The Taciturn Demon

I might be incredibly naive, but I understand getting him off the financial and cultural books and accepting that we won't get much in return. I also understand paying a huge proportion of his remaining contract to make his acquisition more attractive to another club. I don't understand doing both.

What are those assets?

Melk was a bad choice.

Keen on the Demons or keen on a 2025 return to Victoria?

Hello.

Definitely.

This is it. If "head turner" turns out to be some ultimately double digit picks in a poor draft, we're either kidding ourselves or banking on a Jason Taylor miracle.

I totally agree. But not just a solid average footballer.

Me neither... ...unless Taylor is extremely confident that at, say, 6 and 7, which will become 9 and 11 or 10 and 12, he's able to get two players he genuinely loves... ...or... ...we can turn whatever picks we get into at least one well-above-average mature player.

Exactly. Fremantle are very good at laughing in faces and demanding the world without provocation.

Me too. "We simply won't trade him" followed next year by "There may not be a spot for him on our list" is incredibly cruel. There's a lot of howling about peripheral stuff during trade week. Here's a bloke being treated like garbage and the 'industry' just shrugs.

I'm not sure why I'm doing this, because I find Kane Cornes about as insightful and thoughtful as a parrot trained to make fart noises, but even if this were a good comparison (age and position make it anything but), Richmond got 6 AND 23 in a draft widely considered to be exceptional beforehand (and already proving so after the fact). Six and 17 being "more than fair" is a ludicrous statement on its own, but MORE ludicrous if you're using Rioli in '24 as the yardstick.

Let's hope, at the end, we're not lying on a table eviscerated and emasculated.

I do too. Yes, Petracca has become a little bit iffy in certain contests - but I think that got a bit overdone in 2025 and didn't massively affect his football. His balance and ability to extract a ball from a contest or scrimmage, and then use his power to break into space, is as good as it ever was, which is absolutely first rate. His kicking is a problem, but I bet it's not anywhere near as bad a problem in an up-and-about Gold Coast side as it was in a flat, in-a-rut Melbourne side. I REALLY want us to get Humphrey in this trade, but I don't expect it to instantly look like a stunning result for us.

Exactly. If that's something he values, there's a hardly a better option than the club that's about to lose a first-picked pure midfielder and midfielder-forward, and will very soon have to reckon with another staple pure midfielder's decline.

Most definitely. But Humphrey would almost certainly find himself getting even less time in the middle in this situation. If that's a concern for him, Melbourne begins to make more sense.

That's interesting. Would have thought money was really the only thing we had to offer apart from being based in Victoria and a very clear way for the trade to happen.

Very good to hear.

Just heard the Adelaide list bloke say they certainly wouldn't trade their first pick for Callum Ah Chee, which is Pick 15 and will be significantly lower after the academy nonsense. Am I overrating him or is Pick 15 (down to the low teens) entirely fair?

If we're still really keen on him (and our interest isn't just born of a desperate desire to get a player for Petracca), like how he's progressed since his draft year, and he fits in well with how King sees us playing, we absolutely should.

I think that's fair - if the prime motivation is a move back home plus success, Melbourne in 2026 is a hard sell. My hope is that, as with Lever, those at the Demons who loved Humphrey in his draft year, stayed in touch with him. Obviously, that doesn't guarantee anything, but at the very least it demonstrates how keen we were and remain, and means we're not suddenly contacting him out of the blue at a moment of convenience for us. From there, we need to hope the pragmatism of his manager kicks in and he's told - "Melbourne love you, will pay you extremely well, and have the trade capital to make this happen easily right now."

We're about to have an enormous release of pressure on the salary cap.

He really is. We should tell Humphrey you can: A) Come to Melbourne and play under a solid citizen. B) Stay at Gold Coast and play under a sovereign citizen.

Stupid money is fine as long as the decision makers hold him in high regard.

Two years. That's good. He's as honest as a footballer can be. If his body's in OK nick, this is a good signing.