That is what I said two years ago about Geelong.

The good sides like Geelong, Hawthorn, Collingwood and Sydney just keep reinventing themselves.

They don't consider the bottoming out crap like the MFC .

Anything below the top four is failure.

It is a mind set the MFC has not had for nearly half a century

They just get on with it

You're right there with Geelong 'old dee' but Hawthorn have been a bit later into the reinvention game. There list is close to if not the oldest in the comp and they are miles behind Geelong as far as developing young players. Geelong has seen it coming for a while now, Hawthorn are holding on for that flag. Geelong pinched one in between.

The main priority this year is to get his name on an extended contract to secure him for the next 5 years.

Probably the best post of 2013.

I could not possible agree with you anymore!. I honestly could not blame him for wanting out. Its been hard enough to support the rubbish we have produced since Chippa came let alone play in that rubbish. He needs to be persuaded that things are on the incline like the rest of us!!!. Go hard out on some quality mid fielders in the draft and trade table. If he leaves, god help us…..

They need to sit him down and say you're our most important player, here is a long term contract where you will be paid accordingly, if we locked him up for 4-5 years that would be bigger than bringing Dale Thomas to the club at the end of the year.

How on earth are we going to pay the minimum % of the salary cap if all of our half decent players leave? I guess we could give Pedersen a 5 or 6 year contract extension and heavily front load it.

they can have him a a straight swap for David Swallow, otherwise they can [censored] off

they can have him a a straight swap for David Swallow, otherwise they can [censored]

Stuff that, we'll have O'Meara thanks. Swallow can be the steak knives.

We need to keep him but, ultimately, how we perform in 2014 will determine his desires.

I'm not sure the club has the luxury of giving him 2014 to decide if he wants to stay. Surely the financials won't change, and is Chip going to be swayed one way or another based purely on results? How much improvement would change his mind? Should the club be held to any sort of ransom for the benefit of an individual?

As a supporter I'm not sure I want to deal with a whole season of 'will he, won't he' and then have him leave for nothing at the end of it all. We have to have learnt from the Scully, Rivers, Moloney situation. We have to establish what Frawley's intentions are.

It's commonplace in other major sporting codes to trade/transfer players one year out from expiry if a player won't commit, because the cost to club of letting them leave for free is too great. If we can't get Chip to commit to a deal this year, then we must look at what the best outcome for the club is.

I'm not sure the club has the luxury of giving him 2014 to decide if he wants to stay. Surely the financials won't change, and is Chip going to be swayed one way or another based purely on results? How much improvement would change his mind? Should the club be held to any sort of ransom for the benefit of an individual?

As a supporter I'm not sure I want to deal with a whole season of 'will he, won't he' and then have him leave for nothing at the end of it all. We have to have learnt from the Scully, Rivers, Moloney situation. We have to establish what Frawley's intentions are.

It's commonplace in other major sporting codes to trade/transfer players one year out from expiry if a player won't commit, because the cost to club of letting them leave for free is too great. If we can't get Chip to commit to a deal this year, then we must look at what the best outcome for the club is.

That depends. A new coach with a new and more successful game plan could dramatically change my mind if I was a disenchanted player. I would let Frawley concentrate on playing now, we do have the entire month of September to focus on future plans by which time the football department might look vastly different.

Where did I say they were better than Frawley? Regardless, to call him the best defender in fifty years on the back of one All-Australian year is astoundingly poor judgment. This is a man who can't even be bothered holding his hands in the air when standing the mark.

That does p.ss me off no end.

That depends. A new coach with a new and more successful game plan could dramatically change my mind if I was a disenchanted player. I would let Frawley concentrate on playing now, we do have the entire month of September to focus on future plans by which time the football department might look vastly different.

Fair point. This is the sort of thing that should be established in negotiating an extension with Frawley. Hopefully we would have some solid answers re: footy department going into this years player exchange period.

