Whispering_Jack

Hayden Young should be the major target if we keep pick 3.

I hate the entire idea of rating the trade period. Firstly, the trade period is only one part of a process of recruiting players which reaches its peak with the drafts in November and these days, doesn’t end until March. However, the real results won’t be felt for some time well into the future.

It seems that Carlton is prepared to pay Jack Martin $750,000.00 which is what he would be worth if he played at his best week in, week out, which hasn’t come remotely close to doing in the six years at Gold Coast. On that basis, I can understand Melbourne not being interested in Martin - he would come at a cost far beyond his worth.

Are we done yet? Certainly not. The potential trade of pick 3 for 6 plus is still on the cards. There’s the delisted free agency period coming up, possible involvement in the pre season draft and the drafts themselves. It would be ironic if we were looking at the pre season draft to make a play for Jack Martin given that Martin was originally drafted by the Suns as a compensation selection ahead of us when we picked up Jesse Hogan. Neither of them have really hit the heights expected of them when they were taken as 17 year olds.

INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER (at end of trade period) ROUND ONE 1. Gold Coast 2. Gold Coast 3. Melbourne 4. Adelaide (received from Carlton) 5. Sydney 6. Greater Western Sydney (received from St Kilda) 7. Fremantle 8. Melbourne (received from North Melbourne) 9. Carlton (received from Adelaide) 10. Fremantle (received from St Kilda) (received from Port Adelaide) 11. Hawthorn 12. Port Adelaide (received from St Kilda) (received from Greater Western Sydney) (received from Essendon) 13. Western Bulldogs 14. Geelong (received from West Coast) 15. Gold Coast (received from Brisbane) 16. Brisbane (received from Collingwood) 17. Geelong 18. Port Adelaide (received from St Kilda) (received from Greater Western Sydney) 19. Richmond ROUND TWO 20. Gold Coast 21. Brisbane (received from Gold Coast) 22. Fremantle (received from Melbourne) 23. Adelaide (received from Carlton) 24. Geelong (received from West Coast) (received from Sydney) 25. Sydney (received from St Kilda) 26. North Melbourne (received from Melbourne) (received from Fremantle) 27. North Melbourne 28. Adelaide 29. Port Adelaide 30. Hawthorn 31. Essendon 32. Sydney Swans (received from St Kilda) (received from Western Bulldogs) 33. Essendon (received from West Coast) 34. Brisbane 35. Collingwood 36. Geelong 37. Adelaide (received from Geelong) (received from Essendon) (received from Greater Western Sydney) 38. Richmond 39. Richmond (Brandon Ellis concession) 40. Greater Western Sydney (Adam Tomlinson concession) ROUND THREE 41. Richmond (received from Gold Coast) 42. Hawthorn (received from Melbourne) 43. Carlton 44. Sydney 45. Adelaide Crows (received from Western Bulldogs) (received from St Kilda) 46. West Coast (received from Brisbane) (received from Fremantle) 47. North Melbourne 48. Brisbane Lions (received from Sydney) (received from Carlton) Carlton (received from Adelaide) 49. Adelaide (Cameron Ellis-Yolmen concession) 50. North Melbourne (received from Melbourne) (received from Hawthorn) (received from Port Adelaide) 51. St Kilda (received from Western Bulldogs) (received from Hawthorn) 52. Brisbane (received from West Coast)(received from Essendon) 53. Western Bulldogs 54. Hawthorn (received from Carlton) (received from Sydney) (received from West Coast) 55. Brisbane 56. Richmond (received from St Kilda) (received from Sydney) (received from Collingwood) 57. Carlton (received from Essendon) (received from West Coast) (received from Geelong) 58. Fremantle (received from St Kilda) (received from Geelong) (received from Gold Coast (received from Richmond) ROUND FOUR 59. Greater Western Sydney (received from St Kilda) (received from Gold Coast) 60. Greater Western Sydney) 61. Essendon (received from Carlton) received from Hawthorn) (received from Melbourne) 62. Collingwood (received from Sydney) (received from Carlton) 63. Hawthorn (received from Carlton) (received from Sydney) 64. Essendon (received from Brisbane) (received from West Coast) (received from St Kilda) 65. Essendon (received from Fremantle) 66. Port Adelaide (received from North Melbourne) 67. Port Adelaide (received from Adelaide) 68. Port Adelaide 69. Fremantle (received from Collingwood) (received from Hawthorn) 70. Carlton (received from Essendon) 71. Port Adelaide (received from Western Bulldogs) 72. Brisbane (received from Essendon) (received from Carlton) (received from West Coast) 73. North Melbourne (received from Brisbane) 74. Collingwood 75. Richmond (received from Geelong) 76. Sydney (received from St Kilda) (received from Greater Western Sydney) 77. Richmond ROUND FIVE 78. Gold Coast 79. Fremantle (received from Melbourne) 80. Greater Western Sydney (received from Carlton) 81. Sydney 82. St Kilda 83. Fremantle 84. North Melbourne 85. Carlton (received from Adelaide) 86. Port Adelaide 87. Hawthorn 88. Essendon 89. Western Bulldogs 90. Gold Coast (received from West Coast) 91. West Coast (received from Brisbane) 92. Hawthorn (received from Collingwood) 93. Geelong 94. Greater Western Sydney 95. Richmond

