Ture, sensible postings were difficult to find amongs the volume of complaints that the club wasn't being tough enough. But they were there - they just didn't use jargon labels (copyrighted by Harvard) to attach to the concepts.

And wasn't Josh Mahoney himself telling us all along not to judge the trade period by any single trade, but to wait to see the overall picture?

Some were fine with that because they understood that to be wise strategy. They just got swamped by the doomsayers.

Everyone is praising the cats for how quickly they made their trades, all their trades where pretty easily easy really, with Dangerfield they had already been talking to Adelaide for 3 weeks before the trade period, and Scott Selwood and made up his mind at the beginning of the year, they were all straight forward and already been in the planning for months, the cats have sold the farm for Dangerfield, Sydney sold the farm for buddy, they won't win a premiership with Buddy, I predicted that Carlton would never win a premiership with Judd

I predicted that Carlton would never win a premiership with Judd

Oh well it must be true then... Because everyone knows every completely different situation is exactly the same...

Everyone is praising the cats for how quickly they made their trades, all their trades where pretty easily easy really, with Dangerfield they had already been talking to Adelaide for 3 weeks before the trade period, and Scott Selwood and made up his mind at the beginning of the year, they were all straight forward and already been in the planning for months, the cats have sold the farm for Dangerfield, Sydney sold the farm for buddy, they won't win a premiership with Buddy, I predicted that Carlton would never win a premiership with Judd

Show us the evidence that you said that about Carlton not winning a flag with Judd..

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing..

Everyone is praising the cats for how quickly they made their trades, all their trades where pretty easily easy really, with Dangerfield they had already been talking to Adelaide for 3 weeks before the trade period, and Scott Selwood and made up his mind at the beginning of the year, they were all straight forward and already been in the planning for months, the cats have sold the farm for Dangerfield, Sydney sold the farm for buddy, they won't win a premiership with Buddy, I predicted that Carlton would never win a premiership with Judd

Sydney have the benefit of a lot of young-gun academy recruits coming into their team to further boost their already strong list. While I agree that the Buddy-Tippett signings will make it hard for them to fit everyone into their salary cap, they've so far managed to retain everyone that they want (bar Jetta), and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them become a force again in the not so distant future.

Everyone is praising the cats for how quickly they made their trades, all their trades where pretty easily easy really, with Dangerfield they had already been talking to Adelaide for 3 weeks before the trade period, and Scott Selwood and made up his mind at the beginning of the year, they were all straight forward and already been in the planning for months, the cats have sold the farm for Dangerfield, Sydney sold the farm for buddy, they won't win a premiership with Buddy, I predicted that Carlton would never win a premiership with Judd

You really missed the point. Trades can easily be made when two parties trust each other. Obviously Geelong and Adelaide had enough trust in each other to make the trade beneficial to each party. You give credit to Geelong and Adelaide because of the systems they have in place and the right people they have at the helm. Because of this things move very quickly.

I now believe the MFC have the respect and trust of the other clubs to negotiate win/win trades. Even Essendon by their standards were reasonable with the Melksham trade. The trade was agreed upon very early. The trade was "pretty easy really".

Sydney have the benefit of a lot of young-gun academy recruits coming into their team to further boost their already strong list. While I agree that the Buddy-Tippett signings will make it hard for them to fit everyone into their salary cap, they've so far managed to retain everyone that they want (bar Jetta), and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them become a force again in the not so distant future.

Mumford was a massive loss too.

The Danger trade was relatively easy?

Is everybody conveniently forgetting the way Geelong tried to get him as a FA to begin with and his manager publicly pleading for the crows to let it go?

It was simply a case of the prospect being on the table from a long way out and discussions being held leading up to the trade period, so a lot of the work had already been done. Both clubs had an incentive to get it done quickly so they could move onto other deals.

I'd say most of our deals would have been in a similar vein, had they not been held up by other critical preceding deals involving old mates Essendon, St Kilda & Collingwood.

Once those deals fell into place we moved quickly.

Melbourne + GWS relationship = Geelong + Adelaide relationship. It's just not getting the same amount of attention because we're two low profile clubs.

I also thought Essendon turned over a new leaf this year. St Kilda were this year's trade villains.

Melbourne + GWS relationship = Geelong + Adelaide relationship. It's just not getting the same amount of attention because we're two low profile clubs.

I also thought Essendon turned over a new leaf this year. St Kilda were this year's trade villains.

Carlisle was never worth pick 5. Essendon are still heavily overrating their players, just lucky for them we were happy to pay the overrated price.

Dodoro coming out later and saying he probably could've pushed us for something better shows the sort of trade negotiators they are.

Everyone is praising the cats for how quickly they made their trades, all their trades where pretty easily easy really, with Dangerfield they had already been talking to Adelaide for 3 weeks before the trade period, and Scott Selwood and made up his mind at the beginning of the year, they were all straight forward and already been in the planning for months, the cats have sold the farm for Dangerfield, Sydney sold the farm for buddy, they won't win a premiership with Buddy, I predicted that Carlton would never win a premiership with Judd

That makes me think, will you win a premiership by throwing all your cash at one A grade player? or is it a better idea to build a team of solid contributes who can play there role?

Edited November 3, 20159 yr by ILLDieADemon

That makes me think, will you win a premiership by throwing all your cash at one A grade player? or is it a better idea to build a team of solid contributes who can play there roll?

