burnthefushias

3 first rounders for Trac when two guys in his age bracket in Steele and Oliver were just traded for peanuts is a great outcome. Barring any trades from here we'll have had 8 first round selections between 2023-2026.

In the space of 72 hours Oliver goes from dodging Cleary at the airport to giving the same news outlet Cleary works for a headline to round out the first day of the 2025 trade period. The man is predictably unpredictable.

Steven May and a future 4th. Take it or leave it.

Humphries is of course the ideal situation for Melbourne but that is contingent on him willing to move to Melbourne and Gold Coast being willing to move him on. If it does come down to picks, maybe something like 6, 7 and 13 for Petracca, 26 + Spargo compensation pick to help them match academy bids is something to think about. Experts say its a weak draft but they're not always right. There is very likely a few gems available. Even players that could eventually play an important role alongside our core group could be invaluable down the line. Whatever happens, Melbourne should play hard ball with Gold Coast who thanks to their academy exceptions are recruiting young talent more than any other club in the competition and are now serious contenders going forward. We need to use all the leverage we have.

I'm sure Lamb and Taylor will be eager to replace McVee with 4 WA boys in this years draft so nothing to see here. On a serious note, if Moniz-Wakefield recovers well from his injury he can make that position his own next season.

Where did you find this stat?

What's with Geelong key forwards who have never been captain being selected as captain of the All-Australian team?

6: Hanks 5: Harris 4: Hore 3: Fitzsimon 2: Zanker 1: Paxman

6: Clayton Oliver 5: Christian Salem 4: Max Gawn 3: Harvey Langford 2: Bayley Fritsch 1: Trent Rivers

6: Gawn 5: Salem 4: Rivers 3: Petty 2: Viney 1: Van Rooyen

2 turnovers from Sparrow in the space of 10 seconds

He's classified as a non free agent because to be a restricted free agent you need to have spent eight years at your first club and be in the top 25% earners on the playing list, but it's a similar deal in terms of how a player navigates getting to another team when they're out of contract. The first option is negotiating a trade and if that isn't agreed upon between clubs, the non free agent can choose his contract length and dollar amount before nominating for either draft. So if McVee wants West Coast, we don't have a tremendous amount of leverage given their position in the pre-season draft.

6: Gawn 5: Petty (surprised I'm the first to give him votes) 4: Rivers 3: Langford 2: Oliver 1: Bowey

6: Gawn 5: Viney 4: Fritsch 3: Oliver 2: Petracca 1: Petty

We drop a 46 point lead to a bottom 4 team and the only changes we make are resting a 19 year old and omitting the sub, yet I'm not surprised.

6: Viney 5: Gawn 4: Rivers 3: Pickett 2: Fritsch 1: Oliver

That was genuinely sickening. In an 8 game span, St. Kildas only 2 wins are against Melbourne and one of those games involved the biggest 3 quarter time comeback in AFL history. What adjustments were made in the 4th quarter that were close to beneficial? Flood the 50 with numbers but leave multiple St. Kilda players unmarked while having no numbers in the corridor? Amateurish football, we let them play the game on their terms in attempting to simply defend a lead with 15 minutes to go and were punished thoroughly for it.

We're definitely better than our worst results this year but you could also argue we're not as good as our best results this year. Our worst results have been abysmal. We still have a reasonably strong nucleus of proven senior players, with some emerging guys, the issue is we're struggling to hide some of their fundamental weaknesses of the group (kicking skills, composure under pressure, goal-kicking accuracy) as the game continues to evolve with an added emphasis on those qualities. Structurally across all areas of the ground we are average and rely on individual brilliance too often. With several tweaks there as well as alterations positionally, we'd have less smashings against NM and GC, better results in Darwin and we could eek out these close games more regularly.

It's hard to beat the umpires but it's harder to beat an average side with below average execution. There were some good signs from some of the younger guys. Pickett is a generational talent, Langford is phenomenal, JVR is presenting and marking again and Jefferson dropped a few easy ones, but clunked a few good ones and worked himself into the game. Let them run the year out and with another pre-season they can both go up a level. Rivers and Langford need to be moved into the midfield, it seems like such an obvious move but it's clearly one that will not happen anytime soon, I think partly because Viney and Oliver lack positional versatility. Very strange that Petracca isn't playing in the forward line more with Pickett able to pick up the slack in the midfield. Having said that, the list is better than what we're dishing up, so I understand why people are disappointed. We need to upgrade Salem to kicking coach because he's one of the few guys (alongside the 19 year old Langford) who can consistently hit that 20 metre kick and the game is heading towards if you can't do that, you're going to struggle to win games.

6: Pickett 5: Fritsch 4: Salem 3: Gawn 2: Rivers 1: Oliver

6: Petracca 5: Langford 4: Melksham 3: Fritsch 2: McDonald 1: Van Rooyen

Jefferson showed some great forward craft for a young player, if he can put on a few kgs and convert more of his opportunities I really think there's a player there

JVR would kick more goals if he could kick it to himself inside 50

I liked his contested mark against Thilthorpe, who is 4th in the competition in contested marks and who himself is a good example that sometimes key forwards take time.

6: May 5: Turner 4: Melksham 3: Pickett 2: Rivers 1: Viney