THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2008

[Demonland 71,641]

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2008: ZERO HOUR by the Oracle

NEW HOME GUIDE

The stock market is in free fall, the economy is crook and the business pages of the newspapers are full of gloom, doom and bankrupt companies. Yet, despite all that, there are always people around who believe the best strategy is to buck the trend. Times are bad? Go out and find a new home.

That's exactly what some AFL footballers will be doing this week and, if the price tags being touted for the likes of Sydney player Ryan O'Keefe and young Docker ruckman Robert Warnock are correct, then its an excellent strategy because all 16 AFL clubs seem to have plenty of the green folding notes to throw at almost any player of note who can still draw breath.

The representatives of those clubs will meet this morning to discuss their options for the Exchange Period which concludes at 2.00pm on Friday 10 October 2008.

As usual, the week ahead promises a lot and is most likely going to deliver very little. That's the vision I have for the next five days and, on the basis, today should provide almost no entertainment for the punters out there who might be hanging out for some good news from their club on player movements.

Sure, there will be lots of AFL type heads involved close discussion with their compatriots from the various clubs, a small dose of posturing from some of them and from the managers of players who either want to go elsewhere or just want a better deal. But very little of a concrete nature will get done today.

You might also cop a glimpse or two of the club coaches wandering aimlessly about the place looking very concerned and serious about the proceedings except for Port Adelaide's Mark Williams who will be grinning like a Cheshire cat and mumbling something about how he's prepared to let go of draft picks 4 and 22 if the right deal comes along. Williams should be flogging steak knives on late night television these days rather than coaching.

Today is the day for preparation, for setting the scene and wrinkling out some information as to who and what's available and on the table for discussion - an introduction to the real estate market. Most of the meaty stuff will start coming out by midweek and the bulk of the trades will be cemented with the signing of contracts in the frenetic final hours before the gates and the fax machines at AFL House are shut tight on Friday afternoon.

A couple of years ago the opening day proceedings saw one big deal consummated when Brisbane and the Western Bulldogs agreed on trade terms over Jason Akermanis but that wasn't such a stunning outcome because every man and his dog in the football world knew that the Lions wanted to see the back of their Brownlow Medallist sooner rather than later and the feeling was mutual.

Most of the time however, things don't happen so quickly because there are always a couple of major trades in the offing that are intricate and require a substantial amount of fine tuning and a bit of argy bargy along the way.

This year, there is a difference of opinion as to how many trades will be concluded over the week. It seems that most clubs are eager to hold onto their early draft picks as they are wary of the changes being introduced to allow for new players in the market - clubs from the Gold Coast and West Sydney that will come into the competition in 2011 and 2012. Next year, the minimum draft age will be increased by four months so the pool of new players available in the 2009 draft will be less than usual. The following year, the Goald Coasters will have the Lion's share (no pun intended) of early draft picks. After that it will be West Sydney's turn (if the AFL can get that outfit off the ground by then). In any event, the uncertainty surrounding the mooted changes has many clubs looking on the trade period with a fair deal of caution.

The first business that actually gets done is the bidding for father/son selections and this year, the sole nominee is young ruckman Ayce Cordy who wants to go to the Western Bulldogs but must wait on a bidding process to be undertaken whereby any other club can bid for him by nominating a round in the draft in which it wants to select him. If that happens the Bulldogs must use their next available selection if they wish to retain hold of Cordy. If not, the club with the successful bid must use that selection at the Draft.

Once the father/son issue is out of the way, proceedings will start in earnest. The key rules to note in the trading/drafting process are:-

• A club may exchange a player or players on its primary list for a player or players on the primary list of another club;

• A club may exchange a player or players on its primary list for the draft selection or draft selections of another club;

• A club may exchange a player or players on its primary list for a combination of a player, players, draft selection or draft selection of another club;

• A club may exchange a draft selection or draft selections for a draft selection or draft selections of another club;

• No more than five players shall be exchanged by any one club.

• No more than three players shall be exchanged by any one club in any one transaction, or series of related or interdependent transactions.

