Pates

Not the best news but not the worst, I suppose surgery was always going to be the result with persist swelling. Question is will they be able to manage him well enough to prevent the swelling from becoming a regular issue.

Living in the UK I obviously admire the fact that Australia (and NZ for that matter) have managed very few COVID cases over the last year, but I think unless the states allow some kind of regular flow with minimal community cases (and I'm not necessarily saying they should) I think the season will again be disrupted. When I say minimal I'm talking 1 or 2 random cases in a day type thing, Victoria obviously found out what happens if it gets out in a flash. I don't think we can actually know the full extent of the strain that the hubs had on the players, coaches, and support staff. I doubt a hub will be something they want so it will be interesting to see how they decide to proceed if borders start shutting again.

Definitely agree with this assessment, Gawn's a great ambassador for the club but quite often falls into the "everything's hunky dory" side of things. I don't really blame some posters for thinking the sky's falling, we've been burnt a couple of times before with recruits looking the good and then having injuries hold them back. It was widely reported during the pre-trade period that Burgess and the club gave Brown a very detailed once over so at the end of the day we've got to back them to know how to manage his knee issues and hopefully it is something that will allow him to play most of the year (obviously including bagging 6 in the GF!).

100% agree, rather than having these touchy difficult rules to enforce result in such a massive advantage make it a 25m penalty that at least doesn't put a player from on the centre square to basically point blank range. Cool head from Maxy, hopefully if he finds himself in a match winning situation again in the real thing he'll call this up for some confidence.

Oh damn! I'm UK based so I missed these things, that's a real shame because he has had some very compelling interviews over the years (Trenners was sadly very dour). You're probably right about Scully as well, he's never been a media personality or anything. Sucks though as I think his journey, while not exactly an illustrious one, is an intriguing one.

My understanding was the Burgess was heavily involved in the medical evaluation of him before we recruited him (and in fact Burgess was a big reason for why he chose us in the end). I think to call this an injury is probably an incorrect terminology because I'd say it's more a persistent issue that will be with him for the rest of his life and he has to be managed. It's not good news, the way the club has worded things is without the usual puff of "we expect him to be back in training shortly" so without much more information I think his management will need to be reassessed. Fingers crossed though.

His will be an interesting Open Mike whenever it happens. Being recruited to a club as one of the "saviours", around while we were an absolute basketcase and then snatched up on stupid money to GWS to be one of their foundation players (and the circus surrounding it). Then suffering a pretty horrific injury and the battle coming back from it. I've said it earlier, I have very little ill-will towards the guy so hopefully he goes alright in retirement.

Winning from such a big travel day is a great result for them, I didn't know about that so when I initially saw the lack of scoring in the last quarter I thought it was odd but it makes so much more sense now. To keep GC goalless as well in the last quarter is a brilliant effort. Good start, always great to see the red and blue get a win!

Fairly fluffy interview, not that you'd expect Max to be saying much in the negative. Sounds as though the pressure on spots should hopefully push the best our of our forwards though.

I try not to get MFCSS if I can help it but even if he is back running in two weeks that would likely be putting him behind anyway on conditioning and as many have alluded to with his history of foot issues and our history with foot related injuries not being great I'm not expecting him to be back super fast. Whatever the case may be let's take things slow with him.

His biggest issue has always been he goes missing in action during parts of the game, when he’s in full flight he looks like an absolute star. I really like him, hoping he can settle in a position whether it’s forward or back.

Great work Stinga! I agree that the club should consider a sectioned area that fans can come in to watch that doesn’t require any interaction with the players.

I’ve been in the UK for the last 4 years and have kept my membership rolling over knowing it would be unlikely I see a game (unfortunately I saw two games in 2018 and they were two of our worst H&A performances, Hawks & Tigers). I’m obviously in your camp but I can understand hesitation from others who for them a membership is not just about the club but value for money. As is the case with @faultydet I think they’ll have to win back some members this year.

The Scully/Trenners vs Martin debate has been done to death but I'll add a quick 2 cents to the argument. Development wise we were such a ridiculous basket case at the time and I really think the tanking issues with creating a culture of losing played it's part in it. I think we could've been handed the greatest player potential wise (I'm talking Judd, Ablett, Voss etc) and still completely stuffed up his development. Therefor I see the argument of who we chose being moot, I think Dusty should just count his blessings that we didn't choose him.

