Ron Burgundy

This is shocking. He was one of my favourite players for a while. Thought he’d win a Brownlow. Very sad news. A life has been cut far too short here.

I spoke to Kevin Sheedy at a marketing function in Sydney in early 2014. We’d each had about 15 beers, but my recollection of the conversation is crystal clear. He said, unequivocally, that he couldn’t believe the deal we negotiated, and that Kelly was going to be a legitimate superstar. I said it was ‘a win, win’ because we got two top ten draft pick players for the price of one etc, and he just laughed - said Tyson was tres ordinarie and kept repeating that Kelly would be an absolute gun. He maintained that GWS ‘won’ the trade, which I didn’t accept (obviously). This chat stuck in my mind ever since. I really rate Salem, but given that Tyson is now at North - perhaps Sheedy was right (even though it seems we would’ve picked Billings anyway).

We’ve come a long way.

Bernie Vince sits alongside Russell Robertson and Travis Johnstone as my favourite ever Demon.

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.

Garlett is a gun. Just had a poor season this year. Don’t give up on him folks. Not yet at least.

C+? Really? No wonder his nickname is ‘Plough’.

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.

Mahoney strikes me as a pragmatic, outcome oriented person who approaches negotiations sans silly, aggressive posturing and unnecessary hyperbole. That said, given: - the history of Freo’s apparent desperation to land Hogan, and their clear need for a player like him; - Hogan’s super rare talent, a fact acknowledged by everyone in the industry including coaches, players, commentators and journalists; and - the trade history for lesser players, anything less than two first round draft picks (at least one high end) would in my opinion be a pretty underwhelming trade for arguably our most prized player (in terms of trade value). After all, we don’t actually need to trade him - Freo need to make the running on this. And, to date, their approach seems comical - it’s though Barry McKenzie has taken the reigns over there. For a generational-type player, giving us picks to ensure we land May and some mid range first round draftee seems eminently reasonable. I genuinely can’t believe Freo’s stance on this - it’s been astonishingly amateur.

I watched the preliminary final at the Light Brigade Hotel in Paddington, a well known AFL pub in Sydney. It was packed - probably 60% Weagles supporters but a lot of Dees fans in there too. Great atmosphere. For the first 30 seconds of the first quarter. Tom Morris was at the pub, proudly sporting an MFC scarf. I ordered a round of beers next to him at the bar and, even though I didn’t chat to him, he genuinely seemed to be a Demons’ supporter. Apologies if this is common knowledge but it seems relevant to point this out in circumstances where some here have accused him of being Freo’s mouth-piece on this issue.

The club and all of the supporters were around him. 110% around him. Hogan then approached the club to sound out the potential for a trade to Freo (which was the subject of rumour, innuendo and speculation for years previously). That introduces cracks into the mirror in any relationship. Regrettably I think things have changed now.

“Jesse came to us and said he wants to explore the opportunity," Mahoney said.” Seems pretty clear to me.

It’s on the MFC website. The article is entitled ‘Melbourne is waiting upon a reasonable Freo offer’ or something similar.