5 hours ago, damienjr said:

Wow. And you reckon you’ve moved on? Not a chance. If you honestly believe Trac hates Melbourne, why would you even want him at the club? The truth is, you’ve been carrying unresolved baggage with this club for decades, and it bleeds through every word you write. It’s not analysis—it’s just your bitterness dressed up as a narrative.

Hate is a strong word probably shouldn't have used it. Annoyed is a better word.

20 minutes ago, Adina88 said:

The problem with a deal not going through now is that if he's not traded this year, then there's even less chance he'll be traded next year, which he's 100% guaranteed to ask for. It's kind of now or never - and the question is how much the club is willing for this circus to keep rolling, every, damn, year: stop the hurdy-gurdy, I wanna get off. Trade him (but don't blink - no unders).

We cannot get a price we want if we are unwilling to say ‘eff it. Steven - see what you can do’

He had problems with how well the club was run and guess what we did? We got rid of the Prez, the CEO, the head coach, and are trying to get rid of the bloke that was a weight on the culture. Absolute vindication and while he wants a fresh start he can have near that next year.

If we are not willing to walk away then we are cooked and we may as well relent to picking up two of Adonski’s favourite teenagers and tank in 2026.

When will we rise again? Not certain when you give away 50c on the dollar when you finally have good players.

2 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Let's hope, at the end, we're not lying on a table eviscerated and emasculated.

So far it looks like we will be keeping TRACC and OLIVER as we are going to be properly compensated. Perhaps we need to tell them your salary is too high and if you take a pay cut then you might get trade otherwise we will hold you to your contract. I find it is stupid too pay 700 K towards a players salary so they can leave. Getting Heath from STK would be handy. As I said before Dylan Shield might be a good pick. McCrae from Collingwood , there are plenty of players from delisted bin.

It'd be nice to have someone start talking about what Tracc is worth and what the GC are giving up. It seems like the media like to drive the price down and no one is prepared to value him in a trade deal. Fox just posted a trade targets rating and had him at 5. The 5th best target this off season. Laughable.

On 04/10/2025 at 10:20, adonski said:

Must be a poor draft if there's only 3 good players!

Unfortunately it’s a super shallow draft this year. I hope they are wrong but it’s been touted shallow for a year or 2.

4 minutes ago, Frustrated Demon said:

Unfortunately it’s a super shallow draft this year. I hope they are wrong but it’s been touted shallow for a year or 2.

Out of curiosity, for the draft enthusiasts amongst us, for comparative purposes, are there any other "weak" drafts from the past you recommend we check out?

Lamb on Trade Radio: We have "told Christian that the likely outcome is he comes back to us".

3 minutes ago, Timothy Reddan-A'Blew said:

Lamb on Trade Radio: We have "told Christian that the likely outcome is he comes back to us".

Good! … whether he does or doesn’t I still like the stand.

Good on you Lamby...stay strong!

Yep, up to Trac now to convince GC of paying up if they want him.

With Essendon being stubborn on Merrett, I predict some talk re-ignites about Trac to the Hawks in a deal revolving around their pick 8 and Cam McKenzie

2 hours ago, Frustrated Demon said:

Unfortunately it’s a super shallow draft this year. I hope they are wrong but it’s been touted shallow for a year or 2.

Name one credible source who has used this word?

1 minute ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Name one credible source who has used this word?

1 minute ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Name one credible source who has used this word?

They don't use the word shallow, but a lot used the word compromised, and i think the distinction and why the perception of shallow is valid is, if you have 60 good players in a draft, and 20 of them are tied to other clubs already, that does become a shallow pool.

I mean even we've got 2 players tied to us, most clubs seem to have someone.

The AFL has got to do something about this because it's a joke at the moment.

or i guess they do as shown above. oops.

Edited October 6, 2025Oct 6 by Ted Lasso

4 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

They don't use the word shallow, but a lot used the word compromised, and i think the distinction and why the perception of shallow is valid is, if you have 60 good players in a draft, and 20 of them are tied to other clubs already, that does become a shallow pool.

I mean even we've got 2 players tied to us, most clubs seem to have someone.

The AFL has got to do something about this because it's a joke at the moment.

Thanks @Ted Lasso. IMHO, it's not 'compromised'. The draft rules are there and everyone knows the name of the game. I bet when the Deez's premiership in '21 is noted at 'compromised' - Land would go off it's head.

8 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

They don't use the word shallow, but a lot used the word compromised

Aside from being compromised the general consensus seems to be there is a sharp drop in quality (sharper than normal) after the first round or so.

8 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

I think we need one of those 'Fact Checking' threads🙃.

Trac's first placing was as a 21 year old in 2017 when he came 7th. It was his second year as he missed 2015 with an ACL injury. Quite an achievement as he was competing with Jones, Viney, Oliver etc.

Fair enough! I did actually check the history but didn't look beyond the silverware (5th) as a placing.

Pick 7 and Walter

For Trac and our 2nd rounder

7 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Aside from being compromised the general consensus seems to be there is a sharp drop in quality (sharper than normal) after the first round or so.

The top end talent is not near the quality nor depth of last years draft. Langford would go close to #1 in this years draft and XL would be in the top 3-5.

Generally when Vic Country and Metro provide strong squads, the draft is deeper. Neither were strong this year.

25 minutes ago, Random Task said:

I def rate Twomey. So thanks for this @Random Task.