Pates

Honestly we can't go into next season with both of them. I think Trac has slightly more currency, perhaps a first rounder, Clarry would be a second rounder at best at this stage.

Just want to say to you guys thanks for the podcast in these grim a difficult times. I felt broken after that first saints loss earlier this season, I came to your poddy and it helped with understanding more about the game tactically and what we were actually doing right in amongst the garbage. Unfortunately watching this weekends loss to the Saints has broken me further, I officially am not investing my time, my energy, and my emotions into a club that for a very long time has had absolutely insipid culture of allowing the sort of thing like Sunday to occur. We hold the greatest losing margin record, and the second greatest losing margin (186), and now we hold the greatest choke in the last quarter of all time by giving up a 46 point lead to a team that looked average at best throughout the game. I'll still pay my membership, and I'll still be a fan. But it think I'm stepping away from this season because they have managed to break me in new and creative ways. I'm just done. Thanks guys

I think you need to take a step back to see there are a lot that aren't advocating for his sacking but are also not defending him. I see him as someone who peaked at the premiership year and sat back on his achievements expecting it to continue because, "we are that good". He has failed to innovate, he's failed to develop, he's failed to draw quality players, and he's failed to manage the list to ensure we stayed up the top. For these reasons I won't be upset if the club decide to move him on. But here's where I'm at: who are we moving him on for? What is the plan? My personal opinion is that he has his next year of his contract and he get his go around, I would be tempted to have it as a swan song with another coach set up in succession. The other thought is that we don't make that as a public announcement but we get high quality assistants in to be ready to step up if/when it's needed. I fear that just going for the axe leaves us vulnerable to be in the exact position that the Bombers and Blues have been in for a while. Remember that the club's focus is on getting Caulfield over the line.

I feel like week to week this has been my highest frustration with Goody and his cohorts. There seems to be next to no selection integrity and clear direction. It's not like he sends players to the VFL and rewards them after a body of good work, they go there for a week, maybe two, and they're back whether they've killed it or been poor. It's clear that Goody has his favourites that he refuses to move either out of the team or to different roles (strangely I have no idea how TMac ended outside of that list!), and as you say it doesn't feel like there are strong enough voices saying to him, "Goody, you have blinkers on." I would be far more inclined to keep Goody FOR NOW, and set up a direction for succession. Simon may not like it (that's fine with me) but it puts him firmly in the cross-hairs. I look at our assistant coaching lines and shake my head. I also agree that I wonder how things would've tracked if we had gone with Jackson's pick for successor. I never felt great about Pert at the helm and it feels like he and Goody have been giving jobs for the boys.

My personal thoughts are we need to get rid of Alan Richardson before we get rid of Goodwin. Richo has been responsible for assembling our sub-par assistant coaching ranks and I feind it incredible that it's not talked about more than he moved our premiership winning defensive coach, where defence was our strong points, to being our forward coach despite never playing forward during his career. I think Goody gets his next year but there needs to be contingency plans in place and honestly I don't see any existing currently. Changing Goody for the sake of it just feels like the old Melbourne. I'm not giving him a pass and I really can't see him being the one to turn it around, but if we sack him without a genuine plan it'll be like jumping out of a plane and trying to invent a parachute while you fall.

I had a feeling this wasn't going to go our way. It's a prime chance for the AFL tribunal to rub out a name player from a minow club that aren't competing for finals (far less controversy), while saying, "see we are protecting the head!" What they are asking of May and the whole playing fraternity is to do the impossible with split second decisions. The fact that May isn't liked through most of the fan bases and even they are saying this is bull tells you everything you need to know. It's not even close to a 50/50 split. The fact that Moore's kne got nothing more than a fine, and player has a bruised kidney and can't fly, is a bigger slap in the face. He's clearly leading with his knee in dangerous ways, but that's totally fine. Contesting the ball in a 50/50 contest, nah give him 3 weeks. The game from an umpiring and tribunal perspective is getting close to unwatchable.

