DeeSpencer

The AFL get kicked a lot and rightfully so, but the footy department cap has to go down as one of the greatest rule changes I can think of. The big spending teams - Coll, Hawthorn, Geel, West Coast, even Sydney and Brisbane that invested a lot in the early 00's were winning all the flags and were a mile ahead when it came to drafting, fitness, development coaching and so on. Now the Dogs, Dees and Richmond (before reaching full powerhouse off field level) have all won flags. The Bailey days particularly, but also the Neeld times, were a direct reaction to what happens when instead of even a playing field from 200-2007 you have clubs spending millions more on their footy department whilst we had Neale Daniher and the possums at Junction running the show. Once Neale couldn't keep it together any more we were in a huge hole. And there was no disincentive to sacking a coach either. Sure you had to pay them but you could lean on influential members who loved a good sacking to chip in some cash and go hire someone else. The cap punishment for sacking someone is now so strong it makes teams stop listening to the peanuts in the cheap (or very expensive) seats and start fixing their issues. And members are coming around to that view as well which is promising. They're starting to question clubs rather than just blaming it all on a coach. Even some Carlton members had some sympathy for Teague! Without the footy cap I'm not sure we keep Goody. I'm not sure we sign Yze - the Hawks probably just chip in to keep him. And surely we don't get Burgo who probably takes top dollar at a big club who can easily afford to fit him in and move on whoever they had.

Honest reflection on how stressful these jobs are when losing and not meeting expectations. Must be incredibly hard to destress when you're a public figure and the week to week grind is so time and energy consuming. The energy healer isn't really my cup of tea but mindfulness and reflection are so important to know yourself and know what you need to provide to your colleagues. There must also be a lot of stress lifted when you're a premiership coach too. Goody now joins Chris Scott (with the aura fading on that one), Longmire, Bevo, Hardwick and Simpson as the only active premiership coaches next year. Also I like the way we've pretty much just copied most of Richmond's culture and game style but it hasn't felt like a bad imitation. We've made it our own. It seems a lot of the changes have happened somewhat organically. Goody has turned things around. A female President has taken over. We added valuable assistants. The players bought in to selfless acts. The defensive system, pace, pressure all hallmarks but all our own way rather than desperately shoehorning things in. Clearly we've looked at what they've done and aimed to be similar but then made the organic changes to get there.

Maybe we can clap for the people in lockdown at the 20 minute mark like Mayor Basil suggested

Yes I agree

- he has a feeling of content - knew the club was back on track after the Hawthorn win in 2016 - Goody was hired based on his high performance program and a respect for Neil Craig - Disappointed for Jones - you can message him on insta and he'll reply congrats

He needed knee surgery in February then had to do a mini preseason mid year to really find his fitness, form and confidence again. There's every change he doesn't get through a full season again. In fact we should manage him to make sure he's right at the most important moments. I think that's a big reason we've kept Weideman.

Yes I should be clear I agree entirely with that. I meant at his time at North I reckon there were plenty of occurrences where he'd go up in a pack and flop around. That might be wrong and seeing him through opposition glasses. I thought he competed very fairly throughout his time with us and the arm chops on grand final day were all there.

He hadn't been getting his free kicks this year either. A sign that he wasn't getting first to the drop of the ball or in synch with team mates. I thought he'd left his umpires with him at North. I don't want him to go back to a player who chases free kicks, that's not sustainable, but if he gets first hands to the ball he will get chopped a lot and deserve them.

Max talks about his team mates (and coach) the way we do on the forum which I find equal parts enjoyable, funny and worrying. But he's true to himself I guess. That's the most important thing. I wonder if it was poor player leadership, the coaching or just the reality that maturing takes time that saw Oliver, Petracca and many others take time to buy in to really playing selfless footy. I don't think it detracts from the job of Goody to hold it together and the club to find the right assistants to provide an excellent structure around the players, but it's undeniably been a turnaround from the players that got things rolling. Geelong have the famous leading teams meeting where they called out Ablett, the captaincy change to Harley, Scarlett and Mooney laying down the law and 18 year old Joel Selwood giving them all a nudge along. I don't think our transformation has been quite as drastic. They flicked the switched in a year, where as we made progress through 2020 after a horrible 2019, but the end result is something similar.

