kids who have had all season to convince the selectors and haven’t done so when it’s most likely VFL wildcard round. Melk will start and barring any issues Tommy Mc will too, farewell games for them both. Someone in for Sharp, can’t say I care who, probably Spargo.

Hes close to never again. Dumb, selfish and soft

Walking to the psd is an option for them. We’d get nothing. they’ll offer us something. But no way they’ll pay full value

I don’t think it will happen but I’d also expect no other serious candidate will apply for the job whilst there’s this much Buckley smoke. Maybe a couple of young assistants who just want to experience the process. If it is an open search we better start communicating that to candidates.

At this rate no one else will apply. Then Bucks will probably pull out. Will have a search committee with no candidates.

I’ve always doubted the midfield time stuff, he was playing half back for his wafl colts team when we drafted him. What I bet he wants is to play at least half back rather than being the main lock down defender. Salem was his mentor when he came to the club and I bet he wants his spot. Unfortunately back pocket is a big gap in our list that Richo, Lamb and the list management committee didn’t even try to fix. I guess the 3 possible candidates all got injured - AMW, Hore and Sestan. We’ve tried Howes at times, but any coach is putting McVee on a good small forward not Howes. But it’s not like Judd is stuck in the back pocket forever, eventually we’d find a replacement and chuck him up the ground. I think the bigger reasons Judd will leave are 1) cash 2) family 3) McQualter. McQualter was a big Judd guy. Last year we tried him up the ground more than this year. (Because we had other options). Unfortunately when you hire fresh assistants and they leave they often take guys with them. That’s how we got Melk and Hibberd after all. West Coast are also going to absolutely ream us with the PSD threat. We’ll be lucky to get a future second. Maybe we can push the AFL to make their priority pick dependent on trading it and get a start of the second rounder. Either way it’s not a win.

Our game plan was to bomb it to congestion at half forward then burst out of that and hit Fritsch inside 50. That's where we've changed but I also think the league has changed too. Teams will keep a lot of deep defenders now. You have to move the ball faster and wider to get out to space across half forward then have more guys inside 50 rather than a 1 out option so often. A fair counter is Jamie Elliott was dominating in a Fritsch style role for a lot of the year so maybe it's not over for that kind of player but Elliott is also more well rounded. Of course he won't be Viney. But for a lot of this season (and last) Fritsch has been close to uncompetitive. Hopefully that's changed now. Anyway, mid year I'd have sold him for pick 40, now I'd want something top 25 and a Jason Taylor level of belief that it's a pick they can find someone with. I'd certainly be open to keeping him too.

Excellent. Now take note of who Graham Wright is lining up as coach in waiting at Carlton and nab one of them as the senior coach and away we go

No one made a serious offer for Clarry at the end of 2023. The best offer from Geelong last year was just about a joke. No one made a serious offer for Tracc last year, he’d have forced a trade if one was remotely available. The only one of those who the club was actually offered a deal for was Petty for a couple of late firsts in the 2022 draft with no doubt a second or more going back the other way. Easy to say now we should’ve done that but that undervalues how much good footy at both ends of the ground Petty should have left. Petty for Darcy Wilson or James Leake and a pick swap isn’t the home run some think it is. I’d have put Fritsch on the table last year, the writing was well and truly on the wall, but at the same time we’d lost AnB and we need guys in the forward line who aren’t kids or Melksham. The bigger issue with our list management is handing on long mega deals that have seemingly bounced up with the cap. We signed Clarry super early with a mega deal, which given he’d never missed a game and never played poorly was perhaps fine (even if he was never the perfect citizen off field). But what was reported as a 1M deal at signing seems to now include years peaking at 1.7 after the cap rises. If he was on a reasonable wage we’d be able to eat a bunch of it and get a pick for him.

Because the game is going past him so it's better to cash out now rather than hold on. Depending on the offer. For most of the season (and honestly for about 3 year now) Bayley has jogged around in second gear. It's not that he doesn't tackle enough it's that he sits and watches play go by until he makes a defensive effort and then invariable it's too little too late. The number of sloppy too high free kicks he gives away is abysmal. Plus the terrible attempts at winning a contested ball on the deck and over reliance on the get the ball out the back efforts at contested marking rather than playing in front and being willing to wear a defender crashing in to you. Similarly he's been tried up the ground and for such a skilled player his ball use and decision making are dreadful. He looks like a local football when up the ground. Now the last 6 weeks or so the penny has appeared to drop a little. He's putting in more effort at the contest and defensively as well as finding the ball consistently. But we've also played a very soft draw. I'd probably still have a draft pick in mind at which point I'd be willing to let him go. He's far from untouchable. But for now anyway he's not almost free to a good home as he would've been mid year.