• A club cannot on-trade a player received in any exchange until the following year.

• A club may exchange a draft selection it has received from another club, provided that the selection is not traded directly back to that club.

• Where the exchange of a player(s) and draft selection(s) involves more than two clubs, it is not a requirement that each club involved in the transaction make an exchange between each other.

• Any draft selection received in an exchange does not need to be exercised. However, any club that passes on a draft selection shall be excluded from exercising any remaining selections at that same meeting.

For the first time in over a decade Melbourne will have a new man in charge of its recruiting – Barry Prendergast who will have the honour of kicking off proceedings when the 2008 AFL Nation Draft meeting takes place at the end of next month. Prendergast has the role of presiding over the changes to the club’s playing list which, at the end of the 2008 playing season read as follows:-

MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB - PLAYING LIST (SEASON 2008)

SENIOR LIST:

Clint Bartram Matthew Bate Daniel Bell Jace Bode Cameron Bruce Simon Buckley Nathan Carroll Kyle Cheney Aaron Davey Lynden Dunn James Frawley Colin Garland Brad Green Jack Grimes Ben Holland Mark Jamar Chris Johnson Paul Johnson Nathan Jones James McDonald Brock McLean Tom McNamara Addam Maric Stefan Martin John Meesen Brad Miller Brent Moloney Cale Morton Michael Newton Ricky Petterd Jared Rivers Russell Robertson Colin Sylvia Matthew Warnock Isaac Weetra Paul Wheatley Matthew Whelan Jeff White

VETERAN LIST David Neitz Adem Yze

ROOKIE LIST:

Jake Spencer Shane Valenti Austin Wonaeamirri Trent Zomer

The club's list has already been trimmed with the retirements of former skipper David Neitz and Ben Holland, the announcements that new contracts would not be offered to Jeff White and Adem Yze and the delisting of Jace Bode and Isaac Weetra. No decision has yet been made as to the elevation of rookies Valenti and Wonaeamirri who both were given senior status as long term injury replacements.

The other bargaining chips of trade week are the draft picks themselves. This is how they line up before the exchange period starts –

Round One -

1. Melbourne 2. West Coast 3. Fremantle 4. Port Adelaide 5. Essendon 6. Carlton 7. Brisbane 8. Richmond 9. North Melbourne 10. Adelaide 11. Collingwood 12. Sydney 13. St. Kilda 14. Western Bulldogs 15. Geelong 16. Hawthorn

Priority Round -

17. Melbourne 18. West Coast

Round Two -

19. Melbourne 20. West Coast 21. Fremantle 22. Port Adelaide 23. Essendon 24. Carlton 25. Brisbane 26. Richmond 27. North Melbourne 28. Adelaide 29. Collingwood 30. Sydney 31. St. Kilda 32. Western Bulldogs 33. Geelong 34. Hawthorn

Round Three -

35. Melbourne 36. West Coast 37. Fremantle 38. Port Adelaide 39. Essendon 40. Carlton 41. Brisbane 42. Richmond 43. North Melbourne 44. Adelaide 45. Collingwood 46. Sydney 47. St. Kilda 48. Western Bulldogs 49. Geelong 50. Hawthorn

Round Four -

51. Melbourne 52. West Coast 53. Fremantle 54. Port Adelaide 55. Essendon 56. Carlton 57. Brisbane 58. Richmond 59. North Melbourne 60. Adelaide 61. Collingwood 62. Sydney 63. St. Kilda 64. Western Bulldogs 65. Geelong 66. Hawthorn

Round Five -

67. Melbourne 68. West Coast 69. Fremantle 70. Port Adelaide 71. Essendon 72. Carlton 73. Brisbane 74. Richmond 75. North Melbourne 76. Adelaide 77. Collingwood 78. Sydney 79. St. Kilda 80. Western Bulldogs 81. Geelong 82. Hawthorn

The draft will go to further rounds as required to fulfil each club's quota of players.

