deelusions from afar

I'm not a Roffey fan, but I'm not sure what people are realistically expecting her to say. She's not going to fire people on the radio. She's not going to say how hurt / disappointed / angry they are with Trac. It seems a bit odd that she hasn't spoken with him. But given his apparent grievances, it makes sense that this is handled by the football department. Do people think everyone calling Trac now is going to help - it's probably more likely to push him away. She's not going to go on about any internal problems that are still either simmering away or being dealt with - as the media will spawn more articles on whatever she says. So she has to try to straight bat everything. She's certainly not going to advocate for a full externall review. It is really a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. Having said that, while all this stuff with the ex-Pres continues, it seems like its very hard for the likes of her and Pert to get on with the job and for the club to get any clear air. Gawn is trying to generate this - with the contract extension and talk of helping Clarry get back to AA form. As per the other thread re selflessness, this has to start at the top. What is the true selfless action for our leaders such as Roffey and Pert. I don't know the situation well enough but it could be stepping aside until all the legal challenges are done... equally it could be continuing on in fixing the club despite all the criticism. I think most of us really don't have an idea what is going on - judging people's effectiveness just from their media answers is probably unfair.

I get your point but there are a lot of differences. For starters: As good as Barrass is, he is not in the conversation for top 3 let alone top 50 players in the league. He is not West Coast's marquee player. West Coast are in full rebuild mode, prior to the Trac news, Melbourne believe we are still in the window (eg wanting Houston). The Barrass story has been in the news all year despite his denials West Coast has not gone through a turbulent season in the media like Melbourne has - ie it doesn't fit into a larger narrative about West Coast other than they are rebuilding and he doesn't think he'll get a shot at a premiership by the time they are contending again.

Could this be connected to Trac in some way I wonder? As in they were housemates and Trac went to visit Kozzie's home in the first documentary (I think last year). Maybe Team Petracca are using another tactic to blow up the club? Or maybe Kozzie is seeing ANB leave for family reasons and thinks he wants the same? Please don't go Kozzie!!

While I agree, I also imagine that like all of us they are hurting with what is playing out in the media. They probably feel like what is reported is not accurate and so it's their way of flying the flag... which actually just adds to the noise and probably does the opposite of what they intended. They are human too.

That's a bit harsh. We haven't seen the best of Sparrow this year. But when he speaks he sounds like he's more switched on than most players. He's also one of the few that apparently can go with / tackle petracca at training.

While I agree, I also imagine that like all of us they are hurting with what is playing out in the media. They probably feel like what is reported is not accurate and so it's their way of flying the flag... which actually just adds to the noise and probably does the opposite of what they intended. They are human too.

I don't think that's right. Surely there's no way we pay any of his salary. We can just say no. If he found a suitor that can satisfy us with picks and trades, he can renegotiate the contract with the new club (I'm sure they'll be happy to pay less). If the new club want to pay less (probably because that's all they could afford) and he wants to get the same amount, we just say no. It's the opposite situation of Grundy because the pies wanted Grundy out so had to pay a significant portion of his contract.

This is why picks are better - if Trac goes like this then we need to start again with a new group as we're not going to be able to attract anyone of note. Our kids are good - we add a few more the next two years and it will turn around.

This isn't a swipe at you but all these people work in the media and are encouraged / rewarded for breaking stories and having opinions that get clicks. Even if they were incorrect or heavily embellished, they are impossible to be proven wrong and no one at this point will believe a denial. I'm not saying there's nothing going on... but our sources aren't necessarily reliable ones.

IF what is being reported by the "journalists" is true... then it's just so sad. We waited for 57 years to break the drought and our Norm Smith medal winner wants out of the club when after a number of things unravelled a few years later. It's bad enough that the likes of ANB and Harmes will have finished their careers elsewhere when we watch the 2021 replay... but would never have thought the Trac would be elsewhere. I thought he was our next Captain. I made a book about him for my nephews. It's heartbreaking. I remember the pain of Woey and Farmer and they were bad enough... but this is another level.😭

Yes I listened as well though took something different from it. Goody basically said about 5 times that Petracca has a contract for 5 years and is going nowhere. I think the 'as it stands right now' comment was just him saying the same thing a different way - it didn't strike me as he was being very careful to allow an out. Otherwise it undermines everything else he said in the same press conference.

I feel like this sort of comment is a bit unfair. Most key forwards don't come close to hitting their straps until their early 20s at best. Caddy was always touted as someone ready to go year 1. Jefferson was always going to take extra years - he has a different frame and different style of game. The fact that he has come a long way in the VFL this year is an indication that he is going the right direction.

We needed a key forward in 22 and 23 and it might have helped this year. But this year has exposed other weaknesses greater than the tall forward stocks. I wouldn't say no to someone of his quality but he seems to have too much injury baggage.

Not sure if it is just because of the weekend's performance, but I think the talls in our forward line are looking ok (particularly with the development of Jefferson). In my view it has been getting better most of the season and it is more the midfield that has let us down this year (which makes sense given the personel). It really comes down to good ball movement and skills. If we could clone Windsor a few times, that is the sort of player we need more of - fast, good skills, good decision making and surprisingly good in the contest. I guess you could say McVee also has these qualities. I also think the Houston interest is about having more players in the back half that can open up the game on transition. We don't have too many players that open up the game with long accurate kicking. Melksham is one of the few that does it in our team every now and then when he roams further up the field. Given our athletic / mobile medium-tall forwards - particularly Disco, Fritsch, Melkshem and McAdam (haven't given up on him), having an extra player or two that can kick accurately over 50m would help us enormously. So while they'd be helpful and great gets, I'm not sure Waterman or Rachele are really going to get bang for buck

I think he was just hosing down the reports that there was a rift by saying it was more that they missed and so were asking (maybe themselves) "where's Trac?" Maybe Max didn't fill the players in or maybe he did but not to the full extent and so players are thinking Trac is more into his tiktoks and spending time in better weather despite being one of the highest paid - not realising how he was struggling?