In the press conference he gave a similar comment about needing to leave the MFC to further his career at some stage but also suggesting he'd be glad to stay. My guess is he's contracted for at least next year. I doubt he would've taken on the challenge of forwards coach without some contract security. If the new coach gives him permission to leave and he can find a job without relocating his family he probably takes that opportunity. Backline coach at Ess/Rich/Carl etc you name it. If the new guy wants him to stay and holds him to his contract then he stays for at least the 1 year more.

He’s an Essendon supporter on the RV board, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if he knew the earth was round yet alone anything about football. (Of course, he and the head of footy - if backed and not sacked - both belong on the search committee, along with outside football knowledge please)

I can hardly trust Caro but Steve Smith has to take on the Presidency before we appoint a coach, anything else is just nonsense. The Board elect a President. They hire a CEO. Together with input of a subcommittee with a Footy Director/head of footy etc they hire a coach. You can’t have an interim President making moves only to hand over to the incoming President.

It’s far from terrible but the lack of leaders and quality players in their mid 20’s makes me think we’d be smarter to go backwards to go forwards than push hard the other way. There’s a possibility where we transition to new/younger talls as required and Tracc and Oliver get back to near their best but it’s unlikely. We’ve also got to nail recruiting a few ready made players and with our track record since the flag that seems hard to believe in.

In simple terms just get more comfortable playing in space. Attacking and defending. We’ve come along way already but there were some glaring moments against the dogs in the first half and by the end of the game Windsor did a hammy, Disco went off with cramp. That’s tied in to transitioning our midfield but it has to happen even if we stick with our current guys.

FB: May, McDonald?, Adams CHB: Petty, Disco, Derksen?, Lever? Int: Disco, Lever?, Howes/Rivers FF: Melksham?, Kentfield, Jeffo CHF: Mihocek?, Petty, Jeffo Ruck/Fwd: JVR, AJ Small ball: Fritsch, McAdam, Tracc I’m not sure 6 talls fits the modern game unless they can run and have skills. Disco as a much better mover than Lever provides some of that but he needs to improve his ball use. Up forward Jeffo is the interesting one because he’s got untapped speed, agility and skills Collingwood often park Darcy Cameron as a 3rd key defender and we’ve done that with Gawn at times when we’ve played 2 key backs. Langford and Culley are 2 options for marking targets around the ground too. I like seeing Harvey have a go at full forward in 4th quarters the last 2 weeks.

It’s a compelling stat but I also don’t think correlation = causation. So few coaches get a second chance. When they do it’s often Mick at Carlton, Eade at the Suns, Clarko at North where they’re in awful situations just trying to tread water to keep their job. Even if they weren’t good (or good so far for Clarko). And some of the great premiership coaches are done after their stint. Lethal at Brisbane, Bomber at Geelong, Sheeds! Roosy as a serious long term coach. If those guys took jobs in their prime (and Lethal at Brisbane counts like that) they could’ve succeeded.

You can have discussions all you like but the point is to assemble the best panel and listen to what a range of best candidates have to say. There's no way that's happened behind closed doors, not with how much the AFL (and MFC) leaks. I'm not saying we have to subject a Buckley/Simpson/Horse to a full scale interview process, we know what those guys are. But if you're not sitting down with a bunch of the brightest assistant coaches you're missing out on a whole heap of information that can be useful not just for finding the best coach.

I'm still not sold that he's a long term player, but it was a performance against a far better opposition that suggests he will get another 1 year deal. The tackling and strength at the contest were both steps forward that he didn't show a lot against the Eagles (honestly didn't need to).

I'd feel exactly the same with appointing Buckley as Ross Lyon. If your ego is too big for at least a first round of interviews then you probably aren't the man for the job. I doubt Carlton or anyone else are all that worried about missing out on Ross le Boss. Do the interviews, claim family reasons to drop out if it's not going that way. Everyone thought Terry Wallace was a lock to Hawthorn in 2004. They went through the process and Al Clarkson blew them away. 4 flags.

4, 6, 11, 11 (1 less win), 12, 13, Longmuir joints, 3 (loss granny), 4 (lost prelim), 8, sacked as team we on to finish 17th

Adrian Hickmott is doing an incredible job with Hawthorn’s forwards. Gunston - ancient Watson - tiny Ginnivan - part human/part troll Lewis - chronically injured Chol - 2 phones Dear - a teenager He’d be a fantastic choice on merit rather than picking Buckley on reputation.