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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 18 2025 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane
Last post by Thryleon -
Quote from: madbluboy – on
The people who Bronx cheered Tom are a special kind of stupid.
The fans sitting around me started bagging the team 10 mins into the first quarter.

We have terrible supporters in amongst the good ones.  You hear the same old crap from the stands.  "man up, go faster, go harder".  Its easy to see all the options from 150 metres away, but on deck when they look up the ground, they cant see everything in 2 seconds, and are not looking downfield when concentrating on getting the ball out.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 18 2025 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane
Last post by shawny -
Quote from: PaulP – on
I think the De Koning situation has gone on too long. The club should have managed it better, by at least imposing a kind of decision deadline. It has created IMO too much distraction, for a club that can ill afford any more of that.

Agree totally. Pit is not half the player TDK is yet he is performing better.  TDKs best is top shelf but enough is enough. The guy has clearly checked out.

I would drop him next week if Jack is back and let Pit ruck with Jack as back up.

If the club knows he is going i dont understand why we are persisting with him as he not interested ATM.

Plus imagine being a Saints fan thinking our club is going to pay 1.7M for a player who cant get a game! 
 
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 18 2025 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane
Last post by Lods -
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.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 18 2025 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane
Last post by madbluboy -
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
I think TDK has to ruck most of the game, that's where he plays his best footy and it also forces him to be involved.
Playing him forward reminds me of Hampson and Kruezer...never worked.
Think we need him vs Gawn next week, so I'd be keeping him in the team.
If he is picked to play forward only then I'd drop him and play HOK.

Every team has tried playing the star ruck forward, it usually doesn't work.
Even Gawn didn't work.
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Robert Heatley Stand / Re: AFL Rd 18 2025 Post Game Prognostications Carlton vs Brisbane
Last post by PaulP -
Quote from: Micky0 – on
Completely disagree about Tom. He is nowhere near the player he has shown he can be and every single person knows he has checked out.  It’s become a bloody farce and the Collingwood cheersquad singing the Saints song was embarrassing imo.

He needs to be dropped immediately. He provided nothing last night and you can feel it sapping the energy out of the games - the constant speculation.

I am No Bronx cheerer but enough is enough -
Let’s go with youth.

On that everyone is saying so and so is crap bring in youth then you get these young guys with stuff all senior exposure making mistakes and people
Are now saying they’re not good enough, delist them! Give it a break - they’re kids and working their arses off coming into a team
Down on form and a dozen injuries! Being asked to do what our senior players haven’t done!  Give them a chance and give them support - there is some talent there that needs to be backed in.

A couple of points :

I can't peek into Tom's head, so I don't know his thoughts. If the team was flying and he was going half ar$ed, then sure. But given most of the team is in poor form, he may simply be a part of that. I would prefer to reserve judgement and give him the BOD, and trust the football department to be able to measure his output better than us.

I agree with your concerns on the second point. Leaving aside the obvious frustration and impatience (which rarely leads to good decision making), the business of dropping player x to promote a young fellow, must by its very nature, exist in a kind of liminal space. If the player is being dropped because of poor form, and the younger fellow is being promoted without merit, then one cannot be deserving of their position in the 1sts any more than the other. Leaving that aside, it also puts extra pressure on our senior players (already stretched as it is). Blooding youngsters works best in teams that are performing well IMO. They have a stable, supportive environment that reinforces good habits. Unfortunately, we are not that at the moment, and for a few reasons, I would suggest proceeding with caution on the "all youth" path.