30 minutes ago, GS_1905 said:

What really annoys me is how all the media are now applauding Essendon, Saints and Suns for holding onto their players. But it was absolute crickets last year when we held onto Trac and Oliver.

The narrative controlling mind****s really does my head in.

Also very little pundits mention the fact that we got 3 first round picks for Trac - Suns absolutely paid overs for him. He'll be a dud up there.

Does it really matter what these media pundits say? Not worth wasting energy on, in my opinion.

52 minutes ago, sue said:

Looks good to me. Is anyone still calling for Lamb to be roasted?

Never fear one will pop up.

3 hours ago, Adam The God said:

But is it a B+ or B-? Try doing that one...

A solid B………let’s not get fancy here 🙂

5 hours ago, No. 31 said:

I think these assessments should be done after the draft periods end as they are interlinked.

I think we will have a better idea in around 5 years time.

These assessments are really discussion (argument) starters and bare no resemblance to reality.

Trades have set up Dees’ ‘next premiership’

Melbourne have traded two “hall of famers” but list manager Tim Lamb believes the Demons’ moves have set up “their next premiership win”.

Lamb echoed earlier calls thanking Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver for their stellar Melbourne careers which culminated in the club’s breakthrough premiership in 2021, calling them future hall of fame members. They were traded to Gold Coast and GWS respectively.

Lamb believes the draft picks and new players acquired during the trade period will soon have the Demons back among the contenders for the premiership.

The Demons snared Collingwood’s Brody Mihocek, St Kilda captain Jack Steele and teammate Max Heath, and Hawthorn’s Changkuoth Jiath but lost Charlie Spargo (North Melbourne) and Judd McVee (Fremantle).

Lamb said new coach Steven King was excited about the mix of talent at the club while picks seven and eight could net two more talented youngsters or be traded up for a higher pick.

“The person who was 100 per cent behind us was Steven King – it’s his footy club now,” Lamb told AFL Trade Radio on Thursday.

“He’s thrilled with what we have done and super excited by our young talent and the new guys we have brought in.

“It is a balancing act, but we are in it to try and win premierships, and we think what we have done has set us up to win our next premiership.”

Lamb is also buoyed about the calibre of the top players in this year’s draft.

“We think there is some elite talent that we will have access to,” he said.

“The early picks tend to jump in and have an earlier impact because of their talent and athleticism – it’s going to be an exciting time for us and put pressure on for spots.”

A double effen PLUS

I’m fairly happy to be honest.

I’m excited for next year.

Hopefully a few changes in style and we will at least compete hard and sit around the 8-10 mark.

That’s maybe optimistic but I don’t think we lost a whole lot. What we lost in skill, we also lost in toxic players and toxic culture.

Hopefully it’s upwards from here.

6 hours ago, No. 31 said:

I think these assessments should be done after the draft periods end as they are interlinked.

Even if it is sad for Dees fans to see stars like Tracc & Clarry depart it does give the club and King a clean slate. The Dees did well to get in multiple first round picks for Tracc. I thought MFC would blink but they didn't.

The payment of Clarry's salary is offset somewhat by the Saints covering some of Steele's salary. That was a good pickup by the Dees.

How are you feeling about Curnow going, and what seems to be the feeling amongst the fan base?

Collingwood get a C for doing nothing to an ageing list yet we offload a couple of blokes who didnt want to be here and get a B?

5 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Trades have set up Dees’ ‘next premiership’

Melbourne have traded two “hall of famers” but list manager Tim Lamb believes the Demons’ moves have set up “their next premiership win”.

Lamb echoed earlier calls thanking Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver for their stellar Melbourne careers which culminated in the club’s breakthrough premiership in 2021, calling them future hall of fame members. They were traded to Gold Coast and GWS respectively.

Lamb believes the draft picks and new players acquired during the trade period will soon have the Demons back among the contenders for the premiership.

The Demons snared Collingwood’s Brody Mihocek, St Kilda captain Jack Steele and teammate Max Heath, and Hawthorn’s Changkuoth Jiath but lost Charlie Spargo (North Melbourne) and Judd McVee (Fremantle).

Lamb said new coach Steven King was excited about the mix of talent at the club while picks seven and eight could net two more talented youngsters or be traded up for a higher pick.

“The person who was 100 per cent behind us was Steven King – it’s his footy club now,” Lamb told AFL Trade Radio on Thursday.