PART EIGHT - THE HOGAN EFFECT If you were sitting with a group of Melbourne supporters at this exact time twelve months ago, it’s likely that the discussion would have centred around the imminent departure of Jesse Hogan to Fremantle. You were mostly convinced he was emotionally invested in returning home to continue his struggle with his foot issues, the mental scars of his year from hell when he lost his father and was diagnosed with cancer and that it was a useless struggle to attempt to keep him at Melbourne for the final year of his contract given that he might be lost for nothing in a year’s time. You were comforted by the thought that the team often played better without him, pointing to the number of important games won in his absence - the ground breaking win at Kardinia Park in 2015, the one against Hawthorn a year later and the two recent Friday night finals at the MCG. So the rationale was that he wouldn’t be missed and when the ultimate deal effectively delivered Steven May, Kade Kolodjashnij and a draft pick, you were satisfied that it would all be for the better and the team would continue on the same forward trajectory it had been followed since Paul Roos took up the coaching role back at the end of 2013. Well, that didn’t quite work out, did it? Steven May had a disjointed season and managed to eke out eight matches. Kolodjashnij, who was supposed to be clear of his concussion issues and expected to take a wing and fulfil an outside running role, was barely sighted on the field with just two appearances. And the key forwards upon who the club’s hopes rested and relied upon to maintain the high scoring of 2018 were hobbled by lack of form and then by injury. The club missed Hogan badly - he used to take the opposition’s best defender and with his engine, size and talent was capable of going down the ground and generating attack from the middle of the ground. His departure was felt all over the ground - not just in goals - and, along with the team’s overall fitness and injury woes was one of the major lack of the contributors to its steep decline in 2019. The way in which Melbourne fell from grace has defined how Josh Mahoney is going about reshaping his list in the trade and draft period. The club took aim firstly at its weaknesses on the outside by securing wingers Adam Tomlinson and Ed Langdon with a minimum of fuss. Today, it carried out a daring raid which netted draft pick 8 to add to pick 3 which it already holds. The Demons gave away next year’s first selection along with picks 26 and 50 but it now holds some big aces for the final day’s trading. Aces which might help snare a key position player and a crumbing forward to add to the arsenal. Perhaps, by the close of proceedings tomorrow, the club will be better primed to return to where it was before Jesse Hogan departed. Some other things happened today. St Kilda landed two of their targets, bringing in Dougal Howard and Paddy Ryder for an exchange of picks with Port Adelaide. And Saints midfielder Blake Acres has flown to Perth to meet with the Dockers and could be a part of the Brad Hill trade tomorrow. For the second year running, a former number one draft pick went to Hawthorn for bubkes (virtually nothing) when Jonathon Patton joined them from the Giants for the price of a future fourth-round draft pick. The Giants picked up Adelaide’s Sam Jacobs from Adelaide, also for a future fourth-round draft selection and the Crows’ Hugh Greenwood has been traded to the Gold Coast Suns in exchange for Gold Coast's future third and fourth round selections in the 2020 AFL Draft. Collingwood has brought in some ruck support for Brodie Grundy, trading for Sydney’s Darcy Cameron for pick 56, but they get back 62 for the one game ruckman. In other news, the weather bureau predicts ... DONE DEALS SATURDAY OCTOBER 5 • Brandon Ellis joins the Gold Coast Suns as a restricted free agent. Richmond receives a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #39). • Cam Ellis-Yolmen joins Brisbane as an unrestricted free agent. Adelaide receives a third-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #47). MONDAY OCTOBER 7 • Adam Tomlinson joins Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent. GWS Giants receive a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #40). WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9 • Tim Kelly joins the West Coast Eagles for picks 14, 24 and 37 in this year’s draft as well as the Eagles’ first-round pick in the 2020 AFL draft. The Eagles receive pick 57 and Geelong’s third round pick in 2020. THURSDAY OCTOBER 10 • St Kilda trade picks 6 and 59 to Greater Western Sydney and receive picks 12 and 18. FRIDAY OCTOBER 11 • Sam Frost joins Hawthorn for pick 50 and the Hawks’ future second rounder in a deal where the Demons also gave up picks 42, 61 and their future fourth round selection. • Ed Langdon joins Melbourne for picks 22 and 79 as well as the Demons’ future second round selection in a deal where Fremantle also gave up pick 26 and the Docker’s future fourth round pick. • The West Coast Eagles trade picks 52 and 64 to the Brisbane Lions for 46 and 91. MONDAY OCTOBER 14 • Eddie Betts rejoins the Blues after four years at the Crows in return for Carlton’s future fourth round pick. TUESDAY OCTOBER 15 • Melbourne trades picks 26, 50 and its future first round pick in return for North Melbourne’s pick 8. • Paddy Ryder and Dougal Howard, pick 10 and a future fourth round pick move across to St Kilda while Port Adelaide receive picks 12, 18 and a future third-round pick. • Jonathon Patton joins Hawthorn and the Giants get a future fourth round selection. • Sam Jacobs is now a Giant and Adelaide gets a future fourth round selection. • The Crows’ Hugh Greenwood goes to the Gold Coast Suns in exchange for their future third and fourth round picks. • Billy Frampton joins Adelaide and Port Adelaide gets a future fourth round selection. • Sydney’s Darcy Cameron and pick 62 are off to Collingwood in exchange for pick 56.

