Macca

Our best beats Essendon's best. Game-plan aside, King's has to make sure that the team is switched-on But that can apply to any match, anytime. Let-downs can happen but a good coach can see that sort of thing coming

No doubt, but winning contests is a fundamental part of the sport. In many ways, a non-negotiable. To not do so means a team can't win big As for the rest of it, although it's only been a month, from what we've seen, we've gone from butchering the ball on a contest basis to not butchering the ball anywhere near as much The thing that stands out are our footskills & teamwork (and the rare long bombs down the line) And our long kicks forward are no longer time-consuming bombs. They're quite often rapid and low-flying to 1 on 1's And it should be pointed out that Goodwin didn't leave the club in bad shape, it's more about the game plan & game style that's way different. Players personnel wise, we're in decent shape Compare that to say when Roos took over (when we lacked basic talent) As previously stated, Goodwin did try and change our style in 2024 & 2025 but his message fell on deaf ears. Needed a new voice

Excellent post In previous years what we saw primarily were long bombs down the line (from anywhere on the ground) long bombs to packed forward lines and scrubber kicks forward that amounted to not much at all. Our teamwork on offense was poor Compare that to now and it's like chalk & cheese. The eyes have it It does help when the chief culprits aren't playing but I'm not sure that the chief culprits can't mend their ways anyway. It just needs a complete buy-in Fresh start, different voice, different method, different FD, etc etc We played a certain way for 10+ years and it's hard to change, just like that Goodwin did try and change things from early 2024 and in 2025 but we needed a different voice. But the players themselves were at fault as well (on and off the field)

Hard to see us even going close to matching Richmond's offer anyway (if it came down to $$$$'s only) Apart from the cap space availability, would we want to commit to that sort of dosh?

Dons, Blues, Tiges, North, Eagles & Port all no? That leaves 12 teams & 10 spots

Tigerz offering $16Million over 8 years

It may not stop with the Bulldogs though (as a destination club) Other clubs can chime in with enormous contract offers and the other clubs might have a lot more draft capital to barter with as well Right now we're in the pre-auction phase but the offers will be flying in soon enough (behind closed doors)

I'd take the 3 picks in the top 15 (the equivalent of what we got for Petracca) And Port's compensation pick might go as high as #10 Remembering that a top end pick on its own could be a bust anyway. Drafting can be flawed so playing the numbers game can be a better alternative You end up with nothing if the 1 compensation pick is a bust. A bust for Butters? No thanks (says Port) I did a 10 year study of top 5 picks back here a number of years ago and started a thread about it In that 10 year stretch only 14 of the 50 picks were B+ or better Happy to give JT the 3 picks though. He seems to know what he is doing

Yes, a kind of ambit claim by Port to make sure the deal goes to the trade table Who'd be happy with 1 top 6 pick (compo pick) for a player as good as Butters? They'll be looking for a swathe of picks like the Petracca deal (3 x 1st round picks) And Petracca is 30, Butters turns 26 in September

Here's an interesting exercise, post our win on Sunday How many teams will struggle to get to 12 wins? (given that 12 wins should snag at least 10th spot) So here are the teams I came up with that I couldn't guarantee would win 12 games Tigers Port Pies North Bombers Blues Giants Eagles Crows Saints Demons Hawks, Cats, Doggies, Lions, Swans, Suns & Freo should all win 12+ games That leaves 3 spots up for grabs for the final 10

It's stating the obvious but our style of play has made the world of difference The surprise element is how so many of our players have adjusted to the new style in such a small amount of time. And that includes a number of players who may have been previously written off We really do look like a completely different team The concern is getting punished by turnovers but the best teams live with that concern as well We've gone from lacking basic skills to being quite skillful King has backed the team in and the team has responded

A predicted end-of-season outcome of 7th to 10th will do for now and that's entirely do-able. It also means finals with the new set-up. So it's not a big ask Imagine settling for 7th - 10th in the few years following 2021? So what was once a low bar is now a high bar Our next biggest test in terms of getting another win is the next match (Essendon) The final 10 is what it is and they won't be going back to the final 8 Looking further ahead ... Brisbane is tough Richmond winnable, @Sydney real tough Eagles winnable Hawks tough Bulldogs tough Every winnable games is really vital in terms of bringing our best Nice to be part of the conversation again though

