DeeSpencer

And in the other channel 7 VFL game the first goal is kicked by Corey Ellison who looks a lot fitter and stronger than his Casey days. Not sure he’d be the answer to our key forward issues but he’s another who has a good case to be on a list especially with his versatility

To fix the midfield we need experienced hard running bodies and depth. To fix the flanks we need some speed and skill. We might have to settle for players with deficiencies in areas but strength in their roles. To fix the key forwards we really need an athletic tall who combines smartly leading up at the footy with mobility and size. If it’s not Waterman or McKay it’s a total gamble. I’d probably sign on for the Nathan Kreuger experience because there’s not much else out there. Watching Werribee v Geelong. Parfitt playing a lot of forward. Not really getting a chance to push his case. Riley Bice looks a half back destined for the AFL system. @dazzledavey36 surely will have seen plenty of him over the journey.

It’s very fun to just ignore than 2017/2018 Melbourne were exactly what this Hawthorn team was

WWSPD? What would Sam Presti do. The OKC Thunder had a big tear down and banked a metric tonne of picks. The star player wanting out and then the team packing it in is pretty common in the NBA. I doubt we’d do it, but I think this is how I’d do it: - Tracc goes for picks or high quality under 23 players - Move on Fritsch - See if we can sneak a decent pick upgrade from Steve May to a contender - Viney to North - Hold Oliver for now. With no rush to win the plan would be to maximise his value and possibly restructure his contract by front loading the money - Hold Pickett for now, Freo have other priorities and there’s not a compelling market for him just now. Now here’s a list of reasons to we wont do it: 1. It’s an even comp and if we can find some best 22 mature players we can stay competitive and hope we smash the draft. 2. It would be incredibly hard on Gawn and other leftover senior players 3. it would condemn the Pres, the coach, the admin. No matter how well you’d sold it if we suddenly won 5 games next a lot of heads would roll. It would also put us in a terrible financial position.

If you’d like me to use more of the sites functions I could use the report button for personal abuse? But given I really don’t care about keeping score of internet points I won’t waste the mods time. Are you upset I interrupted your thread that came to the conclusion that Jason Taylor is good so hopefully drafts more good players because that will be good?

In our current best 22 Daniel would play in a forward/wing role and even some on ball time. Replace ANB and help us move the ball with switches, through the corridor through clever leads and work rate to provide options. We’d lose defensive pressure but help transition back to a more attacking style.

I believe in regularly turning over the list with multiple picks (including mature age guys on prove it deals) rather than blocking it up with list cloggers. I actually think it was Roos who said you have to make 10+ changes a year now. The last few years we’ve had a best 22 and a number of solid depth players. So I wasn’t in favour of carrying more. We’ve now lost a lot of that depth. If we expect multiple kids to be the best 28 or so on the list we will go backwards. I believe in JT and we should always arm him with good picks. If we have to entirely hit the draft so be it. You’re the one ignoring the importance of recruiting mature best 22 players and our failure to do so. How you’ve decided I’m the one who doesn’t engage with other opinions is beyond me. (Also I take no notice of the likes system of a footy forum, couldn’t care less how many I have given or received. I have as much interest in that as I do Peter Lawrence’s poll. I’m sorry I didn’t know we were voting for class captain in grade 4???)

That’s a whole lot better than Setterfield but not a top 5 pick!

Reminds me more of Ollie Wines

I just need to see more than the suggestion we can replace Tracc, Gus and ANB with children and not go backwards (and stay backwards) for a while. Even if that might end up the best possible option. The age ladder correlates with the afl ladder unless a team gets truly over the hill like Richmond this year or has a great run of health and things come together super quickly like Hawthorn. But even if you study Hawthorn they’ve had their backline together for years. Their midfield core is 3 x 23+ year olds who have played 60 games together and their forward line was bolster by Chol, Ginnivan, Gunston and Massimo on the wing. If I take a glass half full approach to the Dees backline I can get a pretty decent 6-7 guys together for at least one year more of May (with Petty, Lever, McVee, Salem, Bowey and maybe Howes). Can do the same with the midfield if Rivers gets midfield fit, Oliver, Viney and at least 1 more ready to go depth inclusion. Gawn. Good wings. The forwards - Pickett, JVR, Chandler, Fritsch.. is anyone really buying Turner or Jeffo making genuine impact in 2025? Give me Chol, Ginnivan, Gunston, D’Ambrosio and things could be looking up with the picks coming. In 3 years since the flag we’ve added zero best 22 recruits. We now have more cap and picks but who could be optimistic about our ability to replace senior players and fill the gaps in our team?

So 5 veterans who are all near to the end. Only 1 of which is still an elite player. 2 don’t even have contracts and there has to be some doubt on T Mc. 4 in italics to me are completely unknown factors going forward. Seems more likely than not that Kozzie won’t be a long term demon. I’ve made my thoughts well known on Fritsch. Both he and Salem don’t seem to have the athleticism or drive to compete every week. And Oliver enough said. Tracc is the center piece. He goes for draft picks without any high level prime aged players coming back and this whole era is just about over. We can rebuild from a position of strength with good leaders and emerging talent, but it’s a struggle to get anywhere near the 8 with no clear strengths in any line of the ground unless May, Gawn and Viney turn back time.

