On 13/09/2025 at 08:02, BW511 said:

He's played to a level that Sharp, Billings, Spargo, Handerson, Sparrow, Brown, Kolt (yet) & Woewodin have not.

Say what you will about the rest, but Spargo and Sparrow were solid contributors to a premership team - how many premerships has Flanders played in?

While Sparrow hasn't gone to that next level we'd all like him to or perhaps even produce quite as consistently at the level he is capable of, I still see him as a valuable part of the team. If we don't have him, we're dipping into playing the likes of Henderson, Billings, Laurie and co more often and makes for a weaker team.

IMHO, it's easy to look at other teams players through rose coloured glasses, when you don't scrutinise them every week and it's mainly their best games that get noticed widely. If Mat Rowell was a Melbourne player, last night we'd all be beating up on him worse than Trac, that he can't produce in the big games, being just a bully to the mid and lower tier teams. Prior to the Darcy Moore injury, Trac had a number of seasons where his output against the better teams put him as one of the true elite and best players in the comp.

46 minutes ago, BW511 said:

Isn’t that the point, you get what you pay for

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a list filled with quality $1m players, but sadly that can’t happen.

6 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a list filled with quality $1m players, but sadly that can’t happen.

We had the coin to give Houston a nice pay rise if he jumped ship to us last year

2 hours ago, Coolx2 said:

What are we going to give up in the way of picks for FLANDERS , considering we we only have second rounders to date. Also I will ask the same question for Windhager and Heath.

Hopefully we are not going to give away our next year's first rounder.

Swap of next year's first rounder?

Maybe some pick swapping, if Judd leaves to Freo or West Coast maybe whatever we get for that?

In the later half of 2024 Flanders bagged 12 Brownlow votes in as many games, but the difference I find interesting is from round 16 when he clearly changed roles and thrived. He went from a 'rebound 50s' to an 'inside 50s' player.

From that point on he had more than one goal AND more than one goal assist per game, with about 30 disposals and half a dozen clearances every game as well. He broke double figures for score involvements three times, including 11 against us when his entire side only had 18 scores.

I've convinced myself, after initial doubts. He is certainly an AFL-grade player and Lord knows, as presumably does King, that we need more attacking dynamism.

Doesn't look like we could afford FLANDERS as we don't have the currency. Must find another way of getting a cheap mid perhaps someone who has been delisted from another club, plays like Culley. Or an older player like a Dylan Shiel ( not the best example ).