Pates

I would’ve thought the larger issue isn’t that is wasn’t just his father passing but the multitude of issues detailed by @Lord Travis I really can’t think of any footballer who had had a successful career who’s been able to deal with everything that has happened to Jesse. Remember that the talk of him going home started the moment we signed him on the underage draft. From that moment on he had to deal with that pressure from the media, his family, his friends, and the MFC (and it’s fans). Then came the health issues with his father, and up until that point there had been absolutely no issues with his professionalism and he was always talked about as being quiet and reserved. In the end I think it all just became too much for him, I certainly can’t imagine seeing any player reach their full potential with everything he’s been through. Doesn’t give him a free pass on his decisions but I can understand why he is where he is.

Whichever way you look at it on the body of his work over his career and the loyalty displayed towards the club he had earned the right to make this decision on his own. I don’t think he will be gifted games, he will have to earned and as long as the club made that perfectly clear to him going into this year I have no issues with his decision. As a great servant of our club all we can do is wish him the best of luck and that hopefully he gets the opportunity to bow out in the finals.

I would be keen were it not for his enormous salary cap demands, if the pies want to pay 200k for every year I’d consider it but even then it’s a massive chunk to put into a player that we have to ask, does he meet our needs? Plus there’s the draft pick(s) we have to hand over. Pies have really screwed the pooch on this one and it’s time the AFL put in someone at their integrity unit to investigate (and sanction) clubs for acting this way. Roles reversed the pies hold him to his contract, but now that they don’t want him because of their own list management stuff ups they try to make it unworkable at the club? They should be docked points off their F/S, academy, draft positions (I’m still confused about how that works).

Agree that 2 years with triggers for a third would be the way I’d like us to go. Someone did make the point earlier in the thread, if he was to help us win the premiership in one of his first two years, do we even care about the third?

There would be something difficult to swallow about him going to Richmond, it may be because I feel his breakout game came against the tigers in the ANZAC eve match where he beat Rance. I also feel that with Richmond they’d have a free hit with him, not dissimilar to Bennell with us which until the fine at end of the year cost us nothing. They have Lynch and Reiwoldt so they aren’t desperate for it to happen. I want him to rebuild his life wherever that may be, if Richmond can do that, as much as it would suck for us Dees fans, I’d be happy for him.

Given the tragedy surrounding his year and then having to go into the hub environment he did a remarkable job. He also showed the value in dropping a senior player to a younger player (Rivers) a crack, Hibbo forced his way back in and looked so much more like his old self.

Sadly that pretty much sums it up, unless we would be able to renegotiate Tom to a lower salary the bigger issue is freeing up space on the salary cap to be able to afford Brown now and retain Oliver and others later. We got a little unlucky in that TMac and Harmes both had their best years just when they were coming out of contract. We secured them to pretty top coin and expected they’d continue to perform, unfortunately that hasn’t been the case.

The chance about his body size and conditioning is an interesting one, it would be curious to know who thought it was the best way to go; club, player, or both. Tom’s biggest weapon in 2018 (and yes it’s now at a point where it’s hard to use that as an argument for a rapid regeneration) was that he was so mobile. He would do a massive body of work further up the ground and beat his opponent in fitness over body strength. And for that matter his contested marking was still pretty decent. I do think Tom will be gone by the end of the trade period, particularly if we are to get Brown. It’ll be sad because his decline has been a very rapid and disappointing one. If he goes to GWS and is able to get his body right I actually think he could turn it around.

Unless he gets back to his 2018 form, in which case we’re looking great. He needs to be held accountable for his poor efforts like any other player. He’ll play games but no way should he be considered a walk up start.

Lynch didn’t exactly apply a lot of pressure tonight, getting tackles and second efforts from your big men are good but they aren’t necessarily expected. Need high pressure from your small/mid sized players which is why we need more of that from the likes of Melksham, AvB, Pickett, and Fritsch. Plus any midfielders that push inside there. That’s the basic expectation from any premiership winning team, high intensity around the ball. Brown (if he makes it here) will be expected to mark the ball and when he can’t make sure he brings it to ground for our smaller forwards.