We need to keep him but, ultimately, how we perform in 2014 will determine his desires.

And tied in with that is who we pick up at the end of the year.

The Suns got Warnock from us as Full-back! Surely that is enough?

no way should we trade frawley, a key back, some of u guys obviously think we can cover his loss...fools!!

The Suns got Warnock from us as Full-back! Surely that is enough?

We did not want him lets not get too put out about his moving.

He might force us to cover his loss. As much as we can't afford to lose him we have to prepare for the possibility that he might. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

He might force us to cover his loss. As much as we can't afford to lose him we have to prepare for the possibility that he might. To do otherwise is irresponsible.

I see your point, but i think losing him would be a disaster, we need to place an offer he can't refuse infront of him and if he still wants to leave maybe we can work out some sort of trade at the end of the year so we get something of value for him.

I see your point, but i think losing him would be a disaster, we need to place an offer he can't refuse infront of him and if he still wants to leave maybe we can work out some sort of trade at the end of the year so we get something of value for him.

We need to be careful here, at the end of the day theres more to playing professional sport then money, Look at Geelong all these blokes took a pay cut to stay together because they believed in the football club and loved playing with each other and for the Cats. If we just throw a ridiculous amount of money at him we may not be able to net that midfielder we so desperately need and more importantly play with PASSION.

We need to make these fellas believe that we're the way forward. They literally need to sit these boys down and say, we'll bring in older guys to help you out, we can turn the corner with speed.

Imagine we brought in Del santo and a fit Daisy Thomas and Prestia?!? (just dream guys, its fun for a little while)

We need to be careful here, at the end of the day theres more to playing professional sport then money, Look at Geelong all these blokes took a pay cut to stay together because they believed in the football club and loved playing with each other and for the Cats. If we just throw a ridiculous amount of money at him we may not be able to net that midfielder we so desperately need and more importantly play with PASSION.

We need to make these fellas believe that we're the way forward. They literally need to sit these boys down and say, we'll bring in older guys to help you out, we can turn the corner with speed.

Imagine we brought in Del santo and a fit Daisy Thomas and Prestia?!? (just dream guys, its fun for a little while)

I think a premiership coach would be able to sell that a little bit better than the current coaching group, but i do believe we are on the right track in terms of building a list providing we can keep it together.

Convince him his place is here. If he's unhappy than work it out, he wouldn't be the first footballer to be looking at his options but stay. He is one of a few good players we've got that would be a starter in every team in the comp.

We have to start retaining senior players or we'll keep ending up back where we started.

And as someone said earlier, isn't it against the rules to approach players under contract?

We need Chip Frawley. The club must not let him go.

We need Chip Frawley. The club must not let him go.

Come on everybody by the time he is thinking about his contract ending we will be starting to show good signs so much so that he will want to be part of the resurrection.

the master, on 22 May 2013 - 17:13, said:

That depends. A new coach with a new and more successful game plan could dramatically change my mind if I was a disenchanted player. I would let Frawley concentrate on playing now, we do have the entire month of September to focus on future plans by which time the football department might look vastly different.

A number of good posts on this thread, but I think this is closest to the mark.

This is Chip's 7th(?) year, and if things don't change dramatically, it looks like he won't play finals. I reckon that if there are clear indications that things will definitely improve, he's much more likely to stay. If not, he's much more likely to go. But he would need clear indications that things will get better.

If he leaves end of this season we can trade for him; if he leaves end of next season, he can walk and we may or may not get compensation. Free agency was made for someone in his situation - a very good player in a lowly club which don't look like improving. And if we can trade for a quality midfielder, it may end up a win-win.

Another factor is that clearly some MFC players are still in touch with Rivers & Petterd, both of whom are much closer to playing in finals than anybody who's stayed. Even Moloney, Martin & perhaps Scully are closer.

i dont get why anyone would want to go to Stkilda.

They are gonna be major losers in time to come. Theyll be down the bottom for atleast 3-5 years