Lord Nev

Fremantle is the rumour. Brayshaw and a pick is what I heard. Can't see it happening, but also not going to say 100% it won't.

The (albeit not very reliable) rumours about Cripps aren't going away, so maybe that's where the cash might come from?

No idea! Can't even guess why tbh.

It's a 3 year deal mate.

Yeah good comments mate. I'm a fan of Nicho too, he would be my top choice to replace Mahoney if he leaves.

Not really what he said mate. Just said we're keeping an eye on the situation. Barrett and Twomey

I just reckon when you look at our board, having a 250 game, former captain (also captained Int. rule FWIW), Bluey winner, Barassi Award winner in there is pretty handy given we're a footy club. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/club/board

We've got a lot of smart analytical minds on the board already though don't we? Nice to have a former player and captain in there for some more footy perspective.

Another multi-tasker maybe? Board member/goal kicking coach.... ;)

Bartlett has apparently asked Green to join the board as Football Director. Demons want Green on board

Not worth a new thread, but Sam Edmund reporting Devon Smith and Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti are unhappy at the Bombers. Would we have a crack at either? Could Smith play on a wing for us? Tippa would be amazing IMO.

Not sure it's fair to say we're prioritising Petty over proven key forwards, or that we're thinking he'll be the centrepiece. To me it's more that there's just not many options for us this year in all the circumstances and Petty will give some more depth to our key forward stocks next year. No one is thinking he'll be a star, just that they rate his work ethic, footy nous and talent as being able to be a consistent solid performer. Burgess in particular really likes Petty. I feel for TMac. He played in pain every game this year (ankle/s). Don't have a heap of hope for him getting back to great form, but he's a hard worker so I'm sure he'll leave no stone unturned.

Don't take me too much as gospel, this is just what I've heard. I won't repeat the specific wording used about Polec, but what was passed on to me was that he wasn't really a desirable personality. Lots of things still up in the air this time of year, there's been media rumours/talk about all of Jones, ANB, OMac, TMac, Jetta and more not being with us next year, so the cap situation could change, especially if there's a surprise trade request none of us saw coming. My opinion is that we know we need forward help, but there's just not much around in our price range currently. Club rates Petty highly apparently, so it's not the end of the world, but also not ideal.

I don't know if we're right at the egde, don't know enough specifics, sorry! Just know we don't have the space for a big fish type of player currently. I mean, there could be a player that requests a trade out that we don't see coming, but as far as I've heard we're more looking at decent free agents atm rather than any particular big trade target. I only ever hear a few bits and pieces tho, so quite likely there's plenty going on I have absolutely no idea about, this time of year everything is a bit up in the air somewhat. My opinion is that the feeling is the improvement will come more from off field things next year.

Polec no go. Nothing heard about Merrett. Smith a very good chance to be a Demon. Brown a chance, but not a big one yet - Price is reasonable, but injuries a barrier. Don't know we'll do much other than Smith tbh. We apparently just don't have the wriggle room atm.

I reckon you could even look at it as a player/coach role for our wings. Would expect Smith will play less games in his second year and only a few in his third (if it's a 2+1 year deal), with him providing some great leadership and coaching to guys like Langdon, Baker, vandenBerg, Rivers, Salem, Hunt etc who are all wing options (in different ways). With our coaching group likely reduced, it could be beneficial to us having guys like Smith and Jones around next year in those roles.

It's not a matter of either/or as far as I've heard. Burgo is likely back to SA more for family reasons I think.

On the flip side, due to his junior basketball career he's already traveled a heap with sport, spent time overseas etc, so possibly that would help him be more acclimatised to being away from home for his career. That's what I'm telling myself anyways...

Just quoting the article mate: "Making Hawthorn's interest in Preuss more intriguing is that Melbourne is courting triple premiership Hawk Isaac Smith, an unrestricted free agent, to fill the wing role opposite Ed Langdon."

Hawks apparently showing interest now. Makes the Smith situation interesting. Ruck merry-go-round: Hawks, Swans eyeing off rival big men

Love Burgo, but tbh he has seemed to flip flop a little bit. We nearly lost him to a European soccer team after signing him, and as recent as 6-8 weeks ago he seemed very very likely to stay but is now almost certainly gone. In fairness, this time around it's not purely a financial decision apparently. Big loss, but feels like the club has a new sense of how important this role is and will chase top quality.

There seems to be a bit of Chinese whispers going on I think. There's a bunch of rumours that have become intertwined and turned into something else. Not super reliable sources for all this, but the different elements are: - Sketchy rumour that Cripps may request a trade to WA due to an illness of his partner. (Not a good source at this stage) - Carlton approached Melbourne about Oliver (perhaps knowing the above) but were immediately shot down. (Good source) - Oliver was 'angry' about his Bluey placing. However it wasn't anger at the club/coaches, it was just a reflection of his competitiveness and maturity (or lack thereof). (Tom Morris, who obviously has MFC connections, spoke about this a few days ago) I think those things have merged into 'Oliver is angry about his BnF placing and has requested a trade to Carlton'.

I don't know heaps of detail tbh, but it seems like last year we tried, Yze was keen, but Hawks put the hard word on him. From what I heard, this year he maybe felt lower down the pecking order behind Mitchell and Bolton so was keen to look elsewhere and the Hawks were more sympathetic.

I don't know tbh. It's possible, but as far as I could guess it's just more that maybe Dees fans are more engaged now than when we were a bit more boring?

TBF I said he had signed when he might not have at that stage.