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I heard he wants to go to Carlton

He played much better before Jackson got injured. I reckon they'll be a difficult pair as Jackson gains experience. I was also pleasantly surprised when I saw the distances Weid was covering in games. Something around 11km as I recall so I guess he also tired toward the end of the season.

Been covered already in this thread. Brown and North had a falling out over the way North handled him during the death of his unborn baby. Both he and his wife were obviously mentally effected by losing one of their babies and felt the club handled his situation with a lack of empathy. At one point the club wanted him to go to a hub and leave his unwell wife alone. Browns form was poor this year due to not being mentally committed to playing and therefore not being fully physically fit either. Sounds like the couple have now moved past what's happened and Brown is ready to be back committed full-time to an AFL environment. If he gets traded for a 2nd-3rd round pick as touted, he'll be an absolute bargain! Hopefully it's us who lands the bargain and big goal kicking forward we need. Sidenote: North are absolutely cooked as a club from top to bottom. Wouldn't be surprised if they fold, relocate or merge in the coming years. They're currently in the worst state of any club this century, even worse than us at our lowest ebb.

I’m hearing Brown and Hogan are in play. My gut feel is Brown is more likely and Jesse off to Sydney.

Bring him back. Mick Malthouses best coaching trait was to get the best out of individuals - those that weren’t overly professional but could play footy - the rat pack. I’d rather have Jesse getting into strife three times a year and kicking 50 goals than have ANB be uber professional, win the time trial but be unable to hit a target 25m away. It doesn’t have to bring down the standards of the whole group if we’ll managed and coached. Give the coaches a challenge and bring him back!!

Yep it looks like we hit the jackpot with him. He's still only a kid though so we don't want him banged about too much. I reckon CHF is his go. He can go high to get a kick or start things moving if necessary . Limited ruck time.

Don't know if this has been stated before, but a friend with Hawthorn connections has said Smith is 99% going to Melbourne

I admire the bravery of Jeremy Cameron to choose to go to a team playing off in this weeks grand final. We haven't seen this sort of bravery since Tom Lynch went to Richmond and Franklin went to Sydney.

Agreed. So many things go into a decision to change clubs and often $$$ isn't the reason. We could add success, facilities, club strength to the criteria you mention. I just feel that we don't rank highly in the intangibles so have to pay a higher price ($ or picks), which may not be the case. I guess I'm just jealous of big and successful clubs.

Egan apparently gone now too.

Won't happen with Langdon on our list. Bad history there.

His last month of the season really put a dampener on things. 1 goal in 4 games.

He's just turned 22, so he's still young for a tall forward/ruck and has some good attributes to build with the right development. We'd get him for a 3rd or 4th round pick. He's worth that cheap punt IMO.

Was always going to happen and no shock that we're (the competition) in this situation. It was never going to work for two main reasons. One because we're not the USA. Here not many players will move to poor clubs for a pay day, they'd rather play in a successful team as long as they get a reasonable paycheck. And two in the USA in sports like the NBA the players salaries are known, so anyone and I mean anyone can tell if there's dodgy deals going on. Also means you can tell if your or any club can realistically afford a certain free agent. Fact is the cats out of the bag now and there's no getting rid of free agency. I think the best we could hope for would be options such as 1) All Preliminary Finalists are banned from signing free agents for that off season 2) Any club that signs a free agent has to pay the compensation pick the the club through points from the father/son draft index which obviously effects their picks for the upcoming draft. Or 3) All players salaries are made public. Puts greater emphasis on the clubs and players so the public know when dodgy deals are getting done.

Very familiar. If I was a hindsight recruiter we'd won 20 of the last 20 premierships. Neeld had his faults but I'm not sure you can blame him for not picking someone who lasted until pick 58...

Very risky, imagine Jesse and Buddy both driving to training... Potential carnage

It would spark some reflux for me if we offered that.

Do we pull off the Trent Croad special? I doubt it, but it would be great to see him in a Dees jumper again.

If we dont get Brown, then Jesse would be a handy key forward. We would want to be buying him cheap. Future 3rd round 2021 pick. Obvious challenges and issues and needs to overcome the mental down times. ? Jesse knows the players ✅ The players know Jesse✅ There is no Go Home Factor anymore ✅

Geez, you're a sassy character sometimes, Steve. No need for it really.

We need to re sign him. Now.

We have never looked like replacing the 40+ goals he kicked in 2018.

Yeh we're all hearing. It's all over the papers, internet and radio matey.

100% not Ablett.

we won't go near blakely given his relationship with langdon would LOVE hogan but the story seems to be he's headed for the swans?

These things need to come into play to even the field. Also, they need to remove the "salary cap floor". At the moment, all clubs must pay a minimum of about 97% of the cap. That means we, and the other poor performing clubs, are overpaying average players and dont actually have free cash to bring in FAs when they become available. If the floor was reduced to 80%, the successful clubs would be at the limit while the unsuccessful clubs will actually be able to lure FAs with cash. Another option would be if the penalty mechanic was tied to contract value. Any club interested can lodge a formal offer for any FA via the AFL. If the FA chooses to ignore the higher offers and take lesser pay, then the club gives up picks/points as part of the process. This way if you overpay you get them for free, but if you are underpaying as part of a "destination club" scenario, then you pay picks.

AFLPA only represents the Dangerfields of the League. No surprise he is President. The journeymen barely get a look in other than clubs having to pay 95% of the cap. Rookies have set pay structure so nothing to do there. Look how former players like Robbie Muir are treated to see the focus of the PA. It is just reflecting the fact it is a celebrity based league these days.

