rjay

I'm not talking about social habits...at all. I'm talking about on ground performance and we're the club who were siting on top of the AFL world in 2021 have slid down to basically a rebuild with nothing more to show for it. That is on the board. All clubs have the same social habits, if you think they don't you're dreaming and if you think Max could stop it or any captain for that matter you're also dreaming. Spot on...

I'm not questioning his insight... ...but to say the board and administration aren't ultimately responsible for problems at the club is wrong. The buck stops with them, not Max. Of course they don't get down in the trenches.. If there are issues then they have the ultimate responsibility to see that they (the issues) are fixed. The board are responsible for putting in senior management to control the day to day running of the club. If those people are not doing there jobs then they get moved on, like in any organisation. Change has now happened but maybe some of these things should have been addressed earlier. Yes, but ultimately its the boards responsibility.

Sorry, but that is rubbish. The buck stops with the board. That's what they are there for, to oversee the operations of the whole club and given its main business is football that's where they needed to pay most attention. If Max was a problem or not doing his job as skipper it was up to the board to put it right.

I understand your point but we don't know that Max refused, or wanted to ruck purely on his terms. My thoughts on this are that Max has never been able to play as a forward, he just can't do it. As you well know (as a forward yourself) it's not that easy. We had tried it before when the wisdom of the FD of the time tried to make Max a forward and Spencer the number one ruck (at Casey). It didn't work there and was never going to work at AFL level. So we tried again, and it again failed. No surprises there. Maybe rather than Max refusing or wanting to play only on his terms which is an interesting narrative, the FD realised we were better as a team with Max in the ruck and that Grundy was not a forward. It could really be a simple as this.

It sure was a bewildering decision 'Macca', you would have to hope their was some solid reasoning behind it...

I think I said similar on the Guerra thread. Clearing some cap space is surely to lock in the likes of Langford and Lindsay going forward.

That's a whole different story 'Macca'...and we don't know what was going on behind the scenes there. My point was Grundy was a bad list call and that's not on Max.

Grundy was a bad list call. That's not on Max.

I thought they were the same band...

You mightn't be against it but no club in North's position is trading out their 2026 first rounder.

I think that's a definite...

It's very possible 'Adam'...our position is not as important as seeing a positive direction. 2026 is going to be a fascinating year for us.

Lucky that we did...

Just a quick look at a couple of average/poor draft years, first round picks... 2016 - 1 was McGrath - average player, 2 was Taranto, 3 McLuggage and 19 English. To me McLuggage is the pick of that lot... 2020 - 1 JUH a write off to date, 2 Thilthorpe, 20 Holmes, 21 Bowey Holmes probably the pick but the other 2 are good. There were of course some other serviceable players in both drafts but if you look at EFC's 3 first rounders in 2020 then it was an average draft. Add that to McGrath in 2016 and no wonder they have struggled. The point is...I hope we can find something in this draft (over to you JT) and hold both our picks for 2026 where we're more likely to land an A grader. Unlikely to replace Trac and Oliver from this years crop but development to Langford, Lindsay, Windsor and co plus a refreshed club is where we could make gains.

With Goldy out she would be an ideal in...

Good hands in close...

As I said...

Lets wait and see... I hope he is good but I have reservations. After all the talk from last preseason I would rather us be a little (lot) more low key. Yes, we have had a big trade period and some things needed to be addressed & spoken about. My personal opinion is that we are overplaying it. ...talk is cheap.

Nah, that was a great win in a high pressure game.

The old saying is that talk is cheap. One of his predecessors PJ, didn't talk a lot...just did. You're correct...on field success is where his time will be measured.

We're certainly getting a lot of words. I don't know if that translates to transparency. I will wait and see the actions...and the results of those actions.

The jury is still out for me...

I think we will have a better idea in around 5 years time. These assessments are really discussion (argument) starters and bare no resemblance to reality.

If people think anyone is going to trade out of next years draft for a pick this year they are also kidding themselves.

People who think 7 & 8 in this draft is a fair deal are kidding themselves...