Older demon

Any word on May? If he has plantar fasciitis then surely there must be some doubt around him. I have had it and it is brutal, takes ages to heal and can often warrant surgery.

TYou all have short memories. Roos wanted a coach in waiting to hand over to. Stewart Dew did not want to leave his assistant position in Sydney and Bevo said no because he didn't want to be an assistant in waiting, he wanted to be in a senior coaching role and not understudy for a few years. I was hoping he would come to Melbourne and told him that at the time. He is his own man and and went to the Dogs and won them a flag. Don't forget he showed Stringer the door for his unacceptable behaviour at the dogs and showed early on he wouldn't tolerate bad behaviour.

OK so we are unwatchable, playing poorly and we have no recognisable team plan. How will sackin g Goodwinn fix this? The planning and training since last year has been overseen by Goodwin, the assistants and management whom I all hope are on the same page. Will any one of them step up and do it differently? The answer is NO we are just reacting to how bad we are and want to sack the coach. We cannot sack the players and I have no fear that whoever is interim coach will not do anything different. The time for personell change is later in the year not after round 5. Goodwin alone is not the problem.... On radio this morning allegedly Mark Bickley stated that he ran into Goodwin pre match and asked about his coaching tenure. Bickley stated that Goodwin told him it would be hard to come back from here. If true then Goody knows he is on thin ice. I also believe that he will do everything humanly possible as head coach to turn it around. Another rumour is that there will be a board meeting tomorrow night sigh discussing the coach. He isn't solely responsible, the assistants and players are not entirely blameless. I support my club and will abide with their decisions. I have no doubt they are all trying their level best to get it right and win, it just isn't happening and I have no control over it but I hope Goodwin in the short term can change it up.

We played JVR, Jefferson and AJ - 3 talls who contested in the air and bought the ball to ground for the small forwards. We have played short ever since Jeff's broke his hand (we wern't bad in that 1st quarter). We lost tonight at the selection table IMO Why not do what Essendon have tried. Play 2 ruckman. Let Verral have a go at the first bounce and let Max start up forward as Draper does. You need marking targets not witches hats

The biggest issue is that we are unwatchable at the moment. In 5 games I cannot remember any play, mark or goal that has got me out of my seat. 51 inside 50's for 8 goals, 5 of which came in 1 quarter. Inside 50 kicking efficiency a woeful 33.3% and 4 I repeat 4 contested marks inside 50. The latter is no surprise given for the first half we played the smallest forward line ever with an extra man down back We never looked like winning and as much as I like the young talent, we might as well play 15 as we have 3 rookies who just don't get enough of the ball. The club is killing Windsor in his 2nd year down back and completely destroyed JVR's forward play in a season when he wasn't going to play in the ruck. I just find watching our games as torture with the style of play, turnovers and no vision of any semblance of a game plan.

6 toLangdon best by far 5 Gawn 4 Bowie 3 Kozzie 2 Trac Oliver and before you ask he made 9 tackles. The only player close was Chin with 6 while Trac & Viney had 5 apiece nearly half of the entire team tackles. 4 players had 0 tackles

Having read Binmans stats page I was surprised to see just how may inside 50's we have generated. We had more than geelong anf GWS yet still found a way to lose. If they were fair dinkum, Viney has to go to Casey. 15 touches for a mid and not one kick hit a target. Footy is brutal and overnight the game seems to have passed him by. I am not overly convinced salem is far behind. His kicking is still great but he looks slow. Sharp doesn't impress me and Spatgo needs a stretch of games at Casey to find form after his long injury layoff. What are they thinking bringing him in cold from 1 practise game and post concusiion protocol. They are 4 who I would rest Fullarton has proved he isn't a ruck but he may well be a forward. Verrel has been excellent the last 2 weeks when he had to cover the absence of Campbell after half time. Sestan, Brown & laurie all deserve consideration although Laurie has been tried so many times. One thing he does do is stick a tackle. Last night I couldn't believe the number of time the tackle was broken or the Cats player dished the ball of. Maybe lever is back.

Steve heads off to Europe as planned in may. On his return the plan was for hime to wait until seasons end to take the reigns (personal communication). Do not under estimate Brad green! He has a ruthless streak and a great football brain. He will make hard decisions and remove non performers if necessary. In the past the coach has given an monthly update to the board on the team status I imagine the next one will be challenging and a please explain in order. All of this is way above the supporters need to know but will become evident. In my opinion the team doesn't appear fit enough, lacks cohesion but in the 1st 3 games we had 4 first year players. I doubt any top team with finals aspiration would have 4 complete AFL newbies in the team. Viney is struggling with AFL 2025 style and his 45 meter kicks long and down the line don't work. ANB hasn't been replaced and his role taken over. If Goody is sacked who steps in from the group. The coaching panel have been delivering the same message as a collective since last October do we beieve someone from within will change much? Lets see where we are at round 10 and hope the team at least tries to play some entertaining watchable footy.

