We must inject some serious class into our list. We need to replace a wasted number 1 pick. O'Meara or Crouch wouldh've been great but paying too much is not a good idea. Rock and hard place springs to mind.

Patience is aloo required. Looking at most young teams it's 2013 -14 until we start hitting our straps. We must keep drafting the best young talent and then in those years go out and grab a big name. Maybe a Swallow. O'Meara or other young gun from a start up will come to us and help us win a Premiership at the G. No point throwing picks around just yet. I think the club is making the right noises at the moment.

Me too Roost it.

Recruiting is going to be difficult for anyone other than GC and GWS over the next few years.

We have a couple of good picks re TS and we should use them wisely.

they will IMO be very valuable in 2012 -13.

According to the article on mfc.com, the recruiting team played strongly to get one of the picks, but they had decided before hand on a price they would not pay. It came to that and they stuck to their guns, walking away from the day rather then paying overs.

Time will tell I guess, should we have thrown everything at one of the picks, or was it the correct decision to back away.

Sorry for that, old55. Serves me right for believing 'facts' from the Hun. :S

In critiquing the good or bad of MFC dealings it might do well to remember this isnt a one year in isolation situation. It must be looked upon as a rolling endeavour. Biases change with differing drafts and the opportunities they present .

This is akin to act 2 of a play. Nothing is quite finished with all this yet.

Don't mind that we keep our powder dry and play our compo picks when it suits us in the future.

Move on and up.

Actually, your right 'PaulRB', we can use the 'first comp pick' next year, following our 1st Rnd Pick, & elect to use our other comp pick in a latter year or trade it next year.

OK, bring on the trading now.

Reading this article in the age

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/suns-land-omeara-crows-in-box-seat-for-crouch-20111012-1lkew.html

Seems we did not want to give up our mid round comp pick.

I'm glad we stuck to our guns and didn't pay more than we were willing.

It's like when you put an offer in on a house, and just fall short of the sale price. Stings like buggery and feels like you have lost. But in reality you still have all the money to buy another.

Timmy Harrington said in his interview that there were 5 or 6 players worth looking at. I wonder if a third mini pick will be looked at.

Also. What would happen if we nominated our mid round compensation pick next year but finished in the top 8? We would have our normal pick at around say 12 and our comp pick at 8. would we have to use pick 8 on Viney?

Timmy Harrington Article up on the dee's site.

http://www.melbourne...16/default.aspx

“Early in the week, the focus on the week was on the 17-year-old trading scheme. We were strongly involved in that, but we also had a well considered walk away position,” Harrington told melbournefc.com.au.

“There was a point where we didn’t want to go any further to achieve these deals.

“We were very clear on our walk away position. Once that threshold was reached, we were very happy to walk away from that, because it wasn’t in our best interests.”

Not all is lost here. We might be better off using 2 first rounders for a young star that's been in the system a couple of years and is more of a sure thing.

We will have the cap space to lure someone and the picks to satisfy the club.

Was missing O'Meara a Gaff on our part, or just a faux pas?

If Adelaide get that pick it's a pathetic effort from the MFC.

We had a very strong hand coming in to the trade week but it seems our ability to use that hand to get the deal done leaves a lot to be desired.

It's all very nice to say we didn't want to pay too high a price etc. but the fact remains that the market determines the price and sometimes you need to pay what you consider to be 'overs' in order to get something you really want. And I think there is no doubt that we really wanted MD pick 1 or 2 because TH mentioned it on Monday and the news all week has been about Melbourne being keen on securing 17-year-olds in the MD.

But surprise surprise yet again we fail to achieve something we set out to do.

I thought the season of rubbish performances from us was over after losing to Port in Round 24. Seems like we have managed to squeeze in another before the end of the year.

I stand to be corrected, but my take is that despite media speculation we may have only been interested in pick 1, which was to land O'Meara. If I'm right then they didn't believe that Crouch was worth the price. I'm relaxed with the decision. Our picks in next year's super draft are superb and we get to see another year of exposed form.

Or are you certain that we wanted to trump Adelaide for pick 2 and subsequently Crouch ?

It was hard to swallow at first...And I wanted to Lynch harrington but I think he and the dees will live to fight another Day.

I'm just stoked we are now free to go all guns blazing at McKinley...

I stand to be corrected, but my take is that despite media speculation we may have only been interested in pick 1, which was to land O'Meara. If I'm right then they didn't believe that Crouch was worth the price. I'm relaxed with the decision. Our picks in next year's super draft are superb and we get to see another year of exposed form.

Or are you certain that we wanted to trump Adelaide for pick 2 and subsequently Crouch ?

From the Melbourne FC website:

MELBOURNE general manager of list management Tim Harrington said it was in the best interests of the club to step away from a deal to secure highly-rated youngsters Jaeger O’Meara or Brad Crouch.

Harrington said a suitable trade to acquire either O’Meara or Crouch via the Greater Western Sydney trading scheme was unrealistic in the wash-up for the Demons. The Suns have now committed to selecting O’Meara with their first pick in the upcoming ‘mini draft’ and Crouch is set to be claimed by Adelaide.

Who is giving up on 2012.

I have just said we will not make hugh gains.

You can only see blue sky, I see some clouds.

Only an opinion, I am more than happy to be wrong.

But a lot of experience with the MFC tells me it seldom happens.

I only see blue sky, you see clouds??? What the???

