Dante

I can't stand the Hawks but I respect the way they have gone about their business over the last, so many years, that however doesn't mean I can't criticise them if I feel they are wrong. Sorry to say, I'm not in awe of anyone Stuie, that includes you. I've been around a while and I've seen plenty of Empires crumble, especially if they hang on to too many players, for too long. They have a bit to do if they want to stay on top and I doubt that Mitchell and O'Meara are going to do it, there are other players in the group that I think are less than star material. Sam Mitchell probably should have called it quits but it would have been more convincing if he had done it as soon as the season finished, not after a gentle prod by the coach. Brisbane have won 3 flags since 2000 and Hawthorn have won 4, it would be interesting to see Brisbane of 2001-2003 play against Hawthorn of 2013-2015, I think that Brisbane would have had the edge. So yes you can compare them.

The glue just won their B&F and he would have been a good teacher of those coming through, Players like O'Meara and Mitchell could learn a lot playing alongside him. You seem to be in awe of the Hawks, probably thought the same about the Lions when they were on the rampage. You do realise that all Empires crumble over time. Have a look at their draft failures, what will happen if that occurs again?

I don't know if he will be gutted, but it was a clever ploy by Clarkson to sow the idea in Mitchell's head and make it seem like it was his idea, it wasn't a shove it was a gentle push. "Brownlow day Clarko came over, and to be honest Clarko has just been so honest and such a good friend for such a long time and he is in a sense looking out for me ... and he said: 'Look I know that you want to go into coaching, you're not going to play forever for Hawthorn, would it be something you'd be interested in to maybe go and play there and then go into coaching?' "

Absolutely, he's their main extractor and I doubt they will get a replacement in either Mitchell or O"Meara, they may be ok but he is the glue in that team.

Maybe our FD don't rate them, we have enough depth players if there's a deal to be done and we want to do it, we will, I'm glad we aren't involved in every retiree looking to top up their super.

Once again Old, you show impeccable judgement.

Gibbs has put in some really poor seasons and now he's finally come good they want to trade him, bit like us trading Jack.

If you pay too much for other teams scraps, you don't get pitied, you get laughed at and I'm not sure that Hibberd isn't much more than that. If you think Hibbered will help us win games, then perhaps I better have another look at him.

It's not about what they're worth, it's more about what we want to pay, me, nothing. You want our club to be hated OD, this is a good way to start.

I just hate giving Essendon anything, I'd rather give a pick to Collingwood. If there was a way we could get him through the courts I'd prefer we did that, third round or nothing. They get away with it every time, they screwed us last year and they're doing it again.

That may be why.

If they were done on the same basis I guess you could, but Ablett left/departed Hawthorn for reasons other than his ability to play football.

There are probably a few reasons for that, one is the fact we've had the worst recruiters in the competition who have chosen some of the worst draft picks imaginable, and we have had no development program to develop any that have slipped thorough the cracks and were ok. With the top picks we have had we should have been able to set the club up for a decade but we blew it. Then we've had a poor of field team who were responsible for Neeld and some of the most outrageously stupid decisions ever made by a football club, Richmond excluded, who have almost decimated the club. Why would any top player choose us, when we see how Goody turns out it may be different, but we have to get runs on the board first, top players can get almost as much playing for a great club as they do playing with us, so it's a no brainer. We have the ingredients and now it's up to us to see if we can bake the cake, if we can then we will get top liners wanting to play for us. It has to be sustained though, this is the big task for the Bullies now.

How long did Sydney leave Mitchell in the NEAFL?

What an absolutely wonderful son. He is the sort of person I would love to have at our club.

As much as I dislike the pr*ck, it would have shown a lot more class if the club had told him of their intentions and allowed him to announce his retirement, same with the other two.

I like the look of him, he's one I'd hoped that we would look at.

The problem I see for GC is the number of players they will have to delist to enable them to use their picks, if they get some early picks for trading players that will just compound the problem. If I was their list manager I'd be looking to offload/swap some mid range second round for a couple of picks next year. If they have, say 8 picks in the top 30, that's 8 players they will have to delist and that doesn't take in to consideration their 3rd and 4th round picks, if they can swap for future selections they'd probably look at that.

In fairness to Red, the issue is not about how many Flags they won, it's about letting a great player, who was from the clubs Royal Family go, that is the issue. i doubt that having him would have made them a worse side and if Clarkson couldn't get the best out of him that's not the players fault, he's certainly proven himself to be good enough.

Pedo is the sort of player that can sneak up on you and at the end of a game you see he's kicked 2 goals and had 15 disposals. He has the capacity to kick 30 to 35 goals a year, depending on number of games of course, but he is unobtrusive and just keeps putting in. I have to confess, I was against getting him initially, but since he's been recruited and since he had that initial, moment, he has shown no fear when attacking the ball and sets the example for all the players. One thing, he has to learn to stay in the game for longer periods, he does go to sleep at times, that's my only criticism.

There was a lot of concern last year that we weren't doing anything and some of the posters on here were hysterical, (why aren't we doing anything, why do we always miss out) but this year we have been a lot more measured except for a few silly suggestions, I haven't seen a "Get Gary Rohan" thread yet, so we've been a lot more tolerant. If we do nothing then so be it, if we pick up a few draftees then I'd be happy with that, we don't have to delist half the side every year.

They'd be better next year and probably this year as well.

Their supporters will be able to check out his guns 2 or 3 times a year, he flashes them when he kicks a goal.

Really pleased about that he isn't the most exciting player on our list but he's reliable and you get pretty much the same from him week in week out, he's also a better option in the ruck than Jack. Give him 60 to 70% game time a week to give Max, Hogan and Weed a chop out.

Is that what he expects, or what he hopes for? Maybe the FM's comments in the post below indicate that Melbourne have offered a 3rd round not a 2nd round, hence a bit more work to be done.