titan_uranus

There's some good and some bad here. A six-day break from our Round 1 Sunday afternoon Perth game into a home game against GWS is going to be tough. A five-day break from our Bulldogs home game into the Hawthorn Friday night game is also tough. Lucky to get three Friday nights IMO. Getting the away Friday night vs Hawthorn is nice. Did well on the repeat games - Gold Coast, Fremantle, St Kilda and Adelaide is a pretty good slate. Of our 10 MCG home games we only have five against Victorian clubs and of those two are St Kilda and the Dogs. But again, hard to complain after 2019. Only one game at Marvel all year is a surprise. But we have 7 interstate games plus Geelong which is no surprise at all.

I haven't been this excited about a potential acquisition in a long time. It could be a complete bust. He might pull his calf in the summer, or his first game. Who knows. But I want us to be the club that takes the gamble.

Can't complain about going interstate in Round 1. Gets one road trip out of the way early at the very least.

ANZAC Eve happens to be a Friday so I expect that to be a home game and our only Friday night game for the year. I expect to see more Sunday games (we only had 5 in 2019, four of which were in a row. In 2018 we had 11 and most years before 2019 were closer to 11 than 5). We'll also see fewer FTA games. I wouldn't mind seeing us get a home game at the G against West Coast (we haven't played them at the G since 2014). Assuming we go to Perth I wouldn't mind the game being against Fremantle rather than West Coast (we haven't played Fremantle in Perth since 2015). I also expect to see 10 MCG home games, given that is what Pert said would be happening. Hawthorn wants bigger clubs in Tasmania. I wouldn't be surprised if we get sent down there. Agree. I thought I read last year that the AFL/MFC acknowledged that we'd be away in both games in 2019 and from then on we'd alternate. Can't find that now though so I might be wrong. I'd like to see us stay away on Queen's Birthday and get the ANZAC Eve home game. Agree with this too. We've had a charmed run but if I were any of the other Victorian clubs I'd be questioning why we continue to get to play in Melbourne in Round 1.

This is quite disrespectful, @Nasher. Mung beans are actually really nice.

So you want the club to say "we will get 10 games at the G next year", despite what Pert said as per the below? You're concerned that what will actually happen is we'll bring the Darwin game home to the G but then lose a pre-existing MCG home game to Marvel? Which would make what Pert is saying completely redundant and misleading to our members?

IMO, whether you think we did well or not depends on your pre-trade period views on whether we are capable of bouncing back next year. In other words, if before the trade period you thought we were capable of bouncing back next year, then the trade period was excellent - we get two top 10 picks, add Langdon and Tomlinson to our wings, for the cost of next year's first rounder and Frost. If, though, you thought pre-trade period that we are actually miles from the top, then our trade period was not so good - spent a lot to get the second top 10 pick, Tomlinson costs a lot of salary, reliance on May/Lever/OMac, no new small forward and no new tall forward. As I was already more optimistic about 2020, I quite like what we've done this trade period. But I understand how, if you already viewed our list/prospects poorly, you might question why we didn't make more active plays for players like Butler, Bruce, Keath, Jenkins, Papley or Martin.

I'm all for taking Martin in the PSD if that option is available, but he's not as good as this thread suggests. He is a largely untapped potential talent. The sort of player who, if we had drafted, would cop it left right and centre on Demonland. So I'm quite surprised everyone is fawning over him as much as they are. My gut tells me he will set a price that we either cannot afford, or are not prepared to pay, and that will allow him to get to Carlton at pick 3 in the PSD. Context. We finished 4th the year prior. Almost all of our best players were signed up in or after 2018, before the dumpster fire that was 2019.

Apparently GC offered Martin + 15 for 9, but Carlton refused.

