Pirlo

A really honest assessment of this group would say that Windsor, JVR and McVee look like real prime talents - although JVR's second form slump of the season has me concerned when other young forwards are finding a way to kick 3 every other week. Making him ruckman for a fortnight after his best patch of the year was robbing Peter to pay Paul. Rivers and Pickett obviously stars, but they'll be in year six next year and can't really be considered young guns in the build. Bowey has barely had a good game in two years. Rubbish by foot at the moment and has a lot of work to do if he doesn't want to continue the slow journey towards Casey. Turner has some good assets. Sticky hands and a good kick at goal. Fades in and out of games too much at this point. Moniz-Wakefield has dash. No idea why people are pencilling him in as some star though. Was getting the ball 10-15 times off the flank in his first few games and doesn't seem damaging by foot. Lots to work on, but has some tools to develop. Tholstrup has a huge amount of work to do. In my eyes, he has no obvious strengths at AFL level. He had some form in the VFL where he'd win clearances and kick goals on the run, but he's showed neither of those at AFL level yet. Not pencilling him in by any means but obviously hope he comes good. Woey could maybe be a player long term. Good endurance runner, brave and actually has an eye for goal on the run. Again, lots would have to go right because he isn't taking his chances just now. Jeffo - who knows. Much better back half of the year for Casey and should be playing AFL this weekend. Brown - great tackler. The coaches don't have much faith, but I'd love to see more. Howes looked good early in the year, but has looked lost at sea since he was dropped after the Eagles game whenever he's come in. Don't think he's a defender, but don't know where else he'd shine either. I've been a fan, but am concerned.

Port were 13-7 this afternoon and would have sat sixth if they lost that game. They're not some juggernaut We lost 6 games in 22 and 7 in 23 with an extra round. The effort was there, the polish was not. Shouldn't dismiss people's concerns as "rubbish" as if we'd just taken it right up to the 07 Cats and hadn't come off 2 shellackings in 3 weeks.

I am a bit confused re. Clarry. What surgery does he need? Didn't he already have the hand op?

Hard to blame him too much for the miss, but I am definitely concerned about what I've seen so far from a kid who has a bit of a frame already. Not great by foot or hand, lacks awareness with the ball, and isn't laying tackles. He needs to develop at VFL level, not AFL level.

That was actually a good effort. Umpires did not reward our tackling pressure - so many Port players dropped and threw the ball and play on was called. I'm glad they put some pride back in the jumper. Observations: - How many times do we get the ball on the 50 arc and none of our forwards present? Stafford just has to go. Its disgusting how much they've protected him because he's one of the boys. Its a clear and obvious issue that costs us games every week. It has nothing to do with him having once been a ruck, playing position is irrelevant to being a coach. He just has no [censored] idea how to set up a forward line. People need to be more upset about this. - Tigers fans will tell you that their midfield was never at its best under McQualter. We should have listened. A little better today but not by much. Sad to waste a ruck like Gawn. - Billings dropping that mark and missing the snap sums up his career. No idea why we thought bringing him in was a good idea. - Subbing JVR was bizarre, especially as he got the call right after a big mark. Minute he comes off, the Power put more men into Gawn and Petty and wrestled back momentum in the air. - Love and respect Melky but the last two weeks show that its time to get him away for conditioning and let him have another go next year. Ineffectual when he came on. - TMac struggled against Dixon and is fortunate Dixon is barely mobile. That's three weeks in a row he's been dodgy by foot too after a great season. - Pickett was awesome - McVee was awesome - Cannot afford to give up pick 6 for Houston. We have three quality kids under 23 and the rest are iffy at best. - Howes had a good start to the year but it is panic stations now. IMO he isn't a defender, but three years in as a mid-sized players and I have no clue what role he is best suited to. Doesn't appear mobile enough to intercept. Maybe back to the wing? - Hate digging into a kid, but Tholstrup doesn't show any clear strengths to his game. That miss from 35 on a slight angle wasn't even close, he didn't look like he wanted it. 0 tackles too, which should see him back in the VFL for Brown or essentially anyone else. Lots of time to improve but I'm not convinced trading 27 and 35 to move up three places and claim him won't come back to bite us. Would look better in a good team. Needs to work on his skills for Casey. - Viney was much better. - It is tragic what has happened to Oliver. I am close to giving up hope for him and I almost want him to request a trade and start again. I hope he's doing okay in his personal life because he doesn't front up like he's interested.