PART EIGHT - THE HOGAN EFFECT If you were sitting with a group of Melbourne supporters at this exact time twelve months ago, it’s likely that the discussion would have centred around the imminent departure of Jesse Hogan to Fremantle. You were mostly convinced he was emotionally invested in returning home to continue his struggle with his foot issues, the mental scars of his year from hell when he lost his father and was diagnosed with cancer and that it was a useless struggle to attempt to keep him at Melbourne for the final year of his contract given that he might be lost for nothing in a year’s time. You were comforted by the thought that the team often played better without him, pointing to the number of important games won in his absence - the ground breaking win at Kardinia Park in 2015, the one against Hawthorn a year later and the two recent Friday night finals at the MCG. So the rationale was that he wouldn’t be missed and when the ultimate deal effectively delivered Steven May, Kade Kolodjashnij and a draft pick, you were satisfied that it would all be for the better and the team would continue on the same forward trajectory it had been followed since Paul Roos took up the coaching role back at the end of 2013. Well, that didn’t quite work out, did it? Steven May had a disjointed season and managed to eke out eight matches. Kolodjashnij, who was supposed to be clear of his concussion issues and expected to take a wing and fulfil an outside running role, was barely sighted on the field with just two appearances. And the key forwards upon who the club’s hopes rested and relied upon to maintain the high scoring of 2018 were hobbled by lack of form and then by injury. The club missed Hogan badly - he used to take the opposition’s best defender and with his engine, size and talent was capable of going down the ground and generating attack from the middle of the ground. His departure was felt all over the ground - not just in goals - and, along with the team’s overall fitness and injury woes was one of the major lack of the contributors to its steep decline in 2019. The way in which Melbourne fell from grace has defined how Josh Mahoney is going about reshaping his list in the trade and draft period. The club took aim firstly at its weaknesses on the outside by securing wingers Adam Tomlinson and Ed Langdon with a minimum of fuss. Today, it carried out a daring raid which netted draft pick 8 to add to pick 3 which it already holds. The Demons gave away next year’s first selection along with picks 26 and 50 but it now holds some big aces for the final day’s trading. Aces which might help snare a key position player and a crumbing forward to add to the arsenal. Perhaps, by the close of proceedings tomorrow, the club will be better primed to return to where it was before Jesse Hogan departed. Some other things happened today. St Kilda landed two of their targets, bringing in Dougal Howard and Paddy Ryder for an exchange of picks with Port Adelaide. And Saints midfielder Blake Acres has flown to Perth to meet with the Dockers and could be a part of the Brad Hill trade tomorrow. For the second year running, a former number one draft pick went to Hawthorn for bubkes (virtually nothing) when Jonathon Patton joined them from the Giants for the price of a future fourth-round draft pick. The Giants picked up Adelaide’s Sam Jacobs from Adelaide, also for a future fourth-round draft selection and the Crows’ Hugh Greenwood has been traded to the Gold Coast Suns in exchange for Gold Coast's future third and fourth round selections in the 2020 AFL Draft. Collingwood has brought in some ruck support for Brodie Grundy, trading for Sydney’s Darcy Cameron for pick 56, but they get back 62 for the one game ruckman. In other news, the weather bureau predicts ... DONE DEALS SATURDAY OCTOBER 5 • Brandon Ellis joins the Gold Coast Suns as a restricted free agent. Richmond receives a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #39). • Cam Ellis-Yolmen joins Brisbane as an unrestricted free agent. Adelaide receives a third-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #47). MONDAY OCTOBER 7 • Adam Tomlinson joins Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent. GWS Giants receive a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #40). WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9 • Tim Kelly joins the West Coast Eagles for picks 14, 24 and 37 in this year’s draft as well as the Eagles’ first-round pick in the 2020 AFL draft. The Eagles receive pick 57 and Geelong’s third round pick in 2020. THURSDAY OCTOBER 10 • St Kilda trade picks 6 and 59 to Greater Western Sydney and receive picks 12 and 18. FRIDAY OCTOBER 11 • Sam Frost joins Hawthorn for pick 50 and the Hawks’ future second rounder in a deal where the Demons also gave up picks 42, 61 and their future fourth round selection. • Ed Langdon joins Melbourne for picks 22 and 79 as well as the Demons’ future second round selection in a deal where Fremantle also gave up pick 26 and the Docker’s future fourth round pick. • The West Coast Eagles trade picks 52 and 64 to the Brisbane Lions for 46 and 91. MONDAY OCTOBER 14 • Eddie Betts rejoins the Blues after four years at the Crows in return for Carlton’s future fourth round pick. TUESDAY OCTOBER 15 • Melbourne trades picks 26, 50 and its future first round pick in return for North Melbourne’s pick 8. • Paddy Ryder and Dougal Howard, pick 10 and a future fourth round pick move across to St Kilda while Port Adelaide receive picks 12, 18 and a future third-round pick. • Jonathon Patton joins Hawthorn and the Giants get a future fourth round selection. • Sam Jacobs is now a Giant and Adelaide gets a future fourth round selection. • The Crows’ Hugh Greenwood goes to the Gold Coast Suns in exchange for their future third and fourth round picks. • Billy Frampton joins Adelaide and Port Adelaide gets a future fourth round selection. • Sydney’s Darcy Cameron and pick 62 are off to Collingwood in exchange for pick 56.

