3 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Obviously it’s not a guarantee but if we can nail a couple more draft picks this year and get the development of Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Tholstrup right suddenly it’s not looking a dive right to the bottom rebuild. Not suggesting we’ll nab a Lever or May any time soon but might be able to grab a Hibberd/Melksham type to start pushing things forward.

Yeah i think we are 1-2 years away at targeting a 25/26 y.o Free Agent in the mould of Melksham / Hibbo. We need to hit rock bottom and be seen on the up before a worthy FA would look to come to us. Right now, its hard to say which we are going. Id be putting in a lot of work on Butters right now. Lets hope that Hawks land Merrett this year so they are out of the picture. If we trade Trac and get him off our books, I'd put a massive contract in front of him right now and get him thinking long and hard end of next year when he comes out of contract. Wed also need Port to have a crappy year as well for this to work. Wed be up against the Pies and Blues competing for his signature though so it will be a hard get but not impossible.

8 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Obviously it’s not a guarantee but if we can nail a couple more draft picks this year and get the development of Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Tholstrup right suddenly it’s not looking a dive right to the bottom rebuild. Not suggesting we’ll nab a Lever or May any time soon but might be able to grab a Hibberd/Melksham type to start pushing things forward.

We would need to find someone somewhere. Another Turner type would be handy.

The draft is shallow though.

2 hours ago, KozzyCan said:

The decision is to move him on 'for the right price'.

2 firsts isn’t ridiculous unders for a 30yo midfielder with question marks in a few areas.

I love Trac as much as the next Dee, but I’m just trying to think about what we’ll look like in 3 years’ time - fairly confident it will be better than what we look like if we kept him.

Just now, Bowserpower said:

We would need to find someone somewhere. Another Turner type would be handy.

The draft is shallow though.

The 'shallow draft' thing is a bit of a folly and in my experience, rarely plays a big part in how things turn out.

There are good finds in every single draft and why wouldn't you back someone like JT to find them? I'm just glad our list management doesn't work based on what fans think is a 'shallow draft'. As for the compromised draft, it effects every club the same way, much like Richmond's hand did last year, again no reason to sit on our hands.

The question with Trac is, do you want to hold him to his contract and maybe tell him that the last few years of his career won't be chasing a flag? Or cash in now, get back into the draft and get what you may not be able to get again. I've said repeatedly that I think the best option is he stays but it's not a no brainer by any stretch and his head his being turned.

Edited September 24, 2025Sep 24 by layzie

6 minutes ago, layzie said:

The 'shallow draft' thing is a bit of a folly and in my experience, rarely plays a big part in how things turn out.

There are good finds in every single draft and why wouldn't you back someone like JT to find them? I'm just glad our list management doesn't work based on what fans think is a 'shallow draft'. As for the compromised draft, it effects every club the same way, much like Richmond's hand did last year, again no reason to sit on our hands.

The question with Trac is, do you want to hold him to his contract and maybe tell him that the last few years of his career won't be chasing a flag? Or cash in now, get back into the draft and get what you may not be able to get again. I've said repeatedly that I think the best option is he stays but it's not a no brainer by any stretch and his head his being turned.

I think if you can get back into the high end of the draft and clear the space you add to the exciting core of young players and free up cash to go after someone like a Zak Butters potentially next year

14 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

2 firsts isn’t ridiculous unders for a 30yo midfielder with question marks in a few areas.

I love Trac as much as the next Dee, but I’m just trying to think about what we’ll look like in 3 years’ time - fairly confident it will be better than what we look like if we kept him.

Are people happy with another year like we got from him this year. Wasn't bad but wasn't going to win you a premiership.

I would like a little more in a trade but beggars can't be choosers. It isn't a terrible offer

As much as it’s frustrating I’m impressed with the silence coming out of each camp. No leaks only speculation.

7 hours ago, GS_1905 said:

Trac hasn’t been the difference this year in any of the games we have won. He played his role well most of the time but never ripped a game apart and willed us across the line as he has done in the past. Maybe he builds up to it next year or maybe he doesn’t , BUT he will not be the difference between us finishing 14th and last. That’s just absurd.

That’s not absurd. We won only 7 games. We beat Freo by 10 points. Tracc wasn’t our best but he had 8 score involvements, behind only Max and Kozzie that day.

We beat Brisbane by 11 points. Tracc had 31 disposals, 9 clearances and our second most score involvements. We probably don’t win without him.

Beside those wins we beat hardly anyone. WC twice, Richmond once, North once, and Sydney easily. We win those without Tracc. But if we want to jump up the ladder we need to beat better teams. Without Traccs score involvements (he was involved in 30% of our scores in 25 which is his worst return since 2019), we are miles off.

That said, as much as I love Tracc as a player, our next flag won’t include Tracc so I’m ok if we trade with a 5 year view to contending again. I’m also ok if Tracc stays and helps fast track the younger players. I suspect the club is the same.

12 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

I think if you can get back into the high end of the draft and clear the space you add to the exciting core of young players and free up cash to go after someone like a Zak Butters potentially next year

Exactly.

I think freeing up cash is going to be better for us than improving our draft position by a couple of picks.

The offer may not be what we want but if they took 100% of the contract on it wouldn't be terrible.

I dont believe posters fully appreciate how difficult it is to get a good player let alone a champion .Whatever we got in a trade would be less than Tracs worth to the team .We only have 3 A graders and that is about all that separates us from West Coast .We need keep them at all costs

3 minutes ago, kallangurdemon said:

I dont believe posters fully appreciate how difficult it is to get a good player let alone a champion .Whatever we got in a trade would be less than Tracs worth to the team .We only have 3 A graders and that is about all that separates us from West Coast .We need keep them at all costs

I think what list managers and fans think is a fair trade are 2 very different things.

