Wiseblood

As much as I would like him, I'm always slightly happy to see young players re-sign with their club long term. I know we have loved seeing the commitment from our younger players over the past couple of years, so to see others do it in the face of growing free agency is good to see. Even if it means we potentially miss out on a fantastic player. Our interest in Level may also be the reason why we have shown little interest in May to this point.

How that mark in the last round didn't win mark of the year is beyond me. Okay, Winston Abraham took a ripper, but no chance it was better than Farmer's.

The fifth memory can bugger right off. What a player he was. Loved the Sandy Roberts/Bruce McAvaney commentary of his 8 goals against Norf. He was Cyril Rioli before we knew who Cyril Rioli was.

That's true, DD. I often forget that aspect when it comes to the Hawks and they've kind of shot themselves in the foot a little. If they go full rebuild they are already missing picks, but if they try and top up their list they don't have the means to do it without sacrificing a good player in the process. They have players on the list who would have currency, but they won't want to give them up. If May wants to get there then the Hawks may need to pull off an absolute miracle to get it done, but if anyone can do it then it's the Hawks.

Fair enough. I have no doubt we will be asking the questions, but it feels like we're on the periphery at the moment. I know everything. Seriously though Steve, I've drawn that conclusion from what I've heard this year. What else can I do? I'm sure we are doing our due diligence but, at the moment, it seems we're on the periphery and if Steven May does decide to leave then the Hawks are in the box seat. Doesn't mean we're out of it, but I just don't think we will see Steven May in the red and blue next season. I'd love it if he was, though.

For all our discussion about May, it seems as though the Hawks are the only club being linked to him at the moment. That's not to say we aren't in the conversation or won't become part of it, but it doesn't look as though we have a huge amount of interest in him at present. I still feel like we need another KPD, I just don't think it will end up being Steven May.

And I'm sure you've looked for that wrong foot as well... I generally like your posts Steve, but holy hell you can be a condescending little [censored] at the best of times. Are you so much better that you are levitating above the rest of us or what?

His second half of the year will dictate the price if he decides to leave. Swans are very keen to re-sign him, so if he does want to leave then they'll demand top price. That doesn't mean we pay it, though.

Hunt kicks more goals than he misses. He might miss a few targets, but he is a pretty reliable shot for goal.

He had a great third term, kicked a goal and set up another. 18 touches and 7 tackles to this point. What he seems to have improved is in his ball winning ability without having to sacrifice his ability to impact a contest. He is both an inside and outside player.

And that's the crux of the issue - does he really want to move, or can Sydney do enough to keep him? With the extra $$$ in their salary cap you could argue that they will be able to table a pretty good offer, but if we can match it and he wants to play for a few years with his brother then we are in the box seat. Sorry for the lazy link post as well, felt like I was letting the team down as you go to great lengths to pull quotes out and all I did was dump it here. Wasn't much to the article though!

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/teams/sydney/zak-jones-set-to-remain-in-sydney-shunning-interest-from-home-state-victorian-rivals/news-story/bbbc917a60aeb672c862eb05f8f2488d It's a pretty nothing article, just that that Swans are confident that Zak wants to stay in Sydney and they are confident they can ward of our interest in him. There is nothing in the article that actually confirms our interest, more that they are confident he'll sign on.

No chance that North let him go and, if they did, it would cost an arm and a leg to get there.

@binman - while I'm certainly not one to write off Oscar, as I do a future for him at the club going forward, the stats you brought up about who we can least do without is pretty useless in this regard. There are plenty of horrible players on that list who have played in a few wins that have gotten their names on it, which doesn't give it a whole lot of credibility. Brown kicked 5 on the weekend and some of them weren't down to Oscar like some may make out. There were times where we kicked the ball out from defence, North marked it and then chipped it back in to Brown's advantage. It gives our defenders no chance. He will have his detractors, and I agree with others that we could use another tall defender, but he isn't nearly as bad as some make out.

The bottom line is that, if we really want him, then we can put together a trade package and a contract that will get him to the club. It's that simple. We don't have a tight salary cap and we have all of our first round and second rounds picks for the next few years. If we want to make a splash, then we can. It's just down to whether or not the club feel that May is the person to make that splash on. Time will tell, but there is no doubt that we have our eye on plenty of targets.

How does JKH make the deal any better? The bloke has zero currency. I look forward to the day when we don't assume our average players will be the difference in a deal like this. It won't happen.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. If they are underachievers then the Suns will have zero interest in them. We can't claim they aren't much good and then expect other clubs to cough up something good to take them off our hands.

Great logic. We need key backs so we'll trade away the ones we have. Brilliant.

This will happen each time he comes out of contract while Nathan is still playing and Zak is with the Swans. It will either happen or it will end up like the Swallow boys.

All good points there Abe. The market will also determine our interest - if clubs are flinging around silly money then we may need to rethink our approach. I don't want to a club that pays overs and sets that precedent for the players who are already there. We aren't a Manchester United who can throw around money and it doesn't matter. However, we do need some further quality on the list, so if May is happy to play for us and it's for the right price then sign him up. I just don't want us to go overboard and we find it hard to sign some of our younger players going forward.

That's the only thing that doesn't sit well with me either. We do have a decision to make, though, in terms of addressing a few needs. Do we go for a potential star in May, or do we look to fill with someone like a Marcus Adams - a bigger player from the VFL/SANFL/WAFL through the draft, or even picking up someone on the cheap? We probably say it every year, but it's a crucial off season for us. There is still plenty of water to go under the bridge but we have some gaps to fill and we may need to get a little creative in doing it.

No doubt we should chase him. I'm always a little skittish when it comes to trading high draft picks, but I think we're in a position now where our list is young enough that we can add these types of players and not miss a beat. Other clubs will be interested, but I know we would have the salary cap room and the obvious position down back for him that we might be able to coax him down. Hopefully the club are right into him at the minute.

You wouldn't be knocking them if they supported your argument. For what it's worth, Oscar has been just okay this year, but he was giving away serious size and height to Brown this weekend and there's not a whole lot he can do about it. Would I rather someone else in the side? Probably but, as you say, there isn't anyone else.

We don't need to. Our forward line is not the issue, we have a great spread of goal kickers. I'd rather Hogan kick 3 and we kick 16 as a side than him kicking 6 of 10.

If the Saints really thought that moving him on would be beneficial for both parties, then they should do it at the end of this year while he stock is still high enough to get something good in return. Another year of what he is doing and you would suggest not too many teams would be knocking their door down to get him.