The fact that we are holding a pick not much further down the line from pick 3 increases the logic of nominating Tom Green. If GWS want to be assured of getting two first round players, they have to have control of pick 3 so it makes sense for them to offer us 6 ++ and maybe another + to achieve that outcome.

It seems to me that this is way to squeeze GWS into agreeing to a favorable trade back to us of two draft picks and possibly a player for #3. It also sounds as if those later picks we've traded away in the deal will become irrelevant because we won't be using them.

St Kilda will probably sign him.

Not sure who’s bluffing but, whichever way the Daniher scenario plays out, there might well be some red faces down the track. Joe Daniher has been restricted to just 11 games out of a possible 45 in the past two seasons due to osteitis pubis, a groin complaint. Some of you might remember his brother Darcy Daniher who also played with the Bombers. According to his on line biography, Darcy retired from professional football in August 2011, at the age of 21 due to “ongoing groin problems” after playing his last game before he turned 20!

It’s very nice that Dododo is regarded as a tough negotiator but isn’t all of his bravado masking the fact that his club doesn’t seen to be doing much recruiting of its own? Virtually every player they’ve been associated with has nominated Carlton, St Kilda or someone else and the only decent players named in connection with them are the Swans’ Heeney and Blakey suggested by the Bombers as a trade for Daniher. But it was just a suggestion - they were too lazy to even approach them. Fair dinkum.