I see many clouds, just saying to pencil us in for 12th next year is very pessimistic.

I'm not expecting top 4 or something ridiculous, but no reason why we couldn't finish somewhere between 10 and 7 with the right people in place and a new direction and buzz around the place.

So so early, who knows.

The answer to all this is simply, if the players we get for pick 12 this year and the compo pick next year are not combined, as good as Crouch and a return pick say 25 this year, we will know we made a mistake. The pick 25 is therefore a bit uncertain as we wouldn't know who we would have taken. Hindsight will again be a wonderful thing.

I only see blue sky, you see clouds??? What the???

I see many clouds, just saying to pencil us in for 12th next year is very pessimistic.

I'm not expecting top 4 or something ridiculous, but no reason why we couldn't finish somewhere between 10 and 7 with the right people in place and a new direction and buzz around the place.

So so early, who knows.

We will have the same basic cattle as 2011, we could only beat the bottom third of teams.

And got slaughtered by the rest

If we get to 10th at the end of 2012 I will be deliriously happy.

This could go on forever Deemort.

I hope you are right.

Go dees

I am a bit disappointed we didn't just go for the 'he-who-must-not-be-named' - Crouch straight swap.

Don't know the kid - but I would have liked the neatness of star-quality for star-quality trade. We look like making a decision to maximise returns with the risk of failure at the forefront of our minds...

I still would like to see us to trade those picks. We need star quality. And I just don't see us getting that with picks in the teens...

From the Melbourne FC website:

MELBOURNE general manager of list management Tim Harrington said it was in the best interests of the club to step away from a deal to secure highly-rated youngsters Jaeger O’Meara or Brad Crouch.

Harrington said a suitable trade to acquire either O’Meara or Crouch via the Greater Western Sydney trading scheme was unrealistic in the wash-up for the Demons. The Suns have now committed to selecting O’Meara with their first pick in the upcoming ‘mini draft’ and Crouch is set to be claimed by Adelaide.

Do you think that Crouch was as much of a priority as O'Meara ?

I don't. Clearly one was worth more than the other.

We will have the same basic cattle as 2011, we could only beat the bottom third of teams.

And got slaughter by the rest

If we get to 10th at the end of 2012 I will be deliriously happy

My optimism level starts to rise about now and continues through the draft and pre season until the NAB cup when we play our first game. Usually about then I come crashing to the ground, so at the moment I'm quite boyant, I've forgotten the last year already, one of the benefits of ageing, and I'm ready to fire up again. Got most of my membership renewals today so they will go off tomorrow and the cycle starts again.

At least we have a new coach and some new people at the club so that's a start it's not the same old same old, apart from the players, so we might actually have a plan and we might actually intend to win some games next year. So buck old dee and get on board for another year and see what it brings, we may be pleasantly surprised.

We will have the same basic cattle as 2011, we could only beat the bottom third of teams.

And got slaughtered by the rest

If we get to 10th at the end of 2012 I will be deliriously happy.

This could go on forever Deemort.

I hope you are right.

Go dees

Cattle yes, wranglers ?? NO

2012 wil be a different story B)

Cattle yes, wranglers ?? NO

2012 wil be a different story B)

I hope your right BB.

Its time to start building a winner culture and pessimism is not apart of a winning culture. Forget the beltings from this year and get down to some hard work to prevent receiving them again next year!

Go Dees!

As to first point what is wrong with the seller determining his price. Isn't that what usually happens?

Nothing wrong, but people here were implying our bid was somehow better than the Crows, but GWS took the Crows bid. If that is the case, it's not an 'auction' (to the highest bidder'), but a 'preferred sale'.

No. This is what was said. Quote

"In a complicated deal, Fremantle would have received Mitch Clark, Hawthorn taken Jack Gunston, Adelaide snared 17-year-old Brad Crouch and O'Meara would have gone back to the Giants"

http://www.heraldsun...t-1226164300573

All I meant is I think they have already said they wanted Crouch.

And you are probably right.

Maybe they do or it may be media jumping to conclusions.

Anyway this is the scenario I was looking at.

Whispering Jack's post.

Timmy Harrington Article up on the dee's site.

http://www.melbourne...16/default.aspx

“Early in the week, the focus on the week was on the 17-year-old trading scheme. We were strongly involved in that, but we also had a well considered walk away position,” Harrington told melbournefc.com.au.

“There was a point where we didn’t want to go any further to achieve these deals.

“We were very clear on our walk away position. Once that threshold was reached, we were very happy to walk away from that, because it wasn’t in our best interests.”

And there we have it - For all the doom and gloomers - it is not like we had to use the picks or lose them. Next years draft uncompromised and apparently a super draft and we have picks in hand so we have bid i the mini draft to what we consider our maximum and walked away. Next

And there we have it - For all the doom and gloomers - it is not like we had to use the picks or lose them. Next years draft uncompromised and apparently a super draft and we have picks in hand so we have bid i the mini draft to what we consider our maximum and walked away. Next

so we should tank to get the best deal for those compensation picks and secure elite talent we need to replace and get.

And there we have it - For all the doom and gloomers - it is not like we had to use the picks or lose them. Next years draft uncompromised and apparently a super draft and we have picks in hand so we have bid i the mini draft to what we consider our maximum and walked away. Next

Here's hoping there is an out and out star available at every pick in the first round in 2012 Draft so we don't miss out. Then again, we don't want other clubs to get them - let's just hope our club gets lucky.