17 hours ago, mo64 said:

Finally someone is speaking sense. Wells and Mayne are not costing Collingwood any draft picks, whereas we're coughing up for Melksham last year and Hibberd this year. So if Wells and Mayne can fit into their salary cap short term, what they're getting paid is irrelevant.

Since the Bailey era, Demonlanders have been brainwashed into believing that a total rebuild is the only way to go. People like ProDee boasts about how young our list is. In the modern era of free agency and contracts being broken at will, the idea of topping up will become more prevalent. And if you can top up via free agency as the Pies have, it's a massive bonus. It's all about winning now and not potential.

Wells is a jet, and just the type we need. Mayne wouldn't suit us, but the Pies need more forward pressure, so he addresses a need for them. 

Nobody doubts Well's talent but at 32 and with his history of injury and doubts of his capacity to play at anything less than 100% fit a 3 year $1.8 million deal comes with a large amount of risk of having 600K a year of dead money in the cap.

Mayne just seems overpriced for a player of his talent and role.  Again if its a 4 year $2 million deal if he can't get back to his Freo form of a few years ago that is also potentially a lot of dead money in the cap.

For mine they seem desperate short term moves to get the Pies into the bottom of the 8 and save Buckley's coaching career.

Time will tell!

Collingwood have lost the plot - not that their plot was much in the first place.

1 hour ago, SaberFang said:

If the Bombers trade pick 1 for a combination of picks 3 & 5 from GWS, that's such an awful lose-lose outcome for every other team. And you just know it'll happen because the Bombers are big enough assholes to outright threaten to bid on their Academy players with pick 1 and screw up all their draft picks if they refuse to do the trade.

The Bombers will rebound faster with multiple top 10 picks than pick 1 alone, and GWS get to continue rorting the Academy system by getting not only the best player of the open draft but even more top 5 players via their Academy for a bunch of late first rounders.

The fact is the Academy bidding system pollutes the draft with corruption; any other team would be over the moon to have 3 & 5 in this draft, but GWS' concessions mean they are actually better off trading down those picks then hoarding some late first rounders. No non-Academy club would give up those picks in exchange for one, and without Academies clubs Essendon wouldn't be able to blackmail teams into trades.

Looks like you are spot on given the article released just now in heraldsun. Classic Dodoro leaking this to the media so GWS and Gold coast crap themselves and they will have to give 3 and 5, or in GC's case give 4 and 8 to Essendon. 

Essendon could bid No.1 draft pick on northern academy stars in surprise draft move

SAM LANDSBERGER, Herald Sun

7 minutes ago

ESSENDON is likely to sacrifice the prestige of crowning this year’s No.1 draft pick by bidding on academy stars Jack Bowes and Will Setterfield.

If both bids are matched the Bombers would watch Gold Coast secure Bowes and GWS secure Setterfield before selecting either Hugh McCluggage or Andy McGrath at No.3.

The shock move would force the expansion clubs to either pay premium price for their prized midfielders or watch them flourish at Tullamarine.

 

6 minutes ago, wheaters31 said:

Looks like you are spot on given the article released just now in heraldsun. Classic Dodoro leaking this to the media so GWS and Gold coast crap themselves and they will have to give 3 and 5, or in GC's case give 4 and 8 to Essendon. 

Essendon could bid No.1 draft pick on northern academy stars in surprise draft move

SAM LANDSBERGER, Herald Sun

7 minutes ago

ESSENDON is likely to sacrifice the prestige of crowning this year’s No.1 draft pick by bidding on academy stars Jack Bowes and Will Setterfield.

If both bids are matched the Bombers would watch Gold Coast secure Bowes and GWS secure Setterfield before selecting either Hugh McCluggage or Andy McGrath at No.3.

The shock move would force the expansion clubs to either pay premium price for their prized midfielders or watch them flourish at Tullamarine.

 

I hope they do, someone has to force the draft dodgers into playing by the rules, though i suspect this is a bid by essendon to try to get a bonus from one or both of them for not bidding on the academy players.

1 hour ago, SaberFang said:

If the Bombers trade pick 1 for a combination of picks 3 & 5 from GWS, that's such an awful lose-lose outcome for every other team. And you just know it'll happen because the Bombers are big enough assholes to outright threaten to bid on their Academy players with pick 1 and screw up all their draft picks if they refuse to do the trade.

