Macca

Andy Weir's 'Project Hail Mary' is fabulous and could well go down as an all time classic (certainly in the sci-fi genre) A recently released movie, based on the book, has already grossed half a billion dollars! (Stars Ryan Gosling) For reviews, description and further info ... https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary?from_search=true

Enough with the congregate round! Rory won the Masters again! Is he the most universally liked sportsperson going around? Great to watch with his attacking style

We had a bad day at the office yesterday. But we've also seen the other side of the ledger against the Saints, Blues & Suns Nonetheless, yesterday was very disappointing With the Demons it's maybe 'expect the unexpected' The Senior players have to bring it because if they don't, we can't expect the young and/or the inexperienced players to win us games. It's too big of an ask Our inexperienced players are learning how to play, at AFL level. Any player can be critiqued, but who's leading the way? We need Bowey, Rivers & Viney back, asap

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What about all the unforced errors (turnovers) 138 so far Edit (4 minutes later) 155 (turnovers)

The young players are not the issue.* All of them need a few pre-seasons & 60-80 games under their belts but more importantly, they need the senior players to lead the way Which was sadly lacking yesterday (senior players output) I counted up to at least 10 experienced players who were well below their best The danger pre-game was complacency and whether King could read what might get delivered Let's face it, we starting having these no-show-up games a few years ago with arguably, a much better team But even the best teams have off days (Bulldogs yesterday as well) Steep learning curve ahead with lots of ups & downs. We just need to stay ahead in the win column *Even the great Chris Judd could only average 18 possessions per game in his first 68 matches (3 years)

What an opportunity hey? 4 & 1 staring us in the face ... a win and we might be a contender (maybe) A loss and it's another re-start Seize the day!

Bang bang ... bang?

If they are dumb enough to think that a caretaker coach could work then yeah, they'll sack Voss early Caretaker coach - 2 or 3 wins. New game plan? Good luck! End of season (or near the end) is a far better scenario (for Carlton) And the caretaker coach might mirror Voss anyway. After all, their whole FD would be geared towards playing a certain way

Won't do them any good. They lack the talent to play today's new AFL standard. Caretaker coach won't help either. Too much is set in stone in footy clubs these days And the Blues are doing what we used to do ... Bomb it in long, time after time. Dumb football. Turnover- City A new coach needs a year to turn it around (or at least the whole off season) Our sport has become like the NFL in that regard (not like soccer) And the NFL teams generally wait until seasons end to sack their coaches. Black Monday they call it

Blues lose ✔️ Pies lose - probable ✔️ Bombers lose - Should be ✔️ Hawks lose - hopefully ✔️

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)