Toast McRae era (2022-) = see OP

[Bianconeri]

C’mon, nobody since Hafey has turned a team’s fortunes around so profoundly - and Hafey did it when there were only 12 teams.

And our list isn’t that great, even today. In the Melbourne game last night the best two players on the field were playing for them. IMO Melbourne clearly had the better players. But we have the better team - they play as a better organised unit - and that’s on McRae & co.

I don’t think our list is the greatest in the comp but it’s certainly good enough. 17th was never a true reflection of its quality but more a reflection on how bad our self induced off field issues were plus lack of ideas in the coaches box.

Provided McRae has the right stuff (which based his experience our hiring procedure and him being well liked from his previous stint as a development coach I did think he had the right stuff) a rise was inevitable.

 

[76woodenspooners]

I don’t think our list is the greatest in the comp but it’s certainly good enough. 17th was never a true reflection of its quality but more a reflection on how bad our self induced off field issues were plus lack of ideas in the coaches box.

Provided McRae has the right stuff (which based his experience our hiring procedure and him being well liked from his previous stint as a development coach I did think he had the right stuff) a rise was inevitable.

Sure, a rise was inevitable, but it generally is when a team finishes 17th

Fly has now blazed the trail so it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but our club took a massive punt taking on a rookie coach for a big club. The rhetoric was largely around “Get Clarkson”, “Any chance of luring Hardwick?” or for the real avant garde “Sam Mitchell is the one we should get”.

As for the quality of our list … it that wasn’t great - we’d blown a bunch of first round picks the previous decade, Grundy went from AA to falling off a cliff. We had a bunch of aging players at the end of their career (Greenwood, Roughead, Josh Thomas, Chris Mayne). Sidebottom looked cooked. We had a bunch of players getting regular games who aren’t even on our list any more (Poulter, C.Brown, T.Brown, Madgen). They’ve been replaced by players who we’ve generally picked up on the cheap and gotten the best out of them.

 

[Bianconeri]

Sure, a rise was inevitable, but it generally is when a team finishes 17th

Fly has now blazed the trail so it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but our club took a massive punt taking on a rookie coach for a big club. The rhetoric was largely around “Get Clarkson”, “Any chance of luring Hardwick?” or for the real avant garde “Sam Mitchell is the one we should get”.

As for the quality of our list … it that wasn’t great - we’d blown a bunch of first round picks the previous decade, Grundy went from AA to falling off a cliff. We had a bunch of aging players at the end of their career (Greenwood, Roughead, Josh Thomas, Chris Mayne). Sidebottom looked cooked. We had a bunch of players getting regular games who aren’t even on our list any more (Poulter, C.Brown, T.Brown, Madgen). They’ve been replaced by players who we’ve generally picked up on the cheap and gotten the best out of them.

Flys accomplishments are still massive but the idea it wasn’t possible beforehand is just silly.

Aside from Treloar all our key players from the 2018 grandfinal were still there and Grundy the only one fly couldn’t get the best out of. Some had lost form but that was coaching issue which proves my point.

Sidebottom looked cooked but that’s because the previous coaches insisted on playing him as an inside mid.

Of of the this list of older players you presnted (Greenwood, Roughead, Josh Thomas, Chris Mayne). Only Roughead would still be best 22 if they didn’t retire.
Gifting games to average older players past there primes was another coaching issue.

Having a bunch of players getting games not on our list is standard list turnover but I will point out that playing Madgen over Murphy was a poor coaching decision.

We’ve replaced guys on the lower end of our list with cheap players that are a better list fit and our coach has gotten the best out of them. What happened was something that was always in the realms of possibility with competent people around so I’m not surprised at where we are.

 

[76woodenspooners]

Flys accomplishments are still massive but the idea it wasn’t possible beforehand is just silly.

Aside from Treloar all our key players from the 2018 grandfinal were still there and Grundy the only one fly couldn’t get the best out of. Some had lost form but that was coaching issue which proves my point.

Sidebottom looked cooked but that’s because the previous coaches insisted on playing him as an inside mid.

Of of the this list of older players you presnted (Greenwood, Roughead, Josh Thomas, Chris Mayne). Only Roughead would still be best 22 if they didn’t retire.
Gifting games to average older players past there primes was another coaching issue.

Having a bunch of players getting games not on our list is standard list turnover but I will point out that playing Madgen over Murphy was a poor coaching decision.

We’ve replaced guys on the lower end of our list with cheap players that are a better list fit and our coach has gotten the best out of them. What happened was something that was always in the realms of possibility with competent people around so I’m not surprised at where we are.

Sure, anything is possible. It’s possible for North to play in a prelim in the next two seasons - which isn’t too far off what we have achieved.

It comes down to probabilities and what is likely or unlikely. Most neutrals would have said Carlton () had a much better list to work with than us, and yet they’ve finished 9th and 5th. Kingsley is doing a great job at GWS and is justifiably being lauded for getting them to 7th and playing finals, but the GWS list is better than ours.

 

[Bianconeri]

Sure, anything is possible. It’s possible for North to play in a prelim in the next two seasons - which isn’t too far off what we have achieved.

It comes down to probabilities and what is likely or unlikely. Most neutrals would have said Carlton () had a much better list to work with than us, and yet they’ve finished 9th and 5th. Kingsley is doing a great job at GWS and is justifiably being lauded for getting them to 7th and playing finals, but the GWS list is better than ours.

