poita

Imagine being the 14th best side in the competition and paying $500K plus for a 4 x B&F winner to play for a top 4 side. You can't make up the incompetence of this club.

Frankly the deals signed by both Petracca and Oliver and agreed to by the club were absolutely disgraceful, both in length and dollar value. At the very least there should have been a performance element attached. Hawthorn, Richmond, Geelong and Brisbane remained in contention for years by ensuring that key players were well paid, but not excessively paid, to ensure that they could keep their premiership lists together and add additional talent. Lamb caved to the ridiculous demands of these players and their managers and has left us with a horrible mess to clean up. I don't think the Pickett and Viney deals are any better to be honest. He is the last person on the planet that I would trust to fix the situation that we currently find ourselves in.

It must be about this time that we come up with one of one of our special (read: ludicrous) good news stories to cheer everyone up, as per Viney's unnecessary contract extension last year. Ten year contracts for Laurie & McAdam perhaps?

Tim Lamb, the master negotiator, will probably settle for pick 13 or whatever GC's actual first round pick is.

If the club have decided that they need to move on without Oliver and Petracca, I don't like it but I accept it on the condition that we also punt those responsible for the absurd contracts which have left us with this mess. Number one in the gun is Tim Lamb - he is borderline incompetent in every aspect of his job.

I'm exactly the same although, as I've said previously, I am concerned with the amount of time and effort we have spent on this bloke when other, better options seem to have been ignored.

My take on this whole debacle: We need to stop drafting Western Australians. The go-home factor for anyone half decent is huge with the WA clubs always in their ear, and we are forced to overpay to keep any that stay. This is a very poor result for King and the new regime in terms of selling a bright future to the player group. A second or third round draft pick is useless - we need to make this a player swap. Failing that, force him to the PSD. If Judd doesn't want to be here, he can GAGF. We plucked him from obscurity, and he walks out at the first opportunity? Pathetic.

Bottom four finish guaranteed if that is the best we can come up with. No room for Lindsay?

I'm glad Goody has finally woken up to what most people had been seeing for at least 12 months, and arguably three years, prior to his sacking. I wish him all the best, but there is no doubt that he, and many at the club, were asleep at the wheel for much of his post-premiership tenure.

2025 was almost a free hit for him to learn what is required to be an AFL player. In 2026 he needs to get much fitter and stronger so that he can impact games more consistently. He should relish playing in a Casey side with a lot of tall forwards and on VFL grounds with variable weather, both of which should provide plenty of crumbing opportunities.

He can count himself a little unlucky to have been delisted given his late season injuries, but ultimately he has been on the list three years and hasn't progressed sufficiently. We need to get better at turning over the list and not just hoping that something clicks for players in their fourth or fifth years.

Undoubtedly his best football is very good. However he still goes missing far too often for a guy in his seventh season. Overall he had a decent year, but he should not be coming 6th in the B&F with a season average of 14 disposals and 0.8 goals a game. He pretty much epitomises why we have finished 14th in consecutive years with one of the oldest and most experienced lists in the competition. We have too many senior players putting in good but not great performances each week and getting away with it because there is no competition for positions in the team. That's not Chandler's fault, but we're not moving up the ladder with guys like him, Salem and Langdon finishing top 10 in the B&F.

Another who would be wondering why players of similar ability such as Sharp get gifted regular opportunities, whilst he misses out. I agree that he will never be a star at AFL level, but I would have liked to see him get a sustained run as a lock down small defender this year. That would have also released Bowey to play a more attacking role further up the ground.

Interesting choice given that Casey's success seemed to be predominantly due to the performances of the older players. We really didn't see much development from the likes of Laurie, Howes, Woewodin, Adams and Jefferson at Casey this year, to say nothing of Brown, Sestan and Verrall being delisted.

Very harshly treated when you see the opportunities that were gifted to the likes of Sharp and others. Perhaps if Goodwin hadn't been trying to save his job all year we might have seen some more experimentation with personnel and positional changes once finals were off the agenda.

An exceptionally limited, although very hard working, footballer who should not be getting AFL games ahead of any of Van Rooyen, Jefferson or Kentfield next year. If he plays regularly it is a fair indication that we are on track for another bottom five finish and that our young forwards are not progressing. We definitely need more aggression and physicality in the team, but it needs to be directed in the right areas. Incurring multiple suspensions for actions that were plain dumb and certainly not tough is not acceptable.

A poor man's Charlie Spargo based on the evidence to date. I don't really see the point to locking in a 26 year old VFL-standard small forward prior to the draft, particularly given that he struggled to get on the field late in the year. I'm yet to see what traits he possesses that will allow him to thrive at AFL level.

Fingers crossed he can have a big pre season and challenge for senior games early next year. I don't see the point to giving Johnson or Jefferson games ahead of him.

Who the hell would produce a Melbourne calendar without Pickett, Petracca or Oliver?

It is very hard to have a break out year coming off a serious knee injury, and even harder if you don't get to do a full pre season. I'm yet to be convinced that he has the tools to become a genuine AFL player, and particularly not as a defender. Nevertheless, it is a position of weakness for us, so I'm sure he will get opportunities if he performs well at Casey.

Culley has a bit to work on regarding his defensive workrate and positioning, but nothing that can't be fixed with a full pre season with the team. He clearly has some traits that are very exciting and which give him an excellent chance of becoming a long term AFL player, particularly his size and marking.

I totally agree with this. It's why our obsession with recruiting players such as Henderson and Laurie, who have neither of these traits, is so infuriating. Unless you are right in the premiership window, and we clearly aren't, high draft picks should be used exclusively on midfielders and key position players.

It would be a very Melbourne thing for McAdam to get himself fit and playing half decent football in a contract year. Tim Lamb will put another three year deal in front of him and he'll end up back on the LTI five minutes later. I always remember Travis Johnstone's output in his contract years being about 10 times higher than every other year.

Oh well, they had a good run. Unfortunately any hopes of a 22 team VFL comp, with fewer byes, would disappear as well.

Defence looks too tall and slow with all of Gillard, Colvin and S.Taylor. I think one of those three has to miss out, and one of the smalls stays.