4 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Has this been substantiated DZ or has it just become folklore?

Doesn’t make any sense to me after knee and ankle injuries 

He has said it himself.

StraIght from the horses mouth

7 minutes ago, DeeZee said:

He has said it himself.

StraIght from the horses mouth

Ok. Wasn’t aware of that. 
strange piece of advice 

36 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

When the Ox did his 3rd knee he was told to put on weight, that seemed to work pretty well.

T Mac no where the class or skill of DS

Very difficult to understand the strategy of loading up injured joints

 

2 hours ago, DemonOX said:

It’s not needed for Brown. It’s needed to re-sign Clarry and others etc. 

Great, I say we need to keep Tom Mc.

We get in BB who takes FF. Tom Mc can be used forward or back as injuries & form decide.

At 28 he is at the peak of his career. I trust Burgo to get him back to 2018 fitness.

Clarry & Trac need to be signed during 2021 and will need good coin. List management is complex and I admit I don't know the $'s. But I know the heart and soul of this man.

BTW if we go deep into the finals next year, the guys will want to stay & others come.

We need to keep Tom

 

9 hours ago, Engorged Onion said:

kids and their fan-dangled 'hip' sayings...

I've just turned 40 and I can't decipher it!! ?

Haha, my apologies. By potato I mean I think they'll play like spuds next year.

9 hours ago, Better days ahead said:

I wouldn't be getting too greedy as far as picks are concerned. If the bombers offer to take on his salary that would be a massive win for us. My advice would be to take that deal and run.

Don't get me wrong, if they take on all of T-Macs salary then I'll be expecting nothing but a token pick in return. But if they want us to contribute a significant amount then it slides back to giving us a more valuable pick in my opinion. My prediction is that they'll be in the lower half of the ladder and either a future second or third could wind up being fairly valuable. 

Having said that my preference would be for them to absorb his entire salary, giving us a token pick in return but giving us salary cap space to re-sign the likes of Oliver and Petracca to long term deals and potentially target a quality free agent like a Zach Merrett next season.

A lot of discussion around TMac’s contract and how that may affect if at all the signing of Ben Brown this year and the re signing of Oliver next year and Petracca the year after. We also have Gawn, Salem, the Weid and Luke Jackson out of contract next year. I don’t see it as an issue, Gawn turns 30 next year and whilst still playing some good footy has had his payday, also as captain would be well aware of the importance of keeping the core talent together. Jackson is still finding his feet, for me Salem and the Weid are the interesting ones. But we also have to look at players like Lever and Melksham who both come out of contact in 2022, Lever will be 26 and will obviously play on but has cleaned up on his current contract so one would hope his new contract will be more modest, Melksham will be done. Harmes and Viney are on 4 and 5 years respectively but I think (guessing) their contracts won’t be crippling us. May’s got three years to run on big money and worth every cent. Langdon and Tomlinson are the interesting ones for me, can’t remember what they’re reportedly on. And as some have already alludes to, was missing out on Isaac Smith at three years a good thing. In short I think TMac will be traded, but should he stay I think we can still keep everyone happy. 

 

 

Saw Tom in my local cafe today - whatever is happening, he's looking very happy and relaxed. Hope that's a good thing

He has only got 2 years to run on his contract. It's hardly a Treloar situstion.

2 minutes ago, Pollyanna said:

He has only got 2 years to run on his contract. It's hardly a Treloar situstion.

Sure, but it'd be great to be able to offer that money to Oliver and Petracca over the next two years. The boost this would give the club is enormous.

So what’s being said by some is Burgess is a gun and responsible for getting us fit but ruined TMac. TMac’s decline isn’t a simple matter of gaining weight and losing form. He got injured more than once post 2018, lost form and hasn’t recaptured his 2018 form. Doesn’t mean he won’t which is why I’d keep him

Edited October 31, 20204 yr by Roost it far

You just can’t pay some 700k who’s clearly outside the best 22. Far better off paying 200k for him to play elsewhere are putting those dollars to work. 
 

Extensions, front loading, saving for big names, even just making sure you get a delisted player or mature ager who has competition for their signature. There’s so many ways to use the money. If a team will give us a useable draft pick and take on a fair share of the cash it’s not even a debate.

Should TMac stay it shouldn't directly affect contracts with Oliver and Petracca.  Any new contracts with them will add to current which expire in 2021 and 2022 respectively.  So one way or another TMac's cotract will be off the books or at a vastly reduced level by the time we pay Petracca more.  And for Oliver we can tip more in the years post 2022.