None of us is privy to what the review thought of Goodwin. The fact that they thought he needed to lighten up or have his stress levels reduced indicates to me that he was under some fair scrutiny. Who knows if the same issues are still there then he may well not see to his contract. I have to ask though, what value is there in getting rid o hime now. Who would be the interim and how could they improve performance given the coaching group are all pushing the same message or should be. All the coaches should be on the same page so how will sacking Goody change the narrative? The board usually get a coaches report or update for each meeting. I am sure they wouldn't be happy just as we aren't but what improvements or areas of improvement are they looking for. Both beyond the pay scale of us supporters

6: Steven May 5: Tom McDonald - 4: Max Gawn 3; Clayton Oliver 2: Kozzy 1: Jake Bowey

What I gleaned from the game Geelong are a well drilled organised group who have played together for a long time and stick with the system. Goody out coached and I could not see any evidence of any sort of game style and organisation. perhaps the coaches are asking players to play a style they cannot deliver We cannot stick a tackle or prevent the player with the balll dishing it off. Geelong tackled and hunted and their tackles suck. Too many times we had multiple tacklers and the ball still broke free. The only times we looked good was when we took a chance played on and moved the ball quickly. Unfortunately this style also shows how poor our kicking skills are. More inside 50's and only 6 goals is sub standard We have no marking targets up forward. Geelong showed how to be patient, switch the play and play keepings off. That may be the plan but haven't got the composure at the moment to play that game/ Playing an extra man in defence isn't working and we don't work hard enough. Geelongs hald forward play high and gut run to get back and make numbers. The deliver with accuracy which destroys us having a loose man in defence. I doubt Viney will see out his contract to 2028. Every kick is long to a contest or the opposition. Goody doesn't appear to have a solution to the problems.

Clubs that off load high picks have recently done so when they have Academyplayers where they don't want to have to spend a high pick on one of them. This season we have Ka White and another academy lad. Could this be the strategyfor seasons end. In the last 2 seasons we have loaded up high end with Windsor, Tholstrup, Lindsay & Langford. That has been a pretty good return. On this basis I honestly don't think we have plans for recruitin any big fish this season.

6 Langford 5 Bowey 4 Langdon 3 Oliver 2 T MacDonald Clarry for having a go

I cannot remember a game where I have not felt 1 minute of enthusiasm or excitement in our execution. Too few great passages of play and a skill level not acceptable at AFL level. Lets be honest, running around with 4 first year players is an inducation that we don't have the cattle ( 5 if you include Jefferson last week. Is there a team with finals aspiration that bloods so many newbies. They have stable teams where they slowly add new blood to an existing structure. 2 from a VFL club and 2 first year players has not worked. The skill level today was deplorable. Is the transition to a new style of game showing that our players don't have the skill to execute it especially under pressure. We have been poor for the last 2 weeks. The run and yards gained by Noble and Rioli and others wasn't matched by us who are locked in a chip, chip possession game which is so slow. We are so slow and the years are catching up with Max & Viney. Our clearance work is shocking when it was once our weapon. Out tackled and unable to make one stick or pin the arms so they couldn't get of a handball. Nearly every goal we got was replied to at the next center bounce. I only hope that Windsor, Picket, McVee,Lever and Jefferson get back quick (and Lindsay isn't too serious) because their replacement are out of their depth or not up to AFL standard's. The midfiekd coaches have a huge mountain to climb to get things back on track. At no stage did we manage to lock down and stop the ball getting out the back and cleared.

On reflection I thought we did pretty well to still be in the game at thre quarter time. For 3 quarters we kept coming back which shouldn't be overlooked. The 6 goals in 7 minute burst has made everyone forget the effort put in for 3 quarters. We gifted goals from some awful turn overs, and on 2 occasions being to slow to kick and got run down. Its not Goody fault that Langdon kicks it over Claytons head to the opposition who goal or Bowser shanking a kick into the middle of the ground straight to 2 North players nor is it his fault when Woewodin butchers a bounce in the middle of the ground when all our players are running forward. It happened last week and again Sunday when players over run the ball, miss handballs or have the tackle broken. Non of this is Goodwins fault and it rests entirely with the playing group who should own it. Structurally we were too short. AJ was replaced by Spargo and when Jeffo busted his hand and is replaced by Woewodin we are too small. Small wonder Comben had 8 intercept marks, he was on a midget (not helped by not lowering our eyes when delivering the ball). It was error to expect Max to solely compete against Xerri . Last time they met he was out muscling Max and they had no plan B despite Campbell handling Xerri fairly well in the practice game. Windsor covers a lot of cracks with his blinding speed as will Picket on return. Howes was all Australian under 18 as a wing/half forward. He is to slighlty built to hold down a key back post. Fritch & Disco aren't strong enough to hold down key posts and I doubt they ever will The issue is our best 6 are very good but as stated by Adam Simpson our bottom 6 players is where the issue lies. Injuries happen and last year the Pies struggled untill they got their best side together. May, Windsor, McVee, Picket and to a lesser extent Melksham will make a big difference. The have backup ruckman in AJ and Campbell use them Windsor, Kolt, Lindsay & Langford are the class we need to develop but they are babies in the system but are part of the rebuild