Definitely the latter. the even spread of good players will get you to the big game.

When you get there perhaps a contest won by the elite big name will give you the flag, but history is mostly against those sides attempting to buy premierships.

Definitely the latter. the even spread of good players will get you to the big game.

When you get there perhaps a contest won by the elite big name will give you the flag, but history is mostly against those sides attempting to buy premierships.

Carlton purchased premierships many years ago, but it's difficult to do today.

And imagine if we had a player like Tony Lockett on our list a few years ago, how would he perform with the team we had in (say) 2012.

StKilda is proof that a star or two does not make a premiership team (not withstanding their 2010 effort).

Hawthorn has a star team bolstered by a few star players: that's the formula IMHO.

That makes me think, will you win a premiership by throwing all your cash at one A grade player? or is it a better idea to build a team of solid contributes who can play there roll?

As Guru Bob used to say: a champion team will always beat a team of champions, unless the team of champions is very, very good.

That makes me think, will you win a premiership by throwing all your cash at one A grade player? or is it a better idea to build a team of solid contributes who can play there roll?

It's never worked for us in the past...

It's never worked for us in the past...

I am not sure it has ever worked. One A grader like Carey might get you into the finals but it won't get you the cup unless there are 6 to 8 other very good players and more. Think Abletts, Judd, Flower, etc. Great players still need quality help.

Pointing the finger at a few of the posters whinging about us picking up Milkshake after this today...

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/jake-melkshams-new-melbourne-gear-stolen/story-e6frf3e3-1227601309940

Pointing the finger at a few of the posters whinging about us picking up Milkshake after this today...

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/jake-melkshams-new-melbourne-gear-stolen/story-e6frf3e3-1227601309940

Nice twitter reply from Christian Petracca too

To those who didn't agree to drafting milky-no need to steal his training gear.Just silly.

To those who didn't agree to drafting milky-no need to steal his training gear.Just silly.

Sorry, was looking for the 'good stuff'.

Sorry, was looking for the 'good stuff'.

wrong Jake, ex-bomber's car

On 11 October 2015 at 0:57 PM, rjay said:

If Goodwin & McCartney think he's worth it then we should trust them on this...my only reservation is what WADA have to say.

 

On 15 October 2015 at 10:49 AM, beelzebub said:

My only concern is not IF he can play, as I'll defer to the club on that , it is WHEN he can play and the wisdom of such

He could well be ok as a player. I just have this uneasy feeling we're being played by Essendon.

I think the club need to make a statement on the recruiting of Melksham. The only word from the club I remember seeing was a post from one of the supporters evenings where the club were of the view that even if found guilty the players would only receive a very short suspension.

The club have really been very professional in the PJ years and I'm really thankful that he's running the club and has all the right pieces in place. I do think however they dropped the ball on this one and didn't think it through being too caught up in the AFL hype.

7 minutes ago, rjay said:

 

I think the club need to make a statement on the recruiting of Melksham. The only word from the club I remember seeing was a post from one of the supporters evenings where the club were of the view that even if found guilty the players would only receive a very short suspension.

The club have really been very professional in the PJ years and I'm really thankful that he's running the club and has all the right pieces in place. I do think however they dropped the ball on this one and didn't think it through being too caught up in the AFL hype.

I've been thinking this as well. I wonder if they are just finalising their message. Odd they didnt have a statement ready to go. 

1 hour ago, rjay said:

 

I think the club need to make a statement on the recruiting of Melksham. The only word from the club I remember seeing was a post from one of the supporters evenings where the club were of the view that even if found guilty the players would only receive a very short suspension.

The club have really been very professional in the PJ years and I'm really thankful that he's running the club and has all the right pieces in place. I do think however they dropped the ball on this one and didn't think it through being too caught up in the AFL hype.

They probably just took the view that even if he got rubbed out, it would be worth it. One year in the context of a whole career is almost immaterial; he'll come back at the ripe old age of 25 and have another 5+ years.

It's really not that different to drafting a player who does his knee on day 1, although for this he can return fit and with no risk of reoccurrence. I really don't see the big deal.

18 minutes ago, Nasher said:

They probably just took the view that even if he got rubbed out, it would be worth it. One year in the context of a whole career is almost immaterial; he'll come back at the ripe old age of 25 and have another 5+ years.

It's really not that different to drafting a player who does his knee on day 1, although for this he can return fit and with no risk of reoccurrence. I really don't see the big deal.

I really don't understand this line of thinking. If a player does his knee on day one it's an accident that is unavoidable. MFC recruited Melksham knowing he could be rubbed out for 1 or 2 years & we still followed through & paid the asking price which Essendon demanded from us. 

Your point regarding it only being a year out of his career is an odd one also. A very good to exceptional AFL player will play 10-12 years of good footy. An average player might get around 4-6 good years in his career & most will probably on average play a lot less. Having one year taken out of his career & not being able to train with the club is a blow that we could have minimised at least.

I don't see how the trade can be judged a good one at the moment or glossed over as not a big deal now that Melksham will be out for a year. All these points are without even considering whether he will be a good player for us or not if & when he does get on the field. He has been ordinary at Essendon for a couple of years & if you ask Essendon supporters they weren't fazed to lose him. When I add all these points up it doesn't look like an astute piece of trading, but like all trades we can only view it after the players career is over. I hope for the MFC's sake it does work out, but on the face of it, it is looking like a bad trade.