Ted Lasso

I agree, and i hope we're not looking to sign a key forward for the sake of ticking that box. in 2018 Tmac looked like one of the better key forwards going around. that's not that long ago and he's young enough to re-discover that form.

Let's not totally rule out Tmac re-discovering some sort of form with a full pre season and injury free run. at this stage i think he is a better option than Peter Wright

Giants and Swans interested so far but i expect that to grow quite a bit. definitely a few clubs that would love him I would be setting the price high and making clubs pay up if they'd like him. he's contracted

Facts remain that we need on field leadeship, and leadership in general so i am not opposed to bringing in veteran players who can provide that on the proviso it's a reasonable assumption that the player would be in our best 22 for their specific position most likely for the duration of their contract. if you're talking about a 2 year deal, on low money, i feel like Smith would be good enough to hold that wing position for 2021 for sure.

i've heard we are open to trading an inside midfielder, for a starting best 22 outside midfielder to improve team balance, this is something the club has put out there openly. they've basically said come at us with an offer. as well as talking to outside midfielders on their own. for the Gus fans on here i'd suspect we aren't going to accept any trade that doesn't result in us getting either a strong draft pick, or a good player in return. It sounds like Jared Polec is one we think is realistic if North can re-join planet earth and be a bit more understanding of the fact if you shove a bloke out the door you don't really have the leverage to demand much in return.

Such a shame, i was really excited to see what he could have produced with a full pre-season. definitely felt like he contributed something to the club. can't do much when the player pulls a stunt like this though

North are desperate to get him and Brown off the books, even if it means paying a portion of their salary. I'd offer a 3rd rounder and i bet they'd take it.

A few blokes working out how to chase and tackle and bring the same effort week to week would make a difference.

Brandon Matera just delisted by the dockers. has played some good footy at times, has speed, knows where the goals are and we could pick him up for nothing. worth a look?

I would take him. i understand the concern but for a rookie salary, he would provide good depth, with significant upside. i think as a team we should always be looking at opportunities to bring in guys with minimal risk and significant upside potential. we're not talking about a guy we'd have to pay anything for. a token late pick, on hardly any money, and a guy who's best footy would defintiely be in our best 22. I'd still pursue a gun forward as well, but if a 4th round pick was between McCartin, and a total spitball rookie with little chance of making it, i'd take a punt on McCartin with a 1 year deal.

I bet he's still pretty [censored] about the captaincy being taken off of him. the leadership turnover we've had in the past 2-3 years has been way too much but that's also a hallmark of Goody. too many changes.

I'm sure we'd be chatting to Polec and North to work out what's going on but my opinion is that he's an icing on the cake type player, and would really add to our best 22 as an attacking weapon that we really lack. for me the only serious concern i have about pursuing him is the price tag, if North are willing to pay some of his salary and it's no more than a third round pick, i would absolutely be recruiting him. It's poor by North though, being seen as publicly pushing guys out the door i think puts you in a position where you really have to just take what you can get. On this i'd also be keen to have a chat to Shaun Higgins, beautiful kick and we could really use the on field leadership. it sounds like he's a long way down the path with Geelong, but potentially we could talk him into it.

I'm really torn on this one. under Goody we don't play a style that suits him. Brown is more of a lead up forward and we're looking to get it in deep and either mark it or bring it to ground. BUT, he'd still take the best defender, encourage the mids to lower their eyes and take a heap of pressure off Sam Weideman

Petracca did have concerns about his role at the end of last year, thought he should have been playing more midfield time. turns out he was right and it was addressed. This is one area where i'll give Goody credit. he listened to Trac, put him with Oliver during the pre season and told him to build his tank and training standards. Trac responded and now he's won a Bluey, will probably be AA and a better than sneaky chance at the brownlow.

Would definintely want North to pay a chunk of his contract

Not sure the game style is the issue here Binman, what i'm hearing suggests it's a lot more to do with people in key positions and some of the decisions they're making, and the way they're handling people and sensitive situations.

Teams come knocking for Clayton every year, last time he was OOC North offered him a huge deal and he didn't even really consider it apparently. I think the frustration with the players is real though, i've heard that a few of our really important players are asking questions of the club about it's direction. I've always heard Goody isn't as well liked as it seems on the outside so could be really interesting times ahead.

Heard today that Essendope have some interest in Jack Viney now as well. if he went there i feel we could match the offer and ask for Saad in return. It does seem like the longer this drags on the more teams are starting to think maybe he is gettable. it's difficult to tell if he is considering leaving or if we're just pretty happy for him to do so.

I think with improved forward craft the output of all of those forwards would improve quite a bit. To be honest i don't think we're going far as a side if any of those 3 are in our best 22 next year. i think it's time for Sparrow and co to step up and grab those spots. I think a better balance with Petracca forward and he could be worth another 25 goals as well.

Not suggesting Oliver and Petracca, but if i was offered Zach Merrett for our 2021 pick and say James Harmes or Angus Brayshaw i'd have a serious think about it. i think if you were going to deal with Essendon for Merrett and inside mid is probably all we have that would appeal really.

Nope. if you want to pry a player of that quality out of Essendon, you've got to be prepared to pay up. i 100% guarantee if Zach Merrett was a Melbourne player and Essendon were trying to poach him, Demonland would be universally saying a first round pick and a player, or two first round picks.

It's a really tricky one to solve but i think it starts with We don't get anywhere near enough value from Max Gawns dominance. we don't have great system around stoppages and this makes it really difficult for us to stop run ons, teams can get hold of us in the midfield even if we clearly have the more talented midfield. when we do get a clearance our disposal inside 50 combined with our poor system and forward craft inside the 50 means we don't get a lot of easy lead up goals I think everyone has harped on this a fair bit in various threads but a team lacking system to the extent we have has a very serious problem with their senior coach and FB dept not getting the best out of them. I'd argue we're winning games on pure talent, but our coaching is nowhere near the level. i think if we get that right, we will get the above right and we can become a genuine premiership threat and a much more consistent team quite quickly. This is why i personally would be considering replacing Simon Goodwin with Ross Lyon. Lyon coached teams are well known for great balanced stoppage systems which allow the teams to make the most of dominance and to also defend from that position as well when other teams are getting on top.

I'd be willing to trade a best 22 player and a first round pick to get Zach Merrett into the side. they need an inside midfielder so maybe there is a win-win to be had there with one of our guys. It feels unlikely this one but he'd significantly improve our side in 2021. i rate him up there with any of our mids in terms of quality an he brings attributes that our team desperately needs.

Weid is going okay, i'm not too upset with where he's at. but he definitely needs a second tall to support him. in a perfect world McDonald would find some form and we would be fine

1. Christian Petracca 2. Steven May 3. Max Gawn 4. Clayton Oliver 5. Ed Langdon