8 minutes ago, BDA said:

Trac might have to come back to us. I think he can be reintegrated. He might be high maintenance, but he is professional.

My worry is his missus. as has been discussed already she doesn't want to be in Melbourne for family reasons so we might have to settle for picks.

We don’t have to settle on bs, the Suns need to suffice us not the other way player stays, hope club stays strong as it’s our asset

2 minutes ago, Demonsone said:

We don’t have to settle on bs, the Suns need to suffice us not the other way player stays, hope club stays strong as it’s our asset

This is our time to stand firm. We have the biggest chip, arguably, in this years trade period. We have said the deal must turn our head. Let’s see if we stick to our guns or roll over like usual

2 hours ago, Trident22 said:

Let’s see if we stick to our guns or roll over like usual

Laughable.

People are easily swayed by performative BS.

I just have one question. How heavily front-ended was his big contract?

1 hour ago, RalphiusMaximus said:

I just have one question. How heavily front-ended was his big contract?

Not at all. Mostly back ended in line with cap increases.

4 hours ago, Trident22 said:

This is our time to stand firm. We have the biggest chip, arguably, in this years trade period. We have said the deal must turn our head. Let’s see if we stick to our guns or roll over like usual

I'm tipping we roll over. The lids on the jars of Vaseline being loosened as we speak.

If we cannot get Humphries or Flanders , I would want pick 6 and 7 from Suns for TRACC and pick 13 from GWS for the Oliver trade . We pick two young mids from the draft using PICK 6 and pick 13 i.e Sullivan Robey is one . For experience we pick up Dylan Shiel for steak knives. PICK 7 we pick up .........

If we roll over on this deal after saying we would be tough and it had to be awesome for our club etc. etc. surely heads need to roll...that would be a terrible start for our new coach.

Refer Bolton trade. Traps better than him!

Oops stumpy fingers!

There is no world in which Petracca is playing for us next year.

And GC know it.

1 minute ago, bing181 said:

There is no world in which Petracca is playing for us next year.

And GC know it.

Not so sure. This year's trade and free agent period is setting new norms.

Maybe the year to hold a player to contract if adequate deal is not done.

Dees want players not picks. Not hard.

Edited October 4, 2025Oct 4 by Mono

9 minutes ago, Mono said:

Maybe the year to hold a player to contract if adequate deal is not done.

You only hold players to a contract if you want them to stay at the club.

In this case, we don't.

2 minutes ago, bing181 said:

You only hold players to a contract if you want them to stay at the club.

In this case, we don't.

I don’t know if King agrees with you

1 hour ago, Mono said:

Not so sure. This year's trade and free agent period is setting new norms.

Maybe the year to hold a player to contract if adequate deal is not done.

Dees want players not picks. Not hard.

Yeah interest to see if they don’t get the player & picks his trac will feel coming back

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

There is no world in which Petracca is playing for us next year.

And GC know it.

We didn’t let him walk last year when the situation was nuclear. Think we made it clear that he’s not tradable at any price.

Doesn’t mean it’s not gonna be bloody hard to walk him back thru the door, but a new coach means it’s easier as there’s fresh air

I want to give Trac some credit.

Firstly, while his form this year was below his best it was still very good and as good as could be expected given the physical and psychological impact of his King's Birthday injury.

Secondly, after last year's failed departure, I expected Trac to seek a trade at the end of 2025. Despite everyone's hypervigilance for signs of discontent, the dominant narrative this year - at least externally - has been that he was committed to the club.

In these two regards, I think Trac has conducted himself professionally and somewhat re-stored a reputation that took some damage in 2024. It has also put us in a much better negotiating position than if he had a poor season or seemed desperate to leave for the whole year.

With that being said, it's in everyone's best interest that a fair deal is struck. King deserves to start his reign with committed and unified squad. The persisting presence of a want-away high-maintenance star is harmful. I'm all in on a straight swap for Humphrey (+/- change either side).

2 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

but a new coach means it’s easier as there’s fresh air

A new coach and fresh air makes it easier to move Trac on and explore outcomes that a year ago were, as you point out, nuclear.

Also worth remembering that we sacked Goodwin during the season. Having done that the message is pretty clear: no-one's too big to fall.

1 hour ago, bing181 said:

There is no world in which Petracca is playing for us next year.

And GC know it.

My gut feel is that this bs will go to the last day and last few mins of the trade period and we will end up getting bent over and taking pics.

IMO this is the worst scenario if it happens especially that both Big G and King have gone on and on about wanting players not pics.

If this does happen my confidence in Big G and King will take a big hit.

8 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

both Big G and King have gone on and on about wanting players not pics.

Hmm.

"In terms of our overarching strategy for this period, our focus is simple; we will explore every opportunity to strengthen our list." Guerra

"Whatever happens about Christian's future, any decision that is made will be made in the best interests of the Melbourne Football Club." Lamb

"if Christian chooses to leave it has to be on our terms. It has to be fantastic for our footy club.” King

If you have anything to backup your "have gone on and on about wanting players not pics" from Guerra, Lamb or King, I'd be interested in seeing it.

It may well be true, but the club aren't stupid enough to come out and publicly say it and then have to walk it back when it turns out to be not achievable.

It's a commercial negotiation. All the rest is just vacuous posturing.

3 minutes ago, bing181 said:

Hmm.

"In terms of our overarching strategy for this period, our focus is simple; we will explore every opportunity to strengthen our list." Guerra

"Whatever happens about Christian's future, any decision that is made will be made in the best interests of the Melbourne Football Club." Lamb

"if Christian chooses to leave it has to be on our terms. It has to be fantastic for our footy club.” King

If you have anything to backup your "have gone on and on about wanting players not pics" from Guerra, Lamb or King, I'd be interested in seeing it.

It may well be true, but the club aren't stupid enough to come out and publicly say it and then have to walk it back when it turns out to be not achievable.

It's a commercial negotiation. All the rest is just vacuous posturing.

I’ll apologise in advance because I’ll misquote him but Tim lamb said something to the effect of us not really being interested in this years draft in his most recent interview where he essentially echoed Guerra word for word on trac. I walked away thinking there is no way we’d accept a deal without a player involved

18 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

I’ll apologise in advance because I’ll misquote him but Tim lamb said something to the effect of us not really being interested in this years draft

Tim was obviously paying attention in his media training, and picks his words carefully. He's asked about getting back into this year's draft and gives one of those non-answer answers by talking about the last 2 drafts and how great our picks were. His only comment about this year's draft is that it's "compromised" by father/son and academy picks.

People can read into that what they will, and they may well be right, but the club isn't spelling out players-over-picks. For obvious reasons.

On 03/10/2025 at 22:33, dees189227 said:

When I told my 13 year old neice today that trac was likely moving to the gc, her response was well he bought in on himself, he makes everything about him.

Uncle Buck

3 hours ago, bing181 said:

There is no world in which Petracca is playing for us next year.

And GC know it.

This.

18 hours ago, adonski said:

6 & 13 for Tracca pls

You don’t want the 7 they get for Flanders that’s already apparently been offered.

6 and 7 sounds better if you can’t get Humphrey or another very good player as part of the deal.

We have to remember that Tracc is the highest credentialed player mentioned in trades this year. This isn’t us throwing him out, it is him wanting to leave.

With Ablett Jnr he will be their biggest player trade and they need to get it done

Hopefully Humphrey says yes to us and we will get a good deal. Him and an early pick 6 or 7 gets us another good young draftee.

We must get acceptable value.

Edited October 4, 2025Oct 4 by Redleg