To be fair, Tynan and Neale could almost pass as twins. Maybe we just read the wrong name out?

It is interesting the media is starting to call this out. They are normally pretty silent on these types of things, which fuels it.

There was a time when players such as Luke Ball refused to even talk to us in connection with a potential trade. At least we’re no longer in that zone: Vince, Melksham, May, Hibberd, Lever, Lewis, Langdon, Tomlinson. We’re in the conversation these days.

He rated him so highly yet he still chose Josh Tynan at Pick 52. Prendergast is a [censored] id iot.

And long ago we could have had James Hird at 80+ and Chris Grant at 100+ if I recall correctly. So many recruiters from every club passed over both of them multiple times. But of course had the originator of this post been our recruiting manager all along, we would have the whole bloody AA team.

Thanks for thoughtful response. Tbh my comment last week was a bit of a throw away line so I was a bit surprised by the pile on. Thought it would derail the thread if I responded so chose not to. Yes, I'm pessimistic at the moment and hope this trade/draft period and Pert's review change that. iirc Coll 1st round 2018 pick was in the high teens having been GF and 2019 pick expected to be similar. Without looking at 'points' our pick 6 was valued very highly by GCS. But I prefer to no to rehash the various trades. Can I leave it by saying I understand where you are coming from and I'm glad people are optimistic. I desperately want you all to be right.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/free-agency-a-disaster-of-the-afl-s-making-20201019-p566lc.html Makes some good points and highlights a fundamental problem confronting the AFL - and the Dees unless we improve.

Sound familiar? https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/former-demons-staff-lament-call-to-overlook-neale-20201019-p566fc.html

Everyone's had enough of it, Geelong, Collingwood and Hawthorn were the biggest advocates of this because they knew it would benefit them and keep them from bottoming out.

We've been described as the front-runner LH - I think that's more than 2+2. And it would make sense if North's list management team are keeping a low profile at present, and thus not feeding the media. On the flip-side, I feel that our link to Phillips may be more of a case of 2+2. Can't recall where that one originated and the language involved. ?

This is the key. With the system set up so that only a relatively small number of players make free agency at a time, there's no big batch of players that pop out the back end. In Geelong's case, for example, someone like Esava might take this opportunity to bail but he can't, and other teams can't get him without giving up valuable picks. So he's stuck now behind Hawkins and Cameron, but can't do anything about it for like 4 years

The thing that St Kilda did well was they went and recruited a set, a set they needed to improve their side and fill their needs. They needed outside run, they got Hill, they needed a inside player, they h=got Jones, they need a ruckman, they got Ryder, they needed a defensive key, they got Marshall. We did to a degree with Langdon and Tomlinson, but Tomlinson has not worked... we need to bit the bullet, we need to get a tall Fwd and some more runners. No Mucking around, we just have to do it, get Smith, or Phillips, and get Brown. Huge month coming up for the club.. Smith may want another flag, going to get that at Geelong before us, Phillips is Langdon.. so why not throw everything at him, Brown takes the best defender, teh best tall defender, allows Weid more freedom. Just get him. I understand its all dependant on other clubs wanting Tom and what we get for Pruess and thats fair enough.

Just want to mention that the 'less miles on the legs because he didn't play AFL level until 21' is completely irrelevant to how likely it is that he picks up soft tissue injuries or loses speed now that he is 31.

It's the tag line of this site.

The AFLPA have seen what happens in the NBA with super teams and the same teams (generally) finishing top 4 or 6 in the EPL, and want it here. Actually it is pretty much already happening.

According to some on here we are only a couple of players away from success! I very much doubt it myself and I think our list is not good enough particularly the bottom half A few players isn't in my opinion going to do it and we will waste another year before going back to the old drawing board.

Whenever I'm watching Geelong, he seems to be playing alright. Doesn't seem to be a ball-magnety and clearly I've missed the matches where he's stunk it up. We need someone to be a big bodied replacement for Preuss. Whilst he wasn't getting regular games, he was able to provide a contest in Gawn's absence. I'd hate to see Jackson having to ruck entire matches at his age/weight. At the moment, Tom McDonald would need to cover Gawn in case of injury, and if he leaves as well, then the need grows greater.

Oh look at all the spilled milk flowing under the bridge. Let's look to the future and don't worry about things that could have happened but didn't, and we (the fans) had no control over. Why bring it up? To stick the boot in us? I'm looking forward to Trak improving even more next year and the whole team following him. Brownlow Medal and Premiership 2021 campaign already underway.? Melbourne are masters of their own destiny. Just do it!

Neeld and Prendergast

Anyone that thinks the MFC is a destination club has their head in the sand.

May was under the impression he was going to be a Pie. His manager suggested he have a chat with Goody before he committed which he did almost begrudgingly. At the end of the phone call he told his manager he wants to be a Dee. I know it means nought without a source but that is how it played out.

Close the thread before someone pulls a muscle rolling their eyes too hard.

The hold up is because the AFL wants TPP cut by 30%. AFLPA wants 0% cut. iirc the AFLPA got their mammoth TPP increases in the last CBA on the back of much fought '% of AFL Revenue' as a base. Now that the base has evaporated they want to change the goal posts. I saw an article a few weeks ago that the FA and trade times could be put back a few weeks because of the sal cap delay. Edit: cba-negotiations