binman

Agree we should play nibbla. Absurd to suggest we wouldn't honour a plsyer who had given so much to the club But no player considering us would give a fig if we did or didn't. I mean, after all they are leaving their own club and any decision to leave has already been made. It's just dealin' that needs to be done. But in any case, I'm deeply suspicious of 'media reports'. Media creating 'fairy tales for profit' would be closer to the mark.

The cats would also have to triple their player welfare spending - imagine stengle and clarry in the same team! On stengle, it's crazy how him completely passing out cold in night club in season has got so little attention. I mean bloke's got form and he get so hammered he collapses in public and there's crickets. I mean, that's probably a good thing, but it's hard not feel the media pick and choose who they will denigrate.

I don't even want to watch it! Gutted. The last time i was close to being this upset about a player leaving is when with the wiz left for freo.

Yep, top idea. Langers is the only comparable athlete to nibbla we have on our list.

But unfortunately we'll still have to watch players running their guts out with ball in hand, and look forward and realise noone is gut running to provide an outlet option.

I think we can assume we did so because it was the best thing for clarry.

And not only that, clearly struggled rehabbing his hammy in terms of, for the first time in his career, not having the structure and routine playing each week provides. By all accounts he is working very hard on his wellbeing and has a good formal support network in place. I have little doubt part of the thinking behind not getting his hand sorted was ensuring he had the structure of playing each week in place. And the reality is a 70% clarry is better than any other option we had. (Though he looked closer to 50% in the second half against port so good time to swap him out).

Who have we traded out that is an elite athlete? Jordon isn't, Beford is. And we didn't trade out either, both left of their own accord. Look at our current list. How many elite athletes do think we have with the sort of attributes Nibbla has (eg elite endurance, high cruising speed - striding speed as they call it - and ability to back up week after week)? I reckon the list stops at Langers, Windsor, Mcvee, maybe Chin, maybe Spargo and at a stretch Howes.

And unquestionably still be our best midfielder this year.

No doubt a deal will get done. But I very much doubt we'll play hard ball - I'd be very disappointed if we did. I'm one of nibbler's biggest fans, gutted that he's leaving and think will improve any club he goes to. But i don't think he significantly increases Port's chances of a flag Crom's changes of a top eight finish. In part that's because port, and to a lesser extent crows, have players with nibbla most important skill set - his elite athleticism. Because nibbla took time to become a best 22, and was somewhat maligned when he did, it's easy to forget that his point of difference as a draftee, his one wood, was he was already an elite athlete, with good leg speed (key) and elite endurance (critical). Those attributes remain his most important as since he was drafted the game has become increasingly aerobic and teams now need mutiple players who are elite athletes. Nibbla has become the prototype high half forward, a role that didn't really exist when he was drafted (not in the sense of the crazy box to box defensive running the hhf now does). The HHF has become a key role. Its not just a matter of slotting another role player into position, they have to be an elite athlete, with a massive tank and abilityt8 cover distance at speed - and they don't grow on trees as like nibbla they have to come into the AFL elite and build from there. It's for that reason that we'll lose more than either port or crows will gain by drafting nibbla. We simply don't have enough such players and will have to either draft or trade one in - even if there is a player in the team now who can slot into nibblas role (which I'm not convinced there is). Nibbla leaving compounds losing Bedford as he would be the perfect replacement.

Well, we won't actually get a read on his true market value given he's there's only 2 options for a destination club. The crows and port have the whip hand in negotiations and I doubt will get into any bidding war.

We can thank the media's strategy of creating a dramatic "(insert club here) is in chaos" narrative to drive clicks and advertising revenue for that.

Processing.

Eddy is right this year - round twenty four IS our Grand Final.

@WheeloRatings I was about to post: I'll preface this with an admission maths isn't my strong suit (well if you don't count calculating betting returns) and that perhaps i'm just having a brain fade, but it still doesn't look right. At the very real risk of embarrassing myself (something i AM good at), looking at the data for Port's overall score, which i get excludes rushed behinds it is 7.6.48, so 13 scoring shots in total. If Port converted ALL 13 scoring shots into goals that would be 78 points. Yet the expected score is 78.8 I'm glad i didn't because i just realised my error. They didn't have 13 scoring shots, they had 26! I assume five of those 26 shots were rushed behinds. Am i right in sating that means that on 8 occasions they either didn't make the distance (and it wasn't knocked though for a point) or kicked it on the full? On a night that was still and dry that seems an awful lot of shots at goal that failed to register a score.

And what is wrong with tracc being upset about things that impact him? I don't know about others, but I've never worked in a single workplace, even high performing, productive ones achieving its strategic goals, where every one is happy all the time or there aren't some people who are disgruntled to some degree. I imagine in the hyper competitive, cut throat, alpha environment of AFL footy clubs that's even more the case - even at clubs having great seasons.

Very good points, as it highlights the play through pain idea as a philosophy that might permeate the culture in general, ie not just the conditioning aspect. Tracc sub consciously feeling he had to come back on might be an example of the impact of that philosophy. Many, including commenators lauded may for coming back still feeling the effects of his broken ribs, so it's not as if its a philosophy unique to the dees Perhaps tracc has reflected on why he decided to say he was OK to go back on when he clearly wasn't. Another way the pay through pain mantra (perfect word for it) might cause issues is people all have different pain thresholds. I wonder if there is a risk of some players feeling judged by others for not being as keen to push through the pain barrier or worry about being labelled as soft.

