poita

So our tough talking has resulted in us getting a future late second round pick that we'll probably pizz away in another bone headed pick swap before the end of trade week. How incredibly brilliant.

How incredibly dumb. The obsession this club has with stupid pick swaps is infuriating. Let's not forget that Bailey Laurie and Sam Weideman were both taken with pick swaps, so it's not even as though we get decent players from them.

Billings would be a clear upgrade on all of Chandler, Spargo and Laurie. I think he fills a need more than McAdam as well. Given the likely cost is probably only a 2023 or 2024 third round, I think it is worth taking the chance.

How does going to the Bulldogs help Harmes get regular midfield time? Surely their midfield is equal to ours, and probably bats deeper. Regardless, we are seriously lacking midfield depth and anyone thinking that Laurie might ever be an AFL midfielder is delirious. Woewodin may get there in a couple of years, and Howes is not an inside mid.

Hopefully Saturday's performance was something we had to get out of our system. The games against North and Brisbane are massive in the context of this season, and the $1M prize money. Collingwood's draw has been extraordinarily easy this year, dodging all of Adelaide, Brisbane and North. Thankfully they are not a great team, but they could win their last four games. Who knows what to make of Brisbane - they are probably a little behind the best teams, but are capable on their day. Adelaide could well win their last four, especially with a home game against North.

Such a disappointing performance for 2.5 quarters. Far too many passengers in such a big game, and some underwhelming coaching as well. Playing down the grandstand wing all day was predictable and played into Adelaide's hands. Our centre square line up didn't work until the last quarter and our defence is too slow and reactive. Zanker was excellent, Goldrick and Mackin worked hard, but not many others played well.

Well done to Deakyn Smith but let's be honest, he is just a serviceable player even at VFL level. 15 touches and 2 tackles a game is hardly setting the world on fire. No wonder Casey finished mid-table if he and Steele were viewed as their best two players for the year.

Regardless of our draft picks, we definitely need a couple of mature bodied midfielders to replace Jordon and Harmes.

Fullarton certainly fills a significant need for the club and presumably will cost very little. Hopefully he is prepared to play as a battering ram in the ruck and up forward, as this seems to be how we want to play. Since others have mentioned it, it is one thing to resign Schache, it is another entirely to have done it any time prior to the end of the trade period, let alone during the footy season. You have to assume they are expecting Brown to move on, although I wouldn't blame him for collecting another year's salary.

Not sure there is much wisdom in us taking a C grade midfielder to give one of our premierships rivals one of the picks they need to fix their significant ruck and defensive issues. Pass, unless he comes as a delisted free agent.

The lure home? Isn't his family home about as far from Adelaide as Mildura is from Melbourne? If he leaves the MFC, it would surely be for reasons other than homesickness.

Huge game clearly. We need to win this to keep our chances of a Victorian grand final in our own hands. If Adelaide jumps us on the ladder, we no longer control our destiny. Not to say we can't win over there, but it would be nice for local fans to be able to attend (if/when we make it).

Good get by the club, hopefully at least one more new face to join the coaching panel.

Rory F'ng Lobb? I wouldn't take him as a delisted free agent on minimum wage, let alone on his current salary. McKay would solve a lot of issues if we could find the salary space.

It bemuses me that we didn't have a contract in front of Melksham when he was fit and firing late in the season, but now that he has done his knee and is unavailable for most of next year, we decide he is a required player. We saw how limited Tomlinson was in his first year back, even with most of a pre season behind him. Melksham won't have that luxury, so it is hard to see him contributing much. By all means keep him around the club, but it seems like a wasted list position to me.

I hope people realise that if we didn't have the Alice Springs game, we'd be given a home game at Marvel instead, just as Collingwood and Richmond have. There are no extra MCG games to be had. And a trip to Geelong likely saves us another interstate trip. I can't believe anyone wants us to be hosting games against WCE at the MCG - we'd be lucky to get 20K at the game. Much better to try and dodge Brisbane and Sydney away, and play WCE and Fremantle at Optus. I thought the players had said they liked our bye schedule. I've certainly never heard the club say that it is a disadvantage to us. Either way if the club wants to be involved in Kings Birthday (Monday) and Anzac Eve (Wednesday), expect some short turnarounds.