There’s taking risks and then there’s taking risks. For better or worse, the club adopted a no [censored] policy as part of Paul Roos’ plan to improve the culture of the club and that policy has more or less applied since and been successful. The question of whether we take players named in despatches as offending against that policy such as Sam Murray or Harley Bennell would depend very much on the assessments of our recruiters and based on a number of factors. I can see us possibly taking Murray based on what I’ve heard and read about him but Bennell seems to be a repeat offender making the risk far too high to warrant a departure from the policy. There are other risks that may or may not been worth taking. Is it worth taking the short term and immediate route with someone like Josh Jenkins as a third tall on the forward line or do we draft a young key forward who might take a few years to develop if at all? The sort of risk taking I like the most is the creative risk like the one Adelaide took when it used a first round pick to draft Patrick Dangerfield, a country schoolboy footballer who was always going to stay in Victoria to complete his schooling in his first year as an AFL player. The comparison this year is Brodie Kemp, a player who could be anything, but will most likely not play in 2020 due to ACL surgery. That’s a risk I would like to see us taking.

Yes - he’s definitely under pressure and the way he performs will have an important influence on whether and how far the team can go in 2020. Why injury-prone defender is the ‘most under pressure’ Demon in 2020

There was some mention in the early stages that we might make a play for Jack Gunston as a possible swap for Sam Frost. The door was closed on that rather swiftly. Perhaps we might turn our attention to his cousin Norman?

Posters are assuming that this comment refers to the two clubs negotiating over Melbourne’s draft pick #3. That may or may not be the case - they could have been negotiating around a possible swap of picks later in the draft which might have fallen over once the Frost/Langdon trades were finalised. I’m still convinced that at some point, the Demons and GWS will sit down and discuss a mutually beneficial trade for our pick 3.

Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph:- “For all those people saying Tom Lynch has ruined free agency, we saw (Brandon) Ellis and (Adam) Tomlinson go from two teams in Grand Finals to effectively basket-case teams,” he said on Fox Footy’s Trading Day. The AFL free agents still on the market and available for cheap I know what he’s trying to say but if that doesn’t give the Melbourne Football Club the ammunition to attack the coming season then nothing will.

One of the tests facing Melbourne’s coaching panel is how it will bring on the development of the club’s as yet untried youngsters such as Bedford, Bradtke, Jordan and Nietschke as well as those like Chandler and Sparrow who has a brief taste at the highest level. If we can get a couple of top level footballers out of this group, it will be a major achievement on their part because none of them came together the club with the big reputations of the high draft picks.

