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Another thoughtful & appreciative farewell message.

Hunter’s move had been kept under wraps despite some interest between the two clubs to get the deal done over recent weeks. Melbourne only finished doing its due diligence on Hunter in recent days. “There were some conversations around Lachie for a time and if there was another opportunity elsewhere a fresh start would probably be best for him so we were obviously happy to accommodate that,” Western Bulldogs list manager Sam Power said.

May I remind posters that if they are going to make accusations about the behaviours of players or public figures I will have no hesitation with passing on your details to the relevant authorities should they inquire. This isn't BigFooty.

Part Four - THE BEANSTALK The last few days and hours of the AFL Trade Period often turn hectic but amid the chaos of this year’s final moments, the Melbourne recruiting team headed by List Manager Tim Lamb, remained cool, calm and collected and they delivered. The recruiters delivered Brodie Grundy and Lachie Hunter, both best and fairest winners at their respective clubs (and a lot more as well) and Josh Schache who has never lived up to his initial promise as a youngster although he was taken with the second pick overall in his draft year. After an opening week of slow paced trading activity, there was still a lot of work to be done by the Demon team when this week began. A trade was still to be worked out for wantaway players Luke Jackson and Toby Bedford while the Grundy situation appeared to be far from a done deal. Melbourne held a mediocre national draft hand in selections 27, 54 and 67. The pundits were saying that the club’s final position would be decided right down at the wire with a desperate scramble to do deals in the final moments before the Wednesday evening deadline. But that’s not exactly how it turned out. On Monday, the Luke Jackson to the Dockers exchange was delivered in tandem with Toby Bedford’s trade to the Giants. The club didn’t receive the two top ten selections it was expecting but ended with a handy trove of picks - this year’s number 13, Fremantle's future first and second round picks in exchange for picks 44 and 67. On Tuesday, Brodie Grundy became a Demon at a cost of pick 27 with the Pies having to stump up a few hundred grand of his annual wage. Nice work there and a more than handy replacement in the ruck for the time being for Jackson. Then, on Wednesday, the Demons methodically went about adding nicely to its list by bringing in an elite runner and decision-maker with outstanding ball use in Hunter for a future third rounder whilst effectively trading back up ruck/forwards with Josh Schache coming in for a future fourth rounder and Sam Weideman going out for this year’s pick 37(a late second rounder). All done nicely and announced after the 3.00pm embargo and well before the frenetic last minute deals that were finalised in the dying moments of the trade period. At the end of the day, the club was considered by the pundits as one of the big winners of the trade period, not only for what it achieved but for the straight forward way it went about achieving its aims. The final trade wrap for the Melbourne Football Club reads:- In: Brodie Grundy (Collingwood), Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs), Josh Schache (Western Bulldogs), 2022 AFL National Draft picks 13, 37, 2023 first round and second round picks. Out: Toby Bedford (GWS Giants), Jayden Hunt (West Coast Eagles), Luke Jackson (Fremantle), Sam Weideman (Essendon), 2022 AFL National Draft picks 33, 43, 53, 67, 72, 2023 third round and fourth round picks. The AFL’s end of season process of trading and drafting is supposed to aid in evening up the competition but the way I see it, the weak will remain weak while the big winners of the trade period were those who finished among the top of the tree in 2022. Geelong, Melbourne and Brisbane have all improved their lists to date. For the Demons, the prospect of the AFL’s top ruck combination is appealing beyond measure. Ironically, the club that picked up a once in a generation player in Jackson, seems to have gone overboard to obtain the magic beans to make it to the top of the beanstalk. In reaching their objective, the Dockers have offloaded a substantial amount of good depth players. They might well rue that decision in the long run. The state of play as at the end of the Unrestricted and Restricted Free Agency Period and the Trade Period FREE AGENCY

 FRIDAY (Unrestricted) Karl Amon (Port Adelaide) to Hawthorn. The Power receive a Round Two selection (currently No. 27) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft. MONDAY (Unrestricted) Jayden Hunt (Melbourne) to West Coast. The Demons receive a Round Three selection (currently No. 52) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft. TUESDAY (Unrestricted) Daniel McStay (Brisbane) to Collingwood. The Lions receive a Round Two selection (currently No. 35) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft. Liam Jones (Carlton) to Western Bulldogs. The Blues receive a Round Three selection (currently No. 49) in the 2022 NAB AFL Draft. WEDNESDAY (Unrestricted) Zaine Cordy (Western Bulldogs) to St Kilda. No compensation pick TRADES MONDAY Bobby Hill (GWS Giants) and pick 40 to Collingwood in exchange for pick 43 
and a future second-round selection Tim Taranto (GWS Giants) to Richmond in exchange for picks 12 and 19 TUESDAY Blake Acres (Fremantle) to Carlton in exchange for a future third-round selection Melbourne trades picks 33, 43 and 53 to Port Adelaide for pick 27 WEDNESDAY Griffin Logue (Fremantle), Darcy Tucker (Fremantle) and Fremantle’s future third-round pick to North Melbourne in exchange for the Kangaroos’ future second, third and fourth round pick GWS Giants trade pick 21 and a future second round pick to Brisbane for pick 15 Ben Long (St Kilda) and a future fourth round pick to Gold Coast for pick 32 Tom Berry (Brisbane), pick 46 and a future second round two pick to Gold Coast for picks 25, 36 and 56 THURSDAY 

