Cheesy D. Pun

Yeah, I'd love him in our forward half but tend to agree with your summary of the situation.

Yeah, that sort of thing drives me nuts. Goodwin is on a hiding to nothing. In my view, the coach is an important cog in the machine, but a cog nonetheless. His ability to utilise the skills of others should be seen as a strength, not a weakness. Goodwin strikes me as someone who has great relationships with the players at all the clubs he's been involved in. This shouldn't be underestimated - surround him with right coaching staff and we should start to see our results improve.

That's just plain disrespectful. Be better.

You can't blame anyone for leaving in that era. The club was a complete and utter shambles. Many potentially great young players had their careers ruined by incompetence - he didn't want to be one of them.

You want to start from the bottom? That isn't ruthless, it's something else entirely. One of the commonalities among all of the recent successful teams is that they went through a period of not quite making the grade when it seemed like they should. Throughout these periods, those teams didn't flinch. They made smart decisions and chipped away at their deficiencies. Hardwick had seven - what many here would call failed - seasons at Richmond before breaking through. Had Richmond jumped the gun and removed Hardwick, I doubt they would have had anywhere near the same success. That's not because his coaching skills are any better than the next guy but because when you make significant change in an organisation, it's not a free hit. If you lose ten guys from any organisation, that has an effect on everyone. It's not that substantial change should never happen, but you'd want to be damn sure - like North Melbourne probably are - that rebuilding your team, both from an on-field and cultural/morale standpoint is what you want. I don't think this is where our team is currently at. There are many areas that need improvement but let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Was just being cheeky, Picket. I'll bring it out when he's holding up the cup in 5 years time.

Already bookmarked but for a different reason.

Not sure he needs to bulk up but I'm no expert. It seems to me that he is rarely out-marked or knocked off the ball, even with such a slight frame.

Dees jumpers can produce some genuine miracles (Gary Moorcroft anyone?) but this is a step too far. Nothing can save that guy.

I love this. When someone posted his 2018 highlights here, I couldn't believe how lean he was. I know he's looked pretty cooked the last couple of seasons, but he's just such a unique player at his best and I'd hate for us to be be paying half of his salary to be torching us on the G' next season.

This guy is a gem! Despite some goalkicking issues, he still hit the scoreboard and was a fantastic undersized target. With games back to 20-minute quarters and a full 22 game fixture, it's not unreasonable to think he might kick 40+ goals next year. He has been a great find and exactly the kind of left-field recruiting we need to replicate, if we're going to make a run over the next few years.

TMac is absolutely right - Oscar's treatment by supporters is bloody horrible. You can challenge a player's position in the team without reverting to personal vitriol. Even on this site, which is mostly pretty respectful, I've gotten to the point where I look for keywords. If I see words like 'spud' or 'useless', I'll scroll past because it's immediately clear the person hasn't put much thought into their post. I'd imagine it'd be very difficult to simply scroll past that if it's about you.

Not really. I watch footy and make judgements in much the same way you probably do. Zero difference between you saying Smith is no good and me saying, he's got potential - they're both opinions.

I can understand this point but Wagner showed us everything he has. Through injury, Smith hasn't scratched the surface yet. I think he'll prove a few here wrong next season if he gets another injury-free pre-season.

Critiquing the coach is fine, but this sort of stuff is lowest common denominator. That said, I agree wholeheartedly with your final sentence. Coaches are just one piece of the puzzle - if those other pieces aren't in place, Clarko won't make an ounce of difference to results.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I really like Smith and think he just needs a bit of continuity. He's strong, quick and can play tall and small. His upside is enormous so I'm happy with the signing particularly given that he's likely to be on peanuts.

Hopefully Rucci is just doing his usual muckraking for the Crows. Here's a similar story from 2012 that didn't eventuate: Adelaide Crows move to steal fitness coach Darren Burgess from under Port Adelaide's nose

So, we wanted Frost ahead of Oscar who played just a few games for the year? It has to be realised, that isn't a tenable position to take as a club. Frost has gone to another club where he can play games of footy. If he was at the Dees, he'd have to replace either May or Lever, or wait for the opportunity in the odd game where matchups require a third tall. Don't get me wrong, Frost is fun to watch but I totally understand the need not to have such a chaotic player in our back half. Also, I think May might have enjoyed his year a little more without Sam there.

What is the obsession with only recruiting players if they are part of 'our future' or our 'next premiership'? Players that join a club bring things with them when they arrive and leave things behind when they leave. This team requires leadership. He has been a good leader at a good club and still plays at a high level. Even for one season, surely, you take that opportunity. The only valid argument might be that he takes the place of a young player but we're not exactly over-encumbered with talented young wingmen.

Richmond won a premiership while being 16th at stoppages. Midfields do much more than line up at stoppages.

Yeah, that all makes sense. As long as there's a plan and a target, I'm all for it. He's not worth moving for a pick in isolation but your example of Rivers at 32 is a good one - if we were guaranteed the opportunity to pick someone of that quality, you'd go for it. The problem is you generally don't know how the draft will play out.

As long as we're packaging up the picks for clear improvement in targeted areas, I'd be ok moving on any of these fringe players. On the flipside, if we're just going to use the projected pick to draft a player at around the same mark, it's pointless. ANB is useful to us now. A pick 40 in the draft is ANB, 6 years ago.

Absolutely agree with this. Recruiting speed for speed's sake is shooting yourself in the foot. Pressure, decision-making and foot skills are key.

You can't give a contract to someone that's actively trying to avoid talking to the club, his employer. If you're asked to come in for a job interview and you don't show, it can't then be a huge surprise that you don't get the gig.