KingDingAling

Hogan isn't our problem. But If I were Hogan I would ask for a trade if our delivery inside 50 doesn't improve. It isn't fair to even bag Hogan at this point. We have the worst delivery inside 50 of a team that I have ever seen, and that includes my junior football sides when we couldn't kick at all.

I agree. It would be good to get that deal done soon. Gaff or May would be a suitable target after that - providing their clubs don't match our deals and force a trade. I am not certain we have much currency in trade terms. Tyson may not even land us a second round pick. Who else do we move on that is of value?

Brayshaw is closing in on Oliver. His form is that good. He has sailed past every mid we have bar Oliver. Of course Clayton has the points on the board after putting in multiple seasons of quality, but Brayshaw is bordering on elite. I have been watching him closely and he has better traits than elite players, he moves better, is more aggressive, and is dominant physically (asserts himself on the contest). His kicking lets him down at times, but he used to be a good kick as a junior on both feet (so I would expect that will translate eventually). Whatever it takes to keep Brayshaw it is of most importance. On form he is our best midfielder after Oliver, and even then he is rapidly closing in. I have Brayshaw in my supercoach and have had for sometime, so I watch him more closely than others. I think even Dees fans are sleeping on the Brayshaw.

"But Gaff’s status as a free agent has drawn greater interest this year – free agents can be recruited without a costly trade – although as a restricted free agent, the Eagles would have the option of matching any bid and forcing a trade should he choose to leave". - Sydney Morning Herald.

Its just an opinion piece. Harvey will eventually have to go down the Kane Cornes route (say outrageous sh*t to remain relevant), otherwise he will have to go get a kick in the ams at 45+. Those are his options, but to read between the lines here it is just an article on what Harvey believes may happen. There is no factual basis behind any of what he says - other than Freo need Hogan (which is obvious that Freo need anyone who can kick goals on a consistent basis).

Not massive on Gaff, but he can do what 95% of our list appear incapable of doing, and that is hitting a target. Gaff definitely fits a need. I was leaning towards not trading for him, and ideally we wouldn't, but as the weeks go by, it wouldn't be the worst thing we could do. Thankfully we cannot trade 2 future firsts in a row, so I am confident we cannot stuff up our future (trading future first round picks away for blokes with ACL histories) anymore than we already have. If we do get Gaff and have to trade for him then I suspect it will be because we move on players - which I am 110% fine with (so long as we don't move on Brayshaw).

Its not the be all and end all. I agree. No player is the be all and end all. We have seen that with Danger leaving Adelaide and Buddy leaving Hawthorn. Brayshaw would be a massive loss for us though. Sure, he has built up his currency, but he is trending upwards at such a rate that it is reasonable to assume he improves next year as well. This kid can seriously play, but more than that, he is doing so off the back of re-adjusting the way he goes about attacking the football. Its pretty impressive. Viney had to do it. Brayshaw is doing it. Those type of guys you don't want to let go. If Brayshaw goes to Freo we would need to be looking at getting a player the quality of Cerra in the deal.

If Murphy seriously wants to come to MFC he would be very high on my list. The only concern would be injuries, but if I could name a couple of players that would improve our side significantly it would be Josh Kelly or Marc Murphy. We are embarrassingly bad by foot. It is the type of embarrassingly bad by foot that I saw when I used to play under 11's football.

Gaff is the type of player we get if West Coast don't match our offer, but not the type of player you trade for when you have nothing. I call him "Seagull" Gaff, as he used to be skirt around the edges of the WACA away from the hard ball. Still, he can actually hit a target, so if he lands at MFC through salary cap space alone he'll be more than welcome.

Now we have Lever, I think May would be a good get. GC would want too much though. They cannot afford to lose May. Their franchise hinges on being competitive at some point (soon). They need to sign Lynch and keep May.

I suspected as much. We play like a disordered football side. We desperately need structure, and players need to know their role. There needs to be some order established. The players don't need freedom they need an organised and well structured game plan. If you want players to play on instinct then drill the game plan into them until it becomes second nature, then watch them play on instinct. There is 18 players on the field and the more they play to a structure the easier the objective is. We have one of the best tap ruckman in the league, and here we are bombing the ball into 50, not giving Hogan a hope in hell of marking it, and having 3-4 blokes all go up for the one mark. its under 11 football. No organisation at all. Just disorder.

Even when the work rate was up to scratch this year it was often wasted through below average disposal. It must be disheartening for the players to bust their a**, only to see that not translate to scores We are an ineffective football side. I think when we do work hard we have the grunt to out hustle a lot of sides, even the best of sides, but they smash us on the rebound and on the spread. Opposition sides make the most of their opportunities and we don't. We don't lower our eyes going inside forward 50, and we tend to just bomb it out the centre - which we have been doing since Moloney was at the club. I would put Fritsch in the middle because at least he lowers his eyes and makes good decisions. He is spoiling Tmac in the forward line anyway. You would think after 3-4 times that someone would tell Fritsch to stop going up for the same mark as Hogan and Tmac. There is too many simple and basic things happening in games that continuously happen over and over again, week after week. I wonder if our coaches even watch the replays? I suspect they don't.

