Jack McCrae

[1971]

Macrae not McCrae
It's a gaelic name.
It means son of Stephen Rae.

Love this

[Sanctorum]

Those who are not happy with us picking up McCrae should go back and watch all our 2024 games and see how utterly atrocious we were at clearances for a big chunk of the year. That alone cost us half a dozen games.

McCrae is a necessity. I don't care if he's not quite the player he was 3 years ago, he's still a better clearance player than anyone we have in our current midfield

And we gave up bugger all for him.

Well said!

The team has been crying out for an experienced top grade midfielder for years and to suggest that at 30 Macrae is too old is nonsense.

There are any number of "elderly" midfielders still running around making solid contributions by getting first hands on the ball at centre clearances and stoppages, for example:

Matt Crouch (29), Lachie Neale (31), Rory Laird (30), Dayne Zorko (35) all ranked in the top 20 midfielders in 2024.

It's well known that the reason Macrae wanted to leave the Dogs is that he was no longer getting opportunities to ply his trade as a midfielder, which is where he has excelled in the past.

It shows he is a man of great character because he could just as easily have decided to sit back and finish off the next three years of his contract taking it easy playing in the reserves - instead he wants to prove to Luke Beveridge that he has so much more to offer, and I'm sure he will relish that opportunity to do exactly that at St Kilda!

[bigcarl]

So Geelong get a steal with Smith for essentially pick 17

Crazy.

Yeah, what a rort

And GC traded pick 6 For Rioli.
.

Seems that all the power is in the hands of the players and managers and that clubs are in a fix if a player wants to walk.


I’d be pretty pissed off over the Smith deal if I were a Dogs fan.

[magnifisaint]

He's definitely a upgrade on Seb Ross and given Crouch will retire, a good replacement.

[WellardSaint]

I think Grant Thomas got mad about us going after Macrae as 'he's too old' and we're not Top 4 for several years, if at all.

He's wrong.
Macrae is a big upgrade on Crouch n Ross as Magnifisaint ssid. He'll give us big increase at clearance, and lord knows, Steele+Windy need help.
Touch wood, he's good for the next 4 yrs at least.
He'll get us into #5-6 on the ladder next yr, bank on it

[Yorkeys]

I think Grant Thomas got mad about us going after Macrae as 'he's too old' and we're not Top 4 for several years, if at all.

He's wrong.
Macrae is a big upgrade on Crouch n Ross as Magnifisaint ssid. He'll give us big increase at clearance, and lord knows, Steele+Windy need help.
Touch wood, he's good for the next 4 yrs at least.
He'll get us into #5-6 on the ladder next yr, bank on it

- How old is Mason Wood, for example. Plenty of gun 30 year olds in the comp.

- It would not be surprising if we made the top 4 next year.

- GT cannot foresee. He didn't even see his own sacking.

[WellardSaint]

I think Grant Thomas got mad about us going after Macrae as 'he's too old' and we're not Top 4 for several years, if at all.

He's wrong.
Macrae is a big upgrade on Crouch n Ross as Magnifisaint ssid. He'll give us big increase at clearance, and lord knows, Steele+Windy need help.
Touch wood, he's good for the next 4 yrs at least.
He'll get us into #5-6 on the ladder next yr, bank on it

- How old is Mason Wood, for example. Plenty of gun 30 year olds in the comp.

- It would not be surprising if we made the top 4 next year.

- GT cannot foresee. He didn't even see his own sacking.

Who drops out?

To stick top 4, we need

-King to have a consistent run of good form, with at least 8 games of 4+ goals.
-Sharman to play like he did vs Injectors; he won't do it every game, but we need him to bring that 3 out of 5 games.
-Need Pou to sustain his trajectory
-Need Windy to have fewer injuries and earn over 80 AF points in most games
-Zac to prove doubters wrong
-Butler to return to his first yr form (with us) where he was TB award podium
-Clark to be fit enough to run out games (this yr his TOG was under 50% in every game)

[Yorkeys]

I think Grant Thomas got mad about us going after Macrae as 'he's too old' and we're not Top 4 for several years, if at all.

He's wrong.
Macrae is a big upgrade on Crouch n Ross as Magnifisaint ssid. He'll give us big increase at clearance, and lord knows, Steele+Windy need help.
Touch wood, he's good for the next 4 yrs at least.
He'll get us into #5-6 on the ladder next yr, bank on it

- How old is Mason Wood, for example. Plenty of gun 30 year olds in the comp.

- It would not be surprising if we made the top 4 next year.

- GT cannot foresee. He didn't even see his own sacking.

Who drops out?

To stick top 4, we need

-King to have a consistent run of good form, with at least 8 games of 4+ goals.
-Sharman to play like he did vs Injectors; he won't do it every game, but we need him to bring that 3 out of 5 games.
-Need Pou to sustain his trajectory
-Need Windy to have fewer injuries and earn over 80 AF points in most games
-Zac to prove doubters wrong
-Butler to return to his first yr form (with us) where he was TB award podium
-Clark to be fit enough to run out games (this yr his TOG was under 50% in every game)

I'm factoring in Sydney's and GWS' mental disintegration; Geelong being slower as Dangerfield and Cameron age, Stengle not recovering from a poor prelim and no ruck, and us leapfrogging the rest because we are better than them. And Cripps being injured when we play Carlton. Scientific, eh.