“He’s thrilled with what we have done and super excited by our young talent and the new guys we have brought in.

“It is a balancing act, but we are in it to try and win premierships, and we think what we have done has set us up to win our next premiership.”

Lamb is also buoyed about the calibre of the top players in this year’s draft.

“We think there is some elite talent that we will have access to,” he said.

“The early picks tend to jump in and have an earlier impact because of their talent and athleticism – it’s going to be an exciting time for us and put pressure on for spots.”

And they say our PR spin isn't up to it...

Lovely copy.

Reality is... I think he did OK... proof of pudding yet to come ...but I'm a bit like Big Kev 😉

8 hours ago, hardtack said:

Does it really matter what these media pundits say? Not worth wasting energy on, in my opinion.

Tend to agree.

So am I happy or sad with our trade performance?. Im happy and i think we have set ourselves up to be able to trade for a player next year

9 hours ago, Demonland said:

🤔🤔🤔 yeah nahhh !!

We're a solid B 👌 imho

Edited 17 hours ago17 hr by beelzebub

23 hours ago, BDA said:

I haven't felt any hate towards Lions seeing as they stopped the likes of pies and cats from winning flags

but it stinks seeing them add a KPF and a quality ruck and still have points for another promising academy kid

That's AFL equity at its finest

8 minutes ago, Golden fist said:

That's AFL equity at its finest

It’s a joke that a premiership team can get simply too up with free agents to remain strong! No to mention their academies they have in qld & nsw.

We needed a player from the Suns, they know it’s a week draft so it will only be a win for us if pick 7&8 work out the rest of who we traded are good additions

The AFL doesn't care about the Dees.

Can someone who might be keeping track of movements of players work out

How many places do we need to fill and what picks we might use

7 & 8. 37. Plus two rookies ?

Does that take our compliment up to full ?

Thanks

I don’t get this grading system. North got Spargo in and lost Finbar Malley and that’s all they did. Their first draft pick is 25.

How is what they did equal to what we did?

Really needs a season or more to judge how well we have done with the players and picks we have brought in.

But I’m given us an A for our strategy and intent.

We made the hard calls that needed to be made. Gots picks in that will allow us to add to our existing quality young brigade and build for our next flag.

On top of that we brought in solid players and leaders to help us in the short term.

Excited for the draft, preseason and next season. Go Dees

19 minutes ago, Colm said:

Really needs a season or more to judge how well we have done with the players and picks we have brought in.

But I’m given us an A for our strategy and intent.

We made the hard calls that needed to be made. Gots picks in that will allow us to add to our existing quality young brigade and build for our next flag.

On top of that we brought in solid players and leaders to help us in the short term.

Excited for the draft, preseason and next season. Go Dees

Good comment.

The way I see it, it could have been Tracc and Oliver out for 7&8 and a 3rd round pick.

Instead we got 7&8, a future first and Steele.

If you had asked me at the start of the trade period if I’d take that, I absolutely would have.

Grading the Draft is such a weak intellectual process and pure emotion claim, given there is actually no data on the results of a draft until sever (or more) years after the draft.

Would prefer they (AFL media) rolled out evaluations on the 2022 draft where there is real data.

I give us an A:

• Steele replaces Oliver, bringing leadership and able to play a more flexible role

• Mihocek for Spargo - a different type of fwd but brings balance and experience i50 we were lacking

• Jiath for McVee - a different type of defender and we have others to fill the gap

• Heath - much needed back up for Max.

• Three first round picks for Petracca plus free up sal cap

I see much better connection to i50 especially with a revised game plan and better fwd structures.

We covered our departures with equal or better suited players, except for Petracca. Hopeully, Langford can start to fill his shoes! If he does our list is much better than it was last week.

And we add 4 1st round draftees over 2025/2026.

I reckon we will bounce back to contention faster than most people think ❤️💙

How did both Hawks and Bombers get a B (a full grade higher than ours)?

No idea these blokes

5 minutes ago, Demon Disciple said:

How did both Hawks and Bombers get a B (a full grade higher than ours)?

No idea these blokes

Simple. They have a bigger membership than us.

Would call it a B. Cashed in on Petracca, picked up a couple of cheap AFL ready players and made the best of a bad situation with Oliver, although it's impossible to look at that positively given we had the chance to move him on last year on much more favourable terms.

The media sucking up to the Hawks is funny. They missed out on their man and did bugger all else. Genuine fail from them.