11 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

It would make more sense, to me anyway, to try and get Polec and a chunk of his wages off the books.  See if you can get yourself a decent draft pick and look at developing from within.

Taking T Mac off our hands is a nothing move really.

True. But maybe he's told them he wants to go. Get the deal done and move on. 

They've already failed to dress it up and pushed him out the door, or that was his manager's doing, and so his value on the open market is low.

They should be taking what they can get. In this case, they may view Tom as a swingman KPP. And if they want to tank, all they have to do is send Tom into the backline and make him the kicker.

I'm keen.

If we disregard this year and look at his three previous years then we can see that he's averaged around 23-24 disposals per game, had elite ''metres gained'[ and kicked 36 goals from a wing.  He also 'regularly gets on the park playing 66 games, which I've learnt to value.

In his last year at Port - 2018 - he finished top 5 in their B&F and I compared his stats that year with Ed Langdon's from 2019 (Freo) and they were almost identical with Polec probably just edging him.

If his heads right I think he's a good fit.

17 minutes ago, Hannibal Inc. said:

I'm keen.

If we disregard this year and look at his three previous years then we can see that he's averaged around 23-24 disposals per game, had elite ''metres gained'[ and kicked 36 goals from a wing.  He also 'regularly gets on the park playing 66 games, which I've learnt to value.

In his last year at Port - 2018 - he finished top 5 in their B&F and I compared his stats that year with Ed Langdon's from 2019 (Freo) and they were almost identical with Polec probably just edging him.

If his heads right I think he's a good fit.

Agree with all of that.

I think if we can add Saad as well, all of a sudden there's quite a bit of leg speed there and ability to cover the ground with Langdon leading the way.

It means we can use Salem further up the ground too if we want. 

On 9/24/2020 at 9:53 AM, DeeSpencer said:

You mean the way he tackled Shuey almost around his waist before Shuey flat out cheated?

 

The way they lift the arm up should be deemed prior opportunity and these flogs should get pinned every time. Selwood won't get a kick

I'm in favour.

He clearly has pros and cons. IMO, we need the pros more than the cons hurt us. His outside run on a wing could be huge for us. If he struggles with contested ball or hard ball gets, we should be able to deal with that as we don't need 22 players who are contested beasts.

Where it won't work is if he doesn't run two ways to defend. We've been plugging the gap on the non-Langdon wing with a lot of vandenBerg, Jones, Sparrow - not great for the role but at least playing a role defensively. Unless we dramatically reduce our turnovers, we can't afford to have a winger who doesn't defend. 

Assuming we can get him running both ways, and assuming we work out how to deal with his enormous contract (i.e. North covering it or we lose a player or two to make salary cap room), I'm in favour.

4 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

Why would North trade Ben Brown, only to bring in Tom McDonald? 

For North it makes zero sense and they have said as much. 

For us, of course, it makes more sense, especially in that Tom's wage is up there with Polec's. But I'd be super surprised if they went after Tom. 

North have a huge age gap from 25 to 30 on their list. Even if they move on Higgins their over 30's are ok - Ziebell, Hall, Tarrant, Goldy.

But in that prime age they'll have Cunnington, Tom Campbell (a break glass if needed ruck), Atley, Walker, Dom Tyson (if they keep him) and Garner (if they keep him).

They don't want Polec, they'll bring in Corr and they want to trade Brown now whilst he still has some value to get more draft picks.

So they desperately need good solid citizens in that mid to late 20's because otherwise not only will the side be terrible but the leadership and training standards will fall off a cliff too.

Tommy at CHF with Larkey as the main inside 50 target probably pairs better for Larkey's development than a lot of other options too. It's not as good as Brown in full flight and Larkey up the ground but it might not be hopeless. It reminds me of the way Brad Miller played 2 seasons at Richmond for Jack Riewoldt. Or even the same way Daniel Cross played 2 seasons at Melbourne on a wing or flank to help our young mids. They have to spend the salary cap someway and they won't be signing any big name free agents or trades (heavens knows how much they paid Corr but they didn't get Williams and will be long odds to get Saad).