Brave boy to uproot his life to Sydney on presumably a fairly low salary and with no guarantee of additional game time. Good luck to him, but I would hope that we take a couple of young mids in the draft who will quickly become better players for us.

Geelong only have 5 days between games, so hopefully it is not a huge issue.

I'm a Harmes fan, but he looked too heavy in the games I saw him play this year. Maybe he we asked him to bulk up to play more of an inside role, but I thought it affected his running ability and presumably gave him less time to get his disposals away. As others have said, our midfield depth becomes non-existent if Harmes goes. I'd prefer him to stay, lose a few kgs, and get back to doing what he does best. (And Laurie is not AFL standard, let alone capable of playing midfield at AFL level. Woewodin may get there, but has a fair bit of work to do.)

Absolutely atrocious scheduling - on one hand you have the AFL tying future AFLW season expansion to viewer numbers, and then you have Thursday night games in Geelong during GF week. Makes you wonder how serious they really are about having more games. As others have said, this will be a much tougher game than anything we've had this season. Is it true that we've never played Geelong in this competition? If so, that is bizarre. We should have too many avenues to goal, but our defence will need to hold up. Last time they were really challenged was in the 2nd quarter against Collingwood, and a few issues were apparent then. It will be interesting to see who Gay replaces, no obvious candidate so perhaps another resting?

I'm more interested in converting members into attendances. That would give me some confidence that we truly have 70K members, rather than 30K genuine fans and 40K pets / unborn children / donations / etc.

No doubt Lachie Neale is an excellent player, who plays consistently well in the midfield of a team that wins a lot of games. That is the formula for Brownlow success right there. Does he deserve to be a two time Brownlow winner? Maybe not yet, but if he guides Brisbane to a premiership this week, his standing will rise significantly in the views of many. As others have said, I find it incredible that Neale gets 31 votes when Dunkley and McCluggage get 7 between them. He and Cripps simply monopolise the votes from their teams, whereas we split our votes every year. I'm guessing this is the fourth year in a row where our two highest vote getters are the highest in the competition - Oliver / Petracca in previous years, Petracca / Viney this year. Interestingly the Brownlow top 6 finishers are the same as the top 6 in the coaches votes, just in a different order.

I've long been a fan of Brownlow night, but it is increasingly becoming a tiresome experience to sit through. Things I'm not looking forward to tonight include: The boss's brother pretending he is best mates with all of the players: "Trac", "Bont", "Daics", "Crippa". The collective circle jerk performed by the media every time a member of the Daicos family appears or is mentioned. Any segment created for the sole purpose of giving air time to Rebecca Maddern or Abbey Holmes. Any "content" sponsored by the league's official betting partner. Any segments involving Auskickers. Any fan voted award that allows Richmond or Collingwood supporters to vote en masse for their favourite player. The telecast going well past 11pm when it should be done by 10:30pm. All I want to see are some highlights from each round, the votes then a summary every 6-7 rounds, and a quick chat to 3-4 players. Should be done in less than 2 hours, including the winner's speech. As for the winner, hard not to see Bontempelli winning given Daicos was sadly injured late in the year.

Is everyone complaining about Brown & McDonald having contracts for next year, also happy that Gawn & May have contracts for 2025 when they will be 34 and 33 respectively? This club has a history of pushing out contracts to free up salary space, and it is going to bite them in the [censored] at some point. I don't care how good a player they have been, no ruckman should be about to turn 32 and have a 2 year contract in his back pocket. And nobody is going to walk away from a contract worth $400K - $500K just because it doesn't suit their employer any more. Anyone who says otherwise is kidding themselves.

I've said it elsewhere, but we need to be signing Max's replacement now for 1-2 years of education, and then stepping up to be number 1 ruck. I can't see the value to bringing in another stopgap option, unless he's happy to play for free.