AaronDaveyChipsAndGravey

Tom Browne !? What are you doing here

Don't stop breaking the news ET ! Brings a lot of light-hearted banter to what can be a pretty grim discussion board at times

The club obviously rates him having signed him through to 2022 or 2023 iirc. Doesnt mean he's untradeable but I dont think the club would get all that much for him in a trade that would possibly offset the potential for him to get back to his best imo. He seems to be at his most damaging as a half forward with spells in the guts. Really beat me as to why they persisted with off half back this year, however to hazard a guess I think our mid-sized defender stocks was quite short until Rivers came through. I would be very surprised to see Harmes back in defence next year with that back 6-8 looking fairly settled (Hib, May, Lever, Tomo, Salem, Riv) Has proven when played forward that he can hit the goals and be quite dangerous or when played through the centre can really negate an opposition midfieler's influence. I really see Harmes as a 5th string mid to Trac, Oliver, Viney and Gus, and whether he can squeeze his way through an occasional rotation might depend on quarter lengths next year requiring extra midfield rotations.

Surprised to see that it's only taken 4 pages of a dedicated rumours and mail thread to escalate into speculation and bashing of Simon Goodwin ?‍♂️?‍♂️

I think both players and a future pick (2nd round) could do it. Giants will have picks coming out the behind with all the trade and compensation they'll be getting.

Would imagine he and management would push for 4, or 3 with a 4th year trigger. Seemed to be the sticking point at North so no doubt we'd be offering him 4 years.

Suggesting the Carlton equivelants of Jimmy Toumpas (Dow) and Dom Tyson (Kennedy) would be enough to replace Oliver on our end ?‍♂️

I wouldnt worry, apparently a couple picks, a handful of Carlton NQR players and Adam Saad going to the pre season draft will get it done.

I think we'd have to send something along with Preuss to GWS to make that happen. I'm not sold that they'd let Hately, O'Hallloran and Caldwell all leave on top of Williams and Cameron so it could we be worth looking to include a 3rd club in the deal with a player in mind. I think tmac would be worth more than a 4th rounder if we were offloading only half of his salary. The rest look alright to me. Wouldnt mind Pittard as a DFA or seeing us go for Phillips offering next year's 2nd round pick.

There's a massive difference between being able to play and wanting to play. Unfortunately for Jesse he just doesnt look to be that interested in a footy career anymore. Imagine coming back to the club that offloaded you to then have the enormous pressure of being the key forward that's going to save us piled back on you from the club, supporters and Vic Media. That's the last thing a person like that needs. I feel bad for the bloke, but not even moving back to his support network of family and friends has helped him or his football. His body just isnt durable. His head doesnt seem in it. We would be incredibly stupid to either think he will be all that we need to turn our forward fortunes around or that he can even get on the park.

Both those clubs are more or less in the same position as we were 2-3 years ago when we attracted bigger names like Lever and May when we had $$ and were looking on the up. The difference now is we have little salary cap to work with having signed those players and others to what are now looking like poor deals - Tmac, Harmes etc. As has been stated before, we arent an attractive club for players unless we can compete on money, as well as shortcomings in recent onfield success and offield factors such as dedicated training facilities and purely being a smaller club.

Apparently getting Crouch, Higgins, Cameron and in the mix for Smith. Even with the retirements of Ablett, Taylor and a few others something just doesnt seem right...

Once this trade period is done, it'll be pretty evident as to how our club and list is really perceived in AFL circles. Could be seriously back to the drawing board for us if we fail to land the key pieces touted.

With retirements of Frawley and Stratton and the absence of Sicily for the better part of next year it'd make sense for sure. Anything and anyone to get his behind off our books please!

Seems like most interest for Tmac might come from a suitor looking for a key back. Would someone like the Dogs be interested or is the only noise come from the pies for him so far? Could squeeze a decent set of picks out in a deal involving Hannan too.

That's a massive assumption to make. This list looks to really be on the brink if we cant taste some resounding success in the very next year or two, not just a finals cameo or two. Players like May and Gawn will be on the way down, higher profile players - Oliver, Trac, Brayshaw will be nearing free agency and ends of their contracts. The only benefit I see to Smith is he makes us immediately better next year and we can line up a better replacement given we're back into the finals. Then again, why Smith (besides not trading for) when you could have Phillips or heck, even Polec for this 5+ year window you're talking about.

