old55

Yes, if the club of his choice offers a matching draft pick then he moves - simple, it doesn't matter what the reason is.

The player chooses the club they want to go to and the bidding is only with that club. WC have got the choice - make a bid to keep him and match the contract terms, if they refuse to meet the terms then they lose the player to the other club for nothing but the other club has to pay the terms - standard FA. It's WC choice - if they want to retain the player they have at least some leverage and if they fail they get some compensation. One pick for a player is better than none - very few players are worth multiple picks anyway. Trading would still happen for contracted players like the Johnstone deal and for players with less than 6 years.

I'm suggesting that if the acquiring club matches the current club's draft pick (forfeit) then it gains the player and trades the pick to the current club. The current club can only retain the player by matching the contract and making a (forfeit) draft pick bid that the acquiring club refuses to match. In the Judd case WC would make the bid a first round pick, Carlton would have to match that (with pick 3). That's a lot better than losing Judd for nothing which is what would happen under true FA. Judd would only stay at WC if Carlton refused to trade a 1st round pick to WC. WC have to offer the same contract terms as Carlton, say $6m over 5 years. In that case WC would have to forfeit (not give to Carlton) it's pick 13 to retain Judd. In most cases the player would go, which is fair, but some compensation would be paid.

I understand why the players want this. It would be good if some draft compensation for the club losing the player could be included. I know this means it's a trade and that's what we've got now. I'm thinking something along the Judd-lines where an out of contract player with 6 years experience nominates the club of his choice, that club then has to provide a draft pick to compensate. Not sure how to set the value of the pick - the way it worked for the F/S this year was good where the acquiring team had to provide their next available pick after other team's best bid. This would not work in the FA case because the point is that the player wants to end up at the club of his choice. The current club is really the alternative bidder, one option could be that the player's current club has to match the contract on offer from the preferred club and offer a pick they are prepared to forfeit (not trade - the preferred club should not benefit) to keep the player, then the preferred club has to match that pick in a trade to the current club. It's not ideal but at least there's some compensation.

Definite no. The Dogs should take him, they're trying to win the 2008 flag and couldn't get a KPF in trades.

David Neitz has been a great Melbourne player and captain but I think it's time for him to retire. He's had a great career - leading MFC games player, only MFC player to 300 games, leading MFC games captain, leading MFC goal kicker, Coleman medallist, All-Australian, best and fairest winner. There's nothing left for him to prove or achieve except a flag and we're not going to win the 2008 flag. 2008 would almost certainly be his last year anyway and with a refreshed footy department, the trade of Travis Johnstone and the retention of Russell Robertson we'll make faster progress minus the great man in 2008. Forward structure: David's a power forward who dictates the structure of our forward line. We need to move on from this and find a new post-Neitz structure. With the retention of Robbo we still have experienced goal-kicking capability. the absence of Neita will enable us to experiment much more with personnel and structure. Leadership: With TJ moving on we're signalling at least a partial rebuild. David has been a great leader bur it's time for others to step up. Personally I'd be happy to make Brad Green captain - I really think he'd rise to the occasion. But if we're uncertain about this and would like a year or two for someone to truly emerge then James McDonald would be a fine choice in 2008 a la Todd Viney when Garry Lyon retired. Neita's retirement would be all of a sudden and he wouldn't get a "farewell" but neither did Nathan Buckley ...

Interested in looking at Danny Meyer - top 10 pick with pace - could add something we're missing. What's your call on him goodoil?

Well that's just completely wrong - Craig Cameron is reponsible for recruiting and he's been there for quite a while and has a track record we can judge ... The following players were drafted (or traded) onto our current list after pick 25: B: Whelan Carroll Warnock HB: CJ Rivers Ferguson C: Buckley McDonald Bode HF: Garland Miller Davey F: Robertson Newton PJ R: Jamar Bruce Bartram I: Meesen Hughes Weetra

How hopeless in afl.com.au? Every year they stuff up the draft coverage and now "Trader Tracker" is way behind (no Callan or Davies trade up) and wrong (Dogs/Eagles/Crows picks) When I go to www.melbournefc.com.au I still get some pre-season story about Daniel Ward's gambling problems - does anyone else get this too? WTF is going on down there?

Yeah just read it that the Dogs on-trade 30 to the Eagles

What's on the afl site is not right - big f'ing surprise! It has the Dogs picks going to Adelaide and WC. Big Footy has this: Hudson and Pick 44 to Bulldogs Picks 30 and 38 to Adelaide Picks 30, 35 and 62 to Dogs Picks 22 and 54 to Eagles Pretty bad when the official site is trumped by BF! My interpretation is the Eagles wanted 22 and are not going to use the later pick (apparently a rule change allows this) The Dogs get 30 to give to the Crows and keep 35 rather than just hand over 22 to the Crows Yes it's a bit complex ...

I'm keen to have a 3rd round pick - a lot of players can be rated fairly evenly through the late 2nd round and 3rd round and we could easily pick up someone we really like who has been overlooked. If it takes CJ to do it I'm willing. The Saints may be reluctant to trade 3rd round after trading 2nd round to the Saints. I read on BF they were thinking 4th round 59 - that's a lot less helpful. Maybe they'd do a pick trade CJ + 53 for 43 + 59.

Maybe CAC didn't want to wait until the end of 2008 after TJ had a decent year in the last year of his contract and we were looking at a choice between 3 more years @ $400K or losing him in the PSD.

If St.Kilda is CJ's destination it might be tougher. They gave 26 for Schneider & Dempster and still have King to chase, although he may go through to the PSD.

Yeah it's a great post. It's very early days but the signs from Bailey and Connolly are very good - tough decisions are being made - gone are the bookends: Godfrey - the most committed but least talented and Johnstone - the most talented but the least committed.

Congratulations to CAC, Bailey and Connolly for having the balls to do this trade. TJ for a first rounder is a great result. I don't give a fat rat's clacker how TJ plays at Brisbane next year, that's directly related to the fact that he was traded.

He was F/S 3rd round at 36 and we're talking 3rd round 43 back.

WOOD TRADE BOOSTS MAGPIES RUCK STOCKS

Step 1 complete: Wood to Pies done for 14 http://www.afl.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=2...mp;newsId=52393 Now step 2 please!

1. CJ's done sfa 2. Your rating of CJ is based on the proposal that Dean Bailey can extract improvement 3. if Dean Bailey trades him for a 3rd rounder then that's what he thinks he is worth to us or less

Hudson for a 2nd rounder? Wood for 14 + R.Shaw? King for ? Meesen for 37 If he's any good we've paid under market value.

Looks like a good deal, we need a ruck replacement for White and PJ and Jamar are not setting the house on fire. If Meesen's better then we've got a ready-to-go option with 10 years of footy ahead of him. Hope we can also pick up another one in the draft.

14 this year or when he's out of contract next year - 3 year deal, PSD or take whatever we can get ...

I don't care what Johnstone does at Brisbane. It's what he doesn't do for us that is the point. I'll back Cameron over Johnstone every day - Jones, Bell, Bate, Dunn, Frawley, Petterd - I'll take any of them for Johnstone and that's effectively what we're getting.

FFS Jaded, if we trade him, Dean Bailey traded him - wake up and join the dots!