6 hours ago, bing181 said:

Prepare to be amazed.

Darcy, Bont, English, Butters. Doesn't get much better.

Lobb, ODonnell, Khamis.

A defence doesn’t get much worse. If the dogs are serious I question is he what they really need for the cost.

If he goes to the dogs he’s going for location and love of club not success.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Lil_red_fire_engine

6 hours ago, bing181 said:

Prepare to be amazed.

Darcy, Bont, English, Butters. Doesn't get much better.

6 hours ago, bing181 said:

Prepare to be amazed.

Darcy, Bont, English, Butters. Doesn't get much better.

6 hours ago, bing181 said:

Prepare to be amazed.

Darcy, Bont, English, Butters. Doesn't get much better.

Darcy has done his knee. What about the rest of the team? Middle of the road all the time. He'd want to play for a better team. My tip is Hawthorn.

10 hours ago, JJJ said:

I was at a function on Thursday night at the Dogs Swans game and some pretty serious Dogs people think the race is run and he’ll be a Dog in 2027.

Not sure how they get this deal done. They have one first round pick this year, and one next year.

Unless Port have a handshake agreement that he departs as a Free agent and they land a beginning of first round draft pick which nets them pick 1/doesn't compromise getting their f/s Dougie Cochrane.

Teams that have been linked the most are Dogs & Cats they will have had enough time to know what moves will be required to get the deal done.

Seems like Butters will be respectful to Port and won’t screw them over.

The Merrett deal that didn’t happen probably sets the price- 3 average first rounders won’t get it done. So if either of those teams are to make it happen they will need to off load a best 22 player.

I’d love if we could prize Connor O Sullivan out of the Cats as part of the deal. 💯 won’t happen but I can dream.

10 hours ago, JJJ said:

I was at a function on Thursday night at the Dogs Swans game and some pretty serious Dogs people think the race is run and he’ll be a Dog in 2027.

What could the Dogs breakfast offer for him??

Sparrow and two first rounders for Butters seems too much for me, you would have to get their second rounder back. or swaps of later picks etc.

It just seems too much especially with the compromised drafts coming up, but in saying that we do have a lot of young players.

Anyway, I do not think we will be in the conversation.

I think we’ve been mentioned purely because we appear to have the capital to get the deal done rather than an interest shown by either party.

I reckon we’ll go to the draft with our picks. Future proof ourselves ahead of the compromised tassy drafts

6 minutes ago, BDA said:

I reckon we’ll go to the draft with our picks. Future proof ourselves ahead of the compromised tassy drafts

Do that and nail our selections, while not losing anyone we want to retain and our list could be in very good shape.

14 minutes ago, BDA said:

I think we’ve been mentioned purely because we appear to have the capital to get the deal done rather than an interest shown by either party.

I reckon we’ll go to the draft with our picks. Future proof ourselves ahead of the compromised tassy drafts

It’s probably the wise move, but it seems very likely that we were in for BH last year which would have been a move away from our recent history of hitting the top end of the draft.

I’ve wanted us to stock up on top end talent via the draft for a while now( get it done before Tassie comes in)and I was happy to see Trac go as it allowed us to do so.

But if we finish the season the way we have started it,( even if we have a dip in form before the bye) with our fringe and younger players continuing to improve do we need to reassess where our list is at?!

Do we get more aggressive in trading and try to win one while we still have Max and some of the older players? Would 2 first round draftees make us flag contenders next year?

We’re too early in our development stage to contemplate bringing in quality players that will hurt our attempts to draft quality youngsters.

Build through the draft and in a year or 2 contemplate bringing in final pieces.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Demon Disciple

1 hour ago, WERRIDEE said:

Darcy has done his knee. What about the rest of the team? Middle of the road all the time. He'd want to play for a better team. My tip is Hawthorn.

What, for life?

Butters would compliment our midfield very nicely. Remember, he is out of contract too. People forget this part of it. Once the players says he wants out, it does drop trade value somewhat. Remember LJ?