Couldnt agree more. Should have finished his career at North but was no doubt sold a now atrocious plan for the club and has been unfairly made to shoulder some of the onfield blame. Polec is never going to be the balanced defensive player on the wing, but somebody who can actually kick and hit them through the big sticks goes a long way to improving our list. Don't think he ends up at the Dees due to his salary, but I think the knocks on his behaviour are way off the mark. Understandable to make those assumptions given he's looking at a 4th club, however went to Port from Brissy to live back in SA. Was lured out of Port as they didnt want to pay him a larger contract, and his move to the roos just hasnt worked due the monumental amount of issues that surround that club.

I sure hope so because whether you love them or hate them, most of those gone or going have played a sizeable amount of games for the club, even beyond the NQR's - Jetta ,TMac, possibly even Jones. Whatever the case is, I really hope the club has more of a plan other than the two we're linked to, because we're no certainties to get either at this point !

I worry about moving on a lot of these players (not all as I have said previously) to help bring in someone with 1-2 years of footy left! Who knows how his body is going to hold up at that age. Yes if we went for Phillips we have to move players on, but you're buying the service of someone who you know you're going to get a decent 5-6 years out of rather than 1-2 Smith might bring. My point is is that if you're going to have that much list turnover on then I'd want a far greater return than Isaac Smith and Ben Brown. You can have your say on all of those players and I'm sure the jury is out on most of them, but it looks like the bottom of the club is falling out at the expense of recruiting someone to plug a gap very temporarily. Our list just isnt at the stage where we can afford to make those sorts of moves.

Clearances have really been a massive factor this year (as they always have been) and for a team that plays its game on contested ball, we just don't outlet the ball well enough into decent clearances. Countless times we seemed to overuse handball around contests which could be down to a range of factors: - little confidence in kicking ability - hesitation poor options forward of ball (leads, player positioning) Either way I think these issues can be rectified with some more poise around the footy (positioning not just Oliver, Viney Trac running into each other) and having someone like Ben Brown/Weid to anchor the forward line structure and as a tall target. At the end of the day though, pressure is everything in building a sustainable brand of footy. Richmond overcame Port who were arguably the best all year beating them not only at the clearance, but also sustaining enough pressure to either regain the footy through mistakes or holding up ball movement. Once this team gets through their heads that they need to bring pressure and intensity every game from Rounds 1-23 and through finals, we're halfway there to being a successful side.

Here Here! Danger would have to be the biggest nerd of all time. No doubt rocked up to his school formal with the full 3 piece suit and vest. Went the quinella with Steele in it and thankfully those top 4 were that far from the rest of the pack.

I think he's someone who probably wont get games elsewhere at somewhere like Collingwood and looks like its purely there as that player/mentor role. Obviously money may talk in this instance and I wouldnt blame him at all for taking that opportunity, however I think as a mentor to our young small defenders, Rivers, Chandler, Lockhart and his nephew Kozzi, he's still an important part of our leadership and culture off field. He's only contracted for another year here and I wouldnt extend him past that, but it'd be nice to see him stick around as a mentor and last resort player instead of in the filth's colours.

Yep those are all fair points, but it's playing a dangerous game hoping we don't get injuries next year and can play close to our best 22 each week. We were either lucky or extremely well managed with our injury list this year and still underperformed massively given the talent on our list. Bringing in Brown who has had recent injury issues, a 32 year old Smith and relying on the bodies of Petty, Jones being right etc. at the expense of not amazing but serviceable players seems a little worrisome imo. No doubt a stable 22 is the key to a successful season, however Richmond at one point were missing all of Lynch, Prestia, Edwards, Houli, Cotchin and still held their season together because decent role players were able to fill the void. If we were to lose players of that quality mid season on top of the losses of decent depth players for bringing Smith, Brown then we have little to no hope.

I agree with all of that and I'm not trying to suggest that the players that we're getting rid of make our best 22 any better, the point I've been trying to make is that the club is moving around a lot more pieces than usual this time of year and it seems a high price to pay for helping squeeze in 32 year old wingers. I just cannot recall that many players being linked with moves away from our club. Of course not all are going to be let go, but a fair few of these rumours seem fairly legitimate. When the bottom falls out of your club it can cause a whole number of problems. What happens if we run into a period of injuries? Where's the pressure coming for spots? All the players I mentioned have had multiple game spells in the side so they're not all plodders. The good teams seem to have an abundance of decent depth players ready to step up, and sure a Mitch Brown and Oscar Baker would get pushed back as depth, but I'd be hesitant in losing a lot of these guys to get 1 good year out of an Isaac Smith.

I don't think we're miles off either, and nor do I think this is the worst move in the world. I'm just very hesitant in grabbing at something just because it's free and a quick fix for our problems. Realistically we'll be looking to fill this same void in a year or two which just seems a waste given theres a much younger, relatively inexpensive and walk up best 22 winger in Tom Phillips available.