old55

Generally love your work AAC - but seriously Garland to GWS ???

Our desire to use 2017 2nd means we have someone in mind around 29 this year and/or we don't want to waste an entire year of prospect analysis by JT and the recruiting team by having first pick at 57. If we have to do 29 for Hibberd it should be possible to trade next years 2nd to one of the clubs who end up with multiple 2nds this year.

O'Meara would go in the ND. Hawks are reported to be working on a deal with Brisbane for pick 3. O'Meara 100% at Hawthorn.

Agree we want to keep some midfield depth. M.Jones, Newton and Michie - each has his own limitations. Keep the rookie and open 2 senior spots.

Also he's RFA so it clearly signals we wont match and that makes it easier to field offers.

Yes but I think he may have a direct line to Matt Jones and they were impressions whereas delisted is a fact. I rest TBS case!

The Big Sauce has a reliable source history especially re Matt Jones

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-10-07/revealed-what-it-takes-to-earn-firstround-free-agency-compensation- "Under the rules, compensation is based on the new contract of the free agent and his age. Draft picks are also allocated to clubs based on the net total points for free agents lost and gained during the transfer period and can be slotted in to one of five places: first round, end of first round, second round, end of second round and third round." 3rd round following our pick is the lowest qualifying pick - that would be 45 which would be quite handy. Grimes is a young FA so that's in our favour and if an interstate club wants to entice him to move then it could be 3 years on some decent $s. I think a compensation pick is possible.

I'd retain one of Michie/Matt Jones (rookie so frees a primary list space), Pedersen/Dawes (not injured), Dunn/Garland (Dunn more tradeable), I think we need to retain some depth and we would still have plenty of list vacancies.

I agree with BRFE that he's tradeable, but I also agree with AAC that unless we can get something meaningful for him we should persist. We don't need to off to free list space, there's plenty of candidates ahead of him in the queue this year.

Keilty is good but I'd pick McInerney ahead of him if it came to the crunch.

What is the point you are trying to make? The players have been found guilty by the relevant tribunal of breaking the regulations of the sport they signed up for and have been punished accordingly by being banned from participating. This is all entirely appropriate. The "court", the regulations and the punishment.

No-one is suggesting the Essendon 34 are convicted criminals. They are convicted by a tribunal of breaching the regulations of the body concerned i.e. WADA via AFL. It's like players found guilty of striking at the AFL tribunal. Are you saying they're are not really guilty because it's not a court of law?

What does the C stand for?

Jake Melksham is a convicted (subject to appeal to Swiss Court) performance enhancing drug cheat, he has to live with it and no amount of rationalisation can change that. He has also served his significant penalty and deserves every chance to create a new legacy for himself to be remembered by - hopefully as an MFC premiership player.

Based on selection preferences, roles and VFL roles in 2016, with Bernie and Salem in the midfield as you suggest, and with Hibberd and Melksham in the back 7 this is more or less how the list looks, with the / at depth:: Tall Backs [3]: T.Mac, O.Mac, Frost / Dunn, Garland Small Backs [4]: Jetta, (Hibberd), Hunt, Melksham / Harmes, Wagner, White, Michie, Smith, Lumumba Ruck [1]: Gawn / Spencer, Mitch King Mids: [9]: Viney, N. Jones, Tyson, Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, Stretch, Vince, Salem / Vandenberg, Bugg, M.Jones, ANB, Trengove, Grimes, Newton Tall Fwds [3]: Hogan, Watts, Weidemann / Pedersen, Hulett, Dawes, Max King Small fwds [2]: Kent, Garlett / Kennedy, Kennedy-Harris, Terlich

I'm not against it. I wonder about Hibberd, Hunt, Salem, Vince, Melksham, Harmes, Wagner and White all off HB. Sure 1 or 2 may be able to move into the midfield but we have Viney, Jones, Tyson, Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca, Stretch and Vandenberg in that rotation already - not sure who they are going to force out?

I agree with your position. I'd only trade those player to significantly improve our list. For example if we could acquire some midfield class, a forward-ruck, retain a pick around the 2nd round (assuming ours goes for Hibberd) then I would be open to a trade of Dunn, Garland, Kennedy-Harris, Neal-Bullen, Harmes or Wagner. I'm definitely not interested in turning them over for picks beyond 40, I'd like to see another year development into Kennedy-Harris, Neal-Bullen, Harmes and Wagner to see what they can deliver, but if you want to bring in quality then you have to be prepared to give something. If ANB could get a trade for Hartlett across the line, if Geelong was interested in Wagner (to replace Enright) for Vardy (if we thought his body was OK), if Brisbane would give their 3rd rounder 38ish for Dunn or Garland - edit: Brisbane have 28 and 47 (traded 38 to Geelong last year), maybe we could upgrade 44 into 28. If we did bring in some midfield class and a fwd-ruck then I think M.Jones and Pedersen would be delistable. Mitch White has played well in the VFL but he was fumbly at AFL level against St.Kilda in the extra pressure, he might make it, but with Hibberd and Melksham coming in and Salem coming back he's a long way down the HB pecking order.

If we can pick up a fwd-ruck then both Dawes and Pedersen can be delisted IMO. If not then we must retain Pedersen. Stuck with: Lumumba Delistable: Dawes, Newton, Terlich, Michie (R), Max King (R) FA leave: Grimes Possibly delistable depending on who comes in: Pedersen, M.Jones, White (R) Tradeable: Dunn, Garland, Kennedy-Harris, Neal-Bullen, Harmes, Wagner (R)

With Max and Mitch King both on our list it's hard to see much Spencer clogging going on.

I expect he'll have one somewhere if not at MFC for quite a few years. Valuable commodity capable depth ruckman. It's a specialist role. Dan Currie, you've probably never heard of him?

I'm guessing you don't have any forms of insurance? If Gawn got injured, without Jake, we would have been rucking Pedersen, Dawes and Watts. It's great that he played 0 games and Max is AA. He's still providing value even at Casey. It's clearly a concept beyond your comprehension.

The inclusion of Spencer in your team shows you have absolutely no idea about depth players and their necessity. No surprise you're wrong about M.Joness too.

Matt Jones played some good footy in the first 5 rounds up to his injury. Your preconceptions about him and gold fish memory seem to be preventing recall. He's no world beater but we need a capable squad of 30 and he qualifies.