Here's The Age's out-of-contract players list with a bit of trade speculation thrown in:

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/who-s-going-who-s-staying-a-club-by-club-guide-to-the-afl-trade-period-20240902-p5k78h.html

Looking through the list, I wouldn't mind a look at Tom Emmett (Freo) - high-pressure small fwd and Lachie MacAndrew to fill the glaring hole in our list. James Peatling is at the top of my list.

9 hours ago, Storm Boy said:

We should be having a look at Jack Carroll from Carlton. 

He looked ok in a couple of games I saw.

13 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Someone did mention here a while ago that we had interest with Derksen.

Pretty sure he's childhood friends with Andy Moniz Wakefield 

Yep we were into him and Edwards, who has since resigned.

2 hours ago, Deez21 said:

Yep we were into him and Edwards, who has since resigned.

Yeah I do recall you saying this a few months back.

Good get.

nathan 'freddy' kreuger could definitely play a role for us as a fwd / ruck

i imagine the filth feel the same way about his potential role for them

but he's constantly breaking down with injury

10 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Reef McInnes probably surprised and pleased he's at Carlton. May get a finals call up?

14 minutes ago, old55 said:

Reef McInnes probably surprised and pleased he's at Carlton. May get a finals call up?

Work experience kid strikes again.

4 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Work experience kid strikes again.

Copied and pasted the wrong line for editing ...

12 minutes ago, old55 said:

Copied and pasted the wrong line for editing ...

Yep. You can actually see that he forgot to remove the Carlton Logo layer over the Collingwood Logo layer.

Anyway that ends my segment on Photoshop Fails.

Back to the Trades ...

They fixed it. 🤣

None !! 

From espn (by Jasper Chellappah - whoever that is)

Opening two paragraphs and a bit:

The 2024 AFL Draft might still be nearly three months away, but for 10 teams' supporters, attention now turns to the trade period and draft season, and this year offers fascinating subplots throughout.

Its headline act is a wide open race to be anointed pick one. Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Harvey Langford, Josh Smillie, Sid Draper, Sam Lalor and Levi Ashcroft all have claims; it's a wholly different landscape to Harley Reid's grip on the top spot last year.

That isn't to say this draft lacks talent - in truth, this may be the deepest draft ever.

He then goes thru each club needs and options etc

MELBOURNE

Current draft hand: 5, 38, 45, 51, 61
List need: Midfield depth

It's a pivotal draft for the Dees who are quietly rebuilding on the run, but there are list holes appearing at a rapid rate and heavy reliance is still being placed on ageing stars Max Gawn, Steven May and Jack Viney.

The positive is Jason Taylor's team is positioned to snare a top tier midfielder with pick 5.

One of Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Sid Draper, Josh Smillie or Harvey Langford will be available, but the most enticing selection could be Sam Lalor.

The Rebels powerhouse on-baller shares similarities to Christian Petracca in his explosion from contest and scoreboard impact, and he has the ability to command the football in the forward 50 where his one-on-one work is best in class.

A developing ruckman will surely be targeted later in the piece and Lalor's teammate Floyd Burmeister has put together a solid campaign.

Edited September 4, 2024Sep 4 by binman

Here’s something I found in a Herald Sun online article that covers all AFL clubs with this being the part that deals with Melbourne.

Of course, it’s very speculative and there’s a long way to go.

36 minutes ago, binman said:

From espn (by Jasper Chellappah - whoever that is)

Opening two paragraphs and a bit:

The 2024 AFL Draft might still be nearly three months away, but for 10 teams' supporters, attention now turns to the trade period and draft season, and this year offers fascinating subplots throughout.

Its headline act is a wide open race to be anointed pick one. Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Harvey Langford, Josh Smillie, Sid Draper, Sam Lalor and Levi Ashcroft all have claims; it's a wholly different landscape to Harley Reid's grip on the top spot last year.

That isn't to say this draft lacks talent - in truth, this may be the deepest draft ever.

He then goes thru each club needs and options etc

MELBOURNE

Current draft hand: 5, 38, 45, 51, 61
List need: Midfield depth

It's a pivotal draft for the Dees who are quietly rebuilding on the run, but there are list holes appearing at a rapid rate and heavy reliance is still being placed on ageing stars Max Gawn, Steven May and Jack Viney.

The positive is Jason Taylor's team is positioned to snare a top tier midfielder with pick 5.

One of Jagga Smith, Finn O'Sullivan, Sid Draper, Josh Smillie or Harvey Langford will be available, but the most enticing selection could be Sam Lalor.

The Rebels powerhouse on-baller shares similarities to Christian Petracca in his explosion from contest and scoreboard impact, and he has the ability to command the football in the forward 50 where his one-on-one work is best in class.

A developing ruckman will surely be targeted later in the piece and Lalor's teammate Floyd Burmeister has put together a solid campaign.

This pick 5 is giving me high anxiety !

Perhaps having pick 5 is a blessing in that we won’t have to choose between O’Sullivan or Langford or Lalor.

