Matsuo Basho

See my entire commentary on Cox. They also have Reid and Mihocek. Hogan was offloaded for a reason. Look at the goal kicking table. Cameron, Hawkins, Lynch, Kennedy, Darling, Finlayson. Only Ben Brown comes from a club not in contention for the flag. West Coast, Richmond, GWS, Geelong, Collingwood. All of them have quality KPF’s. The MFC is not in development mode. We have gone through the rebuild and recruited to challenge these teams. I have no doubt internally the club will already be having this discussion.

14 goals in 18 games COMBINED from your two “key” forwards by round 11. There’s no argument on the need for one. That is totally unacceptable regardless of any mitigating factors. How much lower do you wish to set the bar? No need to sell the farm for anyone but you do have to get creative and sometimes you do have to give in order to get. No calculated risk, no reward.

Cox is a man mountain who offers far more than his goal returns. He is also improving season upon season having not even played the code before. The fact they even made a GF with him underlines his value. He was BOG in the preliminary final!

He may more love the fact that it would at least triple his current salary.

Just because his brother is Nathan is no reason to recruit him. Does not suit our needs at all. We need skill, skill, skill!

Well at least you got that right. You’re missing half the tale about big dog key forwards. They completely change the complexion of a side, straighten it up, instil confidence in the crumbers and secondary talls around them ... and in the midfield brigade upfield as they set up attacks. The ones with presence do anyway. They bring goals and STRUCTURE. Re the 2000 GF - I loved the Ox but he was cooked late in his career and just filling out a jumper.

I heard an interesting suggestion on radio to play Viney in the forward six to help apply pressure and lock the ball in once we get it in there. Maybe jag a goal or two as well. Agree that Buckley has got him worked out in the middle. Need to spring a few surprises.

Amazing. It’s interesting to watch these ND speeches across the past few years up until this one. He progressively reveals a deeper wisdom. Profounder insight. Only small gripe is I don’t feel the video needs the emotional musical overlay. Not being able to hear a pin drop among the boys would’ve been a better backing track.

Where is the Hawkins, Lynch, Cameron, Kennedy in that group? The clubs with serious flag claims have a legitimate big dog starting in the square. Do you want to win a premiership or a repeat of ‘88 and 2000. Must get the pieces of the puzzle right.

Dusty $1.2m x 7 years. Lynch $1m x 7 years. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/north-melbourne-expects-dustin-martin-to-turn-down-its-offer-and-sign-a-new-deal-at-richmond/news-story/f9c898d7191c28689f018b0c62d3f30d https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/tom-is-a-tiger-richmond-officially-lands-big-fish-tom-lynch-on-sevenyear-deal/news-story/9a7408a6a68acd4ad83727cc44927930

It honestly looked like he was having an anxiety/panic episode at the start. I hope he's okay.

Decent argument but where the grey area comes in is how much they've got left in the kitty after those truly monster Dusty and Lynch deals. Then they've got Rance, Reiwoldt, Prestia, Caddy, Cotchin and Vlaustin's wage demands to satisfy. Sidney Stack is going to field big offers. Rioli, Naish, Bolton, Castagna - they've got a glut of other small forwards. If I had a ten year window to make bank as a small forward at AFL level and another Melbourne based club offered me $150k more a year and strong length of tenure, I'd be having a sit on my thinking chair.

What's unrealistic? Geelong traded out Caddy to Richmond for pick 24. He was originally a pick 8 at Gold Coast. I would trade an early second rounder for Higgins no dramas.

How long has Jack Higgins signed on at Richmond I wonder. After shelling out close to $1m/season for Tom Lynch their cap has got to be stretched to breaking point. Maybe we could shake Higgins loose like Richmond did with Caddy from the Cats. Going to be a great 10 year small forward Higgins.

When you have two key forwards who have combined for a total of 15 goals in their 18 appearances by round 11 ... read those numbers again ... it’s time to start the conversation. What’s with this blinkered thinking that you can only address one area of need in an off season? Particularly when you are likely to finish bottom six, a number of avenues open up. There are FA’s, pick swaps, trades - a host of ways you can skin a cat.

2m Peter is a good suggestion. Has shown glimpses he can take a game by the scruff, has kicked bags of 5+. Excellent prospect.

Done. Who do I give my bsb and acc to?

Elsternwick Park. Half the players live within walking distance. Ripe for redevelopment.

I will add that Weideman would benefit immensely from the presence of a new key forward in the team. As would TMac. Both suddenly get heat taken away from them and TMac is released to use his engine as a roaming forward with license to lead as high up as the wing. It's a no brainer. We can solve BOTH the key forward and small forward issues at this trade/draft period but we might have to get a little creative.

Probably the latter.

I'm happy to consider anyone with proven ability at the level. I have not written off Weid but so far even the wildest optimist would agree he is unproven. The Demons are no longer in development mode. We have built and recruited for a flag not to wait around forever for a young key tall to blossom. Weideman has barely shown enough at Casey to merit senior games for Melbourne. I personally wouldn't go for Jenkins btw but no doubt clubs will be discussing him. We can do better than him.

Not implying I'm stating. Personal opinion.

Interesting suggestion MrMoose. Jenkins was very consistent from 2014-2018, kicking 40+ goals in each of those seasons. He's 30yo now though and seemingly out of favour at Adelaide but you certainly can't dismiss him out of hand with that resume.

I'd guarantee you the exact opposite. He has been sub-par this year on every metric. He was dropped to Casey for heaven's sake. Weid a young tall who needs time, I get it. But let's not kid ourselves that he is setting the world on fire. One impressive game at the end of 2018 does not an AFL key forward yet make. You'd think some of our supporters enjoy watching this non-event forward line the way they defend poor performances.

Correction. Should have said 2020. Site doesn't allow you to edit posts after a certain time.