poita

Cripes, Collingwood add Houston & Perryman to a side that won a premiership under two years ago, Hawthorn bring Battle & Barrass into a top six side, and our supporters are still ruing our inability to land Wade Derksen 8 months ago. We really are comfortable with being average.

I simply don't see the upside with Jefferson as an AFL player. He could be a great player if he could find the time and space that is simply not available at this level. But I don't see him ever developing the size, strength and aggression that he is going to need to make it.

The list of things that Clarry is not at the moment is already lengthy and is growing by the week. A tagger is one of the few remaining roles he may be able to play in his current condition. At the very least, the Newcombes of the world will take him to the ball. However, the bigger issue is that most opposition midfields are much deeper than ours. Many coaches would be happy to sacrifice one of their gun mids to a nil-all draw with Oliver, and let the others feast on our B grade midfielders (as happened with Worpel this week).

So Melksham needs to be rested after playing 1 consecutive game, are they for real? Maybe don't take an almost 34 year old to Perth to play the bottom side if he is not capable of backing up the following week in a much more important fixture. Hard to believe that Jefferson is the best replacement either.

I see the club is handing out free tickets to this week's game and 3 game memberships to residents of the City of Casey. I'm guessing the cost of this is fairly negligible given that these people probably wouldn't be attending games without the handout. Although maybe some smart Hawthorn fans will take up the offer instead of buying tickets at the gate. However it is further evidence that membership numbers are completely bogus and pointless given that our membership numbers might increase, but our membership dollars don't.

This is what I don't understand. MFC signed a contract to pay Oliver $XXX over seven years; Oliver signed a contract to play football for the MFC for seven years. MFC has, to our best knowledge, done everything required of it under this contract, whereas Oliver is clearly not delivering on his end of the bargain, at least not by performing at the expected level. Yet the football world seems to think it is okay for Oliver to say I don't want to play football for the MFC any more and bugger off to Geelong whilst still getting his full salary. Like you, I don't see how any potential trade happens without Oliver agreeing to tear up his current contract. That will be the truest test of where his priorities lie, although he could probably take a lot of pressure off himself by renegotiating his contract and staying at the MFC..

May has been on a steep decline for at least 12 months, and the end is coming very quickly. His best is still very good, but his worst is really poor, particularly when he doesn't have confidence in his body. If we think Adams is the answer as a replacement, he needs to be getting AFL games alongside May and McDonald this year.

That would be an incredibly big loss, if true. He has done a wonderful job keeping the AFLW list competitive. That said, it is hardly surprising that other organisations would come knocking. Its just a pity that we couldn't find him a role with the AFL list management team, because I'm not a fan of Tim Lamb's work. I posted when Ben Brown left that we have been losing a lot of quality people out of our AFLW program over the past year or so. I would like some reassurance from the club that these are being replaced with people of similar quality.

Imagine thinking that forward line could kick a decent score. This club is utterly clueless.

I think we should be aiming to do significantly better than what either Sharp or Spargo can provide, and Culley has no exposed form in that role. Tholstrup is another who doesn't do enough. Tackles and pressure acts are important to a point, but they also indicate players who are not winning the ball and who are second to the contest. We have far too many forwards who don't kick goals and don't win enough contests. It means that opponents can focus their attention on the few who can hurt them (Pickett, Petty & Fritsch), and know that they don't need to worry about Spargo standing by himself on the outer HFF. Chandler has generally had a very good year in his new role, but needs to maintain his form across a full season.

No backup ruckman, no midfield replacement for Oliver, yet another forward who doesn't kick goals and we're still carrying injured or unfit players. Goodwin never fails to disappoint with his bone headed selections.

I'd much rather go back to an alignment with Sandringham if St Kilda are pulling out. I don't really care what jumpers they wear, or what the team is called. Clearly the Casey alliance is doing nothing for us in terms of developing players. Who are the players who have spent significant time developing at Casey in the past five years who have come back better for the experience? Maybe McVee.