This is a nice write-up, thanks for posting Bin

Double post.

But I will add… I somewhat hope we go for Lalor, seems the wildcard

Edited September 4, 2024Sep 4 by No10

On 28/08/2024 at 16:09, Lord Travis said:

If he has no contract infront of him, then we could nab him as a delisted free agent, so no draft picks required in a trade. I'd be all for that. He'd be a midfield depth upgrade at worst, and lord knows we need to replenish our midfield depth big time. He's played some good footy in years gone by too and has a bit of pace and smarts about him.

On our midfield, it's gone from our biggest strength to our biggest weakness. We need both stars and depth at this point. Our midfield from our 2021 premiership team is in a sad state a few years on:
Gawn - Contracted, ageing and on the decline
Jackson - Gone
Oliver - Contracted, shadow of what he was and hopefully returns to his best next season onwards
Petracca - Gone?
Viney - Contracted, ageing and on the decline
Brayshaw - Gone
Neal-Bullen - Gone
Langdon - Contracted, performing his wing role
Harmes - Gone
Sparrow - Contracted, hasn't come on and is depth
Jordon - Gone

Currently on our list we've added Windsor, Laurie, Billings, Hunter, Woewodin and no AFL level rucks to the midfield since. Pretty sharp drop off considering you'd ideally be an attractive destination to play for when you're successful...

Lord Travis 

get your facts straight 

Gawn morning decline Has his 7 th AA blazer.

Trac. Gone No sir Cpukd be as good as ever in 2025,

Apolgies please 

4 hours ago, 58er said:

Lord Travis 

get your facts straight 

Gawn morning decline Has his 7 th AA blazer.

Trac. Gone No sir Cpukd be as good as ever in 2025,

Apolgies please 

No apologies here. My point about the midfield remains and I'll ask you to put down the bottle before posting.

Gawn is on the decline. He has 3 years left on contract and will then retire. He's still a great player, but his influence is diminishing as other rucks rise and the game changes. I'd wager TDK, Xerri, Jackson and other athletic rucks pass him next year.

Trac staying for now is good. We'll need him because we're bottom four without him.

My point still stands about our midfield. It's the biggest issue with our list. 3 years on from a premiership and it's in tatters. You'd expect we'd have had pull to be a desirable location to play, yet no one of worth has come to the club since and we've lost many. 

Our midfield needs a significant uplift for us to return to finals.

11 hours ago, No10 said:

This pick 5 is giving me high anxiety !

Perhaps having pick 5 is a blessing in that we won’t have to choose between O’Sullivan or Langford or Lalor.

This is a nice write-up, thanks for posting Bin

Seems we can't go wrong with Pick 5. A good year to be average it seems.

What are peoples thoughts on Sam Day from GC.

He has been desisted by GC so he is free! free in draft capital and cheap on a 1 year deal.  Just think its a good back up option.

33 minutes ago, Travy14 said:

What are peoples thoughts on Sam Day from GC.

He has been desisted by GC so he is free! free in draft capital and cheap on a 1 year deal.  Just think its a good back up option.

No.  Not for the Dees.  
Sam Day is 32 tomorrow. 14 years at the Suns. 155 games. He’s done.  Injury just hurt his career most of the way through unfortunately.  Probably 4-5 years too late now.
He should be allowed to gracefully retire and be a leader at Southport or Palm Beach footy club or go to where he can enjoy finals or winning a premiership !!  

39 minutes ago, Travy14 said:

What are peoples thoughts on Sam Day from GC.

He has been desisted by GC so he is free! free in draft capital and cheap on a 1 year deal.  Just think its a good back up option.

Slamming Sam is exactly what we need, a real warrior and he comes free as a rookie pick up.

A massive Ruck/Forward upgrade on Fullerton, Brown and Verrall.

Lets get it done, cheap as chips on a one year deal.

 

10 minutes ago, bluey said:

Slamming Sam is exactly what we need, a real warrior and he comes free as a rookie pick up.

A massive Ruck/Forward upgrade on Fullerton, Brown and Verrall.

Lets get it done, cheap as chips on a one year deal.

 

That's my thinking, even if he doesn't play a game.  it's just a free back up

As I recall we have to include a chunk of Brayshaw's contract in our salary cap and the percentage increases in the later years.

Then there's Joel Smith's payments ?

Makes it just that more difficult going forward given all the other back ended deals we probably have on our books (Petracca, Oliver? Gawn May? just to mention a few)

You wonder if we have almost pencilled in a down period for say 2026 -2029. Makes sense in a way

42 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

No.  Not for the Dees.  
Sam Day is 32 tomorrow. 14 years at the Suns. 155 games. He’s done.  Injury just hurt his career most of the way through unfortunately.  Probably 4-5 years too late now.
He should be allowed to gracefully retire and be a leader at Southport or Palm Beach footy club or go to where he can enjoy finals or winning a premiership !!  

Not looking for him to walk into the side.  But could just be a good back up for if our young talls take time