I don't agree with 3 weeks, I would've accepted 2 weeks as a football act that had an unfortunate result. But it's moments like this that make you infuriated with others *cough Maynard* getting off. If May doesn't contest the ball he gets labelled soft and a squib by the media and fans, as well as getting a stern word from the coaches. He had to contest it, he had eyes only for the ball, he was a fraction late. I'm taking the positive from this though, we need to start planning for life after May and this HAS to be the moment the coaches return Petty to his rightful spot in defence.

I have no idea if this Lever talk has any merit, honestly if he was not properly informed well in advance then that isn't cool by the FD and Goody. But if we were to trade away a player that might actually have some currency then Lever could be one. To clarify, I'm not saying we should do it, but given we have Howes showing some real development while Disco has taken big leaps this year AND we have Petty who is a much better defender than a forward, we have coverage.

I get this impression that North Melbourne's (and probably ours as well to be fair) QC/lawyer is Lionel Hutz, while Carlton's and Collingwood's is Mr Burns's massive crack team of lawyers.

You would think if they were going to contest it they would come armed with more than, "I didn't mean it, promise!" I don't think he meant to cop Sparrow high but he acted recklessly in the situation, this ban will hopefully mean he adjusts his style of play going forward to avoid knocking players out.

Sure sympathy for a guy who recklessly throws his arms and completely knocks an opponent out. Meanwhile if Kozzie even looked at another player with intent, "give him 5 weeks!"

Difference is that ANB wasn't at early pick, but in essence fans are way too impatient. They're expecting every player drafted to show their worth after 5 games and if they haven't then they're on the pile. I like Kolt's energy and willing to give him time to find his groove, I feel like he will be one of those "when it clicks" sort of guys that we may be waiting and waiting and then suddenly one day he'll announce himself.

The funny thing is that every Melbourne fan sees it, and would be absolutely on board with them putting him in cotton wool and getting whatever surgeries he needs done. So I don't understand why the match committee persist with him when a) he's hampered, and b) he isn't even playing well and is in fact a liability at times.

Hope he kicks a goal and everyone gets around him. This run of games that I would classify as "winnable" could actually be very important for shaping 2026. I'm so sick of losing to the Blues, especially since we've been dudded and/or dudded ourselves in most of the losses. That "lie on the line" from Petracca's match winning goal still annoys me, a total guess from the goal ump.

Prior to his injury I had AMW as one of the breakout players for the season, I really hope he's able to come back in good nick. Surely he gets a 2 year extension.

To me Jake doesn't look right physically, when the ball hits the deck he looks slow and lost at sea. If he is carrying an issue that could be resolved by surgery I'll be livid if the club opt to do it at the end of the season rather than just getting it out of the way now. TMac can cover Jake, if May is not right we can put Petty in his rightful position in defence. Management of players has been as issue for a long time, I'd hate for Lever to be another victim of it.

I haven't been able to watch the full game, but it's really heartening to hear Jeffo given praise because honestly the rest of the conversations have been far more negative (forgetting that he is a year younger than JVR). I really want them to persist with him in the team, and I'm hopeful that with Petty likely to return they send Petty back to defence to cover May. Or at the very least keep him in the team and have JVR/Jeffo alternate as the second forward. We have to give them time, if they don't make it then so be it but we can't say we didn't try.

I listen to both DeeBrief and Demonland for different reasons. I feel like Demonland does far more of a deep dive and in fact the DeeBrief boys do even admit "I haven't checked the stats, but..." so what I get from them is more about the passion and the vibe which does to be fair often reflect a lot of what other fans feel. I haven't listened to this honest deep dive, I might do that later, but if they are suggesting Buckley is our best replacement option that sums up our position with Goody. Change for change's sake isn't going to help the situation. I think we're all just fed up and frustrated that we haven't gone on with a great foundation to have more success (even just finals wins!).