While I was annoyed with how Scully and his father went about it at the time I have very little ill will towards the bloke in retrospect. He was a 19yo kid thrown into something he was not ready for and that blame rests on the shoulders of Sheedy and co. I don’t have any issue with him taking the GWS deal, I just wish he’d been a little more up front about it. With whatever is happening in his personal life now, I hope he gets through it ok.

Much as I agree we have at least two spots on the squad that are now vacant due to injury (Hore) and retirement (KK), I’m just saying that injuries can come up on a club quite suddenly if not carefully planned for. If Kobe gets the opportunity he’ll have earned it (the hard way), seeing Goody with him at training on Twitter has me feeling he will get a rookie spot.

Players like Kozzie are almost the victim of the success of guys like Cyril, Flash, and Tippa where they burst onto the scene and inject something really special into their team and into the entire game. Kozzie is a great talent, he's shown enough for me to say that he's got the ability he just needs time. Not every great small forward in history is a gun the moment they step out for senior footy; he got involved in the games, got into dangerous spots, and provided pressure acts that we didn't have in 2019. With a year under his belt, hopefully a few of those chances he had will turn into goals, and I expect we'll see him creating more chances. As for Lewis's comments, good on him for giving a player a pump up but let's see what happens come round one.

COVID will surely have a massive impact on our membership this year (I’d be keen to know overall how membership is looking across the AFL). It’s easier to retain the memberships once they’re paid for but this season we’re going in with a lot of unknowns. How many people will be allowed into stadiums? Should there be a big reduction in allowed capacity will being a member guarantee you a seat for home matches? After backing up a woeful season with a mediocre (at best) season will be see our players back their best? And those are just the footy related questions, there’s so much more about the world we done know. It makes committing to a membership for this year a tricky proposition. Personally I think they should be offering the option to opt out for a year but still remain in the tier you’ve been in (gold, silver, bronze). We need a really strong pre-season for confidence for the fans and players.

Great to hear the Harmes is back with the midfield, I actually also think that should Melksham start to dip in his form (and/or Vanders doesn’t show his full potential) that a forward role could work for him. I see him as a defensive forward shutting down dangerous HBF and forcing them to be accountable to him. Also really good to see the Goody is playing the teacher role with Kobe, it would be nice to have a feel good story going into the year if Wiz Jnr gets a spot on the list (signs appear to be good).

On the positive sides: - Good to hear that Trac doesn’t seem to be taking a backward step from last year - Brown kicking three in first first hit out with good accuracy (something that has burnt us in the past) - Wiz jnr scoring a goal and showing good attack, sounds like he’s not doing any harm towards getting an opportunity - Lever showing good early signs Very sad to hear about Hore though, poor bloke doesn’t seem to have luck on his side. Sounds like we have some niggles to go with a couple of long term injury’s (to be expected), hopefully they get themselves right for a chance at pre-season matches.

Bugger, poor guy. I was really looking forward to seeing him attack 2021 with some purpose. All the best to him with his recovery.

Personally I thought it was a mistake to go only Captain and Vice-captain, when both got injured we ended up with Melksham as our captain (and I gotta say I have no idea how/why he was in that position given his awful form and honestly I have never thought he screamed leadership). I think there needs to be a group with roles. Captain - Gawn VC - Viney Dep. VC - May Leadership group - Trac, Jetta The odd one that people might look at is Jetta given he will be fighting for his spot. Ironically that is one of the reasons to have him in there, a bridge between the first team and Casey where he can potentially push the values that we want across the board. Trac might not be in there but I think he should because not only does he do great things as a player, I also think he genuinely loves playing footy and players feed off that energy. Quite happy for him not to be in there though as well. Melks should focus on his form, he did not do things expected of a leader last year at all.

Great work @george_on_the_outer did you happen to spot if Tom McDonald was competing with the forwards or against them?

Totally get all the responses regarding Vic park, it was just a thought but it sounds like that’s done and dusted. I have no issue with the location of our facility potentially going where Gosch’s Paddock is, right near Richmond station so easy to get to, in yelling distance of the MCG, and should we have a social club easy to for home games for pre/post drinks. But doing away with a large amount of parklands in the area runs a risk of having bad blood with the community. I just can’t see anywhere else in the sporting precinct though.