Wiseblood

He was smiling because he was happy to be leaving!

Spot on. I like the fact that, while other clubs make plenty of noise, we go about our business quietly. Going by the way Judd snobbed Hutchy after he saw Carlton he would certainly appreciate that. I like Garry being at the "meet and greet" too - he could have a small say in getting him to the club.

It's good in principle but Carlton have nothing that we need. Fevola is a great big sook who I don't want at the club and apart from that their list is rubbish (they won't part with Stevens, Murphy etc.) I actually think that if we don't land Judd then we should hang on to Pick 4 and use all our picks below this to either improve our draft standing or to land a few players who will improve our list.

Probably Pick 4, one of Green/TJ and maybe another pick or a sweetener??

I wouldn't read too much in to that - Matthew Lloyd came out and said it and he would have nothing to do with the trade process. Heck, they don't even have a coach yet!! Trading Gumbleton and Ryder would screw them in the future as those two could hold down CHB and CHF for 12 years!! Plus I'd be pretty dirty on Lloyd for coming out and using these two as bait. He did say "we would hate to lose them" but I'd still be pretty [censored] with him!

He would cost too much in terms of trading for him and he is horribly injury prone - would prefer the club to keep developing Frawley than get Maguire.

It's all rubbish - so much [censored] will be thrown around in the coming weeks that we need to ignore it all UNLESS Judd himself comes out with it. Until then nothing is settled or decided IMO.

I think the main problem we face is the simple fact that clubs like Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton etc. are bigger than us - more members, more money, better training facilities etc. WE have appeal in terms of our list and a new coach with some new ideas but I just don't think we appeal enough to him. I hope I am wrong... In terms of what we need to give up - Pick 4 will definately be on the table and from what I can put together the Eagles will be after another high pick rather than a player... we could possibly do a deal with the Bulldogs or Fremantle to secure their top pick which we then on trade to the Eagles with Pick 4. I also think we have better players to trade. Carlton's list is horrible and Collingwood won't want to part with their talent to get him, plus they don't have the picks, which work in our favour. Juddy could end up anywhere and we will hear all sorts of stuff coming out in the next few weeks - don't believe anything unless we hear it from the man himself!

Seems like we want to trade away every single player on our list these days and boy does it get frustrating. I hate the way things go after a poor season, everyone just seems to think that the only way to improve is to trade away 15-20 players for any reason they can think of. I understand that we do need to make a few changes but let's be realistic about it. Our list without the injuries is very competitive and all we need is the right tweaking to turn our fortunes around.

Another rumour or legit? I'd be surprised if they named Sheedy coach 2 days before our last game (would have thought they would wait until the season has finished out of respect to Riley), and also before Sheedy had finished up properly with Essendon. If there IS a press conference I would lean more towards Connolly in this situation.

I think the club is right to only offer 2 years - he has been injured on a regular basis and at his age we can't afford to lock ourselves into a long term contract that we cannot get out of. He will stay though, I just don't think he is the type to leave. We told him he is a required player, it's not as if we want to get rid of him.

I'm not too keen on the idea either but I believe that Connolly suffered more from being a Victorian coaching a WA team and he lacked the support he needed. Melbourne will love the fact that his is passionate about the club and he truly would love to be at the helm - however, he is known to be too soft and I think Freo's off field woes will hurt his chances. I just have this feeling that they will go with him and, as with any selection, it could bring success or it could be disastrous. I'll support the club next year no matter which one of the 5 they go with... although I think the only mistake they can make is to select Riley, he doesn't seem good enough.

I think overlooking McKenna and Bond points a little more towards Sheedy or Connolly getting the job. I'd like to see Sheeds get it but I think they might go with Connolly instead.

I actually think this can be another positive for the club - I am not underestimating what Fagan did for our club as he was a wonderful servant and he has played a significant part in getting us through the good and bad times. BUT... I think cleaning out alot of areas to go with the Daniher departure can only be a good thing for the club. Start many things from the ground up and build from there. Bring a new coach in, a new football operations manager and, most likely, a new assistant coach or two and we can start to put together a side worthy of challenging for the flag. Exciting times ahead!

I heard that there won't be much parking for tonights game - there is an NRL game on as well as a Bob Dylan concert on at Rod Laver arena, so either get in early or take a train/tram/bus etc. I expect at least 75,000.

Put simply, the man was a freak. I remember Round 1 of 1994 as one of my fondest Melbourne memories growing up... watching Sean Wight tear Ablett a new one and Jako kicking 8.8 in a 60 point victory. Had the guy been able to kick straight he would have kicked bags of 15 or 16, he was simply that good. Players like Jako are a rare specimen, it's hard to see another like him in today's game.

