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Those highlights from the Elimination Final go along way to show how much we missed him this season. Played a key role in both finals wins and in the month leading up as well. Can't wait to see him fit and back out there. He'll be like a new recruit in 2020.

Just the alice game is perfect. Make it against Freo every year. More winnable and less support than crows.

When he got to Port they gave him the nickname ‘Basil.

tomlinson - available whitfield - not available

History will show that the toughest road trip for most MFC supporters/members is crossing the Yarra and heading down to Docklands.

The Suns have apparently taken over our Darwin home game as of 2020. I haven't been able to get a lot of info as yet, but seems like we will still have at least one Alice Springs game, but Gold Coast will play a "major" Victorian club (so, likely not us) as the home team from next season. This ties in to the news already out there that the Suns have been given Darwin as a recruiting zone. Source As well as the earlier reports of the Suns being in discussions with the NT: "GOLD Coast is in ongoing discussions with AFL Northern Territory about the possibility of forming a mutually beneficial arrangement." Source

Riley Knight is more of a mid, isn’t he? Stretch has zero value as a trade

We have to be realistic here. It's all well and good to say that we should save money for Whitfield, but who's to say he'll want to come to us? What would we do if we didn't sign Tomlinson for free this year in the hope of getting Whitfield next year, for Whitfield to re-sign with GWS (With the AFL's help of course). We miss out on the decent recruit as well as a great one... I recon the FD would know what their chances of landing Whitfield next year are, and if they're not over 90%, don't run the risk. Sign what you know you can now.

2018 followed by 2019.

I think we just take every delisted player and FA and then we will win a flag with our list of 120.

I’m not intending to stir the pot here, but I reckon we could use this guy’s skills and he’d still absolutely be in our best 22. Watts is simply an elite user of the ball, he has great skills, and he is fundamentally an MFC man - something which I think is relevant to this club right now. In short, there are tangible and intangible reasons to get him back to the club. 2019 was a simply pathetic season, and it was characterised by many poor decisions. Getting Watts back could demonstrate that we know we’ve made some mistakes, and that we’re above our own ego. I reckon it’d also improve our list. As an aside, I was at the Swans B&F last night as a guest of a former Port Adelaide player who knows him. He confirmed that: (a) he’s a ripper bloke; (b) he has extreme skills; and (c) he’s much harder at the contest than a lot of spectators appreciate. Completely unsolicited, he then told me that every club had him as the number 1 in his draft year. I know this is probably accurate because Gubby Allen also confirmed this to me a few years ago. We just developed him completely poorly. Let’s bring this guy back to the club. We really need some more class. PS. I rate our number 31 - I’d just like to see him and Watts operate in tandem for the red and blue.

Suns have asked the AFL for our midfield group including Max, Clarry and Gus and the AFL are considering it. AFL have told us not to complain, as they have said we will be given a round 4 pick for all of them, as compo.

Gaz thinking like a breakfast radio host trying to create some interest on a slow news day!

And you run the risk of chasing him and then having him re-sign with GWS. I know some might say that he is worth the risk, but then we've missed out on others who could potentially help to improve our side. If we asked the question and he legit seemed keen, then I'd be happy to go all in for him. But it's never as easy as that.

Are the Pies blessed? Fall into the 4. Play the Cats at their home ground. Play the Giants with all Pies supporters at their home ground. Play the Giants with Ward, Coniglio, Whitfield and maybe Greene out.

This pure angst gold. You have out done yourself this time on the bag everything dees related scale TGR. Brilliant stuff. To parlay a barley formed rumour about Clarkson looking at properties in Perth into an opportunity to bag the dees is next level wrist slashing genius. I am seriously impressed. The other negative nellies on this site should bow before your angsty greatness.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, though. He was fresh off playing his best footy for the club and looked fit. At the time I think we were all happy to offer him that deal and keep him on board. He looked to be over the injury and had a terrific finals series. Of course it's easy to look at the deal in a less than favourable light after he missed all of this season, but the fact he is still just 27 and is seemingly headed in the right direction is a good sign for all involved. And what if it happens all over again? He may well retire like Tim Smith has just done, and therefore we move on from that contract. I'm going to back him in to be in our side come Round 1 next year.

