Welcome to Demonland: Jake Lever

[Dr. Gonzo 24,225]

39 minutes ago, It's Time said:

Last year was no first rounder because we brought it forward to the year before and got Weideman. This year & next is to get Lever who is 21. We have the 3rd youngest list. We don't want to be going to the draft for top end talent anymore. We'd have to wait 4 years for them to be ready. We don't have that time anymore. We can bring in kids in a few years. 

 

Agreed - was my initial reaction but I'm just happy we've secured him and can move on to other things this trade period.

[Cards13 9,117]

No idea why people are getting shirty about the trade. It is not earth shatteringly bad, we wanted him, we paid what we thought was fair. As other have said the draft is a fair old cr@ p shoot, it is better to bring in talented/developed players than constantly spend at the draft when a club hits our age profile and have had the "luxury" of having low draft picks over a number of years.

in Mahns we trust!

WELCOME JAKEY!!!! 

[old55 23,609]

Welcome to the club Jake!

It's a good trade and the value is very similar to 10 + 27 which everyone seemed happy with.

10 + 12(?) + 66(?) for Lever + 35 + 53(?)

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

14 minutes ago, Bring Back Barassi said:

Mahoneys negotiating skills are particularly poor. He was in a commanding position in this trade, Lever could have gone to the draft Luke Ball style and Crows would have gotten nothing.

Someone would have picked Lever up before us.

[Bring Back Barassi 552]

1 minute ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Someone would have picked Lever up before us.

Luke Ball said he would not play for any club other than Collingwood, and if anyone picked him he would sit out the season. From memory i think he got picked at 30, Saints got nothing

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Just now, Bring Back Barassi said:

Luke Ball said he would not play for any club other than Collingwood, and if anyone picked him he would sit out the season. From memory i think he got picked at 30, Saints got nothing

I'd be shocked if this happened again.

[Cards13 9,117]

42 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

Im over my mini whine from 20 minutes ago about the picks we gave up. Screw the picks.

We just landed the best young defender in the entire competition.

Yes, the Melbourne football club did. The place nobody wanted to set foot in 5 years ago. What  a time to be alive. 

What are the 5 stages of grief? Good to see you zoom through them so quickly P!  

[Nasher 33,616]

2 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

I'd be shocked if this happened again.

There's no way that could be allowed to happen again, surely. If that isn't draft tampering, then draft tampering isn't a thing.

[danielE288 779]

Couldn't be happier. Great outcome

[KingDingAling 3,758]

MFC speaks a good game but just can't negotiate. Lever did all the leg work, and put us in a strong position at the trade table. We just gave away a future first round pick we didn't need to. MFC once again pulling the trigger early. Amateurs.

[worldwideweb_demon 90]

With Watts gone, we have a new Messiah!!

Two first round picks and big bucks. Hope he delivers more than Jack.

[durango 2,008]

Just watched Jake Lever Highlights his reading of the play is well above average and is marking is virtually one grab, not much seen re-disposal and run?

[Bring Back Barassi 552]

1 minute ago, Nasher said:

There's no way that could be allowed to happen again, surely. If that isn't draft tampering, then draft tampering isn't a thing.

Either way, we could have played it smarter, stood firm to the end of trade week at least, instead of just collapsing.Hey, dont get me wrong, doing the deal was imperative, just the way it was played was weak and we could have gotten him for less im sure

[Demons1858 1,760]

37 minutes ago, ProDee said:

For every top 10 pick in Oliver there's a Grant, Vickery, Butcher, Moore, Aish, Toumpas, Morabito, Conca, Gorringe, Gumbleton, O'Rourke, Morton, Buntine, Sumner, & Freeman.

These are the more recent top 10 fails (injuries included), but there are also plenty who are just solid foot soldiers.

Lever is the best young defender in the game with a decade ahead of him.  He's only going to get better.  He fits into a perfect profile in that he's in the same age bracket as Viney, Hogan, Petracca, Salem, Oliver, Brayshaw, Hunt, Osca, ANB, Stretch, and Weideman.  That's a great core who'll grow together.

You've got to give to get and I'll take the certainty of Lever over the speculation of pick 10 and a future pick in the teens.  As we get better we'll also have other players keen to join the club.

But I ask you, how many recent top 10 draft picks have Adelaide, Sydney, and Geelong had since 2008.

Adelaide's last top 10 draft pick was in 2008.  They also got Brad Crouch in a mini draft.  So let's say two top 10 quality players in 9 years.

Since 2008 Sydney have had 2 top 10 draft picks, plus Heeney, who would have been.  Three in 9 years.

Since 2008 Geelong have had 1 top 10 draft pick.  One in 9 years - and that was pick 10 itself.

