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When Jesse first burst on to the scene with that great game under lights against the Tigers, we told ourselves that the only way we would keep him long-term was to win games - to become a good side that played finals and was a premiership contender. It seems counter-intuitive that after enduring the tail end of the miserable years and our slow but steady rise up the ladder, he's going to jump ship to another basket-case of a club just as we're coming good and about to fulfil our promise to him. I trust the club to make the best of the situation, but I'll be sorry to see him go if that's what transpires. Jesse was one of the first pieces of the puzzle to be put in place for the rebuild, and it feels somewhat surreal to think that we might end up doing it all without him.

Sam McClure of SEN puts forward his idea of a blockbuster trade that could see Melbourne secure Gold Coast’s Steven May. May has a year left on his contract so McClure opines that there may be a problem. “The sticking point here is that the Gold Coast Suns aren’t going to trade Steven May, unless they get something overs for him.” McClure reckons that Lachie Neale could be the key to the matter. “Lachie Neale goes to Brisbane for Brisbane’s first pick – currently pick five – that is on-traded to Melbourne from Fremantle for Jesse Hogan, and that then allows Melbourne to with that pick for Jesse Hogan to get Steven May. “I’m of strong belief that the Gold Coast Suns would accept pick five for Steven May.” In other words, from Melbourne’s point of view, they get May in return for Hogan suggesting that he is worth exactly the same as May - a first round pick (notwithstanding that Hogan is a high ranking key position forward who is also in contract and three years younger than the Gold Coast defender). To accept such a trade would be madness.

I'd like to remind posters that we gave up two first round picks for Lever. Think about this for a minute. Hogan has a greater body of work than Lever. He also has good knees. It's two first rounders min, and we better stick fat if this entire shambles is true.

Come back to me when he kicks 40 plus goals in 3 out of 4 seasons. I agree that Hogan is more a CHF than a stay at home FF but to me citing the Weid in this story is folly. Weid could be absolutely anything and absolutely nothing - the jury is definitely still out on him.

Yep its accurate. She said she felt "uncomfortable" every time she walked past it...but went on to add that what Melbourne did to its players in those years was "Just as bad" as Essendon. I mean FFS. I cant remmember ever putting their lives at risk???!! Anyway It went largely unnoticed because it was on the Age Tuesday podcast after we smashed Geelong in the elimination final. But IF its around that comment then I agree she deserved it.

This is the same women who tried to expose us for tanking only a few more years agoand ended up paying $500k fine. Stuff her.

That's one of the worst hypotheticals I've heard and I'd be mortified if we were to entertain anything close to that. Langdon? I really don't understand the crush many have on him. Yeh he's quick, cool. But he is far from classy and he doesn't use the ball well. Two things we are dying for. The only way we'll allow Hogan to leave this year is if we end up with a sweet arse deal. And the deal you've just outlined is hideous.

Cost them 2 first rounders.

I always liked Kent, it was a shame that he did his shoulder when he did because he offered us quite a lot but I can understand why he would like a new opportunity elsewhere.

Agreed. Wilson’s disdain for many things MFC over the last 10 years have been well known. I am quite happy for her to stay away. She is not the Chief anymore i am sure Bartlett has reasons we don’t know about

This sucks! One of my favorites. I rate him easily best 22 and light years ahead of Spargo, ANB, Garlett, JKH, etc.

Absolutely. Hoges is v fast. I’ve posted this already, but fastest top speed in AFL is...

The media has lost the plot. In what universe is chad Wingard worth 2 first rounders but hogan not?

You’re kidding. I’d take any reasonable offer. He’s not quite at “free to good home” level but not far off it for mine. A third rounder is probably around the mark. Given we’re moving on quite a few this year, I’d also consider any moderate risk mids they had on their list (ie classy but injured, or hasn’t quite come on), and whatever exchange of later picks; I don’t know what they have in stock though. I like him when he’s going: he’s tough and quick, but he’s so unreliable. He’s in the infirmary as often as he’s out of it and he is capable of being a total passenger when in the side. If the shoe was on the other foot, would you want to give away a second rounder?