We're going in as $1.26 favs against the Bombers so in many ways it's a must win. Did we see the above coming? But if we're off and the Bombers are on, we can lose. We can't necessarily control what they bring but we can control what we bring ... i.e. the right attitude Lose and the early narrative won't be about our next game vs Brisbane but what happened against Essendon Win against the Dons means the game against the Lions becomes (dare I say it) a blockbuster (remembering that we'd be 4 & 1 entering the encounter)

$1.57 (was $3.75 pre-season)

We're both on the long shot!

Fair enough There's a lot of folk here not happy with CJ or Adams. Laurie, McAdam & Henderson as well. Even Jeffo, AJ & Campbell are under scrutiny For some here, a line has already been ruled through most of the above (not my view) But you can't just get rid of X amount of players, just like that They have to be replaced and of course, contracts come into play as well. Especially with CJ There's just not that many AFL standard players in the system

Long term maybe yes (this season at least) There's a top 10 so finishing 7th-10th whilst being important, isn't that difficult to achieve. Certainly not if a club has premiership aspirations But top 6 aspirations? That can mean that you need certain teams to lose Unless it's a draw, one team will lose today so maybe a Hawks loss helps us more. Or it could be the other way around I'm barracking for a draw!

I haven't seen a lot of Bonner but he looked better than VFL level yesterday As previously stated, most clubs take a chance on at least 5- 6 players every year and that includes players they already have listed "Let's give him another year on a low salary, he might turn it around" I can imagine the above gets said a lot (by all of the clubs) And on this site especially, too many sweat the small stuff on depth players (or role players) You're going to have those types whether you like it or not How many players in the AFL system? 900? How many are AFL standard? 600? 500?

You talk like every listed player is a future star when the reality is that there are numerous players who will never get past C grade level. Hundreds in fact So there's plenty of room for journeymen or for players that can fill a void We should know, we've recruited and turned over any number of players who at best, are there to fill a void or are just depth players Not every recruit is going to have a chance of becoming a gun player Bonner as a depth player providing a bit of value is a distinct possibility ... but not necessarily at the MFC But if Adams is another NQR, what do we do if Petty & Lever get injured? For starters, we'd need TMac to stay upright

Yeah sure but as a recycled player for needs only, he'd be handy Most clubs, if not all, will have ruled a line throught at least 5 or 6 of their listed players by early to late May They are already on their way out so that's close on 100 spots to be replaced And being a rookie draft mid season, it's not like it's a long-term commitment with lots of $$$'s involved It's just one spot ... nothing ventured, nothing gained From an overall point of view, there are hundreds of players in the AFL system that aren't much chop I reckon there's a good chance that at least one club will entertain the thought of giving Bonner another chance

The bloke who also stood out to me was Bonner ... and if clubs are going to keep a few mature aged players around for experience and so forth, why not him? We're doing it with T-Mac & Melk for good reason I understand Bonner is not on an AFL list anymore but the bloke can play. A mature aged 29yo for a club in the mid-season draft?

And Max All 3 would be taking votes of each other but Kozzie stands out the most But Steele only getting 1 vote yesterday would feel unfair. He dominated in Clearances, Score-assists, Hard-ball gets, Disposal efficiency and Tackles If he kicks 2 or 3 goals it's the complete game

And Fritsch & Rivers XT might take a bit of time but he was a standout junior with big raps If it wasn't for Big Max, Heath could step right up, right now

We've already had one big wake-up call ... the first quarter against Freo. Game was over after that And in a general sense, we aren't starting well. So King has a bit to work on A lot of the rest of it is fantastic to see so we've obviously improved What stands out is we're sticking to taking risks at great speed via the corridor. That's going to take us a long way as it builds scoreboard pressure when it works It took 3 and a bit quarters yesterday but we ended up breaking the GC and made them look ordinary