Not only is this in the article: “Supporters have made it very clear to the Club they would love to see the Darwin home game return to the MCG as soon as possible, so they can watch their team live and share in the excitement,” he told Melbourne Media. “This is something we have been working on with the AFL for quite some time. However, it was important the timing coincided with the opportunity to return the game to our traditional home, the MCG, rather than other alternatives.” But if you watch the video, Pert says (verbatim): "Great news for Melbourne supporters and members today, I can announce that the Melbourne Football Club will be bringing one of its Northern Territory home games back to the MCG"

Great news IMO. The home game is coming back to the G, not Docklands.

IIRC this loophole has been closed. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/afl-to-make-changes-to-academy-draft-rules-20190710-p525yi.html

It's this. Salary dumping. He's fourth in line in their forward line (Cameron and Himmelberg are better than him, Finalyson is arguably as good), on a big salary and with dodgy knees. They want his salary off the books to help keep the rest of their stars. I'll be frustrated if Patton turns into a star for Hawthorn, but I understand what GWS is doing.

This could well be it. Jon Ralph has tweeted that GWS wants pick 3 and will give us pick 6 and GWS' 2020 first round pick. I'm wary of buying into anything Jon Ralph says but given he seemed to have the news of our trade with North first, maybe he has a credible source.

Jon Ralph's "mail":

Pretty sure we have picks in the 5th/6th/7th round if we need to use them? But at any rate I suspect Stretch is getting traded to the GC.

If there's an answer to this question, I suspect @Chook in Perth knows it.

I don't get this logic. You'd rather us pick once in the first round and once in the second round, than twice in the first round, because you want "depth"? We can create "depth" by bringing two top 10 kids onto our list.

Definitely a fair comment, but our running issues don't just apply to spreading from stoppages. Turnovers in our forward 50 and the ball rebounding quickly out the other way require midfielders who are able and willing to run two-ways, hard. Similarly, generating turnovers inside our defensive 50 requires options to release the ball, and they in turn require run.

Seems to me this is a bold trade, and I like it. We "lose" on points value even if we win the premiership next year, but clearly we value the 2019 first round more than the 2020 first round (and there is good reason to hold that belief). I'd be happy for us to take 3 and 8 to the draft, get two top 10 kids, and hit the ground running for 2020. I'd also be happy if we have something in the pipeline to trade 3 or 8 for an established A-grade player. There have been rumours going around that we're into a forward, and we know the club doesn't leak (this deal wasn't mentioned anywhere until minutes before it was confirmed by the AFL), so I think it's completely feasible we have a plan. I look forward to seeing what happens either way.

Anyone know if this is this legit?

I like this thread. Even if we're all completely wrong about Langdon, at least for the first time in 6 months there's some positivity back around us. I'm really looking forward to seeing him line up for us. Why should they be viewed independently? Just so you can isolate the Frost trade and whinge about it? It is completely feasible, even probable, that we did the Frost deal knowing what we were going to do with the Langdon deal. People get too caught up on draft picks sometimes. Ultimately we will look at this trade/draft period at the end and look at who went off the list and who came onto it, and we'll see in time whether the added players have improved us. Your list of other options to trade out is classic Demonland silly season thinking. Frost had value this year. We have the ability to cover for him (whether you like May/Lever or not). None of the players you've listed have anywhere near the value that Frost has. And none of the players you've mentioned were out of contract and asking for a big pay/year rise. Frost was entitled to want more money/years in his next contract, but I completely understand (and agree with) the club's decision to hold back on giving him that rise and to instead "cash in" on his 2019. IMO, even to those who think we've lost value in Frost, I think the gain we get from Langdon should outweigh the loss to Frost. We need more run/carry on the wing than we do Frost's daring runs out of the backline. We will be a better side long-term with May and Lever playing FB/CHB reliably and Langdon on the wing.

Very happy with this.

Pleasing news! Source/link? Says the poster who's developed a "doom spiral" narrative and takes every opportunity/topic to repeat it. I just can't stand the way any piece of news is, for you, another example of the club being on its knees. Maybe you've just gone off a cliff in terms of your optimism/confidence in the club, and whilst that's understandable I find your arguments at times to be anything other than convincing.

Has this been announced? Did I miss this?