 Josh Corbett (Gold Coast Suns) to Fremantle for the Dockers’ future fourth round pick FRIDAY Tanner Bruhn (GWS Giants) to Geelong for the Cats’ pick 18 Brisbane trades pick 25 to The Cats for picks 38,48, 55 and a future second round a future fourth round pick MONDAY Luke Jackson (Melbourne) to Fremantle in a deal also involving Greater Western Sydney. Melbourne gets pick 13, Fremantle's future first round pick and future second round pick (tied to the Dockers) in exchange for Jackson, picks 44 and 67. GWS Giants get Toby Bedford. Will Setterfield (Carlton) and pick 68 to Essendon in exchange for a future fourth round pick Izak Rankine (Gold Coast Suns), pick 46 and a future fourth round pick (tied to the Dockers) to Adelaide for the Crows’ future third round pick and the Crows’ future fourth round pick The following four-way deal was done - North Melbourne receives picks 2, 3, 40, 43 and Port Adelaide’s future first round pick in exchange for Jason Horne-Francis, pick 1 and a future third round pick (tied to Fremantle) Port Adelaide receives Jason Horne-Francis (North Melbourne), Junior Rioli (West Coast), a future second round pick (tied to Collingwood) and a future third round pick (tied to Fremantle) in exchange for picks 8, 43, 53, 57 and Port Adelaide’s future first round, future second round and future third round pick West Coast gets picks 8, 12, future second round pick (tied to Port Adelaide) and future third round pick (tied to Port Adelaide) in exchange for Junior Rioli, pick 2 and pick 40 GWS Giants get picks 1, 53 and 57 in exchange for picks 3, 12 and a future third round pick (tied to Collingwood) TUESDAY Jack Gunston (Hawthorn) to Brisbane in exchange for the Lions’ pick 48 and a future fourth round pick Brodie Grundy (Collingwood) to Melbourne in exchange for pick 27 Billy Frampton (Adelaide) to Collingwood for a future third round pick Jack Bowes (Gold Coast) and pick 7 to Geelong in exchange for the Cats’ future third round selection Jacob Hopper (GWS Giants) and picks 53 and 63 to Richmond in exchange for pick 31 and the Tigers’ future first round pick Aaron Francis (Essendon) and pick 42 to Sydney in exchange for the Swans’ pick 37 and a future fourth round pick Sam Weideman (Melbourne) and picks 54 and 72 to Essendon in exchange for the Bombers’ pick 37 Josh Schache (Western Bulldogs) to Melbourne in exchange for the Demons future fourth round pick Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs) to Melbourne in exchange for the Demons future third round pick Josh Dunkley (Western Bulldogs) and a future third round pick and a future fourth round pick (tied to Melbourne) to Brisbane for the Lions’ pick 21 and a future first round pick, a future second round pick and a future third round pick (tied to Geelong) The following three way deal was done - Geelong gets Ollie Henry (Collingwood) Hawthorn receives Cooper Stephens (Geelong), pick 41 and pick 50 Collingwood gets Tom Mitchell (Hawthorn) and pick 25 Rory Lobb (Fremantle) to the Western Bulldogs for the Bulldogs’ pick 30 and a future second round pick Jaeger O'Meara (Hawthorn) and a future fourth round selection to Fremantle for Lloyd Meek (Fremantle) and the Dockers’ future second round selection (tied to Western Bulldogs)

FB: Caleb Marchbank, Aidan Corr, Lachie Plowman HB: Zac Williams, Sam Frost, Nathan Wilson C: Adam Treloar, Jack Steele, Dylan Shiel HF: Tim Taranto*, Jeremy Cameron, Jye Caldwell FF: Bobby Hill*, Jeremy Finlayson, Devon Smith FOLL: Rory Lobb, Taylor Adams, Jacob Hopper* IC: Matt Kennedy, Tom Boyd, Will Hoskin-Elliott, Tanner Bruhn* Notable absentees: James Stewart, Jackson Hately, Will Setterfield, Jonathon Patton, Adam Tomlinson, Josh Bruce, Jacob Townsend, Tom Scully (not an original Giant).

They once high tenned in Round 1 2021.

MELBOURNE Who left: Jayden Hunt (West Coast, free agency), Toby Bedford (GWS Giants, trade), Luke Jackson (Fremantle, trade), Sam Weideman (Essendon, trade) Who arrived: Brodie Grundy (Collingwood, trade), Josh Schache (Western Bulldogs, trade), Lachie Hunter (Western Bulldogs, trade) Draft picks owned: 13, 37 Brad Johnson says: “Hunter goes to Melbourne and I think they like the left-footer in. They’ll have right-footer Langdon on one wing and Hunter on the other side. He’s very good with that 25m to 30m dart and take it on through the corridor as well. I think the other mids he plays with will enjoy that.” David King says: “I love it. If you’re going to be a contested possession, clearance-based team – you’ve got Clayton Oliver in his prime who’s going to be there for quite some time, Christian Petracca and Jack Viney – if you’re going to have an asset like this, maximise it with the ability to get Grundy. The use of Max Gawn now will be fascinating. They’re going to have the ability to basically do what Geelong did last year – Gawn takes the tap work, goes behind the ball and Grundy becomes a roaming ruckman. I think it’s a terrific acquisition and I’m excited by what Melbourne could do.” Foxfooty.com.au trade grade: A-

Kade Chandler will come up from the rookie list to replace Toby Bedford, who we lost.

I wouldn't want step on @WERRIDEE's toes

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