Gawn's Beard

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/10/30/melbourne-midfielder-keen-for-club-to-sign-bennell/ James Harmes is keen to get him onboard. Interestingly he mentions that a fair few of the players have spoken to him.

Able to provide a summary for those short on time?

Jason Taylor was interviewed on picks 3, 8 and Harley Bennell. Anyone hear it?

Melbourne - Prelim 2018 B Neville Jetta, Oscar McDonald, Jordan Lewis HB Christian Salem, Sam Frost, Michael Hibberd C Mitch Hannan, Nathan Jones, Angus Brayshaw HF Jake Melksham, Tom McDonald, James Harmes F Aaron vandenBerg, Sam Weideman, Alex Neal-Bullen FOL Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney I/C Christian Petracca, Charlie Spargo, Dom Tyson, Joel Smith If we happen to bring in Bennell, the following changes to the 2018 prelim team could potentially be come round 1 (best 22): IN: May, Lever, Tomlinson, Langdon, Bennell, Fritsch, Hore OUT: Frost, oMac, Lewis, Spargo, Tyson, Joel Smith, Hannan Great set of ins!

I doubt GWS stay at 6 if we trade 3. I think GWS and potentially Freo get a bonus pick through this trade (Someone could bid on Henry before pick 7 which could burn Freo’s first pick).

I don’t. If we play our cards right we have picks 3 & 7 (GWS burn theirs on Green) currently. If we do the deal 7, 8 & 10 get pushed back by GWS/ Freo having live picks in addition to their academy picks

Just tell them we’ll do it but only 30 seconds before deadline so they can’t ontrade.

But he doesn’t play in the back line? He didn’t cost us anything - what’s the particular problem with signing him as a FA?

Hoping that @Yokozuna or @Chook in Perth (and others in the know) might be able to keep us appraised on J Martin and whether we’re in / commence dialogue in the coming days

The key forward is hard to trade for. Normally have to give up a warchest. FA appears the better way to get them to the club so perhaps that can be the strategy next year? B+ for me but will move north or south once the pick 3 debacle has been resolved

If GWS don’t come to the table, they effectively “lose” their high 1st round pick on Green (which they could use later picks on). Do a deal with us then they use pick 3 on the player they want and later picks on Green, effectively 2 top 5 picks for pick 3, later picks and whatever they pay us.

Trade period isn’t over yet - I would be surprised if we had pick 3 come time of selection

Nobody heard about our pick swap yesterday until it happened so I’m hoping it’s just us running a tight ship...

The deal with North yesterday didn’t need to happen this window so would suggest we have plans for it

Perhaps it’s happening and @Yokozunais staying silent until it’s announced!

Just out of interest, what was the last positive thing you think Melbourne did?

We have a stronger position now with GWS. Bidding at 3 now bumps our pick 8 to 7. Really just further increases the value of 3 to them and the price for trading out pick 3.

Do GWS have any choice but to give up a player? They still need enough points to pay for Green so paying us 2 first rounders would appear to leave them short.

We have later picks than that. If needed it goes up into the 100s doesn’t it? Alternatively, you have one less on the list and pick up a DFA

If it involved our pick 3 I could see McKay and Ratugolea potentially being available (Cats and Blues have both been asking about pick 3).

I’ll narrow down to who I’d be excited about (and those which are unrealistic ie Daniher, Lynch and Reiwoldt) from the previous list: Josh 'Basil' Bruce Jack 'Basil' Gunstan Harry 'Basil' McKay Josh 'Basil' Schache Charlie 'Basil' Curnow Ethan 'Basil' Tremblay' Ben 'Basil' Brown Tim 'Basil' Membrey Esava 'Basil' Ratugolea

Happy with that - not sure how much benefit we derive from a JJ or Hawkins who won’t be around for more than 2 seasons. Thanks for the update Yoko - appreciate it!

Good stuff Yoko. Without saying a name, you heard whether it’s progressed at all?

So effectively a future second rounder. Backing ourselves to have a much better year. With next years draft having many F/S and Academy picks, this is an excellent result

Let’s see how creative we can get: - Pick 3 to GWS for Pick 6 and Caldwell - Pick 6 to Geelong for Pick 14 and Ratugolea (Just jumping on the ridiculous trade bandwagon)