Jaded No More

Sorry if I missed it, but did Lever not play in the end?

An abomination if Chandler is the sub. He has been fantastic all year.

Lots of family friendly timeslots to expose your kids to the endless misery of being a Melbourne supporter.

A wordsmith and a poet is Jackson

He was also very keen to stay at the Dees Houston also said he’s going nowhere

Not those types of off field issues. Family drama that can be resolved by, you guessed it, getting the hell away from said family.

Notice how I mentioned an unknown quantity? Suns were very lucky to land a 3 time premiership coach. But guess what, a 4 time premiership coach hasn’t helped North. If we could replace Goodwin with a proven leader, then of course you’d consider it. But the reality is that most of the options out there are unknown and could just as much be the next Neeld as they could be the next McRae. Would you want to bring in Hinkley who with arguably a better list has won 0 flags? Or Horse who, with all the academy talent he got, won as many flags as Goodwin has? The grass is not always greener, and it’s easy to lose sight of how many coaches there are in the AFL right now who have achieved a lot less than Goodwin. Even with better lists or better advantages from the league.

And because Freo has a real knack for ruining talent. See also: L. Jackson

Because replacing a senior coach, especially a senior coach who is loved and respected by his playing group, and who has won a flag, with an unknown proposition, more often than not leads to going backwards on the field. While that is not always the case, it certainly is the stronger odds. Whereas replacing a footy manager who can really align and better all aspects of the footy department, and perhaps attract better fitness staff or assistant coaches, will have a more immediate and greater impact, with a far lower risk of causing turmoil within the playing group. The impact that even Yze, as a senior assistant, made to our club in 2021 was immediate and significant. I believe this can be true for a footy manager in 2026 too.

If we don't lose Hogan, we don't get May. If we don't get May, we don't win a flag. Hogan was never going to make it at Melbourne, just as he was never going to make it at Freo. He needed a lot of time, maturity, and to be away from the fishbowl of AFL to finally start taking his footy seriously. It brings me great joy to see him play such great footy, and I hold nothing against the club or him for that.

The far bigger priority heading into 2026 is to bring a top quality footy manager into the fold. This will have a significant impact on all aspects of the footy department, including game plan, coaching, fitness, list management and drafting. Which is basically a combination of all the things everyone on Demonland loves to [censored] about. A change of senior coach will not have as much impact.

The club will continue to prioritise keeping Kosi above all else. And so they should. Kosi should not come into the conversation whatsoever, if we feel there is even a small chance he will be happy to stay put. He is far too valuable to just offer up for a player who clearly has a strong desire to not only move back to Victoria, but who is pretty set on the idea of playing for us. That doesn't happen often, and it gives us more leverage than it does Freo. Also wonder how Kosi will feel, knowing that if he goes to Freo, he all but makes his cousin Dudley a fringe player. Hard to see how Freo plays all 3 of Dudley, Kosi and Bolton, plus Reid and Walters. It just doesn't work.

This publication puts The Daily Mail to shame. The graphic is something else. At least it’ll be an easy photoshop job for Demonland when he returns 😂

If this is not another red flag in the long list of red flags for players who want to run home to Freo, I don’t know what is. Kosi should take note.

We played good transition football for 3 quarters. We defended well, and stopped the Hawks from fast transitions off half back, while also moving the ball well by hand and actually hitting some targets inside 50. We unfortunately fluffed numerous easy opportunities in front of goal, and that left the game wide open. If we covert the easy missed shots (and Kosi is given a goal when clearly tripped), then the game is very different at 3/4 time and we perhaps go on to win, defending a nice lead rather than trying to make up for all our past mistakes in front of goal. It’s always bloody annoying to lose games that you know you could have won. Hawks are not a bad team and I think we win that game 8 times out of 10, if we take our chances early. But bad kicking is bad football, and the last quarter has again left a very sour taste in the mouth. If we fight it out and lose by a goal, I reckon most here would be pretty happy with the display. We are playing a pretty young team, and the good news is that a lot of those young players are showing great signs. I thought this was the best game Rivers has played as a mid all year with 5 clearances and 23 touches. Disco continues to impress, Bowey and Windsor look fantastic down back, and Langford and Lindsay just scream future stars. Also thought Sharp played well, given some real game time. He used his speed well and really attacked the contest. And Chin continues to shine. There is no doubt that 2025 is now a stepping stone to 2026 and we need to keep on pursuing this more attacking game plan. It looks much better than it did even 3 weeks ago, and it’s the way forward. Hopefully we can get some continuity from Petty and Disco, which will definitely help the forward woes, especially when Lever returns and frees Disco to go forward.

Half back flankers are some of the most important players in the modern game now. Windsor has elite speed and skills, and is exactly the sort of player you want starting your attack from half back. It makes perfect sense to play him in that role, especially with Lindsay and Langford now both playing the wing role so well.

Aging plus a multitude of injuries I reckon he’s still comfortably one of the better key defenders in the game, but he’s not at his peak anymore. Very few players can be as good as Gawn at this age.

That kid is all class. Footy IQ off the charts, so much time and space with ball in hand and super competitive for a slight player. To think he missed a big chunk of his first pre season with a PCL injury and is able to play full games on the wing, is pretty phenomenal. He will be a star. It was written all over him from his very first game.

Windsor was fantastic today He killed Ginnivan and had a lot of the footy.

I hate having a go at any one player, but for the love of god can Fritsch stop smiling and joking after missing gimme set shots? Every other player is filthy with themselves and he thinks it’s a joke. This attitude should never be rewarded.

We were better for 3 quarters, but unfortunately this has always been a 4 quarter game. That will never change.

Horrific umpiring aside, when senior players miss goals from 30m directly in front, and then you come out in the last quarter and yet again give a limp performance, the outcome is as expected. Game was there to be won and again, we get absolutely pantsed in the last quarter. Simply not good enough coming off a good break.

Must be nice to get wins gifted to you from the AFL

We are playing at 1:10pm. No chance the carry over emergency would have time to play a half then go to the MCG. Far too risky.

I’ll be in M50 doing the same. It’s time we spread love instead of negativity