rufus

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).

I think this thread between you and old dee accidentally touches on why we are miles off. He says we don't have enough quality after our top six. As you say we did still manage run a lot of teams very close this year. My thoughts are, it's our top 6 that are failing us as they just aren't able to drag us to the line in tight games. And they have failed in that regard pretty much every single time since Sep 25 2021. Enough of those top 6 are in the peak age bracket so it is really problematic that we are in this position. We need to move on from these top end guys and I imagine it'll take some years to reset that before we can climb again.

Just glad it's over and I can ignore football for 6 months now. I appreciate that the players only lost to a degree that wasn't going to pour more fuel on the fire of how hard it'll be to convince someone to coach us. Shame it's come to this again but such is the MFC. Some are going to want out...and we must demand compensation based on what they are likely to deliver for their new club (i.e. how much those clubs want them and what they are capable of), not based on what they've produced for us over the last few seasons. We shouldn't be punished by these guys twice.

Although it'd be great to win, this playing group doesn't have a super record of bringing intensity for games that actually mean something, so it is not going to happen in the final round. All we need them to do here is avoid creating an even bigger story of how unappealing a club this is for external talent (including coaches). Just end the season with some pride in the club, the jumper and yourselves. They owe a bit to quite a few at this point.

This is the scary part. History is repeating itself with our 'star' players almost all regressing through their prime years. IMO this was always the root of our problem, not the coaching. I don't even know how it is possible for our senior guys to go backwards so badly. Normally with experience a player can't help but be a more effective player...the whole idea of experience is that things become easier for you. You've seen all the scenarios and you've developed ways to handle them. How are these guys so bad (Max excluded)? Is it laziness? Hubris? What is wrong at the core of the player culture at this club? Who can fix it?

Maybe the board are more switched on than many think (assuming reports of them believing we are a ways off are true). I reckon Buckley is possibly a mistake for both parties...our group is no good and the top end needs an almost complete turnover (pardon the pun).

Wow. These guys killed one coach's career and now they're going to scare anyone off wanting to come near the joint. Look at the age and experience profile of the 2 teams today...pretty similar but us with a bunch of 200+ gamers. Have our guys forgotten how to play football? The fulness of time is going to judge Goodwin as a coaching genius. These guys are legit plodders. Please let us get through one more week without a full Melbourne scoreboard implosion (I mean a 4 qtr one, not just a last qtr special).

Could he go to a lock down back pocket type role? I know his ball use is poor and he'd get done for pace but maybe he could make up for it in the contest...who knows maybe he'd just get too exposed for size and pace...

Good effort against a very good team. All that really matters this week and the next 2 weeks is that the players present a product that looks appealing to a high quality prospective coach. They held up their end of the bargain today.

The players have every right to be ropeable right now...with themselves. Reality is, rightly or wrongly (and whether it was going to last another 12 months who knows) Goodwin would still have the job right now if not for the players' 'laydown Sally' a couple of weeks back. They made the situation untenable. If the players are seriously more annoyed with the board than themselves then I am hugely concerned that they might be the most delusional group of people ever assembled. They had their chance to show their desire to see Goodwin safe in his job and they burnt him. Now over the last 3 rounds we get to see if they'll burn the club down too. 3 bad losses may significantly hurt our chances of trying to convince someone to take the coaching job. If they do lay down over the last 3 then it might just confirm we are better going with a young coach and a rebuild than a reset anyway.

I am in the minority and felt like Max and Jack both played the media thoroughly during the week. I don't think either of them believed what they said. I think the club would have sat them down after Langdons comments and let them know that unless they want to set the club back another 5 to 10 years (player acquisition, membership, etc.), public comments all need to suggest the players are on board and on the same page. We will find out today I reckon. Bulldogs are playing so powerfully offensively that if your defence is slightly off you'll get battered. It feels like a Melb player protest game incoming and could easily be 20+ goals. If our playing group veer away from Goodwin’s defensive demands I don't think they are good enough or internally driven enough to deliver anything competitive. Hope I am way off here. These are just my gut feelings.

They have a worse list than us...but they have had a significantly worse list than us for the last 5 years yet they routinely beat us or run us within a couple of points. They get more out of their players than we do (and that's scary). I'd be shocked if any coach with options willingly put the fate of their career in the hands of our players.

Yes please x 1000

Unbelievably grateful to Goodwin for what he did for us. Delivered one of the great sportings days of my life and one that i will not forget till the day i die. An all time Demon great.

Throw every last cent at him to come here in some role to fix our low player expectation culture. Look how filthy he was with the missed kicks by Papenhuyzen last week. There's no excuses, no buts. He expects effort and competence. Two things that we don't expect enough of.

No idea what he actually does these days, or if he has any coaching experience or interest, but this club needs a person like Luke Hodge who would not accept an of the cr@p we've been served up by the players over the last few years.

I hate the timing and think it's poor form. Should have waited till the end of the year. While I think it was probably untenable now, I still think many on here are going to be surprised by the depths we are going to fall to in the coming years. Goodwin will go down as our best coach of the last 60 years and probably at least our next 10. Ultimately he was burnt by a playing group that claimed to love him but routinely wouldn't fight for him or the club when the moments got biggest.

His best mate is Simon Goodwin. Might be a bit complicated.