Roast Older Players

[PiCkLeJuiCe]

Just tar every player with the same brush. Not exceptions to some and harsh marker to others

McStay dropped to down on form & healthy . Checkers down on form and still plays injured

Howe im ok with. As our backline required something more. Despite our backline probably having their best game this season against the crows. So maybe we didnt need to change it.

Maybe the Hill up forward addition was what we needed. Both Howe and Hill were on limited game time in last few months.

For Pendlebury, an injury in opening minutes isn't foreseeable, thats just unlucky

Admin bungled the contract negotiations by the sounds of it to let them drag so much towards the finals

I'd like to know if anyone who attended training noticed how weak Howe's kicking was. He couldn't kick the ball more than 40m on Saturday. That was obvious in Q1.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Never thought i would say this.

Some real selfish entitlement going through the list with the older players.

Pendles - Chasing records and knew in the warm up the calf was cooked and still decided to play.

Howe - Pushing the case for 2 weeks that he is a good healer, we all knew he wasn't ready to go.

Mihocek - Playing for a contract and has been awful for a while, couldn't train during week and shouldn't have played.

The club can't have this happening in 2026 or beyond.

Thoughts?

Hard to disagree

Such a stark contrast to Presti who pulled out of a Grand Final knowing he wouldn't be able to perform to the level required despite "being cleared" by the medicos and fitness staff

Also Murph for not coming back on in a Grand Final despite "passing the concussion test"

Which honestly makes me even more disappointed in Pendles, Checkers and Howe (as well as the High Performance and Medical Teams) given all 3 have such perfect examples directly from team mates to draw from and realise what selflessness and being "team first" really looks like.

 

[LuckyLee]

Mate, we're all pissed off.

The players who become champions will always back themselves to get a result, even when they're not 100%.

The 3 you've mentioned have given the club outstanding service, and in the end, the selectors have the final call.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

That’s an outstanding quote. Thanks for sharing it.

 

[nickyds35]

Never thought i would say this.

Some real selfish entitlement going through the list with the older players.

Pendles - Chasing records and knew in the warm up the calf was cooked and still decided to play.

Howe - Pushing the case for 2 weeks that he is a good healer, we all knew he wasn't ready to go.

Mihocek - Playing for a contract and has been awful for a while, couldn't train during week and shouldn't have played.

The club can't have this happening in 2026 or beyond.

Thoughts?

Add Jack Crisp to the list.

Played probably 1 good game since he broke the record.

 

[sideswipe]

Never thought i would say this.

Some real selfish entitlement going through the list with the older players.

Pendles - Chasing records and knew in the warm up the calf was cooked and still decided to play.

Howe - Pushing the case for 2 weeks that he is a good healer, we all knew he wasn't ready to go.

Mihocek - Playing for a contract and has been awful for a while, couldn't train during week and shouldn't have played.

The club can't have this happening in 2026 or beyond.

Thoughts?

Bullshit - how is Pendles chasing records other than not retiring? There is nothing to say he knew his calf was cooked pre-game. If you tear your calf, you wouldn’t get through the warm up after having done so.

if you knew before about Howe, did you post about it?

 

[nickyds35]

Also the last 6 weeks all we have heard out of the club is players chasing contracts.

Doesn’t happen at geelong

 

[LuckyLee]

If Mihochek hasn’t already committed to our TWO year contract off then I’d like to see us withdraw it and replace it with a one year offer, perhaps with a bit more money than the two year offer.

If Dees have offered him three years then he should take it. Checkers has been a magnificent warrior for us but his body is now so banged up that he can’t be relied upon to see out two years.

 

[riddick78]

Didn't Fly say Pendles didn't have a calf issue until the game started? I know Jon Ralph said he mentioned his calf before the game, but Ralphy boy makes up so much sh!t, I question if his real name is Jon Ralph

I was hoping McStay would play when it was mentioned that Checkers was training in the pool and it was obvious it was restricting him.

What I'm hoping for next year is we play the kids more (Steele, Parker, West etc), and the older players start taking a back seat and mentor these kids a bit more. It may see us have a down year, it may not, but if it helps us build for the future, then so be it.

But it'll be interesting to see what we do regarding the draft and trading.

 

[regpies]

Go watch the last qtr of the 23 GF and then say it’s not worth risking playing Howe and Pendles. Also watch the 2nd half of the GC game this year when Pendles came on as the sub and completely changed the game for us.

Pendles and Howe are both still top 5 players for us in terms of importance on field.

First half of the season Howe was outstanding. If Pendles didn’t do a calf I think we win, he would’ve slowed the Lions momentum in the 3rd qtr. he wouldn’t have been able to stop the 1st qtr because that was umpire inspired momentum.

Mihocek shouldn’t have played but I think that was a coaching call, if McStay hadn’t been playing so terrible then we may not have played Mihocek.

 

[sideswipe]

Hard to disagree

Such a stark contrast to Presti who pulled out of a Grand Final knowing he wouldn't be able to perform to the level required despite "being cleared" by the medicos and fitness staff

Also Murph for not coming back on in a Grand Final despite "passing the concussion test"

Which honestly makes me even more disappointed in Pendles, Checkers and Howe (as well as the High Performance and Medical Teams) given all 3 have such perfect examples directly from team mates to draw from and realise what selflessness and being "team first" really looks like.

Being disappointed in our greatest ever player for a situation that you are imagining is very ordinary indeed.

 

[TW Sherrin]

The risk to take was Hill.

Club says Hill isn't match ready and Howe is.

funny Hill wasnt fit enough to play but they said Mihocek and Pendlebury were.