Jade Rawlings knows Tom so will know his character and off field leadership. If I were North I'd be reluctant to publicly confirm interest because it does look like a big step backwards going from Brown to Tommy Mc, but to me it does make some sense. If you delist 11 players and trade 3 of your best 10 you're going to have to find senior players from somewhere.

2 hours ago, Hannibal Inc. said:

I'm keen.

If we disregard this year and look at his three previous years then we can see that he's averaged around 23-24 disposals per game, had elite ''metres gained'[ and kicked 36 goals from a wing.  He also 'regularly gets on the park playing 66 games, which I've learnt to value.

In his last year at Port - 2018 - he finished top 5 in their B&F and I compared his stats that year with Ed Langdon's from 2019 (Freo) and they were almost identical with Polec probably just edging him.

If his heads right I think he's a good fit.

That last sentence is the deciding factor IMO

Still wondering why 3 clubs are prepared to offload him, particularly given North committed quite a bit to get him

North are desperate to get him and Brown off the books, even if it means paying a portion of their salary. 

I'd offer a 3rd rounder and i bet they'd take it. 

3 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

That last sentence is the deciding factor IMO

Still wondering why 3 clubs are prepared to offload him, particularly given North committed quite a bit to get him

three clubs didn't 'offload' him, per se - he left bears as they were a dumpster truck fire at the time (he was one of the 'wantaway five', and got to go home to sa) and pear couldn't come close to giving him the sort of contract that north could

all the pear people i know still really rate him, both as a footballer and a person

I agree he would add some value

Question 1 Salary cap and contract value? 

$$$ he is on decent coin and to get him , North would have to pay at least 1/3rd if his 2020-21 contracts.   
 

Question 2  His Trade worth? 

From AFL Website draft picks update, Giants have pick 39 which we could try to grab for Preuss. Then we could offload that pick for Polec. North may ask for a 2nd round however he was not in their best 22 even when they had 10-12 players out injured. Hardly justifies a pick lower than 40 imo 

8 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

three clubs didn't 'offload' him, per se - he left bears as they were a dumpster truck fire at the time (he was one of the 'wantaway five', and got to go home to sa) and pear couldn't come close to giving him the sort of contract that north could

all the pear people i know still really rate him, both as a footballer and a person

So he left PA for coin. Now he has coin and Norf want him out.

Yeah nah, sounds like a misfit at 3 clubs to me

8 hours ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

three clubs didn't 'offload' him, per se - he left bears as they were a dumpster truck fire at the time (he was one of the 'wantaway five', and got to go home to sa) and pear couldn't come close to giving him the sort of contract that north could

all the pear people i know still really rate him, both as a footballer and a person

Looks like a relatively cheap way to improve our other wing, assuming North will fund a portion of his salary and not need to offer much re picks. So potential for a significant win if he can deliver something approaching Langdon!

 

39 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

So he left PA for coin. Now he has coin and Norf want him out.

Yeah nah, sounds like a misfit at 3 clubs to me

if you were offered three times what you were being offered to do the same job at another organisation, would you knock it back?

1 hour ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

if you were offered three times what you were being offered to do the same job at another organisation, would you knock it back?

Do you think my job or yours are even remotely comparable to that of a professional footballer in the AFL? 

Are you saying he's only interested in money? Cause Norf certainly weren't/aren't in the window of success

Ironically, had he stayed at one of his first two clubs he'd now be in the mix to experience the ultimate success

Regardless, if he came to us I'd be forever wondering what his next excuse for leaving might be

Edited September 26, 20204 yr by Moonshadow

28 minutes ago, whatwhatsaywhat said:

if you were offered three times what you were being offered to do the same job at another organisation, would you knock it back?

Also, Scott brought him in to add to a group he thought would compete for finals. 

Scott’s not there now and there is a different direction for the club. Polec is something of a luxury item in this scenario. It shouldn’t reflect as badly on Polec as it has done.

