SaberFang

It's comedic that this club has been given so much latitude by the AFL to hoard talent, that even after all their draft concessions have ended, they still have 3 picks in the top 7.

How did we go from scoring 5 midfielders in one trade period, to zero in the next? Have no idea what went wrong but after trumpeting about how pathetic our disposal was for the second half of the year in every presser, I'm staggered we've done nothing significant to fix it. Does Roos just expect this list to magically improve their skills and disposal over another off season? Didn't he say that our players were "scarred" and said that tanking had irreparably damaged some players who are might be incapable of moving on from the past? I find it so hard to believe that Roos couldn't find a single disenchanted midfielder at GWS playing out his AFL career in the NEAFL, that wouldn't jump at the chance to come home and play for us. And if that is the case... that paints a frightening picture of just how low the opinion is of our club in AFL circles.

Can't even describe in words how deflated I feel about this. After 3 months of Roos talking about "drastic" changes and a total "list overhaul" to eradicate what he described as a scarred group mindset... and we've traded out one player. At their behest. And he was our best forward. In no universe is this a good result for us if we laughably want to appear as an "attractive" option next year for free agents, if that is indeed the master plan that Mahoney mentioned. We are screaming out for midfield depth and we haven't been able to trade in a single midfielder. Talk about promising draftees all you like, but they won't be AFL level midfielders until long after Roos walks out the door.

More amazing that we believed a trade would be so perfectly arranged, we'd announce it at a certain time of day.

So who lines up on him? TMac, Jetta, Grimes, Lamumba, Dunn or Frost?

So...Brayshaw and McCartin hey? Hopefully the latter doesn't have any back problems.

Certainly won't feel an ounce of sympathy when he does get injured, unlike the great sadness I feel for the likes of Trenners and Patton with their injuries.

NEWS JUST IN: Nothing happened.

I really think emotionally, if nothing else, we the supporters needed this year to end on a supremely positive note to get any kind of momentum rolling for the resurgence of this club. We've had [censored] sandwich after [censored] sandwich this year... it's been brutal for supporters. Clark retiring, Clark defecting/defecating on us, Frawley choosing greener pastures, the tragic passing of a club legend, losing almost all respect we'd gained by ending the year with 10 losses (including a loss I consider worse than 186) and now to cap it all off our former captain looks potentially unlikely to play another game of AFL. We really just needed a great news story to hang our hat on to get the momentum rolling for a new year and a new era.. Sadly it feels like the same old.

Hope he enjoys no finals nor success in any of his future footballing endeavors. And for good measure, I hope he trips on the door on his way out of AAMI park and breaks his most expensive camera and lens. I'm not bitter at all.

They'll have to give up pick 4 for Griffen.

Hogan looked up to Clark as a mentor. Hopefully Roos puts him in defense when we play against Geelong. There's a particularly weak, cowardly wall in the Geelong forward line that I'd like to see big Hoges crash through.

Well, looks like arrogance runs in the family.

What makes everyone so sure Roos would play two draftees as anything but the sub next year? Hunt didn't play a single match, Salem was the sub about 6 times and JKH ran out of gas after the Adelaide match. I know Salem had his illness, but the impact of two 18 year old midfielders will be negligent next year unless Roos changes his youth policy of developing in the seconds. EDIT: For argument's sake these two would still be an improvement on several others on our list, but they'd be 2 or 3 years off building the tank Roos' game plan requires of all players.

So Stanley is worth pick 21 and Clark 34 apparently. Not sure I follow that logic. Geelong could at least have given us pick 60 to use on Frost.

Yeah, McCartin's looking mighty good at pick 1 now. Does this give us leverage with GWS to offload pick 2 so they can get Petracca? We'll take Shiel.

We couldn't even get their third rounder as a sweetener for Frost?

Yeah, what's with the angst at Collingwood? They lost a top 5 player in the league for draft picks; not an ideal situation. Would any of us like to lose Nathan Jones for a first and second rounder? I'm more disgusted at Geelong, who easily win out in that deal. I'm not one to wish injury on a player, but [censored]... if there was ever a player who deserved an "unexpected deterioration in their recovery" it sure as hell ain't Trenners. It's a scumbag down at the Cattery, running away from his problems like a coward.

Photoshop

So... can we all start saying what we think of Clark now? WJ may need to send the profanity filter into overdrive mode.

All it takes is another club to offer him a better contract and offer GWS any draft pick and he could easily get nabbed from under our nose. Doing nothing in the hope he'll just slide to the PSD has its fair share of risks.

Great, day 8 of 8.5 and we've secured our second trade. No closer on securing Frost though.

Everyone getting a lesson in trade 101: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH COLLINGWOOD. The amount of bridges they are burning by dragging out this process is staggering. Hopefully clubs don't have short memories with this stuff.

Not Not unless we have Frost locked up before the PSD, because they'd take him instead of Membrey with their first pick.

Apparently because Collingwood demanded it, despite our vocal intentions to do the Clark deal seperately.