Wiseblood

Absolutely it hurts. My 3 year old has a Dees jumper signed by Hogan. He is her favourite player. That aspect, and what he brings to our side, will be super hard to replace. If this was happening in 2015 then I'd be very worried. However, thanks to the people we have put in place, we have a strong list and a great culture that can not only handle his departure but also kick on from it as well. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

If true, then it's a very disappointing decision from Jesse. I feel as though the club has shown him tremendous support throughout a variety of things and there is a small part of me that hoped he would return that support. However, it's hard to get your back up about it when clubs sometimes show little loyalty to players as well. This is the current landscape of football, and while it's a tough pill to swallow, I trust the FD to get the right deal, to get it done quick and to ensure it makes us better in the long run. The one solace we can take is that Weideman is starting to really come on and we may be shoring up our degence further with May and possibly KK. If we get two first rounders then we may also hold on to it to add a quality young player to our list as well, or move that on to improve us even further. At the end of the day it sucks to potentially lose Jesse, but if he does go home then I'm comfortable that we can still come out of it looking great on the other side.

Thanks, mate. Appreciate it! You would like to hold out some hope that he is actually in the dark about it all, but these guys spend way too much time together to not have some sort of idea about it.

To those who saw the Jones interview, can anyone give a quick run down on what was said? Sounds like both Lever and Jones have had a chance to shoot down the rumours and they haven't taken it.

Ah, you're one of those. Do you have proof the club did that, or just piggy backing off these rumours as if they make yours more valid?

Care to elaborate, Red? I missed it tonight.

Just a shame we weren't handed bonus picks to trade at the time so we could land him for free.

There have been some success stories as well, dieter. I see your point, but we have a few of the success stories in our side right now, not to mention others over the years (Jeff White is one that instantly comes to mind to go with some others you mentioned). But, I see your point, and most of our sides since the late 80s have become moderately successful off the back of shrewd recruiting and development. What sets Kolo apart from those your mentioned in the first sentence is that he was a much higher draft pick who has shown he can play at AFL level. Michie, Sellar, Rodan (at the tail end of his career) were not those types. If the price is right then someone like Kolo, who can play half back, has good skills and pace and has lots of footy left in front of him, is worth the gamble.

I don't think Tyson is the answer to getting him. Dom is a Vic boy who is still under contract, not sure he wants to leave and play on the Gold Coast and he has the right of refusal I believe (the Ryan Ferguson rule).

I'd be happy with this. With Lewis in the twilight of his career he could slot in across half back perfectly for us. If the Suns are happy for him to move on then I doubt they would want much. A three way deal with the Saints perhaps? Saints get: Kent Dees get: Kolodjashnij Suns get: Third round pick. I know the Saints don't have one of those picks at the moment but I'm sure they can get one.

Neither. Just that, based on the Eagles game (it was written after that game, not today), we've shown that we can survive without Hogan. 3 or 4 years ago you wouldn't have given him up for anything, but now Clark says we will be fine if he decides to go home. The article was written in August so maybe Jay Clark is some sort of clairvoyant?

I'm going out on a limb with this one, but from what I've seen, there isn't a whole lot of top end talent from WA in this years draft. I know that doesn't make a huge difference, but there is a reason clubs like Port and Adelaide are keen to move up the draft to nab players from their home state. If there isn't much on offer from WA this year, but the crop is stronger next season (pure speculation as I have no idea), then they may be more inclined to pass on two picks from this season and hold on to next years instead. The fact they drafted Brayshaw and Cerra means I could be totally wrong, although we already know that Cerra took a while to re-sign and could be a flight risk in the future, so they may look to try and get talent from their home state a little more in the coming seasons.

Maybe 2 first rounders under pick 6 is a stretch, but two first rounders isn't. Forget the nonsense with the points, as that comes into play far more for the clubs who need them to sign academy players, father/son etc. If Lever and Gibbs can garner two first round picks, and Lachie Weller can be moved on for the second pick in the draft, then we would be well within our right to ask for two first round picks, or a first rounder and the equivalent player of a first round pick. This is a 23 year old key forward who has his best years ahead of him and 150 goals under his belt. They don't come around often. I'd be shocked if we didn't get fair value IF we trade him at all.

To be fair to GNF, he did present those bolded parts as merely his opinion at the beginning. I don't think he is trying to present them as anything but that. Hogan needs to do us all a favour and put forward his intentions ASAP to put us all out of this our misery.

The exit meeting is overlooked a bit in all this. From all reports the idea of him being traded wasn't even broached during that meeting from either side. Then it comes out Tuesday that he is open to a move, even though some suggest he is meeting his management today about it. What would have changed from the exit meeting to Tuesday morning, especially if he didn't ask to be traded? There is so much info flying around at the minute. I can't wait for either the club or Jesse to either confirm or deny it so we can move on to the next step.

I was rather lukewarm about May until you put it like that. I wonder how true the comments are around his commitment and coming back to pre-seaspn training overweight, but I'd like to think down here at Melbourne he would eradicate that sort of behaviour. You get the feeling GC wouldn't have set standards all that high in the past. I can see the benefit of getting May for a first rounder, but I'd be also expecting Freo to give us two picks or the equivalent player as well so it's Hogan for May and a 1st rounder/Brayshaw/Cerra type deal.

If we got two first rounders out of Freo for Hogan then I'd be throwing both at GWS for Josh Kelly. If Shiel does leave then I doubt they'll entertain the idea, but Kelly is far more suited to us than Shiel is,not to mention being the better player.

Fair enough, mate. I knew he played over there and had done family there too, didn't realise it was only short term stuff.

Why not? He played all his junior footy there and has family still in SA as well. He might not have as strong ties as some others, but he most certainly can be on that list.

To be fair, Stretch, ANB, Kent, Viney etc are all interstate boys who have had no problem stating at the club. Our history isn't that bad on that regard.

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/09/26/should-the-dees-keep-jordan-lewis-around-in-2019/ Interesting take from Garry Lyon, and one I agree with. I am more than happy with Lewis playing on and being part of the side, but it also makes sense to tell him he is no walk up start to the side in 2019 either, especially with someone like Hunt waiting in the wings. He could pass the baton on during the year. Either way, I would much rather have him on the list than off it next season.

He was there for the Hawks game and I can recall him being there for the Eagles game as well.

Don't be so gullible, ET. Don't believe any signed contract, no matter how long it is.

So when other players claimed their love for the club, and we believed it, and then they signed on, I was gullible there too? I should have called them filthy liars and shook my fist at them for potentially being really devious?