What's the fix on-field or off-field? Logically off-field gets a natural boost if what happens on the field improves. So with that in mind I would have us look at would be to move on from Alan RIchardson, and at the same time look to improve our team of assistants. Jones can stay but he should be doing an apprenticeship not be in charge of the midfield. I would move Chaplin back to defence and maybe just maybe we can get someone who was actually a forward and knows the craft to be in charge of the forward line. I would also say thank you and goodbye to Mark Williams, our skills are deplorable and I just can't help but feel a new voice is needed there.

Absolutely ideal world would have had JVR being under the wing of Brown, but his body was shot when we got him. We managed to squeeze enough out of him to get a premiership but I also wonder if we did not manage him properly. I think of a stretch where we had something crazy like 3 games in 15 days and he played all of them, big shock his knee was cactus after that. I absolutely agree with what is being said that we are not developing him in the best way possible, not only is he having to player the key forward role, but he's also got to be second ruck to Max. At this stage of his career his is neither of those things, and it's killing him. I still have hope, but he is not a big hulking key forward and he never will be.

Underwhelming INs to be honest. I'm probably the odd one out but I'm not overly upset if Jeffo gets another week at it. It won't happen but I really want to see Tom Campbell given a second ruck role, let JVR just be a bloody forward for a day. The trade off could be that we leave Jeffo out, plonk TC up forward as a tall target. We really should be winning this and if we don't, Goody should feel really uncomfortable going into Monday. I'm not totally on the sack Goody side of things but losing to North twice has to fall on his shoulders.

I'm actually really glad that someone has brought this up. Goody is the figurehead and gets all the criticism (rightly or wrongly) but it has shocked me that Richo escapes the conversation. Listening to the Demonland podcast something I actually agreed with from @binman was that the coach is actually overrated in his influence and importance. I ultimately think that while he is the head of it, it is a coaching team, and much like some of the players we have they are simply B-grade. To me that responsibility lands on RIcho as he should be always looking to make sure we have the best coaches across all lines and roles. Personally I don't think he has succeeded in that. You could also argue that he is responsible for our high performance program, or at least finding the best people for those roles. Again, looking at our drop since 2021 I think it's hard to make an argument that they have had us in the top tier of this area.

So I don't mind our selections, and I feel like I'm a lone wolf in feeling like Sharp isn't a total flop of a player. What I am struggling with is the balance within the team and like for like selections. JVR out for Jeffo? Forward for forward, but one plays as a back up ruckman and can crash packs (supposedly) while the other is more a lead up forward with more craft about his patterns. I would have far preferred Jeffo come in TO PLAY WITH JVR. Windsor for Kolt? Young for young, I'm ok with it but they're different positions. Lever out, and Sharp in? Clearly not like for like. Howes will have to play in the Lever role, which I don't mind him being given that chance. I just feel like this isn't maximising our available list (and really we have a good injury list). Petty being played as a forward is killing him, get him back as a defender swing man. This was a golden chance to do it with Lever out. Jeffo and JVR need to have a block of playing AFL together, if the coaches really think they're our future then given them that chance. The season is cooked so I just want to see development, I just have question marks over whether they are selecting players in the best way to achieve that.

If (big if) he was interested in coming to us we should be pursuing it. Now it's not going to solve the problems we have entering the 50 but it would mean we actually have someone to target that can take a mark and kick a goal. Look at the one time our forward line actually functioned, Big Benny Brown was our key pillar. It wasn't just what he did with the ball coming his way it was the fact he took the main defender and we could build around it.

Honestly I don't think enough credit has been given to our draft/trading team for this, they knew this year was going to be highly compromised and by all reports weaker. Compare that to last season where it was a well rated draft, and we picked up Langford and Lindsay. I obviously want us to finish as high as possible to diminish Essendon's position, but the truth is that it makes little difference to us. Ultimately, I just want us to get as many wins as possible and launch into next season with some solid foundations.