Macca

And apart from the coaching, the players need to take responsibility in an autonomous way. You can't spoon feed forever The Hodge & Selwood types are naturals. By the age of 20-21 they've got what it takes

Who knows? Amateur hour I'd say And in the pre-match thread here, there were numerous posts on how we were going into that SF with an undermanned forward line It was an almighty stuff up at the selection table, all round And getting back to that position where we are a genuine contender again will be no easy task If we'd bounced back and contended again in 2024 or 2025 then that match might have been forgotten about ... but since then, things have gone pear-shaped So it was a defining moment and a sign of things to come

Sure, there's all that, but there was a game to be won against Carlton (SF) Whether Gawn is an excellent forward or not, is not the question. It was that Gawn was our only choice forward (T-Mac was our only other KPF and he was almost completely incapacitated ... should not have played at all) Let's not forget that all of Melksham, Petty, Brown & JVR were unavailable. And Fritsch was on one leg And we had a ready made replacement for the ruck duties (Grundy) Gawn should have been told to play forward in that SF, it's as simple as that. Or, he puts his hand up to play forward in a selfless act So it was fairly simple ... T-Mac out Grundy in. And we play another runner as the sub, instead of Schache How is all this related to this thread? We lack on field leadership. The move to get a player like Steele is the pointer I see one person after another here wanting to blame the team for choking in that 2003 SF but we lost the match at the selection table The other factor was the risk of only playing one ruckman who was going into that SF with a broken toe (Gawn)

That's right And my comments re Gawn are directly related to Goodwin If the coach was going to cop a lot of the blame (here) about the behaviour of a number of the players, then what about the captain? And the so-called leadership group?

The Ox's comments was during an interview with SEN and related to the camp down at Lorne He mentioned a few times that he had witnessed the players getting up to no good. He didn't elaborate but repeated himself a few times My reading off of it was that the listeners needed to fill in the gaps as he wasn't prepared to name names or describe what the activities were (that he witnessed)

We don't want (or need) a soft draw. Our new look list will still have loads of experienced types, so it's best that we get tested as much as possible If we're good enough, we'll get our fair share of wins. If not, there's always the 'learnings' However, because we finished 14th in season 2025, we should (by default) get double up games against 3 of the bottom 6 teams (and 2 double up games against the middle 6 teams) Having said all that, it would be nice if we got to play the Cats at the MCG (if both teams are in form, a decent crowd could be expected)

What a game today ... 18 innings!! (Blue Jays @ the Dodgers) Broke all sorts of records and finished up at 2.50am Eastern time (USA) 6hrs 39 minutes all-up Dodgers now lead 2 - 1 in the Fall Classic

Power Rankings? I'll have a go ... 1 - Chiefs (5 & 3) 2 - Eagles (6 & 2) 3 - Colts (7 & 1) 4 - Lions (5 & 2) 5 - Bills (5 & 2) 6 - Bucs (6 & 2) 7 - Packers (5-1-1) 8 - Patriots (6 & 2) 9 - Rams (5 & 2) 10 - Broncos (6 & 2) 11 - Seahawks (5 & 2) 12 - Chargers (5 & 3) 13 - 49ers (5 & 2) 14 - Jags (4 & 3) Remembering that 14 teams make the playoffs ... 7 from each conference I'm expecting the Ravens or Steelers to win the AFC East so 1 of those 2 will almost certainly make the playoffs

@Gorgoroth @Clintosaurus @Go the Biff @Dr. Gonzo @titan_uranus @ElDiablo14 @BDA @layzie @Dee Zephyr Leaderboard Tipping Comp 17 - Go the Biff 16 - Clintosaurus, Dee Zephyr 15 - layzie 14 - Macca 13 - BDA, Gorgoroth 11 - titan_uranus 10 - ElDiablo14, Dr. Gonzo Double Points this week!! And a bonus point is always on offer if you are the only 3 pick winner Baltimore & the Chargers look home & hosed? (As in, horse wins and then gets hosed down!) Beware the trap game!

