spirit of norm smith

It’s crazy how effective goalkicking accurately is !!!

The Negatives 💔💔💔💔💔 Losing to the Saints after being up by 46 points at 3/4 time. It hurt. It was embarrassing. We were the LAUGHING STOCK, ridiculed. The amount of dumb moments to lead to this disaster was unbelievable. Losing so many close games. The Saints, the Pies twice, the Blues, the Giants and the Dogs. We snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. As Max Gawn said, we have to learn how to win !! The Steven May decision. 3 week suspension. 90% of the media and footy public saw this as a footy act, unavoidable in a contact sport as players compete where a ball bouncing can be unpredictable. But not the AFL and not the 30+ year magpies member Jeff Gleeson the Tribunal chair. A reasonable player can predict and react in 0.25second. If ever there was persecution and bias, this was it. Goodwin getting sacked. Yes the demise of a premiership winning coach. It hurt. Whilst I agreed that his time was up, the decision and the leaking the media again showed the club as unprofessional and without good leadership. The appointment of a new CEO. October 2024 Pert announced he will move on. The search and decision takes 6 months only then to have the ignominy of Guerra not starting for another 4/5 months until September. The whole season to have a vacant CEO. GOALKICKING. It went from the absurd to the ridiculous and it cost us games. The 7.21 v Saints in Alice Springs (1.14 after half time) was a horrendous way to lose a game. In the majority of games , the Dees inability to hurt the opposition with scoreboard impact was a key problem and hurt our chances , as well as morale. The AFL, MRO AND UMPS. It was a farcical circus for most of the year. The MRO inconsistency was clearly a problem. It often depended on the colour of your team jumper. The umpiring was shown to be terrible in so many way. From free kicks paid, or not paid to bringing the ball, the crowd became frustrated even more than ever. And finally the AFL choosing Snoop Dogg. Wow. How bad can they get !!! KICKING AND SKILLS. I’d say that alongside the Blues, Eagles and Bombers, the Dees are the worst for hitting targets and transitions the footy. At least we tried to move it quicker as the year progressed so the signs are better for game style, but missing targets or inability to kick to a forward was a horror show. A don’t think Petracca hitting a forward in 20-30+ forward50 entries. The media. The Dees were the whipping team all year. From the ridicule of the promoted “love” culture , to the lack of a CEO, to crowds, to media leaks, to the interim president to the Clarry and Trac to be trade them push !!! The fixture. Dees had a tough run but when you are in the non preferred tier of clubs, the AFL shuffles you in to suit others. Trip to Geelong. MCG games v low drawing teams like Freo, GWS, Suns. Short turnaround and interstate trips. It’s par for the course for clubs like us and we can do little to complain. probably a few more negatives ?

The POSITIVES Max Gawn. The GOAT. 8 x All Australian ruckman. Will win 2025 B&F. Another great year. Kozzzz$$y Pickett. Showcased his talent with some 5goal/20+ possession games. 40 goals. Had some high and lows . But retaining Kozzy on a long term contract was a definite winner winner. Beating the Lions at the Gabba. Absolute underdogs and it was a huge upset v the reigning premiers. The last quarter dominance showed we still had the capability to compete and beat the best. Harvey Langford. He’s our Rising Star. His composure. His decisions. His kicking. He will be a cornerstone for our midfield in the future …and … Xavier Lindsay, with a very limited preseason, showed he belonged straight away and has a huge future both as a half back/wing but eventually also in the midfield. Trac and Clarry getting back. Both had forgettable 2024 seasons and the media had them traded out. But we held them and they showed they are A grade players. Trac had a good year and it must have taken mental courage to get back after his injuries. Of course Clarry had issues to overcome too and we saw him grow and glimpses of his return to his talented best. I’m holding firm on retaining both as the new coach regimes and improves them to become elite. Dismissal of Goodwin. I mean it ended the constant speculation and media circus. Ultimately whilst it hurt to see how it ended, I agree with the decision although the timing might have been questionable. Were we spooked given the potential for Voss to be also removed? It’s never easy given Goody is our premiership coach and we respect and thank him for that. Improvement to players like Bowey and Turner. I see him as regulars going forward and part of the backline did next 5-10 years. Beating Freo to record our first win. Again another upset win when we had been kicked down and kicked again by the media. Other postives ?

Will be interested in the AFL fringe players here versus the VFL group. Laurie. Woey. Kynan. Possibly players playing for their futures.

Max Gawn 👏👏💙❤️🏆 Not enough media discussion on Max Gawn’s achievement… 8 X All Australian team. He’s a 33yo ruckman fighting for just one spot in the team. Finished top 5 in the AFL Coaches Association award. GOAT AFL RUCKMAN 🐐.