Choco is huge on kicking, but Stafford I believe oversees the forwards goal kicking. Fritsch was always going to get it together eventually. Just needed some time for his routine to stand up at AFL pressure. Ben Brown once he got his legs under him started looking like Ben Brown on set shots. Tom McDonald’s goal kicking won’t ever reach the heights of 2018 but he still does a lot right. ANB isnt amazing but is solid from good spots. Spargo’s solid inside 40 although has an unfortunate habit marking 40m out. Pickett came on from last year. Jackson has a good technique and rhythm. Our biggest issue remained getting marks in good locations. Brown and Fritsch started to function and demand the ball in the right locations. Gawn was popping in to spaces and the kicker found him, rather than just going deep for the pocket roost - the Lever kick v Geel remains a thing of beauty. Petracca, Oliver and ANB are the 3 who took big steps in hitting targets inside 50. I’m still not 100% he always knew what he was doing but Sparrow’s ability to not panic and find a target was crucial too. Our midfield rotation has one above average kick in Tracc and that’s based on being an amazing penetrative kick without a touch and no left foot. The rest are below average but improved this year. If Choco can get them all average or above the forwards will get a lot more opportunities.

If my memory is correct I remember the 2018 Casey season Keilty was a really solid key back. Petty was a talented young interceptor who could make a few mistakes but also play seriously good games across half back. They looked they same and were hard to tell apart but if it was a big closedown spoil or one on one contest win it was usually Keilty. I wouldn’t go as far as saying Keilty had anywhere near the influence on Petty as May, Lever, Tomlinson, Chaplin etc but geez it would’ve been handy to start your VFL career with a solid pro alongside. I hope Dec is proud of his AFL career no matter what but he gets to claim he played alongside premiership players now. May, Lever and Petty took my spot is a nice story to tell the kids!

No one wanted Weids, we aren't rebuilding and the club relationship isn't fractured. There's no real comparison. It's completely apples and oranges. Maybe Jeremy Howe or Lynden Dunn might compare with Ben Brown. Jones was nursed to 300, then made the sub, then never seen from again. For all the positivity if we weren't winning it would've looked just as bad. Jetta fell out of the side and it was more than clear that he was done. North may not have handled those veterans but they were both ancient declining players but still in the best 22 in a finals team. That's tricky. Clubs have to make tricky calls. We made a super harsh call a few years ago on Daniel Cross. It was correct, but it was tough as anything and I believe Crossy wasn't all that happy. The club patched it over and he got a gig in the fitness department and was great but purely from a footballing perspective it was hard.

Neal-Bullen was told to explore his options, that's just about definitive to see if he can find a new home. We had more picks than we ended up using last year, I doubt we would've been haggling over the price. Tommy there was clearly an imperative to move off some of his contract. I doubt we would've given him away if we had to pay for the full deal too but it wouldn't have taken much of a draft pick if someone would take on a share of the cash. They were contracted so they stayed. The respectful thing we did was tell them upfront they might move on and welcome them back in to the club when nothing came about.

We tried to boot out T Mac and Nibbler whilst they were contracted and no one wanted them. If another team had come for Tom McDonald last year we would've gladly paid some of his wage for him to play elsewhere. We seemed happy to let Weid go but no one wanted him either. Harvey was 38, Petrie was 34. I don't really see the link. Ben Brown they offered a decent deal to given his injury history. He declined as is his right. The relationship broke down for a number of reasons, they pulled their offer as is their right, and sent him to a team that wanted him for a fair trade/contract. There's questions for North to answer about their medical management of Benny. And in ways that relationship between club and player broke down and family dynamics. I'd suggest it's clear North in 2020 wasn't going all that well with coaching, fitness and a whole raft of issues. But when it came time for Ben to move on I don't think the way they handled that was wrong. Fortunately for them they've invested a fair bit to changing their coaching and management over the last year.

Watch this post game news conference from 9:40 on for about the next 2 minutes or so. Listen to Goodwin and listen to Petracca. Then answer me this question: Is Goodwin a coach who doesn't work hard enough and needs to be kicked in to gear? Or is Goodwin a coach who needs the right people around him to support and help him. I think the answer is pretty clear. Full credit to Glen Bartlett for steading the ship on and off the field. His time at the club can't be underrated. From Roos to Goodwin, Burgo, Jason Taylor, Alan Richardson, Choco Williams. The Casey upgrades. So much amazing work. Overall I think it's fair to say his time as President has had a longer and greater impact on this Premiership than Kate Roffey. But I also think it was time for someone else to step in to provide that support to finish the job.

