Young Blood

I really hope so. I thought he would carry on and see out the season with Geelong, which doesn't make much sense for us who are wanting to get the ball rolling with player/FD changes. Anyone know of a similar situation where an active opposition coach got the job in the midst of a finals campaign?

Be curious as to how King will manage juggling his coaching duties at Geelong leading into a prelim while at the same time consulting his new club regarding player and assistant/FD movements at the same time? If Geelong make the GF King will be pretty busy in the week leading into trade period. Seems pretty conflicted and messy to me. Anyway hope it all works out and King brings in some good assistants with him. I feel this has moved quicker because they're wanting to get the Senior Head of Football role sorted ASAP. As others have mentioned I really hope its Bartel.

None of us really have any idea about who would make the best coach. It’s just that I and a few others think its probably Buckley. 😂

I doubt Freo would entertain trading pick 11 for Judd unless there were quite a few pick swaps involved or even players. We must keep this guy. For a team that is FINALLY building up some good ball users (slowly) its so important we don't let one go. Keeping Judd means we can continue trialling our best backline ball users further up the ground for better forward chains and inside 50's. I would really like to see Judd more forward of centre next year because out of the small-medium backs (Riv, Bowey, Salem, Windsor) I think he has the agility and ball use to be a really damaging player with another full preseason under his belt.

You don't pick the avatar bluey has if you want to be taken seriously for starters 😄 Silly post I agree

I don't know about a freed up mind, I don't think I have the level of insight you might have there. But what I will say is ANB has gone back to the role he played for us from his best years 2021-2023 as a high half forward. People may have forgotten that last year Goodwin moved Nibbler around and played him through the midfield a lot more as evident in his stats (5 CBA per game, highest disposals/contested in his career). I think he may have even spent time across half back at times. Now some of this was due to injuries but I remember early on in the season Goody playing him in the middle more and feeling a bit uneasy about it. So I think going back to his preferred clearer/defined role which he has carved out and excelled in could have a lot to do with the perception of him looking more free playing for the Crom.

God do we ever. Miss his intensity and pressure. Miss his hard running and spread. Miss his leadership. Went from whipping boy to one of our most consistent players.

I know its been noted on here but with gee GWS' depth for talls both forward and back so strong I can see why this guy hasn't had much opportunity. Key Backs : Taylor, Buckley and Himmelberg. Then the progression of Alir and Idun as versatile talls down back as firmed them up even more. Key Forwards: Jesse, Cadman, Riccardi, Brown and now Gruzewski added to that depth. GWS coaches are really set on the structure they have, especially down back. Up forward, even this Gruzewski kid has been banging down the door, kicking bags in VFL and could only get a few games this season. So there's definitely one big reason there why WD hasn't had a good look at AFL level yet. A low cost trade to boost our aging Key back stocks and hopefully push our Key Forwards for a more competitive selection pool.

Sorry Whatwhat you got that backwards we love decent players who are terrible kicks. He'll stay on.

This won't be popular here. But I absolutely hate this part of Kozzy's game. I think Koz would be up there in the AFL for the biggest culprits of getting into a player after they have given away a free kick. He does it almost every time. I love the guy and how he plays on the edge but its becoming a bad habit IMO and often messes with his concentration in continuing the game. Worse is when Koz kicks a goal after winning a free kick, instead of going to his team mates first to celebrate the goal, he'll often find the player who gave it away to push and shove and rub it in his face. It's so unnecessary. The umpires need to be stronger in this. Its happening far too often and becoming an ugly part of our game. For a start I think similarly to umpire dissent rules where often an umpire will call out a warning to a player thats crossing the line with how they're speaking to umpires. Perhaps the same could go for players going overboard with physical taunting. I'd like to hear the umpires call out to players something like "Koz if you do that again I'm going to reverse the free kick".

An obvious but welcome statement. At least this we can all collectively agree on 100% Only thing I am glad for is we get another prelim at the G I can go to and hopefully live in the flesh watch Collingwood get smashed. Kind of hoping its Brisbane just because they're the most likely to tear the filth apart.

