he is indisputably one of the best players in the league.

we've got the money

lets get him.

where are all the whingers who said mitch wasn't worth it now, huh ???

His free in a sence that no draft picks need to be lost to bolster the forward line. I honestly would have preferred going for hogan and working with him and i still hope we do.

Power forwards are a dime a dozen whole there is an abudance of mids out there waiting to be drafted. I like this play by the dees.

Did you forget to wake up today? What the hell does this post mean?

he is indisputably one of the best players in the league.

we've got the money

lets get him.

where are all the whingers who said mitch wasn't worth it now, huh ???

Mitch and Cloke in the same fwd line?? Cloke would spend his time up on the wing getting cheap kicks.

We have a more basic problem. We get the ball into our fwd 50 less than anyone else in the league except GC and GWS. Power fwds are not the answer to that problem. We need elite mids. We don't have Beams, Swan, Pendlebury, Ball pumping the ball into Cloke,

And I don't see a whole bunch of elite mids at Casey pushing their case.

It's early give him a break.

I am also pro this decision. We are set up for free agency and we need to hit our salary cap some how in 2013 and this is a great way to do it (frontloading). He's tied to the club during what should be the peak of his career then we start paying our by then all-star midfield (I can dream cant I) the big bucks without having to worry about a key forwards contract.

Also wasnt Cloke leading the comp sometime last year or early this year for inside 50's?

"Last year, Cloke kicked a personal-best 69 goals in 25 games, as well as leading his club's inside-50s with 127 entries."

Did you forget to wake up today? What the hell does this post mean?

Its not hard to understand mate.....really

maybe try harder.

Going after Cloke is an absolute no-brainer.

Firstly, one of our biggest failings is getting through half forward. Can you imagine getting used to Jack Watts passing off half back, spotting up Cloke at CHF, who then wheels around and bangs it into Clark?

Not to mention, can you imagine how berserk Clark will go against the SECOND best defender on each team? That thought actually frightens me.

There aren't any star mids going around, so why not go after what is available? We can load up on guns mids in the draft, rather than via FA.

Secondly, in terms of $$, we have heaps to spend. If anybody is worried about cap issues with our potential stars in a few years, I say let's cross that bridge when we get to it. You never know, at that point we might actually be in contention and they might be willing to cop a bit less.

Cloke allows Howe to play in the midfield permanently and Watts would never need to play forward again. Garland and Rivers go back to where they belong.

I'd take the known quantity of Cloke over the 'Cook will be a gun, just give him time' stuff any day of the week.

Why are we even discussing this???

It's not so much the cash amount as the number of years he can be guaranteed (4 or 5).

Pies have said they will now go to 5 years providing dollars are right after hearing of Melbournes offer.

Pies could be trying to drive up his value also so that they get better compo

Pies could be trying to drive up his value also so that they get better compo

Imagine them with 2 first round compo picks and a million spare bucks in the salary cap.

Does any1 know if they get there compo picks before trade week?

If they do then they could use them to trump us on other potential deals such as going for the 17 yr olds

I really hope that this offer was made (if its been made at all) in an attempt to force the Filth's hand, get them to do the deal with Cloke and thereby making it extremely difficult for them to hold on to all the other out of contract players. I think that they would rather keep Cloke than anything else and our priority has to be midfielders. Cloke isn't worth $1 mil a year, not in our team any way.

Does this mean Eddie will be starting WWIII?

I'd have thought $1,000,000 pa would just about have bought two decent mids

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/more-news/melbourne-essendon-ready-to-fight-geelong-for-travis-boak/story-e6frf9jf-1226422063305?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HeraldSunAflMelbourne+%28Herald+Sun+|+AFL+-+Melbourne%29

'Melbourne has more room in there salary cap then just about any other team'

No man is an island . Consider why cloke has decent stats. Surround our forwards, esp Clark with such support and hed present similar results id suggest. Spend the money in the midfield for mine.

Totally wholeheartedly agree!!!

Mitch can be the FF we need with great supply!!!! Its a golden Mid that we want! The trouble is there really isnt much on offer....or is there?

We will see.

Imagine them with 2 first round compo picks and a million spare bucks in the salary cap.

Does any1 know if they get there compo picks before trade week?

If they do then they could use them to trump us on other potential deals such as going for the 17 yr olds

What will happen is that they should get the same as we got for Scully i.e. First rounder after their pick and a mid first round which can be activated in this draft. So say pick 14 and pick 20-odd. If they trade them they are still attached to Collingwood - i.e. IF GWS was to use it next year it would be based on Collingwood's position on the ladder - not GWS.

So really they will have another 2 mid-late first round picks to work with and no key forward. Bye bye Collingwood dynasty =)

Pies could be trying to drive up his value also so that they get better compo

???

Does this mean Eddie will be starting WWIII?

I'd have thought $1,000,000 pa would just about have bought two decent mids

He's not even the Anti Christs choir boy, is Froth & Bubbles E'd. small man syndrome, but in his case its about his early geography.

Totally wholeheartedly agree!!!

Mitch can be the FF we need with great supply!!!! Its a golden Mid that we want! The trouble is there really isnt much on offer....or is there?

We will see.

Hmmn, give that Black_Wood tree a really good shake, something may come down.

cloke would be handy right NOW. since clark has gone down who is gunna kick all our goals? dont know about the 6 years though. Cameron Swab better not be getting greedy now.. fremantle aint a fan of him in bigfooty lol.

2013 Hyperthetical fwd line:

Full Fwd Jurrah Clark Cook

Half Fwd Howe Cloke Sylvia

potentially very damaging

Mids

Jamar Jones Trenners Gys Viney Blease Toumpass Stringer

starting to get hard

Defenders

Chip Garland Rivers Watts Grimes Tapscott Strauss

God I hope we start performing, On paper thats a cracker list

lol @ how much freo would hate us, taking both of there potential power forwards they were chasing.

The Cloke to Melbourne concept is boring me a little. I reckon he'll stay at Collingwood, plus I'd hate to offer the term and dollars that we're perportedly offering. Unlike some, I'd love him in our side because I don't believe that quality power forwards grow on trees and nor do I believe he'll spend the bulk of his time on the wing, but the offer just smacks of a minnow club that's desperately trying to become one of the big boys. It seems to me to be an irresponsible offer whether we have the cap space or not. Do really good and strong clubs try and do deals like this ?

I'm not so sure.

just heard on the radio , dees offered $5 mill over 5 years , mmm thats a whole lotta loot , i dunno what to think

He's not even the Anti Christs choir boy, is Froth & Bubbles E'd. small man syndrome, but in his case its about his early geography.

so was a certain corporal back in the previous world war

maybe eddie will see us as his "poland" in his fourth reich quest for more lebensraum

As I've observed earlier today:

There's no way I want Cloke for this much money.

You could have a full-forward line of Lockett, Coleman and Fanning, and they'd struggle to kick 15 goals with our 3rd-world midfield.

We need midfielders. We need them now. Our forwardline hasn't REALLY been a problem, but the pox delivery inside 50 has been.

Anyone remember that quote by Eddie

'We are not like Melbourne where you can take players as you like'