I am wary of this, as a rule. The North players have consistently voted Luke McDonald skipper. Is that because he's a star with amazing standards? Or is he a nice bloke who they aren't intimidated by and tells them what they want to hear? Coming off a season like ours, I don't know whether the group - many of them young - should get the final say over who leads the team.

I'm personally not a fan of co-captains, feels a bit like not committing to either of them. Perhaps I'm just burned from the weird shoehorning of Viney into what by rights should have been the Jones captaincy.

Will be interesting. I hope I've expressed my admiration for Max clearly enough, but suspect plenty will skim read and be ready with their torches!

Very odd decision not to play him this week. Petty could and should have filled May's spot. Casey having a bye is very disappointing. Feels pretty clear to me that we're looking to mitigate risks this week. Safe options in for the kids. Goodwin absolutely does not want to see another finals team have their way with us.

An uncomfortable question - Max is the oldest captain in the league, with the next-oldest being Witts who works in tandem with another. Most teams' captains are from the 2013-14 drafts, and Max is 4-5 years older than that. I love the man. Best Demon since the 60s in my view, but could it be time to move on. I have absolutely no issue with him personally. Four factors make me ask this question: 1. He's reaching the point in his career where most greats slow down significantly. He'll be 33 in December, and has now gone down with niggling injuries for weeks at a time on a number of occasions since the flag. He really is one bad knee injury away - and he did two ACLs years ago - from having to give it up. As it stands, he feels compelled to play through pain and return early because he's the skipper. 2. Most great players give up the captaincy, and all that comes with it, in their mid 30s to focus on lengthening their careers - Cotchin, Fyfe, Walker, Pendlebury are all recent examples of this. 3. The level of effort across the board this year has been uncharacteristic. I'm not talking results, I'm talking pure effort. Max not included in that, his standards are elite (reminds me of Jonesy during the bad years), but he's the guy who leads the others. Could a fresh voice at the top be an option? Max's comments after last week were telling - "I don't care about finals, I care about putting some pride back in the jumper". Some people felt he was being cavalier there, I didn't. I feel like he's struggling to deal with the poor showings from a number of our players who just don't look invested some weeks. Tonight's game will be telling - will they do what he's asked? If not, and they show up as they have against Freo x 2, the Pies, the Dogs...we'll know they're not listening. 4. This one is painful, because I think he's the best media performer of his AFL generation and has every right to both play and be a regular media personality, but I listen to Max every Monday and Friday on MMM. He's on there to have a laugh with Wil Anderson and get himself primed for what he'll do post-career, but there's now been multiple weeks where we get belted on Saturday/Sunday and Max is laughing on the radio on Monday. He never excuses poor efforts, he more says things like "oh we were terrible, yeah" before moving on, but perhaps its for the best he's doing regular segments like these whilst not also being the skipper. I reiterate that I've got no issue at all with Max. I'm just wondering whether its time to look to the future and let Max just play footy, keep himself fit, and carry on his slow transition to his post-footy life whilst still dominating in the ruck for a couple of years to come. I'd probably favour a Lever/ANB or Lever/Petracca ticket to replace him, but there's definitely no obvious candidate.

Will be back in WA next year, I reckon. The MSD is a cruel system for the individuals involved, unless they're one out the box. He's the equivalent of a rookie pick who can't get near it in the seconds. They usually get chopped. He may be saved by significant off-field movements this year, the Smith situation (can we cut him?), and sympathy around not having a pre season.

You wouldn't know he's a Dees player these last few months, despite the fact that he's incredibly active on social media. No social media that I've seen, no club media at all. Could all be an innocent explanation behind it. Think and hope the club would move heaven and earth to keep him happy, but also believe we have some serious egos in positions of power who wouldn't take dissent very kindly.

Optimistic about what? We've blown it this season. They're paid to manage these things and should be held to account.

Only if you view it through a lens of "I want to see Gus again". They offered him the chance to be around his teammates band keep a role in footy. It was the right thing to do. It didn't work out, but that's okay too. Gus will say goodbye when he's ready, not when you're ready.

Everything needs to go well for us to make top 4 next year. Meanwhile, your assessment of McVee is flabbergasting.

