Matsuo Basho

If he ended up at a non-WA club it’d virtually be proof we pushed him out the door.

Could be AF. Could be anything. All we need to do is stick fat to our evaluation of Hogan and sit tight. I’m not buying for a second that they’ve ‘cooled’. We’re talking about a side that finished 14th who’s coach is under pressure. They will cave.

Could just as easily be Melbourne throwing out misinformation to media dupes just the way Fremantle appear to have been doing. And why not. There is A LOT of bulltish flying around at the moment with newshounds desperate to go to print with footy news, however half-baked or frankly made up.

Hear, hear! Peter Bell strutting around like Napoleon playing to the peanut gallery in Perth. Goodonya little fella. Pfft! All posturing aside Freo’s endgame here is to get us to agree to 5 & 23 for Hogan. They then trade 11 for Lobb and get the two big men they’re after in the door. Our likely final asking price is 5 & 11, which gets them Hogan but risks them missing out on Lobb. So you can see their bind. In any case, if they don’t [censored] Neale off to Brisbane Hogan will remain a Demon. That much we can be sure of. Hogan goes nowhere unless pick 5 is transferred to us. I still have a feeling next year’s first round picks may come into play in the final wash up. Fun and games folks. Don’t get sucked in by the ‘mean and nasty’ of it. It’s just business.

Correct. Bell’s aim with lowball offer is to soften us up to accept pick 5 & 23. They knew we’d reject 11 & 23 outright and stomp our feet angrily. People need to look past emotion and see coldly what Freo are trying to do. Our move on the chessboard now must be to hit back twice as hard. Say the deal’s off and Jesse will now honour his contract with the MFC. Bully them back. Watch them cave and come crawling back to us.

Here we go. Let the whingeing begin!

*Caption this pic*

Of course it matters. We would be the laughing stock of trade week if we accepted that. Mahoney would lose all credibility given is tough public stance and the Demons would forever be known as a post-season soft touch. We are just waiting on the Neale situation to resolve itself and they will hand over pick 5 to us, plus 11 or whatever the sweetener is. It’s pretty straightforward. If the Neale deal doesn’t go through the only other possibility for Freo to acquire Hogan is pick 11 plus Freo’s 2019 first rounder. I’d say that is their “Plan B” or close to it. The Demons don’t need to do much here except wait, but if things look like dragging out into next week (very possible) we’re going to have to issue Peter Bell a deadline. We can’t afford to be waiting until 15 minutes to go on the final day to stitch up our other deals. The Dees have got this negotiation well sorted, gift wrapped and in the bag. Some won’t like the outcome but for mine Steven May and a decent first round draft pick is fair trade for a wantaway key forward with questionable work ethic, who frankly has yet to genuinely prove he can be a match winner on the big stage. The MFC is going to come out of this trade in a stronger position than when it went in. That’s all that matters here.

Good on you hero. You ruthless tough guy you. Wish you were running the FD, we’d have seen much quicker progress than we’ve seen from the MFC over the past five years. Wooden spoon to premiership fancy heading into 2019, it’s just not good enough. We should have had at least two more Cups in the trophy cabinet by now. I so share your “extreme disappointment” with Josh Mahoney and the rest of them pea hearts! If you’d bothered to follow the thread from about page 100 you will have seen wonderboy that of everyone I have been one of the most consistent advocates of Melbourne playing hardball on the Hogan trade. I just don’t jump at shadows like you though or cower under my sofa every time some chump journo like Tom Browne floats a half baked scare piece that he likely extrapolated from a rumour on Bigfooty. The MFC footy department have barely put a foot wrong in the recent past, have said almost nothing publically on the Hogan trade except the usual throwaway platitudes, and deserve our support and respect to get the job done behind closed doors. You potting them from behind your keyboard with zero evidence to support your criticism isn’t tough or dogmatic. It’s just insulting ... and ungrateful. Yeah I think that’s the word - ungrateful.

Pick 5 & 11 is a steal for Hogan. He’s not that good. Would prefer 5 and their 2019 1st rounder though.

Sorry many nervous nellies lacking patience on this forum. “Just take pick 5 and move on Im over it.” Gee whiz I’d love to buy your house at auction! Ya’all need a little Axel Rose in your lives at the moment ...

Too much sense there DeeSpencer. In five years the current club administration has hauled itself off the bottom of the ladder, increased its win/loss incrementally EVERY SEASON, recruited marvellously well and finally this year made the eight and won not one but TWO finals. Boy oh boy there is just no pleasing some people.

If you ‘deal with the media’ then you will know that the media twists words and constructs narratives to suit itself. Mahoney has said nothing to give supporters cause for one iota of concern on this possible trade (and that’s all it is at this stage - a possible trade) and you have no idea what “sources within Melbourne” are saying. Basically you are a paranoid worrywart getting your knickers in a twist over nothing.

Nope. Mahoney has said nothing about two first round picks. You’re taking something a journo said and putting words in his mouth. Mahoney has effectively said two things. 1. “Jesse could still be playing for Melbourne next year.” 2. “If he does get traded we think he’s going to be right up at the highest that anyone has been traded for”. Seems fine to me. Hardly the sort of rhetoric to be “extremely disappointed” about. But each to their own.

You’re “extremely disappointed” with the way the club is addressing the Hogan trade then describe exactly (in bold) the way Mahoney has handled things so far! Mmkay.

(from today’s Trade Wrap on AFL.com.au): There’s a possibility (of us trying to trade up for the two SA boys Lukosius and Rankine) we're not ruling anything out, we're certainly open minded. But at the same time, it's very rare that high-end picks move – top three, top five or even top eight," Crows list boss Justin Reid said. "You can always ask the question, it doesn't mean it's going to facilitate the end result. "We rate that South Australian talent highly, but at the same time we're not going to sell the farm to get to that position."

I understand you can still pick up very good players in the 8 - 15 range, however the odds are much higher you’re going to pick up a future star of the competition in the top 5 picks. That’s why they are valued so highly. The ratio of hits to misses increases the lower down the draft order you go. Freo’s 5 & 6 might get the Suns interested in a conversation about say pick 2 ... but picks 8&13 or 10&11? Highly unlikely.

Anyone who can tower over big Mummy like this is worth a go I reckon.

Nup that’s not how it works. Go back through the past 12 drafts. You will see how heavily weighted the stars are in the top 5 picks.

Why would the Suns care that Crows or Port are desperate for local talent? If either of those clubs want access to two of the best three players in a superdraft they are going to literally have to move mountains to do so. Picks 10&11 or picks 8&13 are not getting you access to Lukosius or a Rankine. Not even close. Several draft commentators have also stated that although there is some amazing talent in this batch, it fallls away a bit after the first 7 picks.

Why would they do that? You’d draft two stars over one star and two good players every day of the week. Makes no sense what you’re saying.

I’ve heard $300k but the enticer was the job security of a 4 year deal. Tyson for Preuss seems a fair trade.