The issue I have is that the FD freaked out when Sydney came knocking last year and decided to offer him 3 years when he'd barely been on the park for the previous 2. I wish AVB all the luck in the world, and hope he succeeds, but offering 3 years was the stupidest thing we did last year. Also, I believe Sydney would have offered their 2nd round pick for him off the stellar finals he had.

Great news if true. That NT game will no doubt be transferred to Marvel rather than the MCG, but at least most of us we'll be able to see it live. Will be up to Pert to make up for the missing revenue that the Darwin game provides, unless we play 2 Alice games a year.

He is from up this way in Albury/Wodonga and I know some of his knockabout mates.. All I will say is stay absolutely clear from this muppet.

I like you Ron, but this is a shocker.

Have we recruited anyone of note from the NT since we went up there to play? Our only decent NT players were Matty Whelan and Aaron Davey and they were a long time before we went up there. All the recent good NT players like the Rioli’s play elsewhere. Aside from the money the whole adventure sucks. Cost us games and the only modicum of support we get is from remote locals bussed in to wear brand new MFC gear at the games aside from a few wandering fans. Rather like the GWS supporters.

He likes t#ts and swimming, but never liked going when it was it his turn.

Was watching KK's brother play for Geelong last week, and couldn't help but think how things will turn around for us if we can get KK, Vanders and Joel on the ground regularly for us next year... In the hands of the footy Gods, I know, but we are due some good fortune with those three.

Right up there with the best news I've heard all season. Good luck Vanders!

Great news, hope 2020 is his year?

Imagine being a 27 year old athlete who's excited about being able to run 16 times in a row without breaking down. Shows how tough the life of an AFL player would be.

one down..one to go

Very exciting news if he's indeed on top of his injury and will play a big role in 2020.

He played 5 games all season and is OOC. I'd be offering a 4th rounder for him.

What a ridiculous statement and shows your ignorance, its an an opinion and he is saying have a crack at .. why not? Cant see what coaching has to do with it.

guaranteed we're scheduled to play gc17 as an away game in darwin, innit?

Easy to throw those words out by Garry but I’d be staggered if he would chose Melb over Carlton, Hawthorn etc

Whitfield is a beautiful player but I'm unsure how he likes it when it's finals hot. He was superb vs the Dogs but the Giants toasted them. He was invisible against the Lions when it was super hot. It will be fascinating to see how he goes vs the Pies.

100% agree. You can't be making decisions on the hope someone comes to you. That's just poor management. If it gets to next season and he's available and wants to come to us, then we look at ways to do it. That may involve trading out someone like Brayshaw to free up cap space, but you need to make decisions for the here and now.

He was a category B player, so always a longshot. Every club has a long list of players that never made the grade.

