spirit of norm smith

Preparation… ?!?!?!!!?! Simon Goodwin will coach the Dees versus the GWS Giants on Saturday night despite spending the past three nights in hospital. Goodwin copped an infection at the start of the week that required an intermittent IV drip. He was part of team meetings via Zoom during the week and discharged on Saturday morning.

Yes!!! Gruzewski kicked 6. Moved like a Forward. Kicked like a Forward. We overlooked h in the draft. 🤮🤮🤮

They LOST the unloseable !!! Goalkicking atrocious HORRIBLE who teaches them. REALLY BAD it costs you games Best. White, Edwards, Sparrow (1st half). Rest were poor. Hunter. Delisted surely.

Fumbles. Fumbles. K Brown. Dropped mark. Casey scrap. Point. Giants. Good handling. Long kick. Mark. Accurate kick. Goal.

Agree. Jeffo never looked confident. Ran in like a defender taking a shot. Strange !!

Jefferson marks. 15 metres out. Virtually straight in front. 90% success rate from there for most players. He misses !!!! FFS. 3/4 time. Casey 6.11.47 to GWS 4.3.27 Dominating but cannot kick straight. Familiar story at Dees and at Casey.

Ben Brown not selected. Missed a few weeks. Knee issue. It’s totally impacted his ability to bend. Unlikely to see him again this year. Might have a farewell Casey game.

I am super keen on signing Cumming as a free agent. Definitely put a 5 year deal on the table. He is cheaper and less draft picks than Houston, with similar roles.

I am super keen on getting Cumming as a free agent. 5 year deal on the table. He’d be cheaper and less draft picks than Houston, with similar roles.

I’m only buying if it’s a 2025 first rounder … perhaps to sweeten it we would throw in the 2024 (pick 40) 2nd round pick. I think we need midfielders and 1st round picks are crucial. There are also some very good ball user half back youngsters that are in VFL or also coming through under 18s. Houston is good but he’s not worth 2 x 1st round picks.

Thanks @KC from Casey agree Hustwaite and Connolly were excellent recruits and showed great form in the first 3 games. Their absence cannot be underestimated given our lack of depth and player turnover. It appears Ben Brown is unofficially retired. He had struggled to play two games back to back all year. In his 5 games (6 goals) , we could see how immobile he’d become and his knees simply are rendering him unable to bend. Such a shame to see him finish like this. Given we have Jefferson & Kentfield to develop, it’s probably best that he announce his retirement.

Good to see. Well produced by the marketing team.

Not necessarily in order , but excellent mids likely between picks 7-16 are Xavier Lindsay - Gippsland Harvey Langford - Dandenong Christian Moraes - Eastern Sam Lalor - GWV Murphy Reid - Sandringham Taj Hotton - Sandringham Tom Gross - Oakleigh Bo Allan -WA Toby Travaglia - Bendigo Either Lindsay or Langford would be a Xmas gift for the Dees. Future midfielder stars imv. We just need to keep our 1st round pick this year.

Agree. I’d be keen to add him but not if it’s costs us. With Tassie coming in around 2027, there will be compromised drafts ahead. Future 1st rounder is still a decent price for Houston. He’s a good footballer but not an elite mid or goalkicking forward.

Casey will be depleted by Dees holding players out again. No other team holds players out like the MFC. Giants probably win a close one.

Ouch. Houston is a good footballer but I think he’s overrated. Running half back. Not an elite mid. Not a goalkicking forward. Houston for a future 1st round pick is about right. NO WAY IS HE WORTH GIVING UP TWO 1ST ROUND PICKS. NO WAY !!!!

Agreed. The only way forward for this group is to bring in quality kids with high draft picks. Anything else is Goodwin trying to save his own job !!!

Medical retirement. Brayshaw Susiension. Delisted. JS29 99.9% guaranteed to retire Ben Brown Likely outs. Schache. Hunter. Likely to look elsewhere. Tomlinson 6 list spots. Promote Moniz-Wakefield. 5 list spots most likely Likely to retire but not guaranteed. Melksham (33) TomMcd (32). Playing ok but don’t want to stretch it too far. Need to keep 3 live draft picks. I think 2024 will be a super draft by the way.

Good timing. I was thinking that we hadn’t had an update and wondered if he was going ok. Thanks for the update.

No. We have the backline sorted with tall options. Lever. Turner. Hore also plays a similar style. Need to find or spend money on skilled fast midfielders.

Hopefully he is recovering. It was quite an ordeal. I thought he might get back to work with younger guys like Kolt on how to position himself and pass on his footy IQ. Or even in recruitment. Imagine Trac and JT coming to meet you and your parents as part of the MFC recruitment.

Any update on Trac?

Kolt & Salem out injured Sparrow dropped. Yes had to happen. Had to happen. He has been very poor. Lever stays in. Just !!! He was horrible last week. Gawn in 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 Woey jnr in 👏👏👏 Laurie in ??????? Why ??! Had a holiday in WA last week !! Kynan Brown absolutely busted himself last week without much support. 24 tackles. Has to be patient but hard ti explain why he’s not in !!

Bowey 👍🏻 is a good pick ; showed his skill through 2021 and still fits across half back He’s a premiership player 👏👏🏆🏆 Laurie 💩 yes agree … why pick another small player He was a smart small forward/mid We had Chandler and Spargo already I’m surprised we have persisted and extended his contract End of 2024 should have been enough to say unfortunately it didn’t work Rosman ❌ had the athletic ability but footy positioning and IQ were lacking. Showed good pace and ability at CHB but injuries impacted him. Delisted without playing a game. Speculative pick really.

Getting back to the 2024 draft @Whispering_Jack 👏👏👏 Langford trained with the Dees over the summer. Definitely would have impressed the club given his strong work ethic and talent. Let’s hope he’s one of the available young midfielders at our pick on draft night. VIC COUNTRY THE STAR: HARVEY LANGFORD A powerful midfielder from the Dandenong Stingrays, Langford finished the tournament not only as Vic Country's MVP but also as a joint winner of the Larke Medal. A hardworking contest star, Langford also has a booming kick when he finds space on the outside and can take a strong mark. He averaged 25.5 disposals, 6.3 clearances and 7.5 score involvements across his four games for Vic Country. "He was superb from the first game against SA," Vic Country coach Paul Corrigan said. "He just carried that form through for us. He pretty much played the whole time in the middle. He was exceptional around stoppages and clearances. "He also found a lot of ball on the outside, but also proved on the weekend he's got that aerial prowess to go forward and mark the footy and hit the scoreboard as well. I just thought his whole campaign was super consistent and really impressive for us."