rufus

Gee if it came to this and his 'camp' got what they wanted it would set a very dodgy precedent. Pretty much any painful knock would require the club to withdraw the player from the match immediately. However, if it did come to this and they succeed, I guess that means he'd be allowed to terminate his contract with us? Which would make him a free agent, and therefore we would get pick 6 as free agent compensation. At least that is better than nothing. In fact, if the whole thing just becomes untenable and it looks like we might accept scraps from another club, maybe we'd be better agreeing to void the contract and take the free agency compo instead. Then he can go find a club that's prepared to pay him what he wants.

Unfortunately the poop show that has unfolded over the last few weeks gives us zero chance of convincing any best 22 players to join us. I reckon it will also complicate the Petracca trade because no one will agree to leave their club to join us. From what I've heard, the misplaced arrogance of our playing group over the last few years might not have helped endear our club to outside players either. This is a high priority to correct if it is a reality.

Yep. I actually agree with premise that we should be looking at youth right now...but picks like 11 this year and next year just won't cut it. Nor would scraps like Cerra or McKay. Carlton and Collingwood just don't have the assets to make an acceptable deal. So, we stand firm and find the best deal for us. If he is unhappy enough that he's willing to break a significant contract, one that has implications for our club beyond this player himself, then we should assume he'd be happier pretty much anywhere else. So, highest bidder it is.

Goodwin is one of the few people in my entire lifetime supporting this club that I have had faith in to drive a relentlesly competitive culture. He has been involved in winning throughout his career and he seems to be a determined competitor. Sure there are still things he needs to improve but we would be a lot worse off without him in my opinion.

I wonder if his unhappiness started with the rumoured spray he copped from the coaches after fumbling the Carlton final last year? He probably didn't enjoy that too much...

We don't need the play the victim here though do we. We can hold firm on what we get and come out of this one on top. Then we can hope our new playing group are united and feel a burn in their bellies that makes them want to crush teams like the Pies the way most fans seem to. Let's face it, it's been obvious to many people over the last 3 years that our group just didn't seem to have the fire that was needed to get it done when under real pressure. Who knows, maybe this might just help us.

Not sure whether this mess is on the club or the player really. I have my gut feel but it's not really relevant. Either way, the club can fix this and we can come out massive winners. I just hope we hold firm and demand a king's ransom. If he wants to go so bad then he needs to convince a club that it is worth their while to pay a very high price for him. If what we're hearing is true, many of the concerns he has were well known to him when he signed his contract (e.g. crowds and Casey). I would not be opposed to sending him to Gold Coast if it got us the best deal...no way we should send him to a Vic team unless the trade improves us more than them.

In fairness to you it was very easy to look away from the game on Friday night!

Very hard to know what the hell is going on with this one. One of the oddest situations in recent memory and one that seems to be damaging both the club and the player as it continues. So many reports contradict themselves (e.g. giving the club a kick up the butt to improve while simultaneously fostering a situation that makes it very hard for the club to sell itself to people who might be able to help it do that). No idea what's gone on behind close doors. If there has been pressure applied to the club that we must get better then I'm all for that. Our 3 years since the flag have delivered so much less than they could have. But if it's more of a 'you must get better' to the club then I would feel it lacks self awareness and somewhat shirks the responsibility of the club's highest paid player to both deliver when under immense pressure and to drive the standards that ultimately turn the club into what we all want it to be. If it's simply a 'you must get better' then I'd love the club's response to be that we get the best value for him and move on. I would also not expect the club to make this public at all as it would simply hurt the negotiating position which is currently very strong.

Very interested in this game. We have a good record of strong performances during weeks where internal politics involving the players come to light. Yikes. Seriously though, in my opinion we are not going to win another one with our current group of senior players, regardless of how the dust settles with the current issues. So it's going to need to be many of the guys playing tomorrow that are going to get us to 14. Not too worried about the winning or losing, but how they go about it and how much pride is shown in the jumper and in each other will speak volumes around where this next wave is at.

Absolutely on point 1. In the end, the way this has come out has hurt the club in a big way. It might spark some necessary action, but it's going to make it really hard to convince good players from other clubs to join us. And on point 2 you could not possibly hit the nail more squarely on the head imo.

Disappointing. He's one who always looks like he's up for the contest. Has improved constantly over the course of his career. The exact type of player who we need leading the club culture.

Feels like we might need to be smart here and rebuild to an extent. The core players of Gawn, May, Lever, Oliver, Petracca and Viney don't look capable of driving us to the top again (or perhaps not willing). Let's be bold and for those who's hearts aren't in it lets move them on to build for a new wave in 5 years.

Great to hear. The players must have been really burning from their record setting back to back straight sets exits. Every opportunity that the surprise flag presented this club seems to have been blown away by a lack of professionalism and a terrible culture of low expectations.

