rufus

Me too. Always rated him higher as a player and thought he was more committed to our club through his journey. If this has been done without any firm commitment from incoming players then it's a big red mark for the new regime for mine. We're looking at bottom 4 for 5+ years now...extraordinary just 4 years out from a flag with a young list. The fact that info had leaked before the meeting yesterday was an abomination. If the suggestion of us being willing to pay up to 700 of his wage is true then I have no words (surely you'd want to make sure if something might leak you'd put out a low number to start with???). Can you imagine him playing in preliminary finals and grand finals for Geel or Collingwood while we are helping them to the tune of 700k. Far out. I'd rather King have been prepared to back himself to get him back to his best than stomach that (although I guess its possible that behind the scenes there may be circumstances existing that mean removing him from the playing group is the only way we can really move forward). I do find it odd that the list manager who did the deal is also sitting in these meetings advising people that they can't be guaranteed senior footy a couple of years into the agreement. It's time to move on from that regime...it has failed miserably and is leading us from one calamity to another.

The way this club goes about things, both on and off the field, just beggars belief at times. I'm not convinced we are capable of being a serious football club. Why is this stuff playing out in the media in almost real time?

We should know the position of the club by the end of the day. If he is indeed fully on board and we are wanting him to be a central part of the regeneration then we will need to make a statement to shut the noise down. The club just doesn't need more of this stuff dragging through the media for weeks. If we don't get a statement then I'd assume it's true and we want him to move on, in which case we would really appear to be going full rebuild.

Fair enough that club wants established players to be part of any trade, but realistically it's not going to happen. No way we will convince any competitive person to come and spend their best years toiling with this group. The St Kilda debacle put a full stop on any thought of this group having a chance of making any noise down the track. I'm firmly of the belief we need high picks and try to turn the list over for a rise in 4 to 5 years. As a smaller club, like the other smaller clubs our shot is to sneak a flag when our young guns are in their low to mid 20s, before they start looking elsewhere. Maybe this could change one day if we manage to draft some players with the ability to change our player culture...but we haven't managed to do that for many years. People will be annoyed with Petracca, but his departure (providing the club hold very firm on the asking price) is going to be very good for us in a number of ways.

100%. Look how our season started this year when we focussed our off season on being more attacking...we just completely fell apart defensively. I'm still adamant that the biggest contributor to the result of any AFL match is pressure. Geelong beat Brisbane 3 weeks ago because their pressure was higher. Brisbane turned it around 80 points mostly because they brought the pressure and Geelong couldn't handle it. The challenge is convincing a group of 23 people of the benefit of sacrificing a bit to focus on the pressure element....not many teams can do it consistently. Loved Ashcroft's speech on the podium....celebrate for a bit and then straight back to work. What a great attitude.

Hopefully the stance of the club last year and this year is part of a turning of the tide league wide in terms of want away players under contract. The idea of us paying the wages of anyone who doesn't want to play for us is just ridiculous. The compromising needs to be done by the player and their target club. The player can forgo some money and the target club can sacrifice some talent in order to bring them in. Should never be an expectation of the club holding the contract.

My feeling is, opening up the interstate options is his subtle way of saying that he desperately wants nothing more to do with the MFC. I assume the club in turn told him that if it plays out anything like last year, we won't help you out. So, everything now is being tightly controlled to ensure the MFC maintain some leverage. Ultimately we are in a good position because he needs us to be comfortable with what we get in order to facilitate his exit. The quiet whispers of "he'd be ok to walk back into the MFC next year" are another leverage tool for us...I don't believe them for a second. Either you're committed to the club that has invested a lot in you, or you're not. To be going down this path just suggests to me that he isn't interested in helping lead the club forward, which is fine as I personally don't see him as the right type to help in this regard anyway.

I'm not afraid to say I loved Goodwin as our coach. I believe him to be a winner and he brought some of that to the MFC (more than anyone else has been able to do for more than half a century). But we are in the position we are in right now because of inarguable under performance. From the FD. Not just in wins and losses, but in the manner of how we seemed to approach competing in a no nonsense, ruthless manner. That seemed to be a signal that change might have been needed, and is why right now we are being kicked around by anyone with a boot. The kicking is going to continue until the next season starts, so we need to get used to it. And when next season starts, there's one group of people, now with the guidance of Steven King, who have the power to stop the pile on. The Hawthorn and Collingwood way is that the players have the privilege of taking the club to where they want it to be. The coaches will provide the guidance, but the players have to drive it. We need to be like them. With our current list, that may well not mean top 4 or even top 8 finishes. It doesn't need to include those things. It needs to be a visceral indication that players understand the privilege and clearly want to take this club somewhere.

This is what needs to happen now. I assume this appointment is basically a signal that we are going to rebuild? That was always the elephant in the room in regards to Buckley I thought...people were suggesting this is a good job for him for a crack at a flag...but reality is this group is so far away it's not funny. With our long term contracts we're atleast 5 years off having a contending team again in my view. Can King set us on a path to build the right player culture this time? Not just for success but for a sustainable period of non negotiable competitiveness. Good luck.

I also have a good feeling about Kelly. I am hoping it is him. Outside of Buckley the other candidates just worry me. Not 100% sure why.

The chickens are coming home to roost for us unfortunately. We're not an attractive proposition because coaches surely now see that at MFC their biggest hurdle will still be worrying about whether each weekend will be one where the players choose to have a genuine dip or whether they'll mail it in. Goodwin was still dealing with players who'd played 150 games yet could routinely play like rookies at any given time. Just a bizarre thing but something that has been a constant at this club this century. Anyhow my hope now is for Kelly with hopefully Bartel in the entourage. We need winners and we need people who the playing group won't be prone to look down on and walk over. Even though I think it's a bad fit I'd prefer Buckley if not Kelly. The rest just give me a gut feel of more tail wagging to dog in the FD. Hopefully one day we'll get the right mix and foster a player lead culture change that might actually fix us once and for all.

Best mates with Goodwin. Always seemed like it might be a bit of a conflict.

Gee Brisbane's pressure is way off. Cats applying great pressure, Brisbane hardly any. Even competing softly in marking contests. Lucky not to be 5 goals down.

It's nice to hear someone in the playing group genuinely expressing that they need to be better...and sounding motivated to do it. And coming from someone who has previously shown that he can be one of the best in the business, that is significant. Who knows what will end up happening with him or Petracca but more of this attitude in general please.

As a fan you can only really muse on who'd be a good appointment based on what you see of their personality and their playing history. The list doesn't really inspire me. Not sold on Buckley (for where we're at) but from that list my gut feel is that only he or Kelly would be a chance to succeed in our environment. Whether we like to admit it or not, this club has a long history of the tail wagging the dog in the football department. We need someone who commands respect from day 1 and who can drive a change of culture in the playing group. None of the 6 will be better coaches than Goodwin IMO (though I concede his position was untenable after the St Kilda debacle).