Season 2018 - Gold Coast

The lack of class in their midfield will put far too much pressure on an above average back-line. They will leak goals like a sieve, and struggle to deliver to their forwards. 18th/17th.

Not sure where the grunt comes from.
The rest looks OK - but it’s always looked OK, and always been substantially worse in the flesh. They seem to have been recruiting for Ablett to play til about 36 - so many wingers & flankers.

Many on here are saying GC are going to fold for sure. As long as the participation rates for Auskick and now women’s football increase in the GC the AFL will continue to prop them up. Getting your roots into a marketplace like GC takes generations. Other franchises failed as there was no way they could sustain a negative balance sheet for so long.

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Yep - the AFL have already invested tens maybe hundreds of millions into them so they are not going to simply walk away any time soon. I believe long term they have far greater prospect for gaining a legitimate supporter base than Brisbane or GWS. If they continue to struggle on field the AFL will simply change the rules again & gift them more opportunities like they did with the bad news bears.

Short term I think they are capable of around 7-8 wins for the year given a reasonable injury list. They have some elite talent but not many solid citizens, this will be Dew’s biggest challenge. I was actually surprised they didn’t do something like give Andrew Swallow a lifeline just for the leadership & experience. I think we gained a hell of a lot from having Kelly around & while guys of that character don’t grow on trees its exactly what GC need.

They just ballsed up their start.

Now just a matter of fixing again. Huge influx of class kids last few years.

Lynch walks out and going really hurt however

I actually cant see the AFL letting it happen. Free market and all that but not for him

Remember when Gill basically stated on the radio that they would corrupt the salary cap & pay Lynch themselves to stay at the GC? Once again the accredited media let him off extremely easy but the contempt for integrity of the competition was blatant.

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Given Pies meant to be the ones most into him watch Eddie absolutely lose the plot over it if that marketing aspect blows away their offer

Lynch’s manager now works at the Pies directly also IIRC

Reckon the AFL needs to promote more at the Grass Roots. They have a very good Auskick program with a lot of support. Discount family memberships to either (or both) clubs would go a long way to building the support base (especally whilst they are in the bottom 8). If you are trying to win the hearts and minds of the next generation, are 7:30pm kick offs really that family friendly (especally with the bus wait at Carrara).

If they can fix the bus transfers (Hopefully the Commonwealth Games will help here).

Onto the team, new young Coach will hopefully stabalise the list. Won’t be in the top half, but can show improvement. If they finish bottom 2 again, keeping Lynch may not be such a priority (I could see the AFL giving them the pick after their first pick if thats 1 or 2 wouldn’t you take the top pick?). They would then have at least 4 picks in the first 2 rounds in what is supposed to be a super draft…

They overpaid for Weller, but he wanted to come to the club, and Freo stood firm. I guess if they wanted a show at keeping Lynch they needed to show him they were serious about winning some games too.

Will be interesting to see what a young coach can do to the team. If Dew and Solly work well together and get a good vibe round the place, the new training facilities should also improve them. They won’t dominate, but will be competitive and win some games.

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Eddie falls in line when required just like everyone else.

you cant fight city hall.gif

There’s no way Lynch doesn’t end up at Collingwood in 2019.

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Clayton recruited the wrong type of players. He continued his want to recruit flashy outside players. And the worse thing is he did the dame with GCs first pick in the 2017 ND.

Well I suppose once you get used to underachieving… What stops Gold Coast matching the offer given he is Restricted? They will not be short of money in the cap.

Will be an intriguing scenario.

There is no doubt GC will match.

Then GC will be in position of only trading him should offer be satisfactory. Pies will have to pay serious overs to get him. Picks/players etc.

But even if an overs offer worth GC keeping him unless they could prise a gun kpf off someone else which is very unlikely. Not often clubs hang onto players who are OOC and don’t want to be there though.

I hope he just chooses to stay at GC, and Pies continue to have issues with fwd line. Moore meant to be moving to CHB so going to weaken further.

If Reid stays fit and plays forward full time it could help their forward line. But is that something they’re considering?

I’m curious to see how the Pies go with the big changes to their coaching structure.
Dangerous midfield if they are coached well.

Had this conversation with the old man yesterday.
Would you really ■■■■ Moore by playing him back?
He could be a once in a generation forward for them.

Nah, we’ll go with Cox.
Really?

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I hope so. I really hope so. The amount of panic about a young KP player is nuts. He is welcome here.

I concur on Collingwood’s dangerous midfield.
And their superior coach.

I reckon Moore looks a much more natural backman than forward. He played good footy back there later this season

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