Wiseblood

But can he still play good, consistent footy at AFL level? The Lions may take that gamble, but he was passed by a couple of kids this year. That doesn't necessarily reflect on him very well. But, we shall see what happens. I'd be stoked to get a second rounder out of them, but I doubt that will happen. Third round pick is what I think it will end up being.

Why would they give that up for a bloke who has played 4 senior games this season, and hasn't missed those games because of injury? It's not as if he was best 22 this year and went down with a serious injury which forced him to miss most of the year. I can see them laughing in our faces while they go after other key backs that are on their radar.

True, but neither is his career with us. An opportunity to play AFL again and lead their backline, while living it up in QLD on decent money, will be a good way to finish his career. He is clearly nothing more than depth with us, and I think it would be good to see him getting that opportunity elsewhere.

I've never stated for a second that he doesn't need to do some work as well. Of course he needs to work on aspects of his game, which includes his kicking for goal, especially under a bit of pressure. But he could easily have had 50+ goals when you factor in the 33 points, and once he works all that out then he will kick 50+ goals a year for the rest of his career.

Not sure what their second round pick is, but it might end up being Dunn and our second rounder for their second rounder, which we could then on trade for Hibberd. Yes, I know, we shouldn't give the Bombers that sort of pick as our current one should be enough, but if we want to get it over the line quickly then they might look at doing something like that. I'd be happy for Dunny to move on and I think Brisbane would be a good spot for him. I still think he has at least 2-3 years left in him.

Well said, Redleg. Hits the nail on the head for me. I think with Jesse being in WA, and West Coke coming out and making comments about their interest in him (which I think is still rather unprofessional, considering he still has 12 months on his contract to run), it has blown things up a little. Nothing would have changed behind the scenes and I believe that he loves the club and has a good relationship with the coaches, staff and players as well.

Spoiled brat? Pull the other one. When his body language was poor early in the season the club made a point of working through that with him and we didn't see it from him again in that manner during the year. It was handled very well. And if playing for a few free kicks late in the season makes you a spoiled brat, then half the league would be spoiled brats as well.

See, this is what annoys me. He's not a 'Prima Donna' forward. He's a kid. It's up to the club as a whole to make sure we get the very best out of him - if the transition is slow and the disposal is sub par then of course you aren't going to kick many goals, nor are you going to get a whole lot of the footy. And the list of players in general without a flag is very long. It doesn't just go with forwards with stacks of goals.

Or maybe that's due to the fact that everyone in our midfield instantly looked for him the moment the ball went forward of centre? Or the fact that after such a good season in 2015 that the opposition put far more time in to stopping him? You guys are laughable. Just have a listen to yourselves talking him down to help soften the blow of him leaving. Name the forwards in the last 20 years who have kicked over 80 goals in their first two seasons? I'll be waiting for an answer. When we work things out in the middle and up forward he will monster teams. His body work is sublime, his hands are sensational and when he learns to kick for goal with some consistency then he'll get reward for his efforts. Let's not forget that in the second half of the season his kicking went AWOL - he could easily have kicked 60 goals for the year. The kicking is something he seriously needs to sort out, but when he does every backman in the competition will dread playing on him. We all better hope that he makes the decision to stay long term, as we won't be as good without him there. We will be relying on Weideman to come on quickly, as clubs will put their key backs on Watts and then who else do we have? Pedersen? Dawes? Where will all the goals come from?

G DUBBYA S

Eat a huge bag of dicks Whorethorn! Loving every minute of this!

Should have ended the discussion there, bing. But then we all knew it would fall on deaf ears.

Fair enough mate, we all see it differently. I hope you are right, but as you say, time will certainly tell.

I get that, and of course we will continue without him, but will we be as successful without him at the club? Hawthorn were able to handle losing Franklin, and win more flags, because they were already well set up with their culture and they still had plenty of experienced talent on their list. Can we say the same about us? Down the track we might, but I don't think we're as prepared as we think we are for losing a 21 year old who already has 80+ goals to his name.

I'm not a huge fan of this comparison. The Hawks were fresh off a flag and had runs on the board when they lost Franklin. We are far from being anything like Hawthorn, so I'm not sure we can be so flippant about it (flippant may not be the right word, but hopefully you know I mean).

Yep, it's not overly positive to be honest, The one thing I'm hopeful for is that he makes a decision in the next month, and if it's to go home, then we can strike a good deal and get value for him. Then we can move on from it. If he makes the decision in our favour then I'll be stoked with that, but either way, I'm hopeful he decides in the next month or so.

Clearly it is, as the HUN ran an article saying that we are right into him.

Here is what his manager said: “We are not in a hurry and we are quite comfortable with where things sit,” Dover said. “Put it this way — there is no time line on it. “I have had a discussion with Jesse but we aren’t any further advanced. I was at the footy with ‘Goody’ on the Thursday night watching the Eagles. “We were able to have a good chat and he gave me some information and I gave him some. “Jesse will come home and see where his head space is. It is making a decision to be with Melbourne or a request to come home. Nothing has been finalised.”

I'm still confident, as it's only normal and fair for him to spend some time back home on the off season, but it's the first time I've seen his manager mention that he is either going to stay with Melbourne or request to come home. While we all know it's been about that from the start, it's never actually been said by his manager before. Again, I'm still confident, but this is an interesting development for sure.

Me either. He signed it on the red bit of the jumper, so I've got a red marker to colour over it, just in case.

Just to make everyone extra jittery, I received a signed jumper from the club for my daughter today. It was signed by Viney, N. Jones and Hogan with a short message to her from each of them - Viney and Jones both signed off with a 'Go Dees', while Hogan did not. So, you know, that means he's gone. Forgetting to add 'Go Dees' is not an oversight. He's gone.

Daisy was joking, too. Where's your sense of humour?

Agree with all of this. Summed it up well. The other aspect is that we've seen players nominate other clubs, but were we interested in them in the first place? Prestia maybe, but I haven't seen anywhere that we were interested in Marchbank, O'Meara etc. It also looks like Hibberd will nominate us as his club of choice, but we won't be complaining about that (and yes, Stuie, I know you mentioned players 22 and under which Hibberd is not, but you get my point all the same.)

Ignore him, mate. He is talking rubbish.

Not sure to be honest. McCluggage has been terrific at junior level, but to get that high in the draft and without a first rounder of our own, we would need to sacrifice a quality kid to get there. I'm talking Petracca, Oliver, Brayshaw etc. I don't think any of us would be too chuffed about that.