Mach5

The way I would approach it? (Glad you asked). Dangerous game, but I’d play Freo off against WC. Set our firm & final demand to Freo, say pick 13, F1, F2 (NM). Make it abundantly clear that anything less will see us make a deal to accept less from WC on principle. Prepare the paperwork, provide it to them ready to go at any moment they’re ready to sign off on it. I’d make this clear to Freo on Tuesday after slowly working on building towards this idea with WC in the background. With WC - their ideal situation is for Jackson to get to them in the PSD. They’ll do some sort of deal with pick 2 & get 8 in return. Make out that we are happy to accept pick 8 for Jackson just to spite Freo & set a precedent that we don’t [censored], which is a good deal for them & they would tentatively accept based on ironing out the finer details, but then find ways to “let” WC draw it out. Use WC’s eagerness for the deal to fall apart & time out so they get Jackson for free in the PSD against them. They’ll let time run down. Stony face. Don’t blink. Freo will feel the pinch late in the piece as it becomes clear only they can close this out by acting. They won’t let the deal slip away from them all for nothing & to the benefit of WC. All the work they’ve done to this point would be a waste. It’d take balls of steel but we’ve got them.

I should add, while we may be perceived as doing the same thing as Freo (particularly in the eyes of Collingwood), I think the distinction (as far as we’re concerned) is that we would happily keep Jackson despite Freo doing their best to pry him out of our hands, whereas Collingwood are actively pushing Grundy out the door and we are happy to be on the receiving end, at the right price. The catalyst and agitator in both circumstances is the other club, not us.

We’re also seen to be doing the same thing, so that we can hand over only 27 for Grundy, but Freo is holding it all up. I’d like to see us then move picks to GC for next year so that we can get back in earlier for this draft.

Well, you also can’t move all of your future picks either (in Freo’s case). They must maintain a presence either in the first round, or the other rounds, for next year. Stupid confusing rules, but they’re there.

You have the example of Freo desperately denying that Lobb will be traded; they just want to get the Jackson deal done first so they can keep whatever they get for Lobb for themselves instead of being forced to include it for us.

“Trading for points” appears to be devalued this year, as I think only Brisbane are after bulk draft points & they have most of those already now (hence why we were happy to hand over the later picks to Port).

But it’s a bit like Freo with the Lobb trade - they are furiously denying it’ll happen, because they want to make the Jackson trade first, so they can keep whatever they get for him.

There’s our pick for Grundy. Whats Port up to? Late picks for points to Brisbane for Dev Robertson, Dev to WC with Georgiades for pick 2, then 2 for JHF?

We offered him 3 years too.

Mahoney trying to tap up his old contacts. I’ll volunteer to pack James’ bags for him.

Uh, mate... do your calcs again. 43 is a 3rd rounder.

How is Hill worth more? They are recruiting Toby to play, not for depth in their reserves. They are giving him 3 years. He’s worth a 2nd round pick.

A future 2nd & minor shuffling for Bobby Hill. Surely GWS just flick that our way for Toby. Seems about correct weight.

I think the club sees Jayden as worth more to us as FA compo, and I agree.

Schache?

Not at all. There’s 2 factors there. What I’ve been exposed to and opinions of others to boot, i.e. it’s not my perception alone.

I’d say maybe I’ve been relayed accounts of and exposed to more of their “real” selves in that case.

I’m absolutely neutral, in that I don’t have any personal dislike for either of these people. But the evidence just keeps piling up and I’m concerned with the future success of the club above all else. I don’t believe they’re the right people to take us forward, they’ve just benefited from the work of those before them. Difficult & awkward is only the beginning, but it should be enough. “Hard to like” was another quote. Of Roffey, I’d say her greatest strength has been the fact she is not Glenn Bartlett. I’m not sure what else she’s got.

If Adelaide don’t come for Chandler again this year, someone will. If we’re not going to play him, we might as well let the bloke get an opportunity elsewhere & cash in

On the topic of culture, I think we have serious issues with our leadership at the top. I’m reliably told Roffey has met with another club president recently, who found her to be “difficult & awkward.” My own experiences have left me less than impressed, including Roffey talking down about Casey, and Pert saying Casey are lucky to have us. I recall a leadership conference for businesses in the Casey area run by Pert, where he espoused aspects of the culture at the club as exemplars and tried to get club staff in attendance to speak... but they all declined when put on the spot, as they didn’t want to have to announce they felt the opposite of what he was spruiking was actually true. Beyond that, we have little movement at the station in regards to a new training & administrative venue, to bring us under one roof instead of 26 scattered offices. I think our time at the top is likely over & the long contracts will weigh heavy around our necks, unless there is some significant change to come.

Funny, because I recall hearing Bomba himself talk about how he was always Bomba after the jungle boy. But maybe you guys know better?

Mate, you said they wouldn’t have to use pick 2 to get it done. But knock yourself out, carry on.

That... is involving pick 2.

What world does that clown Robinson live in? Jackson not worth 2 top 10 picks? You can’t tell me he’s not worth more than 2 of Jimmy Toumpas, Lachie Plowman, Cale Morton, Josh Schace, Jack Scrimshaw, Will Setterfield, Sam Petrevski-Seton, Aaron Francis, Sam Weideman, Jack Billings, Nathan Freeman, Matt Scharenburg, Paddy Dow, Nick Coffield... obviously you could go on and on about top 10 picks.

Uh, yes they would. If they want him. No pick 2 involvement would mean we’re better off dealing with Freo.