Amen. I'm not keeping my hopes up, but if we could get Jimmy in this role, it's going to go a very long way for us, supporters, in rebuilding some faith and trust with this football department/club.

There's just no way Freo will entertain a trade with what we would be offering. Kozzy was our only pathway to even starting the conversation. Jackson was the 11th highest rated player in the comp this year (just behind Nasiah). He's 24 yrs right in his prime, coming off his best year. He will continue to get better. Skies the limit with this kid. Move on.

I don't mind the idea of Lews getting 'involved' but would have concern about us hiring him as an assistant coach straight away. I think Lewis has one of the best football brains currently in the media (alongside Bucks) but there's a difference between having a sound opinion and great set of ideas/plan and then executing these with a coaching leadership role. That takes practice and experience. I think if Lewis wants to do that one day then he'll thrive. Not opposing you here Ted as I'm sure he'd be way better then most as you say but I feel like this team needs assistants (especially if Bucks is hired) that have recently been in a competitive successful team/role. Someone who has current up to date knowledge of whats working internally in the AFL and can bring that to this team and implement it effectively. As a somewhat related side note I didn't like the Jones hire this year. Love the man and what he's done for the club but felt he was brought in as more of a familiar support person. While Radford was our main midfield coach, Jones was simply there as a respected peer type figure to keep our recently problematic mids in check with positive reinforcement. Now that Radford has left I wonder what Jones' role will be and if he's required moving forward. I'm sure he's learnt a lot from the coaches box and has good footy knowledge but unlike Lewis it certainly wasn't as evident in his media appearances last year. Often it was stating the plainly obvious instead of more in-depth analysis.

I'd be curious if the DL pod crew have watched much of other top 8 teams of late and how they're playing rolling into finals. Are there any teams in particular you think think have maybe similar personel or a game style that Melbourne could aspire to get to in future seasons? I find it fascinating watching how teams adapt in games especially when the corridor is shut down by the opposition. Which is what happened in the Dogs vs Freo game, the most interesting game I thought on the weekend. Freo broke the game open with their faster ball movement by hand, even though its not always pretty (similar to Melbourne atm). They then started winning centre clearence but it was in tight where their ball winners (Serong/Erasmus/Brayshaw) were able to get it out to their best users in Young and O'meara to open the game up. Clearly Freo have one of the best forwardline's in the comp (although I would argue our small/mediums are better). But I don't think our midfield group is too dissimilar to theirs. They have just found a better mix/continuity of roles. Watching Freo on the weekend gave me some hope of where Melbourne could go. If we can find a better balance of inside/outside next season I think we could really challenge again. Langford might just be the game changer in that regard. I feel he could be our Hayden Young with his ability to impact games on the outside. His composure, timing, vision and kicking are already pretty elite. Besides Harvey are there any other players you could see becoming outside mids? The obvious call is to trade out one of inside mids to get a better balance but other then this To me the other obvious three all have a fair bit to improve on Windsor (timing/positioning), Rivers (composure/decision making), Lindsay (experience/fitness).

No the punishment does not fit the crime in this case. Because it should have been five weeks. The AFL started setting this precedent last year. If you don't self-report it is a five-week ban. The absolute circus that went on this week for the AFL to give Adelaide the extra time and leeway to work out some kind of loophole to get it down to four weeks is absolute rubbish. Whately on the call tonight summed it up perfectly its like "horse trading". The so-called evidence to bring the sentence down in this 'medical report' that will never see the light of day is the most bull sh***t thing I have ever heard. PF if you're asking if players shouldn't be banned for games for homophobic slurs, then I think you need to look further outside football with the current state of the world. A mate of mine from high school was bullied for years for being gay, constantly put down daily by his so-called peers. Last year, with all of that trauma and shame compounding him, he took his own life. Incredibly sad. I would love to have my mate back, I would love for him to have felt more welcomed and accepted at school but its too late now. So I urge anyone who thinks this is 'a bit overboard' to really think more broadly. I guarantee there are players running around in the AFL and local football communities who might not have come out but certainly find this sort of language highly offensive and hurtful. Besides the hypocrisy of the current Rankine situation with the length of his ban, at least the AFL is finally taking this seriously. Any player who casually uses that sort of old-world derogatory, homophobic language again on the field will have to think again.