Once the big names like Jonathan Brown and Daniel Kerr decided that their old homes were nice and comfortable (and their own clubs helped pay off their mortgages), the main trade interest in the market has been on Warnock and more lately O'Keefe. Melbourne's own Brad Green has been mentioned in despatches along with others such as disgruntled West Coast ruckman Mark Seaby, injured Geelong midfielder Brent Prismall, Kangaroo Daniel Harris, the Western Bulldogs' Farren Ray and Essendon's Andrew Lovett. Other names will emerge as the week unfolds.

So the housing market is about to hot up. The scene is set and let the trade week begin ...

[rumpole 515]

Melbourne's own Brad Green has been mentioned in despatches

Well Green is reported in the Australian today to be looking for a new home with Port Adelaide in the mix. Find it hard to believe that he would go but that's life I suppose!

[The Oracle 130]

The Western Bulldogs have used their First Round pick in the draft (# 14) on Ayce Cordy after St.Kilda nominated him under the bidding process with their own first pick at # 13. That's good for Melbourne as it disposes of one pick ahead of our second round selections.

[torpedo 33]

The Western Bulldogs have used their First Round pick in the draft (# 14) on Ayce Cordy after St.Kilda nominated him under the bidding process with their own first pick at # 13. That's good for Melbourne as it disposes of one pick ahead of our second round selections.

Anyone else find it odd St Kilda nominated for Cordy when they picked up McEvoy with last years 1st round pick?

[Keepin up with the Joneses 48]

Anyone else find it odd St Kilda nominated for Cordy when they picked up McEvoy with last years 1st round pick?

They did it to force the Bulldogs with their earliest pick.

Imagine if this system was around when Hawkins, Scarlett ,Blake, Ablett, Ablett, etc were getting drafted.

[The Oracle 130]

... today should provide almost no entertainment for the punters out there who might be hanging out for some good news from their club on player movements ...

The first business that actually gets done is the bidding for father/son selections and this year, the sole nominee is young ruckman Ayce Cordy who wants to go to the Western Bulldogs but must wait on a bidding process to be undertaken whereby any other club can bid for him by nominating a round in the draft in which it wants to select him.

So Day One is over and I was right about the lack of action but I'm not patting myself on the back over that because that's exactly what happens every year.

My feeling is that this is going to be a slow year for trades with mainly fringe players being offered around and nobody wanting to take fringe players.

I suspect the Wheatley to Swans for pick # 30 story is untrue and it seems that there's more posturing going on than any real activity. It might take a couple more days for this trade week to show that it has a pulse at all.

The one change was the drafting of Ayce Cordy by the Bulldogs at # 14 which effectively, gives them pick # 32 as their first selection on draft day in November unless they trade for an earlier selection. As it stands at the moment Melbourne has the 1st, 16th and 18 real choices in the national draft given that the Bulldogs are now out of the early part of proceedings:-

Round One -

1. Melbourne 2. West Coast 3. Fremantle 4. Port Adelaide 5. Essendon 6. Carlton 7. Brisbane 8. Richmond 9. North Melbourne 10. Adelaide 11. Collingwood 12. Sydney 13. St. Kilda 14. Western Bulldogs (Ayce Cordy) 15. Geelong 16. Hawthorn

[Demonland 71,641]

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2008: DAY ONE

THE AYCE IN THE DOG PACK by the Oracle

Well, things went according to plan on the opening day of the AFL's trade period. Not a single player found a new home although one young pup found himself a new kennel.

The Saints opened proceedings by making a bid for father/son prospect Ayce Cordy and offered their first round pick for the young 202 cm ruckman and son of former Bulldog Brian Cordy who spent most of the year on the injured list after undergoing shoulder surgery. The Dogs had the joker in the pack and trumped that offer by drafting him under the father/son rule with their first round pick at number 14 and despite the hefty price tag attached to the youngster, his new coach Rodney Eade was happy to have him on board. Cordy was the only father/son nomination for 2008 and the first ever to go for a first round draft selection.

