Pates

The Fox Footy commentary team were doing everything to get him suspended, meanwhile Viney cops a fist to the face with eyes not on the ball and they shrug it off. The bias from them is honestly sickening at times. The Waterman free kick with May getting stuck into him was textbook him dropping his knees to initiate contact, but no they just say "not sure what he's complaining about it's a clear free". Guarantee if that's Fritta or Kozzie doing it they call out the drop of the knees.

I really hope big lessons have been learned from last years absolute dog's breakfast of a match at optus last season. Namely, show them respect. And tag Reid.

This is the big thing for me, for WAY too long Casey form has been ignored while "best 23" players get away with weeks of mediocre performances. This has been the case since 2022. It's time that the competition for spots results in players getting goes when their Casey form demands it. Fulla's deserved his shot, if he gets back to some good form and the players in the seniors don't perform he should get another go.

I think in a strange way tough is better, I kinda feel like we looked at the first 5-6 rounds and saw certain games as easy W's. We've been brought right back down to earth and now we will be the underdogs in most of those games (at least until we actually show we're the real deal).

I'm not at all happy about the final quarter differentials, I'm really hoping that the club has put that up on a wall somewhere and said, "we are not losing this game, and we are definitely not losing the final quarter".

I think this for me is one of the key reasons that I am frustrated and annoyed at Goody. Pre-game on the ABC broadcast they mentioned that we had (I believe) 15 premiership players out there while Geelong had 12. The experts were asked to discuss this and why then that Geelong were in a better position, Mick Malthouse pointed to Goodwin for too long being set that "these are the guys who won us the premiership" and not taking into account that that year we had individual brilliance of Trac, Oliver, Viney, Gawn, May, Lever, Petty, and Fritta. Now that all those players have trailed off (some much more than trailed off) the bottom end are being exposed for being average footballers that were playing at their absolute peak because they had the freedom to do so. Now that they are being relied upon to be something more they are shown to be what they are. He also then pointed to Geelong's ability to recruit for need and their aggressive style in doing it, they see a hole, they go and fill it with ready made quality. We have had holes in our line up since before the premiership, 2022 we also failed to take advantage of Casey's dominance and turn the list over. Bedford was an absolute failure, we was bashing down the door and yet we persisted with Spargo and Nibbler (who wasn't being as effective), while giving Chandler nibbles at playing. I've gone into a long winded rant to basically say this started a long time ago, I will always be thankful to Goody for helping us get a premiership, but his management of the team after that has cost us.

I'm sure someone would be able to give me a good reason why it was never a chance but I reckon the missed opportunity (apart from the obvious Olympic park one that we all know about) was the Elwood 9 hole golf club that's now being turned into wetlands. It's right next the VFA base of operations, already has two existing ovals, tennis courts, could've easily added swimming facilities as well, and it all could've been in one revamped complex. Also near Elsternwick station and trams so easy for public transport, could've made it a boutique sized stadium for AFLW. It's obviously a moot point now as the local council has committed to turning it into wetlands. I really hope this Caulfield project pans out.

Watch them sniff around JUH, bet you he will barely play a game for the rest of the season, the media will drop his worth down to a second round draft pick, and the Cats will do some kind of cheeky deal to get him over the line. Jeremy Cameron is getting on after all.

Probably still getting paid exactly the same though.

I honestly feel like our top 5 are still in the same ballpark as what they were in 2021, its our bottom 5-10 that has been the biggest issue. We won our premiership because our bottom 5 players were still capable and solid contributors, but for the last few years it's felt like most weeks we're carrying players. Even in 2022 when we started 10-0 our bottom 5 were pretty average (and Goodwin didn't have the guts to rotate the squad). Now this season our depth has been hit pretty hard, with Judd out you would've expected AMW to step right in. Koz out, McAdam was having a great pre-season until his injury. Melk is still a week or two away meaning our forward line is thin. It's no surprise that we had to turn to 6 new players 5 of which were playing their first AFL game. But we need to get back to that ethos of everyone is an important part of the team, everyone has to impact in some way. Oh and it's time Goody lit a fire under Fritta, if he plays a [censored] game again this week I'd be tempted to play him as the sub or drop him altogether.

Certainly not with the commentary shrugging it off as "nothing more than a free".

I honestly feel that it shouldn't be a role someone stays in for more than 3 years in any case. But Michael Christian does feel like he has favourites and takes others down harder. I can't work out the Archer decision, if the dogs player stays on his feet then it's just another contest, but because he gets a push in the back and falls to ground Archer gets punished for what I can see as an unavoidable collision. And yet Maynards was a "football act".

I’ve got zero expectations into this actually materialising into something. The real estate dealings have long been joked about in the AFL when attracting players to the cats. Now I’ve got no doubt there is the lifestyle change that does attract players to the cats, but they’ve still got to find ways to satisfy their financial expectations and there’s only so many times that you can hear players of salary sacrificing before you start to think there are multiple other avenues being utilised that are set up through the club but placed outside the cap. If it were a bulldogs, Melbourne, saints or North they’d be screwed, because it’s the cats I think it’ll be given the tick of approval like Carlton got with Visy (that was a certifiable disgrace).

