SaberFang

He probably read my comment and ran with it as his newest invented rumour.

I think part of the problem is Roos was a genius with that trade and gave everyone a lesson in recruiting 101. So why is this a problem? Because now every single team is trying to copy that trade this year. It was the perfect storm of Tyson wanting to leave, having a history of injuries, and GWS desperately wanting Kelly. 4 & 7 for Griffen and 6 would be fair. I don't see GWS giving up 4 & 6 just for Griffen, he's probably only got 3 years left in him, and he has back problems.

For answering the question posed by the OP? Our trade period thus far has been underwhelming, and these players aren't going to move us up the ladder. We desperately need more quality midfielders to help out Vince, Tyson and Jones. So far it's all quiet on the western front. We showed promise in the first half of the season with a few lucky wins, but the quality of our team is better reflected in the last half of the season. I think impatient would be a better word to describe my frustration rather than shortsighted. If we spend another off-season using our best picks on 18 year olds we simply won't be able to compete with the upper echelon of teams who are simply cherry picking all the talent from the "feeder clubs" in exchange for yet more draft picks.

So... time to go back and ask Dahlhaus if he still wants to play for the Bulldogs?

Yep, agreed. Brisbane's second rounder to Geelong for Christensen, and pick 21 to us for Clark.

It's romantic in theory, this idea of developing your own superstars. But sadly I think this trade period should make every single MFC supporter very nervous about the state of the game and the choices of players. Contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on, and players are leaving clubs at the drop of a hat to pursue success. Our home grown superstars will be out the door and headed to Hawthorn/Geelong/Collingwood/Port at the first opportunity if we don't improve fast. So while drafting 18 year olds seems great in theory, 18 year olds don't win you games of footy. And unless we get that winning culture in Roos' second year, I don't think he'll have much pulling power to get better players through our doors with only one year left in his tenure.

It was refuted straight away by Cameron himself and the Giants. He's training here in Sydney and I haven't heard anything so far that suggests he's going anywhere.

Beams deal, pick 5 and 21?

He's shown a lot more than friggin Higgins has. At least he doesn't spent most of the year nursing injuries.

Thus far... highly disappointing. Roos has not lived up to his promise of cleaning out and improving this list. Have we all forgotten this playing group's pathetic final ten matches this year? Frost stands in for Frawley, Garlett for Clark. Lamumba only came to us because he fell out with his current club a month ago. Where the hell are the midfielders?? Last year we brought in 6 and saw great progress. Until we continue to fix the midfield we'll continue to be an embarrassment.

Geez, of the ten Victorian clubs: Geelong... on the decline, losing Christensen and Varcoe Bulldogs... a complete mess Essendon... speaks for itself Colonwood... player exodus, unlikeable coach throwing out good players because he can't coach them Carlton... Mad Mick turfing out his goalkickers for peanuts, Richmond... only made finals because Sydney tanked, got annihilated by Port, yet not making list changes Saints... throwing out senior players for youth (because it worked for us) Hawthorn... can't possibly fit anyone else in, will likely win 3 in a row but only 22 can play in a GF North... idiotic recruiting blunder that cost them a gun midfielder for an injury prone soft player, but looking ok Melbourne... coming off a losing culture, have a premiership coach for 2 years, a gun assistant coach on a 5 year coaching plan, showing improvement but desperately need more wins. I'd say we're better placed than half of the other teams above, in terms of stability. Culture though... that'll take time to fix.

If he stays I'd tell him to get [censored]. What a captain, walking out on his club like that and coming back with his tail between his legs.

Geez, just based on that vision he looks impressive. Wonder if there's any chance he can slip to pick 23?

I'd be so disappointed in the club if we didn't pursue our draft targets to the ends of the earth. If GWS can convince the captain of the Bulldogs to come to them, surely we can lure big targets of our own. Roos has a penchant for identifying young talent that might not be valued that highly at their current club (Tyson a clear example), so I'm hoping he's got a plan at work here. I'll be very disappointed if we go into the draft with picks 2 and 3, unless they genuinely believe the players they'll draft with those picks will be better than any other available established player in the league... and I find that hard to believe.

Shiel is untradeable, so the only way trades like that get over the line (according to all the bizarre player movements we've seen this week) is if we personally convince Shiel to nominate us and we offer pick 3 to get him.

Well if nothing happens tomorrow I'm definitely concerned about what the hell we've been doing over the last 3 months. Roos was indicating a massive sweep out of this list and thus far it's been anything but. Our 3 likely trades in week one: 1. Lamumba - only happened because Buckley fell out with him and someone at Collingwood suggested we meet his management 2. Garlett - had a falling out with Carlton after off-field incidents, and they shopped him around for peanuts. We showed interest. 3. Sam Frost, to replace Frawley. Net gain of zero for our depth. S two of these three weren't even planned for and simply fell into our laps. I'd love to know if there's a greater recruitment strategy here, because if we just put all our hopes on Danger and that's gone nowhere, well... the whole thing is Neeld-esque in levels of stupidity. Of course, if we land Danger or Shiel I will happily rescind this rant.

Only to see more free agents and draftees walk out on the club, as we've seen this week with other clubs that are treading water. We need immediate improvement. We can't wait years on end for 2 young draftees who may or may not become guns. Every single year we've waited for our top draft picks to save the club, and it still hasn't happened. Roos needs to bring in senior, experienced and hardened bodies to get this team winning anything. I'm shocked that after the pathetic final 10 rounds of the year, any supporter legitimately thinks Lamumba, Garlett, Frost and a few 18 year olds signals the time to put our cue in the rack, especially after losing our key defender and key forward in the same off-season. We're tracking for another bottom 2 finish unless we add serious depth to our midfield, and I'm not seeing a trace of it in our recruitment thus far. McCartin and Hogan have a combined tally of 0 AFL games, and great key forwards are worthless with the kind of pathetic delivery our midfield shanks across the park. Not to mention the half assed efforts from Watts week in, week out.

I think the act alone of abandoning your club while captain speaks volumes about Griffen's "leadership" qualities.

It pisses me off so much that GWS of all teams... GWS, the basketcase of the league, have found a way to get the CAPTAIN of another club to nominate them as a team of choice. Meanwhile, we have nothing. I'll be really annoyed if we get through this trade period and haven't landed a single big fish. We have more money than anyone (except GWS apparently) and the best combination of draft picks, yet... nothing. Players should be banging down our door to play under Roos on good coin in a building team. Does playing in front of 3000 people every week for a living seem an attractive proposition to any aspiring AFL player?

This boner for Petracca intrigues me because he doesn't seem particularly hard. I watched him doing some agility tests and he looked a little bit clumsy trying to maneuver his frame around.

There's certainly a lot of unattractive propositions out there. Even Richmond had quite a stink about them for most of the year, until the Swans tanked them into the finals. Of all the Victorian clubs we're probably one of the more attractive options. ....oh, and we have MONEY.

Given Roos brought in 5 midfielders last year before we even got to the draft (Salem making it 6), and we haven't brought in a single one this year yet (other than Stretch), I'd say there's obviously a bigger plan going on behind the scenes. We have to give our money to someone! We just cleared a $700k player off our list and we were already paying the minimum cap. There must be a big play at work here.

I still think both picks are on the table but we'll see what eventuates. Best case scenario is the rumours are true and Danger agrees to come. Worst case scenario we take both picks to the draft. I think it'll be somewhere in the middle. A club desperate for a key forward will put up a good player and the trade will get done on the last day, ala Tyson.

Thanks for pick 3 though.

There's not a single quote there that couldn't be read as cleverly worded spin. No commitment whatsoever. Also lends credence to the story that he was off fishing with his dad to decide what to do