Yeah this is a bit different to the Wattsy one... we publicly hung him out to dry & showed we wanted him off our books.. Freo are chasing Jesse hard and have done so for 5 years. They will get laughed at if they expect us to pay any portion of his salary.

Hogan and the club can easily put the rumours to bed by making a statement today. Deafening silence will tell it’s own story.

That's a well written informative and generally very positive article. There's no way that could cause offence. If anything it's this previous article referenced in the recent article that is in play: https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theage.com.au/sport/afl/gary-pert-s-resurrection-a-contentious-call-at-melbourne-20180629-p4zojn.html It is critical but hardly ban worthy. I think it's dangerous to declare war on such an influential journo who has been supportive of us recently. I'm not a Caro hater though.

Is Paul Salmon still playing?

McClure can drink his own urine. No way

I don't see any relevance between the 2 players?

I'll be shot down for this, but I don't rate him as highly as others. Has good pace and is a good accumulator, but he isn't a real good user of the footy and, to me, isn't the best at running both ways. Carlton, Essendon, Saints, Hawks etc will be front of the queue. I haven't seen us mentioned at all when his name comes up. That doesn't mean we won't have a crack, but I'd say that if he's asking for over a million a season that it might put us out of the running from the start.

2013 = 15games 2014 = 13 2015 =4 2016 = 20 2017 = 6 2018 = 5 So averaging less than 9 games a year for the last four years... that ain't equal second round: and that's before you look at his talent. 3 year contract offered? If you are Dean Kent, you have to take it with open arms. If you are Melbourne, you would (hopefully) not be offering 3 years based on above!!

I would normally think childish, but after Caro's comments on Jim Stynes and the statue a couple of weeks back, good on the club for banning her, she should hang her ugly head in shame.

Early first rd for Billings, you have to be kidding. He is a 2nd rounder at best

Shame his body couldn’t hold up. Enjoyed watching him at full flight and gave us one of the best moments in 2018 with his long goal in the West. Good luck Kenty, hope it works out for you.

The same outragists who howled me down for suggesting May at the Dees, then look who we met last week and have been linked with..... Footy has changed these days, supporters become too emotionally attached to players never wanting them to leave and that's fine, but footy has become a serious billion dollar industry. Footy has changed, I don't like the way it's heading but I have to accept it. It's like fans who admire the loyalty of Nathan Jones from the dark years, they can't think clearly to see he has been utterly terrible for most of the year, never stands up when needed and appreciated the way he burrows in to get the hard ball only to cough it up and turn it over. The club needs to handle his exit carefully but the time is soon. I was never for or against trading Jesse, but I'm always open to ideas and getting maximum value out of a player, whether that be ideas about positional changes or trades. The fact of the matter is, be prepared to lose your favourite player, footy is a business now and never believe any word from any player, club, CEO or AFL for that matter as there's always workings going on behind the scenes that we will never hear about, that's why I'm always happy to discuss trading any player. Also contracts aren't really worth the paper they're written on either, at any club. As Paul Roos and Chris Scott say, any player is tradeable for the right price. Whether Jesse stays or goes we don't know, but from a club perspective, right now is the time to cash in on maximum value if he were to ever leave. The fact that he won't extend and is open to a trade tells me he's already halfway out the door anyway. I expect to get 2 x picks under 10 for Jesse FWIW. My biggest concern that nobody has mentioned is, who pays his salary next year if he goes considering he's reportedly on $800k here.

Sorry not me AF, I was born in Melbourne. The poor woman sounds like she’s not only failed at life, but also failed at being a clapped out meth-rat. What sort of dedicated ice-addict is overweight?

You realise he was an Adelaide supporter as a kid? Even I would have worn a freo scarf to that game rather than barrack for Hawthorn.

I hope his Helmut wasn’t on display.

this could be the making of the era we have all been waiting for. To have three class forwards is a surfeit of riches. Sure we could devise a gameplan around them but the chance to trade what is almost a surplus player for a known deficiency or two does not come along often.