INDICATIVE DRAFT ORDER (at end of first week of trades) ROUND ONE 1. Gold Coast 2. Gold Coast 3. Melbourne 4. Adelaide (received from Carlton) 5. Sydney 6. Greater Western Sydney (received from St Kilda) 7. Fremantle 8. North Melbourne 9. Carlton (received from Adelaide) 10. Port Adelaide 11. Hawthorn 12. St Kilda (received from Greater Western Sydney) (received from Essendon) 13. Western Bulldogs 14. Geelong (received from West Coast) 15. Gold Coast (received from Brisbane) 16. Brisbane (received from Collingwood) 17. Geelong 18. St Kilda (received from Greater Western Sydney) 19. Richmond ROUND TWO 20. Gold Coast 21. Brisbane (received from Gold Coast) 22. Fremantle (received from Melbourne) 23. Adelaide (received from Carlton) 24. Geelong (received from West Coast) (received from Sydney) 25. Sydney (received from St Kilda) 26. Melbourne (received from Fremantle) 27. North Melbourne 28. Adelaide 29. Port Adelaide 30. Hawthorn 31. Essendon 32. Western Bulldogs 33. Essendon (received from West Coast) 34. Brisbane 35. Collingwood 36. Geelong 37. Geelong (received from Essendon) (received from Greater Western Sydney) 38. Richmond 39. Richmond (Brandon Ellis concession) Greater Western Sydney (Adam Tomlinson concession) ROUND THREE 41. Richmond (received from Gold Coast) 42. Hawthorn (received from Melbourne) 43. Carlton 44. Sydney 45. Western Bulldogs (received from St Kilda) 46. West Coast (received from Brisbane) (received from Fremantle) 47. North Melbourne 48. Adelaide (Cameron Ellis-Yolmen concession) 49. Carlton (received from Adelaide) 50. Melbourne (received from Hawthorn) (received from Port Adelaide) 51. Western Bulldogs (received from Hawthorn) 52. Brisbane (received from West Coast)(received from Essendon) 53. Western Bulldogs 54. Sydney (received from West Coast) 55. Brisbane Brisbane (received from Collingwood) 57. Essendon (received from West Coast) (received from Geelong) 58. Gold Coast (received from Richmond) ROUND FOUR Greater Western Sydney (received from St Kilda) (received from Gold Coast) 60. Greater Western Sydney Hawthorn (received from Melbourne) 62. Sydney (received from Carlton) 63. Sydney 64. Brisbane (received from West Coast) (received from St Kilda) 65. Essendon (received from Fremantle) 66. Port Adelaide (received from North Melbourne) 67. Port Adelaide (received from Adelaide) 68. Port Adelaide 69. Collingwood (received from Hawthorn) 70. Essendon 71. Port Adelaide (received from Western Bulldogs) 72. West Coast 73. North Melbourne (received from Brisbane) 74. Collingwood 75. Richmond (received from Geelong) 76. Carlton (received from Greater Western Sydney) 77. Richmond ROUND FIVE 78. Gold Coast 79. Fremantle (received from Melbourne) 80. Greater Western Sydney (received from Carlton) 81. Sydney 82. St Kilda 83. Fremantle 84. North Melbourne 85. Carlton (received from Adelaide) 86. Port Adelaide 87. Hawthorn 88. Essendon 89. Western Bulldogs 90. Gold Coast (received from West Coast) 91. West Coast (received from Brisbane) 92. Hawthorn (received from Collingwood) 93. Geelong 94. Greater Western Sydney 95. Richmond

PART FIVE - THE ART OF THE DEAL The last person one would expect to enter onto the trade stage would have to be The Trumpster but that is exactly what transpired today when St Kilda traded its lynchpin draft selection number 6, expected to be crucial in helping it secure the Dockers’ wantaway winger Bradley Hill. Fremantle was apparently asking for the pick and a lot more but, in a maneuver right out of the Donald ‘Art of the Deal’ Trump rulebook, the Saints countered by ‘splitting’ that selection, throwing in pick 59 and, in return, they gained picks 12 and 18 from Greater Western Sydney. Now, if the Dockers want to continue with a trade for Hill, they will have to be content with 12 and some more for him - it’s unlikely that they will finish with a top-10 selection as part of the deal. Whatever happens, this trade has all the hallmarks of one day being recognised as a mark of trading genius or a classic blunder. Time will tell. Another strange occurrence centred around Orazio Fantasia, who was set to return home amid interest from Port Adelaide. The Bomber forward reportedly engaged a South Australian agent yesterday to help him sort out the move, but by the end of the day, it was announced that he will remain a Bomber. Meanwhile, the Demons are getting closer to securing Freo’s Ed Langdon. Reports suggest, the club’s second round pick will be involved in the exchange. That said, the day ended without a player trade to add to yesterday’s epic Tim Kelly move across the Nullarbor to the West Coast Eagles. The end of the day also saw the shutting of the free agency window with one final deal - the move of Hawthorn’s unrestricted free agent multiple premiership player, Grant Birchall, to the Brisbane Lions. This one won’t involve any reward for his old club because is there’s no compensation available under the AFL scale. This left St Kilda's Jack Newnes as the highest-profile free agent on the shelf, along with Hawthorn premiership pair Ryan Schoenmakers and Paul Puopolo and a handful of others. With the weekend approaching, there’s a lot of work left to do and recruiters and player managers were seen scurrying into second hand bookshops seeking out the contents of the remainder bins and looking for copies of Trump’s classic tome about the art of dealing. DONE DEALS SATURDAY OCTOBER 5 • Brandon Ellis joins the Gold Coast Suns as a restricted free agent. Richmond receives a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #39). • Cam Ellis-Yolmen joins Brisbane as an unrestricted free agent. Adelaide receives a third-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #47). MONDAY OCTOBER 7 • Adam Tomlinson joins Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent. GWS Giants receive a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #40). WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9 • Tim Kelly joins the West Coast Eagles for picks 14, 24 and 37 in this year’s draft as well as the Eagles’ first-round pick in the 2020 AFL draft. The Eagles receive pick 57 and Geelong’s third round pick in 2020. THURSDAY OCTOBER 10 • St Kilda trade picks 6 and 59 to Greater Western Sydney and receive picks 12 and18. • Hawthorn’s Grant Birchall leaves for the Brisbane Lions as an unrestricted free agent. Hawthorn will not receive any compensation.

