Matsuo Basho

Love it! Great for footy. Bucks just destined never to win one as player or coach.

I want picks 6 & 10 but would not be surprised if we accept 9 & 10 at the end of the day. Most non-MFC supporters and the AFL industry intelligentsia will reckon that’s about right or even a bit over the odds. Then ... 10 & Frost to Suns for May & Kolodjashnij 9 & 2019 first rounder for Shiel & 2019 second rounder In: May, Shiel, Kolodjashnij, future GWS 2nd rounder Out: Hogan, Frost, future MFC first rounder * Before anyone bleats about the 2019 first round for second round pick swap element, Melbourne’s first round pick next year is likely to be in the 15-18 range. Pick 9 & 18 for Shiel is about his currency. He is a jet. This or something like this seems around the mark on what type of outcome we will see here. Fans need to shelve the pie-in-the-sky stuff and be realistic. It’d still be a good result for the club. We are not going to take 18yo kids in the first round at this draft given our age profile and entry into a premiership window. We are going to add quality players in the 23 - 27yo age bracket. Just watch.

All over. West Coast midfield no match for Collingwood. Too vanilla. Pies got the gamebreakers you need at the G. Joffa will be unzipping the gold jacket bag right about now.

Why? He’s in the best 5 key backmen in the league and the Sun’s captain. St.Kilda paid out pick 5 for Jake Carlisle for Chrissakes. You’d pay pick 10 for May and not look back. How many pick 10’s have amounted to nothing? Probably 50% of them.

Enjoy while it lasts Filth and Eagles fans. The Demon 3-peat starts in 2019.

I understand your perspective but I honestly feel it’s an overreaction. Not only because I rate Hogan a slightly inferior player to the way you view him, but also because this isn’t the NFL or the NBA where a single franchise player can come in and mean the difference between winning a premiership or not. Did the Blues win one with Judd? How are Sydney going with Buddy. Close but no cigar. No, AFL footy is more nuanced and team orientated than that. Key forwards are great but they don’t hold all the aces the way the perhaps once did. Freo will add a fantastic player to their list but the Demons have an opportunity here to make a great fist of this situation and fix up several areas of the 22 which may have otherwise hindered us from winning a premiership/s. Key defence and outside midfield class. If we can bolster these areas and look to Weideman, Petracca and others to step up in class and support TMac in the forward 50, it is very arguable we’ll have a stronger TEAM overall than we would have had Hogan remained. Very arguable. We beat some top teams without Hogan in 2017 and 2018, including some big victories interstate. He’s a very good player but his loss is not the catastrophe you’re making it out to be ... IF (and that’s a big “if”) we play our cards right here and make those p.ricks out West pay through the nose for him. That’s my take anyway.

$$$$$$$$$$ “KACHING” !! Might not be the only reason but I’d suggest it’d be the main one. At the end of the day you’re a professional footballer at the elite level for ten years, with the ever present possibility of going down with a buckled knee every time you run out onto the park. Make hay while the sun shines. Who can blame him? Few would say they’d knock it back and keep a straight face. Plus his Mum is there. His only remaining parent. The lad is only 23 and been away from his Mum since he was a teenager. Let’s cut the lad some slack. Good luck to him. We move on.

We shall see. They’ve also balls’d up a fair few. We have every reason to lean hard on Freo here. That’s not being faux tough it’s just the way the cards are stacked. In our favour.

Worth a watch if you didn’t see it. Good man Joffa. Puts all the million dollar trades and billion dollar rights deals into a bit of perspective. “Quite a few people out there won’t have eaten very well the last few weeks tucking a few dollars away to pay for a finals ticket.” Honestly don’t care who wins today but if he’s waving that stupid gold jacket around at half five pm I’ll be happy for him.

I’m nervous that Mahoney and Co are not going to drive a hard bargain. If we lose Hogan for May and chump change that will be a seriously disappointing outcome. It must be May and either a very good pick or a very good starting 22 player. I want May but no way is he of equal value to Hogan, not to mention the fact that we have the whip hand over Fremantle in this exchange. They need the player more than we need to give him. Like many Demon supporters I will be watching on with keen critical interest as to how shrewdly we negotiate this. We traditionally have not been renowned for coming out on the winning side of trade table deals. A few yes but more often than not we’ve been the ones picking up the dropped soap in the prison shower. I hope those days are over.

I think we’ve got the ‘tough nut’ factor well covered these days. Add Steve May to the mix and if anything we’ve overcorrected from the bruise-free days of yore. A little less Vanders and a little more silk is what this 22 needs now. He will find his niche in the system elsewhere - Sydney sounding likely - and we’ll wish him well. It won’t affect our premiership tilt much none.

