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I have spoken to my contact at the club. Petty and his management met with Adelaide around 3 weeks ago. They put together a presentation based around him returning to defence. Petty ultimately said no. The dust settled. Adelaide have come back with an increased offer after Doedee's decision and Petts manager has told them he won't be leaving Melbourne this trade period. We definitely have our work cut out for his long term commitment.

Apparently the Dees have knocked back Swans opening offer for Grundy.

Hawk’s a mate of mine. Sadly he’s just re-signed with Geelong this morning. Would’ve been a brilliant get for a couple of twilight seasons. He and his family are moving into their Melbourne pad next year as they’ll be doing renos on their place at Gnarwarre, so logistically would’ve been perfect. Can confirm he was getting fairly frustrated at Geelong and if they hadn’t come to the party, he’d have been at Melbourne next year. Club was lurking in the background interested.

https://m.facebook.com/MELBOURNEfc/videos/afl-grand-final-james-harmes-highlight/1025968831586557/ Going to miss you, Harmesy.

Gus was sitting on my table at a lunch last Friday, and without sharing the specifics I'd say his playing future is doubtful. He pepped up a bit for the BnF, which was good to see. The AFL have a real situation on their hands that players in their early to mid 20s are being forced to retire from this sport, and, they are not taking head injuries seriously when it comes to sanctions. The fact Maynard was free to play is one of the greatest injustices I've seen in the sport. It was an absolute disgrace. If the roles had been reversed I would entirely expect our player to be suspended.

Look out, lads! Hot Takes over here thinks that early picks are better than later picks. Absolute edgelord.

I've spent the last 3 days seeing some pretty horrific things, but this just about tops it.

James Frawley (aged 26) compo for FA to move to Hawks got us Angus Brayshaw. 👏👏👏 Frawley had been an All Australian, three times in All Australian squad, twice represented Australia in international rules, twice in top 5 in MFC B&F including runner in 2010. Mckay is not within a country mile of the player Frawley is/was at the same stage. AFL handouts to Kangas is transparent bias and favouritism to a high degree.

I have heard that WC might be after our pick 5.

Harmesy WE LOVE YOU you started the 21GF avalanche with the iconic pass to Fritta 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆21GF⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Dees supporter who got to live out our dreams. 152 games in the red and blue. See you later. Always always welcome back !

Thanks James I will never forget the clearance in the GF and subsequent pass to Fritta that started our charge to Grand Final Victory One of my favorites - sad to see you go but wish you success. (Unless its vs us of course)

Harmes to Dogs for F3rd, done deal. Best of luck James for rest of AFL career.

Lot of [censored] on here about Norf. By and large, they have been a good corporate citizen compared to most other clubs in the comp for the last 50 years They dragged the game kicking and screaming into the 20th Century in the 1970's via imaginative recruiting, terrific what we would now call 'list management', invented VFL grand final breakfasts; and then again in the 1980's with Friday Night Footy In the 2000's pioneered 'selling' games to raise revenue - something the Deez have emulated They did their best in the 2000 and teens to not bottom out (i.e. tank) and ended up finishing mid-ladder most years. This meant they did not have access to top end talent. Between 2010 and 2017, they had one top 10 pick (McDonald who ended up captaining the club). Their next best was pick number 12 in 2016 Let's not loose sight of the fact that Norf are victims of their desire to stay competitive and not cheat like half a dozen other joints we all could mention. Norf are NOT the baddies here. I suggest some posters direct their vitriol elsewhere (we should all know where).

Straight swap with the Bont seems fair

It is curse time. The last instance of a Collingwood player decking a Melbourne player and winning a flag was 1958. It took them 32 years to win another with the development of the Colliwobbles. I hope the karma bus hits them again and it another 32 years before they win a flag and have lots of close misses and losses.

Wait, what? Try to maintain a consistent strategy for at least half a day will ya!

Underrated Harmes game was 2018 elimination final against Geelong. Kept Selwood quiet, then had a crucial moment in the third quarter. Got lippy at Selwood while running to the boundary, Melksham got involved and Selwood ended up giving away a free for high contact. This was 100m off the ball, which was in Tom Hawkins' hands lining up for a regulation set shot. The moment possibly won us the game.

Hopefully he gives all his stuff to Jon Amos All the best Harmesy.

I would have thought Howes should be aiming for a wing spot in 2024. In order to get a chance he really needs to work very hard on his fitness this off season (see J McVee) We are pretty well set for HBF and personally I see Howes more of an outside runner / linkman than hard one on one defender. Just my opinion though.

All part of the plan. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks back to the remarkable scenario with both the Roos and Eagles WINNING late season games that no-one would have begrudged them losing to secure pick one. In fact they both received some heat for WINNING and risking losing access to pick one and Harley Reid. At the time felt like a back room deal between headquarters and both clubs to avoid the inevitable tanking fugazi. Something like 'play games out, win if you can and we'll sort out a draft pick scenario, most likely involving pick three for McKay, where both clubs are happy. Roos you will get pick one and Harley Reid if you want him, but you will need to sweeten the Eagles draft hand so they can get who they want' Nothing that has happened since suggests the above scenario is fanciful.

Looks likes he trimmed 10 kilos off!

Once more in english?