The clubs then got down to the usual day one argy bargy and, at the end of proceedings, everyone left empty handed. There were no deals done and precious little news came out of the day's proceeding but that doesn't mean that the clubs weren't talking to each other. The problem is that there wasn't a great deal on offer in terms of players of any substance. The highlights of draft talk were:-

Hawthorn is keen to meet Ryan O'Keefe and will seek to fit him within the club's salary cap. At the same time, the Blues seem to have mysteriously lost interest in the uncontracted Sydney forward. The Hawks are prepared to discuss out of favour ruckman Simon Taylor, while second string full forward Tim Boyle might be on the move to the Bulldogs and young forwards Mitch Thorp and Beau Dowler have also attracted some interest from clubs.

North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley dropped the major surprise of the day by indicating he would be willing to look at a trade for ruckman Hamish McIntosh, forward Corey Jones and midfielder Daniel Harris.

Carlton football manager Steven Icke confirmed football's worst kept secret i.e that his club had offered its second-round pick for uncontracted ruckman Robert Warnock. Fremantle duly knocked back the offer.

The Western Bulldogs have also expressed an express interest in Richmond key position player Jay Schulz while the Tigers are said to lead the race for Port's out-of-contract midfielder Adam Thomson.

Essendon is apparently the preferred destination of injured Geelong midfielder Brent Prismall.

And so on, and so on …

The news filtering through from Telstra Dome was so underwhelming that it was inevitable for some not so elaborate hoaxes to gain momentum around the traps and particularly in cyberspace. One rumour had Paul Wheatley going to the Swans for a second round pick; another involved Irishman Setanta O'hAilpin moving to Melbourne for selection number 51. I received a few calls from some distraught Demon fans so I took it in my hands to go directly to the one impeccable source of news on the subject. I went straight to the White Pages telephone directory and looked up the name ”Connolly” and took a punt and dialled the first person with that name whose first initial was a "C".

Bingo!

The bloke on the line was Chris and he was very forthcoming about the day's trading. He told me he found it all a little boring and, in fact, he couldn't stop yawning through most of the proceedings. Had a big laugh about the rumours concerning Paul Wheatley and Setanta O'hAilpin and told me that he felt some "jock on the internet made them all up".

Then he confirmed that other clubs had shown interest in Brad Green, Chris Johnson and Mark Jamar and that Carlton wanted all three of them. He said the Blues were incredible – they were negotiating with seven of the clubs over a list of about twelve players. Apparently, they were confident they could fit all of them comfortably within their existing salary cap. Word is that Visy is beefing up its environmental sanitation department and has the capacity to employ about a dozen beefy toilet cleaners at a solid wage in their local plant.

At this stage the speaker on the other end of the line started cracking up with laughter and confessed he was a Connolly but not the Chris Connolly, that this was the fifth call he'd taken on the subject during the day and that he really knew very little about football.

Nevertheless, I was suitably enlightened about the day's events as a result of this conversation.

[H_T 3,043]

My feeling is that this is going to be a slow year for trades with mainly fringe players being offered around and nobody wanting to take fringe players.

Quite right. The Swans will want to get the Ryan O'Keefe deal done asap. Swans seem to like getting their deals done early in the piece.

As it stands at the moment Melbourne has the 1st, 16th and 18 real choices in the national draft given that the Bulldogs are now out of the early part of proceedings:-

Keep those effective picks 1,16 and 18, I say.

[H_T 3,043]

Good read, thanks Oracle.

[Spirit of the Demon 249]

Good read, thanks Oracle.

Well, if you think yesterday was slow and nothing newsworthy happened, then today is a real zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[titan_uranus 24,980]

The one change was the drafting of Ayce Cordy by the Bulldogs at # 14 which effectively, gives them pick # 32 as their first selection on draft day in November unless they trade for an earlier selection. As it stands at the moment Melbourne has the 1st, 16th and 18 real choices in the national draft given that the Bulldogs are now out of the early part of proceedings:-

No idea why, but 1, 16, 18 looks much nicer than 1, 17, 19.

