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You mean apart from Lever, May, Langdon, Hibberd, Melksham, Brown and Dunstan? That’s 6 out of our last match 22 and one of the next in line who have to come to us from other clubs. And 4 players (Oliver, Trac, Viney and Brayshaw) have signed ultra long deals in the face of serious bids from elsewhere in the last three years. Bit of a stretch to say nobody wants to play for us.

Posters keep perpetuating this myth about Grundy and it's just not true. 2022 is the only year in his career that he's hasn't played the vast majority of games.

I’d be more disappointed in losing Kozzie than Jackson.

Its in Tomlinson's interest to look for a trade. He is 29 with one year on his contract when he will be 30. It is only a year but reaching 30 may reduce his value to another club. Now he may get a 2 or probably 3 year contract extending his career into his early 30's. His salary was rumoured to be in the region of $500k so it would be a good move to free up some TPP for us imv he falls into the category of: we are happy to have you on our list next year but if you can find another club we will support you. This is what we did with TMc and ANB two years ago.

Simple. Supporters don’t make enough noise at games.

Just pasted this on another thread.re Kozzie........ TBH I don't want another year of Jackson like speculation. I'm of the mind to say sign or we trade. The kid glove treatment of Jackson got us nothing but distraction

Haha, mate, come on. If you can't see that I was being heavily sarcastic, I can't help you. I wasn't in the room at Rye reporting what they said, I was poking fun at the ridiculous notion that Goodwin's friendship with Melksham had him extended for 2023...

You have to laugh at the way posters tie themselves up in knots about Brodie Grundy. "He's injury prone and fragile". (Facts show that he been remarkably durable with the exception of this year) "Yeah but his last two years were poor" (Facts show he finished top ten in the B & F in both years) "Yeah but those B & F placings mean nothing" (Facts show they are a great indication of performance) Which rabbit hole will the critics go down next, I wonder? And just for the record, I'm 50/50 on the merits of trading for Grundy. I trust our Club to make the best decision.

I haven't opened this thread previously, and haven't read any comments. So probably repeating something that has been said. My two cents. There's no such thing as a wasted season. I, like every other demonlad poster love the dees. The club has been a constant in my life. I started going to tbe footy regularly when i was 11. Predominantly by myself until I was 22 or so, when I finally found some friends who also supported the dees. I endured seasons where we barely won a game. i watched big carl try and make us feared I dreamed of a flag when the great barrassi came home. i watched robbie dance, Rhino Richards play like barrassi one day a princess park and lead us to a glorious win over the rampant hawks. It was the day Matthews assaulted Smith, one if my all time favorites. I reveled in the fairy tale of 87. Cried tears of joy at Whitten oval. And tears of pain at Waverley. i went to our last wver game at vic park. It was packed to the rotting rafters and shwarter and jackovich went bananas. One of my all time favorite games I've seen live. Going to the footy in the 90s and into the 2000s was an all day and all night event. Went with my demon posse, and carried on before, during and well after. I went to Robbie's memorial, the only time I've ever gone to one for someone i didn't know. Cried again. Last year was a dream. The dees made lockdown bearable. But it was just another chapter. It's about the journey, not the destination. Goody has made it clear the goal is not one flag. He has built a team and model with sustained success as its bedrock goal. For perhaps only the third time in all the years I have supported the dees, I really believe sustained success is probable. I hate with a passion we ate not playing this weekend. I still feel queasy. But I can't wait till the next chapter. Go redlegs.

I’m hearing multiple reports that Melbourne is chasing Zac Butters. Doing everything they can to get him next year. Melbourne boy who wants to come home. Doesn’t love Adelaide - because, well, it’s Adelaide.

Is this the 'pot our players' thread or one to discuss trades and free agency? Not sure what Disco has done wrong to cop what has come his way.

Two years ago, Jeremy Cameron was one year younger than Grundy when he was traded for 13, 15 and 20 with 2 future 2nds back. I think a late 1st is fair value for Grundy if Collingwood pick up 30% of his salary.

Come again????🧐

These players aren’t just nominating clubs out of the blue. There has been months of discussions behind the scenes. Quite simply, they don’t nominate us because we aren’t interested in them and/or we don’t have cap space for them. If we were constantly being reported as being in the hunt for players and missing out… then that would be a different story. But I haven’t seen that reported anywhere.

