poita

Nobody is questioning his ability to dominate at VFL level, however I note he still didn't hit the scoreboard with those 22 touches.

Harry Sharp's last three months: Round 10: Activated sub Round 11: Subbed off Round 12: Full game AFL Round 13: Dropped, no game Round 14: Played VFL Round 15: Bye Round 16: Activated sub Round 17: Activated sub Round 18: Dropped, played VFL Round 19: Full game AFL Round 20: Dropped, played VFL Round 21: Activated sub Round 22: Dropped, ?? In 12 weeks that's 2 full AFL games, 3 VFL games, 4 games activated sub, 1 game subbed off, and 2 weeks off, plus whatever comes this week. Firstly, I'm not sure what we expect from him when we drop him and bring him straight back the next week. Secondly, how is he ever going to develop when he is yo-yoing between AFL and VFL, and playing completely different roles in each?

Yawn, another underwhelming week at selection. To be honest, I'm surprised they haven't dropped Sharp and replaced him with Spargo or Tholstrup - swapping those guys around seems to be the extent of the selectors' creativity this year.

I can only assume that Laurie's two year contract extension was given because of great attendance or some other intangible, because it surely wasn't based on his football potential. I don't understand why this club continually rushes into list management decisions that can be held off for another 12 months or more (see Viney's extension for another example). I do feel sorry for Laurie that he hasn't been given an opportunity this year when others of similar ability have received plenty, but ultimately he is just a very average footballer.

I'm okay with Campbell getting another year, but neither he or Verrall is our long term Gawn replacement. The sooner we get our future no.1 ruckman on to the list, learning from Gawn, the better.

A permanent forward who has kicked 1 goal in 10 games this year. Supposedly a wonderful kick inside 50, but he only has 4 goal assists in those 10 games. I genuinely don't understand what his role is meant to be, but surely he can't be performing it to the level expected. No doubt he played an important part in 2021 but, like most of his teammates, he has gone significantly backwards since. The best thing for both player and club would be for him to find a new home at year end, likely as a delisted free agent.

Hasn't Ed got a life time ban from speaking publicly? Hopefully it is a once-only connected to his milestone game.

Normally I'd agree, but our record of trading with Collingwood in the past 30 years is spectacularly bad.

I suspect we might see a pretty half hearted effort this week as well. It will be tough for the players to get up for this one.

I'm not a Goodwin fan, but I thought he conducted himself very well all things considered. Green was pretty unimpressive and I feel less confident in our ability to navigate our way through this mess than I did half an hour ago.

Sharp has been dropped 3 times in his past four games. Sure, we know he's not an AFL standard player, but lets give him yet another opportunity because he kicked a few goals in the VFL. Culley should have played last week, but better late than never. Hopefully he avoids the sub vest. Lindsay should have been rested a month ago (probably against Port). Hopefully he actually does sit this week out, instead of playing at Casey. Spargo should have about five mates playing with him at Casey - Sparrow and Salem for starters. I assume he'll get his standard 15 touches and come back in next week, probably for Sharp. And Viney being selected this week when injured is the dumbest thing I have ever heard, and this club has made plenty of dumb decisions this year.

Super footballer, absolutely yes. We should have gone after him even harder about 3 years ago when Collingwood last tried to stuff him around.

That's great news, and something that should have happened last week (if not earlier). But ... having sat out last week as the carry over emergency, Jai now hasn't played for two weeks. How is that optimal preparation for playing your first game? Surely we should be rewarding players for good performances when they happen, not several weeks down the track. Do we actually consider the consequences of the decisions we make, or just throw darts at the wall and see what comes? I agree that a debut for Adams also makes sense (and should have happened last week). Brown is the other one who deserves a game this week.

Don't worry too much about the crowd. There was clearly no more than 15K at Sunday's game, but the official attendance was 22,570. Even with 10K this week, the AFL will still report 15K-16K.

If this wasn't a Judd McVee thread I would have sworn you were talking about Christian Salem. That sums up his contribution over the past three years perfectly. No wonder the younger players are in two minds about how to play.

Surely they can rule Lever out for the season. What benefit would there be to bringing him back in this year instead of having a look at Adams?

Did we really mount an appeal on the grounds that May was denied procedural fairness? That's weak, even for this club. No wonder it only took 15 minutes for them to deny the appeal. Don't get me wrong, it was a terrible decision and he should never have been suspended, but we had to come up with a better reason to appeal.

Yes, clearly the lack of team first actions from our supporters caused the team to give up a 46 point lead on Sunday. What penance or self flagellation do you propose that the supporters undertake to ensure that doesn't happen again this week?

We'll win this game by 10 goals plus, take it to the bank. All those players who went missing in the last quarter will be up and about, the coach will be upbeat and adventurous and we will kick straight when it matters least. The media spotlight will move elsewhere next week and we'll revert back to our usual form for the remainder of the season.

We have several very good wingmen in the team, yet Sparrow spent half of yesterday's game wandering up and down the wing by himself doing SFA in front of me. He was (nominally) opposed to Brad Hill for most of that time, including when Hill kicked the grubber goal in the last quarter. Sparrow got unnecessarily sucked into the contest at a boundary throw in, Hill stayed out and was in perfect position to receive the ball and kick the goal under a minimum of pressure. He and Spargo are two nothing footballers who have gone miles backwards since 2021, yet are picked each week on reputation alone. They'd be the first out if I was in charge.

Except there is absolutely nobody at the club who could do better. Gawn basically acknowledged that on the Front Bar last Wednesday. And that's not because Gawn's a great on field leader, it's because there is a significant leadership void at the club. Losing Brayshaw and Neal-Bullen in recent years has hurt in many, many ways. We need to do what Adelaide did and parachute our next captain into the club.

Which players folded? You can't pin that on individuals, it was a true team effort to collapse in that manner. It is on every player and every line. That said, the midfield group should never play together again.

Not a comment on Lever, rather the group as a whole - if he had that kick now, the first instinct would be to look inboard for a kick backwards or sideways to a loose player, rather than looking for Gawn in the hot spot. There is no positivity or flair in the way we play and it shows in our results.

The key aspect of all of this is the following. Did anyone realistically think that we were going to win, even with a five goal lead midway through the last quarter, once St Kilda had all the momentum? Goodwin has coached all the dare, all the flair, all the creative thinking out of this group. Everyone is scared to take the game on, scared to go outside the defined limits and structures. That's why we always revert to safe, conservative football, even when we are completely in control. It's also why the players didn't question why we only had three players in the centre square when it was blatantly obvious to everyone at the ground. What moves did we make in the last quarter to try and win the game, or to try and stop St Kilda's momentum? We didn't even have our best players on the ground as the game slipped away because they were scheduled to have rests at specified times. Goodwin has to go because he no longer has the ability to get this group to win games of football, and that is his ultimate responsibility as coach.

I'd be amazed if there were more than 2000 Melbourne fans there today. We might get the entire crowd in a couple of corporate boxes next week, boycott or not.