The Bombers will rebound faster with multiple top 10 picks than pick 1 alone, and GWS get to continue rorting the Academy system by getting not only the best player of the open draft but even more top 5 players via their Academy for a bunch of late first rounders.

The fact is the Academy bidding system pollutes the draft with corruption; any other team would be over the moon to have 3 & 5 in this draft, but GWS' concessions mean they are actually better off trading down those picks then hoarding some late first rounders. No non-Academy club would give up those picks in exchange for one, and without Academies clubs Essendon wouldn't be able to blackmail teams into trades.

Well spotted.

361: serious problems with the system. The drug cheats gain astounding advantage.

In comparison when we were punished, poorly managed and at the bottom of the ladder (no different to Dons today) our early picks were lost to the development teams GC & GWS. 

It sends me insaine! 

37 minutes ago, Deecisive said:

I hope they do, someone has to force the draft dodgers into playing by the rules, though i suspect this is a bid by essendon to try to get a bonus from one or both of them for not bidding on the academy players.

and that would be draft tampering, especially since dedoro has telescoped it. but expect afl integrity unit to look the other way

2 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

and that would be draft tampering, especially since dedoro has telescoped it. but expect afl integrity unit to look the other way

How? Essendon are allowed to bid on academy players with pick 1. How is it draft tampering? 

The other clubs dont have to match the bid.

8 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

and that would be draft tampering, especially since dedoro has telescoped it. but expect afl integrity unit to look the other way

 

The AFL self interest in seeing the GWS and other interstate clubs flourish at the extense of the smaller melbourne clubs is clearly evident in everything they do.

4 minutes ago, Night Crawler said:

How? Essendon are allowed to bid on academy players with pick 1. How is it draft tampering? 

The other clubs dont have to match the bid.

tampering if essendon then did a deal with franchise club to not bid pick #1

23 minutes ago, Grand New Flag said:

361: serious problems with the system. The drug cheats gain astounding advantage.

In comparison when we were punished, poorly managed and at the bottom of the ladder (no different to Dons today) our early picks were lost to the development teams GC & GWS. 

It sends me insaine! 

Another unintended consequence of the AFL's wisdom - bringing in the academy scoring without thinking of it being manipulated.

9 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

and that would be draft tampering, especially since dedoro has telescoped it. but expect afl integrity unit to look the other way

 

4 minutes ago, Night Crawler said:

How? Essendon are allowed to bid on academy players with pick 1. How is it draft tampering? 

The other clubs dont have to match the bid.

The whole system is open to manipulation and underhanded deals. It's the nature of the business and need to get better at working it. We have improved during Roos' reign, and must continue to under Goodwin

 

18 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

tampering if essendon then did a deal with franchise club to not bid pick #1

That wouldn't be the deal -- Essendon are trying to force their hands into giving up multiple top 10 picks in exchange for pick 1, by blackmailing them via their scumbag mates in the media that they will [censored] them over and bid on both their Academy players with pick 1.

There is literally no other reason to start playing this game through the media unless that's Essendon's agenda. Remember that GWS and Gold Coast  look likely to end up with picks 3, 4, 5, 6 & 8 in this draft, and Essendon could tank their entire draft strategy with Academy bids at pick 1.

Whether they take the bluff is another matter. Any non-Academy club would laugh at Essendon's predicament and keep picks 3 & 5/4, 6 & 8 for themselves, but the Academy bidding process changes the whole situation. They want to acquire their Academy kids for cheap picks at the end of the first round but also get 2 or 3 kids in the top 8 of the open draft (ie, they want to have their cake and eat it too, which is exactly what the bidding process was meant to prevent).

Why couldn't GWS and GC  do something more creative with these picks?

Sorry guys, for all the EFC conspiracy theories if we were in the same position and if there were no absolute stand out at number one I would expect us to trade out for 2 picks in the top 10.

It's only good management.

Just now, rjay said:

Sorry guys, for all the EFC conspiracy theories if we were in the same position and if there were no absolute stand out at number one I would expect us to trade out for 2 picks in the top 10.