All very good reasons why he probably won't get the job. I love his passion for the club but I don't believe he is the right man for the job. While his failings have been well documented he DID get Fremantle into a Prelim and he did turn the club around. He does have some upside but not enough to land him the job IMO.

I wouldn't listen to everything you hear - Bond might be a chance, but he is certainly not assured the position. Nixon is just talking him up a bit. I don't have anything against him personally, just not reading too much into what Nixon has to say.

Well he has ruled out the Carlton job... that doesn't necessarily mean he has ruled out the Melbourne job too. They BELIEVE he will stay in the media next year but he hasn't officially come out and announced that yet.

I believe he could be a smokey to win the whole thing - he was $17 going in to last week. Anyone have the stats to compare him to Selwood and Pendlebury?

Surely you jest... ?

I'm not that excited about him. He looks ok when he get's it but I still think his waaaaaaaaay out of his depth at this level. I think he deserves more time, but I am not sold on him as an AFL player yet. He looks classy but he doesn't get his hands on it enough yet to be damaging in any way!

I think Sheedy would be a good fit and I also believe that Denis Pagan wouldn't be bad either. Having said that, the likes of Voss, Viney, Ratten etc. cannot be overlooked either. Whoever it is though has a HUGE task ahead of them though. While we do have plenty of upside I think that we need to make some very tough decisions before we, as a club, become simply irrelevant. While we have stability off the ground we have too many passengers on the ground and it reflects poorly on the club. We can talk about injuries all we like but we have too many who do too little. Green got alot of possessions on the weekend, but what does he do with them? Cam Bruce is the same and his disposal is a disgrace. McLean is way out of form and who knows what is going on with Moloney - Ben Holland moves quicker than him these days. Jones and McDonald would be the only two who are excused. Trades need to be made... but I'm not sure if anyone holds enough currency to other clubs. Our backline is still suspect. Again, hard decisions need to be made. Rivers, Bell, Whelan and Petterd are still the future there, but what of our tall backs? Frawley shows promise but we can't expect too much from him at this age. Carroll fights out of his weight division and should never be more than third tall, while Holland, Ferguson, Miller and Warnock are not up to it (although I still love how hard Holland works for the team, you could never fault him for that!). Bizzell has been fantastic but he is the wrong side of 30. Ward, Brown and C. Johnson are not up to it either - they might not be terrible, but we NEED to make tough decisions. And our forward line isn't up to it yet either. Neitz has one year left in him if his body will allow it, Robbo is still inconsistent, Bate is undersized, Sylvia floats in and out of games, Davey has 2 good games then 4 bad games, Garland and Juice are still too green and while Dunn has shown a bit he seems to have gone backwards in the second half of the year. And the question still remains, as it has since 2002 - who the hell do we have to play at CHF? Not Bate, that's for sure. He is a HFF. Dunn? Probably not tall enough either. Newton? Needs more petrol in the tank and a bigger body. Garland? Not even close. Miller? Ha!. I think that there are probably 5 or 6 people who can coach our club but I think in the end that is NOT the biggest issue we face. Our biggest issue is making the hard decisions to turn our list into a premiership threat. I appreciate the fact that we cannot simply cull 12-13 players before next year, but we need to take a few risks, trade some players and set ourselves for a huge tilt in the next few years. Our under 23's look good - everything else about that is looking shaky. Let's hope whoever does come in can fix it.

In all honesty guys, what difference does it make now? Riley was never going to coach us next season anyway, so it doesn't matter who we bring in. Granted, only playing one ruckman is a little strange, but the season is gone. I couldn't give a stuff who plays. I'll still be watching and supporting the team as passionately as I always have but I could care less who is playing. I'll start caring when the new coach is in and 2008 get's underway. It makes no difference now. Plus I still don't see why people have a hissy fit everytime Holland get's picked. I can't see what he has done wrong to deserve all the crap the get's thrown his way. At least he is a guy who can respond after a poor start (eg. Richmond), unlike most of our "leaders".

I like the ins but we need to remember that will still need SOME experience in the side. We are also making 4 forced changes already, so I doubt that Riley would drop anyone else just for the sake of the youth policy. Plus if we bring CJ, Buckley, Frawley and Miller into the team, that's 3 guys with no more than 25 games (I think), so what are we complaining about? 4 changes is enough. Brown, Ward etc. are lucky to play, but the kids need some guys with experience to lead the way.