spalding

Absolutely - up until last week I had enjoyed that atmosphere. I was shocked, and my son was so angry about some of the stuff being said about his sister (particularly when she was being assisted from the ground with an injury), that he decided it would be better that he remove himself from the ground, so he left at 3/4 time and waited for us in the park next door until the game finished.

And the other thing i forgot to mention is that the North AFLW supporters are feral - like worse than any other club Feral. Ive survived all the "great" suburban venues, but i was shocked how bad they were last week at Ikon. I think there is a lot of frustration about their men's programme being let out by the hard core supporters at AFLW. So be ready for it next Saturday!

A few observations. I have been to every Hawks aflw game this year and last night was the first time anyone from their cheer squad has even turned up. Obviously shamed into the banner and having a presence this week by club authorities. I have also seen North live twice in the last 3 weeks and I am convinced they are beatable. The key is preventing them starting scoring chains from the back line via intercept marks (mainly via Ghostys favourite player). Also sit on the outside of Ash Riddell as she gets first receives after pretty much every one of the contested possessions North wins then takes off and distributes expertly. Randall is the key forward you need to lock down, and is good with the ground ball gets and dishing off to midfielders ans small forwards if she doesnt mark. Sherlaw can be put off pretty easily I reckon Melbourne can match up well on all of these, and more than any other team has the forward line to trouble them. Beside the above, the other area which I think might trouble us is a couple of their pacy smaller players - not sure if we can stop them. Their depth is better than ours, so talented, but perhaps lesser light players like Bannon and Witherspoon etc have to play at the peak of their powers. And keep up the great work ghosty both re aflw and the training reports.

Ive stayed quiet on this topic for a year, and if a close family member was aware I've posted this she would be very unhappy, but 2025 really was a tough year for him. I hope that the issues he had with significant injuries in pre-season, as well as his family life and personal life are behind him and he has the best opportunity to show what he is capable of. As ghosty says, IMO his brashness is a bit of a front for a pretty vulnerable kid who is a long way from home. If nothing else, I have learnt from spending a bit of time with him, to think more about the human aspects of a footballers life, rather than just criticise them when they not playing as we (and they!) would like.

Didn't King say im the coach you need? Its an obviously a culture reset, and that had to be addressed before we could move forward. They have replaced better players (trac and oliver) with better leaders (mihochek and Steele), to nurture and lead the young talent we have already drafted, and the hope that we can get a couple more. Despite the draft concessions, Tassie won't be a powerhouse for quite a while if gws and go were anything to go by. I think we have changed our view (under Goody) that we were still a chance to win, and the new regime is targeting 5 years from now. Its probably the new coach and ceo that have driven the change in planning. As hard as it is to accept, and i wish we did it a year ago, what has happened is the right decision for the club imo. I have a little inside Intel, and I think the younger players will be the main beneficiaries and excited by the additional opportunities and responsibility

Hopefully a window just closed. Especially with the new machete laws

Do not touch

I know many of us think Caro has it in for us, but her latest work on the bombers! Just wow. She really is a piece of work

Has Caro come out and publicly told him not to take the job yet?

I like having Frank on the committee

I actually was wondering after her first opinion piece last week that she might be running an agenda for the AFL and Brendon Gale that they dont want Buckley to take the Melbourne job so he's available for Tasmania. Last night was a bit more evidence this might be the case IMO. If its juat her speculation its easy for Steven Smith to respond and knock on the head if he cares enough to want to.

Staying away from media - and sick of the trend that if opinions (or even lies as we see in US politics) are published for long enough they seem to eventually be accepted as fact. If anything of note happens, i am happy to find out via demonland. I feel the management of the club has been dysfunctional and hope this is the circuit breaker that is needed. I do fear that Goody was actually doing an ok job with the playing group in the circumstances, and we may see a bit of a player dummy-spit in the next 3 games as a result. I think part of the rationale for the decision is that the club has to flush out those senior players who are much more invested in themselves than the club, as sustained success requires some sacrifice from the highest paid players, but that couldnt happen while they had such a co-dependent relationship with Goody. Given we actually playing ok at the moment (one notable 30 minute exception), the next 3 games will tell us a lot about what the club and jumper mean for each of the players, versus who is more worried about the ex-coach and themselves, and if whether they are more focused on the trade period.

I disagree - i think its the wrong decision, but if it was to be done, it is the right timing. Steve Smith has a massive job - not sure a cushy MCC job and a long holiday is the right lead up. I hope Brad Green is telling porkies that we havent already got a plan re a replacement

Most of us are effectively paying collingwood supporters to go to watch their training

What a surprise- a little club is screwed over by a bigger club

Absolutely disgraceful by the HS someone from the club (Pert or Green) needs to call this witch hunt out.

Perhaps he’s waiting for next year when Collingwood have a first round draft pick in the top5

Is this demonland’s jumping the shark moment?

Didn’t Harrison Petty say he wanted to be closer to family in SA this time last year, and then signed not that long ago for a couple more years? Seemed like they managed to work through that “crisis”

Roo out with a groin injury according to C7

Harris killed us last game. Focus on stopping Vlaustin this week and Tom Stewart next week? Maybe that’s the role they have in mind.

Plus it’s a good way of applying a handicap. Seems like we are the only team amongst the top ranked who get 2 of them. surprised Carlton got 1

As bad as we were last night at least I felt there was effort and pride not to let it become a smashing. Imagine being a dogs supporter.

A couple of times when he has accelerated into a ground ball, grabbed it cleanly, and exited a pack before anyone can touch him (as though time has stopped) reminds me of one of our greatest players.

kudos to 2 of the favourite whipping boys. Seeing Tmac on the backline made me very nervous but watching him really closely at the game I thought he was fantastic. He made great decisions about when to play off and support other defenders and when to lock on one on one. I was expecting a howler or 3 with the ball, but his disposal was as good as any of the other defenders today, taking short and powerful kicks that hit the targets with 83% efficiency (according to the stats). also BBB - presented well, clunked a few, but used his gogogadget arms to get the ball to the ground in pretty much every contest he was involved in. both of them have bigger challenges ahead, but I was shocked we picked both this week after compromised pre-seasons, and I was wrong.