Like x 1000. These are the guys who were out on the field and had the opportunity to affect the result for the club in big finals the last 2 years. Sounds like lots of issues behind the scenes at the Hawks during their golden period last decade...but when push came to shove their leaders stood up where it really matters (on the field) and found a way to get it done. Ours have failed. That's where I'd be looking in the end of season review. Maybe ours just aren't good enough.

As long as the club stays firm in any trade negotiations then I don't think this would be the worst thing for us. He chose the sign a long lucrative contract with us...so if he doesn't want to see it through and wants to choose where he goes then it should be made clear to him and them that we will facilitate only if we are adequately compensated. Ultimately this group of senior/'star' players have been pretty poor against the top teams since 2021. They just haven't been able to deliver under pressure. The club may need to be bold and look at how we can build the next wave and have a crack when they have games behind them in 5 or 6 years. Our current group has proven they can't get it done in the real pressure cooker of big MCG games. Without having any real details, it did make me laugh the other day when I read that some players perhaps aren't happy with the direction of the club, particularly the failure to make finals this year. Are they for real? They would have played in at least a preliminary last year if they didn't produce some of the biggest choking in AFL history. The 4 finals over the last 2 years have been lost on the grass and nowhere else. What else could the club or the supporters have done for them? It's been up to these highly rated players and they've failed big time.

I wonder what it would cost to get Bellamy out of the storm and get him in a role to try and right our culture? The storm have been amazing for so long, I reckon Bellamy could help with out losing culture.

Feels like excuses to me. We're great and consistent at that. If you go out there, you play with pride. Tonight, like a number of other games this year, should not be acceptable. Find a way to compete. You don't have to win, just don't be embarrassing.

I tend to agree, except I'd stick with Goodwin. The young players aren't what's killing us right now so continue blooding them.

Yep. A team that generally has at least 9 players with 150 game of experience has been belted 5 times. Including by a Collingwood team missing a heap of their best and a terrible West Coast team. WTF are these senior players doing?

Teams that have pride don't give up 35 scoring shots to 14. I wonder when the Pies last waved the white flag like that? And people wonder why no one wants to go watch these guys play. Yeah it's because of that mean Maynard. Yeah poor Oliver's had a bad run. Oh but we get stiffed by the umpires. And our crowd just doesn't make enough noise so how can we expect the players to be competitive? Starts and ends with the players. Weak.

Dogs for mine. Great midfield depth, now have bigs standing up at both ends, and are hitting form and fitness at the right time. They are also amazing momentum riding football club.

I like watching good, hard, competitive sport. I don't trust that we're going to produce it. Coming off a straight sets finals exit last year, our crowd turned up ready to rumble vs Coll in the first final, only for the players to come out with the intensity of a pre season game. They lost trust. The whole club proceeded to blame an unfortunate injury in the 1st quarter of that match for our season's demise instead of the astonishing level to which our players got out-muscled and out-hustled to start that match. It was yet another indication of how little this club understands of how to harness the passion of the supporters. The players and FD have fumbled a golden opportunity to regain trust within the supporter base, and respect across the football world, over the last couple of years. I also don't trust our senior players. I don't trust that they will not lose way too many genuine one on one contests, or that they won't make the most calamitous mistakes that belie their level of experience. I have no idea what it is about what we expect of our senior players that sees such inconsistency with them. TLDR. I don't really enjoy how the MFC goes about competing.

Yes. 10 players with 150+ games of experience and I feel for the coach...you just don't know what you're going to get from those guys who you should be able to bank on. We've unearthed some decent young talent this year but are we just going to see those guys fall off a cliff as they hit their peak years as mostly seems to be the way at MFC? We won a flag with a pretty young and promising list and their overall ability to execute in the contest has just been poor for 3 years. Commitment to applying pressure seems to just be when they feel like it...it isn't a non negotiable. After trying to recruit players by spruiking that we see 3 or 4 flags in our short term future, there will likely be 8+ teams that have won at least a single final since 2021, and we won't be one of them. We are about to be passed by Hawthorn. Again. The fumbling of the whole thing by the whole FD is jarring. And on the crowd thing, it needs to be a two way street. These guys continually find ways to let interstate sides come here and embarrass us on our home turf...and why exactly would people want to turn up and cop that?

We are a completely different team when we are applying high pressure to our opponents. We are able to force turnovers in much more dangerous positions on the ground which generates so much more space forward. All of a sudden our forwards look capable. It was really evident even from the way our forwards sprinted to man the mark as Essendon chipped around their backline. These things make a huge difference to how teams are able to exit from the back half. Like it or not, it has become clear that we just don't have the talent levels of the other great sides of the past 10 to 15 years...so once we drop of our pressure we become very ordinary. Hawks of 2010's were good enough to ebb and flow their pressure and when they turned it up they could just bolt away. Richmond's successful team seemed to be able to bring the pressure very consistently which is what made them so successful. Our pressure hasn't been that consistently good since about quarter time in the GF in 2021. If we can bring it to last night's levels more consistently then we may still eek something more out of this group.