Pates

I’d forgotten about that miss, I even remember Huddo making the call of before he kicked it “this is what they brought him to Melbourne for” and then he missed. It was crucial in the match, who knows if it would’ve seen us win but it was big. I think not having a proper second tier competition has been difficult for someone like him. Surely only so much you can get out of a 14v14 Micky Mouse scratch match.

I suggested this earlier in the year and totally on board with it.

I’ll add another trait that needs to improve across the board. The doggies showed it against Freo when the game was in the balance. Pressure!!! We currently lack a desire and hunger for the contest, we don’t pressure, tackle, harass, smother nearly enough. Particularly when the game is going against us. It’s one of the basic fundamentals and something that can actually get you INTO games when you’re not quite there. Bizarrely we actually have players that should be serving us well in this category; Viney, Brayshaw, Oliver, Petracca, AvB, and Harmes are all names immediately you’d think are going to do all those things. I’m sure I’m missing others. I just think back to the sealer against Essendon and it was Rivers, who actually said after the game he’s not the biggest tackler, who laid the important tackle in the middle to set the goal up. Elite pressure wins you matches and it’s also critical to finals footy.

I agree with this, rather than a festival of footy which squeezes the life out of the players crest a consistent time of stretch that has footy regularly being played. Hate to say it but the world has changed and TV rights have become the more important factor (as much as COVID has also shown crowds are important to the atmosphere and spectacle). Better TV rights will give more certainty to clubs.

Hunt has the same knock as Hannan in that he goes MIA far too often. I also agree that he was on par with Melksham for much of the year but Melks got a blessed free ride all year. Hunt looks like the sort of player who’d thrive on the wing, pretty sure we tried it and it failed. I hope Hunt gets retained as a HFF, pick him instead of Melksham.

Do we know the extent of Gus’s injury? If he’s potentially missing a fair bit of footy in 2021 then we will need Jack in the guts. I will be pretty disappointed to see him leave and sicked to see someone with the name Viney going to the Cats.

Cheers, for me since we got both Rivers and Pickett I’m pretty comfortable with the trade. Pickett’s biggest issue for me is his finishing, got himself into good spots plenty of times but failed to put it through the big sticks.

I admittedly can’t be bothered trailing through the thread to get the explanation, we traded Pickett for our future 1st rounder (ie upcoming first rounder) didn’t we?

Sad to hear he’s retiring. He gets to go in a group of top draft picks from Melbourne that showed plenty but through various reasons never reached the heights expected. I think we failed to provide the best opportunity to develop him, and there were choices made on his end that also held him back. Shame that he isn’t retiring as a demon, or more importantly as a Melbourne great but he gave us some fantastic moments and I can only say good luck to him for the future. As a random aside, if he comes back to Melbourne (the city) could a part time role as a kicking coach be something offered to him. Far and away one of the best kicks we’ve ever had.

Given that the Wagners and Dunkley all got told they would not receive contracts does that mean there could still be a little hope for Harley? I would've thought if they knew he wasn't going to get another shot next year then the COVID breach would be the final straw. I don't think there can be any doubt there are multiple issues going on with him, question becomes is it worth us persisting with him with the risk of relapses into his old ways still being probable.

I initially thought "why didn't they wait until they're back in Melbourne" but I realise there are so many restrictions that there's no telling when it could happen. I think the flatness comes from the fact that end year ended on such a sour note with finishing 9th again, the inappropriate touching, and the cherry on top being Bennell's COVID breach. Everyone is over it, and it shows.

The thing that Tredrea doesn’t mention is that not only is May a lockdown defender but he marks the ball, he doesn’t just knock it out or away. I will say that May had a slow start to the year and had a number of games where for whatever reason his kicking was diabolical. I just can’t believe he missed out on the squad.

So first off, big congrats to Petracca. Outstanding year from him and he still has more levels to go to, I really hope he reaches his ceiling. If he does, he could be one of the best, if not THE BEST player in the league. Secondly congrats to May, he had a diabolical 2019 which was largely his own fault. He owned his mistakes, and sought to rectifying it. 2020 was his best season ever and it can show how much of a difference a proper, professional pre-season can make. Thirdly congrats to Langdon, he’s been a fantastic recruit and he’ll get better. Coming to a new club can be tough to jump straight in and make an impact. He’s done that. Well done to him and well done to the club for getting him. Finally congrats to Oliver and Viney, both have been regular top 5 B&F places/winners. That they are there again is a credit to them, no matter what your personal opinion of either of them. On that last part with Viney finishing 3rd. Yes it is a surprise to me as well, I would’ve definitely had Oliver above him, but what this also tells me is that there are things/roles in the game that we don’t see. I hope he stays, if Jones retires we will be losing a true Red and Blue warrior, to lose Viney as well would hurt our culture. On a negative, seeing Melksham finish so low annoys me because he underperformed for almost the entire year but somehow managed to keep his spot (and even captain the club!!!). Extremely poor year from him but got free pass after free pass. I hope he gets given a rocket up his bum over the off season.

