poita

Lots of positivity around Latrelle's debut, and deservedly so. I did see that he was only one of three Melbourne players not to make a tackle on Sunday. That really needs to be a non-negotiable for a player in that role. There are going to be days where he doesn't get opportunities to kick goals, so he simply has to find other ways to contribute.

Can we safely assume Ross Lyon is the dumbazz who gave Hall 5 votes and Wilkie 2? I'm surprised he didn't find room for Nas as well given his post match comments.

I found it completely underwhelming, but not particularly annoying. Certainly better than ads blaring all the time. Any novelty effect will wear off pretty quickly with most of these - hopefully the choices are refreshed on a regular basis.

De Koning clearly outplayed Max in the first quarter and was instrumental in St Kilda's early success. It is a sign of Max's greatness that he was able to reassess his game at quarter time, and be the best and most influential player on the ground over the last three quarters. His ability to ruck unchanged in the last quarter at age 34 was extraordinary.

McDonald & Heath for Lever & Sparrow. Lever turned the ball over on multiple occasions and had about ten contested marks taken on - mostly by midgets. Straight swap for McDonald. Heath required to combat Jackson & Darcy, and Sparrow contributed nothing (again).

A quality person and a quality player. The fact that St Kilda let him go for next to nothing is exactly the sort of decision making that delivers one premiership in 130 years. We just need him to play a role each week, anything more than that is a bonus.

Bit of a weird game overall, lots of players contributed but only Van Rooyen and Gawn (after 1/4 time) really dominated. Nevertheless a very enjoyable win, and the improved composure of the group late was pleasing. Clearly our ball movement and our forward line structure were infinitely better than anything we've seen in the past two years. Time will tell whether we can maintain this against better opposition. We haven't had a genuinely unselfish, team-oriented key forward since 2021 Ben Brown. The only issue I have with Mihocek is that we didn't land him three years ago when he could have helped deliver a second premiership. His impact on Van Rooyen and the other forwards will be immense, regardless of his own contributions. It was fantastic to see the likes of Sharp and Tholstrup play important roles, and clearly King has come in with fresh eyes and fresh ideas to rejuvenate some of these players. On the flip side, the defence was a hot, stinking mess for most of the day. Lever was appalling throughout and must be dropped for McDonald this week. As I've said for a long time, Lever and Turner should never play in the same team as both are trying to play the same role. Salem and Jiath are also a concern as neither wants to be accountable for an opponent. Both had some decent moments with the ball, but they will be easily exposed against better opposition. St Kilda's lack of height allowed us to play an extra utility on the bench, but we probably need to play another tall this week. Petty was very good when he rucked, but we will need him to stay back against Freo. Gawn rucking 90% of the game is also not sustainable long term, so hopefully Heath comes in (perhaps for Sparrow).

Imagine thinking Lever is an AFL footballer. All he wants to do is point and avoid contact.

"See Trelly on the Telly" is a fairly dumb way for the club to promote our first home game for the year. Nevertheless, good luck to Latrelle. I hope it is the first of many games for the club.

The one true goalkicker on our list - absolutely must be retained. A three year deal will be plenty. Quicker ball movement and a more open forward line will see him back to his best this year.

Just so I'm clear, he doesn't even start his new contract for another two years, but there are already questions regarding his willingness to stay in Melbourne? Cool bananas.

There comes a point where you have to accept that AFL footballers are just too spoilt for their own good. Firstly, only the first stage of the development has been finalised, so there is still plenty of work to be done on the facilities. Secondly, football is still an outdoors sport, so there are going to be days when it is windy or it rains or is too hot. This is a club that has been playing in Launceston of all places for 25 years, so it is a bit rich to be complaining because your training facility is exposed to wind at times. Next they'll be complaining because they can't walk to work every day.

Langdon spent time on Nas in Alice Springs and got flogged. If only Howes had Sparrow's toughness, or Chandler was four inches taller..

