poita

That's what I thought. Why the heck would he have got a 3 year contract?

In the least surprising development ever, a player who was lazy, half hearted and injury prone at Adelaide became a lazy, half hearted and injury prone player at Melbourne. A shocking recruitment decision that we have to live with for another two years. My biggest regret is that we can't make him play in a local league until he gets serious.

This is huge for the game. My son played in a under 14s team this year. Of 24 kids in the team, most who have been playing for 6-7 years, I reckon less than 5 would attend games regularly despite loving the game. We have to accept that this is an entertainment issue, not a sport issue, and these kids get more enjoyment from doing than watching, even if it is sitting playing video games. That said, I would much prefer afternoon games to night games.

I was supportive of our list purge at year end, but only if we were able to bring in some players of genuine quality to replace them. Maybe that will happen, but the evidence to date is that we failed to nail our early picks. In particular we didn't find the big bodied midfielder that we needed. I'm not writing off 18 and 19 year old kids, but many high draft picks are influencing games from the start. Ours are barely getting a touch. Eliza West was fairly ordinary last year, but she is thriving at Hawthorn and she is the one that we needed to keep. Clearly injuries are having an impact, but too many senior players are coasting along and not contributing. Unfortunately the game has gone past the likes of Paxman, Mithen and Lampard. Bannan and Zanker are half hearted with their efforts. Pearce is regularly injured. We have massive holes in the list to fill, and questions need to be asked about the coach and his game plan.

Can't see the wisdom in resigning Verrell, Sestan or Kentfield at this time. Why not leave the list spots open until after the drafts and see what falls out? I'd be amazed if any of these guys ever play an AFL game, unless we plan on plumbing even lower depths next year. I really hope we give Jason Taylor a decent quality and quantity of picks to work with this year. Giving him two draft picks last year was an utter disgrace.

9 years on an AFL list for 42 games. He should have been delisted years ago, and certainly should have been dismissed immediately after being stood down by the AFL.

Is Rioli a better player than Neal-Bullen? Trade price seems way out of whack between the two.

In the least surprising development ever, a player who was lazy, half hearted and injury prone at Adelaide became a lazy, half hearted, injury prone player at Melbourne. What did everyone think was going to happen?

Nine years on AFL lists is pretty impressive, even if his career didn't reach great heights. I still don't know what we were expecting from him this year.

Kyah is clearly a very good athlete, but is equally clearly not a footballer. We gave him a chance, but it didn't work out. It is the right decision to move on.

As I've said previously, we didn't cut enough deadwood over the past two years. Now we're stuck in a really crappy position with the list. Retire: B.Brown, Brayshaw, Melksham. Delist: Hunter, Schache, Smith, Sestan, Farris-White Trade: Neal-Bullen (only if Crows cough up fair compo) Uncertain: Tomlinson, Hore Would delist if I could: Laurie, Fullarton, Spargo, McAdam. On borrowed time: Adams, Woewodin, Kentfield, Verrall.

That was the price they set for McAdam who offers a fraction of the value that Neal-Bullen does. Maybe they'll take both McAdam and Neal-Bullen for that pick.

How he kicks 40 plus goals in that forward line with our woeful ball movement and kicking skills is beyond me. He would kick 70 in a team that had a clue how to play football.

80 plus possessions between Nick and Josh, and we didn't lay a finger on either all night. Teams must love playing against such a clueless, half hearted group.

A dismal performance by a disinterested and untalented group of players who were poorly coached by an individual who is completely clueless about modern ball movement and structures. Unfortunately the club seems convinced that overturning a few close losses is all that is keeping us from contending, when the reality is that we are light years from consistently competing with the better sides. Either through the draft, trades or internal improvement, we need to find 7-8 additional quality players by round 1 to hope to be competitive in 2025. Fronting up with the same tired, ageing group will guarantee a bottom 4 finish.

Laurie doesn't have a single part of his game that is AFL standard. The decision to extend his contract was appalling. Prior to tonight he'd played five games this year and been dropped four times. If the club is fair dinkum they should delist him and pay out his contract in the next week. To do anything else is just wasting everyone's time.

If we're going to gift a game to Laurie, we may as well have given Ben Brown a farewell match. They'd have much the same impact running through the midfield

A very thin midfield group gets a fair bit thinner with Purcell's injury. I was all for rejuvenating the list, but Eliza West would be handy right about now. The pre season form has to be a major concern, as does the reliance on Hore to play key roles all over the field.

Except that Geelong don't hand out 4 years to guys in their 30s. I love Jack Viney and never thought he'd leave, but a 4 year deal is insane.

Liam Reidy to debut this week. I hope we're watching closely.

I knew we were cactus when Brayshaw retired. I regained a small amount of hope after Geelong, but that was well and truly extinguished when the poor start against Carlton was followed by a four quarter debacle against West Coast. Ultimately too many players, coaches and officials have been sleeping on the job since September 2021, and especially since September 2023.

Not surprising. They are a big, well resourced club, playing a great style of football and have a coach that is currently getting the best out of his players. Contrast that to our horrible game plan and a list that has seen most players regress since 2021.

I prefer my captain to be in the team's best 22 players, so that rules out Lever. An AFL defender should be able to defend players 15cm smaller than them, but Lever would rather point and yell at teammates rather than being accountable for an opponent. Maybe that works when you are a top 4 side, or when a younger Steven May was able to do the work of two men, but we can't continue to carry Lever whilst we are struggling. The leadership cupboard looks fairly bare to me, but Neal-Bullen looks the best short term option before the next generation comes through.

The effort was very good from the majority of the players, but the execution of basic skills and the decision making was woeful from all other than Pickett. It's a very sad state of affairs when a side that has been top 4 for three years running has to resort to under 8s level congestion to keep themselves competitive. I'm not surprised at reports that players are unhappy and considering their options when we play like this. It is a horrible brand of football to watch and horrible to play. Ultimately it is not a game plan that can be played successfully for four quarters week after week, which is why we've put in some horribly uncompetitive performances this year. Goodwin will receive credit from some happy clappers for keeping us competitive this week, but he is doing massive damage to our brand by having us play in a manner than nobody wants to watch, even our "supporters". Don't complain when we have the bare minimum of marquee matches and FTA coverage next year. He also deserves significant criticism for his handling of Oliver and other injured players this year. When you have different rules for some favoured types, and allow certain players to dictate terms, you breed all sort of resentment and unhappiness. Oliver was an absolute liability last night and has been for weeks. He needs to be "managed" for the remainder of the season. Ditto his mates Lever and Melksham. I know Van Rooyen had a poor night, but his substitution in the last night forced Gawn to ruck the entire last quarter solo. The poor guy could barely stand in the last ten minutes he was so tired from carrying the team all year. It was an awful decision, made worse by the fact that his replacement contributed nothing.

I think the frustration around Kentfield is less about how he is performing and more about a club that is clearly confused about where it is placed, both now and in coming years. On one hand we have Goodwin still picking injured veterans in a forlorn hope of making finals and Lamb making bizarre player trades supposedly to keep us in a premiership window. On the other we get a chance to get an immediate impact in a need area in the MSD and we pick a highly speculative project player. We need to fully commit to one strategy or we set ourselves up for years of mediocrity.