He wasn't getting the ball. He was averaging 10 touches and 1 tackle a game last season. I simply refuse to believe that losing him has led to "all lines being decimated".

I appreciate the sentiment of your post, but lets not pretend that Spargo didn't spend the last six weeks of last season at Casey. He's a good pressure player usually, but he kicked 11 in 14 last season, 10 in 24 the year before and just 18 in 25 the season we won the flag. That's not game changing.

Gawn will never agree to a rest, nor will Oliver or Viney.

Tomlinson, I believe, has been available for over a year. Nobody took a bite last year.

Quite possibly, but that suggests a soft underbelly to this team that directly correlates with what we've seen the last two Septembers. Every team goes through adversity. We're handling ours terribly.

Is this ruthless? Ruthless would be sweeping a broom through the above names and taking whatever we can get for the latter four, topping up with a few free agents to take up our cap space, and going hard at the higher end of the draft while Max, May, Viney are still around to mentor the kids. It has been unthinkable for me until tonight, but perhaps even having an honest chat with Oliver and sounding out where he's really at ahead of pre-season.

Do you mean Rivers? Viney has absolutely toiled most of the year compared to his high standards. He's running like his plantar fasciitis is back.

You must have missed the first 10 minutes, when we didn't have a single disposal in our attacking half. They had 21 more scoring shots than us. Well done Melbourne for upping their pressure in the second half when the game was over.

I love Gus, but I'm so tired of hearing this. It gives the group and the club an out for various, systematic miscalculations. He was a gun, and a heart and soul player, but he was our fourth choice inside mid. A valuable rotation, and a super versatile player, but let's not indulge the fantasy that he would have changed much on his own. Had an elite season off the HBF in 22, and a great one on the wing in 21, but would he have moved the needle a huge amount this season?

The Suns choking, as per usual, means we won't get their higher pick... Onto the game: Absolutely flat across the board. The team went in with no confidence or desire and it showed. I like mixing it up, but the season is on the line and we had Woey, Tholstrup and Bowey in at various centre bounces early on. Some good acrobatics from Fritsch Oliver: I'm struggling to stay on board. Love him for all he's done but he's one of our key senior players and there were three absolutely awful efforts in the first 5 minutes of the game that set the tone. He's being paid $1m a year and is being scaled UP with the CBA increasing. We have about three meaningful injuries, this is close to our best 22. Grim. May's back will eventually be the end of him. Just hope he can nurse it through two more seasons. TMac - THUD back down to earth... Two stinkers. Such a good season but age is showing now. Was embarrassed by a stronger man last week and a younger, more atheltic one this time. Flew at everything up forward like a man who knew he wasn't being swung forward to help us win, but was moved out of the way because he was a liability down back. He can have a one year deal on minimum coin, but the club would be derelict to offer him more. If another club offers him two, let him go. Melky - struggling to make an impact now. Needs a pre-season but we'll see at his age. JVR had about a month up forward where he looked untouchable. Then two weeks in the ruck. Now he can't get near it up forward again, as per the start of the season. Give the kid some [censored] consistency. Jefferson kicked 4 and surely gets a go next week. Petty back and TMac dropped would be my preference. And the big one - 'the kids'. I'm glad we're playing them, I like the idea that we're being bold, but let's cast a critical eye over the spread of talent. Windsor, McVee, Rivers, Pickett & JVR are the only under 23s worth singing about right now. If they're tier 1 talent, the rest are either first year kids or tier 3 on exposed form. They all have a long way to go. I imagine he'll be fine long term, and I may get flamed for this (I love his attitude as much as everyone else), but I am struggling to see what Kolt's main strength is aside from his hunger at the ball. A long way to go, and I'll back him in, but it hasn't been the most convincing start to his career. We're a [censored] team, but not [censored] enough that he has to shoulder any load. Taj isn't improving (being sub 10 weeks in a row didn't help), Andy shows a bit but isn't as quick as advertised, Disco was ok in defence while the ball was raining in. Bowey is a battler, unfortunately. Was carried by the star-studded defence. Howes hasn't been the same since he was dropped. Goodwin deserves blame for this. The commentators' only salient point of the evening was that Geelong and Sydney are so good at rebuilding on the go because they run 2 or 3 decent kids through their team when they're good and help build them up. We didn't take those risks, beyond the absolute best 22 ones, and here we are.