Gives me the opportunity to have the last word then (so i'll make it count). Firstly, it is a given that it is my opinion that that selecting Tyson as part of that deal was a mistake, not a fact. It would get tiresome if every time someone posted a comment on DL they prefaced with it 'in my opinion'. Secondly YOUR opinion is that i am factually incorrect to say 'more in the type of player he is - a contested, inside player with average foot skills. A type we have a surfeit of. We needed silk and we got whatever the opposite is' You go on to to say your opinion is based not on hindsight but on the facts at the time the decisions were made and that the criticism of Roos based on that comment are unfounded. Well i'm sorry, but in MY opinion you are wrong and the facts do not support your argument. In 2013, when Roos decided to split pick 2 and give up the opportunity to get Kelly, Billings or the Bont (a decision i stress that i supported at the time and in the following years) we had the following players on our list who could be fairly described as a contested, inside player with average foot skills. Nathan Jones Jimmy Toumpas Jack Grimes Jack Viney Jack Trengove Jordie McKenzie Luke Tapscott Matt Jones To that list Roos decided to add two more contested, inside players with average foot skills: Dom Tyson Viv Michie That's 10 contested, inside player with average foot skills. We can argue about the word surfeit but in my opinion that is too many and created a list imbalance that persists to this day (and i fully agree that Goodwin has done nothing to address this issue. Nor did Roos for that matter, doubling down in the following draft and trading periods). This is why so desperately need a player like Brad Hill now. In that draft Roos (well his recruiting team) also added: Bernie Vince (great foot skills, but an inside player and slow) Jayden Hunt (an outside player, with speed but poor foot skills) Jay Kennedy Harris (an outside player with average foot skills) Christian Salem (an inside player, with elite foot skills but slow) Looking at the list we started 2014 with (thanks Demonwiki - what a magnificent website, a treasure) - the first year of the Roos era- we only had the following three players i would describe as 'silk' ie outside players, who can cover ground with elite foot skills (i don't count Hogan in this category): Jack Watts Dom Barry (5 games) James Strauss (0 games) And to top that off in terms of elite kicks you could only add Shannon Brynes, Salem and Jetta. Meaning on list of 52 players we only had 6 elite kick and only two of them played more than 6 games. The other relevant issue about the decision to not go to the draft with pick 2 was that you rightly say the deal also involved us giving up pick 20. We could have used both picks 2 and 20 to address our lack of silk. Two could have got us Kelly. And pick 20 could have got us Jarmen Impey (who went at pick 21).

ED LANGDON (FREM) All signs still point to Melbourne after the speedy winger recently met with a host of clubs to explore his options. Keen on the Demons and the feeling is mutual

That WCE game was horrible. I was all settled in front of the TV and 15mins later I was doing gardening.

Yes as a DFA, absolute upgrade on players we’ve already delisted and Stretch, JKH and Wagner. Let’s remember that our bottom six getting a game are very ordinary, I base how we’re looking at these six. Not every player we bring in can be a star but they can be an upgrade on our lower end players.

Completely agree with Garry if Whitfield was at all gettable, but he is apparently not. To add to that, did anyone read Coniglio telling the story about Whitfield jumping around like a little fangirl when Coniglio told him he’d re-signed? Had to drag Whitfield around the corner to tell him away from others, because he knew the reaction would give it away. Just a little story, but I think demonstrative of the strong bond between the upper echelon at GWS.

Agree that he us exactly the sort of player we need. Close to the best kick in the league and a beautiful mover. Silk. But surely getting Tomlinson won't impact our chances of getting Whitfield. Won't cost us a draft pick and not too much salary space.

Sam Powell-Basil they call him over at Port Adelaide, just a little fact thrown in there. I believe we’ve enquired however that’s as far as we got. #ETbreakingitdownonetradeatatime

We should be rewarded for not screwing with the careers of Dangerfield, Rioli or Rance. Morton had a heap of talent and no development.

i'm surprised the afl hasn't set up a player's safe injecting room at afl docklands

On a related note, as good as the Lions were for most of the year, to get bundled out in straight sets is pretty disapointing on the back of two home finals where they had a far greater home ground advantage than we did against our respective opponents last year. At least we stood up and won big moments and big game finals. Not that Hawthorn or Geelong were really that much chop last year, but the way we were playing, I think we would have beaten most other finalists, including WC at the MCG (particularly if they didn't have the luxury of a second week off in 3 weeks).

Yes I would, if I could, I surely would...

One of my highlights for 2018 was when he got buried by Jetta when we played them. Powell Pepper had been mouthing off all game, despite not doing anything. He got then ball, tried a don’t argue on Nev Jetta, and was absolutely buried into the turf with a crunching tackle that left him acting like a scolding dog with its tail between its legs. Top 5 2018 moments for me. Powell Pepper is a legit faux tough guy and average footballer.