Macca

But you didn't say that or know that at the time. None of us did You're using hindsight to strengthen your argument

Wouldn't have made much difference at all and we might have been worse off So not the fault of the coach

Good question Is he taking on the same role that Yze had or has that role been tweaked? You'd imagine he'd have a fair bit of input

Or another version of total football where a lot of the players can play different positions or roles within a game. We need a bit more versatilty regardless I suppose we've had our version of chaos-ball especially with the forward 50 entries but we'll need to tweak that you'd imagine And in 2017 (Goodwin's first year in charge) the mantra was 'fearless' football which by and large, was adopted and has stayed. We're very good at winning the contested ball Most of all we need a healthy forward line

I reckon there's a decent chance that most (or all) of the clubs know which players are the preferred choices of the other clubs (at least in the top 6 or 8) For instance, we moved up to pick 4* in the 2015 draft as the strong rumour was that Essendon were going to use either pick 5 or 6 on Oliver All the top prospects would already have managers (by and large) so there'd be a lot of dialogue about. Would be difficult to keep everything secretive *Pick 4 was originally pick 3 but Mills was taken at pick 3 as an academy player by the Swans

Our depth in the forward line was exhausted to a point where the last alternate wasn't considered (Schache) And we had to play a clearly unfit T-Mac as our only KPF T-Mac, Smith and Chandler don't play if JVR, Petty & Melksham were available. And if Brown was fit he might have forced JVR out Hindsight tells us that Brown ended up being unavailable but that wasn't being said at the start of the season Melksham coming good wasn't foretold either but nonetheless, we ran out of depth players in the forward line By contrast, the backline mostly stated put and we were only missing Brayshaw out of the midfield during the finals (Oliver missed a fair chunk of the season but we managed to cover for him)

49ers, Eagles, Lions

Well, we've appointed McQualter so expect some changes of some sort

We could look at 2-3 week windows with both players The issue is that the sport requires a stack of running for all the players and a player can't be just plonked in the forward line these days. So both Brown & T'Mac are going to be needed to do a fair bit of running in games But all clubs will be experiencing the same issue sooner or later ... related to the longer contracts being offered or handed out these days (far more than yesteryear) And that's related to the resticted FA's or unrestricted FA's. Clubs don't want to lose talent, especially KPF's And it's often the KPF's who start feeling the pinch once they hit their late 20's or 30+

In a practical sense, I can't see the club delisting both players with a close on a $1Million payout figure just to create 2 spots on the list What I can see is we bite the bullet and retain both but with a reduced pre-season (a case of have-to to keep their bodies able) And then nurse them through the season proper Somehow, find a way to keep them both fresh ... the alternative is a $1Million payout or risk them breaking down in the pre-season

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@dazzledavey36 So how would rate our forward line going into the SF? On available talent What was your practical alternative?

So @dazzledavey36 If you miss a shot at goal do you blame your coach? Or if you get injured, do you also blame your coach?

Grundy had checked out or wasn't under consideration (in my view) If he was under consideration he's the sub instead of Schache (surely) And with Brayshaw taken out, we needed Petracca on the ball. Perhaps we could have played Petracca forward more but that in effect, weakens our midfield (shifting the problem)

We have in the past paid the odd player out but not for the sort of money that Brown & T-Mac are probably on But I tend to agree that if a tortuous pre-season hinders rather than helps, it's counter-productive So do we bite the bullet and payout close enough to $1Million to create 2 spots? With the advent of longer contracts right across the board, paying players out at the end might become a normal occurance One way to alleviate large payouts is to front end contracts. Another is to transition into assistant coaching but that's tricky as the playing contracts are water-tight without any KPI's attached The other issue with paying players out is that the money is still included in the salary cap so it's not like cap space is created Another way to go about it is to set both players for 2-3 games at a time - in rotation (and then rest up and train in simulated form for a return in 2 or 3 weeks time, instead of grinding away at Casey)

Who would you have played up forward instead of T-Mac? As I see it all our key forwards were injured or suspended going into the SF Even on 1 leg we had no other alternatives ... as it was, we went into the SF with I key forward only and T-Mac was also the 2nd ruck So who were the alternates?

So we did remarkably well, all things considered. I challenge any coach to win 3 finals with a makeshift forward line Disappointment aside, the facts need to be addressed. To win big you need talent and without a functioning forward line, you can get close but ultimately, you'll get exposed Win 3 finals with a makeshift, C- forward line? That's a big ask and I doubt whether it's ever been done

Goodwin is not responsible for nearly our total forward line being injured and as for the kicking at goal, that's on the players

Kuldeep is some sort of bowler for India. More than a handful for Pakistan. Rarely bowls a bad ball and has a very good googly

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Sailing? Olympics maybe and when Bondy ruled (albeit with his own unique style) Melksham this year only and I've given the reasoning on the others. We might have banked on either Brown or T-Mac being ok at the pointy end Fact is that we went into the SF against Carlton with a C- forward line Harsh but we were threadbare Reminded me of the horror years of '07 - '15 (forward line) So what do we do from here? What if we're injury free as in 2021? Do we recruit a big forward? Another small forward? Another Melksham type?

Petty, Melksham, Fritsch, JVR, T-Mac & Brown were all unavailable when we needed them (injuries mainly) Even if only half of them were fit & firing in the finals it would have made a huge difference (Fritsch was proppy on his return) And we couldn't play Petracca forward as much as we would have liked because Brayshaw was taken out You can't lose that many forwards and expect to win the flag ... so we did extremely well to get as far as we did 2022 we had no such reasons. And in 2019 we fell away far too much

Didn't see any of our innings but the next 7 games for the team could be painful ... especially if we lose another one shortly As it stands, we might have to win all 7 of our group games just to make the SF's! An extremely tall order to say the least

It's not incredible at all as Schache was a standout junior. That's how drafting works because drafting is (somewhat) flawed Projecting greatness on unproven but standout teenagers is hit & miss ... more hit than miss, but nevertheless, busts are a part of drafting Mind you, Jason Taylor has the midas touch so we're in good hands

Pertaining to the SF If Grundy was available (?) then Gawn could have been played forward (Grundy rucks) A logical move considering our only key forward was on 1 leg (played the whole game??) and that was it Yeah sure, we abandoned the Grundy project towards the end of the season with Gawn as the main man but once we were down to 1 KF (on 1 leg) we had to re-evaluate But of course if Grundy wasn't actually available then you probably go with what we went with (the C- forward line)