Godemons said:

Any chance Greg Denham might consider all the evidence, rather than cherry picking the facts to bolster a story:

Correct me if I'm wrong.

I mean, I could be miles out here.

Melbourne are indeed keen to select Ball with the No.1 pick in the PSD, but the Demons also have FOUR picks in the ND before Brisbane's pick 27.

Then, while Brisbane have pick 12, Melbourne also have pick 11.

Ball can get to Brisbane is if the Bears commit to use pick 12, or Melbourne pass on pick 18.

Pick 12 is Carlton's and Brisbane are now the Lions.

I think if he doesn't choose to go PSD the he doesn't want to come to Melbourne, if that's the case, I don't want him.

He knows the score, we have plenty of spare cash, a midfield lineup to drool over after this year's draft and very real premiership prospects in 3-4 years time. If he doesn't want in, so what..

  Keyser Söze said:

Well its actually St Kilda or Melbourne or a raffle.

Personally I doubt he'd want to raffle himself off, unless a team he decides he wants to go to commits to taking him with a disproportionately early pick.

Good post.

I agree. Reckon he will stay with the saints.

  Mono said:

Good post.

I agree. Reckon he will stay with the saints.

The saints? Really?

I would've thought, since a new contract has not yet been signed with St Kilda by now, him leaving and going elsewhere would be a fait accompli.

A lot of bad blood would've been generated by now and the longer it takes the more that builds up between not just him and the club, but him and his (former) teammates.

I know it happened with ROK, but surely that is the exception rather than the rule, and he had the fallback claim of 'I just wanted to go home to my family'.

Ball cannot claim this.

  Keyser Söze said:

The saints? Really?

...........

In the HUN - here.

"The race for the disgruntled Saints' onballer took a twist yesterday with St Kilda believed to be firmly back in the running, if not the front-runner, to keep Ball.

It is understood St Kilda officials and teammates who are in New York where Ball is holidaying plan to talk with the former club captain about staying at Moorabbin."

As you said, the MFC in PSD, the saints or a lottery. And he doesn't want the MFC!

Reckon they'll kiss and make up.

  Mono said:

Good post.

I agree. Reckon he will stay with the saints.

I don't.

edit: fwiw, I do think Bradshaw will end up with the Swannies.

If we don't get Ball, I'll just view it as luck that we've been $%^^@! on the !%*$ in the draft

  BROCKSTAR5 said:

Pick 12 is Carlton's and Brisbane are now the Lions.

Noted on pick 12.

Makes it even harder for the Bears to get Ball.

(The Bears is flippant. They'll never be the Lions to me.)

  Mono said:

In the HUN - here.

"The race for the disgruntled Saints' onballer took a twist yesterday with St Kilda believed to be firmly back in the running, if not the front-runner, to keep Ball.

It is understood St Kilda officials and teammates who are in New York where Ball is holidaying plan to talk with the former club captain about staying at Moorabbin."

As you said, the MFC in PSD, the saints or a lottery. And he doesn't want the MFC!

Reckon they'll kiss and make up.

Yes, but the Hun and the Age and every other media outlet known to man were saying Davey had practically walked out on Melbourne just before he signed.

I don't put much stock in 'what is understood' by the Herald Sun. That often means they've made it up or heard it from a less than reliable source.

  Keyser Söze said:

Yes, but the Hun and the Age and every other media outlet known to man were saying Davey had practically walked out on Melbourne just before he signed.

I don't put much stock in 'what is understood' by the Herald Sun. That often means they've made it up or heard it from a less than reliable source.

Cue: "Terry Wallace sacked."

with Brisbane now keen on Ball, that would skuttle any hopes of him getting to Collingwood you would think... If he's not prepared to move interstate, his only options are St. Kilda or Melbourne... If he is prepared to move interstate, then you'd imagine Brisbane would be reasonably appealing, they're obviously going to have a crack at the title in the next couple of years...

  45hotgod16 said:

If we don't get Ball, I'll just view it as luck that we've been $%^^@! on the !%*$ in the draft

The situation in the draft is that we have been kissed on the dick.

I don't think anyone here is going to post that we haven't been kissed on the dick.

If we were to snare Ball in the PSD - that would be a further sign that the MFC has been kissed on the dick.

Boo-yah!

Did you appreciate the coding?

  45hotgod16 said:

Boo-yah!

Did you appreciate the coding?

It's a bit precious.

And could be confusing to those who thought we had been "patted" on the "arse."

But I prefer KOTD.

My code is deeper than that, you need to look closer. Ingenious, I should've been on U571

  45hotgod16 said:

My code is deeper than that, you need to look closer. Ingenious, I should've been on U571

I see it now. It's all coming together.

So you're saying that they knew Internal Affairs was setting them up?

Wow, twist!

Cameron Bruce wants to seduce Luke Ball...

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tab...02/default.aspx

I think you'll find that Ball ends up staying at St Kilda.

He knows they're on the brink of a possible flag and at 25 years of age I dont believe he'll want to go through the re-building that Melbourne are currently going through.

Thats just my opinion of course and I don't know how deep the scar runs between him and Lyon right at this point.

BUT for them to be following him over to New York, it shows they want him to stay at the very least. That will go a long way in him making his decision.

I have no idea which way Luke Ball will go the head

says saints the heart hopes its MFC.

All I know is that MFC would be better for having him as long as

we don't pay him at sacred cow rates cause he isn't currently worth that

AND

That there is absolutely no way ever MFC should draft him in the national draft

we need to have some credibility. The PSD is the only way to achieve this it shows he's keen to

come to the MFC, the draft says he's dragged his heels hoping for something else.

If he announced he wanted to come to us it would be a massive coup this fact makes me

think it's not going to happen. I don't see us being able to land the big fish at the bottom of the j curve

Gotta pay someone.

We are currently around $500k short of the minimum to the cap.

Ball would be godsend for more than just onfield reasons.

I don't want to spread that money around our talented youth, lest they keep their inflated salaries in 5 years time and push a player out the door because of cap pressure.

  rpfc said:

Gotta pay someone.

We are currently around $500k short of the minimum to the cap.

Ball would be godsend for more than just onfield reasons.

I don't want to spread that money around our talented youth, lest they keep their inflated salaries in 5 years time and push a player out the door because of cap pressure.

If Ball dosen't come to MFC, then MFC will pay out 1 or 2 contracts to reach the minimum salary cap.

And I don't want to pay $500K a year to recruit Cameron Cloke or Nathan Brown...

  tatu said:

If Ball dosen't come to MFC, then MFC will pay out 1 or 2 contracts to reach the minimum salary cap.

That's messy.

Contracts are meant to be honoured.

If a contract is undesirable to the MFC, it is the club's fault for penning it.

I expect Newton, PJ, Bell, and Meesen to be here in 2010. After that I don't know, but not honouring contracts is a risky business.

Umm..how exactly is 'paying out ' a contract not honouring it ?? Is IS honouring it!!. Not paying it is dishonouring it surely !!

  belzebub59 said:

Umm..how exactly is 'paying out ' a contract not honouring it ?? Is IS honouring it!!. Not paying it is dishonouring it surely !!

I would have thought both parties seeing out the contract term, would be honouring it.

Paying it out to break those terms would be seen as not honouring it.

This of course would exclude special cases such as the Nathan Carroll contract.