Ron Burgundy

It was a weak effort from the players. Not from Beveridge though.

Particularly when one considers that everything reported in the media is always absolutely accurate.

Geez I hope these rumours are on the money. To say we need this guy to commit to this club would be the understatement of the century. If Hogan re-signs, can someone start a new thread and put this one to bed?

And yep - it is hearsay. But not all hearsay is unreliable, unless you're a 'paint by numbers' litigator.

It was the CEO. They know what's being said in the industry. That said, he and the MFC apparently don't know what Hogan will do. Obviously I hope he re-signs.

A mate of someone super senior at St Kilda. Chatted to him at the Grand Final today.

Hogan has a three year contract on the table from the MFC. It's the latest iteration of multiple contract offers from the club. They don't know if he'll accept it. He's absolutely equivocal. Doesn't sound too good.

They're obviously offering him more than the Swans are.

I reckon Matt Jones would've got quite a few games next year had he received an extension, but the FD formed the view that they can secure a better, experienced mid in the trade period (i.e. upgrade slightly with someone like Barlow) and that's why didn't receive another year. Pretty confident he wasn't on the outer with the FD like some of the experts here seem to think. He just wasn't quite as good as some of the names that are seemingly 'gettable' this trade period.

I'd like him. For the right deal.

Grimes will be remembered very fondly by this club. I hope the club puts together a really nice package about Grimes on the website at an appropriate time - he absolutely deserves it.

Perfect assessment. Feel gutted for Grimes but not surprised. I had thought Jones would've received a one year extension. Would be interesting to know which mids the club's identified in the draft (national and rookie) and in the trade period.

He seems to be saying that: 1 the club has put an offer to Hogan that they had hoped/expected he would have signed by now, but that he hasn't (seems credible); and 2. given the significant nature of Hogan's next contract, the importance of Hogan to the club and to our future list management, and Hogan's current trade value which seems likely to be greater this year than next, the club wishes/needs to know whether Hogan is going to extend his contract beyond next year before this year's trade period concludes because it may compromise Hogan's trade value if he actually wishes to leave the club in 2017 and it also impacts upon the way we structure the list going forward (seems credible). So, in short, I don't know if this is true, or if Flamingdees is pulling stuff out of his arse, but his post makes perfect sense to me.

His post makes sense to me. In fact, it makes sense generally.

Big grain of salt. Bumped into a bloke wearing Demons shorts in Potts Point (Sydney) yesterday. I asked the obvious - "you go for the Dees mate?", to which he responded "yep. Used to work for the club actually." Didn't recognise him. We chatted very briefly. Good guy. Discussed how the future's looking super bright etc. He then said, "need to sign Hogan though." I agreed. He then said, "the club will trade him this trade period if his signature's looking shaky. The trade value is too great to let it sit for another year on a wing and a prayer." All obvious stuff. And I don't know if the guy has any inside knowledge but he said it in a way that suggested he knew what he was talking about. At best, this possibly advances the discussion by about one millimetre though.

I know he's recently re-signed, and he may not have been gettable, but I would have loved to see Rohan join our squad.

Brayshaw's one of our untouchables. He's the future of the club.

Don't believe it. Stuie has it on good authority that Richmond is a destination club. And we're not. Not even remotely. Good read though.

You elected to construct an argument out of thin air based on your 'definition' of whatever, such is your petty way. The original post was positive and, in my view, reflects the actual position. None of the 30,000 poorly conceived posts that you've posted since you brought on this argument have convinced me otherwise. It's merely confirmed my view that you just like to argue, with no particular logic or intellect to the stuff that frantically pump out for us to read. The tenet is that the standout Victorian clubs at the moment would be Geelong and Hawthorn. Following that, we are a club that is absolutely in the mix as a destination for players (for a myriad of reasons) albeit with some other clubs (eg, the Pies and the Dogs). And this the very reason most respected commentators think Goodwin has landed a great senior coaching role and why Goodwin himself is pinching himself about what the future holds for this club. Players, coaches and astute supporters get this. It's a club with enormous upside for an incoming player. That you don't get this, and that you wish to stick to an out of date paradigm that is no longer based on the current circumstances, is a matter for you. Interesting too that since this 'debate' started Hibberd has apparently nominated the Dees as his preferred club and it appears this was always his intention and that discussions have been occurring for several weeks. I don't expect this comes as any great surprise to most of the posters here though.

You create arguments out of thin air. This would possibly be stimulating if your posts weren't so thoroughly inane and misguided.

That'd be an amazing deal. On par with getting Garlett for a packet of chips.

The good aspect to this is that, if Hogan does decide to go back to WA, both WA sides are red hot into him. As anyone knows with an auction, all you need is two potential purchasers that really want to win the auction and it's game on. That said, I desperately hope he re-signs with the MFC. We need him.

I don't agree. Even though some interstate clubs are fantastic, I think destination clubs are still essentially the Melbourne-based clubs and Geelong. Hawthorn and Geelong aside, I reckon the MFC is the next cab off the rank at the moment given its list, the turnaround in its operations and coaching staff, and the rich history that can now be unlocked and enjoyed by this band of brothers. The Bulldogs are clearly well ahead of us in terms of performance, but the narrative to the Dees is sexier. Convincing quality players and coaches to join the Melbourne Football Club is no longer an issue IMO. It's a good vehicle now.

Thanks for posting - great stuff. I like hearing confirmation of the philosophy. We need to develop the list we have - topping it up with players like Hibberd, Barlow and Thompson seems perfectly sound. But otherwise our success will come from those already on our list including players like ANB and some others who struggled to get a game this year, but who will clearly become very good players. I'd also like to see Jack Grimes retained, if possible - but wholly understand if he wishes to leave. In short, we are now a destination club. Can't think when we last, if ever, were. And we no longer seem to make desperate recruiting decisions - it all seems to be very considered/measured and then cleanly executed. Thank you Paul Roos. And Peter Jackson.

Thanks for the updates GNF. It makes reading through all the carp on some of these threads worthwhile.