I could live with managing a bloke who may run out of puff over guys who were physically unable to do their jobs...and knew it.

 

[TW Sherrin]

Go watch the last qtr of the 23 GF and then say it’s not worth risking playing Howe and Pendles. Also watch the 2nd half of the GC game this year when Pendles came on as the sub and completely changed the game for us.

Pendles and Howe are both still top 5 players for us in terms of importance on field.

First half of the season Howe was outstanding. If Pendles didn’t do a calf I think we win, he would’ve slowed the Lions momentum in the 3rd qtr. he wouldn’t have been able to stop the 1st qtr because that was umpire inspired momentum.

Mihocek shouldn’t have played but I think that was a coaching call, if McStay hadn’t been playing so terrible then we may not have played Mihocek.

Pendlebury did his calf in the warm up and you would still play him?

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

Being disappointed in our greatest ever player for a situation that you are imagining is very ordinary indeed.

Uh...imagining?

It's been widely reported he was talking to the doctors pre-game/in the warm up and pointing to his calf.

 

[sideswipe]

Pendlebury did his calf in the warm up and you would still play him?

Feel free to show us how you know he did it in the warmup?

 

[sideswipe]

Uh...imagining?

It's been widely reported he was talking to the doctors pre-game/in the warm up and pointing to his calf.

Even if he was making those actions, that doesn't mean he had pinged his calf. Think Pendles has enough credits in the bank that we can rely on him to have pulled himself out if he had actually torn the thing in the warmup.

Do you run? Have you ever experienced calf issues? There are myriad levels of tightness and feels that happen in that area if things are a bit tight. If players pulled themselves out every time they experienced that kind of thing, there would be a lot more withdrawals.

Without knowing the situation(you don't) jumping to a conclusion that Pendles, our greatest ever player(and most fastidious preparer) wasn't selfless and should have pulled out is complete bedwetting lunacy.

Once again, you appear to be assuming you know better, which in other circumstances, would be amusing.

 

[TW Sherrin]

Feel free to show us how you know he did it in the warmup?

maybe just a coincidence after a long discussion with the Dr in the warm up that he lasts 90 seconds.

 

[sideswipe]

maybe just a coincidence after a long discussion with the Dr in the warm up that he lasts 90 seconds.

That tells us nothing. See my post above. Suggesting Pendles started the game with an already torn calf is, once again, bedwetting lunacy. And disrespectful in the extreme

 

[TW Sherrin]

That tells us nothing. See my post above. Suggesting Pendles started the game with an already torn calf is, once again, bedwetting lunacy. And disrespectful in the extreme

the fact he left the game, without a possession, with a calf injury contradicts your post.

 

[sideswipe]

the fact he left the game, without a possession, with a calf injury contradicts your post.

No it doesn't. Have you experienced a calf tear or tears? What the circumstances suggest is that he tore it in those 90 seconds of play. And knew straight away.

If some damage was already done, and Pendles thought he could play through it, he would surely have lasted longer than 90 seconds. To me that screams that the calf went ping in that period of play.

Don't you think Pendles deserves the benefit of the doubt in such a matter?

Edit: afl tables has him at 3% TOG. Bit more(not much) than 90 seconds

 

[TW Sherrin]

No it doesn't. Have you experienced a calf tear or tears? What the circumstances suggest is that he tore it in those 90 seconds of play. And knew straight away.

If some damage was already done, and Pendles thought he could play through it, he would surely have lasted longer than 90 seconds. To me that screams that the calf went ping in that period of play.

Don't you think Pendles deserves the benefit of the doubt in such a matter?

Edit: afl tables has him at 3% TOG. Bit more (not much) than 90 seconds

He lasted 165 seconds of "game time", never went near a contest or got out of a jog. He started behind the ball, drifted to full back and then jogged to the forward wing / flank and left the field.

 

[sideswipe]

He lasted 165 seconds of "game time", never went near a contest or got out of a jog. He started behind the ball, drifted to full back and then jogged to the forward wing / flank and left the field.

If he had already torn it and couldn't get out of a jog, how did he get through a warmup? Let it go. You are talking about Pendlebury FFS.

Have you torn a calf - do you know how easily they can go?

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

That tells us nothing. See my post above. Suggesting Pendles started the game with an already torn calf is, once again, bedwetting lunacy. And disrespectful in the extreme

I didn't say he had done his calf prior to the game

The suggestion is that the calf may have felt not quite right (hence the discussion with the docs) and they took the gamble given he didn't have a history of calf issues or anything.

Probably not the greatest idea given his age

 

[TW Sherrin]

If he had already torn it and couldn't get out of a jog, how did he get through a warmup? Let it go. You are talking about Pendlebury FFS.

Have you torn a calf - do you know how easily they can go?

you're joking right? he could've felt it pre game and cooked it when he tried to play.

 

[Cousin of Daicos]

you're joking right? he could've felt it pre game and cooked it when he tried to play.

I was under the impression that:

A) This is what was assumed happened
B) What most have been alluding to when discussing it

Maybe I missed people suggesting it was already torn before the game started?

At the ground, all the talk was that he had been speaking to the doctor's during the warm up pointing to his calf

 

[sideswipe]

you're joking right? he could've felt it pre game and cooked when he tried to play.

Once again - have you ever experienced calf issues? They have heaps of different feels that can go away - or they can go pop.

I think you must be joking to assume Pendlebury had a level of tightness/discomfort that should have seen him pull out, but he elected not to. Show some respect.