[Demonland 71,641]

THE TRADING CHRONICLES – DAY TWO

A BRAND NEW WORLD OUT THERE by the Oracle

In an ideal world, one would like to think that the Melbourne Football Club will show a fair amount of improvement on the field in 2009. Possibly, the team might even have a crack at winning a finals berth or do something even better than that. But let's be realistic; the world is not ideal and the Demons, under new coach Dean Bailey, have their work cut out for them over the coming seasons. The club has hit rock bottom and it's a long way to the top.

Yesterday, Geoff McLure's Sporting Life column in the Melbourne Age produced a stunning statistic that demonstrated clearly the depths to which the club's fortunes have plumbed in just two seasons since it last made the finals back in 2006. During the recently completed 2008 season, Geelong won 72 and drew 4 quarters out of 100 played (74%). At the other end of the scale Melbourne won just 23 out of 88 (26.14%) – the biggest gap between top (after the home and away season) and bottom in 58 years. The Demons seem to be the masters at this because their ratio of quarters won was 23.53% in 1906 and an even worse 19.53% way back in 1919. This year's figure was matched by the club in 1997 (which I suppose is good news because Melbourne bounced back and made a preliminary final in 1998).

Of course, the dominant Cats didn't win the flag. Those honours went to Hawthorn and that's also a sobering thought because it was only two years ago when the Hawks were struggling that the Demons thrashed them by plenty in a night fixture at the MCG. Still, they have their work cut out for them.

From a trading and drafting perspective, the club is confronted with a major task to assemble a list that will one day be capable of competing with the best in the competition and that's why the slow start to the trade period is probably a source of more frustration for Melbourne supporters than it is for most others. We want to see some action - something concrete and visible to raise the spirits after the dreadful season from hell that we've just experienced.

Melbourne coach Dean Bailey is unfussed and remains level headed when it comes to this time of year. He's fully aware that Rome wasn't built in a day. It took four years for the Hawks to find their way into the upper echelon and that was a year or two ahead of what was anticipated. So you won't see a rash scorched earth programme applied to the club's recruiting. The list is getting younger but it requires a patient approach to ensure that ultimate success will come our way. As Bailey puts it -

It'd be fair to say that where we can improve our picks or where we can get extra picks, we'll be certainly going down that path. But we're certainly not going to be throwing names left, right and centre. We have a responsibility to our players as well and we need to show some respect, and we also need to ensure that it is done in a professional manner as well. Where we can and where we see opportunities, we'll look at it, but we see drafting and recruiting players as the number one reason to improve next year and in years to come.

– TRADE WEEK PRIMER: MELBOURNE

This all brings us to where the Demons are going at this stage of the exchange period. As those who are following the trade proceedings would be painfully aware, there is precious little of any substance happening despite an enormous amount of speculation (most of it misguided guesswork and plain wrong).

There have been some names mentioned but no deals have been done yet after two days of trading. Most of the interest from a Melbourne point of view is the club's out-of-contract man for all seasons Brad Green who has yet to sign a new deal with the club and is being closely eyed by Collingwood. Hawthorn, Sydney and Port Adelaide have also sounded expressed an interest while the club is saying that it is hopeful of re-signing him.

Most supporters have nothing but admiration for the 27 year old Green and would hate to see him go. A member of the club's leadership (although surprisingly left out at the start of the year), he is its most versatile player. He can play in the midfield or up forward where is accurate left foot is deadly or he can go down back where he is normally a reliable stopper and also capable of setting up attacking moves from deep in defence. The hallmark of his play in recent years has been the courage he has shown when backing into packs to mark the ball. In the absence of this current contractual dispute, I would have thought him to be clear favourite to hold the Melbourne captaincy for at least the next two years.

But it’s 2008 and times are changing. The perception is that the team is not within the premiership window. The Magpies are considered to be within that range so Green might well find himself a new home in the next couple of days. From my perspective, it would be a shame and the draft pick (or player) received in compensation would be of little consolation (well … at least not until November when we see what the club gets in return).