It's funny, I didn't get the same things as others from Jake's interview. He was professional and sais the right things. Firstly, in terms of what he revealed in the interview - and not wanting to be seen as supporting someone like Caro - but if the players were wondering "where's Trac?" as he mentioned, why didn't one of them call / text him? And if they did and didn't get a response, didn't they keep trying or escalate it until they knew he is ok - it doesn't sound like anyone did that. It comes across like when a player like Max is getting worked over by the opposition and no one comes to check in / help them out. These guys are meant to be close! It just doesn't add up. This is obviously not on Lever but Gary / Tim didn't follow up at all. Secondly, I hope he's not our next captain - he doesn't have the charisma / personality for mine. He would do a good job, but I hope by then there is an alternative. I know others / most will disagree. Before the last month I thought it was going to be Trac.

To try and give myself some comfort for this miserable situation, I checked what GWS got for the Jeremy Cameron trade (something like pick 15, 20 and 25). After all they have managed to bouce back pretty well since then so it would make sense that that trade was pivotal to it. Well in turns out they didn't get anyone of note (which maybe a bit unfair and early on Connor Stone) - including missing Holmes at 15 who the cats got and one of those picks Tanner Bruhn (pick 20) who ended up at the Cattery anyway! 😭 Everyone says this draft is deep and even so maybe it would be different for this one... but if the relationship is irreplably damaged I can't see us getting fair value. I'm still holding out hope that the people required (surely a bit on both sides) come to their senses and find a way forward.

I think Pert said what he could. Clearly there are issues that need addressing and he can't go into all the details about that. It doesn't mean its being handled well or poorly but there's not a lot he could say. He can't say everything is fine with Petracca when they're still working through things and some of that might have to happen after the season is over. The more concerning part is his reference to the ongoing legal battles (which we can't talk about here for good reason) and other "distractions" that he has no control over. From the journalists perspective, we've heard similar statements from him before and then these distractions have got in the way. If I was a player being courted by Melbourne, I wouldn't be convinced that these distractions are not going to continue to plague the club.

I don't think we're that bad in this regard. We were playing with the most under 22 players most of the year and they're lacking in both experience and strength. Generally our wins in the second half of the year are because we were "too tough" and that included our tackling.

I find Roffey often comes across in the media as patronising and arrogant. Maybe its good for the club but would be painful for non-Melbourne people. I've heard a number of media commentators in the media go on about the sorts of things Roffey was saying to them about a Demon Dynasty on the eve of the 2022 season. It seemed to really rub them up the wrong way and I think put a bit of a target on our back (as these people in the media run the AFL news cycle). Obviously this wasn't isolated to Roffey but she was the one they went on about. I'm pretty happy for her not to come out making big media statements as I don't think that's her strength and don't see what it would add.

Anyone know Pittonet's situation? Carlton seem to prefer the one ruck and De Konig is on the rise whereas Max is in the twilight of his career. Surely more opportunities with us than them.

I had a look on the Port bigfooty board to see if they were treating this like us with Clarry (just clickbait with no substance) but they seem resigned to leaving him (though expecting significant comp). However they were more concerned about the rumors of Butters wanting to come back to Melbourne (the City). Apparently Hawthorn and Essendon are the front runners. I do remember we were VERY keen on Butters in his draft year and with Brayshaw's $ being somewhat freed up along with a number of other well paid players contracts finishing (BBB, TMac etc?) could we make an offer?

I can't remember which player said it in an interview in the last week or so (maybe Melksham or Rivers or ANB?) - but they said the bye allowed us to make some tweaks to the game plan that has made a difference. Obviously it's a lot more than that - the agression we started v Brisbane and WCE with that we had for much of the bombers game seemed so different from what we'd seen in recent times... and that seemed more effort based than system / game plan.

Now normally I don't pay too much attention to Chris Scott - partly because I hate Geelong with a passion and partly because of the way the football media fawn over him - BUT I did happen to catch a bit of his interview on 360 where he was asked about the rebuilding on the run / throwing the magnets around. I found it interesting when applying what he said to our team eg Building a forwardline is all about cohesion - more than any other part of the ground. It's all about knowing your team mates / intuition. This can't be coached - it takes time. Building a backline is different - it is more role / system based and so it allows you to slot in new people into a particular role much easier. Through injury / personel etc we haven't had cohesion in the forward half for a very long time. Despite Petty rarely reaching the highs he is capable of this year, the stability of playing him, JVR and Turner forward almost every week the last 3 months might be starting to come off. Goodwin has talked endlessly about the stability / cohesion in the forward half so it was interesting to hear another coach saying similar things. Other than Melksham, most of the players in our forward half are quite young so there is reason to suggest they will continue to grow and get better collectively if they can stick together.

Agree with that - which is why Verral, BBB and Gawn in the one team makes me nervous. BBB can't play ruck and Verral can't (as far as I know) play forward (curently). The idea of Gawn and BBB in the same forward line will make it easy for any defence to rebound / switch the ball. So essentially we will need one of the 3 on the bench at all times.