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Good news. Just confirmed on afl.com.au Roos target pick one, Dee to go on, big Dog to stay DEE TO GO ON MELBOURNE veteran Jake Melksham is set to go on at the Demons next year after his knee reconstruction late this season.

The 32-year-old has been out of contract and an unrestricted free agent after going down with the season-ending knee injury in round 24 against Sydney and missing the Demons’ finals series. But the popular forward is set to play on in 2024, with details still to be worked through around whether he will be senior or rookie-listed in the deal. The injury will likely see him sidelined until past midway through next season.

Sam Edmund and Tom Morris just confirmed on Trade Radio that there is absolutely no substance to Melbourne potentially in the market for Ben King, Aaron Naughton or Oscar Allan. Edmund went on to explain that he was speaking to someone influential inside Melbourne and the focus will be blooding and giving the kids more opportunities at senior level.

He’s a diehard demon and has been in contact with the club for years. His father ex demon ruckman Jeff remains a diehard demon too. Jeff’s pretty active on social media and has proudly shown a lot of his son Kalanis underage footballing career. Kalani is a mad demon. He rocks the demon gear and loves heading down to Vic to see the dees. There’s zero chance he becomes a sun. He’ll be a demon, just a matter of how much we’ll have to give up in points for father son drafting.

Can’t speak for everyone here but a feel good story is very welcome right about now.

Just a reminder that this year's Norm Smith medal went to a guy that was traded for what amounted to a future second-rounder. You don't always have to take big name players to do well out of the draft.

Max is so much more than just a great ruckman tho. I think he will leave a big hole on and off the field.

We've got the list spots and would be paying him to rehab anyway. I see it as him being the assistant forwards coach and working closely with JVR and Jefferson. Joel Smith too. If he makes it back to play and can contribute that's a bonus.

A few posters on this thread seem to think people are commodities. TMac has been part of the backbone of MFC through thick and thin . We must be a Club who bind through loyalties and I feel some posters do not seem to have a loyal bone in their bodies ! I recognise that both of them are in the twilight of their careers (bodywise), lets shwo some sembalance of respect !!!

Given Harmes, JJ and Dunstan leaving as the midfield depth, the quote from the club to the journos, on our trading this year, probably sums it up for this off season. We will get McAdam and maybe Flynn or another ruckman. We may have a pick in the pre season or mid season draft, if they are still happening. We will try and get as high as we can in the draft and take 4-5 of the best players we can get. These draftees will be on base salaries. There may be a mid or two in that group. However, we also have to try out our current talent in Woey, Laurie, Howes and maybe AMW to see if they are up to it and they could all possibly play midfield minutes. We also can try the likes of Kozzie, Rivers, McVee and Bowey in the midfield, to see how they go, with Kozzie already demonstrating his ability, in the few times he was there. Even Spargo played midfield as a junior. Then next year, with cap space freed up this year from the names we all know leaving and next year with at least BBB and Tom Mac retired and another $1m freed up with just those two, we could be in a position to really launch at a couple of FA's. I would be surprised if on the current info, the above is far off expected our position.

Definitely not how I read into it.

You just need Lobb to provide reasonable back up ruck work and then an ability better than Gawn or Grundy to play forward and it's a win. He could absolutely nail both roles.

My only issue with McKay is the cost. He signed a mega contract that we would essentially need to take on. Not sure he’s worth it.

Need to see what Blake Howes can do as well.

He's only just turned 32. He can be a class act when he's on. Those shots from the boundary are brilliant.

You’re right. It’s not terrible, but horrendous.

Melbourne could swoop in and steal ruckman Matt Flynn from under West Coast’s noses. Flynn played well in the opening nine games of the season for the Giants when he averaged 12 disposals and 29 hit-outs. He fell behind Kieran Briggs and played the rest of the season in the VFL. Eagles coach Adam Simpson has publicly said that he eyes Bailey Williams as a forward-ruck in the long-term rather than the No.1 man in the middle. Greater Western Sydney football boss Jason McCartney said Flynn had yet to decide what he wanted to do before the free agency period opens on Friday. “We haven’t been in the position to offer Matt a contract, so him and (his manager) Scott Lucas have done the right thing and explored options,” McCartney told Trade Radio. “He’s looking for that opportunity to play more regular football. He did it earlier in the year with us but obviously, Kieran Briggs really stood up and shone through in the second half of the year." “It’s fair to say he’s probably weighing up options now between West Coast and Melbourne of what it looks like, but I don’t think he’s come to a final decision on what that looks like yet." “Those clubs will hear more soon as we will.”

Happy about this, love what he brings to our forward line Won't cost a lot, financially or list wise, especially with the number of players retiring or leaving for opportunities elsewhere

👍deserved it

Jay Clark suggesting we should trade in Lobb because the Dogs don’t want/need him and we need a forward.

Not sure if this has already been posted: https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/afl-trade-2023-melbourne-look-to-swoop-on-gws-ruckman-matt-flynn-from-under-west-coasts-noses-c-12079834

Rumour is that weve been speaking pretty heavily with Tew Jiath (CJs brother)

That doesn’t rhyme!

I'm honestly not that phased by the list spot and salary cap these guys might be taking up. It's basically sunk capital. We invested it to keep/lure them to the club at a time they were valuable contributors and they helped deliver us a premership. Giving them extra years on their contracts and thus allowing us to spread their salaries out at a time we were also trying to secure long term deals for Trac, Clarry, Viney, Gawn, May, Lever and others probably also allowed us to keep that team together. Will we also be asking the same questions in the last couple of years contracts of these guys? i.e. should they retire? Plenty of players we pick at the national draft will probably never play a game. Both T Mac and BBB played multiple games in the seniors when needed, with variable levels of output. It also looks likely we will have a significant list turnover this season and a bunch of young talent. In the current AFL envioment of limited soft cap having a few role models like T Mac and BBB around the place to teach the development squad in check and bring them up the learning curve faster could be invaluable, like having a couple of extra coaches available at your disposal. The quality of character of T Mac and BBB is exceptional, so if we can have some of that rub off on the draftees, I think we are doing well.

