titan_uranus

From Jon Ralph’s article today on Clarry: “Melbourne’s determination to keep him is built on their belief they actually need to add to their midfield after Angus Brayshaw’s retirement rather than lose a star player who helped win the 2021 Grand Final. In the club’s reviews after an 11-win season they were relatively happy with their trio of key forwards but knew they badly missed Brayshaw’s leadership and midfield nous. Melbourne has made inquiries of many of the available key forwards in the competition in recent months, including Jake Waterman and Tim Membrey. Richmond’s Tom Lynch is happy to stay at the Tigers as he finishes a long-term deal. The Demons are still confident they will secure GWS swingman Wade Derksen, who kicked 35 goals in the VFL last year then played a mix of defence and forward in 2024. But it seems unlikely the Demons will bring in an established key forward given the difficulty in acquiring a player who will be an upgrade on Jacob Van Rooyen, the re-signed Harry Petty and Daniel Turner. Instead a club which has pick five and a future first-rounder will be open to opportunities to boost its midfield weaponry. The Demons have watched on as Hawthorn’s No. 5 draft pick Nick Watson made a huge impact in his first season including exceptional finals performances. Taking that No. 5 pick to the draft, which has a pool of players with even greater potential, would give the Demons confidence that player could make an immediate impact in 2025. The top 10 of the draft has elite mids of many types, as well as running half backs, key forwards and intercept defenders so pick 5 is a perfect position to choose a player who could end up the best player of the draft. Trent Rivers moved into the midfield and won the fifth-most clearances for the club, while No. 7 Caleb Windsor made a significant impact in his debut season. Judd McVee also got some time in the centre square late in the season.“

So Tom Morris says this: But then Jon Ralph’s article says this: “Despite rival clubs continuing to ask about his availability the Demons will not trade the 27-year-old and had believed Oliver was content to remain at the club. The club and Oliver were in contact again on Monday, and a player contracted for six more years had told them he was happy to stay at Melbourne. While Oliver is a high-maintenance player who will always need care from the club the Demons are not interested in trading him.“ They don’t appear to me to be capable of both being true. Edit: Ralph also says: “Oliver had considered whether to go overseas on a training camp but has spent time with family in Echuca and continued training. He has had to have his hand monitored by medicos to assess its progress after surgery for an injury that impacted his season along with rib and knee injuries. Melbourne’s Lachie Hunter retired last week so the Demons are even more aware of their need to boost their midfield stocks.“

The only thing worse than watching Clarry win more AAs and B&Fs (let alone flags) at another club will be if we’re paying part of his wage to do so.

We’re [censored], right?

@Hawk the Demon, where did you get the court transcript from? And the affidavit material you quoted earlier? These aren’t publicly available documents. If you’re prepared to share quotes of them, why not share the entire documents with all of us? And/or let us know how you happen to have them but the rest of us don’t?

I’m aware I’ve gone full “nuff down the rabbit hole” this evening…

Clarry also just shared an IG post about a podcast he’s recorded. 6pm tomorrow https://www.instagram.com/p/DAiPxa2yTmd/?igsh=MXBqejMweGxwZmZsZA==

Paywall

Wouldn’t us going out there and entertaining offers only increase the distraction? Fuel the fire etc?

I agree re Clarry. If any other club thinks he can get back to his best, then we should too, and we should be backing ourselves in to bring that version of him back. If not, then why would another club want him? No one wants this year’s version of him at his current contract.

Both can be true. It would speak to a poor relationship between club and player, likely poor communication too - he thinks he’s unvalued when that’s not the case.

Maybe he’s just doing what we expect of Melbourne players who want to go back to their home state and saying he’ll go to any Vic club that can satisfy Port…?

On the same day the Oliver story resurfaces… Sigh. Insert the “here we go again” meme.

Not saying you’re wrong, but McClure said this: “According to two sources close to Oliver, who wanted to remain anonymous to speak freely, Oliver has increasingly felt unwanted at the Demons this year. That feeling has peaked in the last two weeks as the trade season approaches.” That surprises me, but there are posters on here who would know better.

4-7. They were 1-6 until Round 6 this year.

Good on him. Not ideal for us unfortunately.

In that same segment Edmund said that we’re not necessarily giving up on Houston and that we’d consider trading two first rounders…

Not sure this is right. Brisbane historically have struggled at the G> Going into last week's prelim Brisbane were on a 6-1-30 streak at the MCG since the 2004 Grand Final. Narrowing that down, they were also 2-13 at the G under Fagan, with the two wins being against us both times (2022 SF and Round 6 this year). Sydney had a poor run at the G last year (0-4) but under Longmire were 20-1-20 at the G before yesterday.

They need to find a better key forward than McDonald or Amartey. When you add Grundy to that mix, you just have no marking firepower, and early on they could not get themselves out of trouble nor could they find anyone to stand up inside 50. It's OK when Warner, Heeney and Gulden are ripping opponents to shreds in the middle but when they can't dominate, those talls aren't going to get you to a flag. They also probably need to find a key defender a bit taller than Rampe, who has always done well for someone his height but he's been around a long time now and was flogged today, to the point where I'm not sure he's going to be able to keep playing above his height too much longer.

Yeah but I've seen both Campbell and Fort at AFL level and I reckon Fort's demonstrated much more capable ability at the higher level. But I still am in favour of us taking him, assuming there isn't anyone better available who is willing to be that player on our list.

Three wins...and a draw...and 24.4%.

This is all true. But they also had the easiest fixture of all finalists (they played just one of their six double-up games against an eventual finalist, in GWS) which is unlikely to happen again next year. Despite the above injuries, they also had 11 players play every game this year, including Zorko, McCluggage, Dunkley, Cameron and Daniher. That's also unlikely to happen again next year. There's talk Daniher might retire, after a career-best season, and Hipwood still plays plenty of shockers. They were also 44 points down to GWS with 8 minutes to go in the third and if the umpire had paid a push in the back to Sam Taylor late, they might have lost the SF with questions being asked about whether Fagan can get it done. It's a fine line in the current competition and with the last four premiers all failing to win a final the following year, three of whom didn't even make the finals, there are no guarantees for Brisbane next year at all.

I don't think either of these reads are correct. Grundy racked up plenty of easy stats but was no better than break-even against Fort when the game mattered (i.e. the first half), a player he should have dominated. Offered nothing aerially, let Fort get some really clean looks at stoppage, and let Fort drift forward too often. Jordon, meanwhile, started on Zorko and did fine until McCluggage went berserk in the first, so they moved him to McCluggage and took him right out of the game. It was remarkable that they were flogged in the second quarter despite McCluggage being quiet, really. Wasn't Jordon's best game and his flaws stood out a bit (slow decision-making with ball in hand, got caught too many times), but his primary tagging role was largely a success.

They also both had Josh Dunkley, who was eligible to be a father-son pick up for Sydney but they passed on him.