But there are other important deals to be done next year:  Gawn, Jackson, Salem, Weideman etc but I would think timing of their $ over the term of the contract will overcome any major issues.

I don't expect TMac to stay and it would be better to have his $ off the books but don't see his sal to be a major hurdle if he stays.  

Tom has been as loyal as Jones, Jetta and Gawn and has stuck thru the tough years.  If we don't get Brown, I wouldn't be too unhappy for Tom to stay and give him a chance to find form and fitness.

Edited November 1, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

18 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

A lot of discussion around TMac’s contract and how that may affect if at all the signing of Ben Brown this year and the re signing of Oliver next year and Petracca the year after. We also have Gawn, Salem, the Weid and Luke Jackson out of contract next year. I don’t see it as an issue, Gawn turns 30 next year and whilst still playing some good footy has had his payday, also as captain would be well aware of the importance of keeping the core talent together. Jackson is still finding his feet, for me Salem and the Weid are the interesting ones. But we also have to look at players like Lever and Melksham who both come out of contact in 2022, Lever will be 26 and will obviously play on but has cleaned up on his current contract so one would hope his new contract will be more modest, Melksham will be done. Harmes and Viney are on 4 and 5 years respectively but I think (guessing) their contracts won’t be crippling us. May’s got three years to run on big money and worth every cent. Langdon and Tomlinson are the interesting ones for me, can’t remember what they’re reportedly on. And as some have already alludes to, was missing out on Isaac Smith at three years a good thing. In short I think TMac will be traded, but should he stay I think we can still keep everyone happy.

Just saw this.  Didn't mean to paraphrase your post in mine above.  Should have read the whole thread before posting.

Agree with you 100%.

Edited November 1, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

3 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

I don't expect TMac to stay and it would be better to have his $ off the books but don't see his sal to be a major hurdle if he stays.  

Tom has been as loyal as Jones, Jetta and Gawn and has stuck thru the tough years.  If we don't get Brown, I wouldn't be too unhappy for Tom to stay and give him a chance to find form and fitness

That may be so and perhaps we can work around his salary but the fact is he’s not justifying his big contract.

High earning under-performing players are bad for team morale. I’ve nothing against Tmac and reckon he’s a good sort but he’s not earning his wages. He knows it and his team mates know it. We’ve all had a colleague at one stage or another who weren't doing their fair share. They may be nice people but resentment sets in soon enough because others have to pick up the slack. I’d be pretty p’ed off as a player if I knew we couldn’t strengthen the list properly because of the cap sunk in an under performer. I’d also be none too impressed if I wasn’t able to negotiate a better (deserved) contract for myself for the same reason.

If he wants to stay and reckons he can find form and fitness again he should take a pay cut. If he has made the decision to move he should be realistic in his wage demands and expectations. If he digs his heels in and is unreasonable my perception of him will change.

There’s no doubt in my mind its best for all parties that Tmac moves on.

44 minutes ago, Better days ahead said:

That may be so and perhaps we can work around his salary but the fact is he’s not justifying his big contract.

High earning under-performing players are bad for team morale. I’ve nothing against Tmac and reckon he’s a good sort but he’s not earning his wages. He knows it and his team mates know it. We’ve all had a colleague at one stage or another who weren't doing their fair share. They may be nice people but resentment sets in soon enough because others have to pick up the slack. I’d be pretty p’ed off as a player if I knew we couldn’t strengthen the list properly because of the cap sunk in an under performer. I’d also be none too impressed if I wasn’t able to negotiate a better (deserved) contract for myself for the same reason.

If he wants to stay and reckons he can find form and fitness again he should take a pay cut. If he has made the decision to move he should be realistic in his wage demands and expectations. If he digs his heels in and is unreasonable my perception of him will change.

There’s no doubt in my mind its best for all parties that Tmac moves on.

I'm not suggesting Tom stays but if there are no takers we don't have much choice so I'm ok with giving him another chance. 

Tom is not the only one that has under performed his contract.  Two other notables this year are Melksham and Lever, also on good coin and contracted to 2022.  Like Tom, they had injuries in 2019 and for whatever reason failed to perform this year.  So on your line of thinking if they stay, they should take a pay cut, right?  Won't happen.

Edited November 1, 20204 yr by Lucifer's Hero

I'm not sure there will be any takers for Tom.