Grundy wasn't treated badly at all It simply didn't work out so he got dropped. That's footy. A bruised ego? He'll get over it We tried to make the him a more versatile player but as it turned out, he's a ruckman/follower and that's it His value came to the fore when Max got injured early in the season and the replacement ruckman in place of Grundy will need to play a similar role He'll get moved on and off the books and we'll get market value back in return And let's not forget that he got paid close on $700k for services rendered Similar to James Jordon who is a reasonable player who couldn't nail down a permanent spot ... so he moves on No big deal either way. Clubs make experimental moves on a constant basis and there's no better example of that than drafting unproven (at AFL level) teenage talent ... sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. That's the cut and thrust of recruiting

I’m fairly certain Fogarty is bigger than Fritsch and a much more aggressive player. Fogarty and JVR would hurt some defenders with the way they attack the ball.

2 first rounders with a second rounder going back to Melbourne. That pick ended up being…Harrison Petty.

All the best James, always a demon premiership player. If Oskar Baker can get 18 senior games in 2023. I'm sure you'll get more than you did this year

Aim higher. We poach Sheezel or Harley Reid in 1-2 years time. Let’s pick the carcass of that loser club so those talented kids careers aren’t wasted.

And if not finals time, he would have been suspended without any doubt. No one would have blinked an eye.

Pick 3 for a dud is surreal.

Feel like we are creating a trade for trades sake. We need talent now, I am already bemused by us pushing out our seasoned bodies without replacement upgrades and we then are proposing to push high draft picks further into future. I have been a big advocate on our list management for the last 5 years or so, but something isn’t quite right this year. Did we get our salary cap structure wrong?

Yep, that seems to be the case. I think it would be a straight swap for their future 1st round. In fairness that would more than likely be a top 3 pick. Nth don’t rate Curtin and Dogs won’t take another tall.

That’s fair. I am sure everyone has had their own experiences with people both good and bad. I’ve said it on here before that Tom was extremely kind and generous and went above and beyond for my friend’s kid when he was diagnosed with cancer. I have also met Emma through work and she was extremely kind and didn’t scream WAG like quite a few other footballer’s wives I’ve worked with.

Premiership player, wonderful contributor. Thans for giving your heart and soul Harmsey

One of the great footy stories. Probably my favourite bloke in the club in terms of his happy demeanor, never-say-die attitude and work ethic. Then again there's Piggy and Clazz! Hard to split. I recall the first year wondering who this Harmes kid was at Casey (or was it Sandy back then?). Any relation to Wayne Harmes? If so what's he doing at the Demons? Had his ups and downs early but eventually found his feet. Remembering that he started 2021 under an injury cloud. Stuck his head down at Casey for a few matches and showed the FD he was ready again. In he came and the rest is history. The steal in the GF to turn things was a piece of football magic / folklore that all Demon faithfull will never forget. Thanks for the premiership and truly wish you much success at the Doggies. Thank Lucifer it wasn't the peptides.

😢 💔

Thanks James, an epic contribution to the club captured in one glorious grand final kick. Good luck and we look forward to seeing you back cheering on the Dees in due course. A heart that beats true.

That pick probably gets the Fullarton deal done (Lions likely happy to accrue picks for the next Aschroft).

Thanks for bringing joy to 1000's of people James. You lived the dream of many supporters. Good luck to you in your career going forward. All the best. Your Secret Admirer from afar...

Think they were happy to get the cash off our books.... maybe loading up for something this year or next.

Didn't Pies fans carry on that Melbourne were negligent to let Gus play despite his previous concussion issues? They didn't seem to mind Murphy playing. If only they were bright enough to understand what irony is.

Up there with Brayden Preuss & Luke Dunstan for 'why on earth would you choose there?' We must give a mean PowerPoint presentation.

Not from the media. Someone on social media speculated that the Swans offered up pick 46 flat. That’d be borderline offensive as an opening offer. Wonder if they’d put the same pick on the table for Taylor Adams?

I wouldn't clap his goals

If I hear one more person compare Frawley to McKay I will lose my mind.

id have the following in front of Mckay as a KPD. Moore Weitering SDK Taylor Andrews Aliir Wilkie May McGoverm Barrass Pearce Cox Collins McCartin Petty Lever Balata Jones Doedee Payne

Look at the excuses they gave for turning us down in 13 and 14. In fact in 14 we were right in line with North, and the afl said, you’re getting free agent compo, you’ve got young talent (we had stuff all), you’ve traded for veterans (which actually hurt our future) and you’ve got Roos and Goodwin coming. Would be so easy for the afl to say ‘you’ve got Clarko, deal with it’. The response is - ‘you’ve got Clarko…let’s help him so he doesn’t quit mid season again’

Kozzie got suspended for his bump on Smith. Maynard's was a lot worse - in action and result

Why? What large salary player are we bringing in? We would have budgeted for him to stay for his full tenure when he was recruited. Yes, we'd like him off but not at any price. I'd say Swans need a good ruck more than we need his salary off the books.

You do understand that the way we play has a significant bearing on the ability to score goals? At the start of the year we were attacking heavily through the corridor. The club collects GPS data on every player. They know who is running hard. The rewards as a fwd can be tenuous. You can do 20 sprint leads and the ball is not kicked to you for example It is probably the hardest position on the ground to play consistently. Its why many don't succeed

When did Schultz become Gary Ablett Sr?