Cal Twomey stated yesterday there is zero chance Kozzie leaves Melbourne this year. Hope we can re-sign him in the off-season otherwise it will be another Jackson-like season to endure.

I have some intel that Tomlinson is far more advanced in thinking/planning for life after footy than he is thinking about a major shift for another footy contract

I don't believe a lack of desire was the reason we went out in straights sets. We lost because of too many injured players and a poor forward line set up with one KPF who was not at his best.

Yep, I reckon you're spot on. I can just see our list management strategy meeting down at Rye. Tim Lamb: So, do we keep Melksham everyone? Jason Taylor: I think it might be time to go back to the well and see what we can get from draft instead. Alan Richardson: I agree. Let's cut him. Simon Goodwin: Hang on a second guys. I'm really good mates with Melky. Tim Lamb: Oh yeah. You are too. Alan Richardson: Good point. Maybe we keep him. Jason Taylor: Yeah, fair enough. I was forgetting you guys were good mates, Goody. Let's keep him. Stuff the draft pool.

Losing Kosi would be an absolute disaster. Not just because he’s such a rare talent, but he’s also remarkably marketable and a fan favourite. Gotta put a big deal in front of him and get it sorted asap. No issues giving him 5 years. He’s only 21.

Agreed. But who says Kozzie wants to leave? Port Adelaide would like to recruit him but so would every other club. I'll resist the trap of jumping at shadows unless something substantial happens.

Agree and I'll say it once more H Petty IMO is our best defender - yes better than May and Lever

I would imagine we would be examining him with our medical team pretty closely, before any deal is done. Of course there are no guarantees. He could do his knee in a scratch match. I am thinking that the FD see this as Grundy being the main ruck during the season, doing lets say 60-70% and Max maybe the rest, with only a small amount of time forward, maybe just to unsettle defences. This would allow Max to remain fitter and fresher for finals and hopefully to play on longer. If a key forward went down in a game, Max might play a bit more there. I could also see him not playing some interstate games as well. I see this as a way to prolong Max's career and have him as a fresh weapon in finals, as opposed to the banged up Max we had this year, with multiple injuries that he played through. It is obvious to me that the Max of this year's finals, was a shadow of last year's. This could all be down to us managing one of our key assets.

That's probably is fair market value. But there are other factors in this trade, for one Grundy doesn’t want to leave and hasn’t put in a request. Another factor in this trade is that the Pies need him off the books in order to be able to afford to bring in their targets and give better contracts to their up and coming starts. If as reported we are the only club properly interest then it really does give us the upper hand. We don’t need to always be the nice guys in trading, if they want rid of him and we are the only club he’s will to go to then the market price is whatever we are will to give them in terms of $$$$ of his contract and picks.

Like, I'm pretty sure you're not hurting as much given that the only thing ive wanted most in my 40 years is to see a dees flag and then celebrate with my mates but nooo i get to watch it on tv and do a zoom call in my shed whilst staving off depression and you were nightclubbing in your full kit and now all it does is remind me of being locked down and depressed but hey whatever And then we finally get what weve always wanted in finals which is top 2 and playing interstate teams at the G and we go and pull that [censored] ffs. Sorry, still processing

Ben is 29 not 35 and has been made to play in a way that completely disadvantages him. He is a lead up FF, who has been made to go to the pocket and sit under a long bomb, while 3 opposition defenders hang off him, jump all over him, push him, grab him, chop his arms and spoil him, with his resting ruckman also coming into the contest and making an even bigger mess of it. This is all designed to create a contest, where the assumption is that our brilliant small forwards will crumb and goal in the chaos and if not, then apply enough pressure to maintain the ball in our F50. How could any key forward succeed in that predictable mess? Get him back to playing his game, have the other forwards also make space and create options and commit to relentless pressure. Oh and play a second key forward, so that not all the tall defenders are all over Ben and we have other marking options.

Let's all relax with a few beers.

Liam got very well looked after, you cannot fault the Club on that one. There were many problems, but that wasn’t one of them. He was asked and told to stay.. He chose to go

I'm astounded that anybody could see AF's post as anything but champagne comedy.

A huge problem for us in terms of Jackson leaving is how few players there are in the AFL who can play as a tall forward and reliving ruck. And players who fit that bill AND who are gettable right now are as rare as hen's teeth. We need a ready made replacement, no a draftee. Who else is even remotely available other than Lobb?