So I've only been able to see the mini-match on FF so obviously small sample size but the standout point from it was seeing a lot on young/fresh faces involved in key positive moments, Caleb Windsor in particular looks an absolute jet and with an extra season seams to have got some core strength added to make him harder to tackle. Again small sample but I will say that it's so disappointing that like so many times last season we have the lead late only to give it up. We have a very big issue with defending from transition, it's telling that the final goal of the game came from deep inside our forward 50 (albeit from a kick in) and to me it just screams that we have the same major deficiency that we had when we lost that final to Carlton. Yes the kick in was a scrubber, yes there was an element of luck with the bounce of the ball, and but ultimately it appeared that GWS in that single moment wanted it more. It'll be interesting to see who comes out and comes in vs North, but it has to be a statement game. North aren't going to be the same easy beats as previous seasons, neither are the tigers for that matter, so we have to play to our absolute best and show that we are a team that is desperate to play finals footy again.

Ok now all I want is for some very patient person to create a stop animation of a significant Dees moment in Lego! Two moments that come to mind are Clarry's "Bang Bang Bang" goal in the GF, and Max Gawn marking and goaling after the siren vs Geelong.

I think it helped that it wasn't just one club that was in this position. Honestly if it had just been Carlton it's equally possible that the AFL may have just said "bad luck". I do think that because BOTH Melbourne and Carlton had suffered these LTI there was more of an inclination for common sense to prevail. Now why the AFL chose to make it that day in the first place rather than leaving it to Monday after everyone had played is another question. Really gutted for AMW, hopefully there can be good that comes from a really horrible injury. Welcome to the club Culley!

I'm absolutely gutted for AMW, I genuinely saw him as a player that could push for regular selection and potentially be in the 23 this season. Adding to that, much like McAdam, he had put in so much work in the off-season and now he has to put in the hard work in rehab to get back out there.

I feel like this is something the AFL should be trying to drum into players, by all means you can be homesick but if you are contracted and you want to return to your home city/state then the club you are contracted to should be allowed to negotiate with whoever will give the best deal. This idea of being contracted for another year or more and being able to hold the club to dealing with only one party is a joke. Adding to that if there were a scenario where Koz said at season's end, "I really want to go to WA, please deal with Freo" but WC are in a position to provide better compensation I want us to be blunt and say, "if WA is where you want to play next season this is your only option". If the contract is up, that's a different story.

Regardless of people's opinions on MacAdam, he'd put in a lot of hard work in the off-season and was almost a certainty to be a round one starter. He may not have been best 23 but you need players pushing hard for selection to make competition for spots, him being injured removes that. It's just sad he'll never get a clean run at it. As for the forgotten man in Spargs, how long has he been injured for? Will he ever get back?

Strangely seeing Kane throw his name into this only makes me feel better. His mail, his intuition, and a lot of his analysis has been shown to be way off base. Oliver is the best and most recent example, his word was that Oliver will never get back to full fitness and his broken, and that we should trade him for a packet of chips. Cheers for cheering me up Kane! EDIT: He was also pushing hard the agenda that he was going to go to Port last season and this season. In footy scuttlebutt I would trust my dog's intuition over his.

Damn I worked on last season of Tipping Point, I 100% would've made sure to get a pic with him and Neita if I'd worked on that show day! Fun show, good people all throughout.

I'm really glad we don't have anything to do with next season's "opening round". To me it felt disruptive to the start and unnatural when we had that early bye. Longer pre-season for preparation is a better deal IMO.

Thanks to the track watchers for these write ups. Hearing the Jeffo is filling out and looking good is music to my ears, I really hope this coming season he will be in the conversation for a call up come round one. Also any concerns about Jonesy coming on as assistant coach have been thrown out, it can't be underestimated the moral boost and energy he will bring. Don't forget the bloke practically carried the club on his shoulders for a good few years, he knows how to motivate and lead by example. That said I'm glad he's not going to be doing the midfield line all on his own. I keep going back to what Gawn said on Triple M a little while back, that it has felt like 2021, 22, 23, & 24 have all merged into a single season, the players were burnt out. Firstly that makes the dynasty teams look even better, but secondly it means the club simply has to take advantage of the extra preparation time it will have.

I do actually think leadership on the park has been an issue of late, mainly that it's probably been the same voices for too long and it's become a little stale. That doesn't been we throw it all out and make Rivers captain with Koz as the vice, but looking to freshen things up is a very good thing and I'm glad that this review is creating a shift in thinking. Hearing Max say "we aren't the 2021 demons" to me says that we have been holding onto what we were instead of looking to be what we can/want to be.

I think the whole "Melbourne doesn't have a forward line" thing has been done to death as is now at a point where it's a myth. While JVR was younger and he probably needed a chop out the argument was there and it was frustrating that Benny Brown's knees were so cooked he could only manage a couple of games before it became too much (I actually also think we couldn't managed it better but that's another story). I now think that JVR is in a position to be able to take the spearhead role, with Turner as larger mid-size forward, Melksham and Fritta as mid-size forwards, and Koz and Chandler playing the small pressure forward roles. Petty MAY come into play as a forward as well but I really think we should be looking at ways to getting him back as a defender. I can picture a world where Petty starts the season in the forward line and ends it down back. In short (IMO) the need was there 1-2 years ago, the need isn't there now. We need to focus on getting our midfield gelling again, winning the clearances, and hopefully a fresh pair of eyes on the forward line will give a new dynamic to us.