The problem with the TDK situation is that emotion seems to be the overriding factor in assessing where he is at and what to do about it..
Take the emotion out of it and look at the options. Tom is either going or staying. We don't know. If he stays, all good..but let the club know.
He's either told the club and teammates or he hasn't. You would think he's made a decision by now. It is important that decision is conveyed to the club as they need to plan for 2026.
Tom is essentially a ruckman, he doesn't have the same impact as a forward. He wouldn't be playing forward if McKay was available. If we were certain he was staying it may be Pittonet making way.
If Tom is leaving then priority needs to be given to a Pittonet/O'Keefe ruck set up, either as a duo or single ruck as that is likely to be our combination next year. Even if we do decide to pursue another ruckman that's still the fallback position.
If DeKoning is leaving it serves no purpose for us to have him playing at a senior level. Wins are no longer important and playing the way he is, even if he's contributing, it is not match winning and it is possibly keeping another 2026 player out of the side.
The club needs to know what DeKoning's intentions are now. There is no longer any reason for him to wait until the season ends. Can anyone think of one? The St Kilda offer is on the table. He can take that, or he can explore options with other clubs. Either way the club needs to be looking ahead and planning and preparing for life with or without DeKoning. But they need a decision.
Ive not seen a team start a season in such poor physical condition and not build as the season wore on.
Ive also not seen a team do what we have done this season, where the form lines early were pretty poor aside from a handful of players, and rather have the rest build form, we have had more drop out of form as the season has gone on.
Its like the harder they try, the more they stuff it.
Finally, we have not been the same since they tightened the holding the ball interpretation which has resulted in the ultra fast ball movement we are seeing now. Its opened the game up, but I cant fathom how a guy having one armed held whilst taking posession gets pinged for not being able to get it loose.
I think the dropping out of form as the season has progressed can be explained to certain extent by the fact that players like Cripps and Weitering, in fact every player, have had to shoulder an extra responsibility due to a reduction in support around them. They're forced to carry an extra load because of missing players. That reaches a point where their own form suffers. Cripps seemed better last night. Weitering's looking a bit worse for the wear...he'd be much more comfortable with players like Silvagni, Newman...even Saad all on deck.
I'm finding it a bit hard to get a read on that performance. Clearly we were outclassed by a much superior 'team' In fact those few goals we kicked early in the last probably flattered our scoreline.
I thought our effort was better. Not great, but better. Our intensity, effort and pressure was up a level on recent weeks....but nowhere near what we're capable of applying.
Cripps seemed to be more influential than he has been in recent weeks. Charlie, once again without a goal, but played OK around the ground and missed a couple he should have kicked. Problem was it was left to too few and some of the errors, especially getting caught with the ball, were diabolical and costly. The lions seemed to have a bit of a mission when it came to tackles and pressure. Many of our players could have phoned in their efforts.
We have a bit of a problem with Tom. If he's made a decision he needs to let the club know. And with the way he's playing, it may be that he finishes his time at Carlton, either playing VFL or not at all. We're getting very little from him, compared to what he's capable of, and that's disappointing because even though many of us can understand the decision to take the money, the way he finishes will mean we won't remember him with fondness. The response from Carlton folk when he touches the ball with his new side will be similar to the response he got when he touched it playing for us last night.
There was some silly commentary around that last night (Cornes I think) when fans were criticised for the booing and bronx cheers of TDK. What does he expect given the effort and the situation. No doubt it's been a decision that has weighed on DeKoning, and that is probably a factor in the drop off in performance...but fans can only judge on performance.
There was also some silly commentary around Durdin flying for marks. "That's not his go!" was the comment. In fact it's very much his go, and he's taken a couple of the better marks by a Carlton player this year. He may not have a lot of weapons, and his high marking isn't seen often, but it's not something that's "not his go".
You look at the scoreboard (even though it flattered us a bit) and then you look in the stands and see Newman, McKay Walsh and Silvagni sitting together, There's probably a couple of goals more in attack for us, and probably a couple of goals less for them in our defence.
It looks like we've lost Fantasia (who was actually one of our better players when he went off.) A couple of folks have mentioned both Williams and McGovern pulling up a bit sore (cramp or injury). We'll have to wait and see. But we should probably expect some major changes next week.