You said he's struggling (your words), not that he's not dominating. Turner is averaging 10.5 disposals a match. In the AFL Petty averaged 10.6 this year. Should he be dropped? Maybe you should educate yourself on the modern game. Everyone has a role, and the coaches obviously believe Turner has played his well enough to get a senior game this year. Now I'm not for a moment saying he'll be a star. But in no way has he struggled in the VFL this year.

Please, please, pleeeeeasee pick James hard just for thr LOL's

Lobb will fit in at the dogs. Inconsistent, disloyal peroxided [censored] The dogs measure success on Instagram likes

40 and 41 goals for a small forward is elite stuff two years running. His defensive presence is a bonus and I think he does that well.

@Grand New Flag

Didn’t think we would have a problem with players leaving since we won the premiership but it’s still happening unfortunately. It actually really pisses me off. Why would you want to leave our club NOW.

You've completely overblown this. There has been absolutely no personal attacks on Melksham in any form on this thread. It's been a pretty measured discussion from a football contract perspective and everyone has added solid discussion regarding futures of Melk and Hibberd. I've been really careful with my discussion on here regarding Melk because we're discussion people's future so I've tried to be respectful and on topic with this thread, which is a trade and free agency discussion am I not right? How you saw @A F thread as a personal insult to Melksham really is confusing because if anything I took it as a sarcastic little dig at me which is totally fine and I did see the funny side in it. What's the point of having a football board if can't even have the discussion on point?

Great bikes are those Nortons

I could not be more ambivalent about Grundy. But if he ends up at the dees then he'll have my 100% support.

In the Eastern Football League Premier Division, the B & F was won by a former Melbourne rookie Max King. He tied with a player from Norwood (the Melbourne suburban club, not the one from the SANFL). The Division 2 medal was won outright by another former Melbourne AFL and Casey Demons VFL player, Tim 'Bull' Smith, now at South Belgrave.

Key graph is reposted here showing how our running fell away this year >10% less in the second half of the year.

We might have different opinions as to what a required player is. He spent most of the year at Casey - he's got one more year to run on a contract on reasonable $ for a guy that's likely again to spend the best part of 2023 kicking the dew off unless there are some significant injuries to key backs - and as @old55 has said the first in line appears to be Dan Turner anyway. I can absolutely see a situation where Tomo requests a trade in his own best interests and I can absolutely see the club agreeing to it if it helps them free up some TPP room.

Just shows how critical it is to get drafting right. If we had Curnow or MacKay, our fwd line would look so different

Par for me is top 4 (Prelims) - we finished 5th. On that measure the season was under par. If you call that a failure or waste then I guess it was. My nagging concern is we are a one hit wonder who won a drought breaking flag when the majority of our supporters could not witness or celebrate it - I don't want to waste this list, another flag is a must. But things move quickly, no-one would've thought after 2000 Essendon would win only one flag or that after 2001 they wouldn't be back. Collingwood in 2010 and Bulldogs in 2016 were talked up as young teams built for sustained success. No one hands it to you in this comp, you have to demand it and be ruthless. This year we were anything but ruthless despite the rhetoric. I hope the players and coaches rediscover that selfless and ruthless edge that led us to the flag in 2021 or I worry we will just meander along for another few years and watch our chance fly by.

Will snoop Dogg be his sponsor? Fo Sheezel

You realise he's a key defender yeah? His main role is to prevent his opponent and the opposition scoring. I'd rather him average 9 disposals a game and average 1 goal against then average 20 disposals a game and 4 goals against...

I love Maxy. He's a champion. Super professional with a great tank. Burns pretty much every other ruck man in the league with his relentless gut running up and down the ground. And let's not forget this moment of magic from our skipper on our march to the flag last year

My only prediction for the silly season is this; I think West Coast’s list manager (completely unknown to me until today) has the potential to get to Adrian Dodoro/ Peter Bell levels of unlikeability and Mark Neeld/Barry Prendergast levels of incompetence. - he isn’t going to be ‘gun shy’ (but has already taken pick 2 off the table) - has expressed serious level of confidence in convincing Jackson and getting the deal done (but hasn’t spoken to him yet). Come on old mate.

Reckon getting paid between 300K - 900K per year would dull my pain nicely.

He’s on as much as Langdon (~$500k) and he could be playing for half a dozen other teams regularly. It’s best for both parties for him to go.