Port will want 3 first rounders - fair enough too. But in the end, it will be 2 firsts (1 future) and a 2nd rounder. Which any club will be able to do. If we put 3 firsts into him, i'd be annoyed. Not saying he isnt worth it, but we the need picks to fill some list holes as well. We are goign to finish around the GCS as well, so there wont be much difference in this years pick.

Dogs have holes in their defence but the rest of the lines are full of quality (when everyone is fit). Question is can they get Butters and a quality KPD and a servicable backup? 🤔

As for the Dees, as great a player as Butters is, not sure its a good idea at this point in time.

I cannot fathom people saying this isn't a good idea. Butters is a top 5 player in the in AFL and is only 25.

It’ll be very curious what direction we go with our draft capital this year

Let’s say we were in the hunt for Butters and could get a deal done with our two 2026 firsts and our 2027 first (maybe a second coming back the other way)

We’d still have other holes on the field, but what if we could also pick up a Jordan Butts type as a free agent and maybe some other bargain mature age types from later in the draft/with later draft picks

Is that preferable to taking three more kids over two years with no guarantee that they become AFL level footballers? Especially while we still have Gawn on the list who won’t be around by the time they develop

Time will tell I guess!

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by demoncat

1 hour ago, BDA said:

I think we’ve been mentioned purely because we appear to have the capital to get the deal done rather than an interest shown by either party.

I reckon we’ll go to the draft with our picks. Future proof ourselves ahead of the compromised tassy drafts

We have about 10 players under 50 games playing in our best 22 while our biggest age gap is the 24-28 bracket. Butters hits the mark.

We will still need senior bodies around Windsor/Langford and others when Steele and Viney retire.

1 hour ago, Redleg said:

Do that and nail our selections, while not losing anyone we want to retain and our list could be in very good shape.

The list looks really well balanced and well connected atm. Im with you here. Hang on to sparrow and take our picks to the draft. Bringing in a high price recruit doesn't always work in terms of team cohesion.

9 hours ago, bing181 said:

Prepare to be amazed.

Darcy, Bont, English, Butters. Doesn't get much better.

Darcy and English both fairly injury prone.

Bont will be 31yo

I'd look elsewhere if I was Zak

If we keep playing well, we will be a destination club with 2 first rounders (in a draft some clubs will be desperate to get into)

We'll look closely at trades for sure. 23-28 yo's are needed now. Why wait for Lever, Gawn, Steele etc are retired to try to bring in talent?

Merrett will go to Hawks.

Throw the kitchen sink at Butters, he is a beauty and would change our premiership window

Take the picks to the draft, trade in some role players and then when the Tassie free for all hits trade for a midfielder. Remember Tassie have to trade out some picks and in the years after they land there will be plenty wanting back to the mainland. Our future lies in our young talent so for mine we keep investing in high picks.

How well Corey Ah-Mu goes this year and if we can get him under our NGA in next year’s draft will also have a bearing on what we can and can’t do this year.

7 minutes ago, Wells 11 said:

The list looks really well balanced and well connected atm. Im with you here. Hang on to sparrow and take our picks to the draft. Bringing in a high price recruit doesn't always work in terms of team cohesion.

I agree take care of our own backyard first before pursuing others.

We are finally cohesive, have good vibes and play fun football.

Need to secure Tommy Sparrow, Chin and Fritta before we even worry about getting opposition players like Butters and Humphrey.

And heck make it 8 first round picks in 4 years. JT is the best drafter in the game with a very high strike rate. He will find the next star without us having to expend large amounts of salary cap and draft picks later this year.

Does anyone think that a KPD is more important at the moment?

Someone to replace May for the next 6 years.

Collingwood will tank to get buttered bread

Interesting that the Cats and Pies take such a different approach.

Pies especially have very little young talent but will go all in for any senior player

Should be a fascinating off season.