Tom has been clearly our best performed defender this year, and arguably was last year as well. It is an indictment on our selectors that he wasn't named in our round 1 side. With May fading badly in the past 12 months and Lever just a shadow of his 2021 self, there is every chance Tom will still be in our best 22 at the end of 2026.

We are currently playing a forward group where 3-4 of these almost never kick goals (Spargo, Tholstrup, Fullarton, Sparrow. Add Melksham, Henderson & Johnson from earlier in the year). All the pressure acts and tackles in the world are meaningless if our forwards don't do what they are paid for and kick goals, as scoring more than the opposition is the whole point of the sport last time I checked. No doubt Fritsch has been well off his best form this year, but he is the one player in the team who can be relied upon to kick goals on a reasonably regular basis. Even more so when we generate the fast ball movement and open forward line that plays to his strengths. The 16th highest scoring side in the competition can ill afford not to play proven goalkickers.

For a guy who has been in the AFL system for six years and who has spent 18 months waiting for an opportunity at Melbourne, Fullarton shows an incredible lack of desire and competitiveness. I thought Tom was beaten in the ruck by OMac against Fremantle, which is bad enough, but to get beaten by the much smaller McIntosh against Richmond is damning. Combine that with his lack of presence and contribution in the forward line, and clearly he is not the answer. He certainly can't be an option when we play against sides with two genuine ruckmen and I can't see him being on the list next year.

60K would be a decent crowd this week, 70K absolute max - why would there not be a truckload of GA seating available?

As bad as side as I can remember us selecting under Goodwin. Almost every player is either underdone, lacking form and confidence or completely out of their depth. Combine that with a coach who has completely lost the plot, and what could possibly go wrong? The worst thing that could happen today is another uninspiring 5-6 goal loss with brief glimpses of basic competency that will allow the club to keep on pretending that all is well, so nothing will change.

Truly moronic changes from a desperate and clueless coach. Let's drop our only reliable goalkicker but keep Spargo who couldn't hit the scoreboard if his life depended on it. Again we pick a bloke with no match fitness in Tholstrup, who isn't that good to start with. I assume we'll let May hobble around all afternoon as well. And what's with picking Turner only in even rounds?

Pressure acts should be a non-negotiable for all players, but particularly for small forwards. You don't get extra credit for doing the bare essentials of your job, when you contribute nothing else (goals, assists, tackles, etc). It isn't just Spargo, but he is a forward who hasn't kicked a goal since July 2023 - that's a long time ago.

For those who remember the Late Show in the early 90s, Goodwin's press conference yesterday reminded me of this excellent segment.

I really don't see the point of playing May when he is carrying injuries. He becomes his nervy, fumbly worst self when he has no confidence in his body (see round 3 v GC as example 1), and it affects everyone around him. Get him 100% right, and get games into Adams or Turner if needed. Hopefully Pickett is okay, because he is completely irreplaceable from our current list.

Clearly some people are going to be critical of anything that Brad says in this situation, some will appreciate that he has spoken and some will prefer that nothing is said. As such, he can't win, whatever he does. Without outlining exactly why we are in this position and what we intend to do differently to fix the situation, I find the letter entirely pointless. As such, I think I'd prefer he said nothing and avoid giving the media anything to tear apart. I would like to think that he has been far less "vanilla" behind closed doors.

I'm not sure what his point of difference is that will allow him to be a quality AFL player. He hasn't kicked or assisted on a goal in the past three weeks, so is basically a passenger at this point. He isn't quick, he is shorter than ideal, doesn't apply great tackle pressure, doesn't kick goals, doesn't win his own football. Basically another Spargo, and we already have one more of those than is required.

The biggest problem with Goodwin has always been that he thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. And he has surrounded himself with yes men who have failed to call him out on his more ridiculous decisions around tactics, selections and game plans. The playing group have finally gotten sick of listening to his verbal diarrhoea and are making this clear with their half hearted, bone headed performances. Well done to all involved in getting the club to this dire position just three years after winning a premiership.

Failing to remove Goodwin before Anzac Eve will cost the club hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost match day takings, so why wait? It's basically a mercy killing at this point.