Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Which would completely contradict the stuff the Eagles have been banging on about all week with respects to 'it's no the go home factor with Kelly...some people have genuine circumstances and Kelly is one of those...' If Kelly reslly does needs to get back home that urgently that he can't see out his contact with Geelong, the he should/will entertain a genuine offer from Freo. That said, I think associating 'genuine offer' and Freo together in one sentence these days is an oxymoron, so scratch that theory.

Freo's headquarters is Cockburn Central, so probably infers multiple burnt apendages after the MFC told them they can all go F$#@! themselves, because they are not getting Jessie for the rubbish they were carrying on with.

Yeahhhh, righto.

And Weid has played about 3 or 4 cracking games, not 3 or 4 seasons worth.

Agree, I think it's more likely to put him off Freo for being neither professional enough or valuing him highly enough just to get on with things and get the job done. They seem to want something for nothing. Pick 5 isn't enough for Neale, but Jessie, you're only worth pick 11 and below to us. I recon that Jessie should be thinking do I want to play for a club that values me (think we traded two first rounders to get access to him in the first place didn't we?) and treats me proffesionally and with respect or a bunch of bloody muppets that couldn't make pis in a brewery?

Yes, I remember this one against Essendon. Was a rare bit of joy in an otherwise dark time. The game against North certainly had everyone thinking that he'd arrived and we h8ad a real player on our hands. Kent certainly teased with his bursts of brilliance and potential that unfortunately was never consistently delivered on for us. As highlighted by others, a pragmatic trade in the circumstances and I have no hard feelings really, just some lingering frustration for what might have been.

Thanks for your contribution to the MFC Dom, provided us with some good service for a few years. I really value the contribution of these players that joined us when we were a very ordanary side, battled their hearts out, helped us to improve and have victories along the way, without which, I don't think the side would be what it now is. Was very glad the Dom got the opertunity to be part of our late season sucess and share in some of the joy after the lack of sucess during his first few years. All the best for the future Dom.

We have traded Kent for about the same as we got Garlett for. If the Saints do as well out of Kent as we did out of Garlett, they will be doing ok I recon. Despite what the haters may think, I recon we have done ok from Garlett. A few 40 goal seasons was pretty important to us when we were struggling and trying to get back on our feet. Practically won us the game against the Lions this year off his own boot, without which, we probably finish 7th or 8th and don't get a home final. Also hoping that Garlett may still come good for us next year and give us some more spark and zip in the forward line.

Sad to see Kent go. He could be a fast, tough and skillful player on his day. Will never forget that goal he kicked to put the nail in the coffin against the Eagles in Rd 22 this year to put us into finals.

Yet if I recall correctly, the opportunity for him to be captain was something that was part of the appeal for him. In retrospect, I think they would have been better off telling Gazza where to go on the captain thing and making Harbrow captain. GWS certainly did alot better making Ward skipper - huge respect for him.

Maybe if we could rookie him, but I think he's more like a 1% chance than 10% and we are better off drafting a kid with good athletic ability, but a bit raw than a Bennell with lifestyle problems as well as recurring injuries. I mean nothing against the guy personally and would love to see him sort his stuff out, I just don't think he is a viable option. If you listen to Mahoney and co, they are also backing Jayden Hunt to have a better preseason and become that outside runner we need. Bailey Freitch would be another, or as something from left field, Frosty could be a pretty difficult match up on a wing, if we have Lever, Oscar and May to hold fort down back.

Actually @drdrake just thinking about things, Liam Jurrah was a bigger waste of talent than Bennell. Wow could that guy play. Imagine him in our side now and the high octane outside run he could provide.

I like the sentiment, but I recon that's what Freo would have thought. I think he's run out of any credits at AFL clubs these days. For Bennell to redeem himself, I recon he would need to put together an injury free season at state level and pull his own act together. Surely there are enough good indigenous leaders out of the game who would be willing to help ...if he pulls his head in and acts himself.

Lol. Was Gaza really a mentor to any of the players at Gold Coast? Star player at the start of his time there, but a pretty average choice of captain and off feild leader I think I'd say in retrospect.

Yeah, Col was somewhat of a waste (waste of high draft pick, spot on a list, waste of free agency by Freo), but I Bennell had way more tallent to start with. Bernie Vince was the best thing to come from the Col Silvia saga.

One of the biggest wastes of talent in the last decade. Probably part of the great legacy that Karmichael Hunt left at the Suns.

GWS also lost Treloar to the Pies which [censored] me (forget what they got in return). Treloar is a better player than Shiel in my veiw. If I was GWS I definitely would have wanted to keep Treloar.

