furious d

If the club caves into Brad's 3 year demand I'll be very disappointed. 2 with an option at most. This is not about "youth at all costs" as some claim, this is about the club drawing a line in the sand. No more 3 year contracts for older players. We can't afford a million plus of our salary cap running around for Casey every year. If Brad can't accept that he should be moved on. It's sad and may bring some short term pain, but it is in the long term interests of the club.

Brock. Give him the responsibility and he'll mature into the role, as did one David Neitz. Why is this on the draft/trade board?

I am a bit over him Dazzle, but I still want to make Carlton bleed out the ying yang. If we happen to get him offering Freo a bit more and Warnock a bit less than Carlton That'll be ok with me, but if they get him I want them in salary cap trouble.

Of course we can. Plenty of players haven't ended up at their prefered destination when traded. There is no free agency in our game, players don't always get what they want

After round 2 the doubts on Col were enormous, he looked like a rabbit in headlights. I think moving him down back was a fantastic move from Bailey. It meant he could just react and play rather than having to create. Now he knows he belongs he'd probably do a lot better up forward but I'd rather see him left down back. He reminds me a lot of Matty Scarlett. He is always right on the forwards hammer on the lead, seems stronger than he looks (and this will only improve), is agile, quick and is able to hurt the opposition going the other way. I rate Scarlett as the best fullback I've seen and think Col could be as good, a long long way to go but he has all the attributes. I think an at least decent backline is a prerequisite in any serious tilt at a premiership. A cracking midfield can cover an ordinary forward line but not a shabby defence. Garland, Martin, Rivers(knock on wood), and to a lesser extent Warnock have me optimistic about the shape of our backline for the first time since the 80's. They're not there yet but at least there's finally a glimmer of hope down there.

Not interested in a flag every 12 years . I'd be happy to see just one before we start talking of empires

He's only 24 Torp. I'll admit we haven't got a great return yet but there's still time

Green has every right to feel aggreived. For years we've been handing out massive retirement packages to aging stars and the gravy train has stopped just before his turn. The club is doing the right thing, and if Brad does leave it will be whoever was responsible for Bruce's, Yze's, White's, Bizzel's etc final contract that is to blame. 28-29 year olds should get 2 years max, 30+, 1 year at a time

Cheers Chook, I still prefer the MFC logo but it'll be interesting to see how much support this one will get.

I prefer the MFC logo but I think for this poll to be fair someone should knock up a version with Jimmy's demon on the front, it beat the white version of this jumper norrowly on the club website poll

It's pinned at the top of the board

Brad has probably had 2 career best years in a row while the side has been utter crepe and I'd be very happy to see him given a 2 year extension plus an option for a third if conditions are met. The club needs to protect itself from repeating past mistakes. In 2 years Brad will be on the decline and hopefully our youngsters will be going past him. How does renumeration work if the optional third year is taken up in these contracts, does anyone know? Is the pay based on this contract or renegotiated at the end of the 2 year period?

Brad is entitled to ask for 3 years but the club has every right to offer him 2. We've been burnt often by rapidly deteriorating older players in the last few years and I think it's only prudent to have a policy of 2 year deals max for 27-29 year olds and no more than 1 for 30somethings. We can't allow Casey to become the retirement village Sandy was this year. If Brad can make more money elsewhere and get himself a 3 year deal good luck to him, I'd prefer he stayed but I don't want to see this administration repeat the mistakes of the last.

Carlton are by no means over the line. Warnock isn't Judd. Just because he prefers the cheating scum doesn't mean he'll end up there. Freo will want the most they can get and pick 17 or 19 are both better than 24 or 26. We need to stay in the hunt, if only to ensure Carlton pay through the nose for him. Pick 24 and a decent player at least to match our 19. Carlton have hoarded top draft picks for years and I'd expect them to be one of our contenders during our next tilt at the pointy end of the ladder in 4-5 years, we can't start laying down to them already.

I hate Carlton, I've always hated Carlton way more than anyone else. I've never understood why everyone hates Collingwood, what have they ever done? Hating Collingwood is like hating the bulldogs, why hate a perennial loser? Carlton on the other hand, they are champion cheats run by a succession of corporate criminals with background support from the Melbourne mafia. Scumbags in suits, that's Carlton. I just pray that their obvious cheating is discovered before they steal another flag.

$3.1million raised, the AFL kick in a mill, and we're still $4million in debt $3.2mill loss this year! If that article is true several posters around here, myself included, owe Vlad and the league a big apology. Both the AFL and the MCC claim the previous administration "failed to meet it's business obligations." Gardner's heart may have been in the right place but it sounds like his head wasn't. How the flying truck did they manage to set us on a course that lost us $3.2million this year??? It sounds like now that the lunatics are no longer in charge of the asylum the AFL is doing everything it can to get us back on track. Love that they sent Mike Fitzpatrick down to lean on the MCC. That Stadium would be empty 360 days a year without football, it's time they started to give a bit back to the game that pays the bills. If they chose to do that by supporting the club they spawned with a "special" tenency arrangement and maybe a bit of cash on the side each year, that'd be great.

Just read on 'ology that Warnock has informed Freo he'll be leaving. Apparently reported on Perth radio.

Yeah, but if that is the case calabrese, and I don't doubt it, why do the AFL insist on jumpers the fans hate?

You are either a historical revisionist or a goldfish mo. Bailey caused the train wreck that happened a year before he arrived. Your pathological hatred of our coach is getting very tiresome and has now degenerated into fantasy. You are a disgrace

You can't base your recruiting on what fickle supporters might think. Despite stereotypes I think our supporters have proved this year that we're not that fickle anyway. You pick the best player, be it Rich, Niknat or Watts. The thing that grates at me is people claiming Rich is clearly the best available. That's a nonsense. If it were true he'd be a clear #1 pick. He isn't thefefore it's rubbish. Watts won't be strong enough to compete with the bigger bodied defenders next year, that doesn't mean he's not the better player. Mids and KPP's don't develop at the same rate, the footy public understands that. I don't see what you're worried about

Will Newton win the Brownlow this year Nugget? Watts won the Larke, judged best player in a comp that included one Daniel Rich I believe. If you think Watts is a Newton compared to Rich's Judd, you are kidding yourself, ridiculous analogy. Alot of people may be saying Watts is not the best player, but as far as I'm aware 99.98% of them are armchair experts who wouldn't know their elbow from their ahole. What I've heard from recruiters is he won't be ready to compete in a key possie till he bulks up a bit. This doesn't mean he is not the better player. Mids can often step straight in, but to play against the bigger stronger blokes requires some bulk, something not many 17 year old athletes have. Why are the Rich supporters so condesending? Where is this irrefutable proof that Rich is the better player. There is no standout #1 this year, no consensus, you lot have invented it amongst yourselves. I'll be happy whoever we get (at least for the first few years), because unlike most of you lot I realise I am not a recruiter. Watching a few minutes on youtube doesn't make you an expert. Having said that I'd prefer Watts, we desperately need a quality tall.

I could be wrong but I think we'd end up with picks 1 and 5. GC17 get picks 1,2,3,5,etc so we'd get a priority pick GC17 would then have 2,3 and 4 and we'd get 5

What are you referring to? Did I miss something? If this is true I will never spend another cent on anything AFL related ever again. Unlike the criminal Pratt I work hard for my money, I'm no THEIF. Why am I wasting my money supporting a struggling club when Pratt can use the $350million he STOLE OFF EVERY ONE OF US to prop up those scumbags. There better not be any truth in this :angry:

So far I think only Green, Dunn, Moloney and Bell are yet to sign contracts for 2009. Have I missed any? Did any of those blokes re-sign while I wasn't looking? Green seems to be in negotiations and I think could leave if he can't come to an agreement with the club. If it comes to that I'd back the club, even if he walked for nothing in the psd. Clubs that win flags seem to have players prepared to accept less coin to keep a list together. We need to develop that somehow with our young blokes in the next few years as they and their value improve. Caving in to the Daniher era players like usual is not the right example to set imo. 90-92.5% of the salary cap is a good starting point for our developing list to EARN decent rises as they improve. I'm interested to read what others think this means for Dunn, Moloney and Bell. Does it mean that they could be the players the club will look to trade. It makes sense not to sign players you want to shop around, if you don't get a bite sign them later. I'm not sure if Bailey rates Dunn (based purely on unsubstantiated rumour here and on ology) but at 192cm and with a decent engine he could attract some interest but not a high pick. Moloney has injury concerns and Bell has had a shoking season. I couldn't see any of them attracting more than a speculative pick, maybe late 30's if we do really well at the table, really well. If green can't come to terms with the club we could package him with one of those 3 to make a pretty tempting offer to other clubs, the kind that could snare a late first round/ early second round pick, which would be priceless this year. Green and Dunn to the Doggies for pick 13 maybe? Green an Bell to Adelaide for pick12, Green and Moloney to north or the scum? thoughts?

Which one of those clubs is going cap in hand to the AFL this year asking for more money? Grow up and get over it people. The Afl is not at all serious about this rule, otherwise it would be handing out massive fines any time one of those clubs wore their "illegal" clash strips, and every time Collingscum ignored the rule completely. The leverage the AFL gains and uses against the poorer clubs every time they're in a crisis is a form of punishment. We only have to listen till we get our house in order, then we can ignore them like everyone else. Take your medicine then that awful white will turn blood red, trust me.