Bang Bang Bang

He can [censored] off, even if he was a good bloke and injury free he's just not that good. Hunt's streets ahead of him. Kinda fitting that we got him in a straight swap for Clark. Better off without them both.

First three rounds look challenging. All three are bogey sides and 2/3 on a bogey ground. We must start the season strongly (at absolute worst 1-2) as there's history says no coming back from 0-3.

The Saints?!? At Etihad?!? Let me be the first to say Goodwin has no Plan B!

Welcome Pat. It's now official, nobody on the internet has a clue what's going on at this time of year.

So you're telling me Mahoney was telling the truth and David Noble and 'Uncle John' were actually telling porkies. Never would have guessed.

Originally I thought Hibberd was worth an early 20s pick, so to get him for pick 29 and an upgrade of a later pick is a good result. I know Paul Roos had little to do with it, but Hibberd is a Roos-type player. Fans won't flock to get his number on their back but you can be sure he'll be a very useful role player for us for a number of years. Also it's nice to see Petracca being so pro-Melbourne on his Twitter feed, even on his time off. Within minutes of the trade being completed he's on there welcoming Hibberd to the club. Dare I say it, 'bleeds red and blue' already.

Don't think there were any real winners from the deal. Woey didn't do much at Collingwood and was delisted after three seasons. The draft pick we received was used on Daniel Bell who didn't make it, and the money we saved to re-sign to Yze and Johnstone didn't exactly pay dividends. TJ won a B&F in 2005 but that's about it, where as Yze's career declined rapidly after 2002. All in all, poor handled by the club. Publicly revealing how much Woey was due to be paid in 2003/04 was a tactless as it comes.

Probably the exact moment Jordan Lewis realised he wanted to play for us.

Sorry I meant Lewis last week when the rumours broke and Hibberd months ago.

You can more or less close the thread now. Mahoney doesn't give much away to the media at the best of times, but he acknowledged our interest in Lewis and Hibberd straight off the bat. The way he dismissed the Rockliff question was telling. I don't want to knock individual posters for presenting rumours on here, as they're fun to read, but I learnt my lesson after riddlegate in 2014. Take all internet rumours with a kilogram of salt. I was a long way off pencilling Rockliff into a 22 for next season!

Too young.

I like him more than as a forward. Say what you want about his disposal skills (they're bad), but if you can average over a goal a game as a forward then you're a big chance of being a regular. That's exactly what Harmes was doing before the move was made. Can't see him being a long term player in defence or midfield.

Robbo has gone to print. Confirms Lewis wants to be a Demon. He is very chummy with Jordan on AFL360 so take that to the bank.

This guy has an impeccable track record. Interesting.

To save everyone a heart attack, it was 1 or 2 moronic Hawk fans who opined that it 'would be nice' if Hunt was part of the deal. One justified it as a fair swap by saying Hunt "was a pick 57 with two years worth of injuries". All in all, just ridiculous and ludicrous opinions as is the norm on that sub-forum at this time of the year. I can't see how you reached the conclusion that Hunt 'will be involved in the deal' based on that. Upon reflection, trading Hunt under any circumstances is so unlikely that I doubt anyone, let alone everyone, truly needed saving from a heart attack.

Just on generation dee, wasn't he the guy that said Dangerfield was 99% coming to us in 2014? And I can't see any evidence of his uncle (easy to work out who) working at Brisbane as a scout. Just don't want you all getting your hopes up. The 'Brisbane needing a pick in the 30s' is an easy out if it doesn't eventuate. Hope he's right though.

I swear that gets said every year.

Let's not turn one of the more positive threads of the year into one of these again, please. I would take what Fev said with a pinch of salt (remember Karl Langdon and Hogan), but the fact he has said it with such conviction fills me with hope. As a former player and media performer, there's a fair chance he'd be friends with Pickering or Lewis himself.

I know others have mentioned this already, but it wasn't that long ago we had young upstarts (who had proven nothing) such as Josh Caddy and Taylor Adams refuse to even talk to us when we were begging them to, now an absolute champ who isn't just willing to play for us but actually sounded as out for a contract. I feel warm and fuzzy inside.

I think fans overcomplicate the list management side of things sometimes. If you can get a good player on a good contract and not give up much to get him, why wouldn't you add him to the list? Not everyone has to hang around for 10 years or directly be responsible for a flag. Heck everyone raves about the Bulldogs blueprint being the one to follow, they themselves signed Jed Adcock a year ago and Lewis shits on him.

The jungle drums are beating. Jordan Lewis in a Dees jumper will be bloody hard to get my head around. It would be akin to Jack Watts shaving his head, getting a sleeve tatt and wearing a Collingwood jumper. Just... weird. I'm all for it though if he comes cheap. Some dude actually reported this on here several days before the media caught wind of it. It was in the Trade Whispers thread and was considered so ludicrous that it barely got a reply. Can't be bothered sifting through all the pages to find it, but that poster has serious credits in the bank now.

I reckon they're being ok actually. We gave up 25 for Melksham last year and Hibberd is better than him. They could have gone the way of their fans and said "Well if Melksham was worth pick 25, we expect a late first rounder for Hibberd". Luckily their employees are more realistic than their one-eyed, Hird loving supporters. Actually, I think trading a pick that might push out to 30 is weighted in our favour. I remember when the rumour first broke months ago, I was discussing the move with an Essendon fan and we agreed a pick in the region of 19-21 would be fair. This will help combat last year's Melksham trade which was weighted in Essendon's favour.

Hard to see Hawthorn and Geelong ever dropping to the bottom half when they get to top up their lists with decent players year after year. They might have to trade for their targets, but once a player 'nominates' them, the gun is loaded and finger on the trigger.

I think you mean this mark, unless he took a similar one against the Hawks. Callan Ward is renowned as one of the hardest players in the game and Clarry, on debut, made him look second rate.

Hibberd is 26, hardly a Grandpa. I'd expect him to play for 4-5 years. Unless you think a late starter with no injury history is going to hang up the boots at 28? Maybe him and Hogan could do the Contiki together in 2018.