It's only good management.

Exactly, i would hope that we would do exactly the same thing.

6 minutes ago, rjay said:

Sorry guys, for all the EFC conspiracy theories if we were in the same position and if there were no absolute stand out at number one I would expect us to trade out for 2 picks in the top 10.

It's only good management.

The problem is they shouldn't have pick 1 to begin with. 

They should be made to suffer in the bottom 4 for the next decade, but the AFL let them off lightly as you'd expect from the corrupt clowns that run the league.

Shits me that Essendrug can get first dibs on their top up players like Dea, since they will technically be DFA's, they can pick them up without any other club getting a chance at them, all because they pumped their players full of illegal drugs.

18 minutes ago, rjay said:

Sorry guys, for all the EFC conspiracy theories if we were in the same position and if there were no absolute stand out at number one I would expect us to trade out for 2 picks in the top 10.

It's only good management.

As echoed above, they have no right to have pick 1, yet look set to access a treasure trove of early draft picks.

Would it be good management for our club to run a doping program, get caught by WADA, have our entire list banned for 2 years but get pick 1 two years running? I doubt the AFL would be as generous with us as they have been with Essendon, bending over backwards doing everything in their power to help them get back up the ladder.

27 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

The problem is they shouldn't have pick 1 to begin with. 

They should be made to suffer in the bottom 4 for the next decade, but the AFL let them off lightly as you'd expect from the corrupt clowns that run the league.

 

20 minutes ago, SaberFang said:

As echoed above, they have no right to have pick 1, yet look set to access a treasure trove of early draft picks.

Would it be good management for our club to run a doping program, get caught by WADA, have our entire list banned for 2 years but get pick 1 two years running? I doubt the AFL would be as generous with us as they have been with Essendon, bending over backwards doing everything in their power to help them get back up the ladder.

Agree fully that they should not have the number 1 pick, the AFL have totally screwed this. Maybe they can take it back when the get Jobe's Brownlow.

However, that has nothing to do with what I am talking about here. It's a whole different issue.

They do have the number one pick and they will use it in the best way they see fit to advance the club to the benefit of their members as we would and any club in the same position would.

So Ahern and Pickett probably going to North and Carlton, these are the kinds of players that GWS are giving up cheaply and we should be in the hunt for, but we seem to be linked to no one but HIbberd.

10 minutes ago, TheoX said:

So Ahern and Pickett probably going to North and Carlton, these are the kinds of players that GWS are giving up cheaply and we should be in the hunt for, but we seem to be linked to no one but HIbberd.

Maybe our FD don't rate them, we have enough depth players  

if there's a deal to be done and we want to do it, we will, I'm glad we aren't involved in every retiree looking to top up their super.  

16 minutes ago, TheoX said:

So Ahern and Pickett probably going to North and Carlton, these are the kinds of players that GWS are giving up cheaply and we should be in the hunt for, but we seem to be linked to no one but HIbberd.

Why should we be in the hunt for Ahern and Pickett?

I just read ahern wont play in 2017 after recentlty rupturong his acilles (for the second time?). Great pick up. Not.

3 hours ago, wheaters31 said:

Looks like you are spot on given the article released just now in heraldsun. Classic Dodoro leaking this to the media so GWS and Gold coast crap themselves and they will have to give 3 and 5, or in GC's case give 4 and 8 to Essendon. 

Essendon could bid No.1 draft pick on northern academy stars in surprise draft move

SAM LANDSBERGER, Herald Sun

7 minutes ago

ESSENDON is likely to sacrifice the prestige of crowning this year’s No.1 draft pick by bidding on academy stars Jack Bowes and Will Setterfield.

If both bids are matched the Bombers would watch Gold Coast secure Bowes and GWS secure Setterfield before selecting either Hugh McCluggage or Andy McGrath at No.3.

The shock move would force the expansion clubs to either pay premium price for their prized midfielders or watch them flourish at Tullamarine.

 

If Setterfield and Bowes are not as good as McLuggage and McGrath, it won't happen. GC or GWS would let Bombers take one and they would then see one of the Mc's fall to them. 

With pick 3 GWS are in the box seat. Only problem is they want McGrath and Bombers or Lions could stop that party,