Ron Burgundy

All of whom are being compared to Kelly and or discussed in the context of the Kelly trade and the Kelly draft year. In short, unlike several other threads, this thread still seems very much on point to me.

We've selected some really poor players with first round draft picks and we've done some dumb trades previously, but Kelly for Tyson and Salem ain't in either of these categories. In fact, it was a super astute trade.

Nor would I. I still think we're on the right side of this deal, even though Kelly is seriously good. It's deals like this that enabled the club to turn the quality of the list around so quickly.

I was invited to a GWS coterie function a while ago and got on the cans with Kevin Sheedy. We discussed Josh Kelly (more below). I used to dislike Sheedy until I met him. He's a legend. I've met him a number of times since. My view has not changed. He should've been appointed coach of the MFC in 2008 IMO - all would've been different, but I now don't care because I reckon the club is perfectly positioned for the future and has finally got its act together. Conversation re Josh Kelly went like this: Me: 'What do you think of Kelly for Tyson and pick 9?' Sheedy: 'Stupid deal. Trust me, the Kelly kid is one out of the box - he will be an absolute superstar - we killed this trade.' Me: 'You said that about Scully too.' Sheedy: '@&$% you, ya %*+#head!' Me: 'We're super happy with Tyson and Salem and we need mids desperately, so two for the price of one suits our needs.' Sheedy: 'Tyson ain't that great and Kelly will be a superstar - glad you're pleased with your club about this because Kelly is out of the box and your club could've had him.' Me: 'Like we could've had you Sheeeeeds! ?' Sheeds: 'Yep, exactly. Hate the Melbourne Football Club. Didn't even get invited to the final interview stage. Hopeless $@&%s. They've overlooked me twice now, both as a player and a coach. No wonder they're a freaken basket case!' We then drank more beer.

Nope - they'd want Salem and Tyson. Ohh hold on ...

Not sure that'd be reason enough to put a new 3 year contract on the table to a 'stuffed' player with a bung knee. Suspect it had more to do with the fact that he was highly rated within the club, evidenced by his regular top 5 finishes in their B&F, and he's still got a lot of good footy ahead of him.

Relevantly, Essendon wanted to keep both players. Suggests to me that their medicos didn't share your mate's view that Hibberd's knee is stuffed.

I've got a stack of Essendon supporter mates who say otherwise. Reckon Goodwin and McCartney know a thing or two about these players too. Hibberd is a very good player and I reckon Melksham will be a lot better than some people here seem to think.

Don't ridicule Pedo.

That's because we doubled up last year to get Oliver and Weideman. I see Weideman's as our first rounder this year. Any idea what he'd go for if he was in this year's draft? And, as an aside, we're stacked with high end young talent unlike several other clubs. We need to infuse some harder, more experienced bodies into the mix - hence our desire to get Lewis and Hibberd. Sure it'd be nice to retain pick 29 this year, but I think recruiting Hibberd is more valuable to us - and I suspect the club thinks this as well. Relevantly, I strongly suspect Essendon knows we think this and that will ultimately be reflected in the trade that gets done.

Yeah, but we want their player. They therefore have the whip hand on this.

Why? And cut off our nose despite our face? We actually want this player. Essendon initially wanted more than a second rounder for Hibberd. People seem now to be getting caught up in their (legitimate) hatred for Essendon and are losing sight of the fact that pick 29 for Hibberd is a fair deal. Sure he's had a year out of the game, but, unlike O'Meara who's essentially had 2 years out, he's not been injured. O'Meara's commanding insane trade value. Hibberd is a very, very good player and he'll be a great pick up for us. For pick 29.

And, to be honest, I hope we do if that's ultimately to be the case. Hibberd is a bloody good player and pick 29 for him is hardly paying 'overs'. He will add a lot to our list and I expect he will quite quickly become a required player for us. I hope they just get the deal done - perhaps also insist on a later pick coming back as well and we can let Jason Taylor weave some magic with it.

Hibberd will become a required player for us in next to no time. A second rounder for him is hardly overs.

Just another element that Roos nailed for this club. Goodwin could very well be the league's next Clarkson - different style obviously, but equally as effective. Already love the bloke and what he has contributed to this club thus far.

I agree with this - but the issue here is that this particular young experienced group of players is very competitive and looks to be a tight group that is well coached and will be playing together for many years to come. That's why the young, inexperienced group in this instance is so relevant and so exciting.

Not a wasted pick. Melksham will turn out to be a great pick up for this club.

Melksham was the traded in player I was most excited about this year. And Kennedy and Bugg have been awesome.

Josh Mahoney, Todd Viney and Jason Taylor have been super important in this rebuild too.

His official title will be Club Yoda.

4 years time? Might be earlier than that. Even though the physical and AFL experience development is still ahead of them (i.e. Viney excluded, they're still kids), I wouldn't be surprised to see all 4 of them in the team at some point this year. If so, that's surely going to accelerate things.

This kid's gunna be a gun. Shows that we need to back the judgement of Jason Taylor every day of the week over the blokes who pick the under 18s rep teams. Jason Taylor has been another stellar recruit for this club.

The comments here about Goodwin and Essendrug are tedious. I'm bloody glad we have him. Reckon he could be the next Clarkson.

I've seen enough to know that I'll love him.

He's the next Paul Roos. Literally. A football player's coach. With a stack of acumen for the game. We'll win a flag with Goodwin at the helm.