ChaserJ

To be fair, covid and constant border closures weren’t in the picture back then.

I’m also wary of clubs/managers using us to create leverage in negotiations without us being a realistic option in trade. Managers will do the work before trade period to work out realistic landing spots for their clients, and if Cerra just wants to get to Melbourne (the town, not the team) Carlton makes good sense in terms of a straightforward deal. If Cerra does decide he wants Melbourne the club ahead of all others, we’d probably have to work to get some picks to get a deal done, but it’s possible. I just don’t get the vibe that Cerra’s particularly strong on us as a destination.

Depends on what we let go when the season’s over. We also had a lot of guys sign long term deals, don’t know exactly how those deals are staggered within the cap.

Fast start by WA!

Streamed on afl website apparently. My day looks sorted!

Thanks Daz. This being televised anywhere?

Which is saying something because Jacko has a handy vertical, but pre ACL Schwarz was special.

We’d already had a ripper trade period, this sounds like an absolute bonus to cap it off.

Our flights back from GC were changed from Saturday arvo on the 31st to Sunday arvo on the 1st, so my family and I got dudded twice.

Yep, same for my family. Miss 12 is ropable & I’m not far behind. This is rolling fixture gone mad. Impossible for travelling fans to plan and surely a contributing factor in crowds being down.

Defensive masterclass tonight. Looks like we really didn’t like losing and aimed to address that this week. Focused, fierce and just fantastic tonight.

And some analysis on our load management, which has us storming over sides in the last qtr (Burgo effect?): https://www.statsinsider.com.au/blog/afl/unmasking-melbournes-superhero-power

A nice analysis on what we’ve changed up in our structure and how it’s helped us get to 6 and 0: https://theshinboner.com/2021/04/29/melbourne-rising-whats-behind-the-demons-unbeaten-start-to-2021-analysis-shinboner-langdon-ben-brown-pickett/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

Salem turned his back on FA when the 5 yr deal was put in front of him, Petracca may well do the same. Might have been clever sequencing from the Dees to sign up CP's two best mates at the club before putting the contract in front of him. It's been really good work by the club to lock Salem and Oliver away so early (and hopefully Trac soon), it takes the oxygen out of any speculation and allows the club to have singular focus on performing on the field. Brilliant.

You’re right. He was in Sandringham squad with those guys, but it was Kelly that was school mates with Salem & Hunt at Brighton.

I wouldn’t mind us giving a chance to Ryan Sparkes. Has looked pretty capable for Casey this year and think he was very unlucky to go undrafted in ‘19. Josh Green looked good for GWS in the VFL the other week too. Not in his brother’s class, but handy size and can play inside mid or up fwd.

Hopefully his old school mates Salem and Hunt can get in his ear, as well as Goody, Melksham and Hibberd, who would have been at the Bombers when Merrett was drafted. Would complement our midfield mix very nicely, and fill out our midfield. If the Dogs are one of our main contenders, I reckon their midfield bats 1 or 2 quality mids deeper than ours, and Merrett could help bridge that gap. I'm hoping we've spread our TPP's with our re-signings this year to give us some play to offer a competitive contract to Merrett, although it's clear that we won't be offering the biggest dollars. If Merrett's not chasing the money (nothing suggests that he is primarily motivated by this), we'd be offering as good an environment as any right now.

Possibly Lachie Ash as well.

Bumping this, Andy Moniz-Wakefield still attached to Dees NGA Academy. Not projecting as a top 20 selection at this stage, but early doors. https://www.afl.com.au/news/561218/nga-crop-revealed-freo-gets-first-call-on-son-of-power-roos-gun

I’m 3 mins down the road, so might pop in for a look.

Echo that. Take care McQueen.

Was in zone 1! Phew...

If he’s any good, then we get rolled. NGA rule changes effective from 2021 draft mean any NGAs picked inside top 20 can no longer can be matched by affiliated academy club. Bulldogs we’re spooked that changes might come into effect from ‘20, but lucked out.

It's interesting how many other clubs like Laurie at our range and how the dominoes fell after Macrae was taken a pick before Richmond selected. Without that happening, Richmond were happy to trade the pick (would have picked Laurie if they held the selection), Adelaide, GWS & West Coast liked him there too, and if Geelong don't trade for Max Holmes we probably would have missed him. GWS apparently don't do the trade for Collingwoods '21 first rounder if one of Laurie and Bowey slip through, which tells you how highly clubs rated them. Saints had an interest in Bowey with their first rounder as well. I think where we got trumped was with Angwin. GWS pounced ahead of our early picks, some connected to Angwin felt even he thought he was going to be a Dee.

Trav Johnstone for me.