Sadly, that is the way of football in the early part of the 21st Century. Last year it was Travis Johnstone and we got used to it. The player obtained with the replacement drat pick # 14, Jack Grimes, has only graced the field at senior level on one occassion but promises to be a 200 game player of quality for the club. The same thing could well happen if Green decides to leave the fold.

It's a brand, new world out there!

[Deeman 1,496]

THE TRADING CHRONICLES – DAY TWO

A BRAND NEW WORLD OUT THERE by the Oracle

Brad Green who has yet to sign a new deal with the club and is being closely eyed by Collingwood. Hawthorn, Sydney and Port Adelaide have also sounded expressed an interest while the club is saying that it is hopeful of re-signing him

Brad Green at Collingwood!

Now that would be a brand new world. But what would we get for him?

[Nasher 33,609]

Thanks Oracle, a good read as always.

As for Green, I'm both happy to keep him and happy to trade him for the right price. Don't know that I'd bother for anything less than a first rounder though. That said, seeing him in a Collingwood jumper would make me sick.

[Demon Head 271]

Thanks Oracle, a good read as always.

As for Green, I'm both happy to keep him and happy to trade him for the right price. Don't know that I'd bother for anything less than a first rounder though. That said, seeing him in a Collingwood jumper would make me sick.

It would certainly be something of a culture shock to see Brad Green in black and white and worse still, if he lines up in the same team as Cousins and Didak (which is why I hope for his sake it doesn't happen (and probably won't).

However, I can't see how we can expect a first rounder for himas he will be 28 by next season. A good deal (if we have to go down that track) might be a player of reasonable calibre and younger plus Collingwood's first rounder for Green and pick 19.

[Guest McLean2Maric]

However, I can't see how we can expect a first rounder for himas he will be 28 by next season. A good deal (if we have to go down that track) might be a player of reasonable calibre and younger plus Collingwood's first rounder for Green and pick 19.

Of reasonable calibre and younger, eh? Would never happen but imagine if we could get Pendlebury...

[The Backyard Charizard 1,202]

Of reasonable calibre and younger, eh? Would never happen but imagine if we could get Pendlebury...

Correct, Would never happen! Would be a waste of time even imagining it.... We have two chances of getting Pendlebury..... None and FA

[Blistering 538]

Correct, Would never happen! Would be a waste of time even imagining it.... We have two chances of getting Pendlebury..... None and FA

Rhys Shaw?

[rumpole 515]

Rhys Shaw?

Surely wouldn't be much younger than Green.

Add Carroll into the mix and give them # 51 and it's a deal.

[The Backyard Charizard 1,202]

Rhys Shaw?

Now that is more likely what we would be offered...... Thank God CAC is gone.... Otherwise that hack would be wearing Red 'n Blue

[Guest red and blue thru n thru]

Now that is more likely what we would be offered...... Thank God CAC is gone.... Otherwise that hack would be wearing Red 'n Blue

hahahaha :D

Id hate to get him. Heath on the other hand different story.

But the chances of that about the same chances as Y_M's made trades happening :

[Demonland 71,641]

THE TRADING CHRONICLES 2008: DAY THREE

PLANET WARNOCK by the Oracle

The big lunch is almost a national institution and a pastime that I normally enjoy but yesterday the company was almost unbearable. Last year, the client was in a jovial mood, ate like a pig, drank like a fish and handed out enough business to more than justify the opulent meal that I had lavished upon him courtesy of my expense account (of course).

This time however, the bloke sat over his veal parma and a glass of some slimy looking concoction and sulked for the better part of an hour, the epitome of a stunned mullet. A Geelong supporter suffering post grand final depression. I couldn't stand it!

Here I was, a Melbourne supporter whose club had just finished stone motherless last, won three games for the season – two of them by narrow margins and the other to a team that played with the intent and purpose of a collection of zombies on Zoloft – and this fellow is shedding tears over a team that lost only twice in a span of 25 matches. Go figure!

Finally, he uttered a sentence.

"Do youse want Prismall?" he said in slurred tones as he knocked over his glass and spilled most of the slimy looking liquid onto the lapel of his shirt.