No club seems to be putting their hand up at the moment and for good reason.

He's had 2 poor seasons and it looks like the game has passed him by...

It happens, players have purple patches then burn out for a multitude of reasons.

We just might have an expensive depth player on our hands unfortunately.

4 minutes ago, rjay said:

I'm not sure there will be any takers for Tom.

No club seems to be putting their hand up at the moment and for good reason.

He's had 2 poor seasons and it looks like the game has passed him by...

It happens, players have purple patches then burn out for a multitude of reasons.

We just might have an expensive depth player on our hands unfortunately.

Think he will find a new home.

5 minutes ago, Redleg said:

Think he will find a new home.

Think it will only be as steak knives 'red' and would that be worth our while. I can't see anyone wanting to take a substantial proportion of his contract unless we can fabricate some kind of win/win deal with another club.

He has to go now.

Our list will be way too top heavy otherwise with Ben Brown coming in.     And if T mac stays theres no chance the other Brown, Mitch, will get another year.

54 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

I'm not suggesting Tom stays but if there are no takers we don't have much choice so I'm ok with giving him another chance. 

Tom is not the only one that has under performed his contract.  Two other notables this year are Melksham and Lever, also on good coin and contracted to 2022.  Like Tom, they had injuries in 2019 and for whatever reason failed to perform this year.  So on your line of thinking if they stay, they should take a pay cut, right?  Won't happen.

Best for all parties - remarkable really is it mainly good for which parties ? The new team has a possibly underperforming Slowish big KPPlayer 

Tom does not really want to leave I imagine but opportunity is the sole reason 

And we want to get rid of his Salary in our Cap and have to gently guide him out of the Club he has been such a loyal servant and great Clubman who will be missed.

Seems like most reasons are not BEST but need to happen to try and break a deadlock.

I secretly hope Tom stays ( or isn't picked up) reduces weight and gets back to 2018 form in the forward  line Or wherever.

That would be the best fir all parties Tom and MFC.

Oh I suppose Oscar is in much the same position but the may be a genuine Best for  all Parties  EXCEPT fir the Oscar haters who may in his absence lord their poisoned chalices at Charlie or Smith or even ANB. 

 

Just now, 58er said:

Best for all parties - remarkable really is it mainly good for which parties ? The new team has a possibly underperforming Slowish big KPPlayer 

Tom does not really want to leave I imagine but opportunity is the sole reason 

And we want to get rid of his Salary in our Cap and have to gently guide him out of the Club he has been such a loyal servant and great Clubman who will be missed.

Seems like most reasons are not BEST but need to happen to try and break a deadlock.

I secretly hope Tom stays ( or isn't picked up) reduces weight and gets back to 2018 form in the forward  line Or wherever.

That would be the best fir all parties Tom and MFC.

Oh I suppose Oscar is in much the same position but the may be a genuine Best for  all Parties  EXCEPT fir the Oscar haters who may in his absence lord their poisoned chalices at Charlie or Smith or even ANB. 

 

The above is a reply to Better  Days AheadS comments on Tom. 

Just spitballing an idea here.

In the hypothetical event that Tom doesn't find a new home, perhaps there's a way we can ease his contract burden and free up a bit of space by re-signing him for another 1 or 2 years. He's 28 now so along with senior opportunity he is probably also after financial security.

Putting out a random figure here, but say he is on $700,000 over the next two years for a total of $1.4mil. We then extend his contract and say we will re-sign you for another year and give you a total of $1.6mil over three. We front end that deal and pay him $1mil for next year (sounds ridiculous I know) but then we're only left with 2 years to pay below AFL average wage. This frees up valuable space to do our major re-signings of Oliver and co as well as possibly giving us room to make a play for a free agent next year.

Now obviously this will be dependent on whether we think he can regain some form and be a solid role player for us whether its part of the backline, forward line or just solid key position depth. 

 

didn't someone say he was seen touring essendon? or speaking to them or something?

There would be half a dozen teams that would gladly take TMac off our hands. I have no doubt of that. Different story with OMac who I think could be part of a trade or, as his manager suggested, a delisted free agent. There are roles he could fill at the right club.

1 hour ago, Whispering_Jack said:

There would be half a dozen teams that would gladly take TMac off our hands. I have no doubt of that. Different story with OMac who I think could be part of a trade or, as his manager suggested, a delisted free agent. There are roles he could fill at the right club.

I assume those offers are subject to what you are paying him out of your own books.