grazman

I wouldn't do that - They'd probably just use it to get Eddie Betts back to the club.

Anyone still think we overpaid to get Jake Lever to the club?

It's been talked about in the press that the plan is for T Mac to play wing. Not having BBB and Weid has probably resulted in a reprioritisation of where he plays at this stage.

I think this is way too simplistic. I don’t disagree with the need to be honest and for the players to drive this, but if it were as simple as isolating one factor in why clubs succeed or don’t then this would have been identified centuries ago. My question for Maclure is what evidence does he have the club isn’t doing this other than losing a preseason match?

Without Mitch Duncan the Cats have no defensive run through their midfield at all. They struggled in the ruck big time - Essendon got a lot of forward fifty entries, but were extremely wasteful. Can't take too much out of pre-season game though.

Pleasantly surprised! He has a major weakness in that he plays his cut shots in the air. He was told by Matthew Hayden when batting day 1 at the Gabba to forget playing cross-bat shots. It appears he either didn't take the advice on or forgot it as soon as the ball got above hip height.

Agree. Cummins and Hazelwood are class and we should have rotated Pattinson for Starc earlier (I think he plays too much red ball cricket based on what he can do with a white ball) and personally I would have loved to have seen Jhye Richardson back in the team for Brisbane, but Lyon was always going to play his hundredth test. I think Paine has to accept some of the blame for not closing out the last two tests and also the debacle in Leeds in 2019. My primary criticism of him is that unlike previous captains he can't stop the momentum of opposition batting sides with bowling changes and field placements. He places far too much trust in bowlers who simply aren't delivering. Particularly after Adelaide when there was absolutely no swing from any of the quicks and Lyon was always going to struggle against a side where off spinners are grist for the mill. Headingly - England batting in the last and win Lyon's figures - 2/114 Sydney - India bat last and draw Lyon's figures - 2/114, Starc 0/75 Brisbane - India bat last and win Lyon's figures 2/55, Starc 0/66 Does anyone think we put in Carey or McDermott at 5 as specialist batsmen?

Only a rumour - but was brought up on fox footy. Apparently Treloar wanted to spend 3 days a week in QLD during the season. Don't know whether that was disinformation/misinformation.

Short answer is yes. Be thankful we are Melbourne and not Collingwood. The club didn't bust any relations with its players in offering them up for trade (at least from the outside) - T Mac himself and his manager were very complimentary of the club and their honest approach about discussing the opportunities that would be available for him next year - I imagine it was the same as with other players as well. I haven't seen one piece of negative social media with how the club dealt with guys like Preuss and Hannan moving on. Meanwhile down at the Carringbush...

To be fair, there were rumours that Stephenson's behaviour in the hub might have been a problem, that and his preparation (again rumours) were somewhat below professional expectations. If you read closely between the lines and his desire to be away from the club to relax in the company of his family and friends you might see a similarity with a former Demon who has just moved clubs again.

Given how he was treated by North, I think it would take a miracle rather than a phone call. He's checked out - it's nearly impossible to turn that ship around.

Never any interest from Adelaide I suspect. Would have been an absolute steal if we could have got him. Knee injury aside I rate him higher than Williams and Saad as a HBF.

The deal will get done. You can't effectively push a guy out of your club and when you have a chance to trade him act like he's a required player. It's not like he will stay at North if a deal isn't done. Higgins is a completely different scenario because North aren't pushing him out.

Steven May.

Yes, but hopefully with the right result in the end in both cases.

Maybe not though - Josh alerted the Bulldogs to some unprofessional behaviour in terms of preparation and commitment by other senior players who promised to deal with it, but haven't. He's obviously had enough and Essendon have provided the lure with the opportunity to play with his younger brother. Looking at the interview with his dad when we drafted Kyle they look like a family of straight shooters.

I think now we've brought Brown in that bringing someone else in might be contingent on freeing up salary cap space ie. T Mac being traded. I assume Phillips contract might be more than what we were offering Smith.

Not if you really want that player to go for Salary Cap room or perhaps cultural reasons.

You aren't going to match a bid if you don't want to keep the player at the club though. Clearly pick 23 and Dunstan for Crouch and say pick 85 is better than trying to do a trade with the Saints who aren't going to cough up a first rounder for Crouch.

Such is the way at AFL house. Not really a surprise after Crouch racked up a strike for drug possession.

Hence 90% - unless we plan on cloning him and getting 9 Ben Browns ?

90/10 isn't 900% it's 90% - just saying.

There's whispers around that his attitude is a problem... seems to fit with Lord Nev's mail that we did our due diligence and passed.

only Free Agency. Trade week doesn't actually start until Wednesday.

It's a tactic. Clearly the quiet talk where they asked him to explore his options to support his partner in QLD didn't work so well with him saying he was staying. So now they have to make it untenable for him by publicly announcing he isn't wanted.