poita

It's pretty clear why he has only played 18 games in 5 years. Unfortunately he doesn't have the football nous or skills to be an AFL player, despite his obvious athletic strengths. He was always going to get a new contract after finishing the year in the senior team, but 2 years is overs given his inability to consistently get on the park. His retention surely doesn't bode well for Hore, particularly with Hibberd also in the frame.

I didn't really see anything to get excited by him last year, and we are grossly overstocked with mid-sized forwards. It would have been a fairly easy list management decision to delist him.

He's been around a few years now - is there any indication that he is capable of becoming an AFL player? I doubt that we are doing him any favours keeping him at the club if we can't guarantee him significant time as number one ruckman at Casey next year. He would be better developing in an environment where he can get the game time he needs.

Strides forward? Maybe baby steps. I'm still not convinced he has the burning desire to be a top quality AFL footballer. He seems to be happy coasting along, putting together a so-so 10 year career at a so-so club.

Apart from slaughtering Lever in his debut game, I don't think I've ever seen him do anything of note. Pass.

Neville's been on our list 12 years. He has played more than 16 games in a year 3 times, and more than 9 games in a year 6 times, for an average of 12 games a year. Realistically we would be lucky to get half a dozen games out of him next year. He absolutely squeezed everything out of his ability in 2016 - 2018 when he was close to the best small defender in the competition, but that was a long time ago now. He is slow, lacking in confidence, and his teammates don't trust him with the ball. Neville is a great person and a great leader, but the only way he should be at the club next year is in an off field role. If Collingwood want to give him a multiple year deal, good luck to him and them. This club needs to collectively put on its big boy pants and start making some tough decisions around players who won't contribute next year (see also Kolodjashnij and Nietschke).

I'd be happy to delist Hannan, so if anybody wants to take him for a pick under 100, good luck to them. Clearly has ability, but doesn't work hard enough and goes missing way too often.

I signed my son up for the first time as a MFC member in 2019. He only went to a couple of games that year as night games were not an option and he didn't have a reserved seat. We were on the fence about renewing, and then Covid happened. Not once in 2020 were we contacted about renewing his membership, not even with a form email targeting lapsed members.

Very few players spend 16 seasons in the AFL - that is a serious achievement. All the best, Lynden.

I don't get this view that people have that players should have to stay in a completely dysfunctional environment for their entire career just because the supporters will put up with mediocrity for years on end. This is a job that, for even the very best players, will be gone in 12 - 15 years. None of us would stay in a job we didn't enjoy for a decade, so how can we blame players for leaving when a superior offer lands on the table. Good luck to Chip, and thanks for eight years of great service.

I really hope we settle him into one position for a while rather than expecting him to learn ruck work, playing as a key forward and who knows what else all at once.

We definitely needed some additional height and marking power so, as long as we have generally picked on merit, this is a good thing. The younger players coming through have had 10 - 15 years of football right through from Auskick, so are far more developed than older players who have changed sports or joined teams in their late teens. As long as we retain a few wise heads such as Pearce and Scott, this seems like the right mix.

This is so dumb. You can't just trade out every depth player on your list and expect to be competitive. The first time Lever or May gets injured you are back to playing Hore and Smith in the key defensive roles and wondering why the backline is completely dysfunctional. The same goes for trading Preuss and expecting Gawn to play 22 games every year without any support. And for what? He probably brings a third round pick that will get pushed back to about pick 60 and deliver nothing. Or Goodwin will go ga-ga for yet anothermid-sized forward who can spend the next two years wandering around at Casey. I'd much rather keep Oscar, build his confidence and work on not allowing his weaknesses to be exposed so easily.

There is no way North could be remotely close to paying the minimum salary cap this year given how poor their list is, so I can't see that Polec's salary will be issue here. If North are desperate to get him off their list, they can pay half his wage and take a third round pick. Otherwise he stays and receives $700K a year to play VFL for the next three years.

Great news. I really rate Petty and hopefully we have got his injury issues sorted. Two years is the right number for both at this point.

Is that the Mitchell who won the Brownlow Medal two years ago? I'm pretty sure we'd squeeze him in somewhere. As for Frost, it's not good practice to trade out every half-decent player on your list who isn't best 22. It means you get left with, as we have at the moment, 20 decent footballers and 20 who have no right being on an AFL list. Richmond's players 21 - 30 are light years ahead of ours, hence they don't fall away every time they have a couple of injuries.

If the Jesse Hogan thread is nearing 12,000 posts and the entire AFLw sub-forum has 3,500 posts, is it time for Jesse to get his own sub-forum? It is getting difficult to keep up with the latest developments in one massive thread, so perhaps we can separate them by each (perceived) indiscretion.

I'll take him if they take Kolodjashnij, Neitschke, Bedford & Chandler.

Harley's decision to leave the hub makes it pretty clear to me that he wasn't expecting to play on next year, and this seems to be supported by his actions after the event. He tried, we tried, it didn't work out as we had hoped, but it wasn't a failure either. We move on and hopefully Harley has something to fall back on as well to keep himself out of trouble.

Average player who doesn't work nearly hard enough. Averaged just 8 disposals, 2.3 marks, 0.8 goals and 1.7 tackles in 2020. Dropped three times in his last four games this year. He has had numerous opportunities over the past three years, so if we're going to be ruthless with our list, he'd be a strong candidate for delisting.

Best of luck, Jack, for whatever your future holds. I was sad to see you leave and I hope that you still consider yourself a demon. Truly one of the nicest players I have met at family days and wonderful with the younger supporters.

You can't trade out every key position player on the list. He's a keep for me.

I wouldn't be upset if Preuss left but we need (a) to get something decent in return and (b) another ready made backup ruckman. I can't see Bradtke making it, even if he is still on the list next year and I doubt that Jackson has the size to be anything more than a part time option. Gawn's age and injury history make a genuine backup essential.

Is this a serious consideration? We already have one tall, thinly built witches hat in the forward line who can only take a mark on the lead and is useless when the ball hits the ground. Why would we want another? And if it came down to a choice between Weideman and Brown, I'd take the one who is five years younger and whose pay packet is half the size. Interesting also how many people have written off Tom McDonald, but imagine that Brown will miraculously return to form in new colours.

Congratulations to Christian Petracca, a very worthy winner after a consistently excellent season. That said, I would have been very happy to see Steven May win, if only to break the stranglehold that midfielders have had over the award over the past 18 years. Perhaps we need an award just to recognise our best performing defender each year. The results of Hibberd, Lever and particularly Melksham show the positive impact that a well managed demotion can have on an underperforming player. Hibberd took his dropping well, worked hard on his game and was a strong contributor when he returned to the team. Melksham was allowed to coast along for an entire season without consequence, and never once came close to performing at an acceptable level.