Re Lobb (FWIW):

I am glad to see a nuanced response from posters on here toward this decision. It’s the kind of decision a good footy club makes. There are many benefits to him staying as others have noted in a year that will be a rehab year. He won’t take list spot with the long term injury replacement mechanism, he will be cheap, most of his salary would be covered by insurance - it’s a free hit and allows us the option to insert him into a 2025 forward line that might still need him (he’s a niche role player that don’t grow on trees). And he is an excellent leader to boot.

The costing of it all will be huge. He's contracted until 2029 and I'm not one to cash in all our chips on a bloke that misses a goal 10m out directly in front. We need to continue to show that we are along adding young talent through the door otherwise the cliff will come quicker then people expected it to be.

Unclear which way DL is trending in 2024 optimism atm, but this feels like a little up-tick ☝️

Lock in McKay spraying snaps from 20m out in the Red and Blue 😤

Spud.

I really don't think our window is tied to Max or even May for that matter. At the moment, IMO, our success hinges on Oliver, Petracca, Lever and Petty. May is important for 2024, but beyond that, I hope we can draft O'Sullivan this year and make do defensively, while improving our forward half.

This is why I think we'll focus on youth this trade period and clear out some cap space. Reason why? I think there'll be an element of truth where we'll go incredibly hard after Zak Butters next year

We don’t need a key forward, we need more class to deliver inside 50 unless something good comes along during trade week I would be moving up the draft and take a couple of kids with good skills

For reasons beyond our control, I don't believe we had the same forward set-up for any two consecutive weeks. That lack of consistency was always going to get found out, especially in finals. You don't necessarily need stars - just look at Collingwood's forward line! But you do need players who really know how to play a role and work together.

We have the space to get a highly paid player. Re my ‘riddle’, we were right into McKay earlier in the year but it had gone quiet. Only heard about it again on the weekend that we’d upped the ante. We’ll see.

It's only a matter of time before we get a riddle... 🤣

Makes sense if we cycle him to the Rookie list

Who knows BBO he may add a bit of X factor in our 2024 finals campaign if Jake can get back in time.!!!

I love that the sun’s ‘journalists’ just make up trades and it gets called ‘news’

I tend to agree re: Max though I think we need to find a decent forward / ruck foil or else we'll burn him ou sooner than we'd like. May on the other hand, he's worth 5 - 6 goals every week. Rarely, if ever, get's beaten even against the absolute best forwards and he captains the backline equal to anyone else I've seen. Maybe Glen Jakovich was the last one to do it as well as he does?

In order to be eligible for the NAB AFL Draft, players must have attained, or will attain the age of 18 years, on or before December 31, in the year of draft. Kalani turned 16 on 5th May so he'll turn 18 in his draft year in 2 years (2025) and he'll go F/S and be a great addition to the Dees.

Tracks ball use in the grand final was elite. I would suggest the real problem is that the forward line in entirely disorganised therefore players just kick long in hope. We seriously need to get an experienced forward line coach

There is probably not a flag winner who didn't have luck with injuries, allowing consistency of performance. Last year we were banged up and this year we were ravaged by injuries.

Part of showing respect to a player is to have a heart to heart with them, outlining where they are at. If the FD feels they won't play senior footy in the next season, then a retirement with a payment, has them leaving as a senior player, not a reserves player, who played on too long. Conversations need to be honest and respectful as you say, but the player needs to know the lay of the land and then be allowed to make a decision, on how they want to end their time at the club. That is the respect that you afford your long term players. I would think most players with pride want to go out near the top, not the bottom, thereby harming their playing reputation.

Disagree. I don't want us chasing anyone who is not best 25 on our list atm, or capable of getting there, except a backup ruckman. The days of getting anyone are gone for us, as we have a pretty good list, that just needs a little specific improvement.

It will in time.

The non advantage call was massive. Timing and position made it even worse. What a bad umpire to call advantage before anyone even knew a free had even been paid. The free was for a clear trip and and not two seconds after the whistle or a second after a lions player kicked it straight up in the air, its play on. If there is no clear advantage or you are not sure then just stop. It ain't too hard. How many times this year have we seen pedantic umpires calling back players to kick over the mark. What a panic merchant that umpire was.

Yep, he’s definitely a Collingwood supporter, and doesn’t even pretend he isn’t. He’s the same bell end that said De Goey was only a ‘split second’ late when he knocked out that Eagles player - even though he had time to run past the ball, jump, and shoulder charge him in the head AFTER he got rid of the ball. I wish the media had some bite. You can’t have such overt bias in legal decision making. It’s opening the AFL up to a mass of future claims. I hope they get sued into oblivion and someone else takes over the game.

I don’t hate Thursday night games. Admittedly I have no children, and work for myself and set my own schedule, so I’m onboard if they play games on Wednesday mornings. I’ll still go. Work is for suckers.

No not since they gave Ox the boot, vowed never again!

From the point of view of the AFL it’s been a fantastic year. Lots and lots of $$$$$ From my point of view it’s been arguably the worst year. Up until Maynard got off, it was the usual level of not trusting nor respecting the AFL. But that whole debacle sees the AFL sink to an all-time low. Yes, there’s always been corruption and favouritism etc. but it seems they no longer even bother to hide the fact. It’s open slather, they don’t even afford us the respect of trying to rationalise or at least cover up such injustice.