Perhaps he's just on a mission to collect a jumper from every club in the comp

My brother and I watched the MELB v North game at Adelaide Oval this year and his two way running or defending in general was very poor. He was yelling and pointing and whinging with teammates and his opponent on numerous occasions simply ran past him and got a kick. One of their supporters near us dubbed him “the pointer” and was ripping into him the whole last quarter for no defensive effort at all. FWIW it’d be a no for mine based on the attitude I witnessed.

14 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

North have a huge age gap from 25 to 30 on their list. Even if they move on Higgins their over 30's are ok - Ziebell, Hall, Tarrant, Goldy.
 

That's a fair point - however, Ben Brown falls inside that age bracket.  By signing him to a three year deal on around 700k, it would be a similar deal to what they would be getting if they traded Tom McDonald in.

The difference is that Ben Brown is a proven goalkicker.  I'm sure that they could have gone back to the table with Brown and sorted something out.

But they have come and said they are moving on from Brown - so why then take on someone like McDonald to fill a gap like that?  It makes little sense to me.  I would absolutely look to put more time into Larkey, but sticking McDonald in front of him, to me, doesn't seem like a smart move.  North fans would be well within their right to question why they would move on Brown to bring in a hobbled and slow Tom McDonald.

Look, if they take him off our hands then I'm all for it.  I can't see a way forward for him at our club, and if we added Polec in return then it makes sense to us.  But, to me, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense from a Norf stand point.  I guess that won't be our problem though.

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

That's a fair point - however, Ben Brown falls inside that age bracket.  By signing him to a three year deal on around 700k, it would be a similar deal to what they would be getting if they traded Tom McDonald in.

McDonald has 2 years left and I’d be imagining they’d be asking us to make 700k become a whole lot less. Over the course of the contracts you’re talking well over 1M saved. Add in the top 25 pick they’ll get from Brown and it’s adding up to a big difference.

They’re also likely to draft a young key forward who would take the spot if not immediately then well before Brown’s contract is up. 

It’s best viewed as 2 different deals. First is to decide Brown isn’t a long term part of the future. Second is to decide on who they can find as cheap mature age depth. The options for mature depth forwards are incredibly limited. Hence why we have Mitch Brown.

There's been some talk about Shaun Higgins. He will be 33 at the start of next season.

Just now, bingers said:

There's been some talk about Shaun Higgins. He will be 33 at the start of next season.

all comes down to do we think higgins will make us better, and what do we have to pay for him? for mine he would clearly be one of our best 10 players based upon his output across the last few years alone

say it's one of our fourth rounders? why not - one year deal with options (he'd undoubtedly want two) and north paying a portion of his salary

i'd probably prefer polec as his pace appeals more than higgins' consistency

30 minutes ago, bingers said:

There's been some talk about Shaun Higgins. He will be 33 at the start of next season.

Geelong bound isn’t he? If not and if Jones doesn’t play on, why not? We don’t have many ‘mature’ steady hands. 

Edited September 26, 20204 yr by Ethan Tremblay

6 hours ago, HBDee said:

My brother and I watched the MELB v North game at Adelaide Oval this year and his two way running or defending in general was very poor. He was yelling and pointing and whinging with teammates and his opponent on numerous occasions simply ran past him and got a kick. One of their supporters near us dubbed him “the pointer” and was ripping into him the whole last quarter for no defensive effort at all. FWIW it’d be a no for mine based on the attitude I witnessed.

Sounds like the perfect replacement for Jordan Lewis.

On 9/25/2020 at 2:15 PM, A F said:

Agree with all of that.

I think if we can add Saad as well, all of a sudden there's quite a bit of leg speed there and ability to cover the ground with Langdon leading the way.

It means we can use Salem further up the ground too if we want. 

Now you're talkin'. Just about as good as it could get.

17 minutes ago, Grr-owl said:

Now you're talkin'. Just about as good as it could get.

Adding Merrett would be the icing on the cake. ;)