PART FIVE - THE ART OF THE DEAL The last person one would expect to enter onto the trade stage would have to be The Trumpster but that is exactly what transpired today when St Kilda traded its lynchpin draft selection number 6, expected to be crucial in helping it secure the Dockers’ wantaway winger Bradley Hill. Fremantle was apparently asking for the pick and a lot more but, in a maneuver right out of the Donald ‘Art of the Deal’ Trump rulebook, the Saints countered by ‘splitting’ that selection, throwing in pick 59 and, in return, they gained picks 12 and 18 from Greater Western Sydney. Now, if the Dockers want to continue with a trade for Hill, they will have to be content with 12 and some more for him - it’s unlikely that they will finish with a top-10 selection as part of the deal. Whatever happens, this trade has all the hallmarks of one day being recognised as a mark of trading genius or a classic blunder. Time will tell. Another strange occurrence centred around Orazio Fantasia, who was set to return home amid interest from Port Adelaide. The Bomber forward reportedly engaged a South Australian agent yesterday to help him sort out the move, but by the end of the day, it was announced that he will remain a Bomber. Meanwhile, the Demons are getting closer to securing Freo’s Ed Langdon. Reports suggest, the club’s second round pick will be involved in the exchange. That said, the day ended without a player trade to add to yesterday’s epic Tim Kelly move across the Nullarbor to the West Coast Eagles. The end of the day also saw the shutting of the free agency window with one final deal - the move of Hawthorn’s unrestricted free agent multiple premiership player, Grant Birchall, to the Brisbane Lions. This one won’t involve any reward for his old club because is there’s no compensation available under the AFL scale. This left St Kilda's Jack Newnes as the highest-profile free agent on the shelf, along with Hawthorn premiership pair Ryan Schoenmakers and Paul Puopolo and a handful of others. With the weekend approaching, there’s a lot of work left to do and recruiters and player managers were seen scurrying into second hand bookshops seeking out the contents of the remainder bins and looking for copies of Trump’s classic tome about the art of dealing. DONE DEALS SATURDAY OCTOBER 5 • Brandon Ellis joins the Gold Coast Suns as a restricted free agent. Richmond receives a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #39). • Cam Ellis-Yolmen joins Brisbane as an unrestricted free agent. Adelaide receives a third-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #47). MONDAY OCTOBER 7 • Adam Tomlinson joins Melbourne as an unrestricted free agent. GWS Giants receive a second-round draft pick as compensation (at the time, #40). WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 9 • Tim Kelly joins the West Coast Eagles for picks 14, 24 and 37 in this year’s draft as well as the Eagles’ first-round pick in the 2020 AFL draft. The Eagles receive pick 57 and Geelong’s third round pick in 2020. THURSDAY OCTOBER 10 • St Kilda trade picks 6 and 59 to Greater Western Sydney and receive picks 12 and18. • Hawthorn’s Grant Birchall leaves for the Brisbane Lions as an unrestricted free agent. Hawthorn will not receive any compensation.

True, but it means that GWS are likely to deal with us for the pick at some stage, probably late in the trade period when it’s clear as to aces they’re holding to do a swap of picks/players.

Strange as it may seem, I was just reading this profile about him from respected draft watcher Knightmare and I like what I’m reading. He’s the grandson of Michael Green, former Tiger premiership ruckman who studied law with me at Melbourne Uni. AFL Draft Wrap: Shades of Patrick Cripps in GWS academy prospect Thomas Green “Green possesses an imposing physical profile at 190cm, 88kg and provides a similar impact around the ball to Patrick Cripps.” Just wondering if there’s any vision around because it would be tempting to have a crack at this bloke?

Bruce has pretty much committed himself to the Dogs. It would be a tough gig trying to extract him out of that commitment (and please don't raise J. Elliott because not everyone in the world is J Elliott).

If we can leave Bonar out of this and get someone of the type we need instead (or a suitable pick) it would be so much better.