Its Time for Another

In the next couple of seasons it shouldn't be a problem but in about 3 years we are going to have to pay top $$ to Clarry and Trac, maybe Brayshaw by then. Plus obviously Jesse and Max will be on big coin now. Plus add in Lever. So we are going to have a pleasant salary cap management issue in a few years. But should be able next year to front end Gaff to solve RTA matching if necessary.

But if he says he's going to leave next year anyway then they should get on with it. Although if I was them, losing all those players this season I'd probably want him for the transition next year even if he left after that. Also as a RFA they could always match our offer and force us to trade anyway. As in Crows with Dangerfield. I reckon you get around that by offering something they can't match. Crows were lucky Danger went to Cats on quite a low $ contract compared to what he was worth on the open market.

They get compo but we give up nothing. I guess the main stinger for us in this argument is they don't know if compo will still be around and also compo is a risky business. You never really know what you are going to get.

It does make sense to be patient for one more year and pick him up for nothing as a free agent and hold on to our first rounder in a bumper draft. He would help us make finals next year but not more. By 2019 we'll be serious top 4 or more and he would be real icing on the cake especially for nothing.

After all some people's chin is their neck. Not casting any aspersions. Hope it didn't end your career.

Isn't it obvious. Risk of being hit by a cricket ball in exactly the right place on his neck while playing football. Happens all the time. Where have you been.

Deciding factors on Compo picks are age, amount of salary, length of contract. The rest is irrelevant. As good as he is, he isn't a $700k player and if we want him we won't be paying him that. Maybe $550-$600 but nowadays that's not putting him in the elite first round compo band. It would be end of first round or second round. Compo picks usually don't reflect the true value of a player. Eg Buddy going for pick 18. According to Roosy if you get the chance to trade the year before do it because compo picks aren't worth it. Picks are only worth what you can get for them. The interesting fact is that next year's draft is much better than this years. So pick 18 next year might get a better player than pick 10 this year.

I doubt it. No way will they get a first rounder. He'd have to be in the very top bracket of salary and he isn't that. Buddy got the biggest contract in history and he was only pick 18. I'd be guessing at best an end of first rounder which after Academy and FS picks would push it out to early 20's. Unless it is a second rounder in which case it would be early thirties.

Do you have to be as mad as those two to be allowed to attend?

We were still the 3rd youngest list this year. Injuries and the fixture forced a lot of players to play more game time than would have been ideal for their age and development. This is a likely reason for the fall off after the three consecutive 6 dayers. No amount of preparation can prepare you for so many injuries to key players. That will hammer any team. You also can't blame the conditioning staff for players who get played before they are fully fit when coming back from injury. That's down to the FD and the necessity of having to play underdone players. That necessity didn't work out too well. But that's a FD call not the conditioning staff. Having said all of that as you say it is a fact that we've had bad fall offs in the past three seasons. Is that due to conditioning or a list that still has too many junior players who haven't had the requisite amount of time to build a physical foundation for a full season. I don't know the answer but I had hoped this year wouldn't be like the last part of last season and alas it was. So clearly it has to be fixed. Hopefully we get a more reasonable fixture next season. Hard to comprehend it could be worse. More luck with injuries and a critical mass of players who can play a full 25-26 match season.

Not only that but that tackle saved the game for his team, the San Diego Chargers and as a result they got into the finals for something like the first time or the first time in many years. He became an overnight sensation and that tackle was broadcast all over the States. Set up his career for the next ten years.

The fixture was a big reason. Those 3 6 day breaks in a row were identified by the FD as a major challenge as soon as the fixture came out last year. I call it negligence by the AFL to make any team go through that fixture little own the 3rd youngest team in the league. When I saw that I thought this wasn't going to be our year for Finals. Especially with Dogs at Etihad and Weagles in Perth being the first two games. We had amazing wins then understandably hit the wall against Swans. How do the AFL make our only Friday Night blockbuster in years the 3rd 6 day break in a row coming back from Perth against a Grand Finalist team. Shocker. Then that was closely followed by 3 away games including Darwin. Add in coping with all the injuries pre during and after this period and it looks more understandable. Lets hope the AFL don't crucify us again next season. And please schedule the Darwin game the week before the bye.

You are right I was basing this on beating Pies which would mean we would have finished a game clear in 7th. If we couldn't beat them there wasn't much point being there. We wouldn't have beaten Port in the form we showed against Pies.

Truest comment was the ladder doesn't lie. Fact is on the form we had post round 14 we would have been killed by Sydney in the first final. Is that better than not playing finals at all? I suspect better not to limp in and get flogged. Think Richmond. I look at it and think where is the improvement going to come next year. I can tell you one area that if we'd fixed this year would have had us finishing at the top of the ladder. It's winning games we are favourites to win. Think Freo, Hawks North twice & Pies last round. It's also dominating in these games when we win eg almost losing to Lions when up by 35pts 5 minutes into the last qtr. Just falling in against Blues, Saints, Lions instead of building much needed percentage. Goodie's got a challenge to fix the psychology that is causing these losses. Good luck with that one. If we fix those performances our linear improvement will be signficant. Don't forget the poor performance in rd 15 against Swans was our 3rd 6 day break in a row. We had a string of injuries up to then with young players having to play much more game time than they are ready for. Think Petracca and Hunt. Plus we got injuries out of this period. Not surprising there was big fall off after that round. Come on AFL stop screwing us over. Don't give the 3rd youngest list the most 6 day breaks in the comp. "9". Schedule the AFL promoting Darwin game the week before the bye. Give us some blockbuster games. Keep doing incremental improvements to the list. Melksham, Hibberd, next Lever & Gaff.

I'm eating. I'm eating. And I must say it tastes alright. Long may he make me keep eating.

I've got an idea. Trade Trengove to Richmond for their first rounder. Trade that to Adelaide for Lever. Oh wait a minute........

I was surprised he was dropped last week. I wonder if he was dropped because he told the club he hasn't signed because he wants to leave so they suddenly aren't playing him. Or maybe it is a sign Lever is coming. Or maybe he's Santa Claus and the reindeers are coming. A player doesn't have to be OOC to be traded. They just have to agree to the trade.

He's in the extended squad. Ie hes in baby. Yee Haa

So pretty straight forward then. Give her brother #1.

But they didn't mention Hogan. Did the other 2 you talked to say it was him? How bad a form would it be culturally to ship a kid around who's had the year he's been through. And we thought Bailey sacking McDonald was bad.

You seem to be drawing a long bow here. You are making an assumption they are talking about him. Nothing they say indicates that. What else have you heard that makes you join the dots to think they are talking about him.

Fair enough.

Big difference between players not playing for a week because they are being freshened up and players not playing for an extended period because they are injured.

Who says they haven't been up there already this week doing a clinic or 2? I haven't read anything to say they aren't already up there. Or when they are coming back.

From memory,"blistering pace"would be a major overstatement. Also skills were overstated. His build and speed remind me of Billy Stretch who has great skills. He had a bad game last week but that's not representative. We don't need another Billy Stretch unless he goes back to SA in a Lever deal in which case Barry could be a like for like replacement. However, given the choice of an outside midfielder I'd take Kelly and/or Jones. Just saying!