No10

Agree on May, last minute, North is the right idea but it’ll be Richmond or Dogs. For Oliver, better to look away. That will be an ugly deal that will be spoken in mumbles that we’ll never decipher. Trac will be the deal that stuns. Humphrey will get done. And the picks will favour us dramatically too. Great for GC, they will make a show of their commitment to Trac and the huge get that he is, and now he better earn it. But in reality they’ll be giving away a player that’s leaving and a pick they wouldn’t use anyway. For us, we get a clean slate and a young gun that we can pin high hopes. With a high draft pick for Taylor with a target.

I’m confident, for sure it will. The rest of the article says that “Humphrey is almost certain to leave in the coming years and there won’t be a Petracca on the other side of that deal.” This imaginary article writes itself…

I would. Honestly. I don’t think Trac has hit his ceiling at all. And we saw what a player like Trac can do in finals, ie. Dangerfield style. Trac is what every contender needs. Merrett, only maybe moneyball bc Trac is too expensive unless you’re the Suns.

Tomorrow‘s AFL headlines: Will the Suns blow their chance of a Norm Smith medalist superstar for a young talent nobody knew a week ago… Quote from Lamb “we said from the start we’re not trading Trac for picks” De Goey is a desperate bluff. Humphrey + p7 for Trac. Lock it in

If he’s “holding up the Trac deal” that’s exactly right. It’s a play. A losing side play.

Different situation. We’ve allowed Trac to go explore. We’d look stupid if we came out and shut it down. Just wait until end of today and repeat “not trading Trac for picks. Etc”

Absolutely they’ve told us that. So then PR to who? The GC fans? We all know they’re trying to close the deal on picks. They have Barrett saying it’ll happen today. But today we call Trac and tell him it isn’t likely to happen.

You’d have to ask why? They can tell us Humphrey is off the table directly. Sounds like a blink first situation

However, his player does want to leave. So I’m not so sure. He’s not going to do anything wild but I expect something better than shutting it down.

Agreed. That’s a dream scenario. But I think it happens this year. Humphrey doesn’t need to agitate, this trade is about Trac.

Disagree on this occasion. Humphrey isn’t the main event of this trade. This is about GC needing Trac badly. People undervaluing Trac need to imagine how incredibly well he’d fit into GC and where they are right now. I almost prefer to keep Trac, watch him have a proper monster season. Get Humphrey next year. But I expect GC to cave last minute. And the last minute cave from GC will be good for us, Humphrey + p7 for Trac + junk picks.

Problem I have with 7&8 is twofold: To GC they’re essentially junk picks, given they just need points in the draft. That doesn’t matter to us, but I find it obnoxious that Team Trac push this offer through Morris as a good deal while he presents himself as such a high value talent. And for us, getting two talented kids feels like an imbalanced profile. It’s been proven too many times that a young list doesn’t develop without significant senior talent. We’ve said upfront picks don’t work and I can understand precisely why. IMO we’re steadfast on Humphrey. There hasn’t even been another player floated in the past few days. I know people disbelieve Trac could be back, but I see us holding firm this time. It’s Trac or Humphrey. I’m quite sure of it.

I don’t see how else this reads @bing181 ? King seems fine to have him back. Maybe even sees it a challenge. What coach wouldn’t want Trac in their side?

King: “I’ve got his back around walking back into the club and playing great footy, and I’ll back him in“ … “Christian would be central to that. He’s still runner-up in our best and fairest and we all know the player Christian is. He’d be pivotal to those plans I’ve got. “I respect his time and space, I’ll give him that, but he’d be a central part of what we’re doing moving forward.”

It seems giving 7&8 won’t affect their draft, if we give later picks. Essentially they get Trac for no real terms cost. What does that say about Trac’s value to them? With all of GC’s bounty… he might want to remind them he’s “the brand”TM.

… made their position clear “publicly”. He’s right, GC are presenting a position, he’s in no place to undermine that

Only problem promising a “Jordan Clarke role” is they have a similar player named “Jordan Clarke”… plus they have Young and a stacked midfield of lighter players not dissimilar to his attributes. You’re obviously close with Judd and I’m sure you can see that 100 pages shows he was a well loved and highly rated talent. I hope he does great back home… but if he does happen to become a lockdown defender as @Axis of Bob has well put reasoning, then I hope when we play, Kossi kicks 10!

Is it not bizarre that Hird keeps saying GC needs a “De Goey type player” if they were to lose Humphrey - but doesn’t once mention Trac?? Hird talks as though Trac is already at GC

I fail to understand anyone who doesn’t see that our facilities are a total disaster. Agree absolutely. The idea he can spend another year under Hardwick at the elite facilities in GC and then potentially move to playing under Mitchell for a huge club that’s playing finals… that’s a massive sell. For the rest of this post I wrote a sell for the MFC and saw how sad it was… this is a depressing reality

Demon hat ON: I think Trac is underrated now. But was overrated before. He’s the type of player that has his best years from 30-33. I like the idea that he stays, rejected by his chosen club who lowball offer. He plays next year like a man with something to prove and wins the Brownlow, or close. Firmly Demon hat on, but not an entirely unrealistic proposition either.

If I were Humphrey’s manager I’d tell him Hawthorn are a powerhouse and we can wait. But the hand in the bush is Melbourne and they’ve recently developed superstars in Trac, Oliver, Kossi, Gawn… you wouldn’t lack for opportunity. They have future stars in Langford, Lindsay and Windsor. If you like Melbourne take the deal, it’s big money and a good club.

Exactly. And he’s apparently been speaking to Hawthorn for a while. He’s going to leave, this year or next.

Judd is talented player with the aspirations and work ethic to do incredibly well. If the club feels misled, his management should take a decent part of the blame. But he’s a young guy, life changes minute to minute at that age. It still baffles me that @doomsday dee was so convinced his attraction to Freo is for a positional opportunity and yet they spoke yesterday about Judd being a great “lockdown defender”… Hopefully Freo really do rate him and make offers accordingly

I hate the idea of losing Clarry. But is there some poetic justice if Clarry ends up playing like a champion for Collingwood while Trac hides out in GC playing in front of miniature crowds?

Bing, the only damage is to his ego. If he’s not worth anything significant to GC then he’s not the brand he thinks he is. I’d imagine MFC will have no fear holding Trac if they don’t get the offer we want.