In some respects the best thing that could happen would be for that "statistical possibility" to be done and dusted. Then we'd get a good idea of some of the young ones, and try a few different things. It would put a bit of interest into the season rather than this same ones 'in and out' on a weekly rotation.
Cincotta was always going to play this week after being held over from the VFL game last week. There were probably a few ahead of Durdin in the 'seconds'.
Expect a couple of debuts next week against Melbourne.
He was often maligned but one of the players who left us to go to another club who I really admire was Bryce Gibbs. He tried 'unsuccessfully' to head to Adelaide at the end of the 2016 season but deal couldn't be done. He didn't sook about it. He came back in 2017 and put his head down and played some really good football, statistically one of his best seasons (43 disposals and 10 tackles in one game) He knew he would try again for the move at the end of the year but still gave us good efforts. Tom looks likely to go. The least we can expect is that he plays in a similar fashion right up until the end.
I'm not sure Bryce Gibbs is a great example Lods. True he did have a few great games here and there but he seemed to pick and choose when he wanted to play well. A good mate of mine used to call him the sheep dog, because he was always on the outside of the pack.
That may have been the way things were set up given we had Judd and Murphy and later Cripps as our other key midfielders. I remember watching him throwing up in the background after one game while a team-mate was being interviewed. Whether he was ill or not he'd run himself ragged. It was a 34 disposal 3 Brownlow medal vote game against Geelong.
He had his critics for sure. In the very early part of his career he shirked a contest that seemed to stick in the mind of supporters, but all in all he gave us good service. Especially in the final year when he knew he would probably try for Adelaide again.
Just looking at the selections it looks a bit like they're letting this one go through to the keeper. I think we might see a few debuts against Melbourne next week.
(What was the big Supertramp hit from 1975? Maybe that's me at this moment).
You're nothing but a "Dreamer" Baggers
Although , it wouldn't surprise in the least if we showed some dramatic improvement. These are the type of games that often produce the upset. A bit of overconfidence by Brisbane, a better effort and intensity from us...who knows. The more likely scenario will be business as usual...but we can only hope.
The team selections will be particularly interesting and may tell a story, especially around the ruck options
I think the take away from all this is that players need to be judged individually because there are a number of factors at play.
One 30 year old may be done and dusted, another in their prime. Genetics is one factor-Size and shape, how well they age. Injury impact and recovery is another. The way they play and the position they play can also impact on a players longevity...espcially if they play a physical bash and crash style like Cripps.
You really can't tell, because it's a fact that we all age differently. It's probably also a fact that once you hit 30 you're closer to the end of your career than the beginning. With that in mind, if there is no a great deal between two players-one aged 25 the other 30 you'll go with the younger player because you'll get more time with him.
People don't seem to realise that Marshall will be 30 by the end of the year. All of these replacement rucks are at that age. I'm not swapping a first round pick for any 30 yo. We have Pittonet in that bracket and swapping him out for another ruck is not going to give us a '1st rounder value' of output upgrade in that position. If we are giving away first rounders, i'd much rather do it on another position.
You're right Given his age, I've changed my mind. Our best option may be to go with Pittonet and HOK for next year and pick up Flynn Riley in the draft for development (before someone else gets him)
Cameron is too old and would hate to go from their culture to us IMO.
Marshall would be a great get - his tap work and work at ground level is exactly what we need. As TDK best work is when he is the sole ruck, they cant have Marshall in their long term plans unless they will play him as a forward but that seems unlikely. He would have a point to prove and if the offer is good he may be tempted but being contracted old mate SOS will 100% want the farm in return.
While Pit gives effort he's a old school slow lumbering ruck man which we cant have as our main option if we want to improve especially with the one paced midfield we currently have.
Marshall gets a lot of the ball and would be the ideal replacement to take over the duties of TDK whose major benefit to us is his work as a defacto midfielder who can win clearances and provide drive from stoppages. The only problem I see is he is contracted for two more years and Im sure the price would be our compo pick with maybe a late pick back..
Given that compo pick could blow out a bit I reckon it's not a bad price to pay for a proven player as opposed to a speculative one.