Very reasonable questions - particularly about the efficacy long term of a model that has players repeatedly saying variations of 'no club trains harder than we do'. Maybe the Burgess Griffith method and philosophy has a shelf life? Maybe every method does. There are so many variables (eg the impact of two byes, evolution of game plans) and mitigating factors (injury, interrupted preseasons, youth of the list) it's hard to fairly assess the high performance program. But as is my wont I like to lean into known facts. And one clear fact is the only part of the season where we were running out games to a level the game demands is in the first seven or so rounds- ie when you'd expect us to be in the best possible condition. And another fact is blind freddy can see that, as evidenced by a number of data points (eg our last quarter scoring)we are paddling atm. On the positive side of the ledger, we have once again had comparatively very few soft tissue injuries.

Spot on. And as much as i can't stand Morris, he, and his masters, are only responding to demand from consumers. One of the curious things about the discussion about social media platforms prioritizing hate and division in their algorithms is the one way criticism. That's to say its all reserved for the platforms and their owners and none for their consumers - us. The algorithm is simply responding to what consumers are attracted to - anger, car crashes, conflict. It's ever been thus - for example the wall to wall coverage Jack The Ripper received - sold a lot of newspapers at the time. If we feed the trolls we get what we deserve.

That's exactly right. Many in the media are agin the sort of long term contract the club offered tracc. Much of that revolves around a club being stuck with player who is not performing relative to their wage - gaff being one recent example - creating problems for the club in terms of their salary cap (eg can't bring in a gun they want). But one of the obvious advantages of long term contracts is in a scenario where a gun still playing great footy wants to leave. As i have noted i'm not going to let the stupid footy media pull my strings, but lets say hypothetically Tracc was adamant he wanted to go. There is very little chance we don't force him to honour his contract (unless we are offered deal that is too good to refuse - in which case we win from any deal). In days gone by the counter to that has been clubs won't keep players who want out. That may still be true of fringe best 22 players but less and less of club's best players. The dees have form in this space just last year in not countenancing Petty being traded to the Crows. But a more relevant example of keeping an elite, multiple AA, absolute gun player to their contract is the Lions flat out refusing to trade Neale back to Freo. Like the lions, we have the whip hand with Tracc. This all feels like the bog standard play of a player manager flexing for their client via the media. We're not there yet, but in American sports, particularly the NBA (with its small rosters and outsize impact of superstar players on teams' chances of success) the superstars often have an outsize influence (much to the chagrin of many) they can parlay into driving changes they think should happen. Tracc may well have strong views on what he thinks should change at the club. In fact i'd be very surprised if he didn't - he's a very smart bloke who is super driven and super competitive. He wants to win another flag. And as a genuine superstar he has influence. I have no issue with him wanting to use that influence, if that what's is happening - particularly if it helps address things we need to improve. But that doesn't mean fans need to buy into the chaos, there is problems at the dees narrative the media wants to drive for purely financial reason (ie clicks = advertising revenue). Again, rather than giving oxygen to innuendo, or using the media's classic unsubstantiated 'apparently' and/or 'sources tell me' ruse to bolster criticisms we might have of the club ('see i told ya the players hate the game plan!') i'd rather focus on known facts. One of which is multiple players have resigned - a clear vote of confidence in Goody, the club and it's direction. Take Windsor. Pick seven and clear to everyone he is a gun. There was no need for him to extend now. He could have waited until next year or the year after - and surely would have if he had any significant concerns about the club. A prototype player for the modern game - fast, smart, great runner, good tank and solid foot kills - after another AFL preseason and season under his belt he would have had multiple clubs clamoring after him next year, or the year after, including flag contenders. But unlike say Harley Reid, who apparently is 'happy at the Eagles, but is in no rush to sign a contract extension' , Windsor extended his contract in the first year of a three year contract, keeping him at the club at least 'till the end of the 2028 season. Caleb's vote of confidence in the club (and Petts, Kolt, Koz etc etc), which by the by came only three weeks ago, is not half whispered scuttlebutt - it is a cold hard, irrefutable fact. I'll take facts over fiction every single day of the week.

Not only accept it as fact, but it also magically becomes incontrovertible proof of all that is supposedley wrong with the club. It feels a bit like the one day stock market crash the other day that had maga so excited - finally proof of the inevitable biden/harris economic collapse they had long predicted! Nek minnit, stocks stabilise and it's crickets. I don't doubt tracc and his family are, or were, frustrated with how the club handled his injury. To be honest I think it was yet another example of our poor comms and crisis management, not dissimilar to the mismanagement on the comms front (my view) of clarrys hamstring and associated noise last year I'm hoping the new comms person sorts our issues in this space because for mine it is a recurring problem. But rather than allowing a tool like Morris pull my strings, I'll lean into known facts. Which include the fact that petty, kolt, Windsor, koz, mcvee, turner, jvr, Jefferson and langers have all signed new contracts recently. That fact suggests it's a pretty good environment. Perfect? Of course not. Footy clubs never are. And another fact is there was similar noise and hand wringing (both in the media and ondemonland), in fact much louder, about clarry leaving after our crappy 2020 season. Ditto viney to the cats and koz to the crows. Every season there is such noise - particularly during down years. Where there's smoke there's rarely fire. I gave up worrying about losing players after Gerard Healy left. Of course I'd be gutted if we lost tracc, but I'm not going to waste a scintilla of energy worrying about it.

A vomit emoji would have been more fit for purpose!

@WheeloRatings - the x scores don't look right

That's my take too, ie the routine of training and playing is important in terms of his well being and his efforts to address his off field issues. I actually though they should have subbed him but wondered if not doing so was related to above (or perhaps JVR was even sicker).

Agree, I watched Clarry closely when he came to the bench. (i sit behind and above it). He looked absolutely cooked - more so than normal. So did Maxy