Let's throw in Hawthorn.  Since 2008 Hawthorn have had zero top 10 draft picks.  Zero in 9 years.

Melbourne ?

Ten in 9 years, including Hogan from the mini draft.

You can [censored] and moan about giving up pick 10 and a future pick in the teens, but we've had our time in the draft and it's now time to get proven quality players into the club and start making an assault on the ladder and competition.

It was a no brainer and I couldn't be happier.

All true about the hit and miss stats on top 10 picks but the truth is he is out of contract and using recent example of the market value for big fish crossing clubs as a guide we can safely say we paid overs but not by as much as some suggest.

The stats about Hawt, Sydn, Geel are not in context as they were completing an already polished team with mature / free agency recruits

Having said that, I don't mind paying a little over if it fills a well defined hole in our list which he does just nicely. Also has massive POTENTIAL upside as a 21 year old that made the all Aussie squad.

Suspect we have other business to conduct this trade period and the opportunity cost of dragging this on further might have started to bite so we needed the deal done ASAP

Edited October 12, 2017 by Demons1858

[Beetle 4,660]

23 minutes ago, stevethemanjordan said:

A reminder that we now have picks 27, 35 and 45 heading into this draft.

Given certain club's needs to obtain multiple draft picks for points for father/son or academy zone players, it's not out of the question that we won't once again make a play to get back into the first round.

So again, [censored] relax.

This trade could have been drawn out to the last day with both clubs refusing to give an inch.

the fact it's been done early on day 4 suggests to me Mahoney wanted it locked away in order to move onto other deals.

Maybe we gave up more than we initially intended to but it's possible it was done to achieve things this trade period that will benefit us even further, rather than holding out on draft positioning..

[Nasher 33,616]

3 minutes ago, Bring Back Barassi said:

Either way, we could have played it smarter, stood firm to the end of trade week at least, instead of just collapsing.Hey, dont get me wrong, doing the deal was imperative, just the way it was played was weak and we could have gotten him for less im sure

I'll let the remainder of the trade period play out before giving any thought to whether we should have held out or not. If pick 35 is on-traded, that points to there being value in getting the deal done quickly rather than holding everything up.

[Jaded No More 68,958]

31 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

The gamble is going into the next two drafts without a first round pick (assuming we don't pick any up in trades before then).

It was a gamble we took that landed us Oliver was it not?

If history has taught us anything is that drafting key position players is such a big big risk. We've drafted a few with early picks and only Hogan has proven to be worth the price.

Lever is a proven gun defender and he is only 21. We essentially drafted a top 10 player but he is ready to go and is AFL proven who has 10+ years left in the game! That is a very very difficult thing to achieve, and the chances of doing this in the draft are I would say less than 20%. How many draftees go on to be A grade players who play 10+ seasons?

We obviously think our window is about to open, and are trading for the now. Anyone who watched us last season knows that we desperately needed help in defence, especially if TMac ends up forward (which I suspect he will). We never really recovered down back with the loss of Frawley, and Lever more than fills that gap for us now.

Midfielders, especially outside runners, can be found later in the draft, and are a cheaper commodity on the trade table. Besides, who knows what pick 35 has in store for us, or what we will get for Watts. 

[Moonshadow 17,676]

6 minutes ago, KingDingAling said:

MFC speaks a good game but just can't negotiate. Lever did all the leg work, and put us in a strong position at the trade table. We just gave away a future first round pick we didn't need to. MFC once again pulling the trigger early. Amateurs.

Living up to your name mate.

[old55 23,609]

Mahoney has a great trading record - I'm backing him!

[DeeZone 9,856]

Welcome Jake another great acquisition to the MFC, Onwards And Upwards for the Mighty Dee's...........!!!!!!! 

[KingDingAling 3,758]

Just now, Moonshadow said:

Living up to your name mate.

Ha. great reply. Well done bud. Top notch!

[Moonshadow 17,676]

3 minutes ago, KingDingAling said:

Ha. great reply. Well done bud. Top notch!

You're welcome 

Edited October 12, 2017 by Moonshadow

[The Stigga 1,094]

We were all happy to give 10 and 27 this year.

So what the hell is the difference between 10 and say 15 next year?

Nothing.

People massively overrate draft picks.

 

[Gator 17,379]

Off to work on my best 22 for 2018  ?

We've just added a player who will immediately be in the top 10 on our list. 

Nothing to sneeze at. 

[The Stigga 1,094]

10 minutes ago, KingDingAling said:

MFC speaks a good game but just can't negotiate. Lever did all the leg work, and put us in a strong position at the trade table. We just gave away a future first round pick we didn't need to. MFC once again pulling the trigger early. Amateurs.

 

You put a lot of value on such a massive unknown.