I’m not using it as an excuse but same day travel for that Cairns game was so clearly a disadvantage to us, while also an advantage to both the Swans and Freo (who got the chance to acclimate before their game). I’m also not a fan of the 4 day breaks, particularly if one team has had say 6+ days rest. Seems like it’ll be another chance for the AFL to create unfair advantages to some.

Also time called on when the ball touches the ruckmen’s hands, would prevent two seconds being wasted by bad bounces being redone and actually give players a chance to do something if there’s 5sec left in a quarter. I think time off for field marking is too difficult.

I remember his speech at the end of 2018 thinking this is a guy that doesn’t accept mediocrity. Hopefully some of his teammates start to take the same approach.

1. Trac 2. May 3. Oliver 4. Gawn 5. Langdon Langdon has a bit of an iffy period early in the year but once he got going I think he’ll poll well. Gawn’s missed matches will drop him down a bit. May and Petracca have had outstanding years but I think Trac’s form has been so consistent and at times match winning it’ll see him get his first Bluey.

Early in the year we were killing teams in the centre bounces and around the ground stoppages. Somewhere along the line (I think the Brisbane game) teams worked us out, and I think a lot of it was so to with almost allowing us first hands on the ball but ensuring there was no way to exit. The pounded us with pressure and got it to the outside where they had the better players ready to take the ball away. When Max got injured but still played against Adelaide I said leading up to it that that was the perfect opportunity to put it back on our midfielders to learn how to scrap for the ball. He played, we won the game but he got injured. I was filthy at that call because it was a great opportunity missed. We need to have multiple different approaches rather than just the basic tap down because teams are too wise to it. We are losing in one area of the ground we should be killing teams.

May - All Australian Snub

I'm calling BS on this belief that he doesn't play unless Oscar plays. They are professional athletes and they understand what the expectations are. Tom Leaving could end up being the best for both parties, there are times a player loses his mojo and it takes a new environment to be able to get the best out of them. I think the best we could hop to get would be a late 2nd rounder/early 3rd rounder, there's no hiding it that since 2018 he's been hampered by injuries and poor form. Moving him on could also open up some space on the salary cap for a big fish. That said, if he were to stay maybe JUST MAYBE a strong pre-season and realignment of his mind could get him back to being a player. Even if that is alongside Lever and May in defence.

Marginally supporting West Coast. One of my best mates follows them and I enjoy the way they play. Something about seeing Port and Brisbane win after they were both so recently basket cases would **** me off. That said Geelong and Richmond winning would make me sick too. West Coast ends up being a lesser of all the evils.

After calming down from May's snub.....congrats to the other three. Petracca should make the final team, he's been outstanding this year and has taken his game to a whole new level. The game breaker and match winner we knew he could be. Best part is I still feel he's got another level to go to. Gawn and Oliver have both had good years, I think Gawn will make the squad but personally I feel he dipped a bit (harsh to say but he has high standards). Perhaps on the bench for him. Oliver was an accumulator for a good part of the first half of the season, got plenty of the ball but butchered it badly. Credit to him he got better and started taking that micro pause to look for other options rather than kicking it randomly (and badly). This isn't a year for him to make the team. Having said that the team is clearly picked by muppets who have their favourites so I could easily see Oliver making it, and Gawn and Petracca missing. May missing the squad.....honestly.?

According to wikipedia he got All Australian in 2000. In the present seeing May miss out on All Australian honours is one of the worst snubs the club has ever experienced for this award. I would've picked him ahead of Petracca, Gawn, and Oliver for the squad. So clearly one of the best (I'd personally say THE BEST but that is opinion) defenders in the league, not even making the squad is a slap in the face to someone who performed his absolute [censored] off week in week out. All I can think of is that they've got the classic tunnel vision on players "they love to watch" and have literally forgotten about May because he plays for Melbourne. They should be disgusted with themselves.

Funny. Much more likely it'll be a fitness coach, or trainer. Goodwin ain't going anywhere.

Very harsh, he’s been a stalwart of our club for a very long time and to place blame on his leadership for poor culture is really unfair. He’s one of few that has always driven high training standards and professional attitudes. He had every reason to go to other clubs and get finals opportunities but he stayed loyal His last two years haven’t been good, but he was massively important in our finals of 2018. Show some respect to someone who’s laid his body on the line countless times for the jumper.