In making a prelim then getting smashed by the eventual premiers in Perth they still had what would equal the best season for Melbourne from 2001-2020. That's without the sliding doors moment of what happens if Gawn is spoiled or misses the goal in round 23. If they ignored Cameron and picked Conor Stone with pick 15 and he played 3 games and looked ok does it drastically change their future? Or does he get added to the pile with Clark, Constable, Cooper Stephens, Narkle as younger players who might be something but won't get much of a look in. When they do pull the pin on this older group Cameron will given them something to kick to for 4 or so years, will help a young sidekick develop and will keep some experience and talent at the club so they don't end up without any veteran savvy. In the mean time they'll try to go again and they've been threatening to fall in a heap since about 2010 and are yet to do so. It's almost certainly going to happen at some stage of Cameron's career but that doesn't mean it was wrong to get him. The Cats have made some bad mistakes lately IMO. Giving up a real draft pick for Shaun Higgins. Bringing in Jack Steven and Josh Jenkins. Not getting a ruckman. Pretending Gary Rohan will play well in finals. Failing to develop Jordan Clark. Pick 15 for Cameron even if the best they do is a prelim isn't one of them.

Players put a lot of work in to win flags but if that was the sole aim the top 22 would all take base wages and join up at a super team. Playing with your mates is a huge part of it too. That’s why guys stay loyal at struggling clubs as long as they get offered a fair wage. Ben got a fair wage from North and his manager turned it down even though he was carrying a bung knee. So if Ben turned down the offer based on finances he made a mistake. If he wanted to leave north for success and other reasons he made the right call. My guess is he turned it down for cash but ended up eventually leaving when the North situation became untenable.

That assumes Ben wanted to leave North, which I doubt early on in 2020 or definitely before that he didn’t want to. If he wanted to stay at North he turned down a contract that with time was more than fair. He also joined Melbourne. Didn’t exact jump to Hawthorn post 2013 or Geelong post 2007.

Is she wrong? Financially it was probably the wrong call. 3 years 750 = 2.25. Didn't reports have him signing for us on about 4 year 500? Clearly he's gone to a much better footy situation and seems to be happy with the culture here where there was significant friction between Brown, his family and North towards the end. So financially he lost out but there's more to life than money. North also moved on and nabbed Stephenson at a cheap price who fits their list build and will now get CCJ from the Tigers who fills the void left by Brown. Larkey goes to Brown's role. CCJ goes to Larkey's role. They are happy.

They got the 2 decent second rounders back. Essendon and GWS made those picks slightly higher than you'd like but at the end of the day they downgraded from the most compromised draft of all time to solid picks in a more open and exposed draft. Jeremy Cameron is going to give you better games of footy for years to come than Conor Stone I'd imagine. Or certainly better than most pick 15's if Stone is an outlier. They traded up for Holmes, who I assume they liked as much or more than Macrae. Maybe they could've had both, but let's assume they were unlikely to get both of those guys. Is one of those better than pick 30 this year - yes. But how much better? If the Cats come away with a Sparrow, Jordon, Spargo or Fritsch this year probably aren't worried. Then Brayden Cook for pick 32 this year. There's no real difference there. It's a bit like when we gave up 2 firsts for Lever but got a 2nd rounder back and used it on Petty. The downgrade from late first to second is severely overrated. Cameron for pick 15 and change - you do that every day of the week unless you're so committed to a rebuild that you're looking at trading away players. If you've just lost a grand final then end up seconds from being top of the ladder in round 23 it's a great deal.

It's been long enough for Essendon to get a coach who knows what he's doing. And a handy head of footy too. The list of teams interested in Melksham surely has to start with the clubs who don't value pressure. Or in other words aren't very smart.

I would’ve deeply enjoyed giving Peter Bell the Dodoro treatment. Especially after his nonsense with Hogan. But it would’ve been really unfair for Cerra knowing he might end up in the draft, and it would’ve opened up our list for poaching. The Hawks going all in on Wingard and forcing out a good young player in Burton was the best case result and hardly guaranteed

He had a strange old career because he was a forward for so long and never really cemented himself, but I think in 2007 he was a huge part of that flag and probably pushed himself in to the A grade category, after that he turned up in September when needed. I'd have him just in the A grade category for those years. And a class above Nankervis/McEvoy/Hale from the recent Tigers and Hawks runs. Being able to get so much value as defensive interceptors and as forwards is what makes our guys so exciting. Clearly it's unlikely we see a stoppage run as good as the 3rd quarter, one where Jackson wasn't even smashing the hit outs anyway, but to get an extra tall at either end is such an advantage.

I’m a Nank fan, I think he’s exactly the kind of ruck you’d want if you can’t have a superstar. But he’s just not an A grade ruck like Gawn, Goldstein, Nic Nat, Grundy. He’s a very capable B grade type, and below Lynch, Riewoldt, Cotchin, Edwards, Houli, Vlastuin, Grimes from the best Richmond sides. I’d argue Gawn is the first A grade ruck to win a flag since Brad Ottens at the Cats a decade ago.

We can’t match a bid if he goes top 20 and he seems very likely too. He’s gone