Wiseblood

True. Either way, we can put Pick 3 on the table to all clubs and see what they can come up with if they're interested. We have all the power here - we can trade it for a great package, or select a highly rated kid.

Spot on LH. They need to improve their culture and their ability to develop and retain players, not add more young kids to the mix who might bolt in a few years time. And that comes from all of the things you've mentioned above. While I'm not fussed at all with our picks changing, I'm disappointed to see that the AFL have been very short sighted in the 'help' they've given to the Suns.

GC and GWS are our only real options if we're only looking to package the pick into multiple picks and players. The other options we have available is trading down slightly (ie. from Pick 3 to 7-8) with a player attached to that. For example, if Sydney are really keen on Joe Daniher, do they look to trade up to 3 and give them that with something else? Do we look to move down two places while also acquiring a player as well? There are plenty of options for us, it will just be about taking the right one.

Great post, Steve. The two bolded parts are what stick out to me the most. I must admit that I was disappointed to see Papley potentially nominating Carlton as his club of choice today. A small forward who is smart, quick and can hit the scoreboard is exactly what we need. It's what the likes of ANB, Lockhart, Wagner etc don't bring to the table. They might bring plenty of effort for the jumper, but that only gets you so far. The club would have seen the weaknesses up forward and, why the Elliott offer is interesting, I feel as though we've gone for the hardest bloke to get. We may have gone for him as we wouldn't have to cough up players or picks for him, which in turn allows us more flexibility at the trade table or when we go to the draft, but Elliott seems like a Collingwood man through and through. Prying him out of there might be a challenge, and one we need to pay plenty of dollars for. On the flip side, perhaps we saw the fact that Papley was under contract for a few more years and didn't want to stump up a high pick to get him from the Swans? Maybe we have offers on the table to 'split that pick' and felt we weren't in the running? That's a lame excuse, and one I don't agree with, but I guess you would like to think there is a reason why we didn't chase him, or that we were rebuffed when we did. The last bolded part is why I'm still confident in what we're doing. We still have pretty much the same list that got us to a Prelim in 2018, and the potential additions in Langdon, Tomlinson and Elliott will improve us - none of them are stars, although Elliott had the capacity to win games off his own boot, but they improve our best 22 and we only need to cough up a second rounder for Langdon to do it. These are interesting times for the club, and some are rightly questioning a few of the decisions that are potentially being made. There is still plenty to play out and I'm hopeful supporters hold their fire until everything unfolds over the next few months.

I agree with Steve here. We haven't done ourselves any favours in the past and we can't blame the AFL for that. Also, moving down one spot in the draft is meaningless. It's been discussed here many times how often the gun players don't end up coming from the pointy end of the draft (with a few exceptions). The onus is on the club to draft well, trade well and then develop well to get us back to where we should be, regardless of what picks we have to play with and the order they are in.

I agree LT - Picks 13 and 19 isn't nearly enough. It will all depend on how how badly GWS want the pick, and who we can pry from them who would be of value to us to do the trade. Obviously we aren't getting any of their top end talent, but could we get a couple of players out of them for Pick 3? We get 13+19, Hately and someone else (I could go through their list but I'll leave that to someone else) for our first pick and go from there. Or, we may look at what GWS are offering and prefer to take pick three to the draft instead.

We all knew it would happen, but it changes little for me and I doubt it changes anything about our off season. No point moaning, we just move on.

This off season is going to be brutal. The quality of threads and posting on here has been nose diving remarkably for weeks. It's not going to improve any time soon.

Martin?

And then he can either claim he got it right or fall back on the 'educated guess' comment.

In terms of bringing in a bloke who is AFL ready and has been in the system for years then, yes, to me that's a free hit. You don't find them in the draft.

WERRIDEE and norm. What a meeting of minds.

He would have recruited Pickett, though. Ten bucks says he wouldn't have said that prior to his debut. Funny that.

Stop making sense, mate. It doesn't suit this thread. For free, he is a good get for our side. If we were giving up, say, a second round pick then I would have some concern, but that isn't the case. We also have no idea of the $$$$ we are offering, so until that is given as fact, it's useless getting upset over it.

Clearly we're winning the flag next year.

Jones has good pace, and has the ability to burst away from packs well, but I agree that too often his skills leave a little to be desired. Wouldn't have been against recruiting him, but I'd say the Saints are offering much more in the way of cash than we would be able to.

It's just WYL with a mask on.

This was in a backline that missed May, Lever and Jetta for large chunks of the season. This improvement in the table you put in is good, but take a look at the players he passed. Many of those players also missed large parts of the season through injury - McDonald, Melksham, Hannan, Jetta etc. There are others below him who were either first year players, young kids or those not good enough for AFL level (JKH, Stretch, J. Wagner etc.) Again, I'll state that I'm not totally in the either camp in terms of keeping him or allowing him to leave, but I will agree that he improved this season. Can that improvement outweigh his deficiencies? I'm not sure. But if he does leave, I won't lose too much sleep over it.

With Frosty, you take the good with the bad. His strengths have been mentioned here many times, while his deficiencies have also been highlighted many times. The way I see it, with a fit list, is he a best 22 player? How many teams play three key forwards in their line up? I see him as on the periphery of our best 22 and, thus, I don't think it would hurt us too much to lose him if we got something decent in return. What else we do around that will give us an indication of how we can view a deal for Frost if it eventuates.

He was injured in the TAC Cup Grand Final. It wasn't as if he spent most of his draft year on the sidelines and got overlooked because of it. He was predicted to go higher than he was selected, but there was clearly more to it than just an injury at the end of the season. I'm still on the fence with Frost and, if he does depart, I'll judge it based on what else we do during the trade period. These things should never really be looked at in isolation.

Stop making threads. Cheers.

This is what I like about it. If we were to land Tomlinson, Langdon and Elliott during this trade period, then we've improved our best 22 immensely. It will make us a much better side going forward.

Idiots? Are you 12? This thread is like a wet dream for WYL. He'll be all over it like a rash. Say one thing for Melbourne fans - they do know how to wallow in their own self misery better than anyone else.

Be careful what you wish for...

Agree with all of that. Peaked was probably the wrong word - it was probably more about dominating a game, in a setting such as a final, before he was mentally and physically ready to do so. That doesn't make sense written out like that, but he had such a great game against the Cats and then backed it up well against the Hawks that most expected him to kick on in a big way in 2019, but he never got going. Possibly the expectation weighed on him a little and he just wasn't ready to handle it.