"Beg your pardon."

"Do youse want Prismall?"

I realised then that I was all traded out. I didn't want to hear any more about the AFL, the trades, drafts, grand finals, umpires and other assorted hard luck stories. I politely told him, I didn't think our club could carry another wounded player and changed the subject. We did some business (but not as much as last year) and he left, stumbling over his chair. I wondered whether he was driving home or catching a cab but then it occurred to me that I really didn't care about that either. I was suffering from PTTPS – post traumatic trade period syndrome.

Back at the office, I immersed myself in my work which involves catching up on international trends in my industry and I did this by following up articles in the overseas media. It was while reading a recent article in the London Daily Mail about some of the latest in insurance products that something familiar caught my eye on another part of the page. That something was almost a blur but it was definitely there and it attracted my interest -

The dehumanised landscape of Planet Warnock

The writer of the article is concerned that we are creating a dehumanised society where the weakest are being steadily sacrificed for the benefit of the strong and she really sticks her fangs into a biddy over in the U.K called Baroness Warnock who has "declared that elderly people with dementia are 'wasting' the lives of those who care for them, and have a duty to die in order to stop being a burden to others."

Wow!

I wondered whether she was related to the AFL's Warnock brothers and whether her sad philosophies had any impact on young Robert who is a much sought after ruckman, ostensibly headed for Carlton if the AFL and the Visy millions have their way. I mean, here's a young bloke who would rather play for a cardboard box baron who not long ago copped a whopping $38m fine for some sort of corporate crime or misdemeanour than with his own kith and kin in the form of his older brother. That's inhuman, indecent and bloody well unAustralian if you ask me.

And on top of that, the AFL is aiding him in his cause and it concerns me that the integrity of the competition is being impugned when the ruling body takes a role in seeking to mediate the differences between two clubs over the release of a young player. Surely, the free market should decide his fate? After all, that's the market in which the Blues waved lots of green folding stuff under Warnock's nose. Now they offer that player's club compensation for him that others can better and the AFL steps in? Unless you so involve yourself in all such cases, you are going to lay yourself open to charges of bias and unfair dealing. Do butt out AFL!

I suddenly realised that I was not only getting mad about this but I was also over my bout of PTTPS.

I was ready to jump back into the machinations of trade week but the only problem was that nothing was really happening except for the daily news item to the effect that Melbourne general manager of football operations Chris Connolly is still waiting for word of Brad Green's intentions and that he expects that word to come tomorrow which also just happens to be groundhog day.

Still, tomorrow's Thursday and the exchange period ends early on Friday afternoon - something has to happen soon.

Surely?

[Guest Sid Vicious]

I think if the AFL had a motive in getting involved it was just to move things along. Every year many deals are delayed or disrupted because one of the larger deals is dragging on. I have no problems with the AFL helping to push things along.

[Demon Head 271]

I think if the AFL had a motive in getting involved it was just to move things along. Every year many deals are delayed or disrupted because one of the larger deals is dragging on. I have no problems with the AFL helping to push things along.

Fine but the rules should provide for arbitration as well as mediation if disputes can't be solved. Carlton is paying an excessive amount for Warnock and then turning around and saying it will only give a second round draft selection in return. That's an insult to Fremantle and, in the interests of an orderly trading situation, there should be an independent determination as to whether the offer is reasonable. If there are other bidders who will offer somehting better, then this should be taken into account.

After all, Eddie McGuire recently said on 3AW that Chris Judd told Collingwood that he liked there club but had picked the Blues because only they were able to complete a deal. Now that there are clubs better placed to complete a deal than Carlton they want the AFL to fix things for them so that they get their way. It's another case of hypocrisy from the AFL.

FWIW, I don't believe Warnock or Prismall are worth the bother.

[Guest McLean2Maric]

They did it to force the Bulldogs with their earliest pick.

Imagine if this system was around when Hawkins, Scarlett ,Blake, Ablett, Ablett, etc were getting drafted.

I think that was implied...