The club will be prepared either way. While it would suck if a budding superstar wanted to leave, it’s not going to be the end of the world. We’ve proven we can be competitive without him, and we would be able to extract a lot of value from trading him. Obviously I’d prefer him to stay as he’s a young star with some seriously good footy ahead of him, but it won’t be the end of the world if he leaves.

The year he played at Casey and not on our senior list counts as service towards FA. The question was asked about some of GC/GWS picks they took a year early who played in neafl the year before they joined the AFL and the answer from the AFL was that those years count towards FA.

All she is, is another member of the media sewer rat pack.

This is the kicker. If she was some scrub who was doing it for the first time then fine but it would have been nice to see some more courtesy shown.

I find myself far more ambivalent about this than I would have been three years ago. That said, we don’t need to delude ourselves in to thinking we don’t need him or he won’t be a loss; he will most definitely be a loss. But if it has to be, it has to be. Early in the rebuild, this would have been an enormous setback. Right now, we’ve got two other lesser but competent key forwards in TMac and Weid to mean we can still kick goals without him. We’ve got shrewd list managers who know how to get the job done in the trading department. There is an opportunity to use this situation to fast track development in other areas of the ground we are lacking, such as Tyson and Jones playing wing or going in to the VFL grand final without a ruckman. I still hope he doesn’t go, but if he must, we’re in as good a position to deal with it, and possibly even use it to our advantage, than we ever have been.

I’m hitting the hay now. Good luck in your quest to save the world.

Absolutely pweak from Bartlett. This is old Melbourne. Weak, petty and paranoid. Pathetic. But there will be some simpletons that applaud it.

In the op's audio, Caro says she and Bartlett chatted about the function last week and all was good. The article I quoted was published over the weekend in The AGe. Yesterday she gets a call from our marketing department to say not to attend. That sounds like a knee-jerk reaction and churlish, especially after a near 20 year history. We can't go banning journo's when they write something we don't like. Not good for business.

Good luck in the future Cam. I respect your efforts for our club, especially when we were a rabble. Never sooked or carried on when out of the seniors. never stopped giving your best. Others could take a lesson from you. Respected club man, and I really hope he maintains contact with the MFC to share the good times when they come. Cya Pedo.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-s-dean-kent-wants-to-be-a-saint-20180925-p505zp.html

Freo put their foot down last year with GCS and demanded pick 2 for Weller or there was no deal. GCS eventually folded and paid pick 2. Melb does the same. If Jessie wants to go, fine but we get what we want. Picks 4 & 5 or no deal. Dont except 9 & 10

ooh he must want to stay in Melbourne then? #hoganmyths

Who is "Jessie"?

If Hogan were to be traded to Fremantle, we wouldn’t be paying any part of his contract.

If he's really set on going home, I think its entirely understandable that we, as supporters, try to focus on his shortcomings. His injuries, his pace, his leap, his defensive pressure or what have you. Its a way to feel better. I think deep down we all know he's a gun.....whether some of the mentioned "flaws" derail his trajectory into a lynch type player only time will tell. But we all know he's a gun , at some level, anyway. His dad died and he had his own brush with cancer. No small things for a 20? year old . Both things can make you wonder about family and where you belong. Him going this year at least lets us trade for him. we're in the happy position where its possible we may not go backwards ( perhaps, depending on trades, even take a tiny step forward) without him. Lets make the best of this we can

You mean like GAJ going to Gold Coast and Buddy to Sydney? It's pretty simple if he wants to go it's a money or lifestyle choice, nothing to do with us. If he wants to go then we cash in now while we can get something for him. He's doing us a favour IMO by letting us know now before he becomes a free agent.

Very thin-skinned if that article was the reason she got canned...

Jesse has crack in his navicular and this is a notoriously difficult injury to fully recover from. Let's say Freo is waving 6 years x $1M at him - I bet that insurance looks very attractive. On the other hand MFC has Viney, Stretch, VDB and Hogan all with foot problems that create a lot of uncertainty. Maybe we want to manage some risk and are not enthusiastic about competing with that Freo offer right now. I can see this influencing the market.

Oh, I did. I'm not sure you got mine.

If true it's very petty. Love her or hate her she is a major media player in football. The club needs to be bigger than this...