Ron Burgundy

Even though it was filmed at Oktoberfest, and the substance is apparently legal, it didn’t look like his first rodeo. Not a good look. Not remotely. Whovever filmed the footage and then uploaded it, should be exited from Watts’ inner sanctum. Cannot be a close mate. And that Watts is described as an ‘ex-Melbourne football player’ in some media reports, ironically serves to demonstrate the professionalism of the club these days. We would’ve been putting a 5 year extension under his nose for that a decade ago ...

Quality post. I’m pleased that certain posters here are not Magistrates. It’d make justice in Dodge City in the 1870s look positively enlightened.

I couldn’t find an existing thread on this - I’m simply interested in hearing everyone’s views. What’s the likely composition of this year’s leadership group? Viney and Jones as Co-Captains? Gawn, Lewis, T Mac, Lever and May in the mix for other positions?

“Weideman falls out of contract at the end of 2019 and although he's not in any rush to discuss an extension, he has made it clear that he wants to stay with the Demons in a long-term capacity. "I love the Dees so I'm hoping we can work something out which I'm sure will happen in the future," Weideman said.” It’s nice to read comments like this from a required player in the last year of his contract. Hogan, on the other hand, was always slightly equivocal.

There are absolutely rumours doing the rounds. They’ve just not been posted here. Hogan was probably a required player, but not on any terms - I expect when the opportunity presented itself for the club to secure Steven May for him, the club then immediately became super keen to make this happen. And it did.

We learn from our mistakes of 2018, and have a good run with injuries. The Steven May trade proves to be a super astute decision. We make the Grand Final, and go in as mild favourites. And then cruelly lose. To Richmond. A critical life event, for me at least - as I finally turn to Jesus to get me through the rest of my life. This marks the start of a wonderful life journey that comes to an abrupt end on the morning of round 1, 2020. And then it all starts again.

Possibly. Gotta trust the club on this - they seem to get everything right these days.

Gotta be 5 years, surely.

I trust Taylor absolutely on this. Seems like a likely lad. That said, I'm interested to know why Collingwood has seemingly overlooked him (2 successive VFL B&Fs) given that their defensive stocks are not as good as ours.

I love scotch.

I genuinely love this bloke. From nowhere, he’s virtually my favourite Demon. Such a good pick up. I can’t believe how good this trade period was - simply par excellence. Competence is such an attractive trait - thanks Josh, Todd, and JT.

I just watched the interview with Steven May on the club’s website. He is already a favourite of mine. I never heard Jesse express that type of enthusiasm or excitement about the club. I found it super refreshing to hear it from May though. Hogan will be a very good player for Freo, but I’m very happy we have May now. I expect he’ll become a club legend. The Dees secured a cracking trade result here.

In fact, a Dons’ supporter friend of mine was whinging about how good the Hawks’ trade period has been, saying “they’ll win the flag next year”. My response was “are you serious, have you seen how good our trade period was?! Our list is now perfect.” He just shook his head and laughed. But I reckon it is. I think the club deserves more credit than we’ve received to date. We simply nailed it. Everyone gets dazzled by brand name player trades, and seems not to play sufficient credit to the trades like Vince, Hibberd, Melksham, Garlett, Cross, Preuss, and KK. It’s about how trades actually improve a club’s list that is the critical element in determining the success or otherwise of a trade period, surely?

Much like the Jeffy Garlett ‘trade’ several years ago, KK will turn out to be an absolute gift. Thank you GC Suns. I’m glad that we, and not some mongrel club like the Hawks or the Blues, have been a clear beneficiary of the talent exodus from this Suns this year. Really excited about May and KK. We are so good at identifying, and then trading in, experienced players these days.

AFL 360 will be interesting viewing next year. We should get some insight into his intentions throughout the season. I suspect Lewis will want at least another year after this contract ends - and, right now, he is in our best 22 (despite having an absolute shocker in the preliminary final, which was seemingly not due to lack of fitness, but due to playing like an inexperienced TAC Cup player - bizarre really). I’m not writing off Lewis for 2020 just yet.

And, for the record, I did not ever love Sam May.

Yep, Sam May was a mate of mine from uni - must’ve typed it without thinking. He’s a very different dude to Steven May who is about to become an MFC club legend.

Yep, that’s interesting. If true, I wonder if Dean Kent leaving to go to the Saints represented the loss of a mate in circumstances where he was already feeling a bit isolated, and he just thought - it’s time. I heard (again hearsay to the power of the distance between the Earth and the Sun) that the leadership group wasn’t entirely happy with him. Added to this, a mate who’s wife is best friends with the wife of an absolute club legend (former player) told me that Hogan’s name was involved in trade discussions last year - I didn’t post it at the time because I couldn’t be bothered dealing with the wrath of a few here. Anyway - whatever the reasons, he’s now gone. As I said, he seems like a decent fellow - but, as an observer from afar, Hogan’s relationship with the club always had an awkwardness about it. I think I’m going to love Sam May.

Good luck to him - seems like a decent fellow, but I’m bloody stoked that we managed to land Sam May et al. As an aside, I can’t recall Hogan ever saying words to this effect whilst at the Demons: “I’m just excited to get into it but it kind of hasn’t sunk in just yet. “But I can’t wait to pull on the jersey and run out for the first time - hopefully, for the next five to 10 years.”

Surely, he has to be in the leadership group.

Totally agree. We now have an almost perfectly calibrated list. Injuries permitting, and assuming a good pre-season (no Adelaide-esque hiccups), we should be a lock for the top 4 next year. I continue to be super impressed with Mahoney, Viney and Taylor. The upgrading of the picks to secure two in the 20s was the icing on this trade period - did not see that coming, but shook my head in stunned satisfaction that they are just not missing a trick these days. The MFC is oozing competence at the moment.

Agree. Trading pick 65 back is hardly worth even reporting.

Just feels so good to get this guy. We have plenty of leadership group candidates next year.

Nope - I think it’s an astute trade in circumstances where Hogan couldn’t commit to the club in the long term. He obviously has his reasons for this but, as a supporter, it’s not great to have your club’s marquee player under a cloud of constant speculation as to when he’ll leave - and Hogan never really ever fully extinguished the speculation. Players come and go, that’s inevitable - but the narrative around Hogan always felt as though the club was walking on eggshells. And IMO the MFC no longer needs to be that club. I wish him all the best - he’s probably a nice enough fellow and, as we know, he’s an exceptional player. BUT I’m stoked to have Sam May and KK on our list. They are hard, and strike me as being stoked to have joined the MFC - I expect they’ll be totally invested in the journey. I want to see that, unequivocally, in every player on our list.

I'm relieved. I would’ve liked to get more than May plus pick 23 for Hogan (given that he's a marquee player), but I think this will improve our team structure/balance – and that’s what this is ultimately all about. As an aside, Hogan always irked me. He was a perpetual fence sitter, a hedge better – in short, he never seemed to truly commit to the cause. And he looked super dopey. On the other hand, Sam May is as hard as a box of nails. I think I love him. The KK bloke will be a rocket ship - his DNA goes back to the super effective Russian Kalashinkovs on the mid-1950s. He will be a great addition. To sum up – a sensible trade. Hogan was never going to extend beyond next year, we knew that and we took control of the situation. Our defence next year will be impenetrable. Plainly, we have every other area of the ground well and truly covered. I look forward to seeing Goodwin lift the Cup next year. Meanwhile, Hogan will be hanging out with his bozo mates at some under-age music festival in Yallingup smokin’ Winny Blues. Now over to Jason Taylor to unearth some gems in the draft. Go Dees.