Interesting stat on the MFC site player reviews "Lewis was also amongst the best at the club for ball use by foot, ranked third, with an average of 8.3 effective kicks per game." Not particularly surprising, but evidence for what many have observed.

Not quite sure what the inferance is there. We are now up to 8 delisted/retired and possibly still a few to be traded. Obviously we need someone to step up and step into a replacement for the role Lewis plays, but I don't think that would be at his expense. That said, I do find the reference to Cross above intersting. From what I recall, Crossy was keen to play another year, but the club not so inclined. I guess part of the difference could be that Jordan was already contacted for next year, whereas Cross may not have been.

All this bartering, cloke and dagger double speak does make you think that having a good poker face would be a pretty highly rated skill for those in list management.

I recon that Freo want Hogan more than we want May, so if them trading Neale for unders gets them closer to a Hogan trade, then I think they would cave.

Sorry @Lucifer's Hero, I know this is probably deviating even further from your inital intent for this thread, but as general remark, I do like that Goodwin, Max and probably others seem to be making more of a point of appealing to, embracing and encouraging the MFC's supporters to get on board as an important part of making us sucessful going forward. See their B&F speaches in particular. Seem to be riding the wave of optimisim unleashed with our huge finals crowds. Probably hard to appeal too much to people before now, without making finals etc. Now that being on the cusp of sucess is clear for many, the club really does need to capitalize on the resurgence to set us up finacially and supporter base wise for the next 10 years or so. Should also help put us on the map better with attracting players (like Collingwood and Hawthorn have used it) being able to appeal to playing in front of a packed MCG and would be good if we can get West Coast type favorable umpiring results due to crowd noise as well. Might also mean no more or only one game in the NT as well. Need to keep building on that finals supporter turn-out for the start of the next home and away.

I signed up for the grand final garentee package at the start of this season for mainly that reason. Didn't expect to be so close to putting it into action a few weeks ago. A few more comments: 1. Like you I'm an interstate member and thus it makes the overall package still fairly afordable; 2. The claims that why should the interstate members get it so cheap are somewhat misguided for a number of reasons: i) You get three games but rarely use them all. I'm in Brisbane and there were a number of years when we only had the one game up here and a few years back when we got none; ii) The grand final garentee component costs the same for everyone. If we don't make it, it still costs you the ~$200 odd dollars regardless. Worth noting that it will still cost another $300-$400 on top of that for the actual ticket on top of that if we make it as well (the guarentee only gives you the aces to the tickets, not the tickets themselves). Still I think it's reasonable value and probably still less than paying scalpers prices; iii) I'm ok with paying something even if we don't make it, on the basis that my understanding is that the MFC still gets some portion of the fee (probably something like a 10%-15% sales margin, but I'm just guessing and when I asked the club, they couldn't tell me on the spot); iv) After being an interstate member for the past 7 years consecutively (previously also a member in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s), I think I'm as entitled as many are; 3. My sister got automatically put into priority 2 due to having a number of years consecutive membership (greater than 10, but don't quote me), so some people might also fall into that category; 4. Even though I had the grand final garentee package, it was still somewhat stressful registering for the lottery. It's a pretty tight time window (something like 9am - 12 pm on the Wednesday before the prelim) and my old man (who also signed up for it) who tried to do the online registration found the Tickatek system very unuser friendly, difficult to use and was concerned he wouldn't be able to get it to work in the time available. In the end he got there, but it stressed him (and me) out a fare bit. With the costs/prices involved, we deserve much better than the poor service provided.

Spot on. And the club should make Jayden shadow Jordan Lewis around the whole of preseason and make sure he gets some extra kicking tuition from him after every training session until he is an elite feild kick just like him. ...would love to see Jayden pull out a few more of those barrel goals like he did end of the third quarter against the Crows last year. Don't know where that one came out of.

So much has been made of the go home to WA and going back to family thing with Jessy, that I really wonder if those has been way overstated as motivating factors. Whilst it's difficult to fully know people's personal/family situations, I really do wonder what influence his family would be at this time. At the end of the day, it's only 5-8 or so more years out of his life that he would be living in Melbourne. I guess it is a personal thing, but I'd take the opertunity to play in a potential premiership team over more money (let's face it Jessy should retire with millions either way) and I'd be telling my kids to follow their own dream rather than feel like they need to stay close to home forever. I'm not sure it's a forgone conclusion that Jessy will even express an intention that he wants out. Probably fair enough to some extent that he weighs up the options in front of him and to some extent, there is no rush for him to make his intentions clear until it becomes an imperative within trade week.