Probably increases Tracc’s chances to go to Carlton. He was the one player more than others who was never fitter than under Burgo. Personally I’m not against backing Selwyn in, we just need to give him more mid 20’s fit players to work with. Especially in the midfield.

Have to see how the final list changes break out but I’m not sure he has the athleticism to impact forward and good luck being a big crash and bash style forward until you’re 22+. I’d like to see him get a kick and use his skills for a while

What is an all of club external review? Who could even be qualified to do that? What time frame could that possibly occur in? You'd be looking at 2 months at minimum. I don't want Kate's interview today to see her sacked by her own board, anyone elevated by the current board will either be very compromised or offer nothing different. The interview today has to be a catalyst for her to stop deferring and get cracked in on a personal level. A review of the footy department by the CEO for the Board should already be underway and I doubt they're going to open that up to outsiders at this stage. A review in to the Board and CEO/executive should occur over summer when everything has settled down. But the focus right now can't be on changing the Board. We've got vital decisions that need to be made urgently for trades, list management, playing group culture

One year deal according to Ralphy. Not overly enthused but probably the right thing to do if you rated him highly enough to grab him mid year. Depending on further changes I’d probably start him at CHB at Casey next year.

It’s either Andy Brayshaw now or we’ll wait for next year (at a minimum). No way we move him for picks.

I’m sorry but when the reports are that Tracc has a major problem not with the coach or players but with the club as a whole the President can’t sit back and allow him to speak purely with some combination of Pert/Richo/Goody and the players. She has to roll up the sleeves and talk to Tracc directly. Chain of command is all well and good if the people along the chain are working and the people at the bottom are expendable. But we’ve got a star player and the staff in the middle aren’t fixing it. Everything else Roffey said was fine. Her lack of direct action on Tracc js either a lie or horrendous leadership. Not sure which is worse!

Things are really bad when that clown bobs up.

She’s presided over 3 strong years (including a flag) and then a step back that was just about inevitable this year. Or was after Oliver and Petty’s preseasons, Gus’ retirement and Tracc’s injury. 11 wins and a percentage around 100 wasn’t even that bad really. The issue isn’t the on field product this year even if it wasn’t good. The issue is rather than galvanise the playing group, spend cap space on bringing players in and/or hit the draft we have our best player desperate to leave and all sorts of other questions. Whether you blame the board for those issues is irrelevant, they have to have a plan to fix them. Instead of some semblance of a plan she’s offered nothing.

I didn’t vote for him because it’s Brad Green. Epitome of the [censored] footy we used to play and are heading back towards playing. Big red flag when this board decided he was going to be their footy director.

Was excited to find the audio but having read the posts I really can’t be bothered. I was fine with board silence as long as they had a plan for changes. Or were at least working quietly on fixing things. Instead it seems they’re doing nothing?

Parfitt was a very good defensive inside mid for a fair period of time. Could really tackle and crash in hard. But he's had a lot of injuries (hamstring and other leg problems) that have robbed him of that power and explosiveness. When that happens with guys his age my initial suspicious is that aren't doing the work to get rock hard fit again and build back that explosive movement and fitness to repeat it all day. I'd want him to train with us over summer and prove his body and work ethic are up to it.

What part of it is damning? The closed shop nature of AFL club boards is widely accepted across the competition as being not ideal but better than the alternative. Elections are costly and turn in to popularity contests and destabilase the direction of the club. And there's no guarantees you'll elect good candidates with the right skills mix. Where as if you appoint a candidate selection committee they can vet candidates, pick the best ones and get the right skills. Again, it's not ideal, but who has any faith in the MFC members being able to elect the right candidates? As for the player sponsor stuff? You can't sue the club in the Federal court and have them keep taking your money and granting you special sponsors benefits. That's fantasy land stuff. Hopefully now the legal action is resolved they can work on a path towards reconciliation. Or at least they might if he's not calling for wild all of club reviews. The real shame here is the board and Peter clearly both compromised on a number of points and left the judge only 1 thing to actually rule on. Had Peter just let 1 more thing go they could've avoided the costly and frankly embarrassing for all sides trial. Nothing wrong with wanting some election rules reforms but clearly the judge didn't agree at all that the board couldn't propose rules that restricted elections from turning in to all circuses.

Bit of hypocrisy there? I certainly think Roffey and Pert have to demonstrate why we should stay on board with them but the worst possible thing to do now is to not let them have a chance to justify what's gone wrong (and there's a couple of things I'm not blaming them for) and how they are addressing them.

Bevo clearly lost faith in Daniel as a half back last year, without elite speed he gives up a lot defensively. Tried him on ball, which resulted in him running and winning the ball well but his lack of punch out of stoppages hurt them. Sanders, Harmes, Gallagher and eventually settled on Ed Richards for that role. So this year he's been used a bit here and there and played in the 2's, now he's back in the side and playing wing and half forward. We need half back depth but I don't think Daniel is a clear upgrade on Salem and Bowey. We need overall depth and having a theoretically versatile player who can play forward, wing, half back would be nice. It's not a total no but it's certainly not a resounding yes from me. He's certainly a player we need to cast a keen eye over to see if his 2024 form is exactly up to the standard. We can't do a Hunter or Billings and just expect out fitness and coaching program to elevate players who just don't have it anymore. Glass half full recruiting should be for younger players at bad sides rather than doubting Bevo.