I get that and it’s probably a long shot. However there were stories coming out of Perth during the year that he was/is unhappy playing under Ross Lyon. Lyon himself even came out publically to try and quash the rumours. It never hurts to discretely ask the question. Never say never. Things change.

You “win” the trade period if you emerge from it having corrected weaknesses and strengthened your likely starting 22 for the following season. Even if it’s just by a 5% margin. That’s all some clubs can realistically achieve if they go into the post-season without a whole lot of cachè to offer in terms of trade. Other clubs will have more to offer with perhaps greater scope to improve their list. Say a 10 - 15% improvement on the balance of it. When we saw Port leave the 2017 trade table with Watts, Rockliff and Motlop it looked flashy on paper but for mine did not improve the overall quality of their best 22 at all. They did not need another inside grunt midfielder (Rockliff), Motlop was okay I guess but remained true to his hot and cold style of football, and Watts added absolutely nothing of value to their team. Pick 32 for him ended up being a steal on our part. Port failed because they went for a few big flashy names they thought would automatically haul them into the top four. Bad strategy. Essendon on the other hand carefully went after three players (Smith, Saad and Stringer) who they clearly felt would strengthen areas of their team they assessed were weaknesses the previous season. They started off shakily the Bombers but I think that approach began to bear fruit for them in the second half of the season. I reckon they will go past Port as a genuine top eight challenger next season. Port and Kenny H. are in trouble I reckon. For Melbourne to have a “win” during trade week we need to do similar and methodically set about addressing key needs, in order of priority, that will serve to strengthen the 22 we put out in the park each week. 1. An upgrade at full back 2. Outside midfield silk 3. Genuine ruck insurance for Gawn Tick off at least two of those boxes, rather than just throw our hat into the ring for whichever flashy player wants to join a club entering a premiership window, and we will undoubtedly emerge from trade week in the “W” column. A Hogan departure should mean we can tick off all three and enter 2019 brimming with confidence.

Care to elaborate? Triple premiership wingman and Doig Medallist (2017). Still only 25yo. Hogan not averse to staying out ‘til the wee hours himself on occasion. Does that make him “damaged goods”?

Take it you both won’t be watching the game then?

If the deal on the table for Hogan was pick 5 & Brad Hill ... would you take it? Send pick 5 and Frost to the Suns for May and Kolodjashnij. 2019 R1 Side: Jetta May OMac Salem Lever Hibberd Hill Oliver Kolodjashnij Petracca Weideman Jones Spargo TMac Melksham Gawn Brayshaw Viney Harmes Lewis ANB Hannan To me this is would be a significant improvement on the 2018 version of Melbourne. Shore up the defence with May while adding some class run, carry and delivery on the outside of midfield. We’ve got the grunt covered. Now’s the time to add a bit of polish. Be very happy if we emerged from trade week with an outcome like this. Pretty much all depends on what Hogan does of course.

No to this guy from me. Absolute dud.

If a Fremantle player comes into the equation (other than Cerra or Andy Brayshaw) I wouldn’t be interested in Ed Langin, I’d be asking after Brad Hill. He’d be very handy on a wing for the Dees, won their B&F in 2017, triple premiership player and still only 25yo. There were rumours during the year too that Hill isn’t entirely happy playing ‘Ross Lyon footy’. https://coupler.foxsports.com.au/api/v1/article/amp/afl/afl-2018-ross-lyon-shuts-down-rumours-about-brad-hill-departing-fremantle/news-story/15a6cf9f731b0fec4d26c1e59415f18d

Don’t mind Vanders but he doesn’t make our 22 any quicker. A second or third rounder back that we can pass on to GCS for Kolodjashnij would do.

https://youtu.be/LGS4RG-mnIM

West Coast by 14 points. Norm Smith: Josh Kennedy First Goal: Jaidyn Stephenson

My understanding is we left the Gaff poker table some weeks ago. Buy in price way too high. He won’t be at the Dees next year.

I say yes. What’s a quality fullback worth to a side that hasn’t won daytime silverware since 1964? $800k sounds about right to me.

That’s not what you said. You said Collingwood has no relevance if May nominates Melbourne. I then explained why you’re wrong. The Suns will have a say in where May goes. Just to reiterate.

Not correct in this case. May is under contract until end of 2019. If the Suns don’t like what Melbourne (or Collingwood) offer in trade they have the option of holding the player for another year then getting in all likelihood Band1 FA compo for him at the end of 2019. They will be telling May “look after us or we will hold you to your contract.” No way they are letting him go for anything less than a first round pick.