Despite my misgivings, I've still got Max as captain for 2 reasons 1) I highly doubt that he'll be replaced so I'd rather stand with Max over the next 2 development years (we need to train up the young blokes) 2) Who else is there? Viney? Steele? My criticism is more about being the goings-ons being under his watch because by contrast, Max himself has led by example in exemplary fashion. And hasn't transgressed himself Maybe, just like Goodwin, he just placed too much faith with certain players So Max stays on as captain but I hope the club can keep everyone in line this time around Best culture? That's a laugh As an aside, earlier this year, the Ox had some very interesting things to say about the player behaviour (off-field)

Sure, but on the night in question (SF vs Carlton) we had T-Mac on one leg as our lone KPF ... he was also our 2nd ruck The only other viable choice was Max In my view it was Max or a complete liability (T-Mac)

If Grundy did check out then why would we let a player on a big contract check out so easily? Poor management. He was a required player And aren't there contracts to be fulfilled? As previously stated, all those 'incidents' involving poor behaviour, and then all those injuries leading into the 2023 finals series. That was our last chance in that mini era Reckon the club knew the writing was on the wall thus the recruiting of 4 first round pick mids after working our way up in the last 2 drafts And again, another 2 first rounders in this upcoming draft along with at least 2 more 1st rounders next year 8 mid 'types' all-up, over the space of 4 off seasons?

Fair enough As for the blown selection criteria in the finals of 2023, it has to (mainly) get back to the coach as it's his team But Schache instead of Grundy? Bewildering decision

What was true is that we went into the finals series in 2023 with an undermanned forward line with very little marking power Gawn had to be thrown forward with Grundy rucking ... not hindsight either as we had a whole thread about the make-up of the team We blew any chance of winning, especially against Carlton

In the space of a few short years we went from selfless to selfish to starting all over again Key Pillars Pres (gone) CEO (gone) Coach (gone) GM (going?) Captain (questionable)

See my post above

That was then, and the goalposts have moved since that dream run in 2021 For instance (and many were saying the same at the time), Max should have either put his hand up to play forward in the 2023 Semi final or told to play forward by Goodwin (Grundy rucks) Going into that SF, Melk, Brown, Petty, JVR, T-Mac & Fritsch were either out (4) or incapacitated (T-Mac & Fritsch) Do that and I believe we'd have won and then played in a PF (with JVR returning) History might tell us that that loss was the beginning of the end (of that mini era) So Max is far from perfect

He's good in many areas but not perfect. Post 2021, as a pillar of the club, he has to accept some sort of responsibility for the list going off the rails Many here are/were quick to point the finger at Goodwin but Gawn is the captain We heard that the players were given autonomy with regards to how they prepared for games. That's ok until the losses start incurring So what is the skipper doing? And that unholy mess with Grundy? Could be that he was a good captain and now, not so much Mind you, it's not like we have any adequate replacements for Capt. & VC

Leaderboard Tipping Comp 17 - Go the Biff 16 - Clintosaurus, Dee Zephyr 15 - layzie 14 - Macca 13 - BDA, Gorgoroth 11 - titan_uranus 10 - ElDiablo14, Dr. Gonzo

NFL Week 8 Game Picks (43 mins)

I definitely can't see your tips this week @Dr. Gonzo !!

Bills Bucs 49ers

What King has to deal with is that we have a lot of players who fall into the category of ok (or alright) Take Salem, Langdon, Rivers & Viney for example All 4 lack creativity & vision. And only 2 of the 4 are efficient ball users Our future lies with our recruiting

Don't leave out May (or Petracca) The Board/FD would have been rubbing their hands with glee once Trac asked to be traded "Beauty, we'll get more for him now" (Trac) King thinking the same way as well (in my view) 3 first round picks later .......