Jaded No More

Great interview. Does not sound like he will play beyond 2024. We need to start planning for life after May as we will still have a very good list.

He was putrid. Norf fans were calling for him to be dropped.

Tmac out injured. What is it now?

I agree. It's weird that our Alice game is not on during the Indigenous rounds. It's even weirder that we don't wear our Indigenous jumper when we play there.

Actually playing Gawn who was a broken man was a disaster. JVR was minutes away from playing ahead of Gawn in the elimination final. We never ever should have been in a position where our best players were playing with one functioning limb when we were 10-0 to start the season. We have done a much better job managing our players so far this season. Gawn missing a month could well be a blessing in disguise come September. Likewise getting a really fit and firing Salem in August could be a game changer.

Port fans will greatly outnumber us anyway, so I doubt there will be much booing of JHF.

Well you could argue that they have gotten worse, their last 3 games were absolutely terrible, and in hindsight beating Freo (by 1 point) and West Coast is not exactly the feat we all thought it was... Hawks beat them and they want priority picks. Laughable. I heard somewhere that the average age of the playing group on Saturday night was older for North than it was for us! 🤪

It blew up in ours. It blew up in Carlton's. It's going to blow up in theirs. When we gutted our list of senior players it destroyed the club for a decade. I am still not over the way we dumped Junior McDonald. We ruined the fabric of the club, and all we got in return was Scully and Trengove. Didn't that work out well...

As nice as it would be to have a team representing the NT, it is just unrealistic. Population wise, finance wise, weather wise, even sponsorship wise, it's going to be an uphill battle. Let's not even talk about player retention. We think Tassie will have it hard, NT will be much much harder. At least Tassie is a 40 min flight from Melbourne.

I mean since the last time they got them. They have literally gotten worse...

They are no chance of getting a priority pick. Not now, not next year and certainly not with the introduction of Tassie. They won 4 flags not that long ago. If Norf and Carlton haven't got one, they are no chance either. They are not even that bad for goodness sake.

I actually think the opposite. Jiath is a kid with a bright future ahead. I understand if he's sore and they don't want to push him and cause a stress injury. But Breust? what are you resting him for, September? FFS he is one of the few leaders they have left. Surely they want him on the field as much as possible. Ridiculous.

McVee cannot and will not play a full season. Nor will JVR. It's unrealistic and it's risky. They will both need breaks, and it would seem natural that McVee will get a break when Salem returns. He might then come back into the side if we feel like we need to give Hibbo a rest ahead of finals, or if Hibbo of course is injured.

Managing players at round 8 when you are slop? Breust needs managing? For what... Finals? I bet nobody at AFL house will even blink an eye about this very obvious case of tanking. That only happens to Melbourne. Freo by 10 goals.

As you would assume are Petty and Spargo and JJ and Schache. I still think it'll be Petty for Schache and Spargo for JJ and JJ will, once again, miss out and be the sub.

Would be amazing to get Gawny on the podcast at some stage. I am sure you've asked...

Yes we are in much better hands than when GWS and GC came in. Plus everyone now has the benefit of hindsight with how they managed the list when those two came into the competition. So everyone will be better prepared I think. I would also think that the AFL will forced Tassie to on-trade at least some of their early picks for established players, rather than just go to the draft. Can't have a team full of 18 year olds.

Neita only has girls FYI (so it will impact AFLW only) and Howe would also quality at Pies. Does Garland even have kids? I wonder if the F/S rule for Tassie will mean that the kids coming through will have a choice, rather than being 'forced' to only go to Tassie? I can't imagine, if given the choice, that Robbo or Green's boys will pick Tassie, given both their families are in Melbourne and both their dads are heavily involved at the club.

2027-2029 is when I expect our drop off to come... gotta be really clever with managing our list heading into this period, or we are looking at another decade in the wilderness. Might mean that we don't bundle up our early picks this year and get in as much talent as possible. Not to mention how important it is that we win another flag or two in the next 2-3 years while our list is primed.

As is Jordan Lewis. I know a lot of fans complain that he was over the hill and cashing in a pay check, but he came to us at a time when standards were so low and leadership was lacking. He really set a tone, having won multiple premierships, about what it takes to be a serious contender. And I think because of who he was and what he achieved, he was very influential amongst the playing group. He definitely didn't contribute as much on field as Bernie did, but off field he was a sensational pick up. Much like Hodge at Brisbane.

If we lose to Collingwood, it won't be because we are distracted by a jumper we wore 2 weeks prior FFS. We play Carlton after Freo then Pies. Losing to the Pies will come down to our ability to shut down their quick ball movement, it will have absolutely nothing to do with the jumper we wore in round 10 and 11. What a ridiculous notion!

I honestly am not worried about the Melbourne players on that list. I doubt Rivers or Kosi will want to move to Tassie (if anything they'll want to move back home), and Grundy will be 34. If they want a 34 year old ruck, they can have him and we will take a good compensation pick back. The only way I see Kosi going to Tassie is if they throw an insane amount of money at him. Still, he doesn't strike me as someone motivated all that much by money, and I am sure no matter where he plays he will make a lot of money. I actually see Ben Brown post retirement going there to coach. He is from Tassie, and is already involved in coaching at AFLW level. Same for Jack Reiwoldt, unless of course he is set on a media career post footy.

Correct. Gawn needs to be measured on his contested marking as well, which is amongst the best in the game. Not to mention his insane work rate for a guy his size. Teams have spent years trying to feed off his tap work, so it's little wonder that it's no longer as advantageous to us as it once was.

And Freo might then realise that he is in fact a ruckman. Damn.

I loved this initiative initially and I love it even more now. It's not tokenism because we are continuing to do this, and not for the first time, paving the way for the rest of the AFL. We are pioneers of this game, of AFLW, and now of the meaningful recognition of the land on which we play and its traditional owners. I can't wait to see Kosi tear Freo a new one. Special!