KozzyCan

You're right of course. Neither will be playing at Melbourne in 2026.

It's a fine deal. It's a better offer than what Merrett and Curnow are getting offers for which says a lot.

He's gone mate

Get those picks right and the core of our list will be pretty well set up for a decade.

Ahh right sorry didn't understand what you meant.

The issue with frontloading is that if you give it to someone and their money drops off too much they might agitate to go elsewhere and get back on the bigger coin again.

So he's another Hunt. Fine by me.

Jiath isn't a world-beater but goes alright. We have lost a lot of players this off-season you can't just replace them all with kids from the draft. This isn't the same as picking up VFL players when we are in our flag window this is getting an AFL ready player to play a role during our rebuild.

Feels like Paul Roos era list management where we brought in cheapish players who were still AFL standard to fill an immediate need during our rebuild. Good get.

I don't believe this. Unless you're St.Kilda you wouldn't pursue someone and then realise you don't have the capspace to fit them in.

I genuinely want this ITK info and false hope to keep coming out all the way up until deadline tomorrow when we trade Petracca for picks.

I don't get the desire to move up the draft. Unless we're getting pick 1 even the top end looks pretty average.

Would be a solid inexpensive get. Yes please.

Source on him threatening legal action against the club? Seperating from his management came the following year. Also who cares if he seperates from his management? It's a totally private arrangement for him and has nothing to do with us. Was given permission to go to a training camp to try and regain his fitness after a horrific injury. Personally I have no issue with that. Both sides were leaking and trying to control the story. Neither Petracca nor the club came out of that situation looking good. Just ugly airing of dirty laundry that would never happen at a well-run club. Where do you think the 'Brand' commentary originated from? You've got to be joking re: Merrett. Essendon literally trotted out his teammates to bag him publicly and were leaking stories about him being disrespectful to the AFLW team. Then a story about the players getting ****ty with the CEO comes out during trade period that Merrett would have been acutely aware of. Come on now.

They can trade them to other clubs for future picks that would give them some decent currency next year.

If they do say no to Humphrey but are offering 7+8 I'd still take it. The club should only be concerned about doing the best deal for the club, I think moving Petracca on and getting some top talent in fits that MO.

I'm not sure what you mean? Your suggestion was that we pretend to walk away from the trade table and then come crawling back if they don't give us Humphrey. That means that they would call our bluff and know we are desperate to move Petracca on. So they would know that they can offer us less. If we are actually willing to pull the pin then we need to have the mettle to see that out for better or worse.

Ahh no, if we pretend to pull the pin and then come crawling back Gold Coast would offer us an even worse deal.

Petracca didn't request a trade last year either. In fact I'd go as far as saying that Humphrey's agitating this season is pretty much identical to how Petracca handled last year, except Petracca wasn't making social media posts about it. He did request a trade this year after the club gave him permission to explore his options. You just like Humphrey more because he's happy to play for Melbourne while Petracca no longer does.

If they played their cards right they could have come out of this trade period with Petracca, their academy kids and a bunch of future picks to do as they please with. They'll get Petracca and their academy kids but they're going to have an unhappy asset playing even less midfield time than he did this year and they'll more than likely be dealing with better positioned clubs next year who will have less to offer than we have. I don't see Humphrey having a break out year playing behind Rowell, Anderson, Miller and now Petracca. Not sure if you heard his manager just then but based off that interview Humphrey clearly wants out and was more than happy to come to us this year.

Sounded more filthy at the Suns than I was expecting but also pretty resigned to the fact that they won't be changing their mind. Dumb list management from the Suns. Humphrey's not going to be worth more in 12 months when he's even further back in the pecking order.

I think it can lead to more compassion from an employer if the reasons you need to leave in contract are more significant than just not vibing in a different state. Like if a players wife is suffering from PPD or they have a sick family member I think most clubs would allow them a move. If they just miss their family and friends then I think more clubs would try and convince them to stay and put some extra support around them.

If we were actually prepared to shut this down then we would be seeing reports like what Essendon have done with Merrett. Until then it looks very much like the club will settle for picks when all is said and done.

I'm pretty sure they have told us exactly that. This is a pr move.

It's not about him doing them a favour its about him saving some face after getting flatly denied his wish.