North have been crap for a decade, turning them around would take much more effort. We were only crap for a season.

Carlton similarly have been crap for most of this century so turning them around also a bigger job. And most neutrals have the blinkers on when it comes to assessing us.

I don’t rate GWS’ list as highly and it’s also much more difficult to create a successful culture when stability in the list is virtually non existent with talented players leaving every season.

It’s a still a remarkable achievement and I don’t want to take anything away from our FD and Fly. It’s just wasn’t unexpected.

 

[PIEWITHSAUCE]

AFLCA Coach Of The Year............again.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Fly's 50th birthday on Friday for his 50th match as coach.

 

[NMBB]

Fly's 50th birthday on Friday for his 50th match as coach.

So we win by 50 points???

 

[gouki88]

So we win by 50 points???

Nah.

50+50 = we win by 100

 

[jmac70]

So we win by 50 points???

I’d take that!

 

[jimmy35]

Happy birthday Legend. One more win plz.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

Fly’s made our dreams come true.

One more push!

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

OP updated after the Preliminary Final

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

2023 stats only:

GAMES:
[*] Jack Crisp = 25
[*] Josh Daicos = 25
[*] Tom Mitchell = 25
[*] Isaac Quaynor = 25
[*] Beau McCreery = 24
[*] Brayden Maynard = 24
[*] Scott Pendlebury = 24
[*] John Noble = 23
[*] Taylor Adams = 23
[*] Darcy Moore = 23
[*] Nathan Murphy = 23
[*] Bobby Hill = 23
[*] Brody Mihocek = 23
[*] Jamie Elliott = 23
[*] Will Hoskin-Elliott = 22
[*] Oleg Markov = 22
[*] Nick Daicos = 21
[*] Jordan De Goey = 20
[*] Steele Sidebottom = 19
[*] Mason Cox = 18
[*] Darcy Cameron = 18
[*] Ash Johnson = 15
[*] Billy Frampton = 15
[*] Daniel McStay = 14
[*] Jack Ginnivan = 13
[*] Jeremy Howe = 13
[*] Patrick Lipinski = 13
[*] Reef McInnes = 5
[*] Harvey Harrison = 4
[*] Nathan Kreuger = 2
[*] Will Kelly = 2
[*] Josh Carmichael = 1
[*] Tom Wilson = 1
[*] Trey Ruscoe = 1
[*] Trent Bianco = 1
[*] Jakob Ryan = 1
[*] Finlay Macrae = 1

GOALS:
[*] Brody Mihocek = 46
[*] Jamie Elliott = 39
[*] Bobby Hill = 29
[*] Ash Johnson = 21
[*] Daniel McStay = 20
[*] Nick Daicos = 18
[*] Beau McCreery = 17
[*] Mason Cox = 17
[*] Josh Daicos = 16
[*] Jordan De Goey = 16
[*] Taylor Adams = 13
[*] Jack Ginnivan = 12
[*] Will Hoskin-Elliott = 10
[*] Scott Pendlebury = 8
[*] Jack Crisp = 8
[*] Billy Frampton = 7
[*] Jeremy Howe = 7
[*] Tom Mitchell = 7
[*] Patrick Lipinski = 5
[*] Darcy Cameron = 5
[*] Reef McInnes = 3
[*] Harvey Harrison = 3
[*] Steele Sidebottom = 3
[*] John Noble = 3
[*] Oleg Markov = 1

 

[Sea fog]

Fly is expecting a baby with his new wife next month. So he did not waste time. He told Josh when he played his 100th to get to work quickly now that he was f/s eligible.

 

[jimmy35]

Build the man a statue.

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

OP updated.

2023 top 5 Brownlow Medal tally.

 

[stormskye]

Build the statue!

 

[PonsfordMagpie]

LEGEND FOR LIFE!

FLY MADE OUR DREAMS COME TRUE!

 

[Linda Lovelace]

Fly isn't aware of this, but he's taken a big pile of sh*t and shoved it right into my face.

I genuinely thought he was being brought in as a patsy who would be blamed for poor performances, swiftly booted after a couple of years and then replaced with a bigger name.

I am an idiot and am glad to be one.

 

[Cyclops]

Alfred Pennyworth : With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a coach that you don't fully understand, either.

A long time ago, I was in Geelong. My friends and I were working for the Cats. They were trying to replace key players by recruiting young stars. But their team was being rolled at the G a bandit. So, we went looking for him. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded stars to him. One day, I saw a ginnipig playing with a medal the size of a tangerine. The coach had been selecting mid season rookies on their training form.

Bruce Wayne : So why select them?

Alfred Pennyworth : Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

 

[RuFiO]

We need to erect a statue of this beautiful man already!
Bloody legend!

 

[OniAu]

Ive never seen a more charismatic thoughtful intune guy than Fly. His work to turn this club around in 24 months is insane, he has mended the hurt of that awful 2020/2021 period of such a low time for the club. In terms of bringing the players together , bringing new faces in , involving the fans , the admin.

He is a gem

 

[gouki88]

Loved the mantra for this year, them being 'the frontline of the Magpie army'. Very proud of this group

 

[jimmy35]

Happy birthday Legend. One more win plz.

And he did. Baby girl Maggie born today as well. The greatest Magpie legend to my heart.