It's all part of this ridiculous idea that every game has to be an "event". You are no longer allowed to go and support your team - in fact, it is probably frowned upon in some quarters. Apparently it is far better to have a crowd full of people who spend half the game looking at their phones and adding to their insta feeds, and the other half standing in queues to buy food and drinks. There will come a point where the coverage is less about the actual result, and more about the surrounding [censored] - what the players wear when the arrive at the game, who they arrive with, what songs they play, etc. I can't stand Collingwood or their supporters, but at least they care and create some atmosphere. Most other games are completely lacking in soul thanks to the AFL and their media goons.

I'm not a fan of the Waverley option, but it used to be a paddock in the middle of nowhere. It's now a built up area in the middle of suburbia - there are people everywhere at all times. There is no comparison to how it was before the development took place.

Maybe Paddy Cross will put his hand up for it.

The midfield is starting to show long term promise, but we have major issues at both ends of the ground, particularly in defence. Remember that both May and Lever cost us first round picks - we're not attractive to free agents, so we're going to have to pay up to get quality. I don't think we can afford to use up all our first round picks on one player.

All of those deals were too long, unquestionably. All the risk with deals of that length is with the club, zero with the players. They get paid regardless of how they perform, or even if they don't turn up to the club. We're just lucky that the Suns were happy to take Petracca's deal off our hands once we decided we didn't want him. Otherwise we could have ended up paying him to play elsewhere as well. People are in dreamland if they don't think the Pickett deal will cause us problems at some stage.

How much of our 2026 salary cap is Lamb paying to players who are no longer at the club? Oliver, Brayshaw, May, ... He is completely unaccountable for his decision making - no wonder he wants to stay. The only safer roles would be working for the Victorian Government.

May was absolutely brilliant between 2020 and 2023, and a hugely significant factor in our 2021 premiership. For that, I will always be immensely grateful to him. The club clearly erred in extending his contract early last year, as it was obvious from mid-2024 that his form and fitness were falling away badly. His best football was still very good, but the bad games were often very bad and certainly more common. I wish him all the best for his future, and hope that he is able to resolve any issues that have been troubling him in recent times.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/chasing-eagles-on-the-green-jayden-hunts-audacious-bid-to-reach-pga-tour/news-story/8e1a946a099234ef07d9d9365954d96e Good story on Jayden's life after football in the Herald Sun today. He seems to be in a much better place than many retired footballers. You have to be a little envious of someone who is good enough to play 12 years of AFL, and also has a good enough golf game to try to qualify for the Australasian tour.

It's pretty clear at this point in time that the current population of Casey and surrounding areas has zero interest in football. As with the GC17 and GWS situations, it is going to take at least one generation and maybe two before football gets a foothold in these areas. That will only come about by hitting the schools hard and almost dragging kids to games. It is only when those kids are grown up and have their own kids that it will start gaining traction. Much like kids who jumped on to Hawthorn's bandwagon in the 1980s turned them into a financial powerhouse twenty years later when they started bringing their families to games. I'm not convinced that we have the patience and the money to see the Casey experiment through, and I'm not sure that we should even try, although clearly someone is going to reap the rewards in the future. As for our AFLW side, it is blatantly clear that the program has been allowed to wither on the vine. It is quite shameful really when you look at the resources that have been thrown at the Goodwin-led circus in the past four years.

It's a pity that Max feels the need to comment on every little thing happening in football these days, because I feel that his views on important issues (such as this one) are well considered and tend to be overlooked. If he only spoke out when it was important, people would be more likely to take note.

In the short term we probably don't need Derksen, but there is a chance that May, McDonald and Adams are all gone by year end. Lever's best football is well behind him and Petty seems to miss more games than he plays. That leaves only Turner (and Petty) in that bracket of 23 - 29 year old key defenders. It is an area that we need to look at.

Terrible decision. You can guarantee that a key defender will never receive a vote under this system and a key forward probably needs to kick 6 goals or more. The top 10 disposals per game leaders last included Smith, Daicos, Parish, Sheezel, Whitfield and Hewett. A million worthless touches every week that have zero impact on how their team performs. Does anyone truly want to see these types of players winning the Brownlow Medal every year?