Sooo, will YOU Booo Grundy ?

[pietillidie]

^JDG absolutely. But viewing Grundy as a traditional ruckman is miles off the mark. He's a follower because that's what Bucks turned him into on the back of his massive early success, hence those years when he was carrying a side with a slow-as-treacle, absolutely dire midfield.

See my previous comment on how you get the most out of him. He's actually a running player who is great in the stoppage pack, as well as a tall, so he's not competing with Johnson.

A dry day today against a team stocked with talls who tore us a new one has told us all we need to know, on top of our difficulty against tall forwards all year. They all play; one of the smalls somewhere else has to give. But Johnson is crucial because we have also needed an extra target up forward all year, so he's not that player.

[Hiss]

Trade Grundy and JDG and look at how much cash we then have to recruit younger superstars. Get them on long term low ball contracts early. That’s how you win Premierships and become very profitable . We can stop relying on Pokies once and for all!

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Grundy ain’t going anywhere will be Collingwood player for at least the next 5 years

[mgh3536]

I would like to see centre bounce with cox as ruckman

Then Grundy degoey and Pendlebury

Grundy goes forward after the clearance

We gotta fix these centre clearances!!!

[Jezza]

I don't think Grundy alone can solve our centre clearance woes, but he can help alleviate it to an extent.

What we're lacking is proper inside midfielders. We need JDG back soon.

[Meredith1965]

Today showed that the one piece of clockwork missing is the centre square. We have the gears. Grundy and JdG. We need to keep both.

Watching the way we were killed in the air down back, and considering his more limited output in the last few weeks (two today but one was a gimme), I wonder if the coaches might consider putting Checkers back and leaving Cameron forward, with Grundy and Cox in tandem ruck ?

[RudeBoy]

Next week's performance by Cox and Cameron will probably determine which one joins Grundy for our game against the Dees. On today's form, I'd go with Cox. Whoever misses out will be unlucky, but 3 into 2 don't go and there's no way we'd be silly enough to play 3 ruckmen.

[Meredith1965]

If Essendon can play Wright as a permanent forward I don’t see why we can’t playCameron as one. He’s a good kick, pretty mobile and a strong mark.

[pietillidie]

^Yep, it's all three for mine. Grundy is half a mid, while Cameron can play forward and Coxy is really impacting. I reckon it's a small that makes way when Grundy is right to go.

[RudeBoy]

Next week's performance by Cox and Cameron will probably determine which one joins Grundy for our game against the Dees. On today's form, I'd go with Cox. Whoever misses out will be unlucky, but 3 into 2 don't go and there's no way we'd be silly enough to play 3 ruckmen.

If Essendon can play Wright as a permanent forward I don’t see why we can’t playCameron as one. He’s a good kick, pretty mobile and a strong mark.

Which of our other forwards would you drop to fit in Cameron? Having 3 ruckmen, regardless of where they play, would slow us down imo. Remember, I have a feeling Fly would relish an opportunity to squeeze in Henry into our forward set up as well. At least we have choices.

[Haff]

^we had 3 ruckman in the side with Witts, Grundy and the older bloke who s many escaped me. Didn’t work out well from memory as teams (I recall Sydney being one) just played through the 3rds man running off.
That said, I think Ginni is actually battling at the moment so you could drop a small for a tall. Personally don’t think it works.
Looking to next season I reckon we’d get a late first rounder for Cameron to the right club. Also don’t think it will happen.
Guess we wait and see.

[eddiesmith]

Given we were winning the hitouts and losing the clearances then Grundy winning more to his feet won’t solve it. It showed how badly we need strong midfielders, so JDG back in and Taranto for Grundy makes us a far stronger side than keeping the status quo. Plus gives us a decent bit of salary cap relief to afford the upgrade of Nick Daicos next year.

[pietillidie]

^I'm afraid we were absolutely belted in the air, too, and the football is only going to get drier. We're generally undersized, whether in the pack or in the air. de Goey and Grundy are the perfect ins to solve that, particularly now Grundy won't be appallingly mismanaged by being thrown to the dogs and targeted by third-ruck thugs without support or respite.

McRae is licking his chops, and has said so very clearly several times. His maturity, judgement and ability to get the best out of people trump visceral likes and dislikes.

[eddiesmith]

It’s hard to understand how people think it’s wrong and immature to expect a player who is in the top 5 paid players in the league to perform to that standard.

Fact is he is on genuine match winner money and had never been one, if it’s immature or stupid to want that player gone to free up cap space for genuine match winners then so be it.

Fact remains for one of the top 5 paid players in the league, he hasn’t even made the top 40 since he signed his contract. Yet you’re ok with that and anyone who has a problem is wrong?

[pietillidie]

^Because if you have two minutes' business experience you know the assumptions and rationality of past deals are, well, past. You also know that very problem is baked into every single future deal, no matter how fancifully easy it might seem to simply replace one top player with another top player. The unknowns of the past are simply replaced by the new unknowns of the future. This is the basic problem of risk management, and it's extremely difficult to bank on any trade when something as common as a knee injury or the death of a loved, or a psychological malady, could end it all in a second.

So, the sensible thing to do, regardless of whether past coaches and administrators have overpaid or not, is to look carefully at how you can best maximise the present, right now. The future will take care of itself; the task now is to get the most out of Grundy and JDG, and the team spirit and energy we are seeing.

It is both foolish and cowardly to skip the task at hand and live off in some future fairyland where everyone suddenly gets every decision right, injuries don't happen, players don't encounter challenges, form doesn't fluctuate, decision makers don't change, and other parties give you what you want when you demand it.

Not grasping that, and harping on about the past decisions of others while fantasising that the future will be easier when there is much that can be done right now, is the very definition of immaturity because it is forever opting out of current responsibility and accountability because tomorrow never comes.

Discounting the present to zero, as if the current task matters less than imaginary future fancies, and the current mindset is less determinative of future than clueless dreams of easy deals that proceed without a hitch and exactly as planned, is the loser's mindset.

No, the future is created by the now. And that's why the eminently mature and experienced McRae refuses to engage in future talk, and side-line sitters who have never achieved anything serious in life, and have never got good enough at anything to be drafted into a big league or to negotiate a major contract like Brodie Grundy, live off future fantasies, as they sit in yellowed Y-fronts at their basement computer, imagining they know all about excellence.