Wiseblood

The Age article has us, hypothetically, getting May, KK and Pick 23 for Hogan. It's not a sexy deal by any means, but we address two needs - a key back and outside run - while still potentially maintaining a very potent forward line, while also holding on to our first round picks for the next few years that we can use for further moves over the coming seasons. It's a good outcome, although I can understand why people may see this as unders to begin with.

If we always get shafted in deals then we would be a bottom 4 side, not a top 4 side.

Your knowledge astounds me, ET!

Couldn't agree more. He clarified it later by saying that he was highly likely to end up at Melbourne.

GC won't do that, not until the moment it's clear we won't be trading Hogan. They would look silly if they traded him for Pick 7 and a few hours later we had Pick 5. Plus May will want to wait as it's still clear we are his first preference. But, I see what you mean. If he is legit happy to play anywhere if he has to, then it puts a little extra pressure on us to get the deal done. I don't see it as a major issue though.

I began listening to his report a little late so I only caught the part about May and how Pick 5 will go through a few hands in the next day or so. Nothing about other picks involved in the Hogan deal, although he may have discussed it at the beginning, which I missed.

Mitch Cleary just confirmed on Trade Radio that it's pretty much going to be Steven May to us if/when the Lachie Neale and Jesse Hogan deals go through. He said the Pies still have a little interest, but we are well and truly in the box seat.

Correct. What it all adds up to is a drafting team that knows what it's doing.

The last two seasons we have drafted Hannan and Fritsch, two guys who have come in and been best 22 players. Taylor knows what he's doing. You can say we've been dudded, I'll go with the fact that we've addressed our needs and that our scouting and recruitment team are one of the best in the business.

Why can't we add some quality through the draft? We've done super well with later picks in the past, so how do we know that Jason Taylor hasn't got some VFL/WAFL/SANFL etc players in his sights, or someone like Lockhart from Casey, who we are looking to draft to replace a Kent or a Tyson? At the moment, if we lose Kent, Tyson and Hogan, we will replace them with May, KK and Preuss, and then go to the draft with the picks we have. I don't know why you would be worried about that.

You forgot Steven May in there. We don't need to make large changes to our list - we clearly identified three areas of improvement, which was more outside run, support for Gawn and another key back. Unless the Hogan deal falls through, we will cover all three of those areas, and cover them well. Why do we need to do anything else? We were a game away from playing off in a Grand Final. We don't need wholesale changes. The Hawks, to this point, have added Scrimshaw. Wow. Scully is under a huge injury cloud and Wingard has been half decent since 2016. Same goes for Geelong - Rohan is injury prone and average, while Dalhaus has been average since the Dogs winning the flag. They might add a bit to their list, but it won't put them over the top. I have faith in what we are doing and I'm stoked we are addressing what we, as supporters, saw as needs - more run, support for Max and another key defender. Forget what the others are doing, focus on us, and if you do that then you'll see we are doing the right things again.

Mitch Cleary may have reported that Steven May is happy to play for any Vic club, but Jay Clark reckons this mega deal is in play and will happen before the deadline hits tomorrow night: "PREPARE for the blockbuster trade of all trades. Dayne Beams, Jesse Hogan, Lachie Neale and Steven May are all set to be part of a five-club deal that will leave Gold Coast with three of the top five picks in the draft. Herald Sun trade experts Jay Clark and Jon Ralph said Melbourne had softened on its demand of two first-round picks from Fremantle for Hogan and an agreement between the two clubs could unlock a string of other high-profile swaps. In the mega deal Brisbane would hand pick 5 to the Dockers for Lachie Neale, allowing them to release Dayne Beams to Collingwood. Fremantle would pass pick 5 on to Melbourne for Hogan, which will send it to the Suns for Steven May. Final details are still being hammered out and other draft picks will be involved, particularly to sweeten the Hogan deal although it will be short of the two first-round picks the Demons initially demanded. Melbourne will also end up with Gold Coast's Kade Kolodjashnij"

This plays into their hands perfectly. How desperate are we to get a deal done? If we panic, which I'm backing us not to, then we may just accept any sort of pick to get the May deal done to ensure he comes to us. Or we don't panic, get a good deal for Hogan and believe he still prefers to play for us and will wait until tomorrow night to get to us, which in turn means we get the deal we really want. Interesting 30 odd hours to come.

Mitch Cleary reporting that Steven May is happy to play for any Victorian Club. Things just escalated a little...

I know everything. No, seriously, I'm just going by the fact that pretty much everything is out in the open these days. Every deal done so far has been discussed prior to it happening, so I highly doubt we've got major things cooking outside of Steven May and KK, which is what I believe Mahoney was referring to.

If that were true (which I thought it was... ?) then DV8 would have been given the flick long ago.

I think we know exactly where he is...

We won't miss out on anything, other than Steven May if the Hogan deal falls through. KK will be done regardless, and unless we pull off a deal for a fringe player (eg. McKenna), then I'd say our business is pretty much done. And I was only being facetious with my comments anyway. We take trade week far too seriously.

What other deals have we missed? The one where Gold Coast and Adelaide swapped fourth round picks?

I'll be a little disappointed if the deal for May is just Pick 5, but I think that's because we've been conditioned to place too much emphasis on draft picks over the years. I'd rather Hogan stay, but I think many are underselling Steven May's value to our club and our structures moving forward. Where did we struggle this year? Down back. May will help to remedy this, and with the return of Jake Lever, will form a 1-2 punch that will be the envy of the competition. I think the addition of May will go further in helping us win a flag, and for that reason I'll put any disappointment aside and look at what May brings to our club, which will be plenty.

Spot on, Steve. Josh Mahoney and co. will be thinking the exact same thing.

Not a bad idea to be honest, and it highlights how there could be a myriad of things happen between now and tomorrow night. There seems to be a bit of mail suggesting we just get Pick 5, other mail suggests we get a few second rounders, and so forth. Anything could happen. Plus we won't know anything until the Lachie Neale deal is done. Until then we will still only get speculation and nothing more.

Plenty of the rumours have been BS so far. No need to believe this one either.

Sun is reporting that Peter Bell is flying into Melbourne tomorrow to resume talks on a deal that will potentially include pick 5 and other picks, thus allowing us to secure May and KK. So, nothing new really, other than what we all knew - Bell was bluffing.

Thank Christ there is only two days left