Redleg

Clark for a start. But yes you are correct. Let me be clear on this, we did all we could have done to get Clark and there is nor blame on us whatsoever.

One funny thing today. An old lady Blues supporter rang up and asked if they were trading Santa O'Hamlin.

But our history of buying players is poor and when we offer more money other factors come into play.

Spoke to a Saints supporter today who is a huge wrap for Walsh. Says Lyon never gave him a go. Lisle appears likely to stay a Hawk but we may make a bigger play for one or both as they would not cost much in trade. Get the feeling they are fairly keen to get that extra big body into our forward line given the offer they made for Clark who is not a true forward, but rather a ruck resting forward.

Ho hum. Half a day left, not expecting anything. Port at the bottom of the ladder and a basket case picks up their ruckman and will get Ebert. We can't seem to do any deal whatsoever. Oh well "we still have our draft picks" so all is not lost. If nothing happens I expect that to be our mantra.

Agree.

Obviously not if they are asking those questions about him. We would already know the answers.

I can live with the "mediocre" description as until you consistently challenge for a flag or win one you are just that. I do resent the term " stand for nothing". The AFL used it a little while ago and it is offensive. We are the oldest club with a number of flags and great players . We have major involvement in community matters like Cancer week games etc. We are in the black, in new facilities, with a good list, good coaching panel, well sponsored with more to come, have assets etc. What do other clubs stand for? If the criteria is winning flags as meaning you stand for something every club outside the premier stands for nothing each year. What do the Pies stand for? They have had several unsavoury incidents in the last couple of years. Obviously they are to be looked up to. Also the Saints , look at their last couple of years, a great culture. Denham however would say these clubs stand for something. I hope after trade week our admin discuss this with him and indicate in strong language that this term is offensive and we are greatly offended by it. An apology would be nice but I wouldn't expect one from a journo who stands for nothing.

Missed most of KB's first hour today with Denham, The Australian senior football writer, but when I started listening at about 9.50 AM, KB said to Denham "you really hate Melbourne don't you". Not sure what preceeded this so would be grateful to anyone who can shed light on it. When pressed after denying he hated MFC there was mention by KB of some resentment I think about MFC not selecting Denham as a player or something like that. Denham then said " I don't like the way they do business". Can anyone shed some light on this?

Why would they give him a medical now if they were not interested in trading. Clearly they want to give a lower pick for him. Easy team to trade with Tim H?

Agree and disagree. Agree Lions will cop 16 and 20 if it gets to the death knell. They have said 12 will do the deal I believe, especially as they will then have 3 picks in first round early and not lose him for nothing and it sticks it up Freo, who got into him during the year.

I see this turning into a poker hand. If Clark insists on going home then Lions are in a Luke Ball situation. If that happens it is a disaster for them following Fev and the GC fallout. IMO they will cave in, in the last hour if Clark holds out. If it gets to that I would as I said earlier offer 12 to Freo for 16 & 20 and get our position improved. At least we would have gained something from the attempt. If Lions do call Freo's bluff and he goes into PSD there is no guarantee he will get through to us, he well might, but we will then have a player coming to us totally against his will. That is not a great position to be in when he is on a massive contract. Don't say he is a professional and will play wherever, attitude will be a major problem. I think we should continue to chase Walsh as a backup as he won't be expensive and we have salary cap room. Could then offload the 3 who want to leave. If unsuccessful with Clark I would fill salary cap by frontloading even more and get in position to launch against GC and GWS or a star player who comes out of contract in the next year or two.

Maybe we shouldn't have said that North are easy to deal with. Maybe they took it the wrong way. Maybe they know they can get him for nothing in the Pre Season Draft.

Good point. They would want a pick most likely.

Can't say we haven't gone all out for Clark, with a top contract offer, a good pick offered and Coach, Ceo, List Manager and Lions former assistant Coach all flying up yesterday to make the pitch in person. I could not criticise the club on its efforts on this deal if we fail.

We probably wouldn't lose too much if we offered what we get for Maric or take that pick from Dogs for Bate and use it to Saints. A straight swap for either of our boys is worth a chance to see if the kid can improve. Maybe we should offer Bate to Saints as a swap.

How do you get a first round for a bloke who played VFL all year? I could understand higher 2nd round or upgrade. That said we are obviously prepared to deal so we have time to sort it out.

How is our offer of pick 12 and compo pick next year, that would be mid first round, not a mile ahead of the Crows offer? Crows got a player as well. We ( 12 ) are two spots , really one, as GWS have next pick behind Crows ( 10 ) in ND this year, but half a round 8-9 spots ahead of Crows end of first round pick in next years superdraft. I smell a rat.

Is he separated from his wife/girlfriend? If so and she lives in Perth with his child and he wants to be close to the child that will make it tough.

No hope.

What about offering one of our compo picks and keeping pick 12 this year and throwing in the Queensland born Spencer to solve their ruck problem and getting Lions 2nd round pick back. Alternatively offer Spencer and 12 for their 2nd pick back.

If Clark says no to us and insists he wants to go home or will stay at Lions I would offer our pick 12 to Freo for 16 and 20. I don't think dropping 4 spots would kill us and then we have another pick 4 spots later. I am sure Freo would do it in a heartbeat to get Clark.

Forgot to say that the deal could be sweetened with Warnock.

Obviously if they can get Clark the need for Lisle is gone. Tommy Walsh maybe, if for nothing. Clark can ruck and play forward and can kick goals. If he decides to come to us and that is the big "if", from what Wallace said, it sounds like we will get him as the Lions are wanting to deal with us. The other factor is that the club that set this up Freo can be thwarted and the Lions show that they are not pushovers.

Bob no disagreement that the guys in charge have all the info and should know what they are doing. My point is only that here we have the person they know whereas next year it is a guess as to who will be there at their picks. If it goes pear shaped it would be very disappointing. On the other hand they may pull off a coup getting 2 very good players and we will say in a couple of years how smart they were. Most of this hysteria is on the back of our big hope being pinched, something that has not happened to others, a first pick in the ND and our PP to boot. To not use what we got well would be extremely disappointing to all Dees fans.I do trust them and hope they are smarter than many give them credit for. It has been an unpleasnat chapter for all of us and the thought of 1 of these two boys coming to us would have lifted spirits immediately with anticiaption. Now it looks as though we go through next season and hope we get it right. You will agree with me that if we end up with say 2 Luke Molans it would be an unmitigated disaster for us. Anyway lets see what we can do in the next few days. The problem with all of this is we are all too passionate about our club and hurt at any bad news or failure on and off the field.