Trust The Process

Speaking of delusion, the club that does it best - Essendon - is shutting down the Merrett trade (or so they say). Time to tell Trac it ain't happening and get him back to Casey for a chat and talk through his positional role changes for 2026 😜 see if GC blinks.

Sounds like a Humphrey paradox (I think): Will only request a trade if he knows it can be guaranteed to happen, but to find out if it will happen he must request a trade.

I'd love to see us go with this: Humphrey, and we send them Trac and a pick (2nd rounder) Pick 7 and 8, we give them Trac (go find your extra AFL points for your cheat code rookies some other way). Suck eggs, we keep Trac. Maybe Trac's feeling better about a Clarry-less club vs a JUH-ful club anyway.

This is clearly unlikely, but could the club go back to Brand Trac and say 'start reaching out to other clubs, and make it public'? It could spook GC a bit. I know he's nominated GC, but so what? This is our biggest asset we've had in years (maybe Dogga equal). We are trading away arguably our best player. We should not settle for less than what we ask for. I also don't think we're being unreasonable either.

The cynic in me just can't see him nominating us, if he even does wish to come back home. We'd be the club that makes the most sense with obviously to trade for him, but he still has to be convinced by us. He could potentially be giving up the chance for multiple flags in the short term if he did so. Hawks are keen, but I hope there's enough noise from Merrett to deter him choosing them. Afl have created a monster with GC.

I think what I feel most disappointed by is the fact that Clarry loves club. I don't know if I could say the same about Trac now. I think I'd prefer a heart n soul player than a player half in half out. I do really just hope they challenged Oliver to add strings to his bow, and that he'll have a point to prove to the new coach. Or, he'll move clubs, then prove that point by tearing us a new one when we play him! In summary: Trac not invested, wants to leave, we probably want to (and possibly will) keep him. Oliver loves club, doesn't want to leave, we want to shift him on. May/Judd...NFI what's the go there.

I'm clearly missing something. I really don't get the fixation with wanting Clarry AND Trac off the books for salary cap reasons. Unless we have already locked in someone big in FA in the next 1-2 years (highly doubtful for myriad reasons) I don't see why this would be a strategic move by the club. I think we as supporters naturally don't like the thought of overpaying players, but you could flip it and think that for many years we were actually underpaying Clarry and Trac for their services. The narrative that Clarry is not giving us value in this very moment may be true given his output last two years, but he's earned the right for this pay. Compare this money to say a Silvagni who has done almost f... all for an age and yet is going to earn $950k just because there was a bidding war. If we want to clear space for a big gun then we are going to pay gigantic overs, such is the tax put on switching clubs in a competitive market. Bird in hand worth two in the bush, no? Am I thinking about this the wrong way?

I'd say we are stuck between a rock and a hard place, due to 1. Our trending form line (some will say we are in a little blip but many will say it'll get worse before it gets better) 2. FA, and connected to this, 3. Tasmania. Point 1: If we trade Trac for no player return we end up poorer in 2026, no matter what people say about his kicking. For a club our size, our best selling point is its potential for success ie. Greenshoots on field; trending up. If we can't show that, then I don't like our chances of getting people in short term. Pessimistic I know. Points 2 and 3: We aren't keen on this draft, and it is so compromised. 2026 I have no idea, but it feels a long wait! I'm confident though that even with salary cap space from say a Trac trade, noone will be taking that money if we end up poorer in 2026. Ask Norf how it's going for them. And then you have Tasmania ready to splash the bonus cash and take the Free Agents in the near future that we'd also be keen on. What I think was most concerning about this year was the majority of our playing list either flatlined or regressed. A new coach and style can change this quickly, which makes us a genuine enigma for next year. Guess this is all moot anyway because the AFL is so heavily manipulated that I don't even know which way is up anymore.

The Crows have said they won't move heaven and earth to get him (surely thats an ego [censored] to him?). We are saying he's got 4 more years, we don't want anything less than a great deal for us. We have also claimed (whether you believe it or not) that we expect to be playing finals next year. That is really only possible if we enhance our best 22, not diminish it. Already losing McVee to Freo (ffs, why is it only ever them?!). If we are serious about that, then the Trac deal with Adelaide won't happen, because Adelaide won't want to give up a best 22 player and players won't want to leave when they feel close to a premiership. Hence, I see an impasse here given we have demanded a player in return. The club copped a lot for long contracts to players. But now, see everyone else doing it? And it is for this exact reason: unless you allow it, you'll never get pushed off the ball during trade times. It's not playing hardball, it's just playing by the rules. The media doesn't like it because they need twists and changes to be able to write trashy articles. I'm not personally happy that he's wanting to jump (a sinking) ship despite all the demands he made at the end of last year. But, I do get it too. Just doesn't sit well with me. That is more a feeling I have with the AFL landscape generally. It's a 'I'm 100% committed...until it no longer suits me" sort of attitude. Lastly, people saying it'd be good to get his contract off the books...I don't wholly agree. We will quickly find ourselves in the Norf 'warchest' category where we have all this salary cap but noone wanting to jump ship to play for an unsuccessful club! I'm from SA, and they will treat him like a God, I can guarantee it. He'll be on every media platform here. It'll be sickening. But if he doesn't perform, they'll turn quick.

I'm no greater mind, and I'm really just hypothesising here, but I would like to think the new coach coming in would have a big say in who his assistants are. Pretty sure Roos did when he first came in, for example. In my opinion, an urgent coaching appointment/change needs to be around the fitness/strength and conditioning team. Two key - and often dismissed - ingredients to success are healthy lists and aerobically fit lists. In 2021 we ticked both boxes courtesy of Burgo (I miss that guy. And no surprises to see how well the Crows are going this year). After 2022-2023 I felt we were fit, but injured. 2024 neither boxes were ticked. And 2025 we seem to lack the fitness of other teams, but have had a good run with injuries. You can say injuries are good/bad luck, but I disagree. There's a reason Brisbane seem to always have great injury runs, and a reason why Essendon have just dumped their high performance coach. I'm certainly not saying to get rid of Selwyn, but I'd be looking to see how (if at all) we can beef up and improve that department to optimise fitness and health. I'd love to see our new senior coach prioritise this side of football.