binman

Nailed it.

Great post. His speech was brilliant i thought. I was super impressed. The best I have heard him speak publicly.

Seems logical given goody all but confirmed he would play next year. Any thoughts on where things sit now?

At the start of the bluey broadcast they had pretty slick video intro with a montage of shots of them getting on and off planes and busses and shots of them arriving at different grounds with text super imposed with stuff like 6 flights, 8 stadiums, 64 bus rides, five states etc. You can see it here (it is at the very start):

Seriously, you could not make this [censored] up.

Can confirm. I have heard a rumour though, from a very reliable source, that the club is desperate for him to stay and has put a big money offer to him, but that he has said if they trade his brother he is gone.

This is a good point. Players might be fine with goody, but the best players might be jack of some of their teamates. If I was oliver busting my gut week in, week out I would be far from thrilled with efforts of melksham this year for instance. And a star like trac even if not frustrated by his teamstes, might look around and conclude this group aint going to take me to the mountain top, not matter how good a coach goody is.

Spot on Titan. And also Nudge. Totally agree with your comments. A few random related thoughts: The culture in footy is never make excuses and blame injuries or external factors such as draws etc for poor results. Be that as it may there is no denying we got shafted this year by the AFL in terms of where and when we had to play (no coincidence this was highlighted in the video montage at the sart of the bluey or again by Goody in his speech) You don't reckon the players would have royally [censored] off about that? I do. It is bulltish we had to go to Cairns. We play those two game at Metricon or the Gabba and we make finals. Of that i have no doubt. I'm no making excuses, but with the players, all hubbed together and having no space to think or get outside calming voices, it is easy to imagine angst building and thoughts like the Pies would never get treated like that being verbalized In any year that the team doesn't meet expectations there is going to be a level of discontent In any year, even successful ones, there will be a group of players angry or frustrated with how they have been treated - maybe feel they have been played out of position, didn't get games they felt they should have, other players selected ahead of them, annoyed at the coach for whatever reason (eg thinking he is playing favorites) etc etc That sort of end of season angst has no doubt been the case since 1859, but these days is amplified and made public by social media and the gossip fueled media that feeds off scuttlebutt How best for a player these days to make their angst known? - strategically leak it (perhaps by their player manager) to a family member, friend or associate you know is a total gossip and won't be able to resist telling someone And having done so, that info will find its way to a footy form where a poster will not be able to resist sharing the tidbit - perhaps to grind an axe, perhaps because of an agenda (eg they hate the coach) or most likely they just like sharing gossip (nothing wrong with that - who doesn't like gossip?) This stuff happens every year, and will do so forever - it happened last year with trac for instance and he signed a new 2 year contract. Go figure

I'm confused. No compensation would make up for you crying? And even if it could, who would pay it and what would it be? A thousand smiles? Some chuuckles. Maybe 2000 guffaws?

Yes he was. It wasn't live.

Yep. Add in some of your mates have literally just been sacked, some are going to another club (you know that but few outsiders do) and. there is the usual angst associated with any team that fails to meet expectations. On top of that one of the teams in your resort is playing finals. And you either head home to lock down in Melbourne or stay in the most boring beach town on earth.

I think it was draw your own conclusion about whether the bluey was a pre record

As goody mentioned we have changed our game plan quite a bit this year (no easy thing to do and some players struggle with learning new stuff i reckon). We are much more defensive and the model requires all team buy in to maintain the zone. Part of the defensive shift is much more defence with ball in hand, tempo footy. We are more systems focused than ever and so roles are super important. A combination of learning new systems (which is hard at the best of times) and a model that does not leave much space for playing on instinct is hard yakka. Add in the hub, all the weird selection decisions and not making finals and you get a recipie for discontent. And selling that system whilst also maintains morale and buy in AND being ruthless is a pretty tough ask for any coach.

About?

That's my vibe too jb. He's gonski

Which pandemic is that? The one your boy Carlson thinks donnie has done such a bang up job dealing with?

I hope he gets bloody ruthless with melksham. Played every game of the season. Probably in our top 5 paid players. Or close. A senior player. And comes 13th in the bluey. Without wanting to diminish his cooments, I wonder if the shout out by viney to the players who were on the fringe were influenced at all by Ayers not deserving if a spot being selected?

maybe it wasnt you? I wonder hiw he will go balancing being ruthless and building relationships?

give it a rest picket. Puss poor comment. Sledging a player and the club in 10 words.

I actually reckon he is. Just a vibe. Perhaps a coincidence but that was the best I have heard him speak. Bug respect for his comments about the fringe players

Wasn't having a shot or anything. Apologies if it came across a bit combative. On the back of what i thought was a number of strange selections (not dropping melk being one) wondering by goody I was wondering if his focus on relationships clouded his judgement sometimes. And iirc you said that was unlikely

Top right corner you can edit posts and delete text (though that won't remove it from anyone who has quoted it)

Well that support my arguments, not yours. The fact that that we had three players ranking so high in clearances suggests he did have a big influence. The predictably, or otherwise, of his tap work is largely a function of the set ups they design and practice in the preseason in training. Set ups designed by the mid field coaches. No point randomly hitting the taps to a spot if the mids don't know what he is planning to do. And maybe some of them 'aint too bright, and struggle to learn new patterns (jack says hi)?

Jeez you are being tough on Maxy AF. Sure his year wasn't as good as his last few but he was so far the best ruck man it is not funny. He played nearly 93% game time and almost all of that time in the ruck. Was smashed and physically targeted all year by opposition thugs, sorry rucks. Since the Port game carried at least two pretty serious injuries that we know off (and no doubt other niggles) - a lat tear and a PCL. The latter an injury that often means six weeks plus on the sidelines. Incredible he played as many games as he did, particularly given the travel schedule, compressed fixturing and that fact Goody barely gave him a chop out all season (by comparisons Nik Nat only played 69% game time and did much less travel). Was ranked 8th for average contested marks, with nearly two marks per game (as a comparison Nic Nat had 0.4 a game) and second most hit outs per game. In terms of influence, like most rucks (less so nic nat because he is he is different sort of player) he needs his mids to be switched on and have really effective systems in place by the coaches. With justification, you have been critical of both these elements at different times this year. If his mids get tackled immediately or don't give it off when they have a chance, or don't block an opposition player sharking his taps then his influence is diminished. Worked his guts out all season and in every game. One of the few dees players i saw who gritted his teeth and put every ounce of effort into games when they were eon the line. One of our few true leaders. And was a brilliant skipper to boot. In his first go as skipper, in an incredibly tough year. Fully deserves his AA spot. I'd make him captain.

Max was and is a far better than Natanui, a hugely over rated player.