Pates

No to Lyon, is still have hope for Goodwin but 2020/2021 are huge years when you look at the age of certain players on the list. If we have another bottom 4 finish then I do think Goodwin should be in the cross hairs, but I don't think Lyon is the answer.

So much of the hope in our club depends on TMac either returning to form as a top forward or at least us creating a cohesion that means we kick a winning score. Our forward and midfield are on two different planets right now, doesn't help that our accuracy on goal is terrible.

I think we will still have our trip to Geelong and a trip to Tassie but I can only hope, but we also have to consider that we have already got an away match under our belt so really in theory we should be dropping at least one of the tough trips we had left. It would be a dream if we managed to play the cats at the G and see the Pies be sent down there. But I just have this sneaking suspicion that even though there is no reason for them to gain this advantage, the likes of the Pies and Tigers will still be given a dream run at the G. You'd hope in theory they would look to give the teams that finished lower last year a better run of home games in the interest of fairness. If crowds are a possibility in Alice Springs I hope we retain that game.

Look I didn't like our round one performance but aside from the first quarter the Eagles never blew us away. In Perth, having to travel, found out the decision on the season postponement on the bus; I'm not saying it mitigates a lackluster performance after a big pre-season of blowing winds of change but we've got one game to go on and we were beaten by a flag favourites at their home by 27 points. It could've been a lot worse.

I wonder if the AFL is going to look at any scratch matches being played between clubs in order to give players not selected a bit of match fitness.

So far Watts for pick 31 (taking Fritta with it) is looking a positive trade.

Bennell? We've heard good news about him when we've been in lockdown, including that he might even be ready come the restart, if that's the case where is he?

Completely agree on the Fox Footy decision to play music after goals, cringe and also takes you “out” of the game. It works for the lab stuff because it’s unique, but every goal replay is just distracting.

I doubt we’ll get much info on this for a while but keen to know how Bennell is tracking once he hits more match sim related stuff.

I mean I get it, they’re trying to minimise things but really you’re playing a game where the players are tackling each other and getting into mails of groups when extracting the ball. Are they going to give everyone a disinfectant spray at each stoppage? Social distancing on the bench seems OTT, but perhaps it’s more about sending the right message.

Totally agree, WA as well should be considered. I’m not sure how keen they will be to have thousands of travelling fans coming to the games though. Could well be that it has to be locals only which (should it be a local team playing) will make it a one sided home game, which they would argue they have had to deal with all this time. Difference being they have been afforded the chance to go watch if they can get a ticket. EDIT just to add though, I will take a one sided crowd GF over an empty MCG GF.

Good call, won a Brownlow and then we traded him out only two years later. Plus staying true to form we then completely squandered those picks.

I guess to expand on my club culture thoughts, we had with him and quite a number of talented players a lack of ability to develop them into top grade AFL players (I’m sure some would argue that still exists). One of those things to do with development is the ability to make those players make the right choices on and off the fields. I’m not naive to believe that every star or A grader is a perfect person in society but I would also imagine that the majority of them at least got the best out of themselves when they were “cleanest”. The WC team with Cousins and co is probably the outlier here but I’d be willing to bet that while Dusty may not have entirely given up his previous lifestyle when he was only a talented player and nothing more, I would imagine he has got a lot more professional in his outside life. I also believe that there were people at the tigers that gave him the straight shot to tell him to pull his finger out, don’t forget he shopped himself around and got little interest because of his attitudes. My longwinded point is it’s two fold, the player has to want to be better and not go out on a binge, but the club has to also be equipped to be able to pull the best out of them not only as a player but as a human being.

I’m not too fussed about us not featuring in the first game but I really don’t want us to be relegated to the 1pm Sunday slot again. But we need to win again, 2019 undid so much of the hard work done to get respect again. We’re not big enough to fail and still get good treatment.

Question though: was he that sort of a player because our club culture was so bad already? Had he had better role models around him, a stronger support network, not to mention a club that actually wanted to win, would he have continued partying and binging? I suppose we’ll never know but he was another example of prime talent handed to us with us being able to squeeze very little out of him.

Interesting, if they're going to be playing more matches with shorter turnarounds I can't imagine why they wouldn't increase the bench to provide better abilities to manage players through this truncated season.

Jeez the picture of him for the article doesn't look great. I'm not trying to derail the conversation to mitigate his own personal choices, at the end of the day he had free will to make his own path, but our club at the time was such a disgrace and I really did think we had a player with him. He absolutely killed it in the final against the Saints, he racked up possessions easy and was a decent kick of the footy. He should've been a long term top player for us, instead we brought in the tanking culture to go on top of an already poor club culture. He went to Carlton, which to me smacked of arrogance when talking with distain about the tanking attitudes at Melbourne. Carlton were just as bad as us, they just did it early enough to not cop any sanctions.

That is honestly one of the dumbest things I’ve heard from a politician, right up there with Trump. So his answer is that the entire competition and put all other 16 clubs into a quarantine hub just to suit his states rules and TWO of 18 clubs. What a muppet.

I actually really love the fact he wears his helmet mainly for his mum. The studies done on wearing helmets show minimal (if any) assistance to persistent concussion issues, but he wears it because he knows his mum worries.

Perhaps in years to come we will get more of an inside scoop on it, it would potentially make an interesting (if horrific) documentary. Geelong were bloody good and we were bad, but 186 points? Nah. There were gangrenous rots in the club which created it, those in charge didn't solve the problem (in fact they made it worse). I look back on those years and actually wonder how the club managed to survive. We were an embarrassment to the competition.

You would have to imagine that when full training resumes the club would be using Casey as the primary training base. May not have the same access to facilities, plus it's a decent distance from the city but it would be the best opportunity for the club to have a controlled environment.

He's already on the list whether he fully recovers from this latest injury or not. I have my fingers and toes crossed for him. Will be interesting to see how those recovering go when they return back, I'm sure they've done mountains of work to get back to health but getting minutes into them in match simulation will be key to see if they can handle return to matches.

It sucks for the WA and SA clubs but you'd imagine in oder to give them compensation for having to do hubs they will try to give them long runs at home leading to the end of the season. I still think it's an overreaction by the WA and SA governments to impose such strict situations on AFL clubs, but at the same time I get it. Both states have prevented outbreaks, while WA in particular has vulnerable communities that could cause massive problems. Health trumps professional sport. I wonder if the AFL has put forward to both States a mini hub of their own, as both states have low amounts of cases could the WA/SA clubs play each other first. Then thats at least three games, maybe over a week and a half/2 week period that they aren't in a hub.

Only thing I can surmise with North wanting more games (in a shortened season) in Tassie is a competitive advantage with knowing how to play the conditions there. I’m just wondering if perhaps we might consider doing two back to back games in Alice Springs, particularly if crowds are allowed back up there. Against say Bulldogs, Saints, Sydney etc though. I get sick of them sending Adelaide and Perth teams there when they have the existing support.

Watching it right now, such a funny moment for Wiz’s 6th goal. A great grab by Jeff to deny Robbo taking a speckie! So much excitement in that forward line.