Fair enough, you're probably right and know more than i do.

Which is why they're giving him a chance to adapt the game plan/style with what appears to be a fairly obvious timeframe/KPI's. I don't like it necessarily but they'll give him the rest of this season and next to really implement the changes, which has been pretty obviously indicated. Its been noted by many that swinging larger gameplans changes especially dramatically offense wise isn't something you can suddently fix or get right in a single off season (yes yes should have happened earlier) so we've been commended by decent media heads for adapting/learning the new faster gameplan on the fly which is working in patches. Seems like the playing group still trusts and respects him so they're not going to blow it up for the sake of it just yet. Whether we like it or not he's not going anywhere anytime soon. But fine with people venting about it as the ol tradition when its not going great. I still feel like our fitness is the concern with us dropping off in games more then we used to with energy/effort. That was always our staple over the last four or so years.

Worth the risk IMO. We have a bit of history in bringing in players for second chances/fresh starts. Hasn't always worked but I feel our culture within the four walls (not in the hyperbolic media) is pretty sound and there aren't too many repeat offenders once they're in the red and blue in terms of off field stuff. We're getting some credit now with how well the club dealt with/supported Clayton through his struggles as a perfect example of the clubs cultural integrity. As we saw on the weekend we can take it right up to the best in the comp. We have a top four backline and ball winning/contested midfield. We're just lacking some extra skill/kicking across our mid/front half which I feel we're slowly addressing as well as a genuine natural tall forward. Our backman-turned-forwards in Petts and JVR are going OK but imagine a fit and firing Jamarra in the mix.

I know a mad demon supporter dentist that can cover his bills for the next time he loses teeth again playing for us 🙂

Exactly this. There is simply no one else who would be performing Petty's role better. I thought he looked off all day, heavy legs, wasn't able to get separation at all, and just got locked in wrestling contests. We kicked it on top of his head time and time again with predictability leaving their third tall or ruck to come and pluck it. Petty didn't finish well yesterday but was fine otherwise I thought considering the circumstances. People expecting the natural key back to play as a dominating forward who kicks bags each week are delusional. He's there to contest, create spaces with his physicality and hopefully kick a few which he missed yesterday.

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Weird assumption. He's absolutely filthy with himself whenever he makes a mistake or error. I always see him putting his hand up or is visibly frustrated with himself when he stuffs up. Have also seen him bring up his mistakes in pressers. Perhaps he gets a little too emotional at times in the heat of the moment. However, he simply holds himself and his teammates accountable. Why is this a bad thing? I think anyone who knows or has seen interviews with Maysy off the field knows what sort of supporting team first character he is. I have no doubt he would have been wrapping his arms around Lindsay and Max post game when the dust settled.

Wholeheartedly agree. The pure joy on Trac's face in that changeroom before the team song was so heart warming.

Welcome to modern-day sports media. These are the guys that are the most successful and sought-after these days within the media world. Its taken a while but the American Sports writer/pundit approach of stretching a story or fabricating has now fully reached AFL via the likes of Morris/McClure who don't care about integrity/reputation as long as they're getting the clicks and attention from the supporters and greater AFL landscape. Its been a smart, cunning move to have them on shows like SEN feeding these stories to the more respected ex AFL announcers who feed into the game of it without tarnishing their reputations within the AFL, this seems to be giving people a sense of validity within some of the nonsense stories being spread around by these muppets. Sadly, we're going to have to get used to it as it's only going to increase. I've managed to build myself a filter of anything reported by Morris and the likes to simply block it out.