We will be laying in it this year. We traded that pick (along with another quality pick) for a guy with an ACL history, paid him well, only for him to come out and do an ACL. No fault of Lever's mind you. He does appear to be a quality young lad. Fair play to him for getting top dollar for his services. We need to trade for an outside player but its a bit of stiff sh*t now, we will have to find that player within, unless we can miraculously pick one out of the draft (maybe a VFL type). Although, I still wouldn't discount Bayley Fritsch perhaps becoming the outside midfielder we need. He can do anything that kid. Another pre-season and I could see him transitioning into a full time midfielder. Probably one of the top 5 users by foot in the league and also has elite decision making.

I don't know about gettable, but worthy yes. Martin is exactly he type of player I would be targeting. I would pay him and pay him overs, because it would take paying him overs (at the trade table and salary) to get him here. He is about to explode. In 2019 he will be an elite player. Paying overs this year will be unders at trade time next year. I think people would see a potential Martin trade as mostly trading for potential (in that he is potentially a great player but not there yet), but I have been watching Martin all year and he isn't far off elite right now. Massive on this kid.

Gaff is vanilla, he doesn't do anything particularly outstanding. He is mostly an outside mid, but is relatively slow. I don't see Gaff as an effective midfielder. What does Gaff do exactly that is well above average? Does he have any outstanding traits? I don't see any. Perhaps I am overlooking something.. Tim Kelly is blistering on the outside. The first few steps Kelly takes he just leaves opponents in their wake - that is exactly the type of player we need. Kelly is underrated but I won't harp on him too much because he isn't a target for us (but I referred to him because he is the type of player we need, we need that speed as we struggle on the spread). Brayshaw isn't a very good kick at present. Above average on his opposite foot but well below average on his preferred foot. Hopefully something that he can fix. He hasn't played a lot of footy but I won't sit here and defend his kicking - it isn't where it should be right now.

Baker will go very well at AFL level. Give him a license to run. Petty was never going to go well as he was playing a difficult position and was more or less thrown to the wolves. As stupid of an inclusion as I have seen. Baker will be coming in and playing an easier position, where his strengths are exactly what the position calls for (run, run, run). Petty's position calls for him to be strong and accountable. He was neither and it wasn't his fault. With experience comes accountability (as you learn to be accountable because you know full well the cost). It was stupid to include Petty. It would be smart to bring in Baker.

No way would I do that or even nearly do that. Brayshaw is trending upwards in a massive way. Great month of footy and is improving every game. He would be our most improved this year. Gaff is a vanilla mid, who whilst I acknowledge he is mostly an outside mid, he is a slow outside mid. We need a Tim Kelly type mid - blistering on the outside. Personally I wouldn't even entertain a straight swap of Brayshaw for Gaff. Gaff is a FA and if WC match him then they can have him. Gaff is massively overrated on this board.

So long as its all above board. Collingwood should be struggling to fit DeGoey in their cap.

He wouldn't be better than Oliver. Different players but not close to Oliver in terms of impact. Gaff is a bit of a seagull.

I think Gaff is probably our best bet. Or any other FA we won't have to trade for. I would be all for going hard at Sloane or Gaff providing we don't have to trade into them. We have nothing to trade anyway, but ideally we could bring in Gaff, move on Tyson, and use that second round pick on a kid.

The Lever trade was stupid and leaves us in a sh*t position. But trading Hogan is just nuts. The whole point of getting Lever in - in the first place - was that we are well positioned for a tilt at a flag (in the next 5 years and beyond). Trading Hogan would be a big set back.

Lewis was good at Hawthorn as a midfielder. He just isn't a backman. Simple as that. At this point in his career he may not be good enough to break into our midfield, or willing enough to take the hits if he was. I would drop Lewis back to the VFL for a bit. See if he can help some of those lads who we need to be making the transition to AFL.

Brayshaw was good tonight, especially early. He is tracking along nicely and has had a solid year - massive improvement. Brayshaw, Oliver and Viney are our future midfield.

I agree. Once it (prospect of getting Gaff) becomes a likely trade scenario it loses its appeal. At present we have nothing to offer. That may change. I tend to give the club the benefit of the doubt in that if we do make a play for Gaff, and decide to trade for him, that we will be offloading some players who could get us some picks. Don't forget, whoever orchestrated the picks swap with GC that ended up landing us Oliver, those people are (highly likely) still at the club, so if they decide to trade for Gaff, I would trust they will make it happen. I completely sat on the fence in relation to the Watts deal that landed us Fritsch, but whoever it was knew what they were doing. If we make a play for Gaff I'd back the mind trust.

The appeal of acquiring Gaff is that we don't have to trade for him. If circumstances were to change and we did have to trade for him, then it loses appeal IMO. We aren't at all in a position to trade for Gaff. If that were the case I would be surprised if the club even entertained a trade. We simply have nothing to give.