#44 LATRELLE PICKETT. let’s go !!! 👏👏

@Whispering_Jack thanks. I had a look at Eastern V Western last night. Marked down number 28 for the Jets … 16yo Jake Miller. 6ft4in big key forward. Worked up and down with good footy iq. Strong mark. Good left foot. Kicked 3 goals from 7 marks. Had a look at the league stats. Has now kicked 12 goals from his 5 games and averages 7 marks per game. A bit more digging and found out he was captain of Vic metro under 16s and all Australian under 16 full forward. Dees might want to keep round 1 pick for 2026. He looks a ripper as a FF/CHF type.

10 players out this week … many are already long term or season ending … only Colvin might return for round 5… so it’s 22 players to choose from this week … lots of rookies getting their chances straight up… 2 train on players will be added to the emergencies … and this is only round 3!!! Ex AFLW magpie player Sophie Casey coming out of retirement to support the Dees as an emergency … this is desperate times already

That’s 10 unavailable. I believe 2 “top up train on” players are included in the emergencies for this weeks game.

Hardie ??? Captain … Deakyn Smith ???

afl.com.auCal Twomey's Phantom Form Guide: Top draft prospects' Aug...AFL.com.au's draft guru Cal Twomey delivers his second Phantom Form Guide ahead of the 2025 Telstra AFL DraftCal has updated his top 30 and some of the earlier players who I thought might drop down to the second round & be available are now being uplifted into the top 30. If the Dees trade to get into the first round, there remains good high quality youngsters. Whilst many are querying the strength of this draft pool, which I tend to agree, I see this as due to the heavily compromised nature with around 18 of the top 50 likely types being pre nominated through father son or academy. I still think clubs can get good well prepared youngsters in the 2nd round. Outside the CAL TWOMEY “current top 30”, some good youngsters are available although again it might involve bidding on prenominated players Outside this top 30 includes Noah Chamberlin Tall mid/half back (*academy Sydney) Fred Rodriguez WA midfield Lachlan Carmichael(**acdemy Sydney) halfback/quarterback Rory Wright. Vic. Gun midfielder👍🏻 Cody Curtin WA Key fwd/ruck Ryder Corrigan (**academy Giants) inside midfield Koby Coulson (* Suns academy)👍🏻 midfielder Harry Kyle. (*Swans academy ) qtrback/half back Jack Dalton VIC Small midfielder Blake Oudshoorn-Bennier SA inside mid 👍🏻 Felix Kneipp VIC small defender/mid👍🏻

@WERRIDEE out - JVR??? 😭😭😭 Kemp ?? At full forward 😭😭😭

I said we should acquire Derksen in a trade deal … I didn’t say a swap of May and Derksen.

Ok Max v2 … let’s talk

May and McDonald will be finished at end of 2026. Derksen. Petty🏆. Turner. Future back 3. Adams looked okay but not sold just yet.

Josh Lindsay - agree he is a very good user of the footy

As at 26 August 2025 Injury crisis with 8 players already out and 3 already ruled out for the season 5 of the 8 injuries are knee injuries which has been a very high occurrence in the womens game https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/injury-updates Dees might have to call up top up players soon - squad is 32 … less the 8 injured = 24 players … so we have 21 for this game v pies … plus the 3 emergencies (that’s the full list).

@Chelly @Turner watched the Stingrays v Power. Unfortunately the ground was drier than an Indian cricket wicket It was mostly dirt with a few patches of grass. Not much protection for the youngsters getting tackled. Frankly it was a disgrace to see. 🤬 Obviously it would be great to have Willem Duursma coming to the Dees (he’s probably going to be pick 1 or 2 for the Eagles alongside Cooper Duff-Tyler.. great name!!) … if only we had an academy! 🤬 If the Dees had our “pick” at around pick 8 or 9, Stingrays star Noah Hibbins-Hargreaves ⭐️would have been the player I’d nominate. He’s very composed and has the ability to win it and spread quickly. Lean type who runs through the lines and carries the footy. Only knock is sometimes perhaps his kicking can be loose. But hey the Dees kicking coach would fix that !

@Turner I think McFayden was viewed as “in between type”. Not an agile aerobic half forward but not a tall key forward. But he showed in senior footy that he had the smart footy IQ and goalkicking ability. Safe pair of hands. He has shown he can handle the physical and contested work as well. Would be a handy addition imv

@Turner from last week … yes he has the makings of a very smart footballer

Sinnema was good in patches. He got crunched in a tackle in the 3rd quarter and kicked a nice goal from 40m out. He’s got class with the footy which we do need (but will need a few preseasons to get AFL ready so need to be patient ) Didn’t see much of Prasad. A Quiet Game is what I would say. Applied a few good tackles but was often out positioned to win the footy.

65 games. Just turned 22yo. Injury cruelled the first half of 2025. Now ready to have a big preseason. Given our team list, I’d back him in and give the 4 year deal for the circa $600k/season.

Guerra setting up the new look …

As expected. One more year. But that’s it. End of 2026 probably sees McDonald, May, Melksham all retire.

Just setting a diary reminder for late September!!!