It’s funny this is the first one and already it just doesn’t feel right, there’s something about the last quarter hitting just as dusk is coming that brings out the best atmosphere. This year, with the music between the goals as well, feels like some Micky Mouse version of footy. Still I’m sure it’ll be spectacular with fireworks and stuff at the final siren. The game has been super high pressure, now that it’s opening up it looks cleaner and some great pieces of skill. Dusty has dragged Richmond back into it, he is a freak.

I can’t work out why when Melksham was having such a poor year and AvB doing very little we weren’t giving Harmes a run as the defensive forward giving him roles on the dangerous half back. He’s been so poorly managed this year.

Probably wrong but I actually though Hunt came third when he ran.

Much more than a part, I would love nothing more than for them to lose by 100+ points and be utterly humiliated.

Nothing will ever beat the titles "Hotter than Hell" and "Dynamic Demons"! Speak to any filmmaker and they'll tell you that titles can be one of the hardest, most subjective things to get right. Thinking of the target audience it's a bitter title to take as nothing other than a premiership will truly bring us back from the hell we've been through. I don't think it was them getting ahead of themselves, the "back again" was the journey back through pre-season to bring the football club back together READY for the new season. Call it "Melbourne Football Club Pre-Season Documentary 2020" and people will probably say, "wow that's really unimaginative".

It was a good watch and gave a really good insight into the inner workings of the pre-season. The Bennell stuff is sad in retrospect given in one episode he says he’s done with alcohol and really wants to put his best foot forward. Congratulations to all involved.

Along the same lines of Brock McLean leaving us because of the tanking fiasco only the go to the club that mastered/started it. ?‍♂️

This is quite possibly (if there is one) the issue between Jack and Clarry. In terms of what it does for the team it most certainly is an issue because I could actually remember there was one point that I'm pretty sure our players would almost end up tackling each other to get the ball. It's great to see that hunger but it needs to be channelled better.

Bloody click bait BS.

Tom McDonald is the obvious one, is there someone else we would look to move on to make cap space? I’m personally a fan of us trying to get Brown, as much as he annoyed the hell out of me when he played the Dees he’s a proven goal kicker who had a lot going on this year to suggest this was an aberration. He would take the number one key forward role and Weed slots into the second role which takes pressure off him, if they work in tandem then they can both be valued forwards on the day. Fritta can move into a more HFF role with moves deep every now and then, and I can see Weed being more of a CHF role. The question of Jackson fitting in is fair but I could see him getting more development on the ball next season as well.

It’s a little sad, I think he would’ve been frustrated at seeing Melksham constantly getting games despite average output but I understand him wanting to go to the doggies. I could actually see him doing ok there, I hope this means we re-sign Hunt though. Will always be remembered for that goal in the finals!

I hope he’s able to get healthy, wonder if we may look at bringing him into the coaching department for the women’s team as a football role (as perhaps a way of learning a skill for the future). Bit annoying he still stays on the list, means we can only really replace him with a rookie draftee I believe.

I think something that was suggested earlier is a good idea (though very unlikely to happen), make the top 4 teams exempt from being able to participate in free agency. If they want a player than they have to do a deal. Limiting it to top 4 means that there are still the fringe clubs that might just be missing that key ingredient still able to get a player with minimal fuss. The only thing I’d say is perhaps create a separate category called veteran FA, these are the guys that are nearing retirement and best years are behind them. They should be totally unrestricted. But blind Freddy would’ve seen what was going to happen with Free Agency.

I hope we offer him a year contract, he’s worth persistent if with but something has to be done about him going completely missing in games.

I think this could be a good summary of him, Goodwin said he could be the tallest midfielder to play the game and I think this could well happen because the way he almost glides when he picks the ball up and goes is so unique. For next year I think (assuming we end up recruiting the second key forward we need) I see Jacko rotating through a HFF/midfield/ruck role. Which will hopefully help him develop the variety in his game.