It doesn’t seem right letting go a Norm Smith medalist

10 minutes ago, kallangurdemon said:

I dont believe posters fully appreciate how difficult it is to get a good player let alone a champion .Whatever we got in a trade would be less than Tracs worth to the team .We only have 3 A graders and that is about all that separates us from West Coast .We need keep them at all costs

If that were true then we really should be cashing in a going into full on rebuild mode..

8 minutes ago, Bowserpower said:

I think what list managers and fans think is a fair trade are 2 very different things.

If you are referring to Tim Lamb, you are 100% correct. And it's fair to say that the fans could have done a better job evaluating a fair trade over the past 4 years than our list manager.

10 minutes ago, mo64 said:

If you are referring to Tim Lamb, you are 100% correct. And it's fair to say that the fans could have done a better job evaluating a fair trade over the past 4 years than our list manager.

Think you're off your rocker mate. Another reason people don't take you seriously.

1 hour ago, The Jackson FIX said:

2 firsts isn’t ridiculous unders for a 30yo midfielder with question marks in a few areas.

I love Trac as much as the next Dee, but I’m just trying to think about what we’ll look like in 3 years’ time - fairly confident it will be better than what we look like if we kept him.

Not all drafts are equal. Not all first rounders are equal.

I would prefer to get Sam Flanders and nothing else for Trac than take Adelaide's two firsts. That's how bad they look right now.

28 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

Not all drafts are equal. Not all first rounders are equal.

I understand that.

But clubs can’t control the quality of a draft pool.

And I’m yet to see a club throw in more because their first rounder doesn’t yield as quality a player as it might have in previous years.

My opinion only, but the value of a first rounder seems to fluctuate more in supporters’ eyes than it does in the eyes of list management teams in trade negotiations.

Just now, The Jackson FIX said:

I understand that.

But clubs can’t control the quality of a draft pool.

And I’m yet to see a club throw in more because their first rounder doesn’t yield as quality a player as it might have in previous years.

My opinion only, but the value of a first rounder seems to fluctuate more in supporters’ eyes than it does in the eyes of list management teams in trade negotiations.

We were happy to give Essendon all our picks from 20 onwards and our first rounder this year to get a second bite at the first round in last years draft because we rated that draft so highly.

If we are considering trading Trac I would hope that it's because we have very specific targets in mind with the sort of picks we would get back. If not I'd be shutting this down yesterday.

17 minutes ago, KozzyCan said:

We were happy to give Essendon all our picks from 20 onwards and our first rounder this year to get a second bite at the first round in last years draft because we rated that draft so highly.

Maybe we’re the exception 🤣

3 hours ago, old55 said:

Petracca's 2023 vs Flanders' 2024
https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_player_compare?playerStatus1=A&tid1=12&playerStatus2=A&tid2=24&type=A&pid1=4041&pid2=6748&fid1=P&fopt1=2023&fid2=P&fopt2=2024

I'm not suggesting Flanders is a replacement for Petracca but he has some decent numbers and is more outside than Petracca which is not a negative with our set-up

We need outside players, so a Flanderst trad swap would be advantageous from that perspective - one less midfield bull with average foot skills (albeit a star) and one more outsidish player (though he can win his own ball) with decent foot skills.

2 hours ago, The Jackson FIX said:

2 firsts isn’t ridiculous unders for a 30yo midfielder with question marks in a few areas.

I love Trac as much as the next Dee, but I’m just trying to think about what we’ll look like in 3 years’ time - fairly confident it will be better than what we look like if we kept him.

Yes it is. This draft is horrible it goes 2 players deep West Coast will be licking thier lips the rest will get ordinary players. I take you back to the draft when Sparrow and Jordon got drafted. It was a horribly weak draft but Taylor did well to secure them considering what came before them and what came after them. This draft is worse the worst of all time. I trust Taylor to do his best if there is no talent there there is no talent there.

I don't want draft picks in the worst draft of all time I want players. Gold Coast have said Humphrey, Read and Walter are off limits. I say fair enough with Humphrey he's a generational player but Read and Walter no way. You have to give Read, Walter and Flanders or you are not getting Petracca minimum. You can thrown in Rosas for nothing and we'll throw in pick 23 for more draft capitol.

Edited September 24, 2025Sep 24 by WERRIDEE

2 hours ago, Watson11 said:

That’s not absurd. We won only 7 games. We beat Freo by 10 points. Tracc wasn’t our best but he had 8 score involvements, behind only Max and Kozzie that day.

We beat Brisbane by 11 points. Tracc had 31 disposals, 9 clearances and our second most score involvements. We probably don’t win without him.

Beside those wins we beat hardly anyone. WC twice, Richmond once, North once, and Sydney easily. We win those without Tracc. But if we want to jump up the ladder we need to beat better teams. Without Traccs score involvements (he was involved in 30% of our scores in 25 which is his worst return since 2019), we are miles off.

That said, as much as I love Tracc as a player, our next flag won’t include Tracc so I’m ok if we trade with a 5 year view to contending again. I’m also ok if Tracc stays and helps fast track the younger players. I suspect the club is the same.

I realize there is a shift to rebuilding but it's the wrong time Tassie are coming they will take all the draft picks. It's not the right time if we are still on the bottom then good luck moving up the ladder. Be careful what you wish for.

So....

Is he staying?

Or, is he going?

4 minutes ago, jumbo returns said:

So....

Is he staying?

Or, is he going?

The silence is deafening. Which is a shame I wish he would just come out and say I'm going nowhere.