Accepting Mediocrity

Is he though? It's been demonland narrative all year, but the stats don't really back that up. Compared to 2021, he's averaging the exact same number of goals, marks and disposals. He's averaging more goal assists, overall tackles and I50 tackles.

This narrative is an absolute myth that refuses to die. When Frawley left, he was a 25 YO, All Australian Full Back, and one of the very best key defenders in the game. He was absolutely worth Band 1 Compo at the time - not our fault he peaked so young. McKay is a handy player, but can't see how he falls into the same category.

Harsh. You don't play 200 AFL games without being a consistent performer. His 2018 season, in particular, was exceptional. It's a game of fine margins. If he nails those 2 set shots in the qualifying final (as he usually would), suddenly he's had a pretty good finals series. He'll be a handy depth player next year.

You severely overrate draft picks. Look up the 2017 and 2018 drafts. With all of the benefit of hindsight, choose 2 players that would have been available to us (i.e. pick 10 or later (2017) and 19 or later (2018)). See if you can come up with a better pair than Lever and Petty. Lever is a cornerstone of the best defence in the business. He had a down year, but his b & f results prove nothing other than the fact that he's been injured for a fair chunk of 3 out of 5 seasons at MFC.

There is no universe in which we got '"bent over" by Adelaide. You don't get a proven, 21 YO gun key position player without paying a premium in draft picks, even if uncontracted. Just as Freo will need to come up with 2 first round picks (or equivalent) to land Jackson. If we'd played hardball, maybe we'd have got him for a 1st and a 2nd round. Maybe. Alternatively, maybe Adelaide would have walked him to the PSD, or struck an 11th hour deal with another club who were willing to pay a fair price. Or maybe Freo and GC wouldn't have been as keen to deal with us the following year and we would never have landed May. Dodoro plays hardball and 'wins' every trade week. How's that working out for Essendon?

Bagging the Lever trade is such a weird hill to die on. Sure, we got Lever and Petty (and, as a direct consequence, a [censored] premiership flag), but with the picks we gave up we could have had... *checks notes* Liam Stocker and one half of a 29-year-old Bryce Gibbs... Lever could retire tomorrow and it would still go down as one of our best trades in the AFL era.

Mate it's impossible to comment since I wasn't on the jury and didn't see the evidence they were presented with etc. All I'm saying is that if I was, say, 60% convinced that he was guilty of murder, that wouldn't be enough for me to find him guilty on a jury, but I'd have serious reservations about recommending the bloke as a potential dating candidate to a friend. But that's besides the point - my point is aimed at those posters who argue that it's unreasonable to form an opinion on the matter before all the accusations have been tested in a court of law. It's frankly a ridiculous assertion given the circumstances.

Here's the thing Prodee. We aint in a court of law. We're posting on a footy forum. The weight of evidence required to convict someone in court vs inform a personal opinion are very different things, surely you realise that. The reaction from Demonland has pretty much universally been along the lines of: "Jeez they are some very serious allegations coming from a growing number of sources that would be oddly specific to make up. On the balance of probability these accusations likely carry weight. If this is shown to be the case, there will be very serious consequences for the perpetrators." A neighbour of mine was arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife. There was a bucket load of circumstantial evidence that he was guilty, but ultimately not enough proof to secure a conviction. Would I have found him guilty if I was on the jury? No. Am I glad the justice system places the burden of proof on the accuser rather than the accused? Yes. Do I personally consider it far more likely than not that he is guilty? Also yes.

Fair response mate - but if the journalist in question (and legal team) haven't done due diligence, his career will be over and he will be sued to within an inch of his life. He's put his (highly decorated) journalistic career on the line here. Those aren't the actions of someone operating on a hunch.

I find takes like this disturbing. The same can be said for any crime committed away from public view - rape, paedophilia, domestic violence, etc. Doesn't mean that these crimes can't and shouldn't be punished. I'm all for innocent until proven guilty and all that, but there is a significant (and growing) body of evidence that some seriously abhorrent [censored] went down at Hawthorn. This isn't coming from a single jaded ex-employee - it's coming from multiple ex-players, partners, families etc - and given the standards of the journalist in question, you can be sure that there's corroborating evidence in the form of emails, text messages, etc. Not to mention the early retirement and subsequent comments from Cyril Rioli etc. On balance, the possibility that the available evidence has been fabricated/ embellished by multiple witnesses appears to be extremely remote.

Hard to disagree with any of that Dazzle. But then, I was pretty vocal about wasting a first round pick on a highly speculative small forward (Kossie) over Brodie Kemp, and couldn't for the life of me understand why we'd pick a ruckman in Jackson at 3. Plenty questioned the recruitment of Lever and May. Our list management team have serious runs on the board. If they're chasing Grundy, they'll have a plan for how to use him. I'll back them in.

The fact that I know SFA about the top draft prospects this year puts the disappointment of losing a semi final in perspective.

Unfortunately we supporters don't get a say. And the reality is that no uncontracted player has ever been traded for a top 5 pick and gun young player who wasn't named Chris Judd. If WC's pick 2 (3) isn't the centrepiece of the deal, it will likely be Freo's 2 first round picks (2022 & 23) and steak knives. I'd rather pick 2.

It will likely be pick 3 after FS selections (Ashcroft) - but that's still a great result for us. We are never going to receive 'overs' for an uncontracted player. The best we can hope for is adequate compensation. Pick 3 is as about as good as we could realistically hope for.