Pates

Hate to say it but it's what is passing as a form of entertainment these days. You almost have to troll to get response and engagement from both fans and the media. I get where you were coming from that it felt a bit on the nose, but I feel like we need to start being able to gve as good as we get. Online for too long we have looked old, bland, and vanilla.

Gibbo was awesome and a great example of now knowing how good you have it until he goes. His content was a little ore polished and less social media, but it was really interested content that I always enjoyed. It should also be said the loss of Gus and Gawny to the club's online presence was felt. I'd love it if it got revived again, Gus could be a little more interviewer of Gawn being a non-player.

This is just random musings but I swear I've been noticing the clubs social media accounts being far more active and dare I say it more creative (or at least more relevant in the current climate). We had the CJ video doing the rounds, "Man of Steele", Checkers, and I just noticed a Max Gawn post referencing the Simpsons. One of my biggest criticisms of the club in recent years is our online presence has been absolutely shocking in creativity and fan engagement. I'm really hoping that the recent activity suggests they've addressed that and will be looking to be more than just a token account.

I think many North fans would argue that they are on much stronger ground than us. We don't even have a home base.

What I like about him is that he has an excellent athletic profile and an energy to take the game on. I think if we can utilise those attributes with good decisions he could be a real weapon. I can definitely understand the Frost-ball 2.0 connections but with any luck King will be able to put in place ways we can minimise those deficiencies. With us losing Judd I feel like this has filled that void almost immediiately with a player that has better one on one capabilities.

Sadly this is accurate. It looked like the rivalry was back and we were playing some tight contests which seemed to seesaw, but every since Gus it's been flat and one way traffic. Like many things we did it to ourselves. I'm not saying we should have done stupid crazy dog acts but we didn't fly the flag at all and chose to "move on" from it. The insipid attitude has matched our drop from relevance. It's a long way back now, the Pies have much bigger fish to fry.

I've heard Kentfield has a bit of mongrel about him. Fingers crossed he could be our next Disco Turner, and Bailey Fritch of a mature recruit. We also have AJ, who has angry running through his veins but is not AFL standard.

I was initially an absolute no to Buckley, but I have since softened. He had been widely considered one of the best football minds during his playing days, and his analysis is always insightful. I think he would command respect of the players due to his stature in the game, I just wonder what his style would be. Would he try to follow the trend or create his own?

Gawn and Viney are legends and club captains, but they are also past an age of certainty. Gawn I'm less annoyed about, but to me it felt like Viney was holding us over a barrel when we were vulnerable (with the Oliver/Trac issues). We need to stop being sentimental about players and caving to their demands. We have Viney contracted for another 2 years after this season, he's been average with some good performances in there. He's also symptomatic of our issues with ball use. I'm hopeful that a new voice will help extract a new role for him so we can get better balance, but we need to have more of an edge of "you either come with us how we want to do this next phase, or we can trade you to another club that will suit your needs". They are all warriors, and legends of the club. But did we really need to extend them as far as we did? I don't think so. I would've been/would be sad to see Jack go, but we need a new mix in the midfield. I reckon I can name on one hand the players we absolutely can't be without next season, everyone else is a question mark. EDIT: Just to add I feel like we are in the position we are more because of our contract decisions, with so many being high money and long term, than because of Goodwin's coaching. It has definitely hampered our ability to bring more quality to the club.

That is really surprising, I know Melbourne fans are disillusioned but a new coach and fresh beginning could actually bring a few back through the gates. Just on the pink lady aspect, this was so well done when it first started (aside from the AFL putting the umpires and the ball in pink, with us wearing pink in the yolk). This feels like the forgotten game amongst the "cause games". I really want to see us start with energy and a point to prove. We have a good record over the dogs and I'd even go so far to say we're a bit of a bogey team for the doggies. It being at the G just adds to it.

Honestly to me us extending Viney, May, and even Gawn for as long as we have is worse than giving Laurie an extra year. Unlikely he's on big coin from an AFL perspective.

Sadly we are. We've lost to all of those teams, all embarrassing in their own way. But here's a bit of positivity, I think our bounce back will be quicker than at least two of these teams.

It's a little sad that the madness of Goodwin getting sacked has meant this hasn't been given it's proper acknowledgement. I feel like I'm alone in this but I feel like he's been solid for us this season, he's been playing his role in a more high half forward sort of way (to cover the loss of Nibbler maybe?) and you know whatever happens he will not stop running. He was a key recruit and component to our 2021 premiership, have a lot of time for him. I would even go so far to say he's a leader/future leader of the club. Congrats Lingers! Bring some positivity this week!

As you say the grain of salt will be applied but if it's not home calling him then I'm confident we'll retain him. He's quality, his partner plays for our VFLW team. We plucked him from relative obscurity so I would hope a little bit of a nod at the faith we've shown in him would go a little way.

Am I right in saying we were playing him in defence for much of the season? I'd be really happy to see him get a crack at it, but lets not throw him to to wolves to make him the "main option".