SaberFang

What, all 4 of them?

LOL. Why on earth would Luke Parker even entertain that? Laughable.

Interesting photo from AFL journo Matt Thompson: Ross Lyon methinks? https://www.facebook.com/melbournefcsupporterspage/photos/a.487447641353193.1073741829.487049664726324/639819366116019/?type=1&theater

If I were Crameri or Monfries my lawyer would've been on speed dial less than an hour after losing my last match for the year. Time to throw the EFC/Hird/Dank under the ASADA bus and spill the beans. Every man and their dog at AFL House will be supporting you.

Why anyone would have a problem with trading draft picks for established players, after seeing the sustained success Roos gave Sydney using the same strategy, is a mystery to me. Bring on the trades. We'll recruit this year's draftees in five years time via trades, once we're a powerhouse club and players are knocking on our door

I think Sydey and Hawthorn went about it differently, and the Hawks' game plan was easily more effective. Clarkson has basically turned his midfield into goalkickers, they have an amazing spread of players who go forward and kick goals. Sydney, conversely, have pulled in as many key forward talls as they can and expect the midfielders to deliver them. The Bondi Billionaires are expected to do the rest. I prefer the former, and clearly the grand final indicates which is more successful.

Is it trade week yet?

Are you serious? The Hawks dealt with serious injuries all year long. Mitchell, Gibson, Rioli... at least half of their starting 22 suffered setbacks yet still they managed to persevere. Makes the premiership that much more incredible, from my point of view.

Agreed, absolute rubbish. Collingwood are barely a more attractive proposition than us the way Buckley is leaking players like a sieve. There's some serious problems at the CFC.

Werent Hannebery and Roos quite close? Not saying much though, given the way Dan apparently fell head over heels for Buddy the moment he walked into the club.

Gratz to Hunt who got 4th, or maybe 3rd? Not bad.

Pretty sure North supporters would feel the same. Not even close to what's required.

I'll take the latter. Oh, but that doesn't work in the AFL's favour. The media were going bananas about the Swans here in Sydney. Every network were talking about them and Buddy all week, it's huge news. In fact, the pub right outside my apartment was filled to the brim with fans wearing Swans geurnseys, all watching the game with much excitement (until quarter time). Fact is, the AFL love this and will protect it at all costs. Don't think the Storm got as much love from Melburnites when they last made an NRL GF.

Geelong will give him the least amount of money of any club. Freo and Hawks will offer more, and GWS and Gold Coast will easily offer overs. Hawks seems an obvious choice for him. If he were wise he wouldn't choose Geelong purely because of his best mate. They're on the slide and things will only get worse as Bartel, Johnson, etc. retire. Hawks, different story.

Hard to defend Chip and not begrudge him for leaving when our woes are as much his fault as anyones. He is part of the leadership group, yet sent a bloody awful message to the whole team by refusing to commit to us. Not to mention dropping his head on-field multiple times, plus the "get me out of here" message to Rivers (if true) obviously got around the club (Dawes Mad Monday constume). Everyone clearly had a whiff that he wasn't going to stay despite how much we'd improved in the first half of the season and treated him appropriately, players and fans alike. He was as much a part of the problem as he was the solution. Simply saying you're "waiting to see how much we improve" reeks of letting others do the hard yards and not taking responsibility for your own performance.

Agreed. Which put Chip in the awkward position of not letting the club know officially that he was leaving, lest he lose his match payments and be dropped for the remainder of the season. Would have made zero different to our pathetic losing streak from round 13 onwards. It's a stance other clubs will probably take on principal alone. Why bother playing free agents that intend to leave when you could get experience into younger players, AND begin forming a team that can cope without said free agent factored into the game plan? Ergo, we had a defence completely devoid of Frawley for most of the year. Roos at his most brilliant, not surprisingly.

Port win last week, Sydney would've wont tonight. Their passiveness today was entirely mental, they just weren't up to the challenge of Hawthorn. They had too much GF experience.

Yeah, that extra $30 a week in rent really requires a 10% pay concession, essentially $30,000 on a salary of $300,000. Spare me. That's a grand total of $1560 more per year. If they decide to live in freaking Bondi and pay exorbinant prices for rent, that's their bloody problem! I imagine players in Victoria choosing to live in Lorne or Sorrento would face a similar situation.

What I will say is they are riding this success off the priority pick that landed them Roughead. It shows that good drafting can get you up the ladder to sustained success. We absolutely butchered our priority picks. I wish we'd had the chance to see what a PP under Roos could land us, but it's not to be in modern AFL, where the successful teams run the competition.

Agreed, it's frightening for clubs like us. We have to look at Port, who rose up the ladder after free agency, and remain hopeful that we can reach success.

Freo have played one grand final in their existence.

I think because the latter occurred after the former. If he was fully committed to the club both publicly and privately, and worked his ass off on field, Roos would've fought tooth and nail to keep him. From all appearances he's done everything but. Doesn't paint a great picture of the situation. But that's purely my opinion, and I don't begrude Frawley. That's what FA has done to the game, and it's only going to get worse.

Was going to post something similar but wanted to confirm Lake was their only free agent. Indeed it's true, you can't blame the success of the Hawks on free agency. They have a brilliant coach, brilliant culture, brilliant players, and that breeds strong development of their draftees and recruits. Sadly though, free agency will keep them right at the top, because they'll replace any KPP with gold from the lowly clubs to stay at the top.

Disagree with the first half, agree with the second. Seems increasingly likely that his cards were stamped by Roos the moment he tried to play the club. The tail does not wag the dog, and Roos will achieve more with pick 3 than a man of Frawley's character will achieve in a career.

I live in Sydney and the COLA is crap. The cost of a medium coffee here is $2.50, whereas it was $3.80 